The main theme of comic books is good versus evil, but the best comic book villains are often the most conflicted ones, especially those whose backstories are sympathetic. This allows the battles between the heroes and villains to have more depth and also opens the door for an eventual face turn by the bad guy. Marvel Comics has consistently featured more sympathetic villains, thanks to its more humanistic storytelling approach. However, DC has its fair share as well, whether it’s Batman villain Mr. Freeze fighting to save his wife’s life or Superman nemesis Bizarro having no idea that he isn’t the hero in his own story.
From villains who made sacrifices to save the world to those who just got tired of being pushed around, here is a look at 10 villains who received redemption, as well as five others who have gone too far ever to deserve forgiveness.
15) Loki – Redeemed
Loki’s redemption began thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Loki started to achieve fan-favorite status. In Marvel Comics, Loki was one of the company’s oldest villains, appearing first in Thor comics in Journey Into Mystery #85 before appearing in the first Avengers comic, the reason the team first formed. After almost 50 years of villainy, Marvel began his rehabilitation after his sacrifice in Siege in 2010. When he returned, Loki was a child, and over the next decade, he reconciled with his brother Thor, transformed from The Trickster to The God of Stories, and became an antihero who remains popular to this day.
14) Black Adam – Redeemed
Black Adam is someone who most people never thought could be rehabilitated. However, things changed in the 2006 year-long series 52, where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman took a break, and every week of the year, DC released issues focusing on stories with other heroes and villains. The best of these surrounded Black Adam as he fought to protect his homeland, Kahndaq. However, no government would allow him to live in peace, and when he was pushed hard enough, he fought back, causing World War III. It was the start of his path to redemption, which actually happened after Infinite Frontier when Superman trusted him enough to invite him into the Justice League, and he became a hero.
13) Carnage – Never Will Be
Carnage had one chance to be a hero, and it was wrong on almost every level. This happened in the Axis of Evil storyline, where villains became heroes and heroes became villains. It was fun to see some villains doing heroic acts, but it never seemed right for Carnage. There is too much wrong with Carnage. Cletus Kasady was a serial killer before he became Carnage, and the symbiote accepted this evil wholeheartedly. Carnage is the closest a villain can come to evil, and there is no reason he should ever receive a redemption.
12) Catwoman – Redeemed
Catwoman made her debut in DC Comics in 1940 in the pages of Batman #1. This was also Joker’s first appearance, making these two of Batman’s first-ever villains. However, throughout history, Catwoman has often been viewed as a love interest to Batman. In the reboots during New Earth and the New 52, Catwoman mostly remained an antihero, still willing to burglarize when given the chance, but also someone who would fight as part of the Bat Family as one of Batman’s more trusted allies.
11) Harley Quinn – Redeemed
Harley Quinn is someone who always deserved a redemption arc. While she got her start as Joker’s overly-obsessed sidekick, Harley’s past was soon shown, and Joker’s abuse was on full display. The best thing that could ever happen to Harley Quinn was leaving Joker in the rearview mirror and becoming her own person. This was a gradual process, where she soon overcame her abusive relationship and finally came into her own, first in Suicide Squad and then with her new friends, specifically Poison Ivy.
10) Cassandra Nova – Never Will Be
Marvel Comics tried to redeem Cassandra Nova, but there is no way this could ever work. Her story is tragic, as her twin brother Charles Xavier attempted to kill her in the womb, and she ended up regrowing after being tossed out after their birth. However, what she did with her anger was unforgivable. She was responsible for killing 16 million mutants who were living in peace. Even if Cassandra Nova ever gets a chance for a redemption storyline in Marvel Comics, she does not deserve it, and it should never happen.
9) Red Hood – Redeemed
Red Hood is similar to Venom in that he was primarily a villain because of his hatred for another hero. Initially, Jason Todd was the second Robin. That all ended when Joker beat the teenager to death with a crowbar, killing him and his mother. When Jason resurrected in the Lazarus Pit, he felt that Batman had let him die and hated both Batman and the Joker. However, this was a tragic tale, and even though Jason came back as a killer, he deserved to find redemption, which he eventually accepted over time. Red Hood finally became a member of the Bat Family once again.
8) Doctor Octopus – Redeemed
Doctor Octopus’s redemption came after one of his most dastardly deeds. Dying of cancer, Otto Octavius led Spider-Man into a fight, where Spidey had to fight a dying, withering Doc Ock. However, just when Ock is about to die, he pulls the trigger and ends up swapping minds with Spider-Man, leaving Peter to die in his body. However, this led to Ock becoming the Superior Spider-Man, and since he still had part of Peter’s mind inside him, he ultimately became a hero. Even with Spider-Man’s return, Ock retained a cloned body and continued to be a hero. Sadly, he had to make a deal with Mephisto to save the world, and was reverted to his Doctor Octopus form again.
7) Darkseid – Never Will Be
Darkseid is someone who never deserves redemption because it would destroy who he is. While Thanos has worked with Marvel’s heroes in the past to defeat a greater evil, there isn’t a threat much greater than Darkseid in DC Comics. Darkseid only has one goal. He is a tyrannical warlord who only wants to conquer other worlds. As such, he has no reason to fight for good and has no morals to speak of. There is nothing that could happen that would allow any hero in DC Comics to trust Darkseid. While he did help fight the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was a matter of self-preservation and in no way a redemption.
6) Norman Osborn – Redeemed
Norman Osborn had done way too much ever to deserve redemption. That is why his redemption arc was a great storyline. He killed Gwen Stacy. He took over the government and created the Dark Avengers. He did enough wrong always to be considered a villain. There is one caveat. The Goblin Serum drove Norman to lose his mind, which is why he was such an evil villain. However, in the Kindred storyline, Sin-Eater shoots him with his gun, stripping the evil from his body and leaving him regretful of all his past actions. Osborn soon wins over Spider-Man and becomes his Man in the Chair. That storyline has since ended with Norman sacrificing his redemption to save Spider-Man’s life, and Osborn is sadly back to his evil ways.
5) Emma Frost – Redeemed
Emma Frost was one of the X-Men’s most despicable villains. The White Queen of the Hellfire Club was a significant factor in Jean Grey’s transformation into the Dark Phoenix, ultimately leading to her demise. For years, Emma did nothing but try to hurt the X-Men, but that all changed when she witnessed the deaths of her version of the New Mutants, known as the Hellions. Seeing this tragedy, she realized Professor X would have protected them better, and she soon began to morph into a hero, although she still had a mean streak that she never shook.
4) Sabretooth – Never Will Be
Sabretooth is a mutant villain who enjoys killing, slaughtering, sexually assaulting, and massacring anyone and everyone. One of his most enjoyable days of the year is Wolverine’s birthday, because he shows up every year to beat Wolverine to an inch of death — just for fun. He has no redeemable traits because he lives to hurt people. To illustrate why he will never be redeemed, when Krakoa was established, the mutants offered redemption to everyone. Sabretooth refused it and was sent into a great pit of nothingness as punishment. Even when he had a chance to turn over a new leaf, he preferred banishment to redemption.
3) Venom – Redeemed
It happened so long ago that it might be hard to remember when Venom was nothing more than a villain. When Spider-Man rejected the symbiote, it attached itself to Eddie Brock, who hated Peter Parker, and Venom’s sole goal was to kill Spider-Man. However, he wasn’t a villain for any other reason. Eventually, Venom wanted to be a hero (like he did when he was in Peter Parker), and the character became one of Marvel’s greatest antiheroes. Venom doesn’t hate Spider-Man anymore, but all he ever wanted to do was become a hero.
2) Magneto – Redeemed
Magneto was always an interesting villain in Marvel Comics. A former prisoner at a World War II extermination camp as a child, he grew up knowing that humans were inherently evil inside and swore to protect mutants from the evils that racists and fascists threaten anyone different from them with. He was a villain because of how he protected mutants, but his reasoning was always sound. When Professor X almost died in Uncanny X-Men #200, he promised to lead the X-Men using Xavier’s teachings. Since then, he has had moments of villainy, but he has remained an antihero, refusing to return to his old ways.
1) Joker – Never Will Be
Joker had a couple of moments of redemption, but they were always set on alternate Earths. In one, Batman died, and Joker decided he had no reason to be evil anymore. In another, he wouldn’t even lower himself to Red Skull’s level because everyone hates a Nazi. However, for the regular Joker, there is no chance at redemption because he is pure evil and has almost no control over his actions. Even when he thinks about it, he doesn’t care and is only concerned with his diabolical plans and making Batman’s life a living hell at all times.
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