Sergeant Al Powell is a L.A.P.D. cop that helps John McClane with the terrorist takeover of the Nakatomi Plaza and briefly with the situation at Dulles International Airport.
Die Hard[]
Al Powell was at a gas station grabbing some twinkies when he was radioed to check out the emergency call from McClane at the Nakatomi Plaza. When he went in he was greeted by Eddie. Eddie, posing as a security guard, told Powell that there bugs in the computer system and false alarms. When Al was leaving McClane threw Marco's corpse onto Powell's police car to get his attention. Then Han's terrorists began opening fire on Powell's car. Powell then called in for backup assistance. Throughout the film, Powell talked to McClane and tried to help him and comfort him. Powell reveals to McClane that he has been working at the desk ever since he accidentally shot and killed a kid who was carrying a toy ray gun. Unknown to Powell Special Agent Johnson attacks McClane who mistaken him as one of Han's men who was scaring the hostage away knowing the roof is gonna explode luckily Hans stops Special Agent Johnson from killing McClane by blowing the roof killing him and everyone on the helicopter as McClane escapes the explosion on a fire hose and makes his way into 30th floor. The script reveals that he has spent eleven years behind the desk as a result. At the end of the movie, McClane and Powell finally meet each other face to face and hug each other in joy. However, Al finally brings himself to draw his gun and shoot Karl to death when he tries to kill John.
Die Hard 2[]
Back in Los Angeles Police Station, Powell was about to eat Twinkies when he received a call from his friend John McClane. When he hears about that his wife Holly stood him alone in Washington DC with his in-laws, he sighed since McClane has issues with them. After McClane asks Powell a fax number of the police station, Powell gives him the fax number, which surprises him since it's the first time that he is using faxes. After McClane sends in the fax, Powell received a fax that has fingerprints. McClane informs him that there is unidentified subject and has a theory about the man he killed. Powell says that he'll run the prints on every file in the system.
After getting the dossier of the man that matched the fingerprints, he calls McClane back. Powell sees that, according to the Department of Defense, the American military advisor, Sergeant Oswald Cochrane, was reported killed in a helicopter accident in Honduras two years before. He then sends the dossier to McClane. After getting his thanks from McClane, Powell nodded before hanging up on each other.
Trivia[]
- Powell appeared in the Die Hard video games Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza and Die Hard: Vendetta. In both games, he was voiced by Reginald VelJohnson.
- VelJohnson admitted that Powell's liking of Twinkies has become somewhat of his own trademark. He states that fans will sometimes give him Twinkies, often stating that he 'probably wanted one'.
- Although he has played the same role in the first two, he has been absent ever since.
- He is the one of the three supporting characters to only appear in two Die Hard films, the others being Holly and Thornburg.
- The character of Al Powell was taken directly from the Roderick Thorp novel 'Nothing Lasts Forever', although the original character was younger and appears much later into the story.
| Die Hard Characters | |
|---|---|
| John McClane - Holly Gennero - Lucy McClane - John McClane, Jr. - Al Powell - Richard Thornburg | |
| Die Hard | Hans Gruber - Karl - Theo |
| Die Hard 2 | Colonel Stuart - Leslie Barnes - General Ramon Esperanza - Carmine Lorenzo - Major Grant |
| Die Hard with a Vengeance | Simon Gruber - Zeus Carver - Katya |
| Live Free or Die Hard | Thomas Gabriel - Matt Farrell - Mai Linh - Warlock |
| A Good Day to Die Hard | Yuri Komarov - Irina Komarov - Viktor Chagarin - Alik - Mike Collins |