History MisaimedFandom / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': One early arc in ''ComicBook/TheFlashRebirth'' portrays the Rogues' previous image as being sympathetic anti-villains this way, presenting Captain Cold as ''actually'' being a cold-hearted and selfish monster and the Rogues as damaged lunatics, but their prior image being just how many people saw them because they weren't as bad as Grodd or Thawne. To compound this, Barry Allen briefly meets a support group of people who had been left permanently injured by them, and after Barry foils what was ''intended'' to be their "retirement heist", Cold decides to reject his previous code of honour and start being as cruel and violent as he can be.

** As an '80s superhero deconstruction, Creator/AlanMoore heavily based the character Rorschach on Steve Ditko's Objectivist superheroes, specifically The Question and Mr. A. However, Moore had no affinity for their ideology, calling Mr. A "an absolute insane fascist" and Objectivism "laughable," and he wrote Rorschach as his own take on what an Objectivist hero would probably be like: a short, ugly, murderous sociopath. Despite this, readers saw Rorschach's uncompromising persona as endearing, and he became the most popular character of a landmark comic series. Additionally, as pointed out on the UnbuiltTrope page, Rorschach and the Comedian were intended to deconstruct the NinetiesAntiHero, and ended up popularizing it instead. Apparently, the series's beginning with the horrific death of the Comedian and ending with [[spoiler:the even more horrific death of Rorschach]] wasn't enough to make people realize that ''these were not admirable characters''.

** Batman in general isn't necessarily immune to this. Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'' was designed to criticize the character's [[CrazyPrepared prep time paranoia tendencies]] by [[spoiler:showing that he'd secretly been thinking up ways to kill or incapacitate his Justice League allies for years, only to have them fall into the wrong hands, thus placing the entire world in jeopardy]]. This was intended to show that such a man would be the worst kind of team member who would be impossible to trust and work with since his plans involved torturing them. But unfortunately, all some fans came away with was "BATMAN'S THE SMARTEST, MOST BADASS HERO EVER!!!" It was intended to show that Batman had at least the right idea: every superhero has at least one mind-controlling villain, at least one villain with the same power(s) as the hero, and at least one instance of losing their way and going at least a ''little'' too dark. Knowing what you'd do if you had to fight one of your teammates is defensible, but actually writing the manual and failing to keep it out of the bad guys' hands is another story, as well as personally insinuating yourself with them to carefully finagle their weaknesses is also a pretty low thing to do.

* '''ComicBook/VForVendetta''': Also by Alan Moore, V is seen in heroic light as he actively undermines the Fascist government despite the fact that he is still a terrorist who puts innocent lives in danger. The entire premise Moore was going for was to pit two sides of political extremes against each other. This trope is also the reason why Moore wasn't fond of the film version's unambigiously heroic V.

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': Quite a few European far-right politicians or supporters have used this series to promote a romanticized idea of ancient Europe in a time when supposedly no immigrants crowded the country. It doesn't occur to them that ''Asterix'' is more historical fiction than anything else and that Asterix and his friends always get along fine with other nationalities. Even the Romans aren't always depicted as villains.
* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' readers are supposed to agree with everything the protagonists say, but there is a significant "fandom" that finds the over-the-top nature of these tracts [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]]. In addition, on first reading them, many people assume that the tracts are intended as a parody of TheFundamentalist. [[PoesLaw They are totally serious]]. Even so, some people still insist that the tracts are all written as a massive StealthParody. While Jack Chick was notoriously hard to get info on, he was sincere about what he was trying to say, by all accounts. (Besides, considering that [[DiedDuringProduction Chick died in October 2016]], if the tracts ''are'' a parody, it's one that Chick kept going to his dying breath, which is extremely unlikely.)\\
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Of specific note is ''Dark Dungeons'', a Chick Tract that portrayed fans of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' as a Satanic cult that wields ''real'' witchcraft to conquer and destroy the world. Between portraying roleplaying as hilariously and ludicrously over-the-top evil act and portraying the roleplayers as [[EvilIsCool cool muscular leather-jacket wearing bad-asses]], its ''entire fanbase'' is composed of the very people it was trying to shame. So much so that a [[WebVideo/DarkDungeons crowd-funded live-action movie]] was made that mocks it ''by being a faithful and true shot-for-shot adaptation''.

* ComicBook/ThePunisher is very popular with members of the American armed forces. This has proven very aggravating for Gerry Conway, who was a conscientious objector during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and intended for the Punisher to be a ''bad guy''.
** Policemen [[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-punisher-logo-st-louis-police-plain-view-project-20190712-dcskdnuefvaw5kpvn63wbxf4r4-story.html have incorporated him too]]. Considering in-universe [[https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/07/03/punisher-police-skull-logo-spoilers/ The Punisher does not approve of law enforcers doing this...]]
* ComicBook/TheJoker - mass-murderer, torturer, MonsterClown, and has a MASSIVE fanbase.

* ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' in general isn't necessarily immune to this. Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'' was designed to criticize the character's [[CrazyPrepared prep time paranoia tendencies]] by [[spoiler:showing that he'd secretly been thinking up ways to kill or incapacitate his Justice League allies for years, only to have them fall into the wrong hands, thus placing the entire world in jeopardy]]. This was intended to show that such a man would be the worst kind of team member who would be impossible to trust and work with since his plans involved torturing them. But unfortunately, all some fans came away with was "BATMAN'S THE SMARTEST, MOST BADASS HERO EVER!!!" It was intended to show that Batman had at least the right idea: every superhero has at least one mind-controlling villain, at least one villain with the same power(s) as the hero, and at least one instance of losing their way and going at least a ''little'' too dark. Knowing what you'd do if you had to fight one of your teammates is defensible, but actually writing the manual and failing to keep it out of the bad guys' hands is another story, as well as personally insinuating yourself with them to carefully finagle their weaknesses is also a pretty low thing to do.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd''

* Though the series was massively controversial, there were a surprising number of readers of ''ComicBook/{{Superior Spider Man|2013}}'' who sided with ComicBook/DoctorOctopus and genuinely felt that he was indeed better at being Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was. This is despite the series' final arc demonstrating in great detail ''why'' Ock's pompous, DarkerAndEdgier methods did not work, and even climaxing with him willingly relinquishing control and admitting that Peter was indeed the [[TitleDrop superior Spider-Man]] all along.
* ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'' is taken by some as an excellent argument for why ComicBook/LexLuthor is a hero, or at least believing that it brings up some intriguing GrayAndGreyMorality and humanistic traits to the character because he honestly thinks that he is a hero and Superman is a villain. Many also agree with Lex's arguments against Superman's ChronicHeroSyndrome, which sees him rescuing Toyman from an angry mob, in this story a [[AssholeVictim pedophile who had just (seemingly) blown up a daycare centre]]. Except for the fact that it is ''strongly, strongly'' implied that ''Lex himself'' blew up that centre, and is behind a bunch of other horrible things in the comic, and the real point of the story is that Lex is deluded and insane to boot.
* ComicBook/{{Lobo}} started as a generic mercenary before being retooled by creator Keith Giffen as a parody of eighties "grim and gritty" heroes like ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher in a series of mini-series books. Needless to say, Lobo became a big hit with fans who took the satire at face value.
* This happens with a lot of "satire" characters where the author "exaggerates" them just by taking all the elements that people seem to like in other shows and lumping them together without actually exaggerating anything. We've seen this in reverse with films like ''Film/SuckerPunch'', intended to "parody" exploitation literature but garnering reactions as if they were genuine because, well, the creators forgot the part where they make the thing they're parodying more ridiculous or extreme than the source material. And even if they do make it more ridiculous or extreme, then, considering they operate in a genre based on impressive and bizarre events, all they really did was ''[[BeyondTheImpossible top]]'' the original.
* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' has the titular heroine becoming a [[Franchise/GreenLantern Red Lantern]] after a severe breakdown. Her becoming a Red is in no way treated as a positive change but as a sign that Kara Zor-El had severe psychological issues dragging her down which she needed to overcome. Nonetheless, a number of fans chose to focus on how badass she looked, complained when she left the team, and later demanded a Red Lantern arc in [[Series/Supergirl2015 her live-action show]].[[note]][[spoiler:''A'' Red Daughter does appear, however, instead of being Kara herself as a Red Lantern, it's just a time clone of her raised in Kasnia, and therefore a GenderFlip of ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon''.]][[/note]]
* German comic ''ComicStrip/NickKnatterton'' was made as this, since author Manfred Schmidt considered comics a primitive art form. The fans took it straight and liked it.
* ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'': Creator/BrianAzzarello was surprised and disturbed to find that the violent, amoral homicidal rapist and torturer Lono had a devoted fan following.
* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' and its rapid transformation into the sort of MerchandiseDriven juggernaut it was originally meant to lampoon had a lot to do with this. The franchise as a whole began in 1984 as a parody of the NinetiesAntiHero by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. In fact, the entire premise of the original comic is built around the question of [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what happened]] to the radioactive canister which gave Matt Murdock (aka {{ComicBook/Daredevil}}) his superpowers. The original comic was at first largely an [[AffectionateParody affectionate riff]] on Creator/FrankMiller’s [[GratuitousNinja ninja-tastic]] reinvention of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' in the 1980s, mixed with just a little of the ''other'' most popular thing on the shelves -- [[Franchise/XMen teenage mutants]]. The result was the public at large missing the aspects being parodied and making the book a smash hit well beyond what the creators could have ever expected. The original creators and later licensees decided to run with the misaimed version instead of trying to fight it, resulting in a CashCowFranchise. That fandom mostly came from the TV series, which was entirely intended as such, so it's not so much Misaimed Fandom as it is ExecutiveMeddling that took. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools The franchise has become pretty popular since becoming a franchise too.]]
* Creator/JhonenVasquez repeatedly takes pages out of his ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' and ''Squee'' series to TakeThat to various people he feels are enjoying his comic for the wrong reasons. One extended story in ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' is about a serial-killing fanboy of Johnny's. Since Johnny is a character who goes around murdering the most annoying people in the typical Vasquez CrapsackWorld, it's not hard to see why some people might get the wrong idea.
** Goths seem to treat Jhonen as their king, despite him constantly insulting them and his own hatred of the association. With that said, he doesn't necessarily hate Goths, but he doesn't care for catering specifically to them.
** Vasquez has also mentioned on more than one occasion how awkward it was to receive fan mail from young children that enjoyed ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' and subsequently started reading his decidedly ''not'' child-friendly [=JtHM=] comics.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''

* '''ComicBook/VForVendetta''': Also by Alan Moore, V is seen in heroic light as he actively undermines the Fascist government despite the fact that he is still a terrorist who puts innocent lives in danger. The entire premise Moore was going for was to pit two sides of political extremes against each other. This trope is also the reason why Moore wasn't fond of the film version's unambigiously heroic V.
* ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For_%28Bechdel_test_origin%29.jpg came up with]] UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest as a deliberately easy-to-pass test (passing merely required that a work have more than one female character, that the female characters have a conversation, and that this conversation not revolve around men) in order to demonstrate just how little effort movie directors and screenwriters put into developing female characters, but has since been co-opted by others as an all-purpose feminist-credentials test.
-->'''Dane Cook:''' Always remember that the lyric 'Oh my God, Becky... look at her butt!' from Sir Mix-a-Lot's 'I like Big Butts' passes the Bechdel Test, folks. Always remember that.
:: Furthermore, the original comic (which was described by the author as "a little lesbian joke") was more about compulsory heterosexuality in media - obviously, it's next to impossible to find a movie that depicts a romantic relationship between women if there's barely any movies that depict them in ''platonic'' relationships. That most people don't know this ''really'' speaks about the degree of misaiming that's occurred.
* ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'''s fifth chapter, ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Thunderworld Adventures]]'', was intended to suggest the folly of the NostalgiaFilter belief that the way to "save comics" is to go back to the Silver Age, with the world depicted being a very subtle CrapSaccharineWorld with MonochromeCasting, ValuesDissonance, a few JerkAss bits, and [[MoodWhiplash several abruptly dark moments]]. The entire plot of the issue is also based on the villain stealing time to unnaturally create the story's events, implying that nostalgia-focused storytelling is something that can't last. However, these subtle moments and undercurrents were completely undercut by the fact that it happened to be the best-regarded ''Captain Marvel'' story in decades, and people were more than willing to overlook the occasional disturbing undertone if it meant having a Captain Marvel who's named Captain Marvel, has wacky fun clever adventures, and fights his actual nemesis, rather than being stuck in an AudienceAlienatingEra moping and doping while ComicBook/BlackAdam [[BreakoutVillain hogs the spotlight]].
* ''Comicbook/{{Icon}}'' was written by the late great Creator/DwayneMcDuffie and had a massive big name fan in the form of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The problem: Dwayne [=McDuffie=] ''did not like'' Clarence Thomas, calling him Scalia's Lapdog among other insults. It was to a point the fandom of Justice Thomas gave [=McDuffie=] ''writers block'' with the question of if he was just giving Thomas and the black neoconservative movement quotes (as Icon was written as a conservative hero to contrast with a younger, liberal partner in Rocket).
* ''ComicStrip/TheAddamsFamily'' is a famous example - the strip features the AmbiguouslyHuman clan as a comedic inversion of what was considered a healthy, traditional family. But, since the Addams were portrayed as so friendly and loving, they quickly gathered a lot of fans - to the point that, in [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily its many adaptations]], their neighbors went from being clueless, but clearly well-meaning, to understandably bitter, to full-on villainous {{Stepford Smiler}}s in the [[WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily2019 2019 adaptation]]. It's not hard to see why - Gomez and Morticia are openly passionate and romantic, in a way that looked creepy back then, but heartwarming now; they have friends and family all around the world, as opposed to traditionally insular suburbanites, and they consider their children creative and clever, instead of trying to stomp them down. The daughter Wednesday, in particular, became popular among the goth subculture, going from CreepyChild to anti-authoritarian LittleMissBadass
* The infamous storyline ''ComicBook/DeathOfX'' was meant to be TheReveal for what infamous atrocity [[ComicBook/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] committed that led to mutants being more hated than ever and him being viewed as a monster. The reveal that what he did was try to stop the Terrigen Mists that ComicBook/TheInhumans released that were killing mutants while awakening superpowers in Inhumans caused readers to feel that Cyclops was in fact a hero since he was trying to prevent genocide. Instead the event was seen as a MoralEventHorizon by the Inhumans since they murdered Cyclops for his actions [[spoiler:or what they thought was Cyclops]], simply for altering a Terrigen cloud so it wouldn't kill mutants while still giving Inhumans powers, something that the Inhumans don't even need.

* A significant amount of ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' fans end up taking sides with either the titular character or Ramona Flowers because they see the opposite half is a heavily flawed, somewhat immature individual as well as a poor lover for a number of exes throughout the series. What they miss out on is that ''both'' of them need to sort their issues out, and while this is more overt with Scott Ramona needed to actually address what she did and is doing wrong too. The [[Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff anime]] ends up addressing this for the latter, actually putting her in the protagonist seat to truly confront a number of her exes. As a side note, this also extends to Ramona's aesthetic, as (as depicted in the punk song "''Scott Pilgrim'' Ruined An Entire Generation of Women") many girls were drawn to her fit and lifestyle only to make the exact same relationship mistakes as her.

* ''ComicBook/ExMachina''. An artist is tired of being judged so does a big piece intended to lash out at her critics. Instead, they rave about it. So, the artist decides to put out what her friend calls "the most inane, hateful piece of cliched taboo you could imageine": A portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a racial slur painted over him. But (once more as the assistant nicely sums up) "instead of catching onto your little prank, they ''fell'' for it and hung it in a museum where it's currently delighting pretentious critics and alienating the real people you set out to reach when you started."
* ''ComicBook/TheFlashRebirth'': One early arc portrays the Rogues' previous image as being sympathetic anti-villains this way, presenting Captain Cold as ''actually'' being a cold-hearted and selfish monster and the Rogues as damaged lunatics, but their prior image being just how many people saw them because they weren't as bad as Grodd or Thawne. To compound this, Barry Allen briefly meets a support group of people who had been left permanently injured by them, and after Barry foils what was ''intended'' to be their "retirement heist", Cold decides to reject his previous code of honour and start being as cruel and violent as he can be.

** A better example from the pages of Batman might be ComicBook/HarleyQuinn. Although she is the girlfriend and accomplice of the Joker, and is often shown to be almost as AxeCrazy as he is, fans often seem to forgive her actions, hold her up as something of a heroic or anti-heroic figure, and she is often a KarmaHoudini in the actual stories.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in general isn't necessarily immune to this. Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'' was designed to criticize the character's [[CrazyPrepared prep time paranoia tendencies]] by [[spoiler:showing that he'd secretly been thinking up ways to kill or incapacitate his Justice League allies for years, only to have them fall into the wrong hands, thus placing the entire world in jeopardy]]. This was intended to show that such a man would be the worst kind of team member who would be impossible to trust and work with since his plans involved torturing them. But unfortunately, all some fans came away with was "BATMAN'S THE SMARTEST, MOST BADASS HERO EVER!!!" It was intended to show that Batman had at least the right idea: every superhero has at least one mind-controlling villain, at least one villain with the same power(s) as the hero, and at least one instance of losing their way and going at least a ''little'' too dark. Knowing what you'd do if you had to fight one of your teammates is defensible, but actually writing the manual and failing to keep it out of the bad guys' hands is another story, as well as personally insinuating yourself with them to carefully finagle their weaknesses is also a pretty low thing to do.
** Hell, Bruce Wayne’s not the only Batman to suffer from this. Jean Paul Valley practically owes his existence to this trope. During the early 90s, there were more than a few Batman fans who thought he WASN’T hard enough on criminals, and essentially wanted him to be more like The Punisher or Judge Dredd. This was one of the reasons for the Knightfall saga: to show what someone like The Punisher would be like if he became Batman. Jean Paul Valley was a take that to the rise of 90s era anti heroes, and sure enough, becoming Batman went to his head and he took it too far to the point where even CRIMINALS were calling him insane. He was popular among fans for several reasons: At first, both Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake endorsed him as Batman while Bruce recovered, he was brutally violent with criminals, he was Batman, he avenged Bruce at the hands of Bane, and (for a while) actually did a good job as Batman. His popularity with fans lead to him being kept on as a character.

* In recent years, ComicBook/ThePunisher has become very popular with members of the American armed forces, especially due to the influence of ''Film/AmericanSniper''. This has proven very aggravating for Gerry Conway, who was a conscientious objector during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and intended for the Punisher to be a ''bad guy''.

* Though the series was massively controversial, there were a surprising number of readers of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' who sided with ComicBook/DoctorOctopus and genuinely felt that he was indeed better at being Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was. This is despite the series' final arc demonstrating in great detail ''why'' Ock's pompous, DarkerAndEdgier methods did not work, and even climaxing with him willingly relinquishing control and admitting that Peter was indeed the [[TitleDrop superior Spider-Man]] all along.
* ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'' is taken by some as an excellent argument for why ComicBook/LexLuthor is a hero, or at least believing that it brings up some intriguing GrayAndGreyMorality and humanistic traits to the character because he honestly thinks that he is a hero and Superman is a villain. Many also agree with Lex's arguments against Superman's ChronicHeroSyndrome, which sees him rescuing Toyman from an angry mob, in this story a [[KickTheSonOfABitch pedophile who had just (seemingly) blown up a daycare centre]]. Except for the fact that it is ''strongly, strongly'' implied that ''Lex himself'' blew up that centre, and is behind a bunch of other horrible things in the comic, and the real point of the story is that Lex is deluded and insane to boot.

--->'''The Seventh Kavalry:''' ''"Soon, all the whores and race-traitors will cry 'Save us!' And we will whisper, 'No.'"''

-->'''Dane Cook:''' ''"Always remember that the lyric 'Oh my God, Becky... look at her butt!' from Sir Mix-a-Lot's 'I like Big Butts' passes the Bechdel Test, folks. Always remember that."''

* A significant amount of ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' fans end up taking sides with either the titular character or Ramona Flowers because they see the opposite half is a heavily flawed, somewhat immature individual as well as a poor lover for a number of exes throughout the series. What they miss out on is that ''both'' of them need to sort their issues out, and while this is more overt with Scott Ramona needed to actually address what she did and is doing wrong too. The [[Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff anime]] end up addressing this for the latter, actually putting her in the protagonist seat to truly confront a number of her exes. As a side note, this also extends to Ramona's aesthetic, as (as depicted in the punk song "''Scott Pilgrim'' Ruined An Entire Generation of Women") many girls were drawn to her fit and lifestyle only to make the exact same relationship mistakes as her.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is a more innocent example than most, but the rapid transformation into the sort of MerchandiseDriven juggernaut it was originally meant to parody had a lot to do with this. The creators and later licensees seem to have decided to run with the misaimed version instead of trying to fight it. That fandom mostly came from the TV series, which was entirely intended as such, so it's not so much Misaimed Fandom as it is ExecutiveMeddling that took. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools The franchise has become pretty popular since becoming a franchise too.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'''s fifth chapter, ''[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Thunderworld Adventures]]'', was intended to suggest the folly of the NostalgiaFilter belief that the way to "save comics" is to go back to the Silver Age, with the world depicted being a very subtle CrapSaccharineWorld with MonochromeCasting, ValuesDissonance, a few JerkAss bits, and [[MoodWhiplash several abruptly dark moments]]. The entire plot of the issue is also based on the villain stealing time to unnaturally create the story's events, implying that nostalgia-focused storytelling is something that can't last. However, these subtle moments and undercurrents were completely undercut by the fact that it happened to be the best-regarded ''Captain Marvel'' story in decades, and people were more than willing to overlook the occasional disturbing undertone if it meant having a Captain Marvel who's named Captain Marvel, has wacky fun clever adventures, and fights his actual nemesis, rather than being stuck in a DorkAge moping and doping while ComicBook/BlackAdam [[BreakoutVillain hogs the spotlight]].

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd''. You'd be surprised how many people find the idea of the [[PoliceState Judge system]] appealing and miss the strip's satire altogether.

* ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'' is taken by some as an excellent argument for why ComicBook/LexLuthor is a hero, or at least believing that it brings up some intriguing GrayAndGreyMorality and humanistic traits to the character because he honestly thinks that he is a hero and Superman is a villain. Many also agree with Lex's arguments against Superman's LawfulGood ChronicHeroSyndrome, which sees him rescuing Toyman from an angry mob, in this story a [[KickTheSonOfABitch pedophile who had just (seemingly) blown up a daycare centre]]. Except for the fact that it is ''strongly, strongly'' implied that ''Lex himself'' blew up that centre, and is behind a bunch of other horrible things in the comic, and the real point of the story is that Lex is deluded and insane to boot.

* In recent years, Comicbook/ThePunisher has become very popular with members of the American armed forces, especially due to the influence of ''Film/AmericanSniper''. This has proven very aggravating for Gerry Conway, who was a conscientious objector during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and intended for the Punisher to be a ''bad guy''.

** Some of that has to do with the concepts that Waid and Ross came up with being popular enough with writers that [[{{Retcanon}} they were made]] [[CanonImmigrant canon]]. A few characters like Irey West, Jakeem Thunder and the female Judomaster ended up crossing over into the DCU, while Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} temporarily got his golden skin, Roy Harper became Red Arrow, and Wonder Woman got her sword, shield, and willingness to use lethal force (for a time she even was paired with Superman). Seeing as how those characters were generally not shown to be outright asses though, it's somewhat understandable.

* Though the series was massively controversial, there were a surprising number of readers of ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' who sided with Comicbook/DoctorOctopus and genuinely felt that he was indeed better at being Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was. This is despite the series' final arc demonstrating in great detail ''why'' Ock's pompous, DarkerAndEdgier methods did not work, and even climaxing with him willingly relinquishing control and admitting that Peter was indeed the [[TitleDrop superior Spider-Man]] all along.

* ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''

** Several readers have idolized Rorschach and [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] for their political beliefs whether it be Rorschach's [[PrinciplesZealot refusal to compromise his values in the face of Armageddon]] or [[spoiler:Ozymandias's]] [[TotalitarianUtilitarian willingness to make hard sacrifices to achieve world peace]]. Moore's own take seems to be that we're not supposed to ''like'' either of these characters; they are {{antihero}}es or {{antivillain}}s at best. Both of them take their respective ethical philosophies to unjustifiable extremes that render them callous to the actual human suffering depicted in the comic. A balanced ethical perspective, ''Watchmen'' suggests, needs to consider ''both'' the categorical imperative and utilitarianism, and since they're intrinsically contradictory stances, it can't take either of them to extremes.

-->'''The Seventh Kavalry:''' ''"Soon, all the whores and race-traitors will cry 'Save us!' And we will whisper, 'No.'"''

** ''ComicBook/Rorschach2020'' is another meta-{{Reconstruction}} of Rorschach and the complicated moral legacy he left behind both in-universe and out. The antagonists of the series are a group of radicalized {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s who -- thanks to a muddling of various theories created before and after the squid invasion of '85 -- believe some of themselves to be reincarnations of Rorschach, and that the only way to save the world is to assassinate a presidential candidate under his name. Drawing upon the 30+ year gap from his death, the characters end up picking and choosing how they interpret him and [[UnscrupulousHero his well-meaning, but insane absolutist philosophy]], ironically reinforcing both how mentally disturbed they fundamentally are, and how Rorschach's brutal [[AntiHero antiheroism]] was symptomatic of an ugly detachment from humanity, which -- while sadly an inevitability for some -- [[AntiRoleModel is absolutely not meant to be admired and sought after]].

* ''ComicStrip/TheAddamsFamily'' is a famous example - the strip features the AmbiguouslyHuman clan as a comedic inversion of what was considered a healthy, traditional family. But, since the Addams were portrayed as so friendly and loving, they quickly gathered a lot of fans - to the point that, in [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily its many adaptations]], their neighbors went from being clueless, but clearly well-meaning, to understandably bitter, to full-on villainous [[StepfordSmiler Stepford Smilers]] in the [[WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily2019 2019 adaptation]]. It's not hard to see why - Gomez and Morticia are openly passionate and romantic, in a way that looked creepy back then, but heartwarming now; they have friends and family all around the world, as opposed to traditionally insular suburbanites, and they consider their children creative and clever, instead of trying to stomp them down. The daughter Wednesday, in particular, became popular among the goth subculture, going from CreepyChild to anti-authoritarian LittleMissBadass
* The infamous storyline ''ComicBook/DeathOfX'' was meant to be TheReveal for what infamous atrocity {{ComicBook/Cyclops}} committed that led to mutants being more hated than ever and him being viewed as a monster. The reveal that what he did was try to stop the Terrigen Mists that ComicBook/TheInhumans released that were killing mutants while awakening superpowers in Inhumans caused readers to feel that Cyclops was in fact a hero since he was trying to prevent genocide. Instead the event was seen as a MoralEventHorizon by the Inhumans since they murdered Cyclops for his actions [[spoiler: or what they thought was Cyclops]], simply for altering a Terrigen cloud so it wouldn't kill mutants while still giving Inhumans powers, something that the Inhumans don't even need.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Mina Mongoose uses a concert to rally the people of Mobotropolis to start standing up for themselves and stop taking everything the Freedom Fighters say on faith alone.[[note]]Specifically, her main concern was to ensure that NICOLE couldn't wind up BrainwashedAndCrazy again.[[/note]] Thanks to [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus']] manipulations, instead of the debates and civilian empowerment she was hoping for, the result is a divided and even more fearful kingdom and [[ArtificialIntelligence NICOLE]] eventually being evicted from the city.
-->'''Mina''': This isn't what my music was supposed to create...

* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' readers are supposed to agree with everything the protagonists say, but there is a significant "fandom" that finds the over-the-top nature of these tracts [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]]. In addition, on first reading them, many people assume that the tracts are intended as a parody of TheFundamentalist. [[PoesLaw They are totally serious]]. Even so, some people still insist that the tracts are all written as a massive StealthParody. While Jack Chick was notoriously hard to get info on, he was sincere about what he was trying to say, by all accounts. (Besides, considering that [[DiedDuringProduction Chick died in October 2016]], if the tracts ''are'' a parody, it's one that Chick kept going to his dying breath, which is extremely unlikely.)
* Of specific note is ''Darkest Dungeon'', a Chick Tract that portrayed fans of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' as a Satanic cult that wields ''real'' witchcraft to conquer and destroy the world. Between portraying roleplaying as hilariously and ludicrously over-the-top evil act and portraying the roleplayers as [[EvilIsCool cool muscular leather-jacket wearing bad-asses]], its ''entire fanbase'' is composed of the very people it was trying to shame. So much so that a [[WebVideo/DarkDungeons crowd-funded live-action movie]] was made that mocks it ''by being a faithful and true shot-for-shot adaptation''.