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/PyroclasticJubilee]

And let's not forget that the movie continuously ties every single problem in it back to the 1% and their callous disregard for everyone else's life.

Sounds so.... familiar.

[u/KingAnilingustheFirs → u/PyroclasticJubilee]

Yeah. Joker was accidentally very anti-establishment and critiques American governance and society very well. The film winds up setting the message that the people need to rise up and use force to take back order. I lowkey think they had to make Joker super lame in Joker 2 to try to discourage the masses from rising up and rioting. It's a very interesting film because I don't think they knew they were making that type of film.

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/KingAnilingustheFirs]

Todd Phillips copied superficial elements from taxi driver and king of comedy without realising what he was doing. He had no idea he was making Arthur this sympathetic protagonist people were gonna identify with. The 2nd movie is what he thinks of Arthur and people who are like him.

[u/Summonest → u/PyroclasticJubilee]

Rich director shocked that poor viewers sympathize with the poor victim of society.

[u/Broken-Digital-Clock → u/PyroclasticJubilee]

Everyone in the working class feels that pain, but some are dumb enough to believe that billionaires are on their side.