Marvel's heroes are some of the best in the business. These respected heroes are known for doing the right thing no matter what and beings paragons of the heroic ideal, overcoming their personal problems to save the day. However, just because a hero sets out to do good doesn't mean that's how things are going to end up.h
There have been numerous times over the years when a hero or group of heroes have done things that they thought were beneficial but have really been rather villainous. The lines blur in the battle between good and evil and sometimes the road to Hell can be paved with the best of intentions.
10 The Illuminati Manipulated Hulk And Sent Him To Another Planet
The Illuminati were a secret group of heroes brought together by Iron Man to take care of things on the sly. However, just about everything they did was kind of terrible or blew up in their faces. Both of these things happened when they decided to send the Hulk away from the Earth, using a threat in space to get him off the planet and then launching him away.
The Hulk can definitely be a handful but tricking him and then launching him to another planet is something a Silver Age villain would have tried to do. It's also a betrayal of a friend, as Iron Man, Reed Richards, and Doctor Strange were all friends with Bruce Banner. That said, it's not even the shadiest thing Iron Man was involved in.
9 The Hulk Attacking New York For Revenge Endangered Civilians
The Illuminati's action against the Hulk led directly to the Hulk going to Skaar and it getting destroyed, something which perturbed the giant green rage monster. Escaping the destruction of the planet with his Warbound compatriots, the Hulk attacked New York City in World War Hulk, a Hulk classic.
There's no world in which the Hulk coming to Earth and attacking New York City isn't a villain move. While he actually did try to keep civilians casualties to a minimum, there's no way he could have been a hundred percent successful and ended up destroying large portions of the city. Of course, destroying things is par for the course with the Hulk but this was one of the most egregious times because it was premeditated.
8 Hank Pym Slapping The Wasp And Building A Robot To Attack The Avengers Are Among The Worst Things An Avenger Has Done
Hank Pym is no angel. This is a guy who created artificial life and then tried destroy it, birthing Ultron. However, as bad as that is, it's not as bad as that time that he, as Yellowjacket, decided he needed to prove to the Avengers why they needed him. So, he built a robot to attack the team that only he could beat. This backfired, though.
Much worse, though, was him slapping the Wasp when she found out his plan. Trying to kill one's friends so they can save the day is one thing and pretty villainous, but attacking The Wasp just proves that Hank Pym is the worst.
7 Scarlet Witch Attacked The Avengers Because They Mindwiped Her
Avengers Disassembled brought on an Avengers renaissance and all it had to do was kill a few fan-favorite characters. At the center of the whole thing was Scarlet Witch, someone who had never been the most stable hero. She found out that the Avengers had tampered with her memories about her "dead" imaginary children and lashed out, using her reality-altering powers to attack the team.
This resulted in the deaths of Ant-Man, Vision, and Hawkeye, destroyed Avengers Mansion, and ended the Avengers as everyone knew them for a time. Scarlet Witch's attack on the team was more successful than most villains' attempts and went done as one of the Avengers' worst days.
6 Scarlet Witch Depowered Most Of The Mutant Race To Get Back At Magneto
As bad as attacking and killing several Avengers was, Scarlet Witch's depowering of millions of mutants was actually way worse. Mutants were increasing worldwide, building their own culture, and recovering from the Genoshan genocide when Scarlet Witch decided they were a bad idea, mostly because Magneto had treated her badly for most of her life.
Many human racists had tried to get rid of mutants but none were as successful as Scarlet Witch was in one day. No one knows exactly how many mutants died when their powers went out but it was probably a lot, giving Scarlet Witch a body count greater than most villains.
5 Professor X Mindwiped Cyclops Of His Youngest Brother's Existence And The Deaths Of Several Mutants
Professor X has used his powers in a lot of shady ways over the years but mostly on villains or at least strangers. However, after Krakoa captured the original X-Men, he would soon be forced to do it to his friends. Professor X asked Moira MacTaggert for help and she sent him some of the mutants she was working with, one of whom was Cyclops's prodigal youngest brother, Vulcan.
Cyclops trained them and led them to Krakoa where they too were beaten by the island, except it appeared that they had all died. Cyclops alone escaped and Professor X wiped his and Moira's mind of the events.
4 Reed Richards Built A Machine That Could Depower Mutants And Professor X Mindwiped The Design From Him
Reed Richards likes to use science to solve every problem and recently, Franklin Richards' powers were going a bit haywire. Reed, being Reed, came up with the best solution he could think of- a machine that took away mutant powers. This didn't sit too well with Professor X and he mindwiped Reed of all the knowledge he would need to make the machine, threatening him to boot.
This is basically a twofer- Reed building a machine to depower mutants is a villainous act, but Xavier mindwiping and threatening him for it is no better.
3 The Inhuman Royal Family Owns Slaves, Supports A Caste Based System, And Had No Problem With Mutant Genocide
The Inhuman Royal Family has always been way more villainous than people imagined. Sure, they helped out when world-ending threats showed up but other than that, they perpetuated a terrible system. The entire Inhuman social structure was built on castes according to how useful their powers were and their infrastructure was maintained by the Alpha Primitives, who are literal slaves.
Those should be bad enough but it gets worse- when the Terrigen Mists were released into the atmosphere, they were harmful to mutants, sterilizing them in the best cases and killing them in the worst. The Inhumans didn't care about that, barely paying lip service to the damage being done, which is par for the course with them.
2 Iron Man Went Full Fascist In Civil War
Iron Man has done a lot of betraying of his friends over the years but the worst case was during Civil War. His side was pro-Registration, working with the government to apprehend and hold people who trusted him and looked up to him for years. He worked with villains, was responsible for the death of Bill Foster, and basically made the situation worse at every step.
Iron Man did more damage to the heroes in a shorter time than just about any villain ever, making the Skrull Invasion easier and leading to Norman Osborn taking everything over.
1 Captain America Took Over America As Hydra Supreme
Heroes have done a lot of bad things over the years but installing a fascist dictatorship over the US takes the cake. What makes it even worse is that the hero responsible was Captain America. Because of some Cosmic Cube shenanigans, Captain America's history was changed so that he was always a member of Hydra and that led to him conquering the country.
Undermining his friends and everything in his way, Cap was able to take over the country, leaving his friends to scramble to defeat him, something which only happened after a non-Hydra version of himself defeated the Hydra Supreme version.