How can you tell if your favourite character is, in fact, a manipulative bastard?

It’s difficult to say where this trope originated from, given, as far as I can see, it’s been part of Western culture since literature began

George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic example, but it turns up in pop culture a lot in the 1950s.

Tony Stark is the best-drawn character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I'm going to attempt to write a whole post without spoiling anything. Except perhaps your view on spoilers.

The 1950s was the era of duck and cover. It was also a time when sci-fi came along in leaps and bounds.

It's a trope as old as time. Why did Sauron, Doctor Doom, Pinky and the Brain and Audrey II want to take over the world? Well, because...