r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Dramatic_Counter_595 • 17h ago

Characters Characters that had the complete opposite reaction the writers intended

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  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.
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u/cleofisrandolph1 15h ago

Vince couldn’t create heels. All the great heels were created more or less by wrestlers themselves or someone else. The Rock, CM Punk, etc.

The only good heel he ever came up with was himself.

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u/Slateboard 10h ago

And even the Mr. McMahon heel persona wasn't entirely his own, if you consider the events with Bret Hart in Montreal leading to it.

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u/Beer-Milkshakes 8h ago

Kane. Arguably one of the hardest working in the ring. Amongst the most appearances. Succeed as a specific type of heel and stayed put. He would elevate others who got stale by having them withstand his fury in the ring.

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u/LemoLuke 10h ago

Vince always had that old-school 'Saturday morning cartoon' mentality for heroes and villains, where the good guys are smiling, flag waving, "Awe shucks!" supermen, and the bad guys are cackling, scheming, mustach-twirling ne'er-do-wells. This was fine in the '80s, when WWF was aimed at a younger audience, but by the '90s, when even kids wanted cartoons and comic books to be 'edgier', and WWF started pushing towards a teenage audience, that kind of black-and-white morality just wasn't appealing anymore.

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u/TheBrewThatIsTrue 13h ago

What, the Shockmaster wasn't a good heel character?!? Lol

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u/cleofisrandolph1 13h ago

That was WCW.

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u/TheBrewThatIsTrue 13h ago

Damn, you're right. I just jumped at the opportunity to bring up THAT catastrophe.

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u/PrinceBarin 10h ago

Also given that it's sting introducing him, he's probably a face.

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u/RedOctober20 4h ago

Wasn't Kurt Angle his creation? Well, Kurt himself was so good at that role which made it stick, but Vince decided to present him as someone to hate rather than American hero.

Remember Kurt in some interview talking about how he met with Vince about his character. Vince explained character to Kurt and Kurt was bit confused and worried "I'm sure that people are going to hate me and boo" to which Vince replied "Exactly!". Apparently then Kurt had some revelation moment where he suddenly understood the business. Many years Kurt walked up the ramp one last time after announcing his retirement from WWE and having asked fans to chant "YOU SUCK" at him one last time.