UPDATE: The contest is over and the winners have been randomly selected and contacted! Thanks for the terrific answers, folks!
Just like it says in the headline: Now that the series has ended, I am giving five lucky readers each a complete set of the trilogy, signed, in hardcover.
How do you score your well-deserved chunk of this largesse? What dastardly hoops will you have to jump through?
Not many. It’s actually so easy, it’s practically thievery.
Just respond in the comments below, telling me who your favorite misunderstood hero or villain is. If you want to say why, that’s cool, too.
Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive the trilogy.
The contest runs until February 22, 2013 at midnight Eastern time.
Fave Misunderstood Villain: Eggman
–It’s not your fault, Eggman! They got Vincent Price to play you. You could have been a perfectly nice guy, but your actor demands you be evil!!!
I think you mean EggHEAD, not EggMAN. #ohsnap #battriviafail
My favorite misunderstood villian, who also happens to be my favorite misunderstood hero is V … And I loved him from the graphic novel way BEFORE the movie came out … and my favorite quote from book explains why…
Evey says “I’m nobody. Nobody special, not like you” and V replies
“Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody.”
Magnetic, because when you get down to it, he is pretty Damn hard to disagree with.
Magneto*
Damn auto correct!
Alice Deane from The Last Apprentice series (or The Wardstone Chronicles depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on). The sacrifices she made throughout the series and the hardships she was force to endure for her one friend. (Don’t really want to give anything away in case anyone hasn’t read the series, which I highly recommend.)
the Smallville Lex Luthor
he was never a villain, but everyone perceived him as such, so he’s technically a misunderstood villain: the “monster” from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
I’m going to have to say BATGIRL. Because, well DUH, she’s Batgirl so surely she is kickass. And yet who knows anything about her? Poor ignored Batgirl.
Bill from Kill Bill! He suffered love and loss and it was only understandable that he (spoiler alert) wanted his baby.
My favorite would have to be the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty. She only went bad because she was not invited to the party.
Oooh!
My favorite changes frequently, but at the moment I’m still digging Loki. I just want to hug him and squeeze him and ship him off to family therapy.
pietro maximoff! even tho he’s been on the avengers and x-men throughout his history, it just feels like he never quite got out from under the whole “my dad is a mutant terrorist” thing
I never believed Snape was a bad guy and I am so glad that everyone got to see what I saw in him at the end. I have a lot of Snape love!
Adam Warlock<3
Frank “The Punisher” Castle
I think batgirl.
Delete this one please. The one below is my final answer.
I would also say Eric Harris. From Columbine. I think he and I are a lot alike. I don’t like the connection ,but I know I’m misunderstood and I’ve read fragments from his diary that seem a lot like me that express his so called “hatred and anger” but he just wanted attention, like me. He wanted to be liked and called eccentric instead of crazy. But you’re crazy unless you’re famous,then you can say you’re jesus (John Lennon). My teacher told me to not be so different because people will call me crazy. I am crazy. I compare myself to Eric Harris. Not delusional , I understand myself even though it’s mostly flaws. Anyways you want to stay rich and frankly don”t give a fuck, but I love your books and Eric Harris. Everyone is crazy. Rich or poor so eff you teacher. Can’t wait to see you in April Barry!!
Loki, of course. Poor misunderstood baby!
The Ice King from the Cartoon Network show “Adventure Time”.
So messed up, in SO many ways. But funny too! ;D
Mine would have to be Zuko, from Avatar.
I started watching it with a friend and HATED him so much as a character, but then grew to love him as the show went on and he became better and understood himself better.
Ok, so maybe he’s not so misunderstood after all.
Sigh.
I think I just have a thing for the moment when a bad guy shows his good side, if only for one minute. I remember cheering, literally CHEERING when Darth Vader saved Luke at the end.
I was watching the movie with my brother, who had just bought the entire box set. Before that, I only thought there was one movie, thanks to TBS playing just the original one OVER and OVER again.
My brother smiled at the cheering.
Ok, just one more:
MR. CLAW from Inspector Gadget.
I can still hear him saying, “I’ll get you next time Gadget….next time!”
I thought he was just so mysterious.
Ok, done.
Promise 🙂
I’ve never really been a villain kind of girl, but I really feel for Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Many people feel that she was self-centered and a bad friend, but I can relate to her on many levels.
my favorite misunderstood villains would be Harley Quinn and the Comedian.
Harley is a brilliant psychologist with daddy issues and then some. She not only falls for patient but for the joker himself. She is constantly belittled, abused and humiliated for his gains. She is the poster child for Stockholm syndrome and ‘learned helplessness’ as described by B.F. Skinner. I’m just saying the poor girl never had a shot when it came to joker she is always taking the fall for him and constantly hurt yet no one in the DC universe seems to realize she’s the ultimate victim here. If someone could pry her away from the joker she’d be okay. I feel for her so bad because its hard to get away from an abuser, especially when you convince yourself you love them. She has always been my favorite female misunderstood bad guy.
Comedian is the only one who gets the joke. He is a cold, manipulative man who is more than ruthless and will kill women and children. The man is crazed. But he is the ultimate joke. The American people in watchmen want him. We want him to be this figure of authority, power and to go out and to kill the bad guys. He is the ultimate bad boy wrapped in silicon and marketed as a good guy. He is only doing what we ask of him to do. That would make us more the bad guy than him. Comedian never saw the world through rose colored glasses, he saw it for its drudgery, broken dreams and its true sin. He never lied about what it was or what he was. He was the only character who saw everything as it was, embraced it and lived with it. He truly was the bad guy but in a world full of evil, wouldn’t that make him a hero? I loved his character because he was easy to hate, hard to relate to. Yet in a way you felt the deepest sympathy for him as he wore a mask and played pretend with the other watchmen. “What happened to the American Dream?” It came true! You’re lookin’ at it…
Oh someone above had mentioned V, and yeah I love him. He may just be my favorite, also a big fan of Loki (I see him as the older, responsible brother who no matter how good he is was always looked over for the “golden” child. Leads to so many issues.)
*sigh* Now I need a movie.
I think I’d have to say Micah from Justine Larbalestier’s book LIAR. You just never, never, never know…was she telling the truth?
Anakin Skywalker = most misunderstood villain
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to bring up Anakin…
I think the most misunderstood hero, in terms of who he really is, would be Superman. By most of the public (people who aren’t comic book fans but enjoy the film/television versions), Superman’s alien attributes are rarely highlighted thus rarely perceived.
As far as the most misunderstood villain, I’d choose Harley Quinn. Women like her actually exist (that over-obsessive personality, that eagerness to be accepted by a male figure while still maintaining a fierce independence) and in reality are quite personable.
Harley Quinn!!! She’s brilliant and athletic and she’s my favorite charcter in the DC world!
My absolute favorite misunderstood hero and villain has got to be Deadpool from Marvel Comics. He’s an endlessly regenerating mercenary, who can hold his own against anyone and everyone. Of course he does do a lot of illegal activities (mercenary, remember?), but he’s also helped out the X Men, Uncanny X Force, etc. He’s hilarious and has tried being both a villain and a hero, but to most other heroes and villains, he’s probably just annoying. I think he’s not just misunderstood, he’s completely insane, but that wasn’t exactly his fault. Deadpool is awesome!!!