The world is not just black and white, there are some gray areas too. There are people who change from good to bad and those too who change from bad to good. Our superheroes are no different and many of them have also gone through this transformation. Here are fifteen superheroes from Marvel that were once bad guys but later went to the side of light:
Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff aka Natasha Romanova first appeared as an antagonist in the comics. She is a Russian, who was raised by the Department X program for orphan girls, turning into becoming trained spies. Natasha is trained in the red room, enhanced physically and psychologically and is brainwashed. It took her years to get out of her psychological trauma. But later she becomes a part of the Avengers.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye is shown to be jealous of all the attention given to Iron Man after he saves some bystanders at Coney Island, where he works as a marksman and is really underappreciated. He too decides to become a hero and therefore makes his own costume. But things go totally different when he decides to catch a thief and was mistaken for one and that’s how his criminal career took off. He used to work with Black Widow against Iron Man but soon becomes a good guy just like Natasha and later joins the Avengers.
Wolverine
Wolverine is the most popular X-men to date but things were different in the beginning. The mutant made his debut in “Incredible Hulk”#181 as a super-powered assassin sent by the Canadian government to stop the Hulk and the white beast, Wendigo. Wolverine became an X-Men after Professor Xavier called on him to rescue the original team in “Giant-size X-Men” #1.
Rogue
Rogue had a pretty rough childhood, starting when her powers first manifested. The young mutant put her boyfriend in a coma after kissing him. She is eventually recruited by Mystique for the Brotherhood of Mutants. During one escape, she absorbs the powers of Captain Marvel, so much so that she is able to fly. She later joins the X-Men.
Emma Frost
She is first seen as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club in the X-Men series ‘The Dark Phoenix’ where they try to take control of Jean, the plan backfires greatly, though. Later she was rescued by the X-Men and she eventually joins the team. She also had a romantic relationship with Cyclops, even longer than that of Jean Grey.
Gambit
Gambit’s change from a villain to a hero was slow. Adopted by the Le Beau clan, he was into wrongdoings since childhood. Mr. Sinister increased his abilities and he used to work for him, but after some time, there was a change of conscience and he became a thief. Wow! What an improvement! He did a lot of good deeds though, saved Storm when she’s a teen. And eventually joined the X-Men and became an integral part of it.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver had more of an association with the Avengers but as the son of the X-Men’s archenemy, he was forever tied to them in some way. Quicksilver made his debut in X-Men #4 as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants along with his sister Scarlet Witch, Toad, Mastermind, and Magneto. He joined it in Uncanny X-Men #304 when Magneto tried to force his revenge on the X-Men and Quicksilver decided to join his enemy rather than side with his daddy. It was a short stint but one that had dire consequences.
Mystique
Mystique has also been a character that has sided with anyone for the sake of her own moral codes. Sometimes that has led to some bad paths and sometimes good paths as well. Most of the time, it has led to the character siding with other villains in the fight against with them. But for a short while, Mystique became an X-Men. With her shapeshifting ability, the villain joined as a girl named Foxx in X-Men #171. She was caught by Emma Frost’s mind-reading ability and was ultimately kicked out.
Toad
Initially, Toad started as a villain in X-Men 4 in 1964 against the mutant superheroes. In 2011 X-Men Regenesis #1 created by Kieron Gillen. In this part, they were divided into two parts, one led by Wolverine and the other by Cyclops. Wolverine started the school named “The Jean Grey School For Higher Learning” previously the X-Mansion, this is when Toad wanted to join Wolverine’s team.
Mimic
Caught in a chemical accident by his father which gave him the power to take the knowledge and skills of anyone he wanted. So, he absorbs many powers like Beast’s athletic ability, Cyclops’ power beams, the freezing powers of Iceman. But Professor X erased his memory. Later he was caught in a blast that revived his memory and he demanded to be a part of the team. He became a threat to X-Men with Professor X’s mental abilities and the combination of all their powers and he later joined Osborn’s Dark X-Men team.
Callisto
Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, in 1983’s “uncanny x-men” #169 created Callisto, the mutant leader of an underground gang of mutants. Callisto created a hidden home beneath New York City, for mutants who were outcasts among humans that could have their own home. Many of the Morlocks were disfigured. She also kidnapped the winged X-Man Angel. When X-Men came to the rescue, Callisto fought against Storm for the control of the Morlocks and lost, and was later forced to submit to the team.
Danger
In 2005’s”Astonishing X-Men #7 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, the danger room start to develop its own thoughts and personality. The Shi’ar technology took on the form of robot woman called Danger. And continued to be the villain of the X-Men until 2009 in “Uncanny X-Men”#515 when she decided to join the team to study humanity.
Magneto
Magneto the arch-rival and their greatest friends. In 1963’s “Uncanny X-Men”#1 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Magneto is the biggest enemy of X-Men, head of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.The mutant who can control all metals, he uses his power to destroy the human race. He tried to launch the world nukes to trigger World War III.
But at some point, or the other, Magneto has the same vision as of the X-Men. But with different methods. In 1985’s “Uncanny X-Men” #200 he was put on a trial and ended up saving Professor Xavier and moved to lead the X-Men and the New Mutants in professor’s absence. But his ruthless attitude ended up the X-Men go against him. Still, he always remains working with and without the team ever since.
Galactus:
Since his existence, Galactus has been known as the Devourer of Worlds. He first appeared in “Fantastic Four” #48 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he came to Earth in his perpetual quest to feed. The Fantastic Four along with Silver Surfer fought him and drove him off. Soon after the“Secret Wars,” the crossover that integrated various Marvel universes into one, the Ultimates completely changed the goal of Galactus in “Ultimates” #2. Galactus since then uses his reality-warping material Iso-8 to restore life to the dead planets, starting from the planets he destroyed first.
Deadpool:
Deadpool may be a popular superhero or anti-hero now, but there was a time that the merc with a mouth was playing for the wrong side. He was first introduced in The New Mutants #98 and fought for supervillains such as Kingpin (from Spider-Man and Daredevil). He later became a member of the X-Force and the new mutants until finally in Cable & Deadpool #8, he was reluctantly included in the team to stop Cable from destroying the world.
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