People often mistake the term "anti-hero" for villains who are the lead characters in movies, but that isn't exactly the case. Anti-heroes are characters whose moral compass isn't clear, but they are almost always selfish and act in their own self-interest. That could mean working with either the good guys or the bad guys, and sometimes even both.
In some cases, anti-heroes are characters who do bad things but still show empathy too, and they make for the most fascinating characters. Their typically rogueish attitudes and the unpredictable dichotomy in the behavior make them so entertaining.
Mad Max
Mad Max has always been an anti-hero, as he's a loner who drifts along a future wasteland, but Mad Max: Fury Road accentuated his role as an anti-hero more than ever. After the death of his family, Max lives for no one but himself, and he has no intentions of helping anyone, not even a truck full of women trying to escape the wrath of Immortan Joe.
But when they are also his only chance to escape the same fate, he hesitantly gets on board and teams up with Furiosa. Though Fury Road barely escaped development hell, that hopefully isn't the last audiences have seen of the pair, as they make a great ragtag team.
Lisbeth
In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, even though she's a vigilante and was getting deserved vengeance on the worst human beings imaginable, Lisbeth was still breaking the law in extremely disturbing ways. And on top of that, she's an expert hacker and cybercriminal who expertly retrieves encrypted information for huge sums of money.
But though she has an inability to conform to social norms and could be seen as a sociopath, when she joins forces with Mikael, Lisbeth becomes more moral and begins to show empathy. And the investigative work the two of them carry out together becomes less about the money for her as time passes.
Major Marquis Warren
The Hateful Eight is one of the most gripping westerns of the past few years, and that's mostly thanks to Major Marquis Warren, a bounty hunter who only has his own interests in mind. All he is trying to do is protect the bodies of three dead men in a blizzard so he can collect his bounty.
However, that often means having to work with people he despises, some of whom have more morals than him, and some have fewer morals. Half of the movie's characters are anti-heroes, as John Ruth and Chris Mannix both work with Warren for mutual benefit, even though it isn't clear which of them are being dishonest.
Catwoman
There are few characters more cunning than Catwoman, and in every movie appearance, whether it's Batman Returns or The Dark Knight Rises, the character is nothing more than a cat burglar. But at the same time, Batman has something of a soft spot for her, and in turn, leads her to go easy on him too.
Selina Kyle always ends up working closely with Batman, but it's almost always for her self-interests. In The Dark Knight Rises, Catwoman only helps Batman so that she can get her hands on the clean slate device, which would wipe her criminal record. But just minutes before, she was working with Bane for the same reasons.
Butch
There aren't many characters in Pulp Fiction that have morals. In fact, almost every character is a hitman, drug dealer, mobster, or rapist. Butch doesn't fit into any of those characters, but he still has a skewed moral compass.
He conned Marsellus out of money and he murdered Vincent, which are both reasons why Butch would make a terrible roommate. It seems as if Butch only ever looks out for himself, but he still feels compelled to do the right thing. Even though they were arch-enemies at the time, Butch saved Marsellus from Zed, risking his own life in doing so.
Severus Snape
Severus Snape loved to bully his students, especially Harry, which is pathetic considering how old the professor is, and it was all because he was turned down by a girl when he was a child. But what's worse is that Snape was a death eater and essentially an aide to Voldemort, as he told the Dark Lord about the prophecy.
However, for many years, the character was acting as a double agent, working against the death eaters and trying to keep both sides happy while not getting found out. It all blew up in his face eventually, but there was a decent quality to Snape and he clearly meant well at times.
Lando Calrissian
Though Lando's closest ally and the more popular of the two, Han Solo, was also an anti-hero, by The Empire Strikes Back, the character had completely shed the "anti." However, Lando has always been a wild card and much more reluctant to do the right thing than Han.
Lando also displays typical anti-hero characteristics and has such rogueish behavior. The character is a gambler, conniving in the way that he plots schemes, and he's awfully cavalier about the law. Even though Solo wasn't Disney's biggest success, Lando deserves his own origin movie.
Loki
Nobody has switched sides more than the god of mischief. Loki has fooled so many heroes into thinking he's good, and he's fooled so many villains into thinking he's bad. Even since Thor in 2011, where Loki stands on the moral landscape has always been up in the air, and he's only ever done what has been in his interest.
In the end, he has redeemed himself a couple of times now, and when he tried to kill Thanos, he dropped the 'anti-' and became a fully-fledged hero. However, he has since been up to his old tricks in the Disney+ series Loki.
Jack Sparrow
Given that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was based on a theme park ride, writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio did a great job at building a world with the little source material they had. But what really brought the theme park ride-based movie to life was anti-hero Jack Sparrow.
Jack was constantly in a battle to regain control of the Black Pearl by any means necessary, and that sometimes meant joining the good side and reluctantly carrying out heroic tasks. The trickster is the influence for any movie anti-hero that has followed in the years since, and there are clear signs of Sparrow in Harley Quinn. And ironically, there is a Pirates reboot that is in development with Margot Robbie in a key role.
Harley Quinn
Though fans might not realize it, Harley Quinn has featured in the DCEU almost as much as Superman, and even more than Batman. Though two of them have an ensemble cast, Harley has led Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad. And every one of them has seen Harley jump between sides and act based on her own interests.
In between all of her reckless actions like blowing up ACE Chemicals, Harley has had some supremely heroic moments. However, it's normally only because it was advantageous for her in the situation she was in, such as when she helped Gotham City Police detective Renee Montoya take down Black Mask.