10 Movies Where Every Character Thinks They're The Hero

Everyone had a hero complex in these movies.

George Clooney Burn After Reading
Focus Features

One of the most fascinating things about the human condition is that we're all coming from our own perspectives that are informed by our own lived experiences. Regardless of what anybody else thinks, we have our own truth for how we interact with the world.

And that's certainly also the case where movie characters are concerned - no matter how we view them, they may believe themselves to be doing the righteous, morally good thing.

This isn't true of every character, of course - plenty of movie villains are unrepentant psychopaths who know they're bad. But sometimes the bad guys have just as much commitment to the idea that they're heroes as, well, the actual heroes.

These 10 movies, then, are jam-packed with characters who, one way or another, believe themselves to be the heroes of their story. In addition to the real heroes, there are countless other characters who see themselves as the person doing the right thing.

Obviously what one person views as right is subjective, and so these films all presented a host of major characters who saw themselves as the Good Guy of their story...

10. Inglourious Basterds

George Clooney Burn After Reading
TWC

Let's kick things off with one of the all-time great examples of a movie where everyone thinks they're the good guy doing the good thing.

War films admittedly have a leg-up in this regard given that they're typically centered around the structure of two sides, both believing they're "right," battling it out.

And in the case of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his merry band of Basterds clearly see themselves as doing the Lord's work - killing and branding Nazis. Tough to argue with that, right?

On the flip-side we have the Nazis, equally committed to their own cause, and most fascinatingly of all Austrian SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who evidently sees himself as above and beyond the Nazi ideology.

Landa, a biblical opportunist, cuts a deal with the Basterds to ensure Hitler's demise for his own gain, and while fundamentally a psychopath, clearly thinks he's better than everybody else he meets.

This isn't to forget Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) - the closest thing to a conventional, sympathetic hero in the movie, who plots to kill Hitler to avenge her murdered family.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.