I was always fascinated by the enemy becoming an ally plotline. Star Trek is full of them: Worf, Quark, Garak, Seven-of-Nine and even T'Pol in a way. Darth Vader redeems himself. Benjamin Linus does not die a horrible death but joins the good guys. Changing sides brings hope, so in that spirit, my TEN Best Heroic Villains:
- #10- Blok-- never understood what made him stand out but he left the League of Super-Assassins to join the Legion. His humble attitude and crush on the White Witch made him memorable and he survived several alterations.
- #9- Wonder Man, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch & the Vision--all began as villains, true but were never truly villainous. All joined the Avengers and served for long stretches. Moreso for Vision who was merely a weapon but learned..."Even An Android Can See the LIGHT!"
- #8- Catwoman--Silver Age, Bronze Age, Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Zero Hour, Final Crisis, Flashpoint, no matter what, DC likes their Feline Felon to be on the fence. Not evil, not law-abiding but sexy, free and dangerous.
- #7-- The Black Widow-- From a Communist spy to brainwashed agent to Avenger, Champion and SHIELD operative to movie star, she is the best example of the American success story.
- #6-- Deadshot--a minor Bat-foe, he became really interesting in Suicide Squad, had a couple of minis and shined in Secret Six. Of course, DC had to ruin that! This could also include Cat Man, Bane & Silver Banshee.
- #5-- Nighthawk--a Batman clone in the Squadron Sinister, he became a regular in The Defenders. Got killed off a couple of times but always came back. Too bad his Squadron Supreme counterpart was more compelling!
- #4-- Hawkeye--He was looking for love in all the wrong places. His heart was in the right place but he wasn't thinking with his head. Still he gave Iron Man some good battles before his true nature led him to the Avengers.
- #3 --The Shade--perhaps James Robinson's most memorable retcon, he went from a goofy bad guy in a top hat to a complicated, avant guarde, debonair, rogue gentleman who was truly dangerous. Noble and conflicted, he was and is one-of-a-kind!
- #2-- The Sandman--Marvel's great experiment, turning one of their earliest villains into a real hero. After a traumatic experience, Flint Marko begins to see the error of his ways and decides to rehabilitate himself. It was actually a wonderful idea! Of course, Marvel had to ruin that!
- Honorable mention-- Ares, God of War--a lot of potential that was torn apart! Sorry!
- #1--Who else but Godzilla, King of the Monsters--from destructive menace to guardian of the Earth, the Big G fought every giant creature and alien menace that confronted him. Even when he became a chaotic force again, he still battled monsters who were worse!
Those are my picks. Yours?
Replies
I definitely agree with the choice of Sandman and I was really, REALLY pissed when they decided to cop out and make him a villain again because they wanted to have ANOTHER damned Frightful Four story. I like the fact that they looked at him as a real character with depth struggling to stay on the straight and narrow years before the Thunderbolts made the scene. I am not so sure that I would have put Deadshot and the rest of the Secret Six on the list though. They remained villains and any positives were done for their teammates or for a paycheque. Much more grey leaning in to black than the Suicide Squad. I might have added The Beetle, mentioning the T-Bolts earlier, because he took the step of going so far as doing time willingly as part of his trying to make his way to the side of the heroes on top of which, even at the end of the original run of T-Bolts, he went BACK to prison to work off his sentence, I believe.
On the flip side of the coin, two heroes I feel made much better villains than heroes are Obsidian and Quicksilver (when he was being written by Steve Englehart, who, in my estimation, is still one of the premier writers there is!)
Amazingly, I forgot about the Thunderbolts and that has always been one of my favorite titles. Certainly the Beetle/Mach-1+, Screaming Mimi/Songbird and Goliath/Atlas are prime examples. Does anyone even equate Songbird with her Grappler past?
There was a Deadshot mini where he protected the neighborhood where his young daughter (who did not know that he was her father) lived. Amoral, yes but with a certain sense of conscience. An earlier mini ripped his apathetic shell open and revealed how messed up he was but somehow he managed to do the right thing more often than not! He was a multi-layered character, full of himself and self-loathing.
Jim Shooter was enthralled with the idea of making a longtime Marvel hero a villain. He tried with Yellowjacket but that never took. The closest they got was Iron Man in The Crossing and I still don't understand how they resolved that one!
(I could mention Civil War but it's all been said, ad infinitum! ;-)
I'm glad somebody mentioned the Thunderbolts. Or at least, the first version.
I would also include the Pied Piper, moving from one of Flash's Rogues to one of his best allies.
And I forgot about the Pied Piper as well! Maybe I should have titled this "TWENTY Best Heroes-Turned-Villains!" *sigh*
Actually nearly all of the classic Flash Rogues Gallery reformed at one time or another: Captain Cold, Heat Wave, the Trickster, even the incorrigible Captain Boomerang helped liberate Australia during Invasion!
Another favorite that I forgot was Mister Bones, Roy Thomas' living skeleton (his skin, muscles, organs, etc were invisible). First a part of Helix, he was remanded into the care of Infinity Inc. But for a guy with a cyanide touch, he never tried to deliberately kill anyone. And he smoked! He lost his habit of rhyme and became a government official and lost any charm he had!
I'm sure a lot of X-Fans would quickly point out Rogue, Emma Frost and...Gambit. Heck, those guys are flip-flopping allegiances seemingly when the wind blows.
Outside of Marvel and DC, I'd nominate Steeljack. I'm loving Max Damage right now. And it's a common thread in a lot of Shonen manga that antagonists--and sometimes out and out villains--become allies and fight the good fight.
I agree about the Trickster. He was great fun in Blue Devil.
No love for the Swordsman?