Marvel has long been known for having some of the greatest heroes out there, respected by all and hailed as saviors and role models. These paragons of virtue have redefined heroism multiple times, proving to the world what superheroes should be. However, not every hero out there is a person with an impeccable moral code; in fact, with the rise of anti-heroes, there are many heroes who are basically bad guys themselves.
They aren’t the only ones; in fact, there are some classic Marvel heroes who are more villainous than they seem. They can be found doing terrible things and trying in vain to justify them because they also save the world.
10 The Sentry Has A Monster Inside Of Him
The Sentry has always been an intriguing character; meant to be Marvel’s version of Superman, he was given the type of foibles that made Marvel characters so interesting and a built-in enemy- the Void, his dark side. However, things just got worse from there.
To begin with, Robert Reynolds broke into a scientist’s lab when he found the serum that made him the Sentry, starting off his heroic career with a crime. He willingly went along with Norman Osborn during the Dark Reign. Since then, he pretty much always snaps and becomes the Void. He’s always basically been a bad guy on the inside.
9 The Inhuman Royal Family Are Genocidal Slave Owners
The Inhuman Royal Family has always been presented as heroes but their actions don’t really bear that out. They’ll fight tooth and nail to protect their throne and themselves but when it comes to the rest of the world, it can go and rot. Take the whole thing with the mutants- the Inhumans felt that their race was more important than the mutants, so they protected the Terrigen Mists clouds even though they were killing mutants.
On top of that, the Inhumans have always held the Alpha Primitives as slaves, using them for labor and keeping them out of the limelight. They also run a caste-based society where the “useful” Inhumans were given the most power and prestige.
8 Nick Fury Has Gotten Up To Some Shady Stuff
Make no bones about it- running the foremost spy agency in the world takes a special kind of person. Nick Fury was the head of SHIELD for decades and in those decades he had to do a lot of things to keep the world safe, and they weren’t always moral. Fury’s body count rivals that of some villains and while it was all in the service of freedom, it doesn’t change how bad it was.
Nick Fury got to a point where calling him morally grey isn’t even correct. Much like a villain, he was willing to do anything to fulfill his missions; it didn’t matter what it was. Nick Fury may have been working for the good guys but he was closer to his foes in Hydra than his allies in the Avengers.
7 Magneto Is A Mutant Supremacist
Magneto has jumped sides on the hero/villain divide many times over the years and right now is on the hero side, helping the X-Men establish themselves and the mutant race on the island of Krakoa. However, even when he’s working with the X-Men, there’s something about him that never changes- his fervor for mutant supremacy.
Magneto is just as racist as the humans he decries. If he had his way, mutants would rule over humanity until it died out, which is pretty much exactly what his opponents want, just with humans ruling mutants. Magneto is never not a villain, even when he’s technically doing the right thing.
6 Namor Fights The Heroes More Than He Helps Them
Calling Namor a hero is pretty much an incorrect way of looking at the character; it seems like every few years, Namor decides that it’s time to attack the surface world again. He’s betrayed the heroes of the Earth multiple times over the years and even when he’s working with them, it’s only a matter of time before he attacks humanity again.
On top of that, his haughty and superior way of dealing with everyone he meets is pretty much exactly how villains treat everyone. The only time Namor was actually a hero was WWII; ever since then, he has basically been a villain who occasionally decides to do good for a while.
5 Hank Pym Is A Terrible Person
Few members of the Avengers are as legitimately terrible as Hank Pym. He has some deep-seated personal issues, like an inferiority complex, that motivate his worst actions but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s done some really, really bad things over the years. The first, of course, is building Ultron and then trying to destroy it when it became sentient.
He created a robot to go after the Avengers so he could beat it and look good, killed the villain Egghead, and, most infamously, slapped the Wasp for questioning him. Hank Pym is so bad that when he was replaced by a Skrull and joined up with Iron Man’s side during Civil War, no one questioned all the bad things he was doing- they just expected it of him.
4 The Hulk Has Rarely Been An Actual Hero
The Hulk has spent most of the time as the Hulk acting on his rage. Superheroes’ battles are full of collateral damage but the Hulk pretty much just destroys things because he can and he’s mad. If one were to read all of the Hulk’s comics, he would be portrayed as a monster more often than not, battling the heroes way more than fighting alongside them.
It’s gotten to the point where everyone has a plan for dealing with the Hulk when he inevitably snaps. For every heroic thing he’s done over the years, there are scores of smashed cities, broken military bases and equipment, and just so many dead people as well.
3 Iron Man Has Made A Habit Of Betraying Everyone He Works With
Iron Man is one of the founding Avengers and a cornerstone of the heroic community but he’s also one of the evilest heroes around. He’s constantly betrayed his friends and kept secrets from them, doing whatever it took to aggrandize himself. He attacked heroes who used his technology in not one, but two Armor Wars, founded the Illuminati, which led to the Skrull invasion, and then, of course, there was when he went full fascist during Civil War.
Iron Man has made a career of being the worst possible person but because he has money and clout, always comes out smelling like roses.
2 Deadpool’s Methods Have Not Changed
Deadpool is an interesting case of a villain becoming a hero without doing things any differently. Sure, Deadpool works with the heroes now but when it comes right down to it, he’s still a mercenary who kills people, he just doesn’t try to kill the heroes anymore. While this is an important distinction, he’s just as much of a mass murderer as someone like Carnage.
Deadpool gets a pass because he’s funny and he’s doing it for the right reasons but that doesn’t change the facts- Deadpool is a murderer and he’s rather chipper about the whole thing.
1 The Punisher Is One Of The Most Prolific Mass Murderers On Earth
The Punisher is a mass murderer, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter that he only kills bad guys or anything like that- his body count rivals that of all but the most deadly villains. At the very least, no one has any illusions about his mass-murdering ways. For the most part, the heroes do their best to either imprison him or get him psychiatric help.
There have been villains whose entire MO is the exact same as the Punisher. His mission to destroy crime is quite literal and he won’t stop killing until it’s accomplished. This fervency and blood lust makes him as bad as the worst villain.
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