Anti-Hero: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]''.

** Vegeta. In his first appearance, he's the [[Big Bad]], but in the ongoing series, in his effort to beat Goku, he keeps saving the day. He also often unnecessarily endangers the situation by letting his enemies reach their full potential, so he can have a honorable fight.

* ''[[Fate/stay night]]''

** Archer walked this line. He grew up as an idealistic busybody, believing that he could be a 'champion of justice' and turn the world into a better place. In the end, he realized that for everyone he saved, someone else must die. He lost faith in his own ideals, and from then on, he simply killed whoever posed a threat to the rest of humanity, saving millions by killing thousands - "for the greater good", literally. Naturally, he's also a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]].

** Shirou during the "Heaven's Feel" route faces an important choice between two ideals, both leading to Anti-Hero-dom. Choosing to {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Dog|kill Sakura]]}} leads him to kill his emotions and become an Archer/Kiritsugu-style "questionable method" antihero (this, incidentally, is a Bad End). On the other hand, choosing to {{spoiler|[[Always Save the Girl|protect Sakura]], no matter the cost,}} leads him to become more of a "questionable motive" antihero (since the one way to {{spoiler|save Sakura}} is to stop the Grail War, something unquestionably heroic).

* Scar from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' starts out as a villain and gradually transforms into one of these. Second Greed as well.

* Nao Yuuki from ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' is an arguable case; bent on vengeance for her mother, who was severely wounded in a robbery, she uses herself as bait to trap paedophiles, who she proceeds to rob. It's never made clear if her victims receive punishment under a proper judicial system. In fact, she seems to enjoy going after her victims a bit too much.

* Yukiteru from ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'', after his parents were killed and he [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass]]. The most recent chapter showed him massacring orphans in the name of becoming God; it's implied that once he becomes god he'll bring them back (keeping him from outright villainy).

* Shinji Ikari of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is a deeply neurotic protagonist who is withdrawn, socially awkward, and completely lacking in self-confidence, but is shown to be a good person under his many psychological problems, all of which stem from him being the series' resident [[Butt Monkey]]. Asuka, too, fits the role of Anti-Hero, as her only reason for piloting her Evangelion isn't to protect mankind, but to show everyone how talented she is. Somewhat mitigated by the fact that when she was around 4 her mother lost her mind and thought that a doll was Asuka. And her father started to have an affair with the head nurse in charge of Asuka's mother. So at age four, who cares about Asuka? That's right, nobody. So she works around her abandonment issues by trying to get everyone to need her. Because she doesn't want to be alone. Shinji has the same kind of childhood, but works around it by trying not to have to make any decisions, because he thinks ''he'' is in the wrong about most things. This show messes up the background history of every character.

* Mirielle and Kirika in ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]'' are assassins, more or less, ruthless, cold-blooded killers. Kirika is saddened, not by killing, but by the fact she isn't saddened by killing, and Mirielle, not even that much, sometimes joking about their kills off-handedly. In this anime, they are the protagonists. There are no traditional heroes in ''[[Noir (anime)|Noir]]''. Except maybe {{spoiler|[[Deceased Parents Are the Best|Mirielle's parents]]}}.

* Sagara Sousuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' fits this trope's description pretty well. Somewhat of a [[Heroic Sociopath]], all that really matters to him is Kaname's safety and completing his missions. Empathy and strict moral principles aren't really qualities that fit in to his personality. He is ''definitely'' against [[Save the Villain|saving villains]], has a naturally violent nature and [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|sees absolutely nothing wrong in offing people]] or [[Shoot the Dog|Shooting The Dog]], ''tries'' to be a [[Ineffectual Loner|loner]] (though he tends to [[Magnetic Hero|fail at that]]), is both ''very'' [[Chaste Hero|chaste]] and [[Celibate Hero|celibate]], and has [[Combat Pragmatist|rather dubious combat methods]]. For example, would a normal person turn a theme park mascot into powered armor designed for police use (and lament that he "lost out on one of his investments" when the police doesn't buy it)?

* Accelerator from ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' becomes this in the Last Order arc.

 

* Hei from ''[[Darker than Black]]''. A hitman for [[The Syndicate]] who doesn't really bother to question the morality (or, more often, lack thereof) of his assignments, with no compunctions about [[Combat Pragmatist|cheating]], killing, or [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|torture]] if he feels it's necessary.

* The core protagonists of ''[[Slayers]]'', which makes the show as intriguing as it is - Lina Inverse is a well-reputed slayer of bandits and has saved the world, but she's only done the latter if the danger she and her companions were in had reached that point. Otherwise, she slays bandits for personal wealth, has no concern for the welfare of innocents (and entire villages for that matter), and will occasionally go to [[Comedic Sociopathy|sociopathic]] levels to get what she wants, even if it includes hurting her friends. Zelgadis is similar to Lina in those aspects, with the exception being that he's more than willing to either murder or flat-out [[Face Heel Turn|abandon]] those he cares about entirely.

** Even more so in the MAX series, which has neither super villains nor super heroes. On one occasion, the Punisher killed [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|two pimps, crippled four and stabbed another one in the eye in order to get information]], only to find out that they didn't have it. Later in the same story, he disembowels a [[Complete Monster|human trafficker]], among other things. However, he's still not as bad as his enemies, and he [[Pet the Dog|DOES show kindness on several occasions]], especially towards children.

* ''[[Spawn]]'' (that is, from Todd McFarlane's comic book of the same name).

* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''

** Rorschach doesn't differentiate between most degrees of criminal acts, except for the most heinous. He'll kill a rapist, but the general lowlifes in a dive bar only get slightly less severity from him, and even then it seems to be more so that he can pump them for information.

*** Judging by their actions in the street conflict during the climax, some of the side characters (the police detective, the psychologist, the newspaper stand owner) seem to be decent if not idealistic people who instinctively try to do what's right in difficult circumstances. Arguably, if there any actual heroes in watchmen, it's them. Their instinctive, uncalculated responses contrast nicely against the murky and/or purely philosophical motivations of the costumed characters, which actually seems to be a pretty good way to distinguish between heroes and antiheroes.

* ''[[Batman]]'' is a classic and well-known anti-hero who has had a significant influence on comic book anti-heroes. Batman displayed the traits of the modern anti-hero since his debut in Detective Comics, 1939. However, Batman's status as an anti-hero ultimately depends on who's writing or portraying him; many have leaned towards a more traditional idea of heroism. For example, while Frank Miller's fits this trope like a glove, it's really hard to describe Adam West's Batman as an anti-hero.

* Rayek from ''[[Elf Quest]]'' always does what he thinks is best for the entire elfin race, without ''ever'' stopping to ask the rest of the elfin race what ''they'' think is best for them.

* [[The DCU]] introduced a slew of Anti Heroes to "replace" their traditional heroic characters during the [[Dark Age]]—the Eradicator for [[Superman]], Jean Paul Valley for [[Batman]], Artemis for [[Wonder Woman]], [[The Flash|Dark Flash]]—though whether they were supposed to emphasize how good the originals were in comparison or a cynical attempt to get with the [[Darker and Edgier]] trend of the '90s depends on how charitable you are. The only one with any staying power was [[Green Lantern]] Kyle Rayner, but he was never really an Anti-Hero to begin with.

* A classic example is Raven in ''Zoids: Guardian Force.'' Once you get to the last episode, he's screaming antihero.

* Marvel also has Daimon Hellstrom: The Son of Satan. To be correct, the [[Badass Crew]] he joins in Marvel Zombies 3 is an entire ''team'' of antiheroes, including [[Morbius]] the Living Vampire and Werewolf by Night.

* [http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=3429 Elizabeth Rose] is definitely one, almost heading towards [[Villain Protagonist]] levels. The other guy seems to be one too, but only in situations where he can't help it.

* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' - Jesse [[Badass Preacher|Custer]]

* [[A Hero]], a crossover between [[Doctor Who]] and ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', gives us a post-Evolution of the Daleks, non-hybrid Dalek Sec. [[It Makes Sense in Context|No, really.]]

* ''[[Secret War (fanfic)|Secret War]]'', a Warhammer40k fan fic, that follows Attelus Kaltos, a mercenary apprentice assassin, who is so morally grey in his actions, he could even be interpreted as a [[Villain Protagonist]].

* The ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'' has several examples, such as: [[Noble Demon]]; {{spoiler|Chaos}}, [[Good Is Not Nice]]; Takeru and [[Jerkass Woobie]]; Rika

 

* Battra qualifies as this. He's a destroyer of humans and protector of Earth. [[Enemy Mine|But when he's forced to be paired up with Mothra, then he starts becoming more of a heroic figure]]. {{spoiler|But it becomes a [[Bittersweet Ending]] as [[Redemption Equals Death|Battra dies]]. leaving Mothra to destroy the asteroid.}}

* The guys ''[[In Bruges]]'' would be shining examples of this trope, if anti-heroes were allowed to shine. Even the villain is [[Affably Evil]] and has some very clear principles.

* Porter, [[Mel Gibson]]'s character in ''[[Payback]]''. A film whose tagline was "Get ready to root for the bad guy!" In the Director's Cut, however, he's a more straightforward [[Villain Protagonist]].

* Walker from ''Point Blank''. Quite possibly the only guy who could make walking down a hall threatening. Adapted from a Richard Stark novel.

** Han Solo is an Anti-Hero, most vividly seen by comparing him to Luke Skywalker, the obvious hero (which also makes him [[The Lancer]]). At the end of the first movie, he has a [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Damn Hero]] moment. From there, he moves more toward the standard hero as time goes on. In contrast, Boba Fett, who was depicted as a villain in the movies, is portrayed more as an Anti-Hero in the [[Expanded Universe]]. While he's still the [[Badass]] bounty hunter who won't hesitate to disintegrate you if somebody is willing to pay him for it, Fett does have a very ''loosely'' defined code of honor and apparently has a soft spot for orphans and the oppressed, and will often go out of his way to help them. Examples include him giving money to charity and saving an alien species from extinction for a hundred credits (it's even implied that he ''gave their money back'').

** Anakin Skywalker as seen in the second and third Prequel movies is considered by some to be an Anti-Hero. Others see him more as a [[Tragic Hero]].

* ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'': Sweeney Todd starts out as one of these, plotting to avenge his wrongful imprisonment and the rape of his wife upon [[Dirty Old Man]] Judge Turpin. Then around the middle of the movie, his bid to kill Judge Turpin goes awry and in the midst of his less than [[Heroic BSOD]], he launches into the dynamite "Epiphany" number which marks his transition from Anti-Hero to full on [[Villain Protagonist]] with a nasty grudge against humanity in general, and then starts killing people and having them baked into pies.

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' - Captain Jack Sparrow. While you can generally count on him to do the right thing in the end, most of the time he's a largely amoral, perpetually intoxicated, marginally sane rogue who's out only for himself (and occasionally people he likes). [[Magnificent Bastard|And we love him for it]].

== Literature ==

* Severus Snape from [[J. K. Rowling]]'s ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' novels. He's a bastard, a known former Death Eater...and Harry never quite knows which side he's on until the final chapters of the last book. JK Rowling, when asked if she thought Snape a hero, said:

** Sirius Black probably counts as well - even though he's a [[Team Dad]] and a generally nice, though [[Knight in Sour Armor|cynical]] man.

* The outlaw protagonists of ''[[Water Margin]]'', and especially Song Jiang.

* The Damned, from [[Hells Children]], by Andrew Boland, are Antiheroes for sure.

* While [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s ''[[Doctor Faustus]]'' already displayed all the hallmarks of the Anti-Hero, the archetype was popularised in the heyday of Romanticism with characters like Edmond Dantes in ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo (novel)|The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' or Jean Valjean from ''[[Les Misérables (novel)|Les Misérables]]''... and, of course, practically the entire oeuvre of [[Lord Byron]] (see [[Real Life]]) and [[Goethe]].

* [[The Mole|Edmund Pevensie]] from ''[[Chronicles of Narnia]]'', in the first book, ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', betrays his siblings to the [[Big Bad]], acts like a downright [[Jerk with a Heart of Jerk]], is a complete [[Kids Are Cruel|bully]] to his younger sister, Lucy, and alternates between [[Bad Liar]] and [[Consummate Liar]], but [[Heel Face Turn|he redeems himself later]] and becomes a total [[Badass]] in the second book, although he keeps some of his old tendencies, remaining a [[Deadpan Snarker]] (especially in the movie adaptation), and he still appears as the [[The Dark Side|darkest]] Pevensie kid.

** The movie version of the book apparently likes to portray Edmund as this, since, in the third movie, while Caspian is supposed to act evil for a short period of time, the role is actually given to Edmund again, making him look like the Anti-Hero of the story for the second time.

''I hate to say this, but so are you, boss.''

''Yeah, but I'm a nice guy.'' }}

* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', Harry Dresden is an Anti-Hero: [[Badass Longcoat]], check; [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|won't hesitate to kill someone who threatens him or someone he loves]], check; bucketful of flaws, check; chivalry, check. He's also been known to murder and torture enemy captives, wantonly destroy property, and accidentally get [[Innocent Bystanders]] killed. Contrasted with straight up [[The Hero|Hero]] Michael Carpenter. Still more of a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type II AntiHero]] than anything else, though, as he will take incredible amounts of damage to try to protect other people. He got his left hand charred almost to a cinder giving a friend time to save some kids who were being held captive in a closet rigged with an antipersonnel mine and sheltered one of his oldest enemies for several days, despite the fact that this put three or four groups of rather dangerous people after him at once. Oh, and he's managed to resist almost every single temptation of power he's been given so far; {{spoiler|even the fallen angel in his head for three years didn't do much more than make him grouchier, and in return ''he'' actually managed to redeem her into a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}}

 

* Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the main character of Dostoevsky's ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'', who {{spoiler|in the first part of a six-part novel, brutally murders an old lady and her meek, innocent sister}}. This example subverts the typical cynicism, though, since he is ultimately {{spoiler|redeemed by [[The Power of Love]]}}

* [[William Gibson]]'s drug-addicted burnout protagonist Case in the seminal [[Cyberpunk]] novel ''[[Neuromancer]]''.

 

Also from [[Dashiell Hammett]] is Sam Spade, pretty much the ultimate [[Hardboiled Detective]]. He's rude to everyone, sleeps with every woman he speaks to, and steadfastly refuses to let the bad guy (or girl, as case may be) get away.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Ardaric Vaanes sharply points out that the Imperial soldiers in the hands of Chaos forces can't really be rescued, and leaves them to death; is hard to persuade to help Uriel because of the danger, though he knows it is the right thing; is willing to leave his companions behind when they are all prisoner but he is free to move; is so horrified by the [[Beauty Equals Goodness|appearance]] of the Unfleshed that he assumes they must be evil; and leaves Uriel to carry out his mission alone, taking his fellow renegade Space Marines with him and [[Redemption Rejection|refusing Ventris' offer of redemption]]. {{spoiler|At the end of the book, he [[Rival Turned Evil|accepts an offer to work for the Chaos forces]], for [[Revenge]] on Uriel for persuading him to so dangerous and killing so many of his men -- including those he was willing to leave behind. [[Sequel Hook]], anyone?}}

** Vaanes returns in The Chapter's Due... {{spoiler|As one of the Iron Warrior Honsou's chief Lieutenants. He takes part in the battle against the Ultramarines and Ultramar but is continuously shown to be uncomfortable with the traitors he is with and what he is doing. Later he is captured by the Ultramarines, though he claims he let them take him, and agrees to take them to Honsou if they promise to kill him before he can ruin himself, he has learned that [[Being Evil Sucks|he does not like being a Chaos Marine]] and he feels he isn't strong enough to walk the path of righteousness but he doesn't want to embrace damnation either. He saves the protagonist's life from another of Honsou's lieutenants, but dies in the next battle when he attempts to kill Honsou who bests him then turns his attention to Uriel Ventris, Vaanes again saves Ventris's life by attacking Honsou again, Honsou then tears off Vaanes' arm and crushes his chest by stomping on it. After he is dead the protagonists notice his restored Raven Guard chapter tattoo, that he gouged out with a knife years ago, causing the them to wonder if he [[Redemption Equals Death|redeemed himself through dying for them]] and note that they do not feel hatred towards him anymore. At the novel's end Uriel sees a memory of the Newborn that prophesied that the Newborn would be present at a great hero's death, both Honsou and the Newborn believed this to be Uriel. Uriel realises that the great hero was actually Vaanes.}}

 

Elric's actions set into motion a course of events that destroys civilization and then kills off everyone in his world. Elric managed to kill the Dukes of Hell on his world during the final battle of Law vs Chaos. He managed to thrice blow the Horn of Fate to birth a new world from unformed chaos after his own is wiped out in a maelstrom of pure roiling Chaos energies, with him the only survivor. Elric is killed shortly afterwards by his own sword Stormbringer, because he had forgotten that the malicious demon inhabiting the blade Stormbringer was a creature of Chaos too. It was set free in the new world, laughing as it [[Downer Ending|flew away.]]

* Lisbeth Salander in Stieg Larsson's ''[[Millennium Trilogy]]''.

* [[Larry Niven]]'s Beowulf Scheaffer and, to a lesser extent his stepson Louis Wu.

* Roland, the hero of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, has a history of valuing his quest for the Dark Tower above the lives of his friends.

* [[Repairman Jack]]. He'll help those in need but usually just for money. He may be [[The Chosen One]] but [[Refused the Call|he sure doesn't like it]] and the only reason he wants to save the world is because he and very few loved ones happen to be in it. That and the bad guys keep coming after him anyway.

* [[Jakub Wedrowycz]] is an alcoholic, ditzy, behind-the-times bum with a penchant for [[Heroic Sociopath]]y. He helps people with their supernatural problems, but does it for (a lot of) money as much as he does it for heroism.

* Drake and Elliott from the Tunnels series could be considered anti heroes as they both fight outside the law and have almost no reservations about killing, though in Closer, {{spoiler|Drake does not kill any Colonists while on his mission to destroy Styx virus production}}.

* Chili from [[Get Shorty]], as mentioned in Film above.

* Vanya Sedemona from Paul Kelly's ''The Lost Brigade'' definitely qualifies for this trope.

* [[Sandman Slim|James Stark]] will ''maybe'' save your life from hordes of zombies, demons and assassins. But only if you pay in advance.

* Asher in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]''. Sure, he'll help you escape the tyrannical [[Child Soldiers|child army]] and find your way home, but show even the slightest hint of treachery and he'll shoot you for it.

** Actually, almost all of Joss Whedon's characters are examples of this trope, especially the characters in Firefly (with perhaps the exception of Kaylee and Wash), cf infra.

* Starbuck from ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]''.

** True, the Cylons nuked the colonies to cinders. But what the Colonials are doing to them during the series don't even try to fit under the definition of "revenge"; "sadism" is a much more apt term. In fact, it's an open secret that many of the Colonials don't hate the Cylons because of what they did to the colonies, they hate them because they're Cylons, period. [[Sarcasm Mode|Kinda makes one wonder why the Cylons rebelled against them in the first place, don't you think?]]

* Avon of ''[[Blake's 7|Blakes Seven]]'' is a particularly good example: He begins as a mix of [[The Rival]] and [[The Lancer]], supporting Blake only when it's in his personal interest and because he wants the ''Liberator''. Later, {{spoiler|once he becomes the leader of the group}}, he becomes increasingly paranoid and sociopathic, at one point {{spoiler|nearly murdering Vila in cold blood}}.

* ''[[Boston Legal]]'' - [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Alan Shore]] is lecherous, conniving, snarky to a fault and one of the most dedicated defense attorneys at Crane, Poole and Schmidt, who routinely does tough cases [[Pro Bono]] for friends who need help navigating the law. The best example of his heroism was when he successfully got a man let off for bludgeoning his mother to death with a skillet, and [[Knight in Sour Armor|regretted it]] when the bastard killed again.

* George from ''[[Dead Like Me]]''.

** Not to mention the Brigadier, who ordered the mass genocide of a hibernating race, and aforementioned prime minister Harriet Jones.

** The Eleventh Doctor. Some of his darker actions include brainwashing the human race into enacting the genocide of the Silents without their knowledge, and destroying a fleet of Cybermen ships in order to intimidate the remaining ship to tell Rory what he wants to know.

* ''[[Firefly]]''

** Malcolm Reynolds demonstrates a mixture of altruism and ruthlessness, along with a powerful loyalty to his crew. When a defeated opponent [[The Last Thing You Ever See|threatens to hunt down and kill Mal]]—and by extension, [[Band of Brothers|Mal's crew]]—Mal's response is to kick him into the engine of his ship. He is glad to make use of [[The Woobie|River's]] [[Psychic Powers]], bringing her along on dangerous jobs, but at the same time is willing to [[Honor Before Reason|risk his life to keep her safe]]. He has no problems returning a cargo of critical medicines he's stolen once he realizes how badly they are needed, but also has no issue with gunning down murderers and war criminals in cold blood.

* Yaguruma Sou/Kick Hopper in ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'', after [[Took a Level In Badass|taking a level in badass]]. He's still a Kamen Rider, still kicks monster ass on a regular basis (except when he gets so nihilist that he chains himself to prevent himself acting on his impulses to fight said monsters, because that's seeking the light), but claims to be "a loser that walks in the darkness" and is in hell. Not to mention his hatred for the [[Designated Hero]]... and acting on said hatred.

* Lincoln Burrows of ''[[Prison Break]]'' is probably the best example of that show. His past life was that of a normal thug. In the first 3 seasons, this was largely overshadowed by more important plot points. However, in season 4 he seems to gladly show that he's not a nice guy.

* Neil Burnside of ''[[The Sandbaggers]]'' is not above lying and cheating to get his way, as both Wellingham and Peele [[What the Hell, Hero?|frequently tell him]]. He even (unintentionally) {{spoiler|drives a young woman to suicide}} in order to prevent her boyfriend from resigning from Special Section.

* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' - [[Robot Girl|Cameron]], Sarah, and Derek Reese fit under this =- Cameron especially, as she is entirely willing to kill people who may be a ''potential'' threat to the Connors, and in one case used a man who knew important information on the promise of helping him, and then casually walked away when mobsters came to kill him. Derek also has no qualms with killing people who may be a threat or bring about SkyNet's creation. And (legally, at least) [[Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters|all three are terrorists]].

* The military team from ''[[The Unit]]''. They are a representation of real world US special operations soldiers like Delta Force, Seal Team Six, etc. They are highly trained, efficient, and ruthless. They will do anything needed to complete their missions. Although they operate by some rules and moral codes, they are trained to do things that the average person would not have the stomach for.

* Walt, the main character of ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' qualifies. A high-school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and only little time left. So he decides to start using his degree to make drugs and gather a tidy profit to provide for his family after he dies. By Season 2 he turns into {{spoiler|an [[Anti-Villain]] arguably.}} By season 3? {{spoiler|[[Villain Protagonist]] }}

* Gleb Zheglov, the police officer in ''[[The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed]]''.

* Tom in ''[[Survivors (TV series)|Survivors]]''. He stabs a prison guard to death in order to escape before joining Abbey's group. Later he kills an unarmed man by firing point blank at his chest with a shotgun, simply to send a message to the groups pursuers. And yet, he risks his life for the other survivors time and again, and for the most part seems willing to follow Abbey's lead.

* James Ford AKA Sawyer, in the TV series ''[[Lost]]'', is such person.

** Pretty much non-villain in [[Lost]] is.

** Not all of them just some of them.

* [[Law and Order SVU|Elliot UnStabler]] - "If that's the guy that's questioning me, I definitely want my lawyer present."

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'':

** Toshiro Umezawa of the setting Kamigawa is a selfish, conniving, snarky bastard. Doesn't keep him from fighting against a war against nigh-omnipresent and incredibly powerful god-spirits wanting to tear the entire world apart, for obvious reasons.

** Urza himself could be considered an Anti-Hero, considering how much of a bastard he was during the ''[[Magic The Gathering/Invasion|Invasion]]'' trilogy.

** After being a straight villain in ''[[Magic: The Gathering/Agents of Artifice|Agents of Artifice]]'', Tezzeret grabs the [[Sympathetic POV]] after some [[Character Development]] and takes an Anti-Hero role in the sequel, ''[[Magic: The Gathering/Test of Metal|Test of Metal]]''.

== Video Games ==

* Haseo from the ''[[.hack|.hack//G.U.]]'' Is a good example of an anti-hero.

* Magus from ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' can almost certainly be considered an anti-hero, and only joins thanks to an [[Enemy Mine]] situation—since he only really wants Lavos destroyed, he's willing to join the party. Of course, once we find out about [[Dead Little Sister|what caused his turn to evil]], he softens considerably.

* The Silencer from the ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' series of games. In the first game, the character, though definitely fighting for the good guys, is never rebuked by superiors for wantonly killing civilians with weapons of moderate to mass destruction—though this may be due to his skills being literally impossible to replace, as he is the only known defector from the corps he served with. In fact, a viable secondary strategy to acquire weapons and ammunition is to kill people ''to take their money'', so you can buy from Weasel between missions. The Silencer never seems bothered by it in the least, possibly due to being both a [[Heroic Mime]] and [[Super Soldier|remorseless killing machine who may or may not have been born in a vat]]. The money feature is removed from the second game, but occasionally it is useful or necessary to kill an unarmed civilian - to stop them sounding an alarm (nonlethal force is not an option in either game), move them out of your way when the AI buggers up and stops them in the middle of a door way with their hands in the air, get a keycard, and in rare cases (most civilians carry nothing) get an energy cube or medkit.

** Team Chaotix from the same series. They'll do good, but they expect to be paid-handsomely. Of course, Vector at least has his better moments, such as finding a kid's lost toy for free.

* The ending of ''[[Soul Calibur|Soul Calibur IV]]'' {{spoiler|for the Siegfried character basically involves him and [[Soul Calibur]] covering him, Soul Edge, Nightmare and the world in crystals, creating a "utopia without wars or suffering". The question is, is this what Siegfried, or [[Soul Calibur]] (or both!) wants?}}

* The Star Wolf team in ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]]'' started as a generic "[[Evil Counterpart|evil Star Fox]]" group, but in sequels, the team becomes more anti-heroic. The removal of the two "scum" characters Pigma (a traitor) and Andrew (nephew of the main villain in Star Fox 64) and the addition of a ladies' man named Panther (who falls in love with a character on the heroes team) gave them an opportunity to work with Star Fox.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' - Axel Almer ends up as this after his [[Back From the Dead]] stitch and [[Heel Face Turn]], everything he does, while good, was for his personal benefit. Saving Lamia was just his way to preserve Lemon's creation and philosophy, and he also wants to prevent Kyosuke to turn into Beowulf, not only his worst nemesis, but will spell doom to the world if unleashed. Likewise, saving the Cry Wolves just happens because he was hunting the enemy that is slaughtering them (Jetzt) also since they were partially responsible of bringing him [[Back From the Dead]], [[Noble Demon|he's not one bastard to cheerfully ignore such good deed on him, so he merely just wants to pay them back]].

* Considering the game is titled ''[[Thief]]'', it probably isn't too surprising that the protagonist, Garrett, is a vaguely amoral and deeply selfish burglar, motivated almost solely by profit, who seems to end up saving the world only [[Because Destiny Says So]] and all his stuff is there. In his defense, the people he steals from are frequently much worse, he has a sense of humour, and his world isn't one given to rewarding displays of ''nice''.

* Wario, although debuting as a villain, became an anti-hero in the ''[[Wario Land]]'' and ''[[Wario Ware]]'' series, even once agreeing to help free a hidden figure from a music box in exchange for getting to keep all the treasure he finds on the way. He also helped Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi rescue Princess Peach from Bowser in ''Super Mario 64 DS''.

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' - Neku Sakuraba, [[Character Development|at first.]]

* Yuri Volte Hyuga from ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is a quintessential antihero, even though he does incidentally [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|kill a surprising number of world-devouring evils along the way]].

== Webcomics ==

* While ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' doesn't have an obvious Antihero in its main cast (it's usually either [[Lawful Good]] or [[Heroic Sociopath]] for the most part), Vaarsuvius comes pretty close. Even not counting the recent events, which could still be explained away by stress and ''not having rested for six months'', the elf is the only truly morally ambiguous protagonist—a decent person and a faithful friend and yet being quick to suggest that the heroes simply execute the captured villains rather than surrendering them to the authorities and not seeming to have a problem with the idea of using evil methods to ensure that they stay dead. (Granted, V WAS representing [[Token Evil Teammate|Bel]][[Comedic Sociopath|kar]]'s opinion at the time, but still...)

* ''[http://ah.indolents.com/comic anti-HEROES]''. The protagonists so far consist of an epic level necromancer, a vampire, a tiefling, and a ghost, all delightfully morally ambiguous. This strip was inspired by ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' and has a similar artistic style.

* ''[[Head Trip]]'' side story "[http://headtrip.keenspot.com/d/20060403.html Emokid and Chemokid]". They don't have psychic powers or Mad Science at their disposal. They got their names because one of them cries all the time and the other has cancer. ''Head Trip'' is big on [[Dead Baby Comedy]].

* Ironically, Dechs Rashart of ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'' isn't anti so much as he is [[Dark Is Not Evil|dark and edgy]]. But [[Action Girl|Crossroad]] sure is.

* ''[[Looking for Group]]'' A recurring theme is doing what must be done. As such, a lot of the main characters tend towards the anti-hero. For at one point, Krunch at one point kills a gnome out of necessity, and then annoyance when the gnome is not quite dead. Benny objects to working for free at one point, claiming that isn't how the world works.

** Richard is this when he does good instead of wantonly killing things for his own amusement.

* ''[[Ronin Galaxy]]'': Cecil, despite having all the optimism and badassery that ideal heroes ought to, he only keeps that up for as long as it’s convenient (or safe) for him to do. When he’s outmatched he has no problem with {{spoiler|kicking his opponent in the [http://www.roningalaxy.com/comics/chapter-1/page-36/ crotch.]}}

* In ''[[The Antithesis]]'', main character Qaira Eltruan is not a hero by any means, and the methods he goes about 'protecting his world' are usually evil, cruel and unjust. While his ultimate goal is to protect his people and rid his world of the angels, Qaira will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his way, and this includes his peers. This stems from a lack of moral duty—Qaira is considered a moral nihilist by most readers.

* All three leading men of ''[[Broken Saints]]'' fit this in different ways—see the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]].

* Gavin Taylore of ''[[Kate Modern]]'' is often cowardly, often selfish, and sometimes a bully, and cares not for the civil liberties of webcam users, but somehow it's hard not to root for him.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', some of the most popular characters are anti heroes. Among the most prominent examples are {{spoiler|version two winner}} Bryan Calvert and version one contestant Hawley Faust. Over the course of version one, Adam Dodd steadily turned into one.

* The Punisher, Wolverine and the majority of the Avengers and New Avengers, just to name a few examples, in [[Marvels RPG]] are easily identified as anti-heroes. Most of their solutions to problems, is, well, killing them.

* Pretty much every character in [[Ather City]] falls under this, but the degree varies.

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] is only really still on the "good" side because there are people worse than her (like Dark Nella), but she's still likable, has a few [[Freudian Excuse]]s and loves her puppy.

* Shoutan Himei from ''[[Sailor Nothing]]''. Cowardly, weak, selfish, and pessimistic, she couldn't care less about being forced to kill Yamiko just to get back to her normal life, and her attitude has harmed people close to her constantly, not to mention even herself. I.e., [[This Loser Is You]].

* One of those rare, completely ''uncool'' examples: ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', detective Harvey Bullock. He despises Batman, works below the board, lies about his accomplishments, has zero respect for people and their privacy, and in the words of Alfred, "looks like an unmade bed". Yet he's also a startlingly skilled fighter and wholeheartedly dedicated to getting rid of Gotham's "scum". He's essentially [[Chaotic Good|the kind of cop who would be a huge supporter of Batman's vigilantism]] [[Alpha Bitch|if his own ego would let him]].

* The title character of ''[[El Tigre the Adventures of Manny Rivera]]'' is a preteen super deciding between the heroic path of his father and the villainous one of his grandfather. Lampshaded when in one episode he's subjected to a machine designed to tell whether one is a hero or villain and it ''explodes''!

* Heloise from ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''.

* By the end of ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'', Heather gradually became more and more of an anti-heroine (especially when compared to [[Magnificent Bastard|Alejandro]].)