25 Greatest Ever Movie Anti-Heroes

8. Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

Humourless magic professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) became one of the series' most-loathed characters when he murdered Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and appeared to be well on his way to becoming a card-carrying villain. However, the final movie reveals that Dumbledore's death had been planned between the two of them as part of a larger plan to protect Harry (Daniel Radcliffe). Yes, Snape loved Harry's mother Lily as a youngster, and vowed to protect Harry from Voldemort, even if Harry's presence did serve as a constant reminder that Lily picked another man over himself in the end. Snape then succumbs to his injuries from Voldemort's snake Nagini, but not before cementing himself as one of the movie's hidden heroes, a classic anti-hero and as Harry himself puts it, "the bravest man I've ever known", even naming his son in Snape's honour. It takes a man of true honour and integrity to willingly be painted as a villain for so long, and so Snape's true heroism was his silence, his willingness to be the necessary bad guy in the pursuit of a higher calling.