10 DC Heroes Who Became Villains (& The Reason Why)

There are dozens of heroes in the DC Universe who stand against the vicious villains who seek to either rule or destroy the Earth. But sometimes, being a hero loses its appeal.

When this happens, due to changing ideologies, or mind control, or some other motivation, a hero might start going down the path of being a villain. The story might even be told in an alternate universe where things just don’t go their way. They could also simply decide that the path to ultimate good simply requires a little bit of evil. Regardless of the reason, there is nothing like a story in which an iconic superhero finds themselves fighting against their former friends and allies, and these are just some of the best stories where DC heroes turned into villains.

10

Green Arrow Betrayed The Justice League

Absolute Power #1 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora

Oliver Queen has always been staunchly on the side of justice, but lately, Green Arrow has been working closely with Amanda Waller, and it seems that Ollie might finally have switched sides. As Amanda Waller launches her attack on the superhero community, Oliver has been at her side helping her do it the entire time.

With Oliver’s knowledge, Waller has managed to fully take over the Hall of Justice, renamed to the Hall of Order. Not only this, but thanks to Ollie’s knowledge of the inner workings of the Justice League, he was able to give her access to the Red Channel, a secure frequency for Justice League communications. With this information, Waller was able to track down and ambush members of the League. While it’s unlikely this is a true turn to evil for Oliver, right now at least, he’s certainly not on the side of the heroes.

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9

Lex Luthor Honestly Tried To Be A Hero, Before Returning To Villainy

Justice League: No Justice by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, and Francis Manapul

Lex Luthor is primarily known as a villain, but he has tried to turn his reputation around several times. Currently, in comics, Lex swears he has turned over a new leaf and is a true and honest hero. So far, his actions have seemed to prove this, but that’s not the first time he’s tried to be a hero.

During the New 52, Lex was every bit the villain he always is, but after Superman dies, Lex is moved and inspired to uphold Superman’s values. This leads to Lex becoming the new hero of Metropolis. It’s a major moment and Lex even finds his way into the Justice League Unfortunately, during the events of No Justice, it seems that the universe itself considers Lex a villain. Heartbroken by this revelation, Lex ends up returning to his villainous ways and unleashes the dark goddess Perpetua.

8

Red Hood Is One Of The Most Famous Examples Of Hero Turned Villain

Batman: Under The Hood by Judd Winick and Doug Mahnke

While some Robins might walk a dark path here and there, the only one who’s crossed the line into outright villainy is Jason Todd. As Robin, Jason was Batman’s valued sidekick, and he did everything he could to bring criminals to justice. After Jason was killed by the Joker, he returned as something much darker and was clearly no longer a hero.

Jason now pursued a lethal version of justice against both Batman and the criminals of Gotham City. This led Jason to try and kill Batman and the rest of the Bat-Family several times, and before his rebirth as an anti-hero, and eventually a full-blown hero, Jason was firmly on the villain side of things, and was one of the Bat-Family’s most dangerous enemies.

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7

Hawk Became One Of DC’s Most Powerful Villains

Armageddon 2001 #1 by Archie Goodwin, Dennis O’Neil, and Dan Jurgens

Hawk is a hero that not many DC fans are aware of. Despite his appearance in the live-action Titans show, he isn’t really used that much in comics these days. Originally, he wasn’t even meant to turn into a villain. DC had planned to reveal that the tyrant Monarch was none other than Captain Atom. But after fans correctly guessed this, DC decided to change this to Hawk, which didn’t really work, since Hawk had no reason or build-up to be a villain, but now he was one.

Hawk would later change his name to Extant and team up with the evil Hal Jordan to try and rewrite time in his own image. While both Extant and Hal were eventually defeated, this was still a messy example of a former hero taking on a villainous identity.

6

Martian Manhunter Nearly Destroyed The World As Fernus

JLA #86 by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, and Tom Nguyen

The Justice League is full of powerful heroes, but Martian Manhunter is the only one Superman is afraid to fight, and for good reason. In JLA #86, Martian Manhunter’s evil potential is unleashed as Fernus. After Martian Manhunter manages to overcome his psychological fear of fire, he accidentally awakens the Burning Martian DNA inside of him. This causes Martian Manhunter’s body to be taken over by the villainous personality of Fernus. Fernus is brutal, sadistic, and seeks to only spread death and destruction so he can reproduce.

Not only does Fernus defeat the Justice League several times, but he unleashes a volley of nuclear bombs on the Earth and even ends up destroying a major city in North Korea. While the story makes it clear Fernus and Martian Manhunter are separate entities, Fernus was still created due to Martian Manhunter’s actions.

5

Parallax Is The Most (In)Famous Example Of A Hero Becoming A VIllain

Green Lantern #50 by Ron Marz, Darryl Banks, and Romeo Tanghal

During the Emerald Twilight storyline, after Coast City was obliterated, that Hal Jordan started his descent into madness. Using the power of his ring, Hal tried to recreate Coast City, along with everyone in it. When the Green Lantern Corps tried to stop him, as this was a violation of the rules, he went mad and slaughtered them.

Hal continued his massacre and even traveled all the way to Oa where he killed the Guardians and Sinestro. This culminated in Hal Jordan trying to rewrite time in Zero Hour, but he was eventually stopped by the Justice League. Hal would later return as the Spectre and try to make amends for his evil, and his responsibility for all of this would later be retconned entirely.

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4

Wonder Woman Nearly Destroyed The World Of Magic

Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour #1 by James Tynion IV, Jesus Merino, and Romulo Fajardo Jr

It’s always a problem when a hero goes evil, but Wonder Woman has been a consistent threat in that department. There has been a surprising number of times Wonder Woman has been taken over by an evil force, and the biggest example is in Witching Hour storyline, when Wonder Woman’s body is taken over by Hecate. Hecate plans to control all magic on the planet, and she does this by taking over Wonder Woman’s body.

This makes her an enemy of the Justice League and Justice League Dark. She proves so powerful that they have to side with the terrifying Upside-Down Man just to beat her. While Wonder Woman was eventually freed of Hecate’s control, this isn’t the first time Wonder Woman has been possessed and turned evil, and it’s unlikely it’ll be the last time.

3

Barry Allen Went Back In Time To Kill Himself

The Flash #30 by Van Jensen, Robert Venditti, Brett Booth, and Norm Rapmund.

When a character is capable of time travel, it’s not unusual to run into alternate future evil versions of oneself. This is exactly what happened to Barry Allen when he encountered a dark future version of himself. This future Barry began getting slower as he lost his connection to the speed force, and this resulted in him being unable to save more and more people. Eventually, after his version of Wally West was killed, he decided to use his speed to go back in time and fix everything he could.

This resulted in him brutally killing Gorilla Grodd, as well as changing the lives of the Rogues so that they’d never become villains. Ultimately, he planned to sacrifice the younger version of himself to seal the leak in the Speed Force, but was prevented due to the Wally West of the future doing it instead.

2

The Batman Who Laughs Is The Darkest Knight

Dark Days: The Casting #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

It’s a very popular thing to take Batman and just make him evil, and the most popular version of this idea is by far The Batman Who Laughs. The Bruce Wayne of Earth -22 was just like the Batman of any other world. A heroic man who tried to do the right thing to spare people from the trauma he experienced as a child. This all changed when the Joker launched one final sadistic attack on Gotham City, which culminated in Batman killing him.

This would also cause Batman to become infected with a toxin that slowly begins rewriting his brain. Batman would take on the characteristics of the Joker and became one of the most brutal killers the Multiverse has ever seen. Unfortunately for this version of Batman, there was no cure for what infected him, and he was ultimately killed by Wonder Woman.

1

Injustice Superman Is Everything Superman Wouldn’t Be

Injustice: Gods Among Us #1 by Tom Taylor, Axel Gimenez, Mike S. Miller, and Jheremy Raapack

Usually, Superman is the kindest and greatest of any hero in the DC Universe, but that wasn’t the case in the twisted world of Injustice. In this world, the Joker manages to trick Superman into killing a pregnant Lois Lane, which also sets off a nuclear bomb in Metropolis, obliterating the city. Having suddenly lost everything, this sends Superman down a dark path. Instead of being the shining beacon of hope that everyone knew him as, Superman became a brutal and vicious dictator who held the world in his hand.

Under his command, Superman took over the world with an army of superheroes and villains, and staged a five-year war against Batman and his resistance. This is by far one of the darkest times a hero has turned into a villain, because it wasn’t through mind control or possession like so many others on this list, but just tragedy.