Lara Croft is one of the most popular and iconic video game characters ever. As such, the nearing 30-year-old character has undergone various visual and spiritual reworks over the years, some more controversial than others. It’s time for the definitive ranking of Lara Crofts.
8. Lara Croft in the rebooted Tomb Raider film
The Tomb Raider film starring Alicia Vikander is largely a remake of the first game in the rebooted trilogy, with the third act that inexplicably plays out just like the third act of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Look it up, it’s true, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
Sadly, the source material greatly prevents the otherwise very talented Vikander from truly shining here, resulting in what was intended to feel like a more naive and inexperienced Lara. Instead, we get an unoriginal action protagonist that feels like a more diluted and less entertaining version of the character.
The movie isn’t a trainwreck, but it just isn’t fun, and nothing sets it apart from the already-bland source material to entertain fans and newcomers alike.
7. Reboot Trilogy Lara Croft
Having outsold the original two Tomb Raider games combined, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot is the most successful game in the series. Still, does it really mark the highest point in the series? Unlikely. The problem? Lara herself. The ever-confident badass was replaced by a regular twenty-year-old in an origin story that would seemingly show her evolution into the person we know from the old games, but that evolution never came.
Reboot Lara is a completely different person, never one seemingly on the path to what people loved, and not a particularly interesting or entertaining one either. Regardless, you can still have a lot of fun with these games, which, despite being very different from anything else in the series, don’t fail to deliver when it comes to entertaining action.
6. Last Revelation and Chronicles Lara Croft
In these two games, Lara goes from just shooting at bad guys who are shooting at her to sometimes killing defenseless people in a cruel fashion.
Lara had previously struck the perfect balance as the cold hero who’d save the world and turn in a cool profit in the meantime. In these two games, however, the developers tipped the scales towards the less-heroic side a bit too much.
The Last Revelation‘s Lara was also the first to go through a visual change. Specifically, the narrowing of Lara’s shoulders resulted in a model that just felt less athletic than in previous games. Strangely enough, this is a change few ever complained about.
5. Netflix Lara Croft
The Netflix animated Tomb Raider series had the unenviable task of merging the Lara Croft from the rebooted trilogy and the one we know and love, but it actually did a pretty good job. Whereas the show itself isn’t exactly spectacular, Lara is definitely not to blame here. The people behind the show managed to keep the more humane elements implemented by the reboot trilogy, but spiced it up by making the character genuinely fun and funny.
4. Angelina Jolie Lara Croft
When Angelina Jolie got cast as Lara Croft, the Internet enjoyed a rare moment when everyone agreed on something. Everyone believed she’d absolutely nail the role, which marked another rare moment. The Internet was right.
From personality to physicality, Jolie got everything right and even expanded upon it with a character arc that felt earnest and heartwarming without betraying the character’s known coldness. She was so good that most don’t even remember that Daniel Craig was also in the first movie.
Regardless of how you feel about the movies themselves, Lara is definitely not to blame here. I rewatched the first one not too long ago, and it’s actually much better than I remembered.
3. The Angel of Darkness Lara Croft
Though The Angel of Darkness is easily the black sheep of the Tomb Raider family, it deserves some love for its portrayal of Lara. This Lara is definitely darker, though not in the almost outright evil way that we see in TLR and Chronicles. This is a more fleshed-out version of the original character who gets thrown into a much darker story. And that part, at least, works.
2. Original Trilogy Lara Croft
From a historical standpoint, it’s ridiculous to compare OG Lara to any other iteration of the character. You could easily say that gaming was one thing before her arrival, another after she showed up, but Lara’s impact went way past the gaming sphere. Lara Croft is the epitome of a video game protagonist, a person who doesn’t need to say much to convey what she’s about, and someone you’d be glad to follow on any adventure.
If there’s an iteration of Lara Croft you can thank for the “most iconic video game character of all time” distinction, it’s this one.
1. Legend trilogy Lara Croft
One of Tomb Raider Legend’s selling points was the return of Lara creator Toby Gard, for the first time since the original game, and it sure did pay off. Legend does a great job of developing the character via an actual arc, and by having a team she interacts with. And I get it, I understand loving the sense of isolation one got from the original games. Still, the original Lara had no internal monologue and mostly only ever talked to their enemies before shooting them. This is the first game where Lara expresses really loving what she does, and that just feels great.
Also, Legend reworked Lara’s design in a way that felt modern and still faithful to the original character, and Underworld further improved it, so bonus points for that.
Published: Dec 23, 2025 08:43 am