In something of a sequel to last year’s Kick-Ass Women of the CW, this year the CW opened its TCA 2012 Winter Press Tour by parading out its hunkiest men for its Bad-Ass Boys panel, which included Jared Padalecki (SUPERNATURAL), Shane West (NIKITA), Joseph Morgan (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES), Ed Westwick (GOSSIP GIRL), Wilson Bethel (HART OF DIXIE), and Kristoffer Polaha (RINGER).  The panel was a riot for the attending press, with subjects ranging from favorite bad-asses to crowning moments of bad-assery from the guys’ youths.  They even eventually got around to talking about their TV shows.

Of course, they all had to come to a proper definition for what a badass really was, and no one among them could quite agree. When asked about feats of posturing and brawn from their youth, Polaha, who expressed surprise about having been included in the panel for his portrayal of Henry Butler on RINGER, launched into an anecdote about his pyromania days that turned into something of a fable for fire safety: “We got a rag and tried to light the rag on fire. But it was just smoldering, so we pitched it over a fence into someone’s back yard. And throughout the course of the night, the fence and their pool house caught fire.” Padalecki said he was never much of a troublemaker growing up, and provided a somewhat different definition for the term than Polaha. “I had the opposite definition, growing up, and still do, of being a bad-ass. I always think being a bad-ass kind of means doing the right thing.” Bethel quickly replied, “I thought it was bad-ass when we went to church last Sunday. That was hardcore, man.”

"The Bad-Ass Boys of The CW" Panel Pictured (L-R): Kris Polaha (RINGER), Wilson Bethel (HART OF DIXIE), Jared Padalecki (SUPERNATURAL),

Ed Westwick (GOSSIP GIRL), Joseph Morgan (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES), and Shane West (NIKITA). Photo credit: Joe Magnani/The CW.

One question prompted a discussion about the group’s favorite purveyors of bad-assery, with answers varying from alien hunters to master chefs. Most of the guys scoffed at Morgan’s choice of Gordon Ramsay (HELL’S KITCHEN). “Paula Deen’s more bad-ass than Gordon Ramsay,” Padalecki joked. Padalecki’s own answer was the troops around the world, with West naming Michael Biehn from TERMINATOR and ALIENS for his pick, and Kristoffer Polaha picking Tim Tebow.

Stepping away from theoretical bad-ass-ness, the boys of the CW discussed what went into designing and developing the different aspects of their characters. West detailed a more physical training regimen required for preparation on NIKITA. “You spend a little bit of time in the gym, a lot of time on the gun range, and thankfully everyone that was cast on the show has some kind of athletic background so there’s something that we can pull from.” West also shared his feelings on being allowed to make the Michael character of NIKITA his own: “I loved Roy [Dupuis’] work in the original series, and I wanted to be able to have a chance to put my stamp on it.”

Padalecki’s method was less physical and more internal, as he revealed when he shared his process for creating Soulless Sam, an evil, soulless version of his character from SUPERNATURAL. “When you hear somebody call somebody soulless, it’s usually because they’ve done something more logically than emotionally, so I tried to think of pure reason, pure logic, and totally cut out emotion. I tried to not be swayed by the emotions in the room, the emotion of the characters.” Morgan agreed that playing a dark character like his Klaus can be satisfying: “For me it’s the sociopathic nature of the character, the idea that you can be in a room with him and your never known what he’s going to do. He could kiss you or kill you, and it’s all the same to him.” Morgan also shared fears that Klaus’ potency as a villain might be compromised with new developments in his character. “I worry about them making him softer. I think they can make him more human and more relatable without necessarily taking away any of his bad-ass-ism.  I think that it's possible to have someone who is sort of an antihero who does tear hearts out and break necks and still you can kind of relate to him on a certain level.”

Jared Padalecki (SUPERNATURAL), left, with Ed Westwick (GOSSIP GIRL).

Photo credit: Joe Magnani/The CW.

Bethel’s defining badass quality for Wade Kinsella, his character on HART OF DIXIE, was slightly less abstract: his perfect abs. “I’m pretty confident it will be a bad sign for my career when they tell me to stop taking my shirt off. I’ll take that as an indication that my time on the CW is short-lived.” “And I’ll stop watching,” Padalecki replied. Sadly enough for those in attendance, a live demonstration of Bethel’s six-pack was not part of the program, though the looping slideshow on the giant screens behind the panel occasionally gave everyone a glimpse.

A couple of the guys dropped some hints about future happenings on their respective series. Westwick teased that he’d like to see a bit more of Chuck’s darker side on GOSSIP GIRL after being asked if the character would continue to mellow out: “Hopefully we do see a little bit more of the devious side, the devil within, rear its head again.” Morgan shared his thoughts on two of Klaus’ brothers who will be appearing in future episodes. “They’re bad-asses-in-training, I would say. They’ve started to master the heart-pulling-out and the neck-breaking and all that stuff. One of them has been around for a good few hundred years and the other one’s no spring chicken either.”

Joseph Morgan (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES) describes upcoming bad-asses-in-training

on his series, as Shane West (NIKITA) looks on. Photo credit: Joe Magnani/The CW.

Some of the answers from the panel provided a glimpse into the boys’ personal lives, as Padalecki beamed giddy excitement over his approaching parenthood with his pregnant wife Gen. “I’m very excited. I hope it doesn’t bleed over into my work because I have a boyish excitement about it. I’m almost worried about how excited I am. I feel like I should be nervous … but I’m just champing at the bit to get my hands in there and raise a child.” Padalecki said his wife is expected to deliver sometime in March.

Finally, to close out the panel, one member of the press outed Bethel as a poetry writer -- he even had an art and literary magazine for a couple of years, he revealed. Bethel recovered his full bad-ass status nicely, though. “I only write poetry while I’m riding my motorcycle. Smoking weed. Chasing rattlesnakes.”

Kris Polaha (RINGER), left, and Wilson Bethel (HART OF DIXIE).

Photo credit: Joe Magnani/The CW.

And so ended the panel. But it did beg the question: who among them was the most bad-ass? Jared Padalecki certainly won at funny. But in an all-out battle between their characters, it’s most likely Morgan’s Klaus would emerge the winner just by virtue of being a vampire/werewolf hybrid, so we’ll have to declare him the hypothetical victor. But Bethel did score a twenty for using the word “bad-ass” the most in a sentence, so at least he has that -- and those abs.

GOSSIP GIRL airs Mondays at 8 pm

HART OF DIXIE airs Mondays at 9 pm

NIKITA airs Fridays at 8 pm

RINGER airs Tuesdays at 9 pm

SUPERNATURAL airs Fridays at 9 pm

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES airs Thursdays at 8 pm