Superman crowned greatest sci-fi character of all time

Is it a bird' Is it a plane' No, it's Superman, and - according to a recent poll - the greatest sci-fi character of all time. To mark the launch of its new game, Stratego Sci-Fi has surveyed more than 2,000 Britons to chart the Stratego Sci-Fi 100 - the nation's top 100 stars of the sci-fi world - as well as a separate poll charting the best sci-fi battles from the silver screen.

Following up the Man of Steel in 2nd place in the Stratego Sci-Fi 100 was Harrison Ford's gruff but lovable rogue Han Solo, with Frank Oz's jedi master Yoda coming third, both representing Star Wars in the top three and rounding it out firmly in George Lucas' favour.

Steven Spielberg's E.T may be one of the most lovable characters of all time, but only made it to fourth in the list, followed by Will Smith's Agent Jay from the hugely popular Men in Black series at number five.

Surprise omissions from the top ten include Doc Brown of Back to the Future fame, who only managed 15th, and Mr Spock who warped in at 11th place - however his captain James T. Kirk did the Enterprise proud and became the highest ranked Star Trek character at number 7.

Elsewhere in the top 100, a whopping eight Dr Who characters made it into the list, with the Daleks proving the strongest of the bunch. The extra-terrestrial villains claimed 13th in the poll, exterminating the Time Lord himself who took 20th place. Torchwood's enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness was voted just 46th.

Ellen Ripley, Sigourney Weaver's hard-as-nails heroine from the Alien series, was the highest-ranked woman at number 21 - defeating the likes of Star Wars' Princess Leia - who came in at 25 - the Terminator's Sarah Connor (29) and alien super-sleuth Dana Scully from The X Files (32).

Buffy - Sarah Michelle Gellar's iconic vampire-slayer - was the seventh strongest place woman at 50th in the poll, holding a 17 place lead ahead of her on/off love interest Angel, who came in at 67th place.

In the quest for the title of best sci-fi battle it was Harry Potter's fight against arch-nemesis Lord Voldemort that waged war on its rivals with the epic final battle scene rousing sci-fi fans with 13 per cent of the vote.

Joint second place went to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi for the final duel between Darth Vader and his - spoiler alert - son Luke Skywalker in Cloud City, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for the final battle at Minas Tirith.

Plugging in right after them in 3rd is the furious, fist-flying showdown between Neo and Agent Smith in The Matrix, with the top 5 being completed by Earth's inspiring stand against the aliens in Independence Day, and Arnie's final battle against the seemingly invincible T-1000 at the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Stratego is the classic game of battlefield strategy in which two players must command an army of soldiers, machines, scouts and miners and use strategic attack and clever deception to break through their opponent's line and capture the flag.

THE STRATEGO SCI-FI 100
1. Superman (Christopher Reeve), Superman 2. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Star Wars 3. Yoda (Frank Oz), Star Wars 4. ET, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 5. Jay (Will Smith) - Men in Black Series 6. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), Star Wars series 7. Captain James T Kirk, Star Trek 8. Martin McFly (Michael J Fox) - Back to the Future 9. C3PO, Star Wars 10. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Star Trek 11. Mr Spock, Star Trek 12. Captain Steven Hiller (will Smith) - Independence Day 13. The Daleks, Dr Who 14. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Star Wars 15. Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Back to the Future 16. The Tardis, Dr Who 17. R2-D2, Star Wars Episodes I-VI 18. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars 19. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ghostbusters 20. Doctor (David Tenant), Dr Who 21. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Alien 22. Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), Men in Black series 23. Gizmo, Gremlins 24. Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Star Wars Episodes III-VI 25. Princess Leia (Carrie Fischer), Star Wars Episodes IV - VI 26. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), The X Files 27. Trinity (Carie-Anne Moss), The Matrix 28. Thomas Anderson/Neo (Keanu Reeves), The Matrix 29. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), The Terminator, Terminator 2 30. Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) - Jurassic Park 31. Doctor (Matt Smith), Dr Who 32. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), The X Files 33. Dave Lister (Craig Charles), Red Dwarf 34. Alien, Aliens 35. Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), The Matrix 36. Wall-E, Wall-E 37. Robert Neville(Will Smith) , I Am Legend 38. Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), The Matrix Trilogy 39. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) - Jurassic Park 40. Scotty (Simon Pegg), Star Trek 41. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), Bladerunner 42. T-1000 (Robert Patrick), Terminator 2: Judgement Day 43. Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Predator 44. Arnold Judas Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Red Dwarf 45. "Mad" Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), Mad Max 46. Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Torchwood 47. Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Dr Who 48. Jabba The Hutt, The Return of the Jedi 49. Predator, Prediator 50. Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Buffy the Vampire Slayer 51. Optimus Prime, Transformers 52. Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), Inception 53. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) - Close Encounters of the Third Kind 54. Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), Dr Who 55. Padwan (Natalie Portman) Star Wars 56. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Avatar 57. RoboCop (Peter Weller), RoboCop 58. George Taylor (Charlton Heston), Planet Of The Apes 59. Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds 60. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), Blade Runner 61. Lady Penelope, Thunderbirds 62. Bender (John DiMaggio), Futurama 63. James Cole (Bruce Willis), Twelve Monkeys 64. Private William Hudson (Bill Paxton), Aliens 65. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) - Minority Report 66. Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise), War of the Worlds 67. Angel (David Boreanaz), Buffy Vampire Slayer 68. Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 69. Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) - Jurassic Park 70. Seven of nine (Jeri Ryan), Star Trek: Voyager 71. Darth Maul, Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace 72. Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard) - Buck Rogers 73. The Borg, Star Trek 74. General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) - Stargate 75. Paul (Seth Rogan), Paul 76. Marvin (Warwick Davis), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 77. Bumblebee, Transformers 78. Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones), Flash Gordon 79. Riddick (Vin Diesel), Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick 80. Ash (Ian Holm), Alien 81. HAL-9000 (Douglas Rain), 2001: A Space Odyssey 82. Rory (Arthur Darvill) Dr Who 83. Judge Joseph Dredd (Sylvester Stallone), Judge Dredd 84. Alice (Milla Jovovich), Resident Evil films 85. Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow), Flash Gordon 86. Klaatu (Michael Rennie), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) 87. Snake Plisskin (Kurt Russell), Escape from New York 88. Megatron, Transformers 89. Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), Galaxy Quest 90. Abe Sapien(Doug Jones), Hellboy 91. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Stargate 92. Ood Sigma (Paul Kasey) Dr Who 93. David (Haley Joel Osment), A.I.
94. Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), The Fifth Element 95. Jim (Cillian Murphy), 28 Days Later 96. John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Stargate Atlantis 97. Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), Heroes 98. Godzilla, Godzilla 99. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), The Fly 100. Dr David Bowman (Keir Dullea),
2001: A Space Odyssey

STRATEGO TOP TEN SCI-FI BATTLES OF ALL TIME 1. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Harry Potter vs Voldemort 2. Lord of the Rings; Return of the King - Final battle Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Luke vs Vader 3. The Matrix - Neo vs Agent Smith 4. Independence Day - Humans vs Aliens 5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day - The Terminator vs the T-1000 6. Avatar - Final battle scene 7. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back - At-At attack on rebellion base 8. Blade Runner - Deckard vs Roy 9. Aliens - The Marines vs the aliens 10. Star Wars: A New Hope - Destruction of the Death Star