7 More Avengers Who Turned Into Villains, Ranked

The Avengers are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. For decades, they have stood as the Earth’s de facto defense against all evil threats, terrestrial and interstellar. Time and time again, they’ve demonstrated to the people of the universe what heroism looks like. Captain America is the very symbol of righteousness for Marvel, and the Avengers have always been structured aroundthose ideals. Of course, for as heroic as these are, not even they are perfect. They’ve made plenty of mistakes over their long careers, and sometimes, writers decide that the best way to keep a hero interesting is to make them go against the very ideas they stand for.

Heroes having short or even permanent stints as villains is a trope of its own by this point. Most of the world’s heroes have spent some time on the other side of the fence at one point or another. Most of the time, these villainous heel turns are temporary, but occasionally, they stick around for the foreseeable future. We’ve already seen ten Avengers who have turned to villainy, and today, we’re going to look at seven more heroes who embraced evil. Without further ado, let’s talk about the Avengers who embodied vengeance.

7) Swordsman

The Swordsman is a strange case, as he joined the Avengers in Avengers (1963) #20, but under the direction of the villainous Mandarin. Swordsman intended to betray the team, but found himself wanting to be a hero like his new friends. Unfortunately, his short stint as an Avenger ended when the team found him dismantling a trap for them and assumed he was setting it. The warrior spent the next several years hopping between being an enemy and an ally to the team. By the end of his life, he was a full villain working for Kang, but chose heroism in his final moments, completing his flip-flopping arc.

6) Moondragon

Another classic Avenger, Moondragon, was a powerful psychic who ran with the team after starting as a villain, Madame MacEvil. Even after she reformed and joined the Avengers, Moondragon was haughty and arrogant beyond belief. Unfortunately, her sense of superiority led her to go above what the Avengers felt was right, including once mind-controlling an entire war-torn planet to be peaceful and worship her, alongside killing her father, Drax the Destroyer, when he stood against her. Moondragon spent a long time on the line between hero and villain, but after merging with a heroic, alternate version of herself, dedicated herself to doing what was right.

5) Namor

Namor the Sub-Mariner wasn’t on the Avengers for long, but his membership certainly earned him a spot on this list. The Sub-Mariner started as one of Marvel’s original superheroes, but over time, his arrogance and entitlement drove him towards anti-heroism, and eventually, downright villainy. The greatest crimes he committed were definitely against Wakanda. Namor has destroyed Wakanda twice. Once by drowning the entire nation, and again by selling them out to Thanos in exchange for leaving Atlantis alone. Namor has murdered thousands, and that’s not even considering how he nearly destroyed the world numerous times while he fought the Fantastic Four. Namor is the only person who has destroyed an entire world, and no matter his intentions, that’s a villainous move.

4) Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady)

Ant-Man’s legacy just can’t catch a break. Hank Pym is infamous for his occasional villainous behavior, but the real Irredeemable Ant-Man is the third to wear the suit, Eric O’Grady. He was a low-tier SHIELD agent who stole the technology to con people and live a cushy life. Eventually, he joined the Secret Avengers and even sacrificed himself to save the day. Unfortunately, the villains, the Descendants, built a Life Model Decoy of him that they steered towards evil. This robotic duplicate took the name Black Ant and became a villain that tarnished even the Irredeemable Ant-Man’s legacy.

3) Spider-Man

Spider-Man has actually been a villain in two different ways. The best-known instance came when his archenemy, Doctor Octopus, switched bodies with Peter. While Otto tried his best to be a hero, he was quite literally a supervillain in a hero’s body. Doc Ock definitely made plenty of villain moves, including using an army of Spider-Bots to overlook everything in the city, and generally just being a jerk. The second time Spidey went evil was when he was possessed by the disembodied sins of Norman Osborn. The Spider-Goblin went on a rampage, tearing through his villains and threatening to murder MJ’s then-boyfriend, Paul, before he was cleansed again. Funnily enough, Spider-Man has been evil twice, but neither was by choice.

2) Daredevil

Daredevil had long battled the evil ninja organization known as the Hand, but after being possessed by the demon they worship, the Beast, he became their dark leader. Under Daredevil’s command, the Hand erected a new home in NYC and nearly took over the entire city. He even brutally tortured and attempted to murder Bullseye, something that a sane Matt Murdock would never allow himself to do. Daredevil was eventually purified of the Beast’s influence, but still, seeing one of the most morally staunch characters commit these horrific acts was a terrible sight to behold.

1) Quicksilver

Quicksilver is one of the most classic members of the Avengers, having started as a villain but joined the team with his sister, Scarlet Witch. Unfortunately, Pietro once turned back to his life of evil during the events of House of M. Although Wanda has taken the fall for it, the real mastermind of the event was Quicksilver. He manipulated the mentally-unstable Wanda to rewrite the world how he wanted it, and when exposed, kept defending his choices as the only right thing to do. Quicksilver’s most evil act wasn’t even remaking the entire world and using his sister, who clearly needed help, but being unable to take the blame himself. To this day, people still blame Wanda for House of M, while they have forgotten he was even involved. 

Which Avenger-turned-villain is your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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