Films usually make it easy when it comes to heroes and villains, which is nice, because we like to be told who to cheer on. When a good guy turns out to be a bad guy, we call that a twist. But really, it's not it's just realistic. Most films keep it simple. As the great philosopher (Giles from Buffy) once said "The good guys are always stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats". Or, alternatively, their foreign accent. But in order to keep it simple, films often let their heroes get away with actions that aren't so heroic after all. Of course, we get it having a character who only ever does good is boring, and tension between the heroes often makes for a better story. Regularly, someone you thought was good will do something really evil and will either become a villain or be forced to atone for their actions. But we're not talking about Superman getting snap-happy on Zod's neck here. We're talking about all those time you didn't notice, when a hero is so busy doing good things that you ignored the evil things they did in the background. Most of the time these actions are not acknowledged by other characters, or at best they're swept under the carpet. This article is dedicated to all the times Hollywood tricked you into cheering on a good guy who was in the wrong from the start.
Having failed at being an actor and failed at having a job Dan decided to return to education and is now studying for a PhD in Classics. In his spare time he enjoys analysing every area of popular culture: from film to television to video games to theatre to literature. Find him on twitter @dangoad
