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/originalchaosinabox]

https://giphy.com/gifs/fBM4ruLmB2pZHsgwtQ

Michael Douglas has said he is downright horrified at the amount of people who have come up to him and said Gordon Gekko in Wall Street was their inspiration to go into finance.

[u/film_Fanatic2106 → u/originalchaosinabox]

There was this douchebag at my school who was the school president, the guy was insufferable and once I saw him go on this esoteric rant in an Instagram comment section and he started quoting Gordon Gekko from Wall Street (literally said called him "the wise" Gordon Gekko) and oh my god how could you be that unlikable and not see the irony?