10 Marvel Villains Who Actually Redeemed Themselves as Heroes – Armessa Movie News

Summary

• Daken, Skaar, and Noh-Varr found redemption after their involvement with the Dark Avengers, transitioning from villains to true heroes within the Marvel Universe.
• Sentry and Gorgon were initially manipulated into joining the team but later returned to their heroic aspirations, making up for their involvement with the Dark Avengers.
• John Walker, Venom, Victoria Hand, Charles Barton, and even Norman Osborn himself have all taken steps towards redemption, showing that not all members of the Dark Avengers were irredeemable villains.

The Dark Avengers are the team of ‘heroes’ who operated under Norman Osborn during Marvel Comics Dark Reign era following Secret Invasion. The team mostly consisted of villains who were suited up to look like/operate as familiar superheroes, with the other slots filled by legitimate heroes who were tricked by Osborn into pushing his villainous agenda, despite wanting to actually do good in the world.

In essence, the Dark Avengers was a complicated team that could be classified as a group of villains, though that broad-stroke designation would be a huge oversimplification. For that reason, a number of the members actually found redemption after Osborn was taken down by the true heroes of the Marvel Universe. Here are the 10 Dark Avengers who actually redeemed themselves as heroes!

10 Daken

Akihiro aka Daken became a member of the Dark Avengers in Dark Avengers #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr., filling the role his father – Wolverine – once held on the original Avengers team. This came after Daken made himself one of Wolverine’s deadliest enemies, as he held deep-seated hatred for his father for many years.

Over time, however, and following the dissolution of the Dark Avengers, Daken’s hatred for Wolverine and everything his father stood for (including the Avengers) faded dramatically. In fact, in the more modern era of X-Men continuity, Daken has consistently fought side-by-side with Wolverine, and has even taken up a proper superhero codename: Fang.

9 Skaar

Like Daken with Wolverine, the son of the Hulk filled the role his father once played on the Avengers. Skaar made his first appearance in World War Hulk #5 by Greg Pak and John Romita Jr., and while he unarguably wasn’t as great a focus as World Breaker Hulk was, it wouldn’t be long before Skaar made a proper name for himself – with his inclusion on the Dark Avengers being a big step towards that.

In fact, Skaar only joined the Dark Avengers as a double agent, reporting back to Captain America on everything the team got up to, so the real superheroes could angle against them and eventually smoke the Dark Avengers out as the villains they really were. So really, Skaar doesn’t even have anything to atone for in regard to his participation on the Dark Avengers, as he was a true hero within their ranks all along.

8 Noh-Varr

Noh-Varr aka Marvel Boy (who debuted in Marvel Boy #1 by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones) is the epitome of someone who wanted more than anything to be a hero, but inadvertently fell in-line with a gang of corrupt villains. Marvel Boy legitimately thought he was joining the proper Avengers when he was recruited into the Dark Avengers as the new Captain Marvel. However, after their very first mission, Marvel Boy quickly learned that most of the other members of the team were villains pretending to be heroes, and he left immediately after.

This entry is less about a villain who was reformed, but more of a naive hero who was just trying to do the right thing, but was tricked by a powerful, evil man. However, this experience didn’t break Noh-Varr’s spirits, as the mutated Kree warrior has done great work within the Young Avengers, the West Coast Avengers, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy, which more than makes up for his unwitting stint with a group of bad guys.

7 Sentry

Another hero who was tricked into working for the wrong organization, Sentry is the first entry on this list who was a new, original member of Dark Avengers that wasn’t meant to be the replacement for one of the classic Avengers. Effectively Marvel’s Superman, Sentry is a being of immense power, though his fractured psyche makes him someone who can be easily manipulated – which is exactly how he came to join the Dark Avengers in the first place.

However, after the Dark Avengers disbanded, Sentry went right back into trying to be the best hero he could be, something he’s strived for since his debut in Sentry #1 by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee. He’s just struggled with mental instability, making him an easy target for manipulation, or simply making him dangerously unpredictable, despite his heart always being in the right place.

6 Gorgon

Tomi Shishido aka Gorgon was a part of the second-generation Dark Avengers that Norman Osborn put together in New Avengers #18 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato. After Daken left the team, Gorgon filled his role as Osborn’s ‘Wolverine’. While Gorgon played his part to perfection, he’d later find redemption among his fellow mutants on Krakoa, specifically in the X of Swords event.

Given his skill with the blade, Gorgon won the mutants a point for every enemy champion he slayed. Gorgon was instrumental in Krakoa’s victory during that event, as well as the formation of Arrako, and he even sacrificed himself in the process, making his efforts that much more genuine and impactful.

5 John Walker

John Walker aka USAgent is more of a jerk than a villain, as he’s always tried to do the right thing, he just does so in the wrong ways. One such example is the very reason he’s on this list, as USAgent filled the role of Captain America on the Dark Avengers. Then, under similar circumstances, Walker led the Thunderbolts during the Devil’s Reign event in Villains for Hire by Clay McLeod Chapman and Manuel Garcia.

Walker trusted that the elected mayor of New York City, Wilson Fisk, was justified in his efforts to arrest every superhero in the city simply because he was following the law, not thinking for a moment that the law itself was woefully unjust. And that is the crux of John Walker’s problems. He’s a super-soldier who follows orders a little too well, and while that’s why he’s an effective superhero on occasion, it also means he can be manipulated by people in power, including and especially men like Wilson Fisk and Norman Osborn.

4 The Venom Symbiote

The Venom symbiote was used to help fill the role of Spider-Man on the Dark Avengers, as it configured itself to resemble Spider-Man’s iconic black suit. At the time, the symbiote’s host was Mac Gargan, who’s more widely recognized as the classic Spider-Man villain Scorpion.

While Gargan is and has always been a villain, the symbiote he wore is not. In fact, that very symbiote is currently keeping Eddie Brock’s son, Dylan, safe from harm in the ongoing Venom Vol. 5, which comes after the Venom symbiote helped Eddie Brock save the world – and, in fact, the universe – from the King in Black.

3 Victoria Hand

Victoria Hand is someone who believes the ends always justify the means, and is willing to work with anyone who holds a position of power for the greater good of society. Hand wasn’t a member of the Dark Avengers necessarily, but was Osborn’s right-hand person during his ‘Dark Reign’, making her something of the brains behind the operation along with Osborn himself.

However, just because she believed in Osborn’s political agenda doesn’t mean she wasn’t willing to work with his eventual successor, as Hand also lent her services to the Avengers under Captain America, and stayed an ally to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes until her tragic end in New Avengers #32 by Brian Michael Bendis and Carlos Pacheco, which showed her dying as a true hero.

2 Charles Barton (Hawkeye’s Brother)

Charles “Barney” Barton aka Hawkeye is the brother of the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton. Barney was a member of the second-gen Dark Avengers, filling the role his brother once did. While Barney knew being a member of this team was – to put it lightly – morally ambiguous, as the politics driving the actions of the Dark Avengers were questionable at best, he isn’t a villain at heart, just a rogue.

Barney is okay with not being a good guy all the time, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. In fact, in Hawkeye Vol. 4 by Matt Fraction and David Aja, Barney risks his life to save Clint from the tracksuit mafia, and then proceeds to rob him immediately afterward, confirming in one-fell-swoop his good-hearted moral ambiguity.

1 Norman Osborn

Even the mastermind behind the Dark Avengers himself has found redemption in the pages of current Marvel Comics books. After Osborn had his sins removed by the Sin-Eater, he’s now a major hero as the Golden Goblin (his superhero alter ego that debuted in Golden Goblin #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Lan Medina). While it may be impossible for Osborn to ever truly find redemption after all the evil deeds he’s committed in his past – including and especially in Dark Avengers – the adoption of the heroic Golden Goblin persona is definitely a good place to start.

The Dark Avengers will be remembered as the ‘evil Avengers’ during a particularly grim period in Marvel Comics history, though that doesn’t mean every member was an irredeemable monster, and these 10 Dark Avengers members who actually redeemed themselves as heroes proves it.