Kicking Tail, Taking Names, and Blurring the Lines
Antiheroes—characters who refuse to be dened as the “good guys” or the “bad guys”—are
rapidly growing in popularity, especially in teen culture. From Deadpool to Rick Grimes to
Walter White, antiheroes live and thrive in the ambiguous gray, blurring the lines between
right and wrong. Yet we connect with and relate to them on an instinctual level because they
accurately reect our awed humanity. And as the next generations’ role models, they’re do-
ing a lot more than entertaining us; they’re also inuencing how we think and perceive the
world. So let’s talk about how can we help our teens be wise and discerning when it comes to
their heroes, super or not.
What is an antihero?
An antihero is a protagonist who lacks most of the positive traits associated with a
stereotypical hero. They’re known for their rejection of traditional hero archetypes and for
living in a sort of moral “gray area.” Antiheroes are imperfect, usually act out of self-interest,
and have complicated histories and emotions.
Why are they featured in fiction?
Life isn’t ideal, often leaving us in dicult circumstances where it seems that there’s no
straightforward, 100% right choice. For example, if a man’s family is starving, should he
steal a loaf of bread to feed them if that’s his last chance to save them? It’s a dicult moral
quandary, and certainly a case can be made for either side. As Christians, we’d probably spend
a good deal of time agonizing over which is the right thing to do, which option brings the most
glory to God. But antiheroes just straight up steal the bread. And they don’t just steal it; they
make a show of it, criticizing everyone for not giving them the bread in the rst place.
It can sometimes be refreshing for students to see heroes subvert unjust authority like that.
Sometimes when tax dollars get wasted and we lose our jobs without good reason, or when
we disagree with a new law that gets made, we wish there were some kind of hero to stand
up to the injustice. But of course, vigilante justice is not even close to ideal. With no checks
and balances, and one maverick guy doing things his way, evil and injustice are confronted by
more evil and more injustice.
Who are some popular antiheroes?
Tony Soprano (1999–2007): The rst in the wave of pop-culture antiheroes, Tony Soprano
from the TV show The Sopranos is a crime boss for the most powerful criminal organization in
New Jersey and is involved in a variety of less-than-legal (or moral) activities. But his strong
sense of family and his occasional “heart of gold” moments allowed him to connect with
audiences, paving the way for the next two decades of antiheroes to blossom.
Dexter Morgan (2006–2013): From the self-titled TV show Dexter, this forensic analyst
is a sociopathic serial killer by night, motivated by an urge he calls his “dark passenger”
originating in the witness of his mother’s murder, but justies himself by only killing
murderers. The show follows his story of realization and subsequent exploration of how his
killings have aected him, his family, and his friends.
Captain Jack Sparrow (2003–): The swashbuckling rogue pirate from The Pirates of the Caribbean
lms has gripped moviegoers for over a decade. His daring adventures, charming personality,
and erce (if inconsistent) loyalty contrast harshly with his narcissistic tendencies and “pirate
ethics.”
Tony Stark (2008–): The face of Marvel, Tony Stark has taken leading roles in the Iron Man
and Avengers lms. The snarky playboy doesn’t become Iron Man because he thinks it’s the
right thing to do; he does it because it makes him popular and well liked. His self-obsession
repeatedly bites him in the butt, but in the end of every story, he still comes out on top.
The Suicide Squad (2016): A crew of DC’s villains is forced by a government agency to undertake
suicide missions. The group, lead by the villain and sometimes antihero Deadshot, wrestles
with their motivations for family, seeking redemption, and their history of crime.
Deadpool (2016–): The star of his own top-grossing blockbuster, Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool,
the Mercenary with a Mouth) is the embodiment of the irreverent antihero. His sexual
promiscuity, foul language, and extreme display of violence pushes the limits of what’s even
allowed to be shown in a theater. But his humor and generally approachable nature has made
him one of the most popular comic-book characters (antihero or otherwise) of all time.
Other notable antiheroes: Tyler Durden from Fight Club, Batman from DC Comics, Don Draper
from Mad Men, Walter White from Breaking Bad, Frodo from The Lord of the Rings (see below),
Wolverine from the X-Men franchise, John Wick from the John Wick franchise, Rick Grimes from
The Walking Dead, and the Punisher from the self-titled Netix show.
How popular are they?
In a word: very. Deadpool made $783 million in box oce, making it the second highest-
grossing rated-R lm of all time. Although it contains nudity, sexual content, and grotesque
violence, it was watched by both adults and teens alike.
Breaking Bad was universally acclaimed by critics, receiving the highest consistent rating of
all time by several reviews. The nal episode received an incredible 10.3 million views. It’s
interesting to note that the only shows that have higher ratings for the series nale also
feature antiheroes (The Sopranos and Sex and the City).
Filmmakers see this trend and are looking to meet the demand by providing the world with
more and more antiheroes. The popularity is still in the upward trend, and no one knows how
popular they could be ve or ten years from now.
Why are they so popular?
Common superheroes portray an ideal that is simply not realistic. They’re amazing...too
amazing: We can’t relate to them. Antiheroes allow a unique level of relatability not seen in
other types of heroes. They are awed, complex, strong, and have admirable intentions.
They are awed. As sinful people who fall short of the glory of God, we can never be
perfect, and we certainly aren’t. Antiheroes are an acknowledgement of the fact that even
when we try to do good, our sinful nature limits us.
They are complex. Life isn’t simple. It’s full of ups and downs and all kinds of
circumstances. A single-emotion, smile-all-the-time person is nice as an acquaintance,
but real friends share a depth and range of emotion.
They are strong, despite weakness. They have an impressive and admirable strength to
them, yet they are also plagued by some kind of tragic aw. We all have strengths and
weaknesses. Superman easily ies around, has limitless strength, and always makes the
right decision. Kryptonite is a contrived, articial weakness that’s outside of him. But our
weaknesses are often internal, within our very person, and are things we ght against
daily. And sometimes, we lose the ght. What’s truly inspiring is when greatness comes
out of that struggle.
Their intentions are admirable. We love the underdog. Antiheroes actually mean well,
and we can see that. Unfortunately, as a result of circumstances, they have to go about
achieving these good things in unconventional ways. In Breaking Bad, Walter White is
diagnosed with cancer, and because of the failures of the healthcare system, he can’t
aord to pay medical bills, leaving his family with massive debt when he dies. Since
there is no conventional option for him, he decides to produce and sell methamphetamine
during his last bit of remaining time to make enough money to support his family. Good
intentions...bad execution. Often, we want to do good things, but government, school,
church, etc. gets in the way. We can respect and relate to innovators who achieve good
goals through unconventional (albeit wrong or illegal) means.
What kind of role model are they?
Antiheroes are quite dierent than the typical superheroes that were popular in previous
generations. We parents would love to have our teens aspire to the noble ideals of a Superman
or Spider-Man, but few of us would hope they act like Deadpool or a member of the Suicide
Squad. They disrespect authority, play by their own rules, and do what they want when they
want, so a teen behaving like these characters in class would nd themselves in detention
pretty quickly.
At the same time, it’s important to distinguish between the dierent kinds of antiheroes. A
“classical antihero,” like Frodo Baggins, still encourages readers and viewers to do the right
thing and rely on their community despite his failures. However, a more “unscrupulous
antihero” in the vein of Jack Sparrow leaves a large void in the realm of role models.
But there is also a great strength that comes from this individualistic mindset when in the
proper context. What if an authority gure tells them to do something morally wrong? What
if the rules have been set by bad people? What if they want to do good things, and do them no
matter what anyone says? If they are like robots who do whatever people say, they may fall
prey to bad things that come from their desire to conform and follow authority.
If your teen has a strong sense of right and wrong and has been raised with good values,
chances are they will have the ability to discern between the good and bad qualities of
antiheroes and know what they should aspire to. If a teen doesn’t have a strong sense of right
and wrong, the (at best) situational morality of the antihero might prove confusing, exciting,
or enticing.
What messages are they sending to my kids?
Authenticity is a prominent theme in our culture. Antiheroes are far more authentic and
genuine than their typical superhero counterparts. They are who they are, without shame.
For better or worse, antiheroes will do whatever they deem t based on their own internal
compasses. Jack Sparrow, for example, only follows an actual compass, a magical instrument
that doesn’t point north, but instead directs him to his heart’s greatest desire.
Criticism of ideas and a refusal to blindly accept authority is a mainstay of any antihero-
driven story. Antiheroes refuse to follow because they’ve been told to; their internal compasses
must match the direction they’re heading. V in V for Vendetta is the classic example of an
antihero who will not submit to an authority he doesn’t believe in. The anarchist uses his
resources and passion to topple a corrupt government.
Antiheroes are generally highly ingenious. Because they only follow their hearts and throw
o the constraints of authority, they must build (in many cases, literally) a way to make it
in the world. Whether that’s Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits, Jack Sparrow’s harebrained and
drunken schemes that end up working, or Walt Whitman’s drug empire, antiheroes are never
conventional.
What positive behaviors/ideas do they
normalize?
At the end of the day, antiheroes are just people. They’re typically not anything particularly
special, which is what’s at the core of their appeal.
The more traditional antiheroes like Frodo show us that even though we’re awed, weak, and
incapable, our community and outside inuences (Samwise and Gandalf) can help us achieve
our mission. An acknowledgement of our good-but-cursed nature and the potential we have
in Christ to overcome it can be very encouraging to students wrapped up in their failures and
faults.
Additionally, an antihero’s refusal to compromise who they were made to be is laudable. In
a culture of false authenticity and conformity, it’s important that we encourage our teens to
embrace their God-given passions and talents, while honestly acknowledging the failures in
their broken nature.
What negative behaviors/ideas do they
normalize?
Personal gain is the core motivation of antiheroes. They are self-focused at their core, often
not really caring about anyone other than themselves and the people they love.
An antihero also dees authority and sometimes goes up against tremendous odds, but not
always because of principles. His motives can be selsh, criminal, or rebellious. Many admire
antiheroes because of their love of rebellion.
Antiheroes often have a moral code that changes depending on circumstances, mood, or
personal experience. Antiheroes are the embodiment of a relativistic moral code, only doing
what they feel is right with no objective standards.
What does God’s Word say about antiheroes?
In some sense, the Bible only contains awed heroes at best, tragic heroes at worst, and
antiheroes by most denitions. No biblical character is perfect (save Jesus, of course) because
we do live in a cursed world. The distinctions between antiheroes and other kinds of heroes
is very blurry in Scripture: These people have complicated motivations, deeply intrinsic aws,
and a history of struggling with doing the right thing for the right reason.
Who are some of the antiheroes in the Bible?
Samson: Judges 13-16—The entire book of Judges is full of antiheroes. From Barak to Gideon,
antiheroes are the rule in this nearly lawless time of Israel, and Samson is no exception. God
chooses to deliver Israel out of a 40-year bondage through Samson. He constantly fails his
vows, shows his broken nature, and succumbs to temptation. However, in the end God still
uses him to free Israel.
David—David is arguably the most complicated character in the Bible. Though described as
“a man after [God’s] heart,” he’s complicit in murder and commits adultery. His story is a
twisted one, with tragic lows when he is betrayed by his own son and glorious highs when he
retakes Jerusalem.
Jonah: The Book of Jonah—Though known almost exclusively for his experiences with large
marine wildlife and a group of lazy pirates, Jonah has a very complicated set of motivations
and desires. While called to be a prophet of God—and he does faithfully execute that calling
in Israel—his self-interest and idea of a “better way” interferes when he receives a command
to do something he really doesn’t want to do. This inner struggle between calling and desires
typies the antihero’s plight
Noah: Genesis 6:9–9:17—These last two have a good deal of media coverage, due to their
fairly recent movies. Famous for his massive ark and oating menagerie, it’s clear even from
his brief mentions in Scripture that Noah is a conicted character. While shown to be the
only good man left on earth, he ends up drunk and exposed after the ood. His controversial
portrayal in the lm expounds on that theme. He might be the most moral man on the planet,
but his struggle with leaving millions upon millions of people to die takes its toll.
Moses—Throughout the Pentateuch, Moses is shown to be the man for the job, i.e. the man to
lead the people of Israel from slavery, through their wanderings, and into the Promised Land.
However, his rash temper causes him trouble on multiple occasions, from the beginning of the
story, when he kills an Egyptian for beating an enslaved Hebrew, to the end, when he isn’t
allowed to enter the Promised Land due to his anger and disobedience. The also-controversial
lm about him explores how this dichotomous character freed the Israelites. (Christian Bale’s
portrayal of Moses is a gritty one, one in which the Patriarch seems more comfortable with a
spear in a chariot at war than with a sta in an audience chamber pleading for the Israelites.)
Ultimately, that’s the point of these awed heroes in the Bible. God’s power is made perfect in
our weakness. God uses awed, broken human beings to bring glory to His name and elevate
us to a place where we would otherwise be unable to go.
Will my teen(s) learn good values from them?
Well, that depends how you dene “good.” As Christians, we believe that goodness is dened
by God’s character and embodied when He came to earth and set the example for us in the
person of Jesus Christ. So how do antiheroes match up to the values of Jesus?
Jesus loves antiheroes. That’s not really groundbreaking news, since Jesus loves everyone. But
it’s important to remember that Jesus seeks restoration for everyone, no matter how bad
they are. More so, Jesus is not just interested in restoring personal brokenness, but systemic
sin as well. Sin isn’t just personal; it’s also corporate. The systems, structures, and powers
that be are bent toward evil. That’s why He came: to restore not individuals and the entire
created order back into right relationship with the Father. Jesus sees the brokenness in Walter
White as he’s selling meth, in Deadpool as he seeks aection from women, and in Scarface as
he’s facedown in cocaine. The ability to empathize with people’s brokenness is a necessary
precursor to bringing them the restoration provided through Jesus. Perhaps empathizing with
the struggles of antiheroes can help us to better empathize with the struggles of people in our
lives and ultimately lead them to the One who saves us from our struggles with sin.
Jesus did the right thing, every time. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He never gave in. When
Jesus was criticized and threatened by the Pharisees, He stuck to what He knew to be true.
Some people might say that Jesus was an individualist because He seemed to do things the way
He wanted, despite external social pressure. But Jesus was no individualist; He was submissive
to the greatest external force of all: God. Antiheroes, on the other hand, are pure individualists.
They submit to no one but themselves. Sometimes that’s good, but sometimes it’s bad. In
order to be good all the time, we can’t submit to ourselves, but rather to the One who embodies
goodness.
Jesus wants us to forgive so that we may have peace with one another. But antiheroes are focused on
revenge. They’ve been wronged in some way and seek to inict harm on their enemies to bring
about their version of justice. An antihero would never forgive an enemy, let alone love them
or do good to those who persecute them.
Antiheroes provide an example of the depravity and limits of human goodness. We may
relate to them, but we should never aspire to become them. Jesus, as the perfect example of
goodness, is the goal to which we should all aspire.
What do they teach about justice?
Antiheroes focus very heavily on the idea of justice, in one form or another. In the crime-
ridden streets of Gotham or the post-apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead, antiheroes
dole out their own brand of (frequently brutal) justice. What is justice? And, maybe more
importantly, who is responsible for executing justice?
Justice is typically dened by law students and philosophers as something along the lines of
giving every man his due. But in reality justice has become synonymous with punishment.
From that perspective, antiheroes are doling out their own form of justice. They’re giving
their enemies what they think they deserve: “an eye for an eye.” And on some level, that’s
empowering. Millennials and Gen Zers often feel like “the system” doesn’t do them or their
friends justice, so seeing a person taking things into their own hands gives them a bit of a
vicarious rush.
But that’s not the full story. God’s ultimate justice is not centered on punishment, but
redemption. In his essay “Jesus, the Jews, and the Politics of God’s Justice,” Dan Bell explains,
“In contrast to worldly notions of justice that demand a strict rendering of what is due, the
justice of God, that is, Jesus, requires the endurance of oense and the oer of forgiveness in
the hope that the unjust has been made just by being gathered back into communion.”
Jesus is therefore the very justice of God. Not as a victim of divine retribution, “but as the
very embodiment of God’s justice through his faithfulness and obedience in manifesting God’s
unrelenting desire for reconciliation.” Contrary to the world’s notions of justice, Christ-
centered justice includes acts of mercy and forgiveness to overcome sin. Think and talk about
it with your teens: When was the last time an antihero forgave his enemies instead of seeking
to destroy them? And what would it look like to ght evil and injustice in the real world
without also becoming evil and unjust? Can you think of any examples of real people who
confronted evil without becoming evil themselves?
Do the ends justify the means?
That’s the core understanding of ethics for many an antihero: “It doesn’t matter how I do
something, as long as my intentions and end-game are pure.” This perspective is known as
consequentialism, usually manifesting in the form of utilitarianism. The core idea that the
process doesn’t matter is a fantastic place to start having conversations about why we believe
things are right and wrong. Why do Christians believe in an absolute moral standard, where
each action in and of itself is judged as moral or immoral? What does “the means are the ends”
mean? Is that a more biblical perspective for Christians to have? Having these conversations
will set your student up for success when their motives are questioned or they nd themselves
in a seemingly moral gray area.
But what about hope?
Many teens nd that antiheroes give them hope for the cursed world we live in: Someone is
actually doing something about this broken world. Until they nd a way to have hope outside
of the antihero, they’ll continue looking for salvation in that character. Building a perspective
of eternal hope, as well as pointing to real-life heroes who weren’t perfect but were still able
to make a dierence, can give them the hope they need to put the philosophy of the antihero
behind them.
Spiritually speaking, it’s also important to remember “the arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends towards justice.”
So how do I talk with my teen(s) about
antiheroes?
Antiheroes are not inherently any more dangerous than any other character archetype. All
media has a story and an agenda; antiheroes are no dierent. After watching Breaking Bad, it’s
highly unlikely that teens will start selling meth. But it’s possible that they might develop an
increasing distrust of authority gures, gain increased sympathy for criminals, or have a desire
to be unconventional in their approach to solving problems. All of these things can be good as
long as they’re directed in a positive way.
Conversations are the foundation for addressing any passion, obsession, or love. Take your
teen to see that movie with that antihero protagonist, then take them to coee or ice cream
afterward. Ask them questions about what draws them to the character. Help them explore
the positive and negative messages the character is proclaiming. Above all, pursue a genuine
relationship with him/her in which these conversations can thrive.
The key to these conversations is to acknowledge what makes the antiheroic character appealing to
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teens. Do they love the depth of character of Batman? Are they intrigued by the motivations
of Rick Grimes? Focus on the why of the appeal and explore the positives of the character.
The issues of the character or story need to be addressed in the context of understanding.
Beginning the conversation with all of the horrible things that the character does will not lead
to a fruitful relationship. Rather, odds are that teens will simply shut down because something
they love has been attacked.
Final thoughts
Antiheroes are interesting, often deep, and typically thought-provoking. They ll an
interesting space in entertainment. The understanding that people are awed and the
subsequent desire to connect with awed heroes—whether complex heroes, antiheroes, tragic
heroes, or even villain protagonists—has driven an entire sub-genre of media. But awed
heroes and antiheroes are not a new thing. From the ancient dramas of the Greeks to the
realistic characters of Scripture, antiheroes have always appealed to people. Just as heroes have
the ability to make us strive to be much more than we are, antiheroes tell us that we aren’t
perfect and will make mistakes, and that’s okay.
So if we can help our teens learn one thing from their favorite characters, it’s this: People
aren’t perfect, and that’s okay. Why? Because we have a solution to our depravity: Christ
Himself. Though antiheroes will try anything and everything to ll the gap that is our
brokenness, we need look no further. We can help our teens learn this crucial less by taking
the time to understand the appeal and by having conversations about the context of and
appropriate solutions for our very-good-but-cursed state of being.
