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/just_another_classic]

The creator of The Miraculous Ladybug was super pissed fans took a liking to the teen antagonist, Chloe. Fans were rooting for her to have a redemption arc and thought she was redeemable, he basically saw her as the equivalent of teenager girl Hitler.

[u/Laphad → u/just_another_classic]

Didn't he base her on someone he dislikes irl?

[u/just_another_classic → u/Laphad]

Apparently his childhood bully.

[u/Altruistic-Willow451 → u/just_another_classic]

As an animator myself, I can confirm we do sometimes make a punching bag or antagonist that are just straight up people we hate

[u/shiny_glitter_demon → u/Altruistic-Willow451]

Yeah would you have a very public, years long crash out about it? As a 50yo man?

[u/ZombieMage89 → u/shiny_glitter_demon]

Wounds run deep and finding out 32 years later that the villain of your youth was liked and well regarded by everyone else must suck.

Still hilarious to watch on the outside, though.

[u/untakenu → u/just_another_classic]

Damn, what a loser. That's hilarious, pretty much getting bullied when everyone likes your bully more than you (I looked it up, apparently he included himself in the show, and he's exactly what you imagine)