1. D'Angelo Barksdale
2. Jimmy McNulty
3. Frank Sobotka
4. Bunny Colvin
5. Wallace
Surprised at all the Mcnulty mentions. He's just a piece of shit acting like he's a hero.
1 - Avon
1b - Stringer
1c - Marlo
1d - Omar
1e - Freeman
Never understood the hate McNulty gets. McMulty being self-centred, self-serving and self-destructive might make him flawed compared to, let's say, a Marvel hero or something, but literally everyone in the Wire is revealed for who they truly are, and it's usually not a bastion of giving and selflessness. Every character acts in their own self interest for their own self preservation.
On the contrary, the best you can usually hope for is a character whose personal needs/flaws align with the greater good, regardless of why they're doing it. McNulty, almost exclusively throughout the show, does good police work, attempts to actually create some semblance of systemic change in the police force, contributes to actually bringing down a major and violent drug ring and doesn't fuck over any vulnerable people along the way. When he does screw people over, it's usually asshole bosses looking to make rank, and in doing so, he often opens the door to getting real shit done.
If you want to say this is to fuel his ego, fine, but then you've got to contend with the fact that someone like Daniels is only doing it to make rank. Or Carcetti really only interested in winning. Or Omar only interested in his own self-preservation, not caring that he's leaving bodies in his wake, and priming future generations for a life of violence.
And then look at your own list. Avon's a violent monster fuelling generations of young kids and enlisting them into a life of misery while directly contributing to the heroin epidemic. Most of his crew will die and if not they'll have no future otherwise. And we can empathize with the guy and understand where he comes from because The Wire's a brilliant show but I don't understand why everyone's got room to open their hearts to characters directly contributing to the negativity presented in the show, but fuck McNulty because even though he's doing the right thing, he's an asshole while doing it.
There would be dozens of characters in The Wire who leave a trail of death, destruction, corruption and failure in their wake before McNulty.
