#antiheroes

[vertigoartgore]

1993's Marvel Year-In-Review Vol.1 #5 cover by artist Sam Kieth.

[hislittleraincloud]

Wyler doesn't (and won't) work.

1. She had gone to save her brother.

2. Tyler was holding onto the chain that held her brother, who he knew was going to die/be used to help save his mother (so he thought).

3. Wednesday wasn't necessarily looking over at Tyler before she thought she was going to die. She was there for her brother, FFS. (Clever editing, much like how it was in S1E3 during the Crackstone Fountain fallout. The editing made it seem like she was smirking at Weems, but her eyeline was directed towards Sheriff Galpin's area on the stage.)

For as much teasing as the show's doing for Wyler, it shouldn't happen. He's done nothing to actually help her so far, not even a whisper of genuine help, which is what antiheroes do.

YA fantasy/horror has traditionally had tons of examples of morally greys and/or antagonists ("bad boys") that end up becoming romantic antiheroes (Spike and (techncially) Angel from Buffy, Cole from Charmed, and more recently, Nick Scratch from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). I feel like the Wylers are craving this kind of thing with Tyler, but he's done nothing to warrant that kind of turn (no pun intended).

He stated that being a Hyde is "the most free he's ever felt" (after Isaac called it a horrible curse in S2E6/"Woe Thyself"), except that he's most always been killing or obeying under a master/mistress, be it Laurel or Françoise and he never truly makes a choice or sacrifice to help the heroine (he wanted to kill Laurel earlier on in Ep4, but didn't have the opportunity; thus is the nature of Hydes and why they're so dangerous). He never has a real betrayal of his masters or nature that would signal true love or bonding with Wednesday: no fighting alongside her/burning in the Hellmouth, no betraying demonic masters, no selfless act against Dark Lords. He never defied Laurel when it came to Wednesday (went after her TWICE on his own; once in S1E8 after "Laurel said you were dead", then up and thew Wednesday out the window after killing Laurel in S2E4), didn't defy his mother. His "freedom" is STILL bound up in servitude towards the monster within.

Regardless of any cutesy feelings he may still have for Wednesday and vice versa, he let people get seriously hurt for his own selfish purposes, never once stepping in to sabotage plans in either S1 or S2 (remember, he was going to kill her in S1E8 as well, until Enid came along). He would have happily turned into a Hyde during S2E6 to battle wolf! Wednesday if his mommy hadn't interfered (which was stupid of her to do, since wolf!Wednesday certainly had it in her to murder him if she hadn't been stopped by Enid-in-Wednesday's body).

He's poorly written so far to become a "romantic antihero" like what the Wylers seem to want. The only way I can see him being redeemed now is if he turned into a Hyde when wolf!Enid is being set upon by a pack of other werewolves up in Canada and sacrifices himself to save Enid/let her get away/get cured/whatevertheHell they're going to do with her. But then he'd be dead, so. Still no romance for Wednesday Addams. 🤷🏽‍♂️

[lanada]

MOEBIUS / Jean Giraud

[charliejaneanders]

Writing an altruistic character is a form of wish fulfillment and escapism for me — because lately, I feel utterly horrified at the systemic evil in the world, and I desperately wish I could do more to help everyone who is being ground up by the gears of exploitation and hatred.

I Don't Want To Write Asshole Protagonists Right Now (my latest newsletter!)

[holymorningstar]

Multiple generations raised on vigilante media, people taking the law into their own hands and getting justice yet you're surprised we're rooting for him? Wow.

[funkythingsthatmyfriendssay]

when they have a metal arm

[marveluniversehero]

Thunderbolts*

[thenightmarebeforechristmas1993]

i love the discourse about whether or not dean and sam are antiheroes. babygirl two of their close friends and surrogate family members are the Demon King of Hell who canonically alluded to murdering infants once, and his abusive witch mother who still violently murders her own enemies after several mini-redemption arcs. half of the series’ conflicts are their fault because they were either too stupid to realize what they were doing, too selfish to stop doing it because it had some personal benefit that outweighed the damage it would cause, or they just didn’t think another option was out there.

and yea, even though most of their Big Bad arcs were a product of the… [title card]…supernatural; possession, curses, soullessness, eldritch influences, whatever else…it’s not like they were completely good people without those factors. dean was a deeply sadistic torturer in hell for no other reason than being in pain and wanting to inflict that pain onto others. Cas created first-generational trauma with the family of his vessel, was briefly both a cannibal and a megalomaniacal zealot who tried to take over heaven and earth. sam believes all incarcerated people are evil and deserve to be in the system (lol) murdered his grandfather and allowed a child to be tortured (by Cas).

not even going into the numerous apocalypses they were all responsible in, or the amount of innocent people they all collectively murdered in cold blood because they stopped giving a shit about saving vessels after like season 2. if even that. even jack has a fair amount of murder and torture and wrongfully harming innocents under his belt and he hasn’t hit chronological double digits yet. bonus mention for the fact that across multiple perspectives, these guys are either regarded as psychopathic serial killers, psychopathic hunters, or Those Guys Who Constantly Fuck Up Peoples Lives And Endanger Everyone Around Them.

like, an antihero by the dictionary definition is “a main character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, and morality,” — and, (cont’d) — “Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions that most of the audience considers morally correct, their reasons for doing so may not align with the audience's morality.”

that’s literally a grocery list for them to scratch off girl. come on now.