Why We Love Antiheroes

I’ll be the first one to tell you I’m a sucker for antiheroes. And that’s not a knock against traditional heroes like Luke Skywalker, Spiderman, and Superman. I love those characters too. The problem is, they are often too perfect to be really interesting.

The best characters have flaws. What’s Superman’s flaw, really? You could argue he doesn’t have one. Spiderman? He’s a really good guy. Of course you know he’ll do the right thing. Same with Luke Skywalker (The Last Jedi doesn’t count to me).

And that’s where antiheroes come in. Antiheroes are far from perfect. They mess up—a lot. And they are messed up too. They make poor decisions and often do some things that a typically hero wouldn’t do.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Michael Corleone is easy to root for is because he emerges to the forefront after there was an assassination attempt on the life of his father. By default, we—the audience—want Michael to go after those who committed this crime.

Walter White starts selling meth because he wants to take care of his family after a cancer diagnosis. Of course he’s going to take out the unethical competition. And we cheer him on as he takes on brutal cartel kingpins. We also cringe at how he manipulates others and makes poor choices.

Robin Hood robs from the rich and gives to the poor. That’s not too different from Omar in The Wire who robs from drug dealers and gives money to the community. As members of the audience, it makes us like these characters more, despite their criminal activity.

It’s easy to view things as black or white. Right or wrong. But that’s often very idealistic thinking. The truth is, the world is actually more gray than we realize. Antiheroes often live in the gray, just like we do in the real world.