10 Beloved Movie Heroes Who Are Actually Trash
6. James Bond
It's not exactly a secret that James Bond is a serial misogynist, but he is certainly one of the more "problematic" movie protagonists who, despite his misgivings as written, continues to endure as one of cinema's all-time most beloved heroes.
Revisiting some of 007's earlier outings proves especially alarming: Sean Connery's Bond dismissively asks a black sidekick to fetch his shoes in Dr. No, and didn't have many qualms at all about back-handing a "disobedient" woman or two.
It's not just a case of Bond being a product of his time, though - a time where racism and sexism weren't bad? - because 2012's Skyfall was rightly skewered for having Bond (Daniel Craig) creepy sneak into a shower to have his way with Severine (Bernice Marlohe), a victim of sex trafficking. Nice.
007 has always been a tough, ambiguous character and the more recent instalments have further highlighted his closed-off, dubious sense of humanity, but given how millions of fans still hold Bond up as a quintessential "man's man" and an ideal of masculinity, it's pretty troubling that he's such a shameless trash-pile.