6 Comic Book Villains Who Actually Made Great Heroes
In comic books, heroes and villains switch roles often. When a hero becomes a villain, it’s normally because someone on their team turned on them or they felt mistreated. For example, Ultimate Reed Richards became the Maker after Sue Storm rejected his marriage proposal. The Scarlet Witch caused the worst day in Avengers history after learning she was lied to about what happened to her kids. On the flip side, villains turning into heroes are less common. The most prominent example of someone doing this is Magneto.
Magneto was the X-Men’s deadliest and most persistent enemy. For years, he waged a war against humanity that led to Earth’s Mightiest Mutants attempting to stop the Master of Magnetism. However, throughout all of their fights, Erik Lehnsherr (now going by Max) had honor. Eventually, his respect for the X-Men turned into him joining their ranks. He’d leave and go back to doing things his way, but he always found his way back “home.”
Magus may be the most popular comic book character to go from a villain to a hero, but he’s definitely not the only one. In fact, he may not have done it the best.
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Juggernaut (Cain Marko)
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Like Magneto, Juggernaut started as an antagonist to the X-Men. Cain’s vendetta against his stepbrother Charles Xavier (Professor X) caused him to try to destroy everything that involved the X-Men. Eventually, during writer Chuck Austen’s run of X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, Cain admits that part of his hatred for his stepbrother is because Charles didn’t stop their father from abusing them.
Cain and Charles’ talk was a major breakthrough, but that wasn’t Juggernaut’s defining hero moment. That happened when he met a young mutant named Samuel Paré.
Cain and Samuel had trauma-bonded over having abusive fathers, but it didn’t lead to anything toxic. Instead, they took their disheartening past and turned it into something positive. Samuel became more confident, and Juggernaut allowed himself to be emotionally vulnerable. The latter is one of the reasons Juggernaut is a better hero than a villain.
On a couple of occasions, Juggernaut returned to being a villain. The difference was that it became obvious to comic book fans that this wouldn’t last long. It was easy to see that Cain made a better hero who was trying to be better than an unstoppable brute. This continues to be true thanks to Jed MacKay’s run of X-Men.
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Norman Osborn
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Norman Osborn has always had the potential to be a great leader. Beyond running a successful company, he was in charge of the Thunderbolts and the (Dark) Avengers. What’s impressive about this is that he kept a group of psychopaths in control while he himself was struggling to keep it together. It makes sense that, now that the Goblin is gone, he’s better than ever.
Sure, Norman still has a long way to go before he wins hero of the month. While he was taking over for Spider-Man, Norman was sending villains to the hospital. Later, during Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity, he was lying to Jessica Drew while training the young Spider-People. Nevertheless, Osborn continues to learn from his mistakes and do better. At the end of the day, isn’t that what a hero does?
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Clayface (Basil Karlo)
There have been a plethora of Clayfaces throughout the years, and each of them is different. The most popular may be Matt Hagen from Batman: The Animated Series, but Basil Karlo is the one who seems to be attempting to fight evil urges.
When James Tynion IV was writing Detective Comics, one of the first people to join Batwoman’s team was Basil. Batman saw that Clayface needed a second chance to become a better person and not let his accident define him. Like most times, the Dark Knight was right. Basil became a crucial member of Batwoman’s team. His crowning achievement during this run may have been helping Cassandra Cain find her voice.
Currently, in Clayface: Celebrity Dirt, Basil is doing what he can to stop one of the Clayface castoffs from slaughtering people. It started out with this being a selfish reason, but as the series continued, it became clear that Basil Karlo is still a hero at heart.
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The White Queen (Emma Frost)
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Emma Frost’s run as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club was short-lived in comparison to her time as a protagonist. Nevertheless, while she was evil, there was no denying that she was one of the worst enemies the X-Men had. As Kitty Pryde said during Astonishing X-Men, the day she met Emma Frost was the day she learned more about good and evil before or since. That says a lot considering everything Kitty had been through at the time. The funny thing about that statement is that Emma and Kitty may be best friends.
Normally, when someone switches sides, their personality changes. That isn’t the case with Emma Frost. If anyone were to ask her, she’d likely say that perfection can’t be changed. In many ways, she’s right. The White Queen will always put out the perception that she thinks and knows better than everyone. In reality, she’s insecure about many things. When she allows readers to see the sensitive and caring side of her, she’s loved even more.
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Red Hood (Jason Todd)
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Once upon a time, Jason Todd was one of comic books’ most hated characters. It was so bad that DC Comics had fans vote on his fate. This led to the second Robin dying in Batman: A Death in the Family. Jason later returned as the Red Hood. A gangster looking to get revenge on Batman for not killing Joker after the Clown Prince of Crime murdered him.
Soon after that, Jason went back to being an insufferable character. He wanted to become Batman and was willing to kill the other Bat Family members to prove his worth. This became another mistake in the attempt to make Jason Todd relevant.
Later, writer Scott Lobdell got his hands on Jason Todd and made him a star. Red Hood was no longer someone looking for approval or out for revenge. He wanted to do better to prove to himself that he was worthy. Like any normal person, he fell into a downward spiral of insecurities, but he’s continued to be a hero.
Recently, Jason became the leader of the Teen Titans. So far, it appears like being a mentor is where he should have been all along. Two issues in, and he’s already given the kids advice to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes he did.
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The Viltrumites
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There has never been a better face turn in comic books than the Viltrumites. They spent centuries doing unthinkable things to each other and various species across the galaxy. In fact, some beings are extinct because of them. However, the more time they spent on Earth, the more the Viltrumites realized that there’s more to life than power and conquest (not to be confused with the dead Viltrumite).
Each of the Viltrumites found something to live for. Kregg became the father of dozens of children, yet he loved them and their mothers equally. Lucan learned that it was possible to love one person with all his heart and remain faithful to them. Thula seemed to be content with being a loving wife and mother. It may have taken Anissa a while after doing something appalling, but even she had a moment of redemption.
At the end of the Invincible comic book, the universe is at peace. It took over a hundred years, but together, the Viltrumites were rebranded. Now, the Viltrumite way isn’t about being the strongest. It became about helping those who were weak.
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Jean Grey
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Rogue / Anna Marie
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Scott Summers / Cyclops
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Samara Weaving
Emma Frost
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