Why Do We Like Anti-Heroes in Fiction?

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I want to start writing as a hobby, and many of the characters that I've thought up are anti-heroic in nature, in that they aren't as adverse to killing enemies as many other heroes. Now that I'm getting more and more committed to actually writing something, I've found myself in somewhat of a moral quandary. I myself would never kill anyone unless it's in self-defense and it's absolutely necessary, and yet most of my favorite superheroes have killed at least one person. Obviously, there are characters like Deadpool and the Punisher, who I'm a big fan of, but even Captain America and Iron Man have killed people, at least in the movies, and I still find them greatly admirable. My main question is; is it possible to write and sympathize with a superhero who kills, although you yourself don't support murder?

The term anti-hero is a bit vague. Technically it's someone who is a bad person, and may use morally reprehensible tactics, but ultimately is doing something good. It can also relate to a protagonist that is doing bad but is sympathetic enough that the audience roots for them. You could consider Iron man or Captain America anti-heroes for killing opponents, but in general they are more along the lines of straight heroes.

Walter White is an anti-hero who later turns into a straight villain before redeeming himself a bit at the end. The Punisher is a very different type of anti-hero, but also an anti-hero. Some anti-heros straddle the line between hero and anti-hero. Others straddle the line between anti-hero and villain. Others are firmly in the anti-hero territory and never leave it.

The reason we like anti-heroes is they tend to be more flawed characters. They also tend to feature in more compelling narratives where the lines are grayed a bit more.

There's also such a thing as a sympathetic villain. An antagonist doing bad things to people but for understandable reasons. Often they started off as a nice person who was led down the dark path by something tragic in their lives, or they blindly view themselves as the true hero and are only hurting people for what they truly believe is a good cause.

I feel like Sweeney Todd was a prime example of a sympathetic villain.

Because the hero we all supposedly love is much rarer than the anti villain. A prime example would be Ghandi.