Supervillains have become big business over the years. Marvel and DC Comics have been pumping out villains since 1938, giving readers every kind of enemy they can imagine. As comics have grown in complexity, villains have also grown as well. The best villains have become more multi-faceted, often more so than the superheroes they fight, and this has seen a funny little thing happening over the decades — villains getting their shots at redemption, often teaming with heroes that they tried to kill. This is just how it works when a character gets more fleshed out; fans want more and more of them, and the best way to do that is to redeem them. Oftentimes, these redemptions would end and the villains would go back to being monsters, their time as heroes a thing of the past. While this is fine with many villains, they’re better as villains usually, there are some who should give up the evil ghost forever.
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These villains have shown what their potential is on the side of angels, and it’s greater than what they can do as a villain. There are some iconic villains who have been villains for so long that giving them long runs as heroes would allow them to become something completely new. They deserve for their redemption arcs to permanent, leaving evil behind and becoming heroes… or if not heroes, at least something more than they would have been as a villain.
7) Captain Cold
The Rogues are an amazing villain team. Look at every other supervillain team out there; all of them fall to problems with everyone being amoral monsters who don’t care about anyone but themselves. The Rogues face off against the most powerful heroes around, and have had to learn to work together against the Flash Family, using their powers and technology in concert to slow the fastest man alive down to a crawl. The Rogues work together, and have respect for each other, which starts at the top with Captain Cold. Leonard Snart isn’t a mass murderer, and he hasn’t ever wanted to take over the world. He’s just wanted to make money hand over fist. Captain Cold is the perfect villain for a redemption. Captain Cold is a very entertaining character to read about, a great leader who understands how to use the Rogues as weapons against the Flashes. He knows when to use the carrot and when to use the stick. Captain Cold also has an edge to him that would make the man in the parka a very dangerous villain to deal with. Captain Cold could easily slot into a heroic role — he’s done it several times and it’s always fun — and fans would be able to spend way more time with him.
6) The Lizard
Curt Connors was a professor and teacher at Empire State University, and his classes were some of Peter Parker’s favorites. Connors has lost his arm in an accident and devoted his life to bringing the reptilian ability to regrow limbs to humanity. He started experimenting on himself, and had a breakthrough, allowing himself to regrow his arm. However, it also ended up transforming him into a ravening monster. As the Lizard, Connors would gain amazing physical abilities, but lost his humanity. Sometimes, the Lizard is an amoral scientist who hisses a lot, but other times he’s a wild monster with no trace of Curt Connors inside of him. The Lizard is actually a perfect character for a redemption; he just wanted to help people and work to make life better. It wouldn’t really take all that much to redeem the Lizard — basically just allow him to keep control of his mind when he transforms into his monster form, with him struggling against the beast inside of him. The Lizard is a character that could have gone either way — his origin is the same as multiple science based superheroes — and making him a hero would give him something to do besides go after Spider-Man in a near-animalistic rage.
5) Brainiac
Brainiac is a villain that most people don’t think of in redemption arcs, and that’s why he’s so perfect for it. Brainiac is one of the most frightening beings in the DC Multiverse, a monster obsessed with knowledge who has traveled the universe, shrinking worlds, then destroying everything else in the solar system. Brainiac would seemingly be impossible to redeem, and that’s sort of why him getting a redemption would be so much fun. Imagine if Brainac decides to undo what he did to the universe, trying to help recreate the worlds he’s destroyed, all while enemies who wanted revenge tried to go after him. Brainiac is a fascinating character, and giving him a redemption arc would be very difficult. It would definitely take a lot of work, but that work is definitely worth it. Brainiac has a ton of potential in a non-villainous role and it would be amazing to see him reach his potential outside of going after Superman.
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4) Moonstone
Moonstone is in interesting place in the Marvel Universe. She started out as a C-list villain battling enemies like Ms. Marvel, and eventually ended up joining the Masters of Evil, alongside Baron Zemo. Moonstone participated in Masters’ greatest battle against the Avengers in the story “Under Siege”, and would become enmeshed in one of Zemo’s greatest plans — the Thunderbolts con. This was the beginning of the redemption of Moonstone, a process that has gotten stutters and stops ever since. Moonstone became the leader of the Thunderbolts who didn’t want to be villains any more. Moonstone battled against Zemo and became Hawkeye’s second in command when he took over as the team’s leader, showing that she was actually pretty good at being hero. The eventual dissolution of the Thunderbolts would see the end of her time as a hero. She would rejoin the team during Civil War, but she didn’t have any of the character development that she had before. She was back to being a villain, and while it was definitely entertaining at times, she’d have been much better to have continued the redemption arc that she had started years ago in the late ’90s. Moonstone is a fine villain, but would make for an amazing hero if she was given the chance.
3) Deadshot
Deadshot is basically in the same boat as Moonstone. Deadshot was a Batman gimmick villain in the ’50s — his was gunslinging gambling dandy — but was transformed into a more high tech mercenary in the late ’70s. Deadshot became more popular as a criminal mercenary and was soon made a member of the cast of Suicide Squad. Deadshot came to shine here and eventually would even get a sad backstory and a daughter that humanized him. Deadshot has been nominally on the side of the heroes for a long time, but he’s always something of a villain. It’s honestly kind of mystifying, especially when one looks at Deathstroke and his various redemption arcs. Deadshot would make the perfect anti-hero/espionage hero. That’s basically been his role for years, but it seems like there are times when DC decides that all of his redemption needs to go away so that Deadshot can be a villain for a short time before returning to the Suicide Squad or the Secret Six. Deadshot is tailor-made for a complete redemption, and would make for a better hero than he has a villain.
2) Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is the greatest supervillain in the Marvel Universe. The only one that comes close to him is Magneto, but it’s harder to call Magneto a supervillain than it is Doctor Doom. Doom has been a constant thorn in the side of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, battling them whenever he feels like challenging himself. A funny thing has happened to Doctor Doom over the years. He was given a tragic backstory, the love of the people of Latveria, and a softer side that made readers enjoy him as something beyond the hyperbole spouting, third-person pronoun using villain. Doom’s become something beyond what he was and the best way to keep showcasing new facets of the character is to complete his redemption. Allow Doom to be something of a hero — his turn in Infamous Iron Man and Marvel Two-In-One was supremely entertaining — with him getting to hang out with Valeria Richards, save the world to show everyone how amazing he is, and making fun of Reed Richards every chance he gets would be very entertaining. Doom as a villain hunting anti-hero is the way to go if Marvel wants to push Doom in new directions.
1) Sabretooth
Sabretooth is a brutal monster, and is Wolverine’s greatest villains. Sabretooth has played a unique role in the history of the Marvel Universe. He’s one of many superpowered mercenaries, and a mutant who loves the fact that his powers have made him an immortal that never has to face the consequences of his actions. Sabretooth’s popularity exploded, along with any character who was somewhat adjacent to Wolverine, and Marvel started to put him in more places, giving him chances on X-Factor and the X-Men many times over the years, as well as his own solo series. There are a lot of people who would argue against Sabretooth getting redemption, but giving him redemption would show that no sin is unforgivable. Sabretooth makes for an excellent hero or anti-hero, and it might be time to just pull the trigger on this change, taking the character to another level.
What villains do you think should get redemption? Sound off in the comments below.
