Villains You'd Like to See Go Straight

[E. Wilson]

christ! is the thread your life-partner or something?

Hey, a fairly original joke! Just what the thread needed!

[Bad Wolf]

Taskmaster. He has the added benefit of starting out as a good guy doing a good thing, and because of his condition doesn't even know he's a good guy. It's be great if he got all his memories back and went back to geing a good guy.

Is that a retcon? Because when he first appeared he was training other bad guys.

[The Master Meglomaniac]

I don't see why we can't have more stories where a villain tries to reform and fail and so they remain a villain. If a villain is constantly trying to rob banks to "get rich quick" and constantly gets beat up heroes and sent to prison, after a while you would think some of these villains would question why they are still villains. Heroes seem to question why they are still heroes all the time, so why would villains not question why they are still villains. Human beings often question their own actions.

Rhino tried to reform recently, Rhino quit being a villain, got married and tried to create a legitimate life for himself. When a Rhino copycat tried to kill the original and killed his wife in the process, it made the original Rhino far more tragic. When Rhino killed the copycat, its even more tragic, that was the point where he gave up on his new life.

As I mentioned before there was a non canon story in a novel where the Trapster tried to reform and sell his glue legitimately under an assumed name. However the Wizard tried to ruin Trapster's new life, causing Trapster to suffer a minor melt down and try to commit suicide. Again Trapster tried and failed to reform, but that failure created an interesting story where you get some insight into Trapster. Its a shame that story is not canon, its far more interesting then all those stories where Trapster joins the Frightful Four or tries to rob a bank.

[Monty_Cristo]

I don't see why we can't have more stories where a villain tries to reform and fail and so they remain a villain. If a villain is constantly trying to rob banks to "get rich quick" and constantly gets beat up heroes and sent to prison, after a while you would think some of these villains would question why they are still villains. Heroes seem to question why they are still heroes all the time, so why would villains not question why they are still villains. Human beings often question their own actions.

Rhino tried to reform recently, Rhino quit being a villain, got married and tried to create a legitimate life for himself. When a Rhino copycat tried to kill the original and killed his wife in the process, it made the original Rhino far more tragic. When Rhino killed the copycat, its even more tragic, that was the point where he gave up on his new life.

As I mentioned before there was a non canon story in a novel where the Trapster tried to reform and sell his glue legitimately under an assumed name. However the Wizard tried to ruin Trapster's new life, causing Trapster to suffer a minor melt down and try to commit suicide. Again Trapster tried and failed to reform, but that failure created an interesting story where you get some insight into Trapster. Its a shame that story is not canon, its far more interesting then all those stories where Trapster joins the Frightful Four or tries to rob a bank.

he did try something different when he operated on his own (or on behalf of the Gideon Trust). he was acting as the leader of that team that entered the Negative Zone. and he was instrumental in taking down Annihilus. my idea is to have him enter the Negative Zone again but be replaced by an evil-er and more efficient version of himself; a la Janus the Negative Man (who was also in the employ of the Gideon Trust).

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/janus2.htm

[jade_nova]

How many gay villains are there?

You beat me to it.

[The Master Meglomaniac]

he did try something different when he operated on his own (or on behalf of the Gideon Trust). he was acting as the leader of that team that entered the Negative Zone. and he was instrumental in taking down Annihilus. my idea is to have him enter the Negative Zone again but be replaced by an evil-er and more efficient version of himself; a la Janus the Negative Man (who was also in the employ of the Gideon Trust).

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/janus2.htm

I don't think that story created any sort of character development or any true insight into Trapster as a character and really giving a villain who has done the same thing for almost 50 years, a new scheme once in a blue moon is not enough. I liked the story (Traps by Ken Grobe, in the Ultimate Super Villain novel) where he tried to reform because its a character study, he gives him more dimensions then just some generic villain, he has given an opportunity to change and he tried to take it and fails, sure he can go back to robbing banks or trying to destroy the FF, but an attempt at reform would add an element. After that it could be that he is doing those things because that's all he knows, he tried to change his life and it didn't work, so he gave up.

But he has to try for that element to be present, that's why that story in the novel worked so well. I mean how many times would Trapster have to go to prison, before he would get sick of it and want to make a change? I don't think its good characterization, to have a villain who could have made millions legitimately and didn't so he could rob banks in order to "get rich quick." This why "Traps" is the best story ever about Trapster, because its about what makes him tick rather then just a story where stuff happens to him. Its a shame its not in cannon.

Also Trapster only "took down" Annihilus because he was severely weakened in that story, at his normal power level Annihilus would kill Trapster in an instant, this a being who had a weapon that could blow up solar systems at one point, so not where there plot reasons why Annihilus was weakened, but I have a hard time buying Trapster could even defeated a weakened Annihilus. It seems like trying to make Stilt-Man cool by having him beat up Galactus, its too silly and out there to make Stilt-Man look cool.

As for more Evil Trapster appearing from the Negative Zone, that could be an cool story. However we don't know enough about Trapster for there to be a big contrast between him and his evil double. Usually when there is an evil double of someone, know a lot about them, so there is a clear contrast. For example there is a clear contrast Spidey would have with an evil double, because we get into Spidey's head all the time. With Trapster almost all of his stories are just about things that happen to him, there then seeing what makes him tick. I only contrast I could see is regular Trapster is a pathetic loser and not very scary, while the Evil Trapster is a monster, some sort of serial killer or something. That's only contrast I could see between the two. I think if you wanted to make regular Trapster more sinister, he could always just ditch the glue gun, focus more traps and using prep time to his advantage and have him focus on street level heroes. If Trapster brought his A game and focused on traps, he could be a credible threat to Daredevil or even Spidey, but with the FF he is out of his league.

[R0NIN]

Is that a retcon? Because when he first appeared he was training other bad guys.

It was revealed in his mini.....


spoilers:

that he was originally an agent of SHIELD that took an untested formula that gave him his powers. He would use his powers to infiltrate terrorists groups and gain intel on them. Since his ability erases his actual memories, to make room for new skills gained, he forget who he is and why he does what he does. He calls a number that sets him up with his next gig, and kinda acts how he thinks he's supposed to act. But he actually remembers very little. And every time he absorbs a new skill he goes all "memento" all over again.

end of spoilers

[strathcona]

Honestly I'm a bit tired of perfectly good villains being reformed. It's not like there's a shortage of super heroes, so I was never thrilled with the whole idea of reforming villains when there's frankly a shortage of good credible ones.

But as far as villains I'd like to see reformed... one person that immediately popped in my head was Thunderball. Not entirely sure why, but he just did. I do think apart from Wrecker of course, he always seemed to stick out in my head in the Wrecking Crew. I always thought they could do something with him if they wanted to.

I agree, we don't need to see villains reform... I'd rather just see obscure heroes get more attention instead.

You might be thinking that of Thunderball because of his use in the Damage Control minis. He was seen as a peer of Reed Richards there, and didn't really like being stuck with the Wrecking Crew because they were a bunch of idiots. He even helped out against the rest of the Crew so they wouldn't hurt John Porter.

if we have to see villains reformed, I would like it to be ones that already have shown some inclination to do so: Thunderball, Sandman, Ghost... or even Rock Python from that Marvel Vault issue of Thunderbolts.

[WinterSoldier76]

Juggernaut
Ghost
Typhoid Mary
Moonstone
Cyclopes
Noh Varr
Namor
Eric O'Grady

[Lars C]

Cyclops. He's been portrayed as a villain for a while now, and I'd like to see him as a hero again.

[R0NIN]

Cyclops. He's been portrayed as a villain for a while now, and I'd like to see him as a hero again.

Nice one...

[Dudepool]

I dont want any villians to go straight. I want them to be evil. If you want to read about a villain going straight it would be best to just read that villian's solo book. He is still a villian, but he is the hero of that book.

[DebkoX]

Juggernaut
Ghost
Typhoid Mary
Moonstone
Cyclopes
Noh Varr
Namor
Eric O'Grady

Most of them aren't really villians, take Noh-varr, Namor and Eric out.