This article examines the formation, evolution, and artistic interpretation of the antihero in modern literature and popular culture. The study explores how the concept of the literary protagonist has transformed within different artistic movements, includ ing Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Particular attention is paid to the growing prominence of morally ambiguous and psychologically complex antiheroes in twentieth - and twenty-first-century literature, which increasingly rep lace the traditional heroic model. The paper analyzes examples of antiheroic characters across several genres, such as detective fiction, true crime, psychological thrillers, and modernist and postmodernist narratives. Among the analyzed figures are Michael Corleone from Mario Puzoʻs The Godfather, Hannibal Lecter from Thomas Harrisʼs novels, Jean - Baptiste Grenouille from Patrick Süskindʼs Perfume, and Meursault from Albert Camusʼs The Stranger . The article also discusses representations of antiheroes in co mics, television series, and animation, highlighting their growing role in popular culture. Drawing on evolutionary psychology, the study suggests that the fascination with antiheroes reflects a deeper interest in the complex, contradictory, and darker aspects of human nature. Antihero, modern literature, postmodernism, psychological thriller, true crime, popular culture, psychopathic characters, evolution of the literary hero, antihero typology.