Good examples of heroes that went bad.

I'm trying to think of characters from books, movies, video games, and TV that were heroes (or at least good guys) and became (for lack of a better term) evil or villains. Can you guys think of some?

But not just anyone who has been a hero and villain at some point, but the ones where them becoming a villain made sense, where after everything they've gone through it's understandable why they fell into darkness. Where the character becoming evil wasn't because they were just possessed by some alien cosmic energy being (looking at you Hal, Jean, and Wanda).

So far I've just got Dan Phantom (from Danny Phantom: the Ultimate Enemy) and Darth Vader. To me those seem like good examples of heroes falling to darkness and becoming villains. But I'd like to hear the opinions of others.

What are good examples of heroes becoming villains (or at least going bad)?

Arthas becoming the Lich King comes to mind(in Warcraft). Again with Ilidan going evil to try and save his people. Sentry if you want to count him.

@spambot: i would count arthas but tbh illidan didn't become a villain, he went and attacked the lich king and was going to destroy it and everything he did he did as a ruler trying to save his people and both the humans and orcs had dpne as bad plus he saved the day even after they imprisoned him for 10,000 years i would be pretty pissed too if someone locked me up that long

@comicsrulebutdbzdoes2: He still went mad and became a villain though. He became sort of corrupted by the energies he had absorbed and bitter over how his family treated him despite his noble intentions. I'm not judging him but he ultimately is considered to be a villain.

Kid Miracleman

The Plutonian

Jason Todd might count.

I can definitely see Superman as a good example if you are talking about the Injustice comic's version.

Harry Osborn.

Ozymandias from Watchmen.

@aros001:

It took a while but I came up with 12 stories with such characters, hope you enjoy.

1. In Naruto you have Gaara, Pain, Konan, Tobi, Madara, and Sasuke.
2. Sinestro from Green Lantern.
3. Mordred from King Arthur.
4. Red Hood from Batman.
5. Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda.
6. Count Dooku from Star Wars.
7. In some versions Starscream was a Autobot first so I guess he counts for Transformers.
8. Saruman from Lord of the Rings(hah Christopher Lee has 2 characters on this list lol).
9. Lots O' Huggin' Bear from Toy Story 3
10. Lelouch vi Brittania and Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass
11. Red Queen from Once Upon A Time in Wonderland
12. Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Winter soldier

Sasuke sucked as a villain, though.

Ultimate reed richards

@bluelantern1995: I give you credit for making a big list but I'm not sure Mordred was ever really a hero.

Sephiroth

@spambot Thanks. Mordred I think does count as before his betrayal he was a loyal member of the court. No reason has ever been given for his betrayal, so I guess you could look at it either way.

The only one on my list I'd question putting on there is the Red Queen from Once Upon A Time in Wonderland as some could aptly argue that she shouldn't be there. Those who have seen the show would know why its questionable. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have listed her lol, she probably doesn't fit the criteria as she definitely didn't have that strong of a reason to turn though with more development it definitely would've(They only had like 10 episodes total you can't expect them to come up with some complicated explanation in that time lol).

@bluelantern1995: He was only in the court due to being Arthur's son though which in itself doesn't make him heroic imo since when he ultimately came of age his true colors were shown to be those of a villain.

@spambot: It depends on the version of Mordred. In some versions he's his son, in some his nephew. In some of the movies he served loyally for years on the council(First Knight for example), in others he just betrayed him so he could get the throne. So with the dozens of different versions I guess it could be different for each one. At least in the case of First Knight he could be listed as for the rest I guess you're right as its unprovable on my end if he truly was a hero or not.

Anakin Skywalker

Sargeras is another one from Warcraft lore.

@bluelantern1995: I guess it depends on what version of him you want to use and how you define being a hero.

Harry Osborn

• A lot of the Sith and Dark Jedi in Star Wars.
• Chase Young in Xaolin Showdown
• Adam Monroe in Heroes
• Wander from Shadow of the Colossus
• Many of The Forsaken in The Wheel of Time series
• Griffith from Berserk

• Macbeth - Shakespeare
• Ozymandias
• Jason Todd
• Maxwell Lord
• Superboy Prime
• Arsenal
• Syndrome - Incredibles

Batman

Because he is the hero this city deserves, but he is not the one it need right now. So they will hunt him,

Hard to believe it took to the 22 post for someone to say it.

I think Sentry is a good example.

@drfate: I'm not sure if Harvey dent also counts since its debatable if he went bad 'willingly' or not.

No one said Magneto? Really?

I do like Chase Young as a villain, but I always thought his reason for turning evil was kind of weak. He became evil because of the soup he drinks to stay young (if it goes deeper than that please let me know).

@dernman: Anakin/Vader was mentioned in the op.

@ms-lola: Magneto didn't really start out as a hero though.

Big Boss

I've all felt bad for Harry and Norman.

@spambot: True, true. Then again, there's been so many retcons and re retcons that I can't keep track. At least in the Ultimate Universe he was good initially, no? I'm probably confusing myself worse at this point.

Harry Osborn comes to mind. His story is kind of depressing.

In the Ultimate Universe, yes. As for 616, it's hard to say. It's also hard to say whether or not Magento is "bad" or not because he has so many grey areas.

@ms-lola: I don't keep track of all the times he's changed sides and whatnot or with his retcons but I just know that in his first appearance as a character he was a villain and that is what he stayed for about 20 years.

This is true. Thanks for the answer, too. I still have to read books from the Ultimate Universe. I am only familiar with Miles.

It's an important distinction, for sure. Good point.

Ultimate X-Men is really good for the first 65 issues. After that, drop it and never look back. Ultimate Comics X-Men is pretty good based on what I've read so far, so you might want to check that out, too.

Yeah someone other than me has read WOT on the site! I'm not sure many of the Forsaken had good reasons though.

@primez0ne: I'm not sure many of the Forsaken had good reasons though.

Good reasons would be subjective. Barring some that were infected from the start most of the Forsaken did it of their own volition which is what the OP asked.

True

Professor X to Entity, and then to Onslaught.

Hal Jordon to Parralax

Lucifer, Judas, Loki, and Set.

Raistlin Majere, Sauramon and the Ring Wraiths.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FaceHeelTurn

Eddie Brock (spectacular spider-man version)

I pick him mainly because of the way he was at the beginning of season 1 and how far he fell in the darkness (mainly because of peter/the symbiote)

Luke Castellan from Percy Jackson

I could see where he was coming from

@marshall_long: I LOVE that guy. :-)

Brilliant! Thanks so much for this.