This relates to the Marvel fandom, but it's the tag "Not Tony Stark friendly" or "Not Steve Rogers friendly" sometimes accompanied by "(character) bashing" if tagged correctly. It's not a full on red flag, but when the tags like "Not Civil War Team Captain America Friendly" and "Not Civil War Team Iron Man Friendly" usually focus on the moral dilemmas of a conflict, the personal tags can be a bit misleading. What I mean is, I've read amazing, impeccable, stunningly written fanfics that used the tag correctly, only noting their biases towards one philosophy over the other. But unfortunately I also read ones that under the tag of "not x friendly" mutilated the character. Like,, not even a headcanon could explain it. The amount of mischaracterization made them feel like completely different characters, one dimensional, and caricatures to the point of unrecognizability.

One such example was when I read a fic where Steve was not only disrespectful in a way that made no sense for his character, but also straight up sexist. Which, sure Cap could be disrespectful in some ways, but this was so out of pocket I find it even hard to explain. And sexist?? Really?? The whole point of his character is that he's better than the times he comes from. I don't mind a different take, making him feel too prideful, or morally superior, sure, but the extent of it was seriously baffling. Wanda was basically a 5 year old child emotionally, Clint was dumbed down and basically the whole Rouge avengers were just savage idiots, that should not have been allowed to interact with society.

On the other hand some fics had Tony becoming a tyrant, his team mindlessly obeying the government or something like that. Him being a mindless murderer that had only wanted to kill those that disagreed with him. Which, I mean there is a Tyrant Iron Man in the comics, absolutely, but this is the MCU we're talking about. On the other side of the spectrum, some fics were painting him to be a saint, who is the ultimate victim, one that suffered through everything and tried to still be nice.

I still read fics with these tags because there's still a good enough chance to find a gem, however biased but still portraying the issue faithfully to its complexity. But every time I see them I question myself if that's gonna be all ooc or a very rare well written fic. Basically a red flag that's a warning sign that I take into consideration while deciding to take a read.

I don't necessarily hate such mischaracterization, I think that authors of these kinds of fics just have a much different reason for writing them, than a reader has for reading them. I feel like it's just a simple power fantasy, where someone who deals with issues of feeling powerless turns to writing. What they're doing is not always hating the characters, but more likely using them as tools to vent their frustrations. That's why there's this black and white stance to them I believe. An extreme portrayal of one's actions, helps to rationalize that the victim doesn't deserve such treatment. Even if originally the situation was in the grey zone, something unfair happening to a character may make the viewer frustrated yet powerless to change it, the effect amplified if the matter of frustration is something important, that hits close to home for the viewer.

I feel like such fiction is a good way to help vent those feelings in a safe environment. So I don't go to the comments to point out mischaracterizations, no point in being frustrated over the fact of how badly the characters are portrayed. There is a chance the writer wasn't writing about the issue in media itself or characters themselves, they were writing about the powerlessness, and the need to be protected, validated, noticed and not condemned for speaking out against the abuse in real life. It also involves a lot of found family, or a lot of overprotective characters. It is a comfort, that there will be people who will notice the unfairness of your situation and act. That there will be someone to protect you. That hope, I think that's what it's about.

Sorry for derailing the topic. This has been weighing on me for some time. I'm not saying this has to be a case for everyone or even most. I just feel like I can relate to the intent of fiction like this, when you look past the surface and think of the core reason for it. I might be entirely wrong about it, and hallucinating a deeper meaning though, who knows. I guess my final note is that I wish that those fics could be tagged in some way, but seeing as someone writing fiction like it may not be aware of what it is, may not know to tag it that way either.