It's a common understanding that a hero is only as good as their respective villain, and while the saying doesn't always work in reverse, the same can also be said for the various killers seen in horror films, including Halloween's slow-moving and silent masked killer, Michael Myers AKA The Shape.
Since his first appearance in John Carpenter's 1978 classic, the character has appeared in 10 of the 11 Halloween films that have spawned multiple continuities. Myers may be responsible for most of the carnage in each of his films, though he's also made quite a few enemies in his day that have given him more than a run for his money.
John Tate
Josh Hartnett made his feature film debut in 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later as John Tate, the teenage son of Laurie Strode/Keri Tate. While it was the seventh film in the franchise, it retconned events with a new continuity the ignored the prior three films.
Michael Myers attacked the boarding school where Laurie worked and John attended school, where he began to kill off students and employees. John takes on Michael hand-to-hand to save his girlfriend, and while he took a knife to the leg both he and his girlfriend survive the movie.
Freddie Harris
The franchise took a new direction with 2002's Halloween: Resurrection, which again returned the action to Haddonfield and the childhood home of Michael Myers, where Freddie Harris (played by Busta Rhymes) was filming a staged paranormal reality show.
Michael Myers arrived and began picking off the college student stars of the show. He first encountered Freddie wearing a fake version of Michael's own iconic look, though it wasn't until a later encounter that Freddie was able to display his martial arts skills, and he survived a few battles with Michael to escape in the end.
Jamie Lloyd/Annie Brackett
1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers introduced Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd, Laurie Strode's daughter, and the niece of Michael Myers who was adopted by the Carruthers' family after the accidental death of her mother.
Jamie managed to outrun and survive her uncle in 1989's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers until she was killed as an adult (played by J.C. Brandy) in 1995's Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Harris would return as the new Annie Brackett in Rob Zombie's 2007 Halloween and 2009 Halloween II, surviving one but not both of Michael's attacks.
Rachel Carruthers
Rachel Carruthers (played by Ellie Cornell) first appeared in 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers as the adopted sister of young Jamie Lloyd, which unfortunately made her one of Michael Myers' targets when he came looking for his niece.
As Michael once again tore through some of the residents of Haddonfield, including Rachel's cheating boyfriend Brady who put up a good effort until Michael crushed his skull), Rachel fought hard to keep her adopted sister safe and even managed to run Michael down with a truck. She would later return for The Revenge of Michael Myers, though he managed to finally kill her.
Frank Hawkins
The franchise returned in 2018's Halloween, which served as a continuation that ignored all of the previous movies and revealed Michael had been caught and institutionalized after the events of the first film.
This was thanks in part to the efforts of Frank Hawkins (played by Will Patton) was just a deputy during Michael's first attack. As the present-day Haddonfield sheriff, Hawkins works with Michael's new psychiatrist Dr. Ranbir Sartain to recapture the escaped killer. Sheriff Hawkins almost managed to finally take out Michael before he was betrayed and killed by Sartain.
Tommy Doyle
Young Tommy Doyle (played by Brian Andrews) first appeared in the original 1978 Halloween as one of the children being watched by Laurie Strode when Michael first attacks, though he reappears as an adult (played by Paul Rudd) in 1995's Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
Tommy becomes obsessed with Michael Myers after his encounters with the masked killer and soon finds himself as the guardian of Jamie Lloyd's young child Steven. During his final encounter with Michael, Tommy injects him with corrosive tranquilizers before viciously beating him with a pipe and escaping.
Karen Nelson
2018's Halloween took place many years after the events of the 1978 film and introduced Judy Greer's Karen Nelson, the only daughter of Laurie Strode as neither Jamie Lloyd nor John Tate exists in this continuity.
She was raised by her understandably paranoid mother to be a survivalist who was well-trained in the use of firearms, though it caused a rift between mother and daughter. When Michael returned to threaten her family, Karen remembered her mother's training and shot Michael through the neck before three generations of Strodes' trapped and "killed" him together.
Cult of Thorn
The Cult of Thorn was first teased in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers when an incarcerated Myers was released by a mysterious Man in Black, who was later revealed in The Curse of Michael Myers as the leader of Haddonfield's mysterious Cult of Thorn.
Don Shanks played cult leader Dr. Terrence Wynn, head of the Smith's Grove Sanitarium. The film revealed that the cult exploited the ancient druidic power that gave Michael his supernatural abilities and drive to kill his family, though he soon turned on them (though there are differences in the Halloween 666 producer's cut).
Dr. Samuel Loomis
Donald Pleasance first portrayed Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis, in 1978's Halloween as one of the only seemingly sane health professionals who understood the evil within Michael and actively tried to warn everyone around him of the danger.
Pleasance would return for every sequel (excluding Halloween III) until his death during the filming of The Curse of Michael Myers and likely holds the record for the most amount of bullets shot at Michael. Malcolm McDowell would give the character a new edge for Rob Zombie's rebooted franchise, though he didn't last as long as his predecessor.
Laurie Strode
Michael's longest-lasting intended victim is also his strongest enemy in babysitter-turned-overprotective mother-turned-mental patent-turned survivalist Laurie Strode, played by scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis.
Laurie survived Michael in 1978's Halloween and 1981's Halloween II, "killed" him in 1998's Halloween H20, then was killed by him in 2002's Halloween: Resurrection. Curtis would reprise a new version of the character in 2018's Halloween that reimagined her as a survivor dedicated to preparing herself and her family for Michael's inevitable return.