Do you cheer for the "bad" guys?

[Erik_Twice]

While most people would probably think nothing of a it, a sizable part of the population is not very much interested in whatever the heroes do but would rather watch the villain instead. Perhaps it's more fun, perhaps it's more interesting but each fandom will sooner or later have one of those.

So who do you cheer on?



I find myself in this camp very often. All my favourite western animation characters are not heroes, I love Daffy Duck and prefer Tom to Jerry. When talking about superheroes I don't care about the protagonist much compared to the villains which isn't that surprising, I guess!

[dsheinem]

Daffy Duck is a villain?

[dedalusdedalus]

I've always wanted Wile E. Coyote to just fucking catch the Road Runner.

I just can't sympathize with the Road Runner -- the whole of his characterization is "beep beep" and he only escapes Wile E. Coyote's plans through fiat. How enraging is it that when Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel through a mountain, the Road Runner runs right fucking through it and then only seconds later, Wile E. breaks his face trying to do the exact same thing??

[BoneSnapDeez]

I root for the villains in Ninja Gaiden, Ghosts n Goblins, Contra, and Mega Man. Then when I get a Game Over I can say "I did that on purpose, I want the bad guys to win!" True story.

[o.pwuaioc]

I've always wanted Wile E. Coyote to just fucking catch the Road Runner.

I just can't sympathize with the Road Runner -- the whole of his characterization is "beep beep" and he only escapes Wile E. Coyote's plans through fiat. How enraging is it that when Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel through a mountain, the Road Runner runs right fucking through it and then only seconds later, Wile E. breaks his face trying to do the exact same thing??

[Curlypaul]

Villians almost every time for me. They are just generally more interesting characters to watch. The only 2 hero characters that I can think of rooting for are Jack Bauer and Tony Soprano, and one of those isn't really a hero anyway lol

[o.pwuaioc]

I think it's not so much which is the hero or which is the villain, but rather which is the more complicated and interested character.

[Erik_Twice]

Daffy Duck is a villain?

For all the shorts that actually exist that I can think of, no. But he is no hero, that's for sure =P

(Of course I'm talking about the modern/Chuck Jones portrayal not the earlier zany Daffy)

EDIT: I forgot "You ought to be in the pictures", he is "bad" or "evil" here. Still playful but paves the way for his more modern characterization.

[Gamerforlife]

Yeah, I always rooted for Tom rather than Jerry and I always wanted the road runner and Tweety to get caught and eaten when I was a kid. I generally hate self righteous heroes and boy scouts as well. Anti-heroes or "dark" characters tend to be more interesting to me. There's a reason I like Batman more than Superman, and also like Angel and Faith more than Buffy(for you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans). When I was heavy into Marvel, I mostly picked up Wolverine and Deadpool books and I thought Scott Summers was a boring and irritating X-Man. Judging by the complete loser he's been portrayed as in the movies, I'm not alone in feeling that way

I hated Parn and Deedlit in the Record of Lodoss War OAVs, but loved Ashram and Pirotess. I often find myself actually wanting one of the bad guys to humble Lina Inverse in the Slayers cartoons as well, given her humongous ego. I actually loved the one episode(very minor spoiler) where Gourry gets taken over by some villain and FINALLY learns how to use the sword of light properly and pretty much kicks Lina and crew's collective asses. Of course, they eventually overcame him, but man at first their magic wasn't doing jack against him. As a guy with an appreciation for martial arts, swordplay and beat'em up games I enjoyed seeing the melee guy taking all the magic users to school with a sword that pretty much absorbed their spells

I LOVED Callisto on Xena. I was rooting for her to kick Xena's ass every single time they fought eachother. She was honestly the best thing about that show for me and one of the main reasons I watched it. I actually think Hudson Leick could have done a stellar job playing Xena, but she's said she finds playing a villain more fun. She certainly was more attractive than Lucy Lawless, that's for sure

I recently started watching Once Upon a Time and while I wouldn't say I'm rooting for the evil queen, I do find her to be a rather interesting character and hot as hell to boot. The "good guy" females on the show are not nearly as attractive. I have to assume that was intentional. She is the bad girl after all.

I think it would be interesting to ask this of a pro wrestling fan as the bad guys, which are known as "heels" by smart, internet fans tend to be smarter than the "faces" a.k.a. the good guys. They generally just have more personality too. I very often find myself rooting for the heels when I watch wrestling because the good guys tend to be morons and their self righteousness gets on my nerves sometimes too. A large section of the internet wrestling community also hates John Cena, who is generally viewed as the # 1 good guy in the WWE. Just about everything about his character is irritating and you can often hear a good section of the audience booing him at live events. His irritating personality seems to appeal to kids and soccer moms though, which is why the company keeps pushing him as their top guy, but most smart wrestling fans(known as "smarks")will tell you they hate the guy

[Nintendork666]

There's a reason I like Batman more than Superman, and also like Angel and Faith more than Buffy(for you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans).

Buffy definitely developed a much darker edge to her character in the later seasons of the show though.

Also don't forget Spike!



He was much more of a 'bad guy' than Angel.

Greatest show ever, I swear.