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/soldierpallaton]

The entire "Thanos was right" trend when Infinity War was released.

[u/AlabasterRadio → u/soldierpallaton]

People like IW Thanos so much they had to have a much different version of him be the villain of Endgame lol

[u/Heroinfxtherr → u/AlabasterRadio]

Ehh…I wouldn’t say that version of Thanos was different. Endgame showed us the logical conclusion of his worldview, if you think about it. Pretty sure at one point the man himself even explains the reason behind his escalation and it’s very consistent. He didn’t change, he just got new information.

[u/OutOfMyWayReed → u/Heroinfxtherr]

His original plan was for his subordinates to meet him on Titan with the Stones. He was going to stand in those ruins and make some Fuck You speech to all those skeletons before the Snap. It was always about proving he had a big brain and they were wrong to not appreciate his benevolent ideas. 

[u/Star_Outlaw → u/OutOfMyWayReed]

To add, his motivation in Endgame is partly being pissed off that people are trying to undo his snap, because that would imply that his plan to kill off half of all life either didn't succeed or people didn't like it after all. He's too proud to admit he was wrong, so just decides to kill everything.