The Golden Age of comics saw heroes committing brutal crimes but they mostly stayed in touch with their heroic life. The villains were also pretty cliched around that time. However, This was changed by Marvel in the 1960’s, as they gave heroes flaws which showing the villains with some human traits.

Over the years, there have been heroes who have turned into major bad guys. Today, let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at heroes who went from good to bad. (and few who went from bad to good)

Good to Bad: Captain America
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This stunned fans when Captain America series ended with Cap declaring “Hail Hydra” at the end of Comics. It was then revealed that Red Skull had used the Cosmic Cube to brainwash Captain’s memories. Rogers now believed that he had been a life-long operative for HYDRA.

This led to the Secret Empire storyline which obviously ended with the Cube getting back the original Steve Rogers.

Bad to Good: Doctor Octopus
Villain Dr. Octopus turned good
After years of fighting against Spider-Man, Doctor Octavius found himself dying. Otto managed to swap mihonorth Peter, making himself Spider-Man. Otto saw all memories stored in Peter’s memories making him realise how good a person Parker was. Otto decided to honour Peter by becoming Superior Spider-Man.

He did well for some time but soon realised that he lacks the responsibility needed for a hero.

Good to bad: Hal Jordan
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After the destruction of his home at Coast City, Jordan was down with grief. In anger, he Wilkes the Corps and took all the power for himself. He called himself “Parallax” and set to “fix” the universe in his own way.

He eventually restored Earth’s son and died a hero but it was later revealed that Parallax was an entity that infected Hal and caused all the mayhem.

Bad to Good: Magneto
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Magneto was once helped by Chris Claremont who told him that he (Magneto) knows what it felt like to see a race of people swiped out and that he had been a survivor of the Holocaust.

This led to a change in heart and Magneto started working with X-Men for a while. This didn’t last for long as Magneto felt that X-Men were too soft in their ways. However, he joined them again after a while and even took on a leading role.

Good to bad: The Hulk
Hulk hero going bad
The classic “Future Imperfect” storyline saw The Hulk getting sent a century into the future. Here, the planet is in ruins and almost all heroes are dead. Being the only survivor, Hulk became stronger due to the radiation from the war which had happened at the time.

He called himself “Maestro” and was far more intelligent and powerful than you think. He doesn’t even hold back to attack innocents to get his way.

Bad to Good: Namor
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Namor is the ruler of Atlantis in the Marvel Comics. Initially, he didn’t like the people at the surface as he felt that they only see the waters as a dumping ground. He even flooded New York once. However, he did work with other heroes during the Second World War.

His attitude got softened eventually and he joined and worked alongside Avengers.

Good to Bad: Superman Injustice
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This happened in an alternate universe where Joker tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane. This also set off a bomb in Metropolis that wipes out the whole city. Superman snaps and kills Joker in anger. He then decided to take over the planet, as a way to avoid something like this in future.

The series sees Superman’s noble intentions get overruled by hate and anger towards humanity. It’s a really stunning story depicting as to what happens when Earth’s greatest hero becomes the planet’s greatest threat.

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