One that comes to mind is Breaking Bad. It’s pretty easy to hate Walt by the end even if we like seeing him on screen and what he does.
I highly recommend The Count of Monte Cristo if you’ve never read it. It’s way more than a revenge novel. It’s about the search for justice in a system that has denied you justice.
Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle is an interesting one. He’s pretty fucking despicable, but when I first watched the movie as a freshly-pubescent teen, I bought into his sick view of the world and took the film at face value. That is, I thought it was a story about a weird-but-well-meaning dude who decides to take on some baddies.
It’s from 1976, but if it were made today, Travis would 100% be a violent misogynist incel posting his manifesto to 4chan instead of writing it in his diary.
Code Geass
The book and the film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”.
Film takes some liberties killing Nazis, in reality, for the missions covered in the film, nobody died.
Trailer:
Book:
https://damienlewis.com/2024/04/15/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare/
Most of the main characters in The Expanse book series are anti-heroes with Chrisjen Avasarala and Amos Burton being some of my favorite of all time. Almost every character is grey, with a few exceptions.
Side Note: Camina Drummer is a great character in the TV series but barely there in the books.
Chrisjen starts as an anti-villain and, over time, morphs into an anti-hero.
It’s brilliant writing. I despise her. I love the character.
If life transcends death, then I will seek for you there. If not, then there too.
Elric of Melnibone. Pretty grim '60s-'70s fantasy Michael Moorcock. Wikipedia gives a pretty good summary of the premise.
Elric is the last emperor of the stagnating island civilization of Melniboné. Physically weak, the anemic Elric must use drugs (special herbs) to maintain his health and vitality. From childhood, he read freely in the immense royal library and learned of the world outside the Dreaming Isle. Perhaps due to this in-depth study, unlike other members of his race, Elric has a conscience. He witnesses the decadence of his culture, which once ruled the known world, and worries about the rise of the Young Kingdoms populated by humans (Melnibonéans consider themselves separate from humanity), along with the threat they pose to his empire. Because of Elric’s introspective self-loathing and hatred of Melnibonéan traditions, his subjects find him odd and unfathomable. In addition to his skill with herbs, Elric is an accomplished sorcerer and summoner. As emperor of Melniboné, Elric is able to call for aid upon the traditional patron of the Melniboné emperors, Arioch, a Lord of Chaos and Duke of Hell. Elric’s discovery of the sword serves as both his greatest asset and disadvantage. The sword confers upon Elric strength, health, and fighting prowess, allowing him to do away with his dependence on drugs, but it must be fed by the souls of intelligent beings. Most of Moorcock’s stories about Elric feature this relationship with Stormbringer, and how it—despite Elric’s best intentions—brings doom to everything he holds dear.
Book series? Try Michael Moorcock’s Elric series.
Either Bad Lieutenant.
Bad Santa
- Death note (anime)
- Code Geass (anime)
- Billions (tv series)
- Ozark (tv series)
- Attack on Titan (anime)
- Peaky Blinders (tv series)
- Punisher (tv series)
- Daredevil (tv series) [?]
Marvel’s Loki.
Hola Kitty.
Normally I wouldn’t pimp out my YT channel on Lemmy, but I made a video on this topic a few weeks ago: https://youtu.be/kklfzIxWJ7I
I hope some of these are new to you.
