Marvel Comics has made it a habit to create heroes and villains that are more nuanced than just good and evil. This means that many heroes have flaws that could easily lead them down the path of evil, and the road to redemption for many villains is not always overly complicated. This also plays into their powers, as many villains are evil because their powers turn society against them. However, at the same time, some heroes like Professor X remain good, even though their powers might be better suited for a life of crime than a life of saving the world. In many cases, a hero’s powers seem strange for a good guy to possess.
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From powers making crimes easier to commit to powers that seem more suited for a supervillain than a hero, here are the Marvel Comics heroes whose powers seem better suited for a villain.
8) Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde was lucky. She discovered the X-Men at a young age, becoming the youngest person ever to join the mutant team. She did have a chance to go evil from the start because Emma Frost also recruited her for the Hellfire Club, but Kitty joined the X-Men to be a hero. Joining Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, she found perfect mentors and became a good hero. However, her powers don’t seem that great for a hero. She can phase through things, which would have been perfect for a supervillain robbing banks or other places with safes. She can also phase into another person’s body, killing them, or, in one situation, shutting down someone’s mind.
7) Ant-Man
There is a big reason that Scott Lang became Ant-Man. He stole Hank Pym’s Pym Particles to save his daughter’s life. Hank knew what Scott did, and when he realized that Lang was using the powers for good, he allowed him to keep the suit and identity to become the new Ant-Man. However, Scott is a former burglar, and with his shrinking abilities, he could easily become a thief again, as these powers are best suited for getting places where he has no business going. Luckily, Scott wants to be a hero and a good man, because given his talent and powers, it could otherwise make him one of Marvel Comics’ greatest thieves.
6) Scarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch has proven more than once that her powers make her one of Marvel Comics’ most dangerous superpowered beings. As a matter of fact, her powers have been used for evil more notably than they have been used for good. She eliminated almost every mutant’s powers, killing several in the process. She transformed the entire world into what she envisioned in House of M. She created a fake alien invasion that resulted in the deaths of three Avengers. Wanda Maximoff has never had solid control of her powers or mental state, so even the Earth’s greatest heroes considered, at one time, killing her to prevent any future catastrophes.
5) Professor X
Professor Charles Xavier is someone who has always seemed like the best of heroes, but has often been one step away from becoming a fully-fledged villain. He has done several questionable things in his life, from sending children out to fight wars for him to completely altering people’s minds to force them into serving him, which is how Wolverine joined the X-Men. His powers make him easily one of Marvel’s worst mentors. He has the power to shut a person’s mind down, as he did to Magneto, which ultimately led to the near destruction of the world thanks to Onslaught. Professor X has the power to enslave all humanity, and only his morals, as questionable as they are at times, keep him from doing so.
4) Starfox
Starfox is Thanos’s brother, so it is obvious he has a chance to be a terrible person. However, Starfox is mostly a hero, although he is an arrogant and manipulative one. Starfox is an Eternal of Titan, and his powers are questionable, even as a hero. He can stimulate the brain’s pleasure centers, allowing him to influence people’s emotions. He also has regular Titan-level physical powers, but it is his Pleasure Stimulation that is immoral. While the powers continuously emanate from him, he can increase them at will. This even led to him being arrested and tried for sexual assault, and She-Hulk defended him in the case. Ironically, She-Hulk suspected that his powers were why she thought she had fallen in love with him, and she reacted violently. Starfox allowed Moondragon to shut down the powers in his mind to keep from inadvertently hurting anyone else, although he has since regained them and tries to use them responsibly.
3) Rogue
Rogue started as a villain, working with her adoptive parents, Mystique and Destiny. However, after she used her powers to absorb the powers and memories of Carol Danvers, almost killing the hero in the process, she had a nervous breakdown and sought help from Professor X and the X-Men. This allowed her to rehabilitate and become a hero, putting her evil ways behind her. However, when looking at her powers, she is much more suited to be a villain. Absorbing someone’s powers and memories is mostly an evil ability. When she uses it as a hero, she is often mentally and psychologically abusing her enemy in extremely immoral ways. It is no wonder some other heroes have never fully trusted her, no matter how many years have passed since her rehabilitation.
2) Jean Grey
Jean Grey, while under the possession of the Dark Phoenix Force, destroyed an entire galaxy with billions of lives in it. While Marvel Comics retconned that idea by claiming it was Phoenix portraying Jean, and not the real Jean, it still shows the devastating effect of those powers. Phoenix’s powers have always been a force of destruction and are in no way heroic. However, Jean’s mutant powers are just as dangerous as she might be an even more powerful psychic than Professor X. Just like Xavier, Jean can erase a person’s memories, alter their thoughts, or even shut a person’s mind down completely. She can also read thoughts, and can do so intrusively without permission, making these powers easily something better suited for a villain than a hero.
1) Invisible Woman
The Invisible Woman was one of the first four superheroes Marvel Comics introduced when they began making superhero comics. As a member of the Fantastic Four, Sue was often considered the weakest link for many years, mainly because Marvel didn’t treat female heroes with respect in its early years. However, as time went on, Marvel began to strengthen their female heroes, and it did so with Susan Storm Richards. Her powers are incredibly strong, as she can theoretically kill someone in a split second by cutting off the oxygen to their body. However, she has the perfect power for any supervillain. She can turn invisible and even create a protective forcefield around her, allowing her to do anything and everything she wants without anyone knowing. Luckily, she remains a hero.
What are your thoughts on Marvel Comics heroes’ powers? What powers do you think are better for committing crimes than saving people’s lives? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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