Writing a Hero You Just Want to Smack

A hero is defined by their deeds. The character must do something heroic. This might be saving the day by defeating the invading alien armada or facing some inner demon and resisting a potent temptation alone in the dark. How the hero thinks of himself and feels about his accomplishments defines how the audience feels about the hero. There are heros that the reader likes, and the reader likes that they like the hero. An example would be Superman or Optimus Prime; always does the right thing, powerful, humble, friendly, and always thinking about others. Then there are less friendly heros, who do the right thing and serve other but do it with a sort of projected ill grace. Take Dr. McCoy from the origonal Star Trek show. A bit bitter and disillusioned but still fighting the good fight. Neither of these archetypes is likely to consider themselves heroes though. They don't usually think of themselves much at all, 
Then there is the hero who knows it. The are cocky and confident, mostly young, and very full themselves. Usually they have the skills to back up their swagger. Usually they are among the beautiful people. And the reader just wants to smack them. This is a difficult balance for the author because the character has to be petty enough for the reader to despise him/her at least a little but endearing enough for the reader to want to stay engaged. The newest iteration of Captain Kirk illustrates this quite nicely. (Some say the old one does too.) Another potential is Tony Stark from the Avengers movie line. Both are high powered heros but both have a lot of character growth to go through before someone would want to have to deal with them on a regular basis.