Who Was the Last Hero To Became a Truly Great Villain?

[JudicatorPrime]

I'm having a senior moment.

Sure, we all know villains who became heroes, and then there are the evil doppelgangers (I'm including Onslaught in that list), and how could we ever forget the never ending cavalcade of anti-heroes, but has there ever been a Marvel hero that went from good to bad and remained that way until the present and beyond? I'm drawing a blank.

[K7P5V]

I'm having a senior moment.

Sure, we all know villains who became heroes, and then there are the evil doppelgangers (I'm including Onslaught in that list), and how could we ever forget the never ending cavalcade of anti-heroes, but has there ever been a Marvel hero that went from good to bad and remained that way until the present and beyond? I'm drawing a blank.

Hopefully this counts, but my choice would be...

Cyclops

[Lukmendes]

There's Phil Urich as Green Goblin, later he became Hobgoblin as a villain, and kept that up as Goblin King until he was killed.

Although, I guess you can say he's a cheat since him becoming evil is something that'd happen eventually with the "Goblin" name lol.

Madelyne Pryor, while she was never a hero, she was good, became evil and stayed that way, though that might change after she's resurrected (Then again, considering the amount of shady bullshit in Krakoa, probably not).

Is Pym still Ultron?

There's the Eric O' Grady Ant Man, who died, but he has an LMD of him who's evil, I guess that's a cheat too? I don't know how much different the LMD's personality is, if it's different at all.

Oh, and somehow almost forgot, Maker, who was a good Reed in Ultimate, and basically became Doctor Doom.

Can only think of those, and only Maker is not really a cheat lol.

Edit:

Hopefully this counts, but my choice would be Cyclops

Cyke is a weird case where Marvel was saying he's evil while not showing him being that bad, and now that mutants are doing fine, he's mostly back to the usual.

And hey, I guess you can count the Phoenix Force too, but then again, that's Marvel changing its personality while saying she was always like that, since the Phoenix Force wasn't evil before, now anyone who gets the Phoenix has the risk of becoming Dark Phoenix for no reason...

[Riv86672]

…but has there ever been a Marvel hero that went from good to bad and remained that way until the present and beyond? I'm drawing a blank.

The X-Men, since about 2019. It’s still going.

[Nomads1]

The X-Men, since about 2019. It’s still going.

Sadly, I can't say I disagree with this.

Peace

[Hypestyle]

I'm fairly sick of alignment switches. Especially this latest thing with Don Blake. Totally ruined the legacy of that character.

[JudicatorPrime]

I'm fairly sick of alignment switches. Especially this latest thing with Don Blake. Totally ruined the legacy of that character.

Well, judging by responses, it doesn't look like it really happens all that often, at least not permanently, where heroes are concerned. I mean other than a devil or two, Marvel doesn't have many that started out as a good guy before going perma-bad as an epic super baddie. You have lapses and flirtations with villainy, but never a complete break of the moral, heroic convention. I find that interestingly peculiar.

[Nomads1]

Well, judging by responses, it doesn't look like it really happens all that often, at least not permanently, where heroes are concerned. I mean other than a devil or two, Marvel doesn't have many that started out as a good guy before going perma-bad as an epic super baddie. You have lapses and flirtations with villainy, but never a complete break of the moral, heroic convention. I find that interestingly peculiar.

Marvel, especially, is more fond of going the other way. Magneto, Sandman, Crusher Creel, Juggernaut, even Sabretooth and others have frequently spent their time at the side of the angels, although now and again, a writer comes along that prefers to picture them as one-dimensional bad guys again. The fact is, for a bad guy to become good can be seen as a redemption story, while a good guy going bad, specially a popular good guy going bad, is quite often seen as "ruining the character". Take for exemple Hal Jordan/Paralax. Even if I thought it was a very well done story arc (even if quite a bit rushed at its beggining), which actually culminated with his redemptive sacrifice od dieing to reignite the Sun, I can totally sympathize with the fans that felt cheated by his turning heel, even f that has long since been reversed. As a Cyclops fan, I hated when they tried so hard to make him into the mutant version of Hitler, at the same time that they made Wolverine, whose most distinctive characteristic had always been his willingness to let the ends justifying the means, his counterpoint Ghandi. It really doesn't strike me as good storytelling. For something like this to really work, you really have to get a character that hasn't been much developed and plant the seeds that lead to his downfall. It has to be somethink deliberate that rarely fits in with the shared narrative approach.

Peace

[etrumble]

Maker gets my vote

[kilderkin]

The X-Men, since about 2019. It’s still going.

You got that right

[Sandy Hausler]

Sheesh. How can there be any other answer other than Captain America?

[shooshoomanjoe]

Does the Sandman count? He started off as a villain, was turned hero and it looked like it was going to stick but they made him into a villain again.

Another vote for the Maker btw. That was awesome what they did with Ultimate Reed.

Shame they kept Sunspot as a hero. He would have made a great villain.

[Frontier]

Is Pym still Ultron?

He was never Ultron. It was just Ultron using his skin to pretend to be him. His soul got stuck in the Soul Stone.

[Nomads1]

Shame they kept Sunspot as a hero. He would have made a great villain.

Reignfire?

Peace

[JudicatorPrime]

Maker gets my vote

The Maker more or less falls under the evil doppelganger category. Pretty much anyone with an alternate reality version that goes bad does. I'm looking for an original heroic character that started off and had a well-established career as a good guy, but who went bad of their own free will...and permanently so. I'm guessing that's a fairly short list of characters.