One of the most popular characters in gaming, The Master Chief of the Halo franchise has a bigger body count than most characters who've been around decades longer. Clad in Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor John-117, easily manages to wade through wave after wave of aliens gunning for his blood.

The covenant, after the events of the first game, no longer even viewed him as a man. Instead, opting to call him "Demon" causing them to send holy warriors, giant ape men, and cannon fodder after cannon fodder after him. Sometimes the soldiers they send aren't even meant to kill him as doing so would be a nigh impossible feat, the best case scenario is simply slowing him down a few minutes while he cleans blue blood from his gun barrel.

What makes all this possible for the Spartan, however? Other Spartans from Halo lore have come and gone, normally dying in some sort of blaze of glory, The Master Chief, however, has withstood everything that's been thrown at him time and time again. Below are the 15 reasons on how John-117 (better known as Master Chief), has managed to defy the numerous odds stacked against him time after time. This should help explain why you should be as terrified as the covenant was ... before he single handily dismantled it. You know, on the off chance you end up on the wrong side of him on the battlefield.

16 Natural Talent

via kotaku.com

Spartan 117 was a child before he was drafted into the Spartan-II program, a young boy who simply went by John. Even then he stood a full head taller than all the other six-year-olds, was faster, smarter and had a drive for success which ended up being the reasons that Dr. Halsey decided to recruit him.

The final test they had for the young John before spiriting him away and telling everyone he had died was a simple coin toss, he was asked to guess which side the coin would land on. Instead of just guessing, however, John snatched the coin out of the air and using his natural almost superhuman vision managed to see which side it was about to land on and correctly called out which side was face up in his hands. Proving once again that most six-year-old children are more talented than me.

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14 Genetic Enhancements

Via halo.wikia.com

The Master Chief may fight for humanity but he isn't one of us any longer. At the age of fourteen, the Spartans underwent a risky surgery that was engineered to make them faster, better, harder, stronger.

The procedure killed 30 of them and physically disabled another 12.

Most of the other ones who weren't dead or crippled didn't escape scot free as unique side effects began to emerge and were forced to drop out of the program. Only 33 Spartan trainee's emerged unscathed, John-117 was one of them. The augmentation process improved his already impressive reflexes, gave him superhuman strength, enhanced his eyesight, and made his bones nearly unbreakable. While recovering, John-117 was challenged to a 5v1 boxing match by some of the marines and promptly killed two of them by accident — he left the other three severely injured, proving his capabilities.

13 His Armour

via halo.wikia.com

The Mjolinr Powered Assault Armour is like wearing a tank on your shoulders... except if you felt like it, you could also outfit a jetpack on to it or turn invisible. Anyone wearing this hunk of metal would become unstoppable... if they were actually able to put it on. The MPAA has an advanced neural network capable of supporting the kind of AI normally reserved for starships, this, however, takes a massive toll on its user and only a Spartan who'd undergone the genetic enhancements and training can actually wear the suit.

The suit includes shields to deal with energy and ballistic attacks as well as enhancing the wearer's natural physical capabilities, coupled with John-117's skill, the armour becomes the perfect outfit for an evening of slaughtering Grunts.

12 Hand To Hand Combat

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On the off-chance that you're in the middle of a desert when you decide to fight The Master Chief, where there are no vehicles, guns, or rocks for him to use as weapons, you'd still be in trouble. Let's go one step further and say he just so happens to be naked for a contrived reason — you'd have a fair shot at him, right? At least a 30% chance of maybe landing a single blow?

Nope, you're still dead. John-117, even without his armour, is a trained expert in every single type of hand to hand fighting style that exists. Also, all the genetic engineering mentioned previously and the fact that he's a whopping 6'10 weighing in at 290lbs of pure angry muscle makes him likely to turn you into a writhing mass of regret with a single punch.

11 Extensive Training

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John-117 was taken when he was six years old, and by the time the events of Halo took place he was forty-one. That's thirty-five years of training and preparation, thirty-five years of military strategy, tactics, drills, and workouts.

None of which was skimped on by the UNSC, their goal was to create super-soldiers, and by God, they were going to accomplish it. No expense was spared on equipment, simulations or instructors for John-117 and the other Spartan's training. His education was also top-notch allowing The Master Chief to make sudden and fast mathematic calculations, a superior understanding of biology and chemistry and I hear they had a pretty good music program too.

10 Guns, Guns, Guns

via halo.waypoint.com

The Master Chief is trained and able to use a multitude of weapons to battle his enemies with. From Rocket Launchers to Pistols with scopes, the selection of gear that he's able to requisition at the drop of a hat borders on ludicrous.

Got a group of snipers across a gap shooting at your squad? Why not use the SRS 99C-Series 2 Anti-Matériel sniper rifle. How about a legion of grunts nestled into a bunker? Boom, the M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon and a couple of frag grenades have got you covered.

With such an arsenal mere centimeters from his fingertips at a moment's notice, the Master Chief has a gun for nearly every occasion or fancy dinner party that he may come across.

9 Looks More Like A Puma

via halo.waypoint.com

If his selection of weapons wasn't enough to solve whatever issue he's being confronted with, then the Master Chief's selection of vehicles definitely will be.

Trained in the operation of every vehicle known to man (including those really weird electric cars) and some that aren't, it's not hard for the Chief to get around in style. Sometimes that style might include an M512 Smooth Bore High-Velocity Cannon mounted on the back.

From the iconic Warthog to the nearly unstoppable Scorpion tank, the Master Chief is able to operate it all with stunt driver like skill. On the off-chance it should flip as well, John-117 has been shown to be capable of easily flipping his vehicle back upright without any effort whatsoever.

8 Experience

The Master Chief has definitely earned his rank, serving in countless campaigns, even before the covenant invasion he's been decorated with every single medal in the service. Apart from one, the Prisoner of War Medallion.

Once the Covenant invaded, it was more of a training session than an actual war for The Master Chief, in under 27 years John-117 had fought in more than 200 campaigns against them, discovering things nobody had known and inventing new creative ways to kill them.

With such practice murdering hordes of alien religious fanatics, it's easy to imagine how he'd be able to turn the full force of his experience to bear on whoever is foolish enough to try and fight against him.

7 Adaptability

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While he's trained in the operation of all of Humanities weapons and Vehicles, nothing compares to good ole fashioned ingenuity, and being able to adapt and change based on the situation. During the Covenants opening attacks on humanity, much was unknown, and The Master Chief was forced into many situations that his training couldn't possibly have covered.

This hasn't ever stopped John-117, however, in his first encounter with the Covenant and the many battles since then, the Chief was forced at some points to use their weaponry and after only a short time spent learning the operation of the devices learned how to use them. This goes for their vehicles as well, which only adds to his already extensive list on ways to kill you.

6 Leadership Skills

Via techdrake.com

During his training, The Master Chief showed distinction among the other 150 children that were taken for the Spartan-II program alongside him by proving to be the most adept leader of them all.

When he was eight years old, the Spartan trainees were dropped in a mountain range and told they had to survive the elements and make it back to the extraction point.

They were also told to leave the last child to reach the point behind, less they all share a horrible punishment. John-117, however, quickly took control of the group and came up with a plan that would ensure nobody was left behind.

This involved attacking un-uniformed Marines who were waiting at the extraction point alongside a Pelican dropship using a rock and then hijacking the military transport, ensuring he was the last child to board it so he'd take all the blame. After that, he was promoted to the Spartan's Squad leader.

5 The Art Of War

via nocookie.net

Not only did his training cover Spartan-117's physical strengths but they also made sure his mind was on par with the greatest minds humanity had to offer. A military strategist comparable with Sun Tzu, The Master Chief has come up with many brilliant tactical maneuvers over the course of his career that has saved the lives of many and caused the absolute breakdown of his enemies plans.

Time and again The Master Chief has, with nearly no gear and the odds stacked against him has managed to scrape together victory using only a few MacGuyver'd like creations and well thought-out planning...

Other times he's just decided to say "Screw all the planning" and just gone with the option of blowing everything up until the problem fixes itself.

4 At All Costs

via deviantart.net

When given a goal, order or task, The Master Chief becomes an unstoppable juggernaut, zeroing in on his goal no matter the setbacks, loss of life or personal injury.

Is the bridge he needs to cross blown up? He'll take the long way around. Floating in space with no means of propulsion? An ally will shove him, causing them to be lost in space but meaning he can continue the mission. No way off the exploding enemy battleship? He'll jump and just fall through the Earth's atmosphere.

He's like Jason from Friday The 13th, no matter how fast you run or how far you go he'll get to you eventually and complete whatever task he was assigned. Even if it means his own or his squad's destruction, all for the greater good. He also refuses to let himself or any other Spartan be captured, hence why the only medal he doesn't have is the one for being a PoW.

3 The Egg

via halo.wikia.com

When not free falling through the Earth's atmosphere, driving around in a styling Scorpion Tank or getting shot out of the air in a Pelican Drop Ship, The Master Chief has another way of getting around.

It involves being fired out of a dropship in planetary orbit and then falling through the atmosphere in a hunk of metal that then embeds itself into the ground before the door explodes off freeing it's likely terrified occupant so they can seek a new pair of trousers.

The Egg is the nickname for The Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle which is essentially an uncomfortable chair surrounded by metal and cushioning. ODST use it to insert, and so has the Chief on multiple occasions. Sometimes they even have sent weapons to the Spartan using it or devices like it.

2 Luck

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It's been said several times across all the games, books, comics and fan-fiction.

John-117 is a lucky S.O.B.

Sometimes all the gear in the world, the best training, the best genetic enhancements and every other advantage hinges on a single moment. Sometimes it all fails and there's nothing left to do but clench your buttcheeks and pray.

The Master Chief is essentially one long "Well that worked out, despite it being pretty certain that I was gonna die." after another. Dr. Halsey saw it when she chose him for the Spartan-II program, it was the main reason the Cortana AI chose him to be her host. It's how he survived the Fall Of Reach and the destruction of Halo, not to mention his many other battles. If John-117 ever played the lottery, he'd likely win on every ticket.

1 Cortana

via n-punto.com

This list wouldn't be complete without The Master Chief's biggest advantage, and arguably his best friend/weird possible love interest.

The smart artificial intelligence construct is known as Cortana. His partner across countless battles and missions, she's capable of covering the few blind spots John-117 has. Able to process odds, tactics and extremely complex computations as well as being able to interface with ancient technologies she deserves almost an equal amount of credit for saving the universe time and again as he does.

While The Master Chief might come up with the plan, it's Cortana who see's it flawlessly executed and keeps him moving forwards in the proper direction. Cortana decides when to retreat, assists with aiming, powers his armour, and keeps track of the many stimuli that John-117 can't, effectively making the pair unbeatable.