Best Antihero Manhwa Protagonists, Ranked

With readers used to conventional manhwa protagonists who signify moral responsibility and ideal heroism, antihero protagonists take an unorthodox approach and defy the traditional logic. Discarding the typical ‘good versus evil’ trope, they take a more morally ambiguous path.

These protagonists usually are driven by interests that may be as selfish as they are selfless. They are neither heroes nor villains. Usually not the most likable, these characters possess a knack for drawing in readers like a magnet into their ordeals, forcing them to examine the line between right and wrong. For readers more interested in this type of protagonist, here are some of the best.

Updated November 23, 2024, by Hamza Haq: While shonen protagonists who always do the right thing, invariably do good, and help people in need are more common, antiheroes have slowly gained popularity over the years, especially among more mature audiences. Unlike manga and Western comic books, the manhwa medium gives the writers a lot more freedom in what sorts of characters they can use as the MCs, which allows them to make use of protagonists who are ruthless, unforgiving, and unbound by the constraints of political correctness in their pursuit of goals. After years of enduring morally upright, harm-averse, and overly forgiving main characters, the brutally pragmatic antiheroes of manhwa are a refreshing change of pace.

13 Fang Yuan

Reverend Insanity (Master of Gu)

• Status: Abandoned
• Chapters: 96

Based on one of the best xianxia novels in existence, Reverend Insanity, Master of Gu tells the story of Fang Yuan, an incredibly powerful demonic cultivator who regresses back 500 years into the body of his child-self to escape death and restart his cultivation from scratch. He is neutral evil, with no regard for anything and anyone other than his quest to improve his cultivation and reach the very top.

For readers familiar with the common tropes of xianxia will find themselves right at home. There are cultivation realms upon realms to progress through before reaching the peak, 10000-year-old monsters secluded in cultivation, young masters looking for a fight, and weaklings ‘courting death’ around every corner. However, these tired tropes work simply because the MC, Fang Yuan, is one of the best-written antiheroes in manhwa. He is charismatic when he wants to be, ruthless when he needs to be, and always, always the one with the plan.

12 Seth Kang

Boss In School

• Status: Completed
• Chapters: 199

A combat prodigy, Seth Kang is an innately talented fighter with a twisted pleasure for inflicting pain on other students. Wary of his sadistic tendencies, his mother makes him promise never to fight again after he leaves a kid half-dead. Believed to be a pushover now, he starts to get bullied by other students.

His rage, however, is unleashed once more after receiving a message from his dying father, the head of a Yakuza faction in Korea. Freed from his mother’s promise and heeding his father’s letter, Seth is once again the monster he always was, but this time, there’s no one to stop him.

11 Seonghoon

How To Live As A Villain

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 168

Chosen to participate in a game-like competition to become a ‘God,’ Seonghoon is transported to another world alongside other players where it’s no-holds-barred. Allowed to win by any means necessary, the competition takes an exciting but sickening turn.

However, this is where Seonghoon begins to thrive. Portrayed as talentless, Seinghoon is as cunning and manipulative as they come. Without a shred of emotion or vulnerability, he uses and discards any acquaintance who no longer serves any purpose to him, regardless of the type of existing relationship. Unflinching and unrepentant, Seonghoon climbs his way to the top by using anyone he can get his mind on.

10 Kiyoung

Regressor Instruction Manual

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 106

Kiyoung, the central character, is suddenly transported alongside other people to a game-like reality and tasked with the mission to save that reality from destruction. Granted an ability, Kiyoung is the weakest player and possesses the lowest level possible in the game. Fortunately, he is more cunning than his personality suggests.

Relying on his craftiness, Kiyoung is determined to survive by using as many people as possible to protect himself. He encounters a warrior he deduces as a regressor who serves as the perfect meat shield. Subtly manipulating the regressor by making him believe they are working together to save the survivors, he finds the ideal puppet to mask his true intentions of an empire of tyranny.

9 Cassian Lee

Villain To Kill

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 162

One day, a hero, and the next, a villain. Cassian was formerly the top Psyker (a term for heroes in the manhwa) in the world, but all of that vanishes when he is falsely accused of killing his colleague and mentor and is sentenced to death. Given another chance at life, Cassian awakens in the body of a young boy who is a renowned villain.

Now a villain, Cassian is determined to unravel the mystery surrounding his execution and the death of his mentor. To do this, he must become the worst of the worst villains of all.

8 Diablo Volpir

66666 Years: Advent of the Dark Mage

• Status: Abandoned
• Chapters: 132

66666 Years: Advent of the Dark Mage, also sometimes referred to as The Dark Magician Transmigrates After 66666 Years, follows the story of Diablo Volpir, an extremely powerful mage who gets sealed away by a coalition of 12 deities for 66666 years, only to be reincarnated as Jamie Welton, a noble scion of the Welton family.

Diablo, now called Jamie, finds himself in a severely weakened state after being reborn and is forced to put on the mask of innocence for society, but secretly plots to recover his dark powers and annihilate the 12 deities who sealed him away.

7 Jaha Lee

Return Of The Mad Demon

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 121

Jaha Lee is a prime example of an antihero. More of a villain than an antihero, Jaha Lee is a man full of ambitions that know no bounds. Known as the mad demon, his ideal of being the strongest martial artist alive led him to steal a precious item of the demonic cult known as the ‘Jade of Heaven,’ which led to his death.

Unsurprisingly, he re-awakens in the past to his younger self, armed with all the knowledge and muscle memory of his martial arts skills of his previous life. Given one more chance to achieve his goals, He will not hesitate to do all that needs to be done regardless of morality.

6 Se-young

Rooftop Sword Master

• Status: Completed
• Chapters: 102

Rooftop Sword Master is a gut-wrenching revenge story, a depiction of what someone pushed to the very edge of sanity can do when no other options are left, and justice is denied to them and to their families. The story follows Se-young, a middle schooler who is beaten by a group of bullies so badly that he ends up in a coma. When his parents try to go through the justice system to punish the bullies, they are stonewalled at every turn because both the police and the media refuse to give the high schoolers more than a slap on the wrist. The MC wakes up 9 months after the incident to find that his parents, in an attempt to seek justice for their comatose son, paid the ultimate price, forcing the whole country to pay attention.

After recovering from the coma, Se-young starts living on the rooftop of an apartment building. He lives alone for two years, never leaving the rooftop room, emotionally ravaged but unable to do anything about it. One day, a freak supernatural event occurs, and a large flaming two-handed sword appears from the sky and buries itself on the rooftop. Upon touching it, Se-young receives visions and knowledge on how to wield the weapon, and his journey of revenge begins.

5 Ihwa

Hero Killer

• Status: Completed
• Chapters: 188

Ihwa is a by-product of her reality and environment. Surrounded by heroes who embody the opposite of what a hero should be, Ihwa is consumed by her desire for revenge and hatred for the corrupt system that upholds these heroes.

Possessing superhuman abilities, she is determined to exterminate every hero who stands between her and her quest for vengeance, regardless of who and what method is necessary to do so. Along the line of her quest, she begins to realize she may not be so different from her oppressors.

4 Zhuo Yifan

Magic Emperor

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 625

Zhuo Yifan, known as the Demon Emperor in his previous life, possesses the source of all knowledge and power, the Book of Nine Secrets. Coveting this power, Yifan is betrayed and killed by his only disciple. He is, however, handed a second chance at life; his soul possesses the body of a servant who coincidentally dies when Yifan is killed.

Awakening now as a servant, Yifan plots to get back his power and vows revenge. Uncomfortably for him, the body of the servant whom he inhabits is bound by demonic magic to the mistress he serves. Unable to sever ties or abandon the family and mistress he serves, Yifan is determined to take them to the pinnacle of the continent.

3 Gagn Jinha

Descent Of The Demonic Master

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 161

Like a cat with nine lives, Gagn Jinha has lived multiple lives. In his first life, his entire family dies in an accident, and he commits suicide. In his second life, he was known and feared as the Red Demonic master. Jinha tries to live normally for a change in his third and current life.

Old habits, however, really do die hard. Jinha, still ingrained with habits and instincts of his past life as the Demonic master, finds it hard to conform to ordinary society.

2 Jung-Woo

Reverse Villain

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 110

Jung-Woo only wishes to conquer the murim world, and only one person stands between him and his quest for domination: Shin-Ryong, his eternal rival. Both are subject to centuries of constant reincarnation, and Shin-Ryong always prevents his conquest.

Reliving this rivalry for centuries, the two can’t seem to get enough of each other. Re-incarnated once again, but this time in a modern society where the murim no longer exists, Jung-Woo’s ambition takes on a different form: world domination; whether his ambition will be too big remains a mystery.

1 Cheon Yeon-Woo

Nano Machine

• Status: Ongoing
• Chapters: 234

Cheon Yeon-Woo is the typical antihero because he is so morally ambiguous, not exactly on the good side, not exactly on the wrong side either, just tip-toeing the fine line separating both sides for his agenda and yielding to whichever best serves his interest at the moment.

Destined to live a life of weakness and constant danger as he is the illegitimate child of the Demonic cult leader, things turn around when he gets an unexpected visit from his descendant in the future, who leaves him with a gift of technology called the Nano Machine. Armed with this, Yeon-Woo begins a journey of unrivaled strength to change the course of history.