3 Video Game Heroes Turned Into Villains in Other Games

Back in the day, Donkey Kong was a baddie, but by the time Donkey Kong Country came around, he’d been reinvented into a hero. That’s not an entirely uncommon tale, but there’s another side to it, as several popular protagonists have been cast in a different light in other games, where they’re not the hero; they’re the villain. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does, it’s certainly noteworthy. We dug through the archives and found these three examples of game heroes who became villains in other games, and they’re arranged in no particular order.

1) Mario

Nobody thinks of Mario as a villain, as he’s not only the hero of over a hundred games, but he’s also Nintendo’s mascot. Still, if you look back at his early days, Mario isn’t a nice guy. In Donkey Kong, the titular ape is only angry with Mario (then called “Jumpman”) out of retaliation for something he did to him. In the sequel, Donkey Kong Jr., the player controls DK Jr. to rescue his dad from Mario, who keeps him prisoner. That alone establishes Mario as the villain in the game, but add to that the many times Mario sacrifices Yoshi to make a longer leap, and he’s not the nicest guy in the world.

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2) Ellie Williams

Ellie Williams is the undisputed “good guy” from The Last of Us, but when it comes to the sequel, things change. The Last of Us 2 goes out of its way to prove that when you’re the hero of your own story, you’re the villain of someone else’s. The first half of the game is a revenge quest where Ellie hunts down Abby for killing Joel. Halfway through the game, the perspective switches to Abby’s, where you find that she’s the proper protagonist of the game, as Joel killed her father, and she meted out her vengeance against him. This casts Ellie as the game’s villain because, despite her point of view, Abby definitely sees her as a baddie who was partnered with the man who killed her dad, which gives every gamer something to think about.

3) Prince Aidan of Khanduras

The player character in Diablo was unnamed, but by the sequel, he was Prince Aidan, whose story was further fleshed out. It was Prince Aidan who sealed the ancient evil from the world, but over time, he became corrupted by the Soulstone. It takes over his body, transforming him into an unwitting minion of the Lord of Terror. Aidan isn’t playable beyond this, but he’s encountered or mentioned as the franchise progresses. While he’s not a villain in the traditional sense, where the player must fight him in a boss battle, his corruption transformed the prince from a hero into a dark wanderer who drags demons wherever he goes.

Who’s your favorite video game hero-turned-villain? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!