In the long-running cosmic soap opera of comic books, a few alliances are going to change. It can be as grand as a split ideology, a friendship shattered by war, or it can be as simple as an old villain taking one too many punches to the face over the decades, but sometimes people just change. Even back to the Golden Age, heroes have become villains, and villains have become heroes. But sometimes you don't see these coming. Out of seemingly nowhere, a sensational new villain is born, or a powerful new hero steps up from the ashes of ruin.
Everyone has a favorite alignment shift in comics, and they remember it clearly. Typically surrounding major character changes or massive event stories, a character changing alignment is treated as a big deal. It can radically change the dynamic of characters and shed a new light on the context of older stories. For the sake of this list, we've taken a look at not just good guys who turned to villainy, we've also found our favorite bad guys who did a surprising face turn. Here, then, are 10 surprising times a villain went good (and 10 times a hero went bad).
20 SUPERBOY-PRIME
DC had too many Earths, and the timeline was getting too convoluted. So, the company opted for a full timeline reset, and what happened next was comic book history. Crisis on Infinite Earths was something unheard of at the time: a 12-issue event that changed the history of comics as we know it, with the entirety of DC's multiverse at stake. Surprisingly among these, though, was Superboy-Prime. Superboy-Prime hailed from Earth-Prime, which is canonically the Earth where DC comics readers live. On that world, all of DC's characters are comic book characters.
Superboy-Prime was pulled from his Earth during Crisis and ultimately went to a paradise dimension alongside the Superman of Earth-1, Lois Lane, and Alexander Luthor. But during his time there, Superboy-Prime began to grow bitter that he would never grow to be Superman. The manipulations of Alexander Luthor didn't help, either. This led to Superboy-Prime being directly responsible for breaking reality, leading to a number of retcons and nearly destroying the multiverse again in Infinite Crisis. Superboy-Prime was a regular villain for much of the late-00's DC, but eventually he was imprisoned in the Source Wall after battling the Teen Titans, and hasn't been seen since the events of Flashpoint.
19 VENOM
Venom keeps changing his allegiances, and it hinges just as much on the man bonded with the symbiote. Eddie Brock was originally unstable, a sociopath who may not have even had a chance at redemption. As Venom, he antagonized Spider-Man for years, taunting him and threatening those closest to him. But starting with the arrival of his offspring, Carnage, Venom began to change. Venom began allying himself more and more with heroes. Following a trial and staged execution, Venom even became a Lethal Protector working in secret. Eventually, the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock would separate and, after a few years with Mac Gargan, would find itself allied with Flash Thompson as a military asset.
As Agent Venom, Flash turned the symbiote into an outright force for good, even taking to space alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy.
There they would learn the Venom symbiote was actually sick, suffering from an insanity that it was cured of by other symbiotes. For a period, Venom was an actual hero, traveling through space and saving lives. Unfortunately, the symbiote would be separated from Thompson, and a brief stint with low-level thug Lee Price reignited the madness in the symbiote. It's since been returned to Eddie Brock, with both host and symbiote at odds with their darker impulses and their desires to do good.
18 TERRA
The Teen Titans hadn't had a new member in a long while when Terra came along. She was young, precocious, and temperamental, but nonetheless one of the team. So it came as a hell of a surprise when readers discovered she was actually a double agent. Terra was working with Deathstroke the Terminator, who was seeking to shut down the Titans after the death of his son, Ravager. Terra's betrayal ran deep, providing Deathstroke with the secret identities of the Titans so he could strike at them when they were defenseless. Deathstroke nearly succeeded, but the combined efforts of Dick Grayson (debuting in his Nightwing identity) and Slade's son Jericho were able to save the Titans.
Terra remains an interesting yet controversial aspect of Teen Titans history. She was only a teenager when she debuted in Teen Titans, but once she was revealed as a traitor it was clear that her relationship with Deathstroke was far more than mentor and student. When alone with Deathstroke, Terra was typically wearing revealing clothes and heavy make-up, a stark contrast to her appearance with the Titans, and conversations carried a tone of innuendo with them. In recent years, DC has attempted to stray from this and retcon to the relationship to be less creepy, but creators still haven't quite managed to scrub this one from history in a satisfying manner.
17 LEX LUTHOR
In almost every incarnation of Superman, there is one constant foe: Lex Luthor. Across comic books, film, television, radio and more, Lex Luthor has remained a thorn in the side of the Man of Steel. Debuting in the Golden Age, Luthor was an evil scientist who resented Superman after an incident in their childhood destroyed his lab and rendered him bald. In the modern age, thanks to John Byrne's definitive reboot in The Man of Steel, Luthor went from mad scientist to sinister tycoon. Gone was the nod to the old relationship, replaced with Luthor's fear that Superman was supplanting humanity as a God, something he himself wanted to be seen as.
Lex Luthor has almost always been evil... Almost.
He was portrayed as villainous initially in The New 52 DC reboot. However, spinning out of the event Forever Evil, where Luthor had to assemble a team of villains to combat the even more evil Secret Crime Syndicate, Luthor seemingly reformed. Luthor would briefly serve as a member of the Justice League and become an ally to Superman, though with a strained relationship. Following the death of The New 52's Superman, Luthor would modify his battle armor to adapt Superman's color scheme and the crest of the House of El. However, the return of the original Superman flared up old rivalries, and Luthor may have returned to his villainous ways.
16 CAPTAIN MARVEL
Kingdom Come was a big deal when it first hit shelves. Mark Waid and Alex Ross' four-issue magnum opus was as definitive to comics as Crisis on Infinite Earths or The Dark Knight Returns had been a decade earlier. Set 10 years into the future of the DC Universe, the superheroes of yesterday have retired following a brazen hero named Magog's public execution of The Joker. With Superman in a self-imposed exile, a new generation of heroes stepped up, inspired by Magog and his increasingly violent methodology. This eventually led to the destruction of Kansas, forcing Superman out of retirement.
Superman's return brought Lex Luthor back to the forefront, aiming to preserve humanity by allying with Batman, Green Arrow, and others. But they were surprised to find Luthor's chief lackey: Captain Marvel. Or at least they thought it was. No, Billy Batson had instead grown up to be the spitting image of his magical alter-ego, but Luthor had managed to brainwash him and keep him under his control. Batman and his allies attempted to free Captain Marvel but were unable to control him as he attacked Superman. In the series' climactic finale, Captain Marvel would ultimately give his life to mitigate the effects of a nuclear bomb, effectively saving the world as his final act.
15 EMMA FROST
The White Queen of the Hellfire Club has had a rough go of it. After years as an X-Men villain, Emma would join Banshee as an instructor for the Generation X team before finally joining the main team under Grant Morrison's hand in New X-Men. Emma would appear to be as sinister as ever still then, but slowly gained the trust of the X-Men. It came at a price though, as she gained that trust by falling in love with Scott Summers, who was still married to Jean Grey at the time.
With Jean's death, Scott and Emma's relationship moved to the next level, and the two became leaders of the X-Men.
After the spread of the Terrigen Mist, Emma seemed to err back towards her villainous ways. Following Scott's death due to Terrigen Mist exposure, Emma would psychically create the impression that Scott was still alive so that she could blame Black Bolt for his death. Emma has largely remained in hiding since then, even psychically manipulating Xorn as a ruler of mutant lands during Secret Empire. Recently Emma re-emerged to aid the time-displaced Jean Grey as the Phoenix returned. It remains to be seen if Emma will remain alongside the X-Men, especially given the return of the previously deceased Jean Grey.
14 HAL JORDAN
Green Lanterns are without fear. That was the gimmick for a long while. Hal Jordan exemplified that, hailed by many as the greatest of the Green Lanterns. But after a long while, Hal was getting long in the tooth. DC Comics, while still keeping their bigger characters classic, was seeing a lot of success with legacy characters. Wally West had taken over as The Flash, Dick Grayson had graduated to Nightwing, and the world was being changed for a new generation of fans. Among these, Hal's sales as Green Lantern just weren't what DC wanted.
Spinning out of The Death of Superman, Coast City was destroyed, and Hal Jordan went crazy over it. He tried to use his powers to resurrect Coast City, and when that wasn't enough he killed every Green Lantern, stole their rings and usurped all the power of the Green Lantern Corp's Central Power Battery, transforming into the evil Parallax. The books weren't just changed forever, the fandom was too. While new fans eagerly accepted the younger, more relatable Kyle Rayner, older fans rallied to have Hal restored, even forming a group known as H.E.A.T. to flood the offices of writers and DC executives with letters supporting their cause. Was Hal actually evil as Parallax? That's largely opinion, as even though he nearly broke time in Zero Hour, he eventually redeemed himself. Even following New 52, Hal's time as Parallax remains canon, a notable entry in the long-running lore of Green Lantern.
13 WOLVERINE
Saying Wolverine is good or bad is another hard one. In his first appearance, he came across as a fairly villainous type. He was in Canada to hunt The Incredible Hulk, despite the fact that they should have been more preoccupied with the incoming threat of the Wendigo. Wolverine would go on to become a steadfast member of the X-Men shortly afterward, debuting as part of the All-New, All-Different team in the iconic Giant-Size X-Men #1. Logan's changed a lot since then, with his nature defined by a steadfast code of honor. He's still not a necessarily nice man, and most of the Marvel Universe is accepting of that, with even Captain America and Iron Man asking him to join the New Avengers because of his willingness to do what was necessary.
It's worth noting this depiction is standard fare for most every Wolverine. A key example, the Wolverine of Ultimate X-Men, was originally a Brotherhood spy sent to infiltrate the X-Men at the behest of Magneto. But after spending time with the X-Men, he became not only a defector but one of Xavier's staunchest supporters. This seems to run in the family, too. Wolverine's son, Daken, has been historically portrayed as a psychopath who makes Wolverine look sane. However, since Wolverine's death in 2014, Daken has calmed down quite a bit. With a calmer demeanor, Daken has taken to allying with his "sister" Laura in All-New Wolverine.
12 THE HULK
Poor Bruce Banner. He's got it pretty bad. He turns into a sadistic dictator in not one, but two alternate futures. Most recently, fans are familiar with Banner as the ruler of the land from "Old Man Logan." In this alternate timeline, the Hulk personality eventually found a way to take over Banner's mind. Twisted and slowly becoming evil, The Hulk participated in the destruction of superheroes and eventually took over California. Banner set himself up as ruler, with his cousin She-Hulk as his bride, and the two had a family of Hulk-powered bullies who ruled over the lands until they crossed the path of Old Man Logan, who slew all the Hulks after they murdered his family.
But before that, Banner was a sadistic tyrant called The Maestro.
The miniseries Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect follows the death of most of Earth's superhumans after a nuclear war. Further irradiated and driven mad, The Maestro stepped up to rule the dystopic wasteland with a terrifying blend of Banner's genius and The Hulk's brutality. Recently, the Maestro brought the crazy Hulk train full circle when he appeared in the present day with a band of Hulks from Old Man Logan's future and a plan to turn the Earth's population into Hulks, but run awry of Logan and Hawkeye, who managed to stop him.
11 RED HULK
General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross was a thorn in the side of Bruce Banner ever since he became The Hulk. Ross would doggedly pursue The Hulk for years, even as Banner was in love with Ross' own daughter, Betty. But when the Red Hulk appeared on the scene, one of the first things he did was kill Thunderbolt Ross. It was the first of many incredible acts perpetrated by the mysterious and terrifying Red Hulk, who fought the Hulk to a standstill and even bested Thor while fighting him on the moon. Needless to say, it was shocking when it was revealed that Ross' death was faked, and Ross was, in fact, Red Hulk.
Ross was permanently stuck in his Red Hulk form after this, and was believed dead. Banner sought to prove Ross could redeem himself, recommending him for The Avengers, where Red Hulk served as a stalwart member. Ross would eventually become a hero in his own right, despite forming his own team of Thunderbolts as a black ops assassination squad with Punisher, Elektra, and Deadpool. However, Banner's scheming Doc Green persona wasn't as forgiving as Banner was. It robbed Ross of his Red Hulk powers and publicly revealed Ross' survival. Arrested for desertion, Ross was last seen being taken into government custody. Now that Banner's not only Hulk again, but also revealed to be immortal, it's only a matter of time before he returns.
10 SUPERMAN
The Joker always preached that anyone could be like him if they just had one bad day. No one ever thought he'd actually try it on Superman, but in the Injustice universe, we got to see what would happen if he did. It was a hell of a plan, to be fair. First, he gassed Superman so that he thought he was fighting Doomsday, but he was actually attacking Lois, who he'd recently discovered was pregnant. Then, as a final twist of the knife, Joker tied a nuclear bomb in Metropolis to Lois' heart.
When Lois died, so did Superman's city. And in a way, so did Superman.
Finally breaking, Superman put his hand through The Joker's chest, much to Batman's surprise. What followed was a perfect storm of poor decisions and failures. As Batman distanced himself from the broken Superman and the rest of the League (especially Wonder Woman) enabled him, Superman became terrifying. The League became The Regime, and Superman began violently enforcing order throughout the world. This Superman was one long gone, and it took the efforts of Batman and the Justice League of another world to stop him. Despite this, the Superman of Injustice is a surprisingly sympathetic villain, as the five-year-long Injustice digital comic goes to great lengths to slowly build from Man of Steel to Dictator of Earth.
9 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN
Otto Octavius was dying. After years of head trauma due to Spider-Man's repeated punches, Doctor Octopus' body was failing him. But he had one last final trick, and it was his most ambitious. When Spider-Man arrived to pay his respects to his dying foe, Octavius seized the opportunity to swap bodies with Peter, trapping him in his dying body while Otto replaced him as Spider-Man. Peter attempted to get his body back but ultimately failed. The 2012 run of The Amazing Spider-Man came to an end with Peter Parker dead and Otto Octavius standing tall as The Superior Spider-Man.
Otto's run as Superior Spider-Man started out with a relatively rough start, but being Spider-Man eventually took its toll. Otto, sure enough, found himself turning into a hero, even joining The New Avengers for a spell. Outside of being Spider-Man, he earned a doctorate in Peter's name so he could start his own science company, Parker Industries. But the final stroke of heroics came with Superior Spider-Man's finale. Otto, faced with the growing threat of Green Goblin and his army of Goblins, realized he couldn't stop them on his own, and allowed Peter Parker to take his body back. Despite this, Otto would cheat death again, though he's returned to his villainous ways, even allying with the Secret Empire.
8 STEVE ROGERS
The relaunched Steve Rogers: Captain America title broke the Internet. After years as an old man and passing the shield on to longtime ally Sam Wilson, Steve was restored by the mysterious Kobik, a young girl who was a living embodiment of the Cosmic Cube. It seemed like the status quo was restored, albeit briefly, as Steve was was young again, and both he and Sam Wilson were operating simultaneously as Captain America. But with one page, Marvel Comics and writer Nick Spencer lit expectations on fire as Captain America loudly declared "Hail Hydra" at the conclusion of the first issue.
Cap's history was reworked so that he had always been a Hydra sleeper agent.
The status quo got quickly explained. Kobik was manipulated by the Red Skull and remade Steve in his image. Stripping him of his past, Steve's history was reworked so that he had always been a Hydra sleeper agent. Comic book fans were outraged at the idea of Captain America becoming a Hydra agent, feeling it was a slap in the face to fans who grew up loving the character. It didn't help that the event that was meant to highlight the idea, Secret Empire, fell flat. The story came to a lackluster conclusion, with the original Steve being revived with the help of Kobik striving to make amends for her mistakes. The evil Steve still lives on though, currently held in detention.
7 VOYAGER
The recently wrapped up Avengers: No Surrender put a cap on nearly a decade of previous Avengers tales. Bringing together every flavor of Avenger in a weekly event comic, the title saw Earth stolen and the teams brought together to participate in a cosmic game of war. It turned out it was all The Grandmaster, playing a game with a mysterious opponent for the fate of the planet. They placed Pyramoids on the Earth, and whoever captured a Pyramoid would be held captive, with the fate of Earth hinging on which team had the most. Fortunately, The Avengers had an ace in the hole with founding Avenger Voyager making her triumphant return.
Voyager was naturally a hoax. Placed on the field by her father, The Grandmaster, Voyager infiltrated the minds of every Avenger to rewrite their history and give Grandmaster the upper hand so that he could win the Earth. But being around The Avengers takes its toll on you, and Voyager found herself changing alliances. Voyager helped the Avengers overthrow her father and his opponent, The Challenger, and in the end took Challenger as her prisoner. The two were last seen somewhere in the cosmos, watching the Avengers from afar in the hopes that their adventures would inspire Challenger as they did Voyager.
6 OMNI-MAN
Invincible set itself apart from other books at the time by being just downright fun. With a fun art style and snappy writing, the first year of Invincible was a breath of fresh air. At a time when Marvel was treading water and DC was experiencing something of a resurgence thanks to titles like Batman/Superman and a relaunched Teen Titans, Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley were changing the game with their take on the rookie teen hero trope. As Invincible, Mark Grayson was unsure of himself, working to learn new powers, and only had his father to rely on.
Invincible's father, Omni-Man was that universe's Superman and was a member of the Guardians of the Globe, that universe's Justice League. So it was a hell of a surprise when Omni-Man suddenly murdered the Guardians of the Globe. Invincible's first year ended with the reveal that Omni-Man was a spy for the race of alien Viltrumites, and was monitoring the Earth for a hostile takeover, and he expected Mark to help him. Omni-Man and Invincible's fight for the fate of the Earth is unforgettable, a moment which rocked comic fans to the core. You're not likely to ever forget the sight of Mark begging his father to stop, pleading that they still have time to make things right.
5 TOMORROW WOMAN
Grant Morrison's JLA started with a bang, as the League was thrown into immediate conflict with a team of vicious white Martians. Following the encounter, it was decided that the League needed to grow, and a membership drive went into effect. A lot of well-known DC heroes turned up for the drive, including Aztek, Artemis, and Green Arrow. But it also introduced a new character, Tomorrow Woman. Tomorrow Woman seemed to be a pretty ideal heroine, seemingly made to be a member of the League. However, she was actually an android created by Amazo creator Professor Ivo and Red Tornado creator T.O. Morrow to infiltrate the Justice League.
Tomorrow Woman was created to be a living bomb but was given enough ability to develop so that she could successfully fool the League.
It worked too well, though, as Tomorrow Woman would eventually rebel against her own programming, and died saving the world. Immortalized as a League member, Tomorrow Woman was incredibly popular with fans despite only appearing for a handful of pages in the long-running lore of the JLA. Tomorrow Woman returned during the weekly event Trinity, and by story's end had been reborn as a human in a newly manifested reality, but her fate following the Flashpoint event remains unknown.
4 THE MAKER
With the Ultimate Universe riding high after the success of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, it only made sense for Marvel's First Family to make an appearance. Debuting in 2005, the Ultimate Fantastic Four were much younger, and their powers made them skew far closer to science fiction and body horror than their more bombastic 616 universe counterparts. After several years in the universe though, during the events of the tie-in title Ultimate Enemy, the Richards' house was bombed by an unknown assailant, and Reed Richards was believed to have died.
But it was revealed that Reed not only survived but placed the bomb himself. Reed, driven mad by his inability to stop Magneto during the Ultimatum event and pushed over the edge after receiving knowledge the world would end from Kang the Conqueror, took on a darker aspect. Though he was stopped in time by the heroes of the Ultimate Universe, Reed was clearly lost, taking on the identity of The Maker and leading his own darker think tank, The Children of Tomorrow. Despite the end of the Ultimate Universe, The Maker survived thanks to Molecule Man placing a piece of the Ultimate Reed in every reality he created, making him a rare entity that exists in each new world. The Maker of the 616 universe would square off with the USAvengers, but ultimately failed and was turned over to government custody.
3 DOCTOR DOOM
You could possibly make an argument that Doctor Doom hasn't really been evil for a very long time. For decades, Doom has been the ruler of Latveria. In that position, he has ruled with an iron fist, viewed from the outside as harsh and unforgiving. But the people of Latveria seem to harbor a genuine respect for him. Maybe it's because he actually cared for them. Maybe it's because the next in line after Doom was worse. But you can't argue that Doom was a beloved ruler. However, following Secret Wars, Doom's rival Reed Richards bestowed upon his old friend a surprising gift. When the universe was remade, Richards would fix Doom's mutilated face, giving him a chance to exist outside his iron shell.
Doom became an ally of Tony Stark, though he largely didn't want it.
And following Stark's apparent death, Doom went one step further and moved on in honor of Stark, becoming The Infamous Iron Man. Doom's tenure as Iron Man has been pretty poorly received, with Ben Grimm, Sharon Carter and the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D. wanting nothing more than to incarcerate Doom. Despite this, Doom would strive to do the right thing, even as Mephisto manipulated him by placing images of The Maker and Doom's mother in front of him. Tony Stark is all but back in the saddle, so it remains to be seen what will happen to the Infamous Iron Man.
2 OZYMANDIAS
Of course Ozymandias is on this list. The second you read the title of this list, you probably thought of him. And for good reason, too. There is perhaps no more famous face-heel turn in comics than that of Watchmen's Ozymandias. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen did a lot to change the face of comics. The 12 issue maxi-series' ramifications are still being felt today, as Watchmen (along with Frank Miller's seminal The Dark Knight Returns) set the stage for darker, grittier comic book characters and more mature storytelling.
Watchmen followed a retired team of superheroes as they tried to find a killer who was hunting them down. Exploring the idea of superheroes who were forced to hang up their capes and how they were coping with the world they left behind, the series made waves with the shocking twist in its final issue. Ozymandias, hailed as the smartest man in the world, told his friends he had not only come up with a master plan to save the world by dropping an alien squid in New York City, but he'd already set his plan in motion before they even arrived. Ozymandias' betrayal has long ranked as one of the most memorable moments in comic book history, a shocking twist that changed the perception of Watchmen forever. The moment was so pivotal that even 30 years later it remains relevant, and is the primary focus of the DC comics event Doomsday Clock.
1 THE THUNDERBOLTS
Justice, like lightning! The Thunderbolts first popped up in a random issue of The Incredible Hulk, and it looked like it was just a promotional appearance for the next Marvel title, as the first issue of Thunderbolts was coming out the next month. In the storyline, Earth's non-mutant heroes were gone. Mr. Fantastic's super powerful son, Franklin, had placed them in an alternate reality inside his blue ball, but to everyone else they were believed dead following the battle with Professor X and Magneto's fractured psyche, Onslaught. In the wake of their absence, the Thunderbolts stepped up as a new team of superheroes to replace the missing Avengers.
But the final pages of Thunderbolts #1 are still some of the most shocking in modern mainstream superhero comics.
The team was actually Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil, disguised as heroes to gain the public trust and maliciously access the Avengers database. The ruse was kept up for a long while, but it had a surprising effect on the team: they liked being heroes. After years of working under Zemo, they were suddenly publicly accepted and respected for their work. The Thunderbolts became heroes for good but still found themselves on the run. While not everyone on the team stayed on the side of angels, the majority have, and even resumed the Thunderbolts identity recently to help Bucky Barnes protect Kobik.