Best Malcolm in the Middle characters

Hal leads with an ELO of 1,299, ahead of Dewey (1,276) and Malcolm (1,192). Ranked over 1,642 duels between 6 contenders, last updated September 21, 2026.

Who's your fave Wilkerson family character in Malcolm? Rank all 6 members of this hilarious and lovable family.

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.