Welcome back Kdrama lovers, enthusiasts, and maniacs! If you’re tired from watching romantic dramas with fluffy, romantic, and cute Kdrama male leads, here’s an exclusive list of the best Kdramas with the badass male lead.
Nothing feels better than stress-relieving and binge-watching dramas with a good plot, and amazing cast, and the best part is a good, strong, interesting, and badass male lead.
Prepare to get your hearts stolen and be ready to binge these amazing Korean dramas for a change!
Most of the dramas are probably available on Netflix, Viu, or Viki, so you don’t have to go searching for them elsewhere.
Join in on the extremely badass Kdramas and enjoy them to your heart’s content.
20. Witch at Court
Witch at Court is a drama that people really need to discover. It’s one of the best legal dramas and badass male lead - totally check!
Yoon Hyun Min plays the role of a prosecutor who gets teamed up with Jung Ryeo Won, a crazy prosecutor who would do anything to win a case.
The main couple makes an amazing team to bring down those evil people and scumbags! The 2017 KBS Kdrama is highly recommended.
19. My Beautiful Bride
Another fabulous and mysterious drama from OCN.
This drama is best for binge-watch because you can’t handle the number of cliffhangers while watching it ongoing.
Only fans who have watched it every week while it was ongoing can know the pain and angst this drama gave their viewers.
The OSTs of Beautiful Bride is amazing. Kim Moo Yul plays the role of a banker whose fiance suddenly disappears and how he tries to find her.
Don’t judge the book by its cover is totally fitting in this drama. No one is what they seem to appear.
The male lead Kim Do Hyeong (Kim Moo Yul) has secrets of his own and would go to any lengths to get his fiance back.
18. Train
If it’s a thriller, suspense, and action drama, OCN dramas are totally the best.
The story revolves around multiple and parallel worlds where a serial killer drops bodies through a train.
It’s one of the most amazing dramas and there’s not a single boring scene.
Yoon Si Yoon is a badass male lead in the drama playing the role of a detective who loses his true love and ends up in a parallel world to catch the killer.
17. Local Hero
The OCN drama Local Hero released in 2016 is next on the list. This drama is such an underrated drama.
The action and fight scenes in the drama are highly satisfying. Park Si Hoo and Lee Soo Hyuk are total badass male leads in Local Hero Kdrama.
Park Si Hoo plays the role of an ex- NIS secret member who suffered betrayal in the past and had to suffer from the loss of the death of his teammates.
Lee Soo Hyuk plays the role of a temporary employee whose ambition is to become a police officer. Together they team up and fight against evil.
16. Two Weeks
The 2013 Korean Drama starring Lee Joon Gi even had a Japanese remake in 2019. This is pretty much enough to convince us how grand and appealing the Kdrama Two Weeks is.
A desperate father who was wrongly accused is on the run from the law authorities and must do anything to save his daughter. Can Jang Tae San deliver his promise and survive Two Weeks to save his daughter’s life? You have to watch it to find that out.
15. Hwarang
This list would be incomplete without the mention of Hwarang. Hwarang was one of the most anticipated dramas of 2016 apart from Goblin Kdrama.
The 20 episode Kdrama revolves around an elite group of beautiful knights in the Silla Kingdom.
Park Seo Joon, Park Hyung Sik, Minho, Do Ji Han, and BTS V are totally the badass male leads of the drama.
It’s a really entertaining drama. Go Ara, Jo Yoon Woo, Kim Hyun Joon, and Sung Dong Il are part of the main cast as well.
14. The Moon Embracing the Sun
The 2012 MBC drama starring Kim Soo Hyun and Jung Il Woo is one of the most highest-rated dramas with over 46% viewership.
The drama has won multiple awards and it received the Best Drama Award of 2012 in MBC Drama Awards and 48th Baeksang Awards.
This is a historical drama about four people whose fates get intertwined and share an ill-fated connection.
This drama is so worth it because of the cast and storyline.
13. Bad and Crazy
Missing out on the popular 2021 TvN Korean drama Bad and Crazy would be a huge sin because not only do we have two badass male leads who start a crazy revolution, the entire cast is to die for.
Bad and Crazy starring Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon as crazy badass people had amazing chemistry. How can we miss the stellar performance of K who was hellbent on saving and ruining Su Yeol at the same time; if it makes any sense?!!!
12. Inspiring Generation
Inspiring Generation is one of the best period dramas ever made.
The entire cast of the drama is a total badass, and the best part is the multi-starrer cast.
Inspiring Generation is set in the 1930s era and shows the story of a genius fighter trying to survive against the odds; both the Japanese and Chinese people are his enemy.
Boys over Flowers famed Kim Hyun Joong plays the main character is who’s a total badass male lead. The final fight was so satisfying, do check it out!
11. Kill Me Heal Me
Ji Sung is made for the badass male lead role. Kill Me Heal Me is a 2015 MBC drama about a person suffering from DID due to a traumatic incident in his childhood.
He has 7 different personalities and these personalities wreck hell for his personal doctor.
This is one of the most entertaining dramas of the year and perfect for a binge-watch. Kill Me Heal Me won several awards.
The main casts include Hwang Jung Eum and Park Seo Jun.
10. Tunnel
The Tunnel is another masterpiece Korean drama from OCN. Choi Jin Hyuk and Yoon Hyun Min star in the 2017 suspense thriller drama.
This is one of the most interesting time-skip dramas.
The plot revolves around a detective from 1986 who somehow ends up in 2017 while chasing a serial killer.
In the present day, serial killer resumes killing and start changing the past.
The detective from the past and present team up to catch the killer. This drama is perfect and has multiple rewatch values!
9. Bridal Mask
Bridal Mask is a 2012 KBS2 drama starring Joo Won, Park Ki Wong, Shin Hyun Jun.
This is one of the best dramas centered during the Japanese colonial era in South Korea.
Gaksital or Bridal mask is a pioneer of justice who fought against the oppression of Japanese colonial rule.
Joo Won plays the role of Bridal Mask/Japanese embracer. He is a detective in the Japanese Army who in the beginning sided with the Japanese.
All the male leads were totally badass. Don’t miss out on Bridal Mask if you’re looking for Kdrama with a badass male lead.
8. Pied Piper
The 2016 TvN Kdrama was really unique and one of a kind.
Pied Piper’s story is based on a crisis negotiation and management team who are tasked to solve cases without using force.
Shin Ha Kyung plays the role of crisis negotiator and brilliant tactician with past wounds and Yu Jung Sang plays the role of a news reporter who is set to get vengeance against him.
Both the actors delivered a strong and badass performance.
7. The Devil Judge
One of the best onscreen chemistry between Ji Sung and Jin Young in the roles of Kang Yo Han and Kim Ga On respectively in The Devil Judge is a must-watch.
Kang Yo Han was ruthless and merciless as the “devil judge” killing enemies with law and style. In a dystopian Korea where people with power can really get away with anything, but not at Yo Han’s court.
6. Liar Game
Liar Game is based on the famous Japanese manga by Shinobu Kaitani and it also has a Japanese drama.
Korea made a remake of the original series and Liar Game Kdrama was released in 2014.
The TvN drama Liar Game revolves around different participants of the game show where the prize money is set at 10 billion won.
You can lie, cheat, and do anything in the Liar Game to win it. But it’s not all that simple.
Liar Game had two badass male leads, Lee Sang Yoon and Shin Sung Rok. both of them were absolutely phenomenal and delivered a badass performance.
5. Taxi Driver Season 1 & 2
If you’re a Lee Je Hoon fan you won’t ever forget Kim Do Ki from Taxi Driver. The charming, skilled and true badass, Mr Kim Do Ki, the driver of the premium taxi will seek revenge for you if you were wronged.
It’s so hard to resist Kim Do Ki’s charm and what’s best is the entire cast crew with new enemies emerging in Season 2. Do check out Taxi Driver to get a taste of one hell of a roller coaster ride.
4. Penthouse
The epitome of makjang, killing, backstabbing, adultery and murder, there’s nothing missing in this list.
Penthouse Seasons 1,2 and 3 will have enough bad people do horrible things, but everything is forgiven because Joo Dan Tae slays it all.
Uhm Ki Joon as the notorious Joo Dan Tae and Park Eun Seok as Logan Lee is a good enough reasons to binge Penthouse, now streaming on Netflix!
3. Vincenzo
The infamous consigliere of the Italian Mafia, Vincenzo Cassano is one the most memorable badass male lead that’s going down in history. Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo wouldn’t show mercy on his enemies.
If you haven’t watched Vincenzo, what are you waiting for? The TvN/Netflix Kdrama has action, humour, plot and above all a charming cast.
2. Tale of the Nine-Tailed Season 1 & 2
If you need a reason to binge-watch a good action Kdrama with seductive and badass charming male leads, Tale of the Nine-Tailed is just the one you’re looking for.
Meet the famous Gumiho Lee Yeol and his brother Lee Rang who just can’t stop being goofy, and serious, and plotting to love/kill each other.
In Season 2 of Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938, Lee Yeon is locked in the past with his future in a very questionable scene.
1. Flower of Evil
When it comes to delivering masterpieces, both TVN and Lee Joon Gi are top tiers on the list. A crazy endearing performance by Lee Joon Gi as the psychopath Baek Hee Sung was enough to give goosebumps.
Hee Sung was a straight-up badass who protected his sister and his family, although the ending was quite bittersweet. Do check out Flower of Evil as it remains one of the best masterpieces of Lee Joon Gi to date.
The 12 episode drama is highly recommended!
