History Main / NinetiesAntiHero

* Parodied in ''Series/{{Community}}'' with "Kickpuncher", a series of [[StylisticSuck D-grade]] ''{{Robocop}}''-style movies that main characters Abed and Troy watch [[MSTing primarily to make fun of it]].

* ''HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' has an episode that parodies PowerRangers, with an image of a comic book cover depecting the head of the "Powerful Rangers" as an overmuscled character drawn in the style of the 90's anti-hero.

* Revy from ''BlackLagoon''. Nails ''all'' the criteria, and to top it all of, the series is set in the mid-nineties.

* An episode of ''AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' featured a comic book nerd becoming obsessed with a violent Nineties Anti-Hero type comic character who he thinks is the coolest thing ever. That is until this character comes to life, and he comes to realize just how uncool violence really is.

* ShadowTheHedgehog seems to be a played straight born-too-late Nineties Anti Hero, especially when he got his own game where he used guns and rode motorcycles.

* One of the criticisms levelled at the NinjaTheory DevilMayCry reboot is that it tries to take a light-hearted series and give it the full Nineties treatment, leaving it overwrought with attempted edginess and shallow satire. This is exemplified by their rendition of Dante, who is a few pouches and a bucket of steroids away from leaping off a Liefeld cover.

* Pretty much everyone in Dark Age arc of ''AstroCity'', as onw might expect in a deconstruction of TheDarkAgeOfComics. There is also lampshading aplenty. There is a notable subversion in the character of Hellhound who, despite having the demonic background, monstrous appearance, torn leather and chains costume and "edgy" name, is actually a Noble Demon, and a respected ally of the local Captain America and Spider-Man expies.

** This was the direct result of having to compete with wRESTLING/{{WCW}}, who hit on this concept with the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder, however the [=nWo=] were essentially just [[EvilIsCool popular villains]], albeit not entirely heelish ones, at least until the [[AHouseDivided Wolfpac]] formed. The most successful aspects of the WWF's Wrestling/AttitudeEra were directly inspired by the nWo. In fact, the Austin vs. [=McMahon=] feud, almost universally considered the key to the WWF's resurgence, is the nWo vs. WCW with the roles reversed.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' features a comic book character (The Dark Defender) based on Dexter's SerialKillerKiller self that is a ''perfect'' 90s Anti-Hero. The "real" Dark Defender, upon seeing a pin-up of the character, has the most satisfied smile on his face for all of three seconds before he shakes it off as absurd not for any moral reasons (Dex is a PoeticSerialKiller and ''proud of it''), but because, "[[AwesomeButImpractical Miami's too hot for all that leather]]". He does later have an IndulgentFantasySegue where he crashes the key moment of his "SuperHeroOrigin", kills the bad guys and saves [[spoiler:his mother from being [[DeathByOriginStory hacked to gibbets with a chainsaw]].]] In leather.

* The LegacyOfKain series gives us an 2 interesting examples. While Kain is more or less a straight example character wise, Raziel is a much more heroic/noble character, ''however'', his character design positivly drips of it. The reason for this is because the game Dev team outsourced the concept art to Top Cow (a comic studio that broke off from {{Image}}, responsible for such works as ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' and ''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}''). The reason for this is because of complex corporate politics behind the creation of SoulReaver, which was being made at the same time as Eidos was having Top Cow publish the TombRaider comic.

The '''Nineties Anti-Hero" is a specific version of the AntiHero. Not all such characters were created during [[TheNineties the 1990s]], but that was the time when they were most common and most popular.

* ''HikouninSentaiAkibaranger'' has an episode that parodies PowerRangers, with an image of a comic book cover depecting the head of the "Powerful Rangers" as an overmuscled character drawn in the style of the 90's anti-hero.

* ''{{Akibaranger}}'' has an episode that parodies PowerRangers, with an image of a comic book cover depecting the head of the "Powerful Rangers" as an overmuscled character drawn in the style of the 90's anti-hero.

* Being a six-year-old NightmareFetishist, [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] thinks these are the coolest comics ''ever''.

* Late 90s [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] saw most of the [[{{Face}} babyfaces]] in this era act as such, with the charge being led by acts such as StoneColdSteveAustin, [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]], and DGenerationX.
** This was the direct result of having to compete with {{WCW}}, who hit on this concept with the NewWorldOrder, however the [=nWo=] were essentially just [[EvilIsCool popular villains]], albeit not entirely heelish ones, at least until the [[AHouseDivided Wolfpac]] formed. The most successful aspects of the WWF's "Attitude" era were directly inspired by the nWo. In fact, the Austin vs. [=McMahon=] feud, almost universally considered the key to the WWF's resurgence, is the nWo vs. WCW with the roles reversed.
*** In some ways, it was more a reaction to the growing underground success of ECW, and fueled by a number of wrestlers who developed grittier gimmicks in ECW and later brought them to WWF.

* The ongoing success of MMA (''UFC'' in particular) in 2010 has seen a partial revival of this trope in WWE with the resurgence of the [[HeelFaceTurn newly-turned]] [[AntiHero Randy Orton]] (especially when compared to his [[SilverAge Hoganesque]] counterpart John Cena).

In terms of characterization, they have four modes: [[{{Angst}} brooding]], [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]], {{badass}}, or just plain [[AxCrazy psychotic]]. How much of any one side they show over the others is the main thing that sets them apart from each other.

* ''{{Digimon}}'' is full of ''non-human'' examples (though many look humanoid), especially the early generations created during the nineties, reaching from [[BadassFurry Badass Furries]] to HollywoodCyborg dinosaurs.
* Jotaro Kujo from Part 3 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fits (in terms of clothing style and general attitude, at least), helping to reinforce that TropesAreNotBad.

* {{Cable}}, of the New Mutants, X-Force, and the Comicbook/{{X-Men}} was a major TropeCodifier. Tragic and mysterious past? Check. {{BFG}}s coming out the ass? Check. A "{{badass}}" look that used to be reserved for villains? Check. His first appearance was even in 1990, Over time, though, he's been developed into a more complex character, somewhere between MessianicArchetype and AGodAmI.

* The ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic introduced a full-blown Nineties Anti Hero to the ''Doctor Who'' universe in the shape of Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer. He's a "[[ChainsawGood chainsword]]"-loving professional criminal and multiple murderer who was exiled by a future Earth society to a Dalek-occupied world to kill as many Daleks as possible before his inevitable death (although he turned out to be BadAss enough to survive).

* {{Digimon}} is full of ''non-human'' (though many look humanoid) examples, especially the early generations created during the Nineties.

* ''Franchise/BlackRockShooter'': The eponymous heroine has the idiosyncratic name spelling, skimpy clothing, BadassLongcoat, fights without uttering a word with her humongous, morphing cannon and black katana and fights to ''kill''. Add the ability to shrug off lethal wounds without blinking and a blue flame around her left eye and she's only missing a thing: the MostCommonSuperpower.

The origins of this trope extend at least to the mid-'80s; two critically praised comics, ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''{{Batman}}: TheDarkKnightReturns'' were both published in 1986. Both comics were influential in that they "[[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]]" traditional {{superhero}}ic tropes, employing them for more sophisticated ends; ''Watchmen'', after all, is considered by some to be the greatest comic of all time. The Nineties Anti-Hero was born when other writers [[TheThemeParkVersion connected the success of these series with their dark mood and overt violence]], mixed their limited understanding of these works with tropes from the action movies of the time, and went from "heroes with flaws" to "characters constructed entirely of flaws".

* Even {{Superman}} and {{Batman}} had them! For Superman, it was the Eradicator, one of the four replacement Supermen who appeared after he died. For Batman, it was Jean-Paul Valley, the man formerly (at the time), known as Azrael, who replaced him after Bane broke his back. Nightwing chewed Bruce out over it and Bruce himself admits it was one of his worse mistakes.

* In the DarkHorseComics superhero line ''Comics Greatest World'', ComicBooks/{{X}} filled this role. He was at least willing to give you one warning, a vertical slash across the face. If the X across your face or an image of your face was completed, however, he killed you. No exceptions. He was willing to do whatever it took to cleanse the city of Arcadia of its crime and corruption.

* Rorschach and The Comedian of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' are probably the joint {{TropeCodifier}}s. Unfortunately, [[MisaimedFandom nearly everyone failed to realise that they weren't supposed to be sympathetic characters,]] and things just deteriorated from there.

* {{Deadpool}} (created by none other than Liefield himself) started out as a villain, then moved into AntiHero territory, and when [[MyRealDaddy a non-Liefield writer got a hold of him]] became more of an AffectionateParody.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' games have this kind of person in Alex Mercer and James Heller, the player characters. Both of them have the noble goal of saving New York from a virus that turns everyone into zombies at best and at worst nightmare-inducing blobs of flesh with claws and teeth. They both are infected themselves and kill thousands of civilians by accident just by using standard attacks like blades as big as a man and whips with several meters range. Probably the worst part is that the player can regenerate his health through consuming people which can be soldiers and mercenaries or regular bystanders. The games are just silly with their over the top enjoyable violence and the tragic story of the game, it has little to no connection. The second game tried to redeem itself with Hellers blackcomedy character, making the consuming of civilians much less rewarding on higher levels so that you are encouraged to only eat mercenaries and Mercer becomes the games villain.