Sometimes being a hero means more than just beating up the bad guys. Sometimes it can mean joining up with the villains in the hopes of learning their plan to stop them. In the best of situations, this is something that only lasts a short while and both the viewer and the hero's friends are all aware.

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But in the worst situations, sometimes not only the viewer, but the protagonist's friends have to be fooled. After all, if the friends aren't fooled, what chance do they have of convincing the villains? These characters all played the role of double agent to do everything they needed to win.

10 Piccolo Pretended To Be Evil To Save The World From Garlic Jr. (Dragon Ball Z)

Gohan Training with Piccolo

Piccolo gets a chance to become evil again during the Garlic Jr. Saga in Dragon Ball Z. Though Garlic Jr. has the ability to turn anyone evil through the power of the Black Water Mist, this ability doesn’t work on Piccolo. Instead, Piccolo spends much of his time throughout the Garlic Jr. Saga pretending to be evil and knocking Gohan around to make Garlic Jr. believe he had an additional ally he didn’t have. This turns out to be crucial to Gohan being able to undo what Garlic Jr. has done and get rid of him once and for all.

9 Gajeel Redfox Became A Double Agent Reporting On Raven Tail (Fairy Tail)

Gajeel beating Alvarez's soldiers

Gajeel Redfox showed that his loyalty to Fairy Tail was completely unbreakable from the moment he decided to join up. He allowed Team Shadow Gear to beat him up until they got tired as payback for what he did to the team. And when Raven Tail tried to recruit him, he agreed...only to immediately let Makarov know so Makarov would be aware of what was happening in this guild that was made to counter them. While Gajeel looks like a bad guy, he’s actually completely trustworthy - something Raven Tail didn’t quite understand.

8 Nicholas D. Wolfwood Was Supposed To Be Evil But Vash Turned Him Good (Trigun)

Wolfwood trigun

In the case of Wolfwood, it’s a little more complex than just being a double agent. Originally, Wolfwood was a member of the Gung-Ho Guns, an organization created to bring down Vash the Stampede.

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Eventually, it was Wolfwood’s turn to try and attack Vash, but something had happened. He’d become friends with Vash and couldn’t bring himself to actually harm him. Instead, Wolfwood wound up risking his life to save his friend, proving himself to be good all along.

7 Mest Grayder Pretended To Work For The Magic Council (Fairy Tail)

Mest Gryder vs Gray

Fairy Tail is fond of the double agent plotline. Mest Grayder makes multiple appearances in Fairy Tail as one of their most ardent critics. He joined up with the Guild Council to keep watch over Mest, but this turned out to be a complete hoax. Mest has the ability to take people’s memories from them, including his own. Once he erased his mind, it took him only a short period of time to not only make it into the Council, but becoming a high-ranking member of their group that was a pain to the rest of Fairy Tail for years.

6 Hawks Joined The League Of Villains To Report To The Heroes (My Hero Academia)

Hawks tells Endeavor he wants to make a world where heroes don't have to work

If someone had to guess who a double agent would be in the Hero Association, Hawks would probably get the most votes. The flying hero seems nice, but he gives off the aura of someone who shouldn’t be trusted. This made things all the better when he was forced to join the League of Villains in the hopes of gaining intel. Though My Hero Academia initially made one think he was caught between what was happening between multiple groups of villains, Hawks’ true self showed itself shortly afterwards. He cares much more about protection of others than cheap reputation.

5 Gin Ichimaru Joined Aizen Waiting For The Opportunity To Betray Him (Bleach)

Gin smiles

Gin’s story is actually tragic. After he realizes Aizen’s power and goals, he decides his only way of defeating Aizen is working with the villain. He spends literal centuries doing Aizen’s bidding in the hope of one day having the exact moment to strike. But when he gets that moment, having all the information about Aizen possible, he’s simply unable to defeat him. As powerful as he is, Aizen has grown far beyond his reach. Instead he has to pass his hopes onto Ichigo, someone who had actually surpassed Aizen’s power.

4 Gray Fullbuster Joined A Dark Guild To Shut Them Down (Fairy Tail)

Gray Fullbuster

Gray decided to take on an entire dark guild on his own when he infiltrated Avatar. Compared to the other dark guilds the team had run into, Avatar was the biggest and most dangerous group of them all. Gray pretended to be evil, after having gained the ability to transform into an Ice Devil Slayer which amplified the darker side of his emotions and personality.

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This was even easier to sell to the viewers because there was supposedly a future version of him responsible for killing Frosch, Rogue’s cat. But in the end, Gray’s goal is to shut down Avatar, and instead of killing Frosch he winds up hugging him at the end of his mission.

3 Misawa Joined The Society Of Light Just To Have More Friends (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Bastion Misawa

During the second major storyline of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, a group known as the Society of Light came to the school. They began defeating duelists one by one, forcibly bringing them into the group after they were defeated. In Daichi Misawa’s case, he threw his duel against a Society of Light member, and instead of being brainwashed, he chose to join the group. He wanted the friends and the recognition that came with being in the Society, but in the end he never did anything that would harm Jaden and the other students. He was simply tired of being a bad joke.

2 Itachi Uchiha Pretended To Be Evil To Convince His Brother To Get Stronger (Naruto)

Itachi Uchiha With His Mask

Itachi was loyal to two things: Sasuke and the Konoha village. When his family decided they were done dealing with Konoha and planned on starting a rebellion, Itachi refused to work with them. Instead, he reported it to the other Konoha ninja. He made a deal with them that he would slay the entire Uchiha clan if the village made a single exception for his brother Sasuke. And true to his word, he took down all of the Uchiha aside from Sasuke. In the end, Itachi continued to be loyal to the village and Konoha even after joining the Akatsuki.

1 Lelouch Pretended To Be Evil For His Master Plan (Code Geass)

Lelouch laughing evilly, Code Geass

Lelouch turned into Zero after being caught in the crossfire of a battle between a group of resistance fighters and the Britannian Empire. He led the group out of danger, and eventually operated as the masked guerilla fighter Zero. But eventually, Lelouch’s identity was made known to his own army, and they abandoned him. Rather than try to win them back, he took over the Britannian Empire’s army and used it to gain absolute power. After winning this power, he created a “new” Zero who killed him and took his place, allowing the world to finally be at peace.

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