7 DC Heroes Who Stupidly Created Their Own Villains

There’s a trope in superhero media, superhero movies especially, where a supervillain is created by the direct consequence of the hero’s actions. Either because they were hurt because of something the hero did, the hero inadvertently gave them their powers, or because of any other number of reasons, the hero of the story could easily be responsible for accidentally creating a villain. The trope is attractive for plenty of reasons, the foremost being that it instantly creates tension and a relationship between the hero and villain. While it’s more common in movies than comics, it’s certainly a trope invoked plenty across the hundreds of villains in DC.

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There are plenty of supervillains that were made, either directly or indirectly, by the heroes’ hands. Sometimes they turn them evil, other times being around the hero is just too dangerous and drives them to something. Today, we’re going to be looking at seven villains that were turned evil by some of the world’s best heroes. Be it the hero’s fault or not, these villains exist because of them.

7) Azrael Batman/Clayface V

This is neither the first Batman nor the first Clayface, but it’s still a tragedy of his own making. During Azrael’s stint as Batman, in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #27, the Dark Knight was set upon by two of the former Clayfaces, both being blackmailed under threat to their son’s life. At the end, Azrael arrested Lady Clayface, then confronted Clayface III after returning his son. Azrael called out that the boy had special needs and would be put into the Gotham foster system, where he was sure to become a villain himself, but didn’t care and arrested the boy’s father anyway.

This is definitely one of Azrael’s cruelest moments, showing how little he cared for the people of the city, only wanting to enforce what he saw as justice. His prophecy would prove right as Cassisu Payne would become Clayface V, although he would do battle with the heroes of DC as a member of Alexander Luthor’s Secret Society of Super Villains. Azrael set this kid up for failure, dooming him to an avoidable fate if he had any loving family. It’s one thing to arrest criminals, but it’s another to tell a child that he’ll fight him inevitably and do nothing to help him. Especially when he was the one to leave him in such a terrible position.

6) Star Sapphire/Sorrow Lantern

Carol Ferris accidentally set Nathan Broome on the path to becoming the Sorrow Lantern when she left him at the altar to go save her ex, Hal Jordan. Nathan was so overcome by despair at Carol leaving him in the middle of the wedding that his engagement ring was infused with it, tapping into the fractured Emotional Spectrum, and turning him into the one and only Sorrow Lantern. Carol flying off to rescue Hal was a time-sensitive operation, so it’s understandable that she had to go right away, but the fact that she didn’t go back to Nathan to apologize or discuss how she really felt about him and Hal was definitely a heart-wrenching move. She obviously isn’t to blame for his villainous turn, but leaving someone at the altar is more of a reason to go crazy than some villains.

5) Flash/Reverse-Flash

One of the most disastrous rivalries in comics is the Flash and Reverse-Flash. Eobard Thawne has dedicated himself to ruining Barry’s life at any means necessary, but this impossible hatred comes from a very petty or tragic place, based on continuity. Thawne was obsessed with Barry to the point where he recreated the accident to give himself powers and become the Flash of his time, where Barry met him after traveling to the future. The two became friends, but Barry had to arrest Thawne after realizing he was creating crimes to stop. Here is where the timelines split off, based on whether he became a true villain before or after this.

Pre-New 52 continuity was that Thawne became Reverse-Flash after he traveled back in time and learned that he was destined to be killed by his idol. This drove him insane, and he even tried to replace Barry, thinking he was him. The Rebirth continuity retconned it so a reformed Thawne went back in time to apologize to Barry, only to see him tell Wally a quote he thought Barry only told him, which drove him off the deep end. In a way, Eobard was driven insane by grief in both versions. Barry didn’t do nearly anything terrible enough to convince Thawne to dedicate eternity to bringing him down, but he did inadvertently make him a problem.

4) Wonder Woman/Silver Swan

Silver Swan is a tragic tale. Vanessa Kapatelis was once a close friend of Wonder Woman, but a wedge was driven between them by forces outside their control. In pre-New 52 continuity, Vanessa was initially jealous of how perfect Diana was, and these feelings were manipulated by Doctor Psycho to turn her into a killing machine. In the Rebirth continuity, she was a woman who suffered a terrible accident and was visited by Diana, but turned to villainy after several other tragedies and learning that Diana visited everyone who was hurt.

Unfortunately, this is a classic example of how even being in a hero’s life can have disastrous consequences. Vanessa was turned into a villain by grief and villains, but ultimately blames Wonder Woman for the simple crime of being herself. It’s true that she wouldn’t be a villain if Wonder Woman didn’t exist, but that just makes this tale all the sadder. Diana definitely blames herself for not reaching out more because if she had, she perhaps could have stopped Vanessa from traveling down this dark road.

3) Superman/Lex Luthor

Superman has actually turned his archenemy to villainy twice over the many years. The first time was their first meeting in Adventure Comics #271, where Superboy first met a young Lex. The soon-to-be villain actually admired Superboy and wanted to save the world just like him, but an experiment creating a Kryptonite cure went wrong, rendering Lex bald. Superboy saved him, but Lex blamed the Boy of Steel for the follicle travesty, accusing the young hero of being jealous. Lex legitimately tried to still be a hero after that, but Superboy kept covering for Lex’s careless mistakes, leading to the unabashed hatred we know today.

The second was during Lex’s own tenure as Superman, where Clark’s refusal to trust Lex led to the man having a breakdown and returning to his villainous ways. While the second one is far more understandable, both of these hell turns show us exactly who Lex is as a character. He will take any opportunity to blame somebody else for the consequences of his own actions. Instead of actually learning from his mistakes, he blames them all on Superman and chooses to blow the world up before admitting he was wrong.

2) Aquaman/Black Manta

Aquaman is the king of the seas and speaks of his responsibility to anyone in or on his waters. Unfortunately, he can’t help everyone, and Black Manta took that personally. When he was a young boy, Manta was taken captive and forced to work on a ship. He once saw Aquaman and tried to call for help, but Aquaman didn’t notice him. This was the beginning of Manta’s obsessive hatred of the pitiless ocean and the person who represented it, Aquaman. Manta’s only motivation for villainy is making Aquaman suffer as much as physically possible.

Beyond killing Aquaman’s son and cutting off his hand, Manta once actually retired from villainy and lived a normal life when Aquaman was dead. When he returned, Manta immediately dove back in. He’s someone Aquaman failed to help, but that hatred and pain were so internalized that now it’s inseparable from Aquaman. Aquaman didn’t turn Black Manta evil. That was the trauma he experienced, but Manta assigned that trauma to Aquaman’s face, all because the king didn’t notice that someone needed his help.

1) Batman/Joker

The most classic example of all of DC is Batman accidentally creating the Joker. When the clown menace was still going by Red Hood, a scuffle with Batman led to him taking a swim in chemicals that bleached his skin and dyed his hair, sending him over the edge of sanity. The reason for their fight changes between continuities. Sometimes Red Hood is a master criminal, a petty thief, or a man tricked into a role. Sometimes he leaps into the chemical sludge, and sometimes he falls. The why is constantly rotating, but the how is constant; Joker was created because Red Hood and Batman fought above that vat.

The only thing consistent in Joker’s origin is that this incident drove him to be the monster that he is. There wouldn’t be a murderous clown running around the city without Batman. Still, given how oftentimes he’s depicted as a criminal before the chemical swim, it’s incredibly likely he’d be just as much a monster, just with a different theme. Instead of a clown motif, he’d probably have stuck with the hood.

So there we have seven heroes who, inadvertently or not, created some of their own worst villains. Some of these heroes played a direct role, and some are taking blame for situations they had zero control over. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!