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The Internet Needs More Anti-Heroes
And Why I’m Starting a Newsletter
An anti-hero (or anti-heroine) is the main character in a story who, though a hero, lacks conventional heroic qualities such as morality, idealism, and self-conviction. Sometimes anti-heroes may perform acts that are morally correct, but not always for the right reasons, and often do so in self-interest or in ways that defy what most of us would consider “ethical”. (1)
Deadpool is my favorite depiction of an anti-hero. Not just because Ryan Reynolds is every guy’s man-crush, but because he’s the black sheep of the X-Men family. The “Merc with a Mouth” is an unkillable, annoying badass on the outside, but he’s a needy, neurotic, self-loathing man on the inside.
He’s more human and relatable than someone like Superman, who most would consider the Gold Standard of ethics and morality. Superman is more or less “perfect”, whereas Deadpool is not. His flaws are more than just a green, crystalline material that can only be mined from Krypton — they’re his emotions and often irrational behavior.
What makes Deadpool…Deadpool is that while other superheroes refuse to kill the bad guys (a concept…
