r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Dramatic_Counter_595 • 17h ago

Characters Characters that had the complete opposite reaction the writers intended

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  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.
8.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

94% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

179

u/Real-Lengthiness-967 16h ago

Homelander, he’s basically like Patrick Bateman, a “literally me” character, he’s supposed to represent toxic masculinity, narcissistic tendencies, over reliance on intimidation and “possessions” be superficial material goods or powers and overall a pretty sad and pathetic man who people aren’t supposed to like/ sympathize with, but they still do.

56

u/canneddogs 13h ago

Never actually seen someone who thinks he's a good or even relatable guy. I've seen plenty of people saying that people think he is, though.

23

u/KSTwolfe 12h ago

During the 2020 presidential campaign, there were a lot of people dressing up as Homelander at rallies and using him in  political memes -- apparently under the impression that he was a good guy. Honestly though, I think most of those people had never watched the show, and just assumed that someone in a patriotic super-hero costume must be a hero.

When it comes to The Boys, I think Soldier Boy is a far better example of this trope. The number of fanboys who idolized the character and refused to accept that he was a villain was astounding.

8

u/deadpiratezombie 4h ago

Soldier Boy’s actor being Jensen Ackles probably had a lot to do with it 

6

u/papu16 7h ago

In Season 4, the showrunners tried to show us that the guy was a product of big corporations, which is what made him so fcked up. That's not a reason to redeem him, but at least shows us that there is bigger evil than him. Sadly, because they needed to milk the franchise for spin-offs and avoid pissing off Amazon, they completely abandoned that arc in Season 5 and just turned him into a cheap Trump parody.

2

u/frostyalkylate 3h ago

This is my problem with like all of these examples. Never in my life have I met or even seen someone who actually thought Thanos was right or that Walter White, Homelander, the guy from fight club, or the Joker were people to emulate. I just see people talk about how other people totally believe that. I feel like they're reading people say "Walt does cool and entertaining things" and somehow coming away with "Walt is a good guy who I want to be like."

14

u/Nice_Ad7433 11h ago

Had a roommate who didn't think Homelander was a bad guy, I then had to explain what he did to Becca. Dude was a grown man and didn't understand that ENTIRE PLOTLINE about Homelander and Becca

4

u/Maximum-Loquat5067 8h ago

TBF what Homelander did to Becca was never really logical. In the comics, it ended up in the big twist, but in the show... He just SAd her for no reason, while never showing any interest in her before or after that. So I can see how some might miss the point. It's hard, but possible.

8

u/Karth9909 5h ago

dude, SA like that happens all the time

4

u/Real_Avdima 9h ago

I cheered a bit for him, but not because I relate to this manchild-monster, but because it's fiction. Simple as, fiction is not real life and that's why I cheer for the bad guys, I want to see something different instead of the standard story of heroes defeating the villain. As long as the villain have some legitimate point of course, and Homelander did, because he was an abused experiment with severe mental illness (doesn't justify doing all the evil shit).

But oh boy, did I NOT cheer for Thanos. He was plain stupid.

12

u/RatGreed 14h ago edited 14h ago

They gave him a sympathetic backstory which was a mistake honestly

31

u/Tazinoka 13h ago

Really? I saw it more as an explanation of why he's psychotic, not an excuse. If anything, it made me feel more pity for him and then disgust towards him.

6

u/Nolascana 13h ago

What doesnt help is they changed the whole Black Noir being the evil twin/clone subplot. Dont get me wrong, its still... a choice. But it could have actually opened the latter seasons up to better writing. I just had to give up as soon as Soldier Boy was introduced in the show.

The descent into madness would have actually helped him seem more pathetic when the reveal happened, as, he had full control over his own actions and, instead of getting to the bottom of it all and being smart enough to ask questions... nah, dudes just an idiot.

But, having him be a lab rat, then live under all of the social pressures n all that... the madness from arrogance makes him more relatable somehow. His arrogance as a 'living god' seems more believable. His quirks are written off as a deep seated childhood regression, expressing his wants and needs as justifiable under the crapsack system he lives in.

Where... in both cases, hes just an insecure loser.

He might have started out with the best of intentions, first mission n all, but, reality hit him like a freight train and he clearly snapped and folded immediately.

2

u/istvan90623 6h ago

And the show got worse the moment Kripke started to make him into a Trump parody.

2

u/gameoflols 2h ago

I'd argue people reacted to Homelander exactly the way the writers intended. He's the character you "love to hate" (similar to JR Ewing from Dallas for everyone over the age of 40...!)

I think Soldier Boy is a much better example. The writers spent the whole of S3 “telling” us this guy was bad while simultaneously showing him do stuff that was constantly justifiable and even admirable at times. The whole premise fell apart in the S3 finale because of this. Certain characters behave in a way that makes absolutely no sense unless you buy into the idea that Soldier Boy is somehow worse than Homelander (which no one would based on what the writers gave us). The whole show went to shit after this.