Bruised Fruit...The Top 10 Good Characters That Went Bad (even if just for a little)

It happens occasionally, unless you’re Magneto where it happens all the time, heroes switch to villains or vice versa.  Even in the most recent Ant-Man movie (which I LOVED) you have to question whether Ant-Man is good or bad.  You know it’s true. You may think him the hero, but he was doing some underhanded stuff.  Cool underhanded stuff, but underhanded nonetheless.  We see him as the hero but you could argue he’s a little....questionable.  No matter how you look at Ant-Man there are those who made the switch completely.  This list looks at the bruised fruit of the batch.

The Comic Whisperer’s Top 10 Good Characters That Went Bad (even if just for a little).  This list is in no particular order:

10.)  Superboy Prime:  An obvious choice for the list.  Here was Beaver Cleaver that wound up picking up a cleaver.  You remember what happened.  He was trapped in a dimension with a couple of loved one but cracked under the pressure.  He supposedly hated how dark things were becoming earth wise but wound up turning dark himself.  He pushed planets out of orbit, killed heroes, junked the JLA Watchtower, and even started voting for the Democrats (no hate mail please, I dropped all the political parties in a hat and I drew the Democrats).  After that there was no stopping him.

9.)  Hal Jordan:  You can put Hal in the flip-flop category because although he killed untold numbers of people he’s back with the good guys now.  The interesting part of him turning evil was that he just snapped.  After recreating his beloved Coast City, without the express written consent of the Guardians, he just went berserk.  All was forgiven when he sacrificed his life to reignite the Earth’s Sun.  A pretty easy way to be forgiven if you ask me.  I could reignite the Sun....if I wanted to.

8.)  Jason Todd:  One of my favorite conversions, Jason Todd’s history is probably more to blame than anything for his “bruising”.  The reason for my love is that Jason never really fell over the line into true villainy.  True, he doesn’t mind killing, wreaking havoc, or other mischievous things, but he still can be considered on the hero side...kindof.  The most interesting thing about Jason Todd is that his Robin character was killed off not as a choice of the publisher but as a choice of the fans.  At one point DC had a number you could call to vote whether Jason’s Robin lived or died.  I don’t know how you do a “thumbs down” motion over the phone, but he got tons of ‘em.

7.)  Omni-Man:  Who?!?!  You know...Nolan Grayson!  The Viltrumite sent to protect the Earth.  (It seems like there are alot of races that think the Earth needs a single protector)  You might know him better for his son Mark, the hero Invincible.  In a soap opera like twist, Nolan revealed himself as actually playing for the enemy team and gave his son a near fatal beating.  Sure, Omni-Man played the Magneto role by fluctuating back and forth as hero and villain, but he was a turn-coat.  Thankfully his son Oliver liked him enough to become “Kid Omni-Man”.  Not a very catchy, or original, name.  He could have picked “Kid Bruised Fruit”...Nah.

6.)  The Plutonian:  Yes, a completely original, Superman-like, solo protector of Earth.  (They multiply like bunnies...yeesh)  The title Irredeemable pretty much says it all as this hero-turned-villain snaps because he feels under appreciated.  Oh, boo-hoo.  Join the club.  So, instead of just moping and going to bed early like most of us he kills dozens and sinks Singapore.  As of this writing he has yet to repent for his sins and still falls into the category of Irredeemable.

5.)  Jean Loring:  Everyone’s favorite whack job, Jean Loring went from the wife of a hero, to the ex-wife of a hero, to the killer of a pregnant wife of a hero.  That’s quite a transition.  I used this picture in a previous blog, but the artist truly captured her insanity with this one.  Not to add further unpleasantness, but she didn’t just shoot the Elongated Man’s wife, she shrunk down and caused a brain aneurysm in her.  She left no clues and drove the super hero investigators absolutely insane for dozens of pages.  She’s now at the Dark Phoenix Memorial Rehabilitation Center.

4.)  Terra (of The New Teen Titans):  Former semi-squeeze of Changeling, Terra turned out to be extremely powerful and extremely tight with Deathstroke.  She apparently was planted there from the start to be a mole in the organization.  Is it merely a coincidence that the “mole” was also the one that had control over the earth itself?  Hmmmm.  I don’t want to tell you how she died, but she was crushed by a building.

3.)  Jericho (also of The New Teen Titans):  Jericho was a bigger turn-coat as he actually saved the Titans THEN turned on them.  Now THAT is a way to be undercover and be convincing.  Save the group you are trying to destroy, then destroy them.   Jericho, it turns out, was Deathstroke’s son and was supposedly possessed by spirits.  Likely excuse.  He apparently was able to fight them off long enough for Deathstroke to kill him.  How’s that for a reward for fighting off your demons.  “Dad, I did it!  Ugh!”  (Ugh! is the sound someone makes when they die)  

2.)  Wolverine:  An obvious choice for the list, James Logan Howlett has fought against his own teammates on the X-Men a number of times.  It would seem like dozens of mind-wipes and reprogramming and having adamantium fused to his skeleton left him mentally fragile.  In his defense, he usually became a bad guy when he was brainwashed to do so.  He was possessed by demons in Hell, brainwashed by Apocalypse and the Horsemen, and even taken over by Hydra and the Hand.  This poor guy probably doesn’t know who he is anymore, well, and the fact that he died doesn’t help either.

1.)  Jean Grey:  I didn’t have this in any particular order but she has to be number one.  Starting off as an innocent girl in green and yellow (blue and yellow, black and yellow....whatever) she wound up as a planet swallowing bird made of flames.  It didn’t happen overnight.   Jean’s transformation took many forms and even looked like it may not happen thanks to Professor X and his mental “walls”.  Alas, Jean couldn’t handle all the power (like a long line of U.S. Presidents) and wound up losing control of her own reality.  This lack of control was nudged a little by the members of The Hellfire Club.  That Jason Wyngarde, the women love him.

A betting person would say that the line of characters changing from good to bad is not at it’s end yet.  It’s a twist, that if done properly, can make even the most ardent of collectors do a double take.  It’s also a reminder that heroes are only human.  They snap too.  They just have a little bit more power to play with than you and I do.

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The 10 Villains I Want To See Done PROPERLY In The Movies

I’m sure there are a couple of you like me out there.  You know, the type of person who wants to see the villain win once in awhile.  The kind of person who appreciates the super heroes, and wants the good guys to win in real life, but in the movies would like to see them get slapped around a little.  The kind of person who would like to see Thanos or Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor as the last one standing.

But, I want to see them done properly.

I don’t want something sloppily done like villains in the Ghost Rider movie (or even Ghost Rider for that matter).  That was a mockery.  I’m talking super special effects, holy cow that guy looks real, I’m not going to sleep very well tonight, type of villain.  A villain that is a strong representation of the comic book character.

Let me say, however, that there will be some characters that have been done in movies who I do not mention.  Characters like the Joker (who has been changed and rehashed ad-nauseum) who I feel was incredibly done by Heath Ledger.  So, I may not mention some obvious, and devious, villains.

I make no attempt to even out DC and Marvel villains (and the one other choice mentioned) nor are they mentioned in order of preference or importance.  It is just a list of villains and I love them all.

Without further delay, here’s the list:

1.)  Dr. Doom:  I know, I know, you’re going to say that he was in the most recent Fantastic Four movie.  But, again, I said that I want a “strong” representation of the comic book character.  It kills me that with all the special effects we have, and the multitude of years he’s been represented in comic books, that he is STILL not done well in movies.  Is this really him?  Ummmm, no.  He wears a metal outfit, people, not some Freddy Krueger type of get-up. 

2.)  Galactus:  Come on, tell me that you wouldn’t want to see a full size Galactus in the movies devouring a planet.  Oh yes you would.  How awesome would that be to see that on a huge screen with surround sound.  I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

3.)  Darkseid:  I don’t think anyone would argue that Darkseid is just a different version of Thanos (which I’ll discuss shortly).  Properly done those omega rays would be incredible as they exploded on Superman’s chest (or went through it, depending on the writers).  I have seen some incredible cosplay of Darkseid over the years and in the movies he could be just plain fantastic.

4.)  Thanos:  Let’s get it out of the way now, you can easily argue that he has been seen briefly in movies and that he looks good.  I would then give you a hearty slap.  The Thanos we have seen, every so briefly, in the movies looks like a muppet.  Granted, this may not be the Thanos that we see in upcoming films, I’ll give you that.  I would add that THAT BETTER NOT BE THE THANOS WE SEE IN UPCOMING FILMS!  With all the CGI potential out there there is no reason to make him look like a muppet.  Anyway, he has destroyed the universe, commanded the infinity gems, asked Death to be his girlfriend, and defeated anyone who came near him.  What hasn’t he done?

5.)  Deathstroke the Terminator:  If you watch the show “Arrow” that has been running for a couple of years now, you have seen their version of Deathstroke.  It’s terrible.  Why doesn’t the comic book industry have a lobbying group that protests misrepresentations like this?  Deathstroke is and incredible villain, that could be played by someone in a costume, that has yet to be in a movie.  I haven’t checked upcoming films to see if he’s in any of them, but I doubt he is.  His obvious counterpart, Deadpool, is in a movie (played by the former Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds, which I hold a particular loathing for).  You’ve had to put it together, right?  Slade Wilson and Wade Wilson?    The same person with a different look and, well, facial scarring.  Anyway, put Deathstoke in a movie and we’ll call it even.  And DON’T let them pull the crap they did in “Arrow”.

6.)  Brainiac:  How is it that they made so many Superman movies and never had Brainiac in any of them?  But let me clarify, I’m talking the huge skull-like spaceship Brainiac, not the human with a couple of electrodes on his head and green skin Brainiac.  Again, this would be a CGI thing, not some model strung up with fishing line, and it has potential.  Let’s bring him on!

7.)  Venom:  Please, tell me you haven’t thought of this one yourself during all of those Spider-Man makes and remakes.  You could even start where Spider-Man got the symbiotic outfit and then, as the movie builds, have it evolve into Venom.  Get rid of this “Electro” nonsense and the Green Goblin.  Let’s face it, Norman Osborn has become a bigger villain than the Green Goblin at this point and it’s gotten old and tired.  So, let’s make a change for the better and go with MY choice...Venom!

8.)  The Anti-Monitor:  Oh, yeah, the big guy.  The one who killed Supergirl and gave the entire DC Universe a run for it’s money.  Any comic fan worth his salt has read Crisis on Infinite Earths and can tell the story.  Bring on the Anti-Monitor!  ‘Nuff Said.

9.)  Grendel:  Books could be written about the arguments you could make with this character.  First, Grendel is not DC or Marvel.  In fact, you may not even know Grendel.  If you don’t, get some of the books you won’t regret it.  Second, for those of you who do know Grendel, which version should be used?  The male?  The female?  The young?  The old?  The Villain who fought Batman and The Shadow?  The “hero” who tried to escort a child safely across dangerous lands?  Who cares....just put Grendel in a movie and make him/her/it look awesome!  Grendel is, perhaps, my favorite comic character of all time.  I have the books, statues, etc.  A big thanks to Matt Wagner who made Grendel possible.

10.)  Reverse Flash/Professor Zoom:  No matter what you call him the Reverse Flash has caused a multitude of problems for the Flash over the years.  Killing people, screwing up the time stream, etc., etc.  He is a character that has been, unsurprisingly, absent from any DC movies.  This, of course, is for the obvious reason that the Flash has been absent as well.  Frankly, if the movie would be anything like the TV show, don’t bother.  I would prefer to see it done right.  Professor Zoom, or whatever you call yourself, you have my vote!

I’m sure you have your own list and I would welcome you to share it.  You may even disagree with my votes and I would welcome you to share it.  You may even think I’m dead wrong about some characters who have been represented in movies and I would welcome you to share it.  No matter what your vote I think you’ll agree that there needs to be more villains and less rehashing of the same old thing.