In recent years, it has become much more common for the protagonists of our fictions to behave in manners other than the upstanding, two-fisted all-American heroes of years passed. Take your space heroes, f’rinstance: Where Buck Rogers once stood as a paragon of virtue, we now have loveable rogue Han Solo, brooding soldier Mal Reynolds and the devil-may-care disdain of Captain Marvelous. Several high-profile comic book characters whom I once enjoyed (whose names will remain unspoken because I’m tired of harping on it) have had long stretches where I found their adventures nigh-unreadable due to the obnoxious personality traits exhibited by the heroes. While I appreciate that fact that this can lead to more nuanced characters and more complex stories, I still miss the days when (for instance) Batman was allowed to have an adult conversation without tersely insulting his colleagues, alienating his family and cutting everyone else’s dialogue off to prove that he’s out-thinking them…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) always felt bad for Black Canary since she missed the one punch, asking: Who’s the biggest jerkass in all pop-culture?
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Wolverine.
Franklin Richards. He is the reason that living in the Marvel Universe is suffering.
Grand Moff Tarkin. He tested the Death Star’s “Planet-Blower-Upper-Gun” on Leia’s planet even after pretty much implying if she told him where the Rebel base was he’d let it go. Rude.
Bill
Early from Firefly. What. A. Douchenozzle.
Joffrey from GoT isn’t much better, his only saving grace being that he’s a kid and could maybe turn himself given the right circumstance.
And as for protagonists, probably Hal Jordan.
That’s an easy one. Go to Superdickery.com for your answer.
Beast Wars Megatron.
Namor, half of his stories involve him trying to steal another mans wife.