The anti-hero – you know them, and it’s very likely you love them. They’re central to the story but lack traditional heroic attributes like saving kittens from trees and kissing babies. While Superman is smiling for the camera, Batman is beating up bad guys in a shadowed alley. Grace and forgiveness is replaced with an unloving grudge and a thirst for revenge. They’re gritty, violent, and unpredictable, despite having a morally correct goal. It’s a craving we can never satisfy, and it all began with Despicable Me (2010).

It’s mid-2010 and Despicable Me has released an anti-hero for kids onto the big screen. Here we find Potential Supervillain get turned into Unsuspecting Father. Gru, a bald and vaguely Russian man, is trying to steal the moon and instead steals our hearts when he accidentally takes in Margo, Agnus, and Edith.  Multiple sequels would follow, meaning we saw as much of Gru as we did good guys like Po (Kung Fu Panda) and Hiccup (How to Train Your Dragon).

A few months later, the next children’s anti-hero would role in. (Coincidentally, this one is also incredibly bald.) He’s witty, he’s blue, and he has the biggest forehead you’ve ever seen: Megamind. As children, we watched him, like Gru, continuously try and fail to take over the world. At the same time, Megamind accidentally turns Hal, a cameraman in love with the reporter Roxanne, into a super-powered villain. To stop Hal’s rampage, Megamind must put his mass takeover on hold and become what he hates: the hero.

Naturally, this bleeds into our teenage years, and the bald anti-hero makes a return. Deadpool (2016) was a welcome break from a flood of superhero films. While Deadpool isn’t trying to take over the world, he certainly has no moral issue with killing people. If anything, it’s pure coincidence that his enemies are also the good guys’ enemies. The movie is full of adult jokes that provided aspiring teens with a break from their usual kid-safe content. The stunts are show-stopping, and the use of fourth-wall breaks are a welcome distinguisher from other films.

Another Marvel icon (though he’s owned by Sony) plays host to a bloodthirsty space parasite: Eddie Brock. In the 2018 film Venom, we get a Brock-centered origin story free from any traditional heroes. While Eddie has a relatively good moral compass (after all, that’s what he built his career on), Venom is hungry for heads. Throughout the movie, there’s a grappling of beliefs vs needs , allowing the audience to see the birth of an anti-hero. The term Lethal Protector is coined by the second movie, perfectly summarizing who Venom and Eddie are. They are neither truly good or bad, instead treading a thin line between the two.

Venom and Deadpool aren’t the only Marvel anti-heroes either. Daredevil, the Punisher, Loki, and Jessica Jones are other prime examples, all with their own TV shows and crossovers. Moonknight is their most recent show, and beside Captain America (an All-American superhero) is the Winter Soldier. Not to mention lesser explored characters such as Wolverine.

DC also has its own host of anti-heroes, such as Red Hood and Catwoman. Most recently was The Batman (2022). We’ve had Batman for decades in comics, shows, movies, and video games. There’s no shortage, but we still flocked to the theaters. Instead of battling the Joker once again, Bruce Wayne is fighting a much craftier, though just as unstable, villain: the Riddler. We got a stunning performance from Robert Pattinson (formerly the well-loved Edward Cullen), who portrays Bruce as an angst-ridden young adult with some serious daddy issues. How could you not love him, even when he’s breaking someone’s face? There was even an outpouring of love for the Riddler, who’s an outright villain. We just love to love the bad guy.

But why do we love them so much? In my opinion, it all boils down to the imperfections. The average man isn’t Wonder Woman or Captain America. We aren’t super-powered or always righteous. However, we can see ourselves learning to love kids that have no one else to turn to (Mr. Gru himself), going to “war” for someone we love (ie. Deadpool), and causing our perfect life to crash and burn (the one and only Eddie Brock). Within the evil schemes and outright violence of the anti-hero, we find a humanity. Those flaws bring these almost-villains closer to the audience than Iron Man could ever be. The superhero story has been told a hundred times before. It’s time for a new breed of not-quite protagonists to take the stage.