7 Marvel Anti-Heroes Who Were Better as Villains

Marvel Comics made the anti-hero into a force in superhero comics in the 1970s. The House of Ideas was experimenting with the form of superheroes back then, pioneering martial arts heroes, giving superheroines their own books, and expanding the diversity of their heroes in many ways. Wolverine and Punisher were the first two major anti-heroes, violent, mouthy good guys who had no problem killing their enemies, but they weren’t the first. Even heroes like the Hulk and Namor were more like anti-heroes than traditional heroes, showing how much work Marvel put into the concept. As anti-heroes got more popular, villains who got a lot of attention from fans would get shifted into anti-heroes, with some of them becoming superstars.

However, a lot of times this has been a mistake. Taking popular bad guys and making them into heroes that will kill can work sometimes, but it robs many heroes of villains that helped defined them or damages the character of the changed villain. These seven Marvel anti-heroes were better as villains, losing something in the translation.

7) Cosmic Ghost Rider

Cosmic Ghost Rider was introduced in one of the best Thanos stories ever “Thanos Wins”. The story takes place in a future where the Mad Titans killed everyone in the universe. On Earth, the only survivor was the Punisher. He made a deal with Mephisto to become the Ghost Rider to get revenge and then years later would become the herald of Galactus, evolving into Cosmic Ghost Rider. He ended up teaming with King Thanos and has since become an anti-hero. However, the character is way more fun as a too powerful insane person, someone who watched the universe die and just doesn’t care anymore. He has so much villain potential that was almost completely jumped over to make him an anti-hero.

6) Loki

Loki has changed a lot over the years, morphing from the God of Mischief to the God of Stories. They have become a much more complex character than they used to be, playing both sides of the moral divide. They are more than a villain and have often been used as an anti-hero by many creators. It can be fun, but Loki as a quasi-hero, manipulating everyone to do the right thing is honestly kind of boring. Readers have lost one of the most fun villains in the Marvel Universe because some fans want a more heroic Loki. He’s such a perfect villain, and his added facets will make that even better.

5) Punisher

The Punisher has technically only been a villain once, in his first appearance, but it’s plain to see he makes a much better bad guy than he does any kind of hero. Frank Castle kills criminals and villains, but he still kills. His body count is obscenely high, and it would be great to see him end up going up against the heroes more because of this. He’s fought people like Spider-Man and Daredevil many times, so Marvel knows that this is a road that works for the character. More heroes than ever kill, but Frank’s enough of a mad dog that he should always be a villain or at least an antagonist if other heroes are involved.

4) Winter Soldier

Bucky Barnes has become a legend thanks to his time as the Winter Soldier. Now, in many ways, he was always something of an icon, but he had been dead for so long that most fans didn’t see him as anything but a symbol of the past. Returning as a Soviet super-assassin made him into one of the most important characters in the Marvel Universe, linking him to various characters and ideas throughout its history. However, he was always going to go back to being a hero, eventually becoming Captain America. He’s an awesome hero, but the Winter Soldier is too good of a villain concept to give up. It automatically makes him into one of Cap’s greatest villains and it would be awesome to see him go evil again.

3) Moonstone

Moonstone was a C-list villain for years, best known for her time in the Masters of Evil. She was recruited by Baron Zemo as part of his latest scheme, becoming Meteorite and joining the Thunderbolts. She’d eventually become the leader of members who wanted to be heroes and worked side by side with Hawkeye when he became leader of the team after Zemo’s defeat. She’d become one of the main members of the Thunderbolts, but as the years went on she went back to being more villainous. Comparing early Meteorite to her as Moonstone with the ‘Bolts is night and day; she was much more interesting as a villain bucking against the team’s system than as a villain trying to be a hero. Her time as Ms. Marvel in “Dark Reign” was especially peak, showing how amazing she can be as a bad guy.

2) Venom/Eddie Brock

Eddie Brock bonded with Spider-Man’s symbiote costume after losing his job at The Daily Bugle because of Peter Parker, the two uniting in hatred as Venom. However, the symbiotic bad guy would get mega-popular in a heartbeat and Marvel pushed him to becoming an anti-hero almost immediately in the early ’90s. Brock went back and forth as a hero and villain for years, but has since become a hero, currently wearing the Carnage symbiote. He’s saved the universe from the symbiote god Knull, even. However, as a hero, he’s just not as cool as he was as a villain. He was made to be the perfect reverse-Spider-Man and it would be awesome to see him get back to that.

1) Deadpool

Deadpool is one of Marvel’s most complex characters, and most of that has come in the years since he became an anti-hero. As a villain, ‘Pool was a pretty simple bad guy, a funny, mouthy psychopath. After becoming an anti-hero, the character has been greatly expanded upon, becoming an almost entirely new person. However, Wade Wilson has become old hat. One of the best of his stories was Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe for a simple reason: he was the monster at the center. This story took the expanded character we’d had gotten over the 21st century and used him as a bad guy, showing how well that kind of Deadpool worked. It would be great to get him back to a more villainous concept, because he has so much to offer as an antagonist.

What Marvel anti-heroes do you think are better as villains? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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