As someone who was around during the dark and dangerous 1990s in comics, the concept of the anti-hero is one that I treat with more than a little bit of mistrust. Sure, Wolverine’s “best I am stabby stabbity stab” gimmick is both popular and effective, but many of those who followed in his footsteps fell more and more on the side of “anti” rather than “hero.” A creator has to be careful of the balance with such an archetype, as we see with the example of criminal murderer and drug dealer Walter White or the immoral-but-mighty-cool Man With No Name. Fictional protagonists are allowed a greater degree of leeway when it comes to traditional heroic attributes, leading to today’s cynical query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) finds the first thing popping into my head to be the criminal anarchist rebel, Captain Mal Reynolds, but there are half-a-dozen other worthy candidates I coule mention, asking: Who is the BEST anti-hero of them all?
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The poster-boy scoundrel, the man Han Solo himself.
He’s up there, its hard to make a case anyone going higher.