# Who’s your favorite anti-hero **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [February 23, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253 "2023-02-23T19:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/41 "2023-02-24T00:13:28Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Robin genuinely cares about people and wants to help them; Batman just wants to hurt bad guys. Only when he’s written badly. (Also, I love how taking this sentence out of context completely changes who it sounds like you’re talking about.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/42 "2023-02-24T00:22:56Z")
Heh. Good catch. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/43 "2023-02-24T00:37:22Z")
Jonah Hex Wolverine Deadpool Ender Wiggins ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/44 "2023-02-24T01:39:07Z")
[DC Comic’s _Hitman_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman_(DC_Comics)) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/45 "2023-02-24T01:55:39Z")
I know a lot of people didn’t like the later seasons of _Dexter_, but I think Dexter Morgan deserves a mention. And I’m not sure if Saul Goodman counts as an anti-hero, but I like Saul Goodman. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/46 "2023-02-24T02:24:48Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Flashman Nice one! ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/47 "2023-02-24T03:41:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > (Also, I love how taking this sentence out of context completely changes who it sounds like you’re talking about.) Holey word play, Batman. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/48 "2023-02-24T03:57:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > > I know he is portrayed as such, especially by Disney, but he is a lawbreaker in the society in which he lives. > > So what? Since when is a hero necessarily someone who upholds the law? Yeah, what about George Washington? What are you, some kind of Tory? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/49 "2023-02-24T04:19:05Z")
I see Elric and Blondie are taken, which were my first picks. One that is probably less known to most is Hari Michaelson/Caine from the Heroes Die novel and sequels (Acts of Caine). Since we’re looking at a wide variety of fiction and definitions, I’ll include the TVTrope defintions. > **[Anti-Hero - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiHero)** > > An Archetypal Character who is almost as common in modern fiction as the Ideal Hero, an anti-hero is a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. They may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely … A few other options: Guts from Berserk (manga) Judge Dredd, 2000AD (comic) Vlad Taltos, Jhereg and sequel novels But if you forced me to pick my favorite at gunpoint, I’d probably go with one of the granddaddies that haven’t yet been mentioned, Conan the Cimmerian. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/50 "2023-02-24T05:28:47Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > he is a lawbreaker in the society in which he lives. “Follows the law” is not a heroic prerequisite. Heroic and Lawful Good are not synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/51 "2023-02-24T05:36:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Esmeralda Weatherwax > Sam Vimes Vimes, sure - I mean, he even starts out as a Dirty Harry expy before becoming his own thing. Moist, yeah, sure. Unless Trickster and antihero aren’t the same thing. Which IMO is the case, but I don’t feel _too_ strongly about it. Cohen, not so sure - do we consider his archetype, Conan, to be an _anti_hero? I could go either way. But … Granny is an outright hero, and I’ll die on this hill. Crotchetiness isn’t a disqualifier for heroism. She canonically never went to the bad. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/52 "2023-02-24T05:49:21Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > One that is probably less known to most is Hari Michaelson/Caine from the Heroes Die novel and sequels (Acts of Caine). This reminds me - [Ciaphas Caine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaphas_Cain), from Warhammer 40K. Based off Flashman and Blackadder, and thinks himself not to be a hero at all, but to the outside observer, completely heroic (the truth being somewhere in the middle) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/53 "2023-02-24T06:37:51Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > My Avatar - Lucas Jackson (Cool Hand Luke), Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver), Eddie Felton (The Hustler), like that. Another Paul Newman - I was just re-watching the Newman Western Hombre and IMHO his John Russell definitely qualifies. He does the “right” thing eventually, he acts in a heroic manner and is an anti-bigot. But except wanting to return the stolen money to the San Carlos Reservation, he tries mightily to stay detached and not stick his neck out for others. Especially when it might cause him some risk. When the house lady who has no other prospects and was running his adopted father’s boarding house at a profit for twenty years offers to make the same deal of steady income with no effort on his part, he cuts her off cool as a cucumber. He owes her nothing, she’s not mentioned in the will, so she gets nothing. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/54 "2023-02-24T09:36:20Z")
The original and best - Jack Carter. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kV4XrUDBlfM/maxresdefault.jpg "Get Carter (1971) Official Trailer - Michael Caine, Ian Hendry Movie HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV4XrUDBlfM) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/55 "2023-02-24T12:52:39Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > 30+ posts and no Boba Fett? Hurray! The cult has been deprogramed! 50+ posts and no Han Solo? In the original Star Wars (or…‘Episode 4: A New Hope’ if you must 🙄) he was very much an anti-hero for most of the movie-- a smuggler, acting purely out of self-interest. Obi-Wan and the gang only solicited his help out of necessity, and offered to pay him for his services. He initially took off before the big Death Star battle, saying something like ‘this ain’t my fight, kid’, before having a change of heart and coming back to be Luke’s wing man, transforming from Anti-Hero to Reluctant Hero. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/56 "2023-02-24T13:30:41Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > But … Granny is an outright hero, and I’ll die on this hill. Crotchetiness isn’t a disqualifier for heroism. She canonically never went to the bad. OK, I withdraw that one. It was shaky to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/57 "2023-02-24T14:18:38Z")
Avon, from “Blakes Seven.” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/58 "2023-02-24T14:45:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > But … Granny is an outright hero, and I’ll die on this hill. Crotchetiness isn’t a disqualifier for heroism. She canonically never went to the bad. > > OK, I withdraw that one. It was shaky to begin with. Embarrassing admission: When I saw the reference to ‘Granny’ in this post I initially assumed Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies. I mean, she _ **was** _ crotchety yet heroic 🙄 When I backtracked throguh the thread and saw that silenus had used the name ‘Esmeralda Weatherwax’ I thought “wait, _ **that’s** _ Granny’s actual name? I thought her surname was _Clampett_. Was she Jed’s _maternal_ grandma?” I had to google ‘Esmeralda Weatherwax’ to learn she is a character in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I _ **really** _ need to read that, since references to it come up a lot on this board, and I feel culturally bereft 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/59 "2023-02-24T14:52:04Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I had to google ‘Esmeralda Weatherwax’ to learn she is a character in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I _ **really** _ need to read that No argument there. Sim Vimes, also mentioned in this thread, is also a Discworld character. (Granny Weatherwax is a (the?) main character in the “Witches” sub-series, while Sam Vimes is the main character of the “City Watch” sub-series.) > **[Discworld | Storylines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Storylines)** > > The Discworld novels and stories are, in principle, stand-alone works. However, a number of novels and stories form novel sequences with distinct story arcs: ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253/60 "2023-02-24T14:57:45Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > The original and best - Jack Carter. Michael Ciane was good at playing the anti-hero. Your post brought to mind his portrayal of Peachy Carnehan in _The Man Who Would Be King_. And throw in Sean Connery’s Daniel Dravot in that film as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-s-your-favorite-anti-hero/980253.md?page=4)