Anti-Heroes

 

Anti-hero:

- a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

(Bet you were surprised by these examples weren't you?)

    When we think of an antihero we usually think of Red Hood, Punisher, Deadpool, Hulk, or Wolverine. You may be wondering, why are antiheroes so loved? Well today, I'm going to help you get an understanding of what they are and why they have gotten so much attention. 

    Antiheroes have become widely popular due to the success of comic films and Netflix shows such as Deadpool 1 and 2, Logan, and the Punisher Netflix series. Because of this, comic sales went through the roof, and people started getting into their most popular stories. But of course, it doesn't stop there. People find antiheroes to be interesting because of how they are willing to save people/the world through any means necessary, including killing the villain. This gets peoples' attention as we are always used to heroes being good and not resorting to killing, but with characters like the Punisher, he kills criminals to save innocent people, which is something everyone wishes someone would do to real-life criminals in order to keep people safe, but the law forbids that kind of activity. In addition to this, people also love how characters like Deadpool, who is a crazy mercenary with cancer, kills his targets. When Deadpool is killing, he also breaks the fourth wall to address the audience which of course is funny because his victims or allies don't know who or what he's talking to/about. 

    Finally, people love antiheroes because of a crucial component of the character...the origin story. For characters like Hulk/Banner, he lost his mom to his abusive dad and later killed him when he attacked him at his mother's grave and then became the Hulk after absorbing gamma radiation from a bomb he built while trying to save Rick Jones. This alone will gain a lot of sympathy for the character and people will understand why Hulk and Banner want to be left alone despite trying to help people. With the Punisher, he lost his family to a gang shootout in Central Park almost immediately after he returned home from deployment. This, combined with his PTSD from overseas made him conduct a one-man war on crime. Upon getting viewing this origin story, you'd agree with Frank for wanting to get rid of criminals in order to keep people safe as a lot of people in the real world would love to see someone take the law into their own hands and wipe out crime in their own way. But of course, this cant be done because of the laws in place.

    All in all, people love a good anti-hero as they work outside the bounds that normal heroes are constrained in. They also find it interesting how an anti-hero is made as it paints a picture if how they came to be and why they do what they do.