Hopper being aggressive all the time is why he’s a great character. That may sound weird, but hear me out.
If you read the novel Darkness on the Edge of Town, you’d know that Hopper has been through a lot in his life. He was a Vietnam vet and saw a lot of things he didn’t want to see. After coming home, he joined the police force in Brooklyn where he had to deal with severe crimes almost every day as a detective. Not to mention, he had to balance his job with taking care of his wife and daughter, which was hard considering the long hours he had to work. Hopper’s aggressiveness sprouts from caring for people. He has always been afraid of bad things happening to people he loves (his comrades in battle, his fellow detectives, El, etc.), and the only reason why he comes off as angry and upset sometimes is because he always feels like he didn’t do enough to care for them and keep them safe. Everybody has a backstory, and though sometimes it cannot be used as an excuse, in Hopper’s case it can.
