antihero

• anti-hero

From anti- +‎ hero.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈænˌtaɪ.hiɹ.oʊ/, /ˈæn.tiˌhiɹ.oʊ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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antihero (plural antiheroes)

1. (literature, roleplaying games) A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.

   Synonym: unhero

   • 2006, James Bonnet, Stealing Fire from the Gods: The Complete Guide to Story for Writers and Filmmakers:

     Alienation: A stage on the downside of the passage wherein the holdfast and the antihero take actions which bring about a disintegration of personality.

   • 2014 December 22, Alison Flood, “JK Rowling ‘unnerved’ by girls who fall for Hogwarts bully Draco Malfoy”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     JK Rowling says that “girls are very apt to romanticise” the antihero, and reveals that she had been forced to pour “cold common sense” on the startling number of readers who fall for the arrogant, unscrupulous bully Draco Malfoy in her Harry Potter books.

   • 2020 July 29, Jessie Yeung, “Australia names new species after Deadpool, Thor, and other Marvel favorites”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The Deadpool fly is a species of Robber fly, which are “assassins of the insect world” – fitting for the mercenary antihero.

   • 2021 August 11, Jacqui Palumbo, “Rosamund Pike in ‘I Care a Lot’ and six more recommendations if you love an antiheroine”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     Fictional male antiheroes like television’s crime patriarchs Tony Soprano and Walter White have reigned for some time, but the antiheroine has only more recently had the opportunity to rise up – and become the cause of her own downfall. […] Grayson serves as an archetype for a female antihero not driven by much except for her own ambition, and she’s quite fine with that.

• anti-villain
• counterhero
• false protagonist
• false hero

• on the air, on-the-air