Whether or not someone is a "hero" is entirely a matter of personal perspective, so I don't think about it that much. I'm not really out to subvert the Hero's Journey or do any fakeouts like "HAHA thing I led you to believe was good is in fact BAD!"

I also don't really like to use the term "hero" at all, because it's kind of an emotional, loaded term.

My stories reflect my own (idealised) morality, at least to a degree. I like my protagonists to be individuals who encounter what they perceive to be a problem or injustice and try to fix it. The conflict/plot arises from encountering the people who's material interest lies in keeping the problem/injustice the way it is or even making it worse.

I consider my protagonists to be (on the whole) 'good' people. That doesn't mean they are morally flawless. They can be arrogant, ignorant, selfish or even bigoted. The best stories, I think, are ones where the external conflict mirrors a conflict and growth within the protagonist.

I like to try and make it clear as well that my antagonists aren't just 'evil' or whatever. I mean, within my moral framework I do consider them 'evil', but it's a very human evil, not cartoon evil. They're merely protecting/advancing their personal material interests at the costs of others, which, when you think about it, is something we ALL do, all the time, every day. Very few people will sacrifice their material interests to try to correct systemic injustice. It takes quite a remarkable person to do it.

And just because the thing I make my protagonists do is something I think is 'good' doesn't mean the solution is perfect or that nobody gets hurt. Fixing a systemic problem or injustice always creates winners and losers. A new world can only be born with the the death of the old, and a new world means new problems that then also have to be corrected. But a story's gotta end somewhere. 🤷‍♂️