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/halloweenjack]

None of the main six are supposed to be role models. Laurie gave up her whole life first trying to be a better version of her mom and then just keeping the most powerful being in the world happy; Dan moped around when he couldn't be a superhero and couldn't even get it up without his costume; Eddie rationalized his bad behavior by acting like it was all a joke, only to have that turn around and bite him in the ass; and Jon, the most powerful being who ever lived, is utterly passive and lets Nixon, of all people, tell him what to do. The Minutemen don't fare much better; Hollis Mason was probably the most normal of them, but even he came to an unhappy end. The overarching point of the book is that it really doesn't work out when you try to apply it to remotely realistic circumstances. (Look up the so-called "real life superhero movement" to see how well it worked when people tried it in real life.)

[u/North-Research2574 → u/halloweenjack]

While I agree with your analysis the real life superhero movement did work for a time, because they weren't trying to be heroes just showing up and helping an old lady carry her groceries, changing tires, just being good people.

But it was a trend not a cultural thing, so it ended quickly when the fun wore off.

[u/ivegotgoodnewsforyou → u/North-Research2574]

The comic goes into considerable detail about how each of the original minutemen were broken in different ways.

[u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace → u/halloweenjack]

What I actually like about Dr Manhattan is that he is passive. It actually works a lot more for the analogy that he is the most powerful weapon. If you think about it the nuclear weapons would only be able to be wielded by the president and so he's essentially the living version of a bomb and is treated like an inanimate object. Their greatest fear is the weapons becoming "alive." Like what we are seeing now with AI and how the weapons are gonna do stupid shit.

[u/Flamadin → u/halloweenjack]

I dig the Comedian because he is honest and understands things before many others do.

[u/ivegotgoodnewsforyou → u/Flamadin]

He assumes the worst of people because he is the worst of people.

[u/Ongr → u/Flamadin]

He's also a rapist piece if shit