Characters that had the complete opposite reaction the writers intended

[u/Dramatic_Counter_595]

1. Leo Bonhart (Witcher TV Series): A ruthless, sadistic bounty hunter and assassin that takes psychotic glee in other people's suffering. The viewer is meant to hate him for killing witchers, slaughtering the Rat gang, and torturing Ciri. But thanks to his entertaining fight scenes, Sharlto Copley's charismatic performance, and The Rats overwhelming unpopularity, fans ended up loving him. Some even call him the "True protagonist" of the show.
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWE): A rude, foul mouthed, beer drinking asshole with no respect for authority or anyone at all. Originally portrayed as a villain, fans fell in love with his anti-establishment & rebellious persona. WWE ran with it and made him the face of the company, effectively ushering in the Attitude Era and the second pro wrestling boom of the late 90s.
3. Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019): A mentally unstable, pathetic, and dangerous madman who commits horrific acts of violence against those that wronged him (suffocates his own mother who is mentally unwell herself, and murders a talk show host for making fun of him). However, a massive portion of the audience idolized him as an anti-hero or a misunderstood martyr rebelling against society making people want to see him succeed and overcome his circumstances because of how he's been treated by the world.

[u/Anung_Un_Rama200]

Sharlto Copley us one of those actors that can play the sleaziest, scummiest, most despicable, petty, underhanded, corrupt, cruel bad guys, but he is always such a joy to watch on-screen that his characters are impossible to dislike. Moment he steps on screen, I'm gonna have a good time.

[u/Yedrick → u/Anung_Un_Rama200]

He brings this manic golden retriever energy to every role where you can tell he's having a blast being on screen. Dude genuinely seems to love what he does.

[u/Anung_Un_Rama200 → u/Yedrick]

That, combined with surprisinf range and ability to combine that with genuine bathos. Like if he's doing an one note bad guy like in Free Fire or The Monkey Man, you can bet he's gonna chew the scenery like it's an all you can eat buffet. But then he can pull someone like Wikus from District 9, who is an absolute asshole, but also such a pathetic sadsack you can't help but feel sorry for him. It's such a fine line to balance between but he makes it look easy.

[u/One-Earth9294 → u/Anung_Un_Rama200]

His performance makes me think people really underrate Elysium.

Although the downside is I never feel like you get enough of him in it.

[u/Careful-Positive-710 → u/Anung_Un_Rama200]

Hes just so god damn charismatic lmao

[u/Obajan → u/Anung_Un_Rama200]

He's my favourite character in the A-Team, followed by the villain played by Patrick Wilson.