There’s a great line from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight that pretty much sums up what it means to be a hero: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” While that line is very much commentary on both how the public perceives heroes and how people can change over time, it’s something that, on the pages of comics, actually happens pretty regularly. Thanks to different stories and adventures, many heroes discover that future versions of themselves end up far darker than they could ever see themselves.
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While the idea of evil alternate reality versions of beloved heroes is a pretty common trope, there are some instances where the “good” present-day versions have become aware of their possible future fates. Sometimes, it ends up being a manipulation of another foe and not really the hero’s future while others, the dark future is one the hero is trying to avoid only to end up on that path anyway. Whatever the situation, for some heroes, there’s a bleak future out there and some hard truths they have to face.
5) Iron Lad/Nathaniel Richards
Kang the Conqueror is a complicated and confusing character with plenty of alternate selves, but one notable one is Iron Lad/Nathaniel Richards. The young man is so horrified by meeting his future self that he travels into the past and joins the Young Avengers, becoming the hero Iron Lad. It’s a literal case of seeing your future self become the villain, but despite his efforts to avoid becoming the villain, Nate may not truly have a choice, as at one point he has to assume his role as Kang the Conqueror in order to restore the timeline.
4) Superman
Okay, this one is cheating just a little bit since he’s not genuinely the future of Superman but he presents himself to be. In “The Sixth Dimension” storyline from Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez’s Justice League run, the heroes find themselves dealing with the threat of Perpetua being freed from her prison with the destruction of the Source Wall. This leads to Superman going into the Sixth Dimension to get what is needed in order to stop her. The younger Superman disappears through the door and an older version of him comes back out. However, that older, future Superman isn’t a good guy. He’s also not actually the future Superman. He turns out to be Alpheus, aka the World Forger and when Superman went through the door into the Sixth Dimension, he was actually walking into a trap where Alpheus was leaving him to die under the guise of saving the multiverse from him. So, while Alpheus isn’t technically the future Superman, he pretended to be for a bit and it was unsettling.
3) Tim Drake
Tim Drake may be the best Robin, but there’s a future version that is certainly not the best version of, well, anything. In the “Titans Tomorrow” storyline by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone we’re introduced to a timeline where the heroes are more violent and have a more fascist approach towards fighting crime. In this timeline, Bruce Wayne is killed and Tim takes up the Batman mantle. While that sounds good, this Tim started using the gun that killed Thomas and Martha Wayne to take out Gotham’s villains. The younger Tim ended up having to confront his darker, older alternative self and fortunately, was able to defeat him.
2) Bruce Wayne/Batman
When it comes to heroes who have future selves who turn villain, Batman is pretty high on the list. As is generally the case with the evil future self situation, these villains all come from different timelines and realities and given how many evil Batmen there are out there, let’s just say it seems like primary Earth might just be an anomaly. One notable version, however, comes in Detective Comics #1082. Doctor Hurt shows Batman a potential future in which he turns Gotham into “a city of fear with one hero and everyone else a villain” and to say this future is bleak is an understatement. This future villain Batman is especially brutal, exerting absolute control. Fortunately, this version of Batman is not actually real It’s more of a “what if” but it’s still unsettling, both for readers and for the Dark Knight.
1) The Hulk
If The Hulk is one of the most powerful characters in comics, it is no surprise that he’s got a future evil version and, in this case, it’s absolutely terrifying. First appearing in Peter David’s “Future Imperfect” storyline, the evil future Hulk, Maestro, hails from a future destroyed by nuclear weapons. Rather than being harmed by the radiation, he’s made stronger by it and, perhaps even more terrifying, he’s smart but nothing of Bruce Banner remains. Maestro is a tyrannical ruler who killed heroes and villains alike. Current Hulk has battled him several times thanks to time travel, but he’s a horrifying and deadly threat as well as a warning of what The Hulk could become.
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