For years, Julian Assange was an icon to the cultural and political left. Benedict Cumberbatch played him as a kind of sexy superspy for the cyber age in “The Fifth Estate,” back in 2013. Assange was depicted as a dashing “whistleblower” and hero. A French fashion magazine called him one of the 20 best-dressed men in the world, and Time magazine hailed him as one of the most influential people in the world in 2011.
