What is an antihero?
Over the last 50 years, the superhero movie genre has given us a huge number of examples of what moral rectitude and acts should be. Characters chiseled in the stone of virtue who rarely go out of the way in their monotonous existences. So to have a good time, what better than to take a tour of the circus of the horrors of sins? Now, do you know exactly that he is an antihero?
If we go to any dictionary, we will find in the definition of antihero that it is that «character of a work of fiction who plays the same role of importance and protagonism as the traditional hero, but who lacks his characteristics of perfection because he has the virtues and defects of a normal person». Two classic examples of Spanish literature could be those of Lazarillo de Tormes and Sancho Panza, the faithful squire of Don Quixote. So you can get an idea…
Superhero movies have proliferated in recent years around these figures too, controversial and not exactly a good example for youth. So with the intention of remembering the most outstanding ones, in case you want to give yourself a marathon of movies of a certain moral baseness and unleashed instincts where those moral values that the Marvel or DC characters remind us of every so often are questioned, here you have it a small list of the ones that (we believe) are the best.
The best movie antiheroes (of heroes)
With all of the above on the table, we have gone looking for the superhero genre, what are they? those antiheroes who have starred in their own movies and that they are not, precisely, an example to follow. Paradoxically, it has been this imperfection that has made them popular idols. Here you have them.
joker
Arthur Fleck has one passion in life: making others laugh. The problem is that society does not seem to accept him and little by little it is pushing him towards a spiral of violence from which he will not be able to escape. Before him will be presented a single path that has only one way out: to become the Joker.
Watchmen
The year 2009 will be remembered for the arrival of the first batch of great antiheroes to the world of cinema. Alan Moore’s characters made the leap to the big screen thanks to Zack Snyder in a film that is already an icon among comic book fans, and a clear example of what main characters are that we cannot consider as examples of anything. Or maybe yes?
v for Vendetta
London is immersed in a kind of police regime where the iron fist is applied to the population. In the middle of that dark present the figure of a savior emerges that uses terrorist techniques to end tyranny. Although it is true that such V is not, precisely, the best example to follow.
dark-man
Sam Raimi was already flirting in 1990 with superhero movies inspired by comics with a film in which an accident leaves a scientist virtually facelessor that you just discovered how to make faux fur. Although his values are noble, deep down what he seeks is revenge on those who caused him so much harm. And of course, that is not a feeling to consider as positive, right?
Logan
How is it possible that we consider a movie with Wolverine as an example of anti-heroes? In reality, it is so, at least in James Mangold’s film, where a wolverine come to less has to face everyone and everything to protect a girl who seems to have special powers. The problem is that along the way she will make some decisions that will bring her closer to the abyss of darkness than to the abyss of light.
spawn
As in the case of dark-man, the antihero created by Todd McFarlane is moved by a pure instinct for revenge and in the 1997 film it is very clear. In this case we have a character, Spawn, who has made a pact with the devil that will lead him to gain some superpowers that will allow him to complete his Machiavellian plan.
Dredd
In a rather dark future of a society divided between rich and poor, the police must bring order even if it is the agents themselves who cannot boast too much of their virtues. In this case, the famous Judge Dredd, armed arm and executor who passes sentence just before pulling the trigger.
Venom
An example that we all have very fresh in our memory, thanks to two films that have increased his already enormous fame. Venom is a symbiote that is a clear example of what an antihero is because it is not possible to find a single virtue in him, even though he later faces the bad guys and kills them in the most violent way he can.
suicide squad
DC found a gold mine in that of taking a group of villains from the comics and putting them in front of a mission with an (apparently) noble end. But nothing is further from reality because you only have to see the result of the two films that have been released (in 2018 and 2021) to understand that, Although “the monkey dresses in silk, the monkey stays”.
mega mind
This Dreamworks Animation movie is wonderful as it shows us what happens when a villain kills the superhero and the city he protected is at his feet. After so much destruction, he seeks to create another opponent capable of fighting him but along the way he will see that, after all, he will have no choice but to be the one who ends up protecting Metro City from the beast he has made.
hell boy
This comic book character has some very interesting movies behind him, although we we stayed with those of Guillermo del Toro. It is a kind of quite violent and wild half-demon who cannot erase in one stroke what his dark origins are and who he serves, although some of his actions may seem to pass for good.
Hancock
We come to another of the heroes who are neither noble nor are they sometimes moved by doing good just for the sake of it. Hancock is quite unpopular, he lives in a permanent state of dissatisfaction and he is tormented by the way everyone sees him. The problem is that although he saves many lives, he causes real catastrophes that take him far away from the image that we all have of what a superhero is.
Birds of prey
This is the same case that occurs with the suicide squad, where a series of villains from DC comics gather around the famous Harley Quinn. No matter how much it seems that they fight against evil, that after all they represent practically the same side of the coin of that evil they claim to combat. Too dangerous.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Over the years and the movies of the different phases of the UCM all we have ended up thinking that it is a group of superheroes Nothing could be further from the truth. That gang of five (almost) failures is the best example of what antiheroes are: misfits with distracted customs who, in this case, wander the galaxy doing what they can. Even if they end up doing good by rebound.
dead pool
Surely this Marvel character was the first that came to mind when you read about the best movies about antiheroes. Deadpool is a disturbed with more or less special powers who does not do good out of conviction, but out of pure revenge to pay for all the tortures he has undergone.
