Informed Leadership

All the trailers, promotional materials, tie-ins and wiki pages depict this character as The Leader of the True Companions.

Only one thing contradicts that notion...

...the work itself.

This character is often billed and/or perceived as The Leader, yet the True Companions either follow someone else's lead, or have no real leader to speak of. Among Anti-Heros and Villain Protagonists, this often happens when a former Big Bad is Demoted to Dragon, yet the marketing and/or fanbase still act like he/she is the Big Bad.

Often a case of Protagonist Title Fallacy.

Examples of Informed Leadership include:

Anime and Manga

• Despite the franchise named after her, and her often billed as such, Sailor Moon isn't the leader of the Sailor Senshi. Either the leader is Sailor Venus, or they have no proper leader at all.
• Goku is often perceived as the leader of the Z Fighters, but most of the time they have no real leader.

Comic Book

• Mister Fantastic is billed and perceived as the leader of the Fantastic Four despite Invisible Woman being the leader most of the time.
• Alexander Luthor Jr. was perceived as the leader of the Secret Society of Supervillains, while the actual leaders were Superboy-Prime and the Earth-2 Superman.
• While most readers perceived Iron Man as the leader of the Pro-Registration Team, the actual leader was Maria Hill.

Animated Film

• The Humane Seven in Equestria Girls have no real leader, despite Sunset Shimmer often being perceived as such.

Live-Action Film

• "Raphael, he's the leader of the group"...yet in the actual movie (and its two sequels), Leonardo is the leader, as usual.
• Cyclops is often perceived as the leader of the X-Men, but most of the time, the X-Men either follow Wolverine's lead, or they follow Mystique's lead.
• Despite Superman being billed as the leader of the Justice League, he spends most of the movie either dead or under a berserker rage. Batman is the actual leader.
• Often happens to Kirk in the Star Trek movies. Despite being the captain, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Decker is the leader, and in the first two Abrams movies, Spock (the younger Spock) is the leader.

Literature

• While Harry Potter is both billed and perceived as the leader of both the Golden Trio and of Dumbledore's Army, the actual leader of both teams is Hermione Granger.
• Happens to both the Fellowship of the Ring and the Hobbit Heroes. Gandalf is the leader of both teams, despite Aragorn being perceived as the leader of the former and Thorin being perceived as the leader of the latter.

Live-Action TV

• Jen is the leader in Power Rangers Time Force, despite Wes being perceived as the leader solely due to the fact that Wes is the Red Ranger and Jen is the Pink Ranger.
• Back when he was alive, Daryl Dixon was the leader in The Walking Dead, despite Rick Grimes being billed as the leader.

Western Animation

• Apple Bloom is often perceived as the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The team has no actual leader.