Manhwa and webtoon is gaining popularity as an easy-to-read, mobile-friendly online comic format for readers around the world. However, the Korean format has a special appeal when it comes to anti-hero. Typically, antiheroes appear throughout the plots of predominantly action, fantasy, or otome isekai manhwa, with many of the genre's best stories delving into their moral ambiguity and their effect on those around them.
This can create intriguing mysteries around their characters, engaging discussion material among friends, and most of all, pure entertainment that is never lacking on Webtoon, Tapas, Tappytoon, or more. These characters play a prominent role in any story because they have unconventional or noble motives or actions that, while not heroic, are appealing to the audience.
The best anti-heroes in manhwa especially enjoy pushing the dark line and in the process, telling increasingly compelling stories, showing further descents into depravity and violence or revealing the truth about their behavior.
10 Seth Kang (The Boss in School)
Will not be defeated again
It's easy to imagine a character developing an inferiority complex after promising his mother a life of nonviolence, only to find out his father's dying words were “Don't get your ass kicked again, it's embarrassing.” Seth Kang is a natural fighter in Boss in School, giving manhwa readers a high school-style setting like Like a Dragon, complete with prison scenes and brutal fistfights.
Seth learns to fight like a gangsterFor better or worse, he can confidently throw a punch, but in a more impressive anti-heroic way, if left unchecked, he can kill much larger opponents with his bare hands.
9 Yeo-un Cheon (Nano Machine)
A dividing hobby
Aside from being one of the most overpowered protagonists in all of manhwa, Cheon Yeo-un also benefits from a compelling blend of sci-fi and martial arts elements to create an exciting revenge story. Nano Machine has been very popular on Webtoon with a familiar premise.
Yeo-un is saved from certain death by a descendant from the future who injects him with a Nano Machine, granting him a healing factor and a profound understanding of martial arts. This allows him to grow exponentially as a warrior while taking revenge on his enemies, including a creative flair for violence as he tortures and dismembers his opponents.
8 Mumyeong Heo (The Mystery of Gwichon Village)
Red flags never looked so good
Mumyeong Heo is the star of a new mystery manhwa that was recently localized by Webtoon. It still follows a strange, mystical mystery, but the biggest curiosity of readers lies in Mumyeong herself. As the Webtoon's comments noted, he's quite good-looking, much like Suguru Getowhile maintaining a balance between being a serial killer who can be meticulous yet gentle and friendly to the few people he meets in the village that bears his name.
Despite his intimidating appearance, Mumyeong is making waves as a particularly dark manhwa anti-hero, with a particular niche audience eager to follow him.
7 Woojin Kim (Kill Hero)
Play with Players
Kill the Hero is a popular, full-blown urban action fantasy manhwa that shares traits of other established series while often being overlooked in discussions of larger stories like Solo Leveling. Its protagonist, Woojin Kim, is hated by an increasingly cynical world that only gets worse. when he was betrayed by the Messiah Society he thought he could trust.
A common trend among anti-heroes in manhwa is that they are often motivated by revenge, either for a death in a past life or for traumatic events in the past.
Completing the “game” as a player means losing the power and privileges it brings, and Woojin is murdered and victimized to maintain this lifestyle, until he returns, with ambiguous allegiances as he takes revenge on those who killed him.
6 Jamie Welton (66,666 years: The Dark Magician's Arrival)
The Awkward Years of a Pre-Teen Villain
Jamie Welton is all that remains of his former self, Diablo Volpir, an incredibly powerful dark mage. He was only successfully sealed after twelve gods allied against him.The story begins with him as a child, raised by a loving noble family while maintaining a healthy appearance.
However, he harbors the intention of revenge and killing the gods who defeated him in his previous life. It seems healthy but is very impressive when Jamie's father soon realizes that no teacher can keep up with his talent, who is about to become a legendary level 9 mage.
5 Roxana Agrece (Roxana)
Princess of Poison
Roxana Agrece is a prime example of an anti-hero who doesn't actually pursue a path that could be considered heroic, driven by revenge, as a prime example of villainy and the appeal of otome isekai to manhwa readers. Roxana wears her figurative red flags like an elegant evening gown as she lives out the plot of “The Abysmal Flower,” a novel that foretells the events of the Agreces, one of the five clans that rule the world. Knowing that the kidnapping of Cassian Pedelian will bring the story's heroine to her doorstep, Roxana takes matters into her own hands as her survival is at stake.
Sometimes playing the villain a little too much, Roxana has an element of menace. This includes her Agrece family's training in poison, with Roxana's unique tolerance built over time by taking gradually larger doses. Roxana is also one of the best revenge manhwa for readers on Tapas, with a fresh and boundary-pushing perspective on the genre and unique art.
4 Murder Heroes
Gifted person
Hero Killer is hailed as one of the best revenge manhwa, with Ihwa taking center stage as she seeks revenge for the death of her sister, Yeon, at the hands of the Heroes Clan. Ihwa has the usual traits of a long-lived manhwa anti-hero, including a calculating personality and a ruthless nature that ensures her survival.
One particular attraction that Hero Killer has for readers is that Ihwa has both a large appearance and a terrifying figure and “Absorbing Gifts” that makes her a formidable opponent, while on the contrary has a deep love for foodlike the main characters in the best shōnen manga.
3 Medea Solon (Your Throne)
The jealous type
At the beginning of Your Throne, Medea Solon is introduced as a rather hateful villain.. While she certainly has anti-heroic qualities, much of her focus is initially on Psyche Callista, her arch-nemesis and rival for Eros Orna Vasilios. It's also easy to view Medea unsympathetically, as she looks down on those of lower status and openly resents her political opponents. However, Your Throne becomes surprisingly complicated when Medea switches bodies with Psyche, forcing Medea to impersonate Psyche while skillfully using her deep political savvy.
The resulting intrigue makes Your Throne that much more compelling, as Medea suddenly has to take measures to protect her old body while using her new position to secure power. The series also gradually makes Medea more sympathetic as the true villain emerges, with Medea in Psyche's body plotting to make this enemy suffer an appropriate amount of pain. Perhaps most compelling is how each resident character changes the external appearance and aura of the body they possessbrings remarkable visual depth to the story.
2 Se-young Tak (Swordsman on the Roof)
Hulk at home
Perhaps an example of a bold teen power fantasy taken too far, Rooftop Sword Master is the most shocking despite having such a simple premise. Se-young Tak was put into a coma by some particularly violent and sadistic bullies, during which his parents died horribly in the pursuit of justice for their son. These traumas, coupled with Se-young's resignation while locked in a rooftop apartment, are The classic formula for an anti-hero character in manhwa.
This transformation doubles his height and turns him into what can only be described as a combination of Baki Hanma and the Hulk.
The weird part of Rooftop Sword Master comes after this point, when a giant flaming sword lands on his roof, forcing Se-young to use it to train his strength, which he achieves after a year of extreme conditioning and training. The transformation doubles his height and turns him into what can only be described as Baki Hanma crossed with the Hulk. When the attackers first attempt to break in, It's more like a horror scene than a John Wick home invasion scene. Se-young confronts the people who bullied him, and despite their pleas for forgiveness, he coldly takes revenge.
1 Reinhardt Lincke (I Tamed My Ex-Husband's Mad Dog)
Not a time waster
Perhaps the most compelling anti-hero in any manhwa is someone who immediately shows his multifaceted side like Reinhardtgets the chance to exact revenge on her terrible and unfaithful aristocratic husband, Michel, when she is resurrected. Her obvious resentment and hatred for him, combined with the satisfying experience for the reader as she lays out her plan in the first few chapters, makes for an instantly compelling read. It shows a wronged character, about to carry out an elaborate act of revenge.
The film I Tamed My Ex Husband's Mad Dog depicts Reinhardt as someone who carries the pain of her childhood and the lingering pain of her father's tragic death in Michel's place during the war. The grief and anger in her eyes make it hard not to root for her.and although her methods are cruel and vicious, this is an incredibly engaging reading experience. Reinhardt Lincke is a fantastic manhwa anti-hero, and her recruitment of young Wilhelm Cohlonna, Michel’s “Mad Dog,” adds a complex romantic dimension to this revenge fantasy.
