27 Fictional Heroes Who Are Actually Just Bad People

"Ted Mosby is one of the worst."

In movies, TV shows, and books, there are some "good" characters we're *supposed* to love, BUT they're not always as great as they seem.

Adult Swim

So, when Reddit user tandyman234 asked, "Who is wrongly portrayed as a hero?" fellow redditors shared a ton of fictional heroes who are kinda terrible, and they made some valid points.

Here are some of the top-voted responses:

🚨 Warning: Some spoilers ahead! 🚨

1. Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diyah Pera / 20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Greg literally broke his best friend's hand and never apologized. And just when you think he was getting nicer, he does something even worse."

—u/ToriTheFan

2. Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City

HBO

"Carrie Bradshaw is a horrible friend, a manipulative and flaky partner, and a deeply irresponsible person all around."

—u/tinyhistorian

3. Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She murdered the Wicked Witch of the East, stole her shoes, and gave them to Dorothy. She then tells Dorothy that if she wants to go home, she should go see the Wizard. After the Wizard is revealed as a fraud, Glinda shows up and is all like, 'You could've gone home any time you'd like by clicking your heels together.'"

—u/Pirate_Green_Beard

4. Nick Rice from Law Abiding Citizen

Overture Films / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He made a shady deal to further his selfish ends."

—u/Successful-Bat5301

5. Gabriella Montez from High School Musical

Disney Channel / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She just manipulated Troy’s emotions the whole movie. Sharpay was just trying to live her life, and everything that happened for Gabriella was at Sharpay’s expense."

—u/MotherO_GuineaPigs

6. Severus Snape from Harry Potter

Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He had murky intentions at best, and although he sacrificed himself for Harry, the fact that Harry named his child after him instead of someone like Hagrid is shameful."

—u/flowerpotss

7. Maui from Moana

Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Straight-up doomed the world for selfish reasons and attempts to murder a child on several occasions."

—u/Bdroyle1988

8. Elsa from Frozen

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

"Almost kills her sister twice and is still heralded. Anna saves the day, but Elsa gets all the hype."

—u/wongjbw

9. Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (aka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Paramount Pictures

"He sat in bed for years, never lifting a finger to help his starving family — despite being perfectly able-bodied — except when a day of chocolate and fun is involved."

—u/supernintendo128

"He was even able to dance when Charlie produces the golden ticket. TWENTY YEARS IN BED AND HE DANCES!!!"

—u/JazzHandsNinja42

10. The Map from Dora the Explorer

Nickelodeon

"Say what you want, but that lil' MF is working with Swiper. How does he always know where Dora is or where she’s going???"

—u/stephen4131

11. Daniel LaRusso from The Karate Kid/Cobra Kai

YouTube Red / Courtesy Everett Collection

"After watching the Cobra Kai TV series and you see the movie from Johnny's perspective, Daniel is a bit of a dick."

—u/d-rabbit-17

12. Jerry from Tom and Jerry

Courtesy Everett Collection

"He annoys Tom, and when Tom tries to catch him, he has to face the consequences instead of Jerry."

—u/Agreeable-Yams8972

13. Daniel Hillard, aka Mrs. Doubtfire, from Mrs. Doubtfire

20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He was given very fair terms to see his kids again — get a stable job and stop being a passive-aggressive deadbeat. Instead, he decides to pretend to be an old lady to infiltrate his own house and use that knowledge to manipulate his family. Then, when his wife dates Pierce Brosnan — who seems like a good dude, genuinely liked her kids, and was willing to be a father figure for them — what does he do? Vandalizes his car and gives him cayenne pepper that he knows he is deathly allergic to. The poor guy could have died...but it's OK 'cause Mrs. Doubtfire is the hero."

—u/RigasTelRuun

14. Sophie Sheridan from Mamma Mia!

Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection

"What kind of prick invites her mother's ex-lovers to her mother's hotel on the eve of her wedding — without telling her — to try and force a situation where her real father will be revealed?

Then she bails on the whole wedding anyway to go traveling around the world. If I was a wedding guest having forked out thousands to get there for a non-wedding, I'd be livid."

—u/GreyFoxNinjaFan

15. The Road Runner from Looney Tunes

Warner Bros.

"That arrogant little MFer."

—u/TheGreatCornolio682

16. The Hulk from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He does more property damage to cities costing millions of dollars to fix than he actually helps out."

—u/Khanaerih

17. SpongeBob from SpongeBob SquarePants

Nickelodeon

"He just can't take a hint — like, leave Squidward alone."

—u/imapotatouwu

18. Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell

NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

"He got Jessie addicted to [caffeine pills] in one episode."

—u/Psychokelly4

19. Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk

Courtesy Everett Collection

"He breaks into the giant's house, steals his treasure, and then kills him when the giant tries to get his gold back..."

—u/RealisticBug5646

20. The kids in the Lucky Charms or Trix cereal commercials

General Mills  / youtube.com

"Just let the rabbit have some cereal. Is that too much to ask?!"

—u/Ordinary-Listen-7762

21. Ferris Bueller from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

"I don’t understand why people idolize this movie so much. He was terrible to everyone in the movie and paid basically zero consequences."

—u/melancholy_breadroll

22. Claire Dearing from Jurassic World

Universal Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She was just an a-hole the whole movie."

—u/Souloftheseas

23. Peter Pan from Peter Pan

Walt Disney Productions / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Dude cut off a guy's hand...and fed it to a CROCODILE."

—u/QueenRatigan

24. Tinker Bell from Peter Pan

Walt Disney Productions / Courtesy Everett Collection

"She blames everything on everyone else when it’s her fault. She’s not some fairy hero — just someone who messes up things, then has to clean up for it after blaming a series of people."

—u/Visual_Safe4060

25. Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild

Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Christopher McCandless was beyond moronic. Gave away all his money and possessions to go live out in the extreme remote wilderness with little to no tools or training on how to survive in the conditions he chose to live in. He basically thought that since he could survive being homeless on the outskirts of cities and towns that he could survive the Alaskan wilderness. I really dislike how much he's idolized in the movie. Jon Krakauer's book (which the movie was based on) did a much better job telling McCandless's story without glorifying his death."

—u/Jahbroni

26. Goku from Dragon Ball Z

Toei Animation / Courtesy Everett Collection

"Goku is a weird one for me since he's seen as a hero for protecting and saving the universe countless times, yet he always admits that it’s never his intention to save the world. He only fights opponents to better himself and to enjoy himself, which has almost killed him and endangered the universe itself. He’s a hero in that he obviously isn’t allowing people to die for his entertainment, but he shouldn’t be labeled as one because he isn’t one."

—u/TheBeanBagger

27. And finally: Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother

CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection

"How I Met Your Mother…more like Why I Should Be Allowed to Bang Your Aunt Robin. Shmosby is, at best, an unreliable narrator, and all of HIMYM should be viewed as revisionist history."

—u/mechwarrior719

"A lot of protagonists from sitcoms fall into this. Ted Mosby is one of the worst, but I think it's due to the bigger picture of 'nice guys' being portrayed as hopeless romantics in stories, which has been happening for hundreds of years."

—u/OddAuthor

Which fictional "heroes" do you think are the worst? Let us know in the comments below!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.