I went through about 40 different hats until we found one that fit. It had to fit me and fit the character, more importantly, and whatever that thing was that we were trying to create with him.
As an audience member, I live vicariously through the characters I watch or read about. There's something very relatable about comic-book characters. They're never perfect. They're flawed people put in extraordinary circumstances.
In a weird way, I live vicariously through the characters I play as an actor.