The Sports Nerd: Lists, Rants, and Other Nerdisms: Top 10 Hateable Heroes

I have found time to write another overdue top ten list. Today we honor the heroes that are really hard to cheer for. For one reason or another, these heroes just tend to rub people the wrong way, and are often hated instead of cheered for. Some are jerks, some are just off-putting, and some simply aren't that heroic. I am not even stating that I hate these people, I like most of thme. Regardless of the reason, these "heroes" are commonly just downright hateable.

The Top Ten Hateable Heroes

Honorable Mention: The entire cast of Heroes

10. Hawkeye

Hawkeye is easy to hate because of a mouth that just never stops running. A proud Avenger, that rarely helps his team out by doing what he needs too, Clint Barton more often insults Cap than takes his order. At one point, Hawkeye even convinced himself that he needs to lead his own team instead of taking orders from Cap any longer, and formed the West Coast Avengers.

9. Neo

There are a couple reasons to hate Neo, however, the largest one is probably just the actor portraying him. Keaneu Reeves mechanically walks through his roles in these films like a zombie in true Reeves fashion. With an expressionless face, a monotone voice, and true d-bag style pair of sunglasses that are worn even in the rain, it easy to cheer for him to just die so that the human race can simply find a better hero to save it.

8. Punisher

Hating the Punisher is not a hard thing to do, probably because he is literally the worst hero of all time. Frank Castle regularly goes to war with other heroes, simply because they try to stop him from killing villians on the spot, regardless of their crimes. Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Captain America have been his adverseries just as often as Jigsaw, Barracuda, or the Kingpin. Of course, many hate him simply for his attitude regardless of who he's fighting. Pop a cap now and ask questions never is not a real popular method of fighting crime.

7. Roadrunner

Roadrunner is easy to hate by design. After retiring from the series, creator Chuck Jones released his eleven rules for every Roadrunner cartoon. Rule #10 is as follows.

"The audience's sympathy must always remain with the coyote."

Roadrunner is easy to hate, not by his own actions, but by the lovability of his opponent. Wile E. Coyote is just easy to love and almost impossible not to pity.

6. Nick Fury

A super hero who is essentially a politician for justice is not easy to love. That has always been the case of General Nicholas Fury. For every criminal he beatdown and put behind bars, he sat behind his desk and ordered someone else to do his dirty work or to simply back off for diplomatic reasons ten times. He has made some bad decisions in the past, most recently brainwashing several heroes into sneaking into Latveria and assassinating a leader he didn't trust.

5. Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is a rare phenomenon in the baseball world. A long, successful career with virtually no controversy in it. He has never been accused of steroid use, spent his whole career as a loyal member of one team, and established himself as a long-time respected leader of the greatest franchise in sports. He is easy to hate for the same reason. He is Yankee, there are no athletes in sports easier to hate than a Yankee, a he is as perfect and clean-cut a Yankee as there has ever been. The fact that he is not just another sellout and cheater in pinstripes makes his that much easier to hate because he was born and bred as the perfect Yankee.

4. Severus Snape

When all is said and done in the Harry Potter series, Snape is a hero, perhaps the most heroic figure in the entire series. He is also one of the most tragic characters ever created. All of that is hidden behind the fact that for 6 and 3/4 books he is a total jerk. There has rarely been a character as cold, cruel, and unfair as Snape is throughout the series. There are few villians found in any media as easy to hate as Severus Snape is.

3. Namor: The Sub-Mariner

Namor is everything that Severus Snape, added to a streak of arrogance that makes Terrell Owens seem as if he isn't sure if he is a talented football player or not. Namor rarely speaks a word that is not either praising his actions or telling someone else to mind their tongue when they speak to him. He is royalty and reminds everyone of that in virtually every panel he appears in. He also has a world class temper that has put him in fights against virtually every hero that has ever appeared in the pages of a Marvel Comic.

2. Cyclops

Cyclops is not as arrogant as Namor, not as cold as Snape, and not as manipulative as Nick Fury. So why is he above all of them on the list? Probably because even though he has been a member of th X-Men for as long as there has been an X-Men, if you ask 100 comic book fans who their favorite X-Man is, you will get 100 answers that aren't Cyclops. He is a decent fighter but not the best, has some powers but is not the most powerful, and is a bit of a jerk but is not even as good at that as needed to reach the upper echilon of Marvel Comics. Quite simply, it's not how much he is easy to hate, it's how hard he is to like.

1. John Cena

For the last seven years, John Cena has been the Superman of the wrestling world. A big, muscular, boy scout who always does the right thing. He is also the absolute bane of existence for most die-hard, old-school wrestling fans. What Stone Cold Steve Austin did before him with middle fingers and beer cans, John Cena does with neon hipster clothing, a wankster personality, and a handful of poop jokes to pander to the children in the audience. John Cena was the hottest thing in wrestling in 2005 and was cheered by fans everywhere. Pretty much every show since then, he has been booed as heavily as he is cheered. This not a hard choice to make because this hero is literally hated by half of the audience he performs for.