Wheels: Hero, Villian, Anti-hero, or just Politician?

[Keybounce]

Alright folks, what do you think of Wheels?

I know he's normally drawn as the protagonist of MM, and we're conditioned to think that "Protagonist == Hero" (see the movie "Wizards", and ask yourself who's the good guy).

But Wheels?

* He hides assets of the wizard council from the valid legal owners of the wizard council
* He kidnaps poor Tommy out of Tommy's strip

Yes, he leads the defense of Terra against the EOU, but that's as much self-serving as anything else.

Is he really a hero? Is his concern only what helps him and his? (his family, etc)? What gives him permission/authority to do what he does? What restrictions does he follow?

I haven't read all of the archive, nor all of the crossovers, but what do you all think? Are there other examples of him doing questionable things for the benefit of him and his?

[ghostrunner]

i'm gonna go with hero. because quite frankly he blows up a heck of a lot less stuff than ghost does and still manages to out think his enemies.

[Wheels]

I've known Wheels a long time. He would not consider himself a hero. Terra is still fractured into small political entities. The wizard council was always the only central out fit. More like the UN than anything else. Lotsa wind no real power. Wheels started out doing thing properly and with honor. All it did in his words was lose him his arm. So Wheels does what he believes is right. He even hid his Wizard status for many years to avoid becoming part of the Council. Wheel's motivation is not to unite Terra under his banner but to prevent anymore wars which have occurred throughout Terra's history until now. Wheels is not above taking things into his own hands to get the result he expects. If that includes forgetting to mention a small asset that the "new" owner's should have known about? oops. No Wheels does not consider himself a hero. He just wants to be Terra's Champion.

[Keybounce2]

So politician then. Ok.

[ghostrunner]

i dunno. unless its in the old west, politicians don't do much, wheels does a lot