History AdaptationalVillainy / Comicbooks

*** [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Vampire bats are tiny, shy, and extraordinarily subtle.]] Ideally, they bite your ankle while you're asleep, lap up the blood, and leave without being noticed. [[FridgeLogic Which...actually makes it a good thematic match for a spy and thief]], but it's not exactly ''scary''.

* Hansel, one of the protagonists of [[Literature/HanselAndGretel his fairy tale]], grows up to become a sadistic witch-hunter and [[FantasticRacism Fantastic Racist]] who, among other heinous acts, murders his own sister.

** [[spoiler: Goldilocks is a vicious rabble-rousing anarchist who stirs up revolution just for the fine of seeing people fighting.]]

** Ironically, in the New52 Wonder Woman series, Ares (only referred to as "War") is one of the few Olympians who isn't somewhat villainous. The most villainous of the Olympians is Apollo, one of the most noble Olympian gods in the original mythology.

** In ''{{Aquaman}}''[[Vulko has undergone a FaceHeelTurn, due to bitter exile.]]

** In the original ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics, Francine Langstrom was the long-suffering wife of Kirk Langstrom/Man-Bat, whose occasional bouts of being She-Bat were either against her will or out of a desire to keep her family together, and she generally had more control than Kirk did. The New 52 version [[spoiler: is an industrial spy who only married Kirk to steal the Man-Bat formula, and who based her own version of the serum on a ''vampire'' bat]].
* [[spoiler: Geppetto and Goldilocks]] in {{Fables}}. In their respective stories, [[spoiler:Geppetto]] is a benevolent, fatherly figure while [[spoiler:Goldilocks]] is nothing more than a harmless, if annoying, intruder.

** In the original ''{{Batman}}'' comics, Francine Langstrom was the long-suffering wife of Kirk Langstrom/Man-Bat, whose occasional bouts of being She-Bat were either against her will or out of a desire to keep her family together, and even then she generally had more control than Kirk did. The New 52 version [[spoiler: is an industrial spy who only married Kirk to steal the Man-Bat formula, and who based her own version of the serum on a ''vampire'' bat]].

** [[spoiler: Vulko and Engineer have both undergone FaceHeelTurn; due to bitter exile and CyberneticsEatYourSoul respectively.]]
** TheCreeper, formerly a GoodCounterpart to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker as well as an alter ego of Jack Ryder, was brought back in {{Katana}} as a demonic villain who seems to want to ''haunt'' Ryder.

* In the ''TheMightyThor'' comics, ComicBook/{{Loki}} is generally depicted as an evil god (though some individual writers have made him more of an AntiVillain), but in the original Norse mythology he's a much more ambiguous figure, usually taking the role of TheTrickster.

* Baron Karza in the Marvel {{Micronauts}} comic books is the BigBad of the "Homeworld" sector of Microverse. The toy line gave little to no characterization of the various figures. In the toyline, he was described as the rival to Force Commander but he was also one of a number of assorted Magno figures of a similar theme. There were also other European release only characters such as Green Baron and King Atlas. All of these characters were lesser nobles under a figure named Red Falcon who was the right hand of an Emperor Megas. In the toyline, Karza seemed to be evil by default because of [[GoodColorsEvilColors color coding]] and because Karza bore a passing resemblance to [[DarthVaderClone another armored villain from a then recent very popular space fantasy movie.]] But we don't know for sure if he was the worst of the worst, especially since Megas does an even better job at the [[DarthVaderClone passing resemblance]].

* ComicBook/TransformersAllHailMegatron: Downplays this with a look into Prowl's character in issue 15. While Prowl is normally a "good" if somewhat stuck-up bot of logic and intelligence, here he's more of a WellIntentionedExtremist, doing numerous unethical things, like messing with minds, and destroying evidence of Autobot war-crimes, to preserve their faction. He's willing to deflect suspicion, blackmail, and conspire to make WMDs all for the sake of the Autobot cause. Prowl did suffer from a bit of DependingOnTheWriter, where he was written as a selfless Good guy in ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW while also being a schemer in ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers. His character has gone back to "unethical but for the greater good" with ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise.

* ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers: Overlord's appearance in Masterforce had him as a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and honorable enough to turn on his evil boss and help the heroes. His appearance in the Classics community had him as a straight up villain, and Decepticon conqueror, but predating that was his appearance in LSTOTW. In Wreckers he is one of the most depraved Decepticons ever, murdering populations of creatures, pitting Autobot prisoners against each other and his own troops for his amusement, and then executing all of them so they can't be rescued. Ironically this version is far more well-known and popular than the original.

* The {{New 52}} version of [[{{Batman}} Mr. Freeze]], who has been revised to be less of an AntiVillain. He's still out to cure his frozen wife Nora - but this is a lie. Nora was preserved long before Freeze was even born, he's just deluded himself into believing they're married as part of his obsession with cold.
** Of course, the antivillain version of Freeze was based off of BatmanTheAnimatedSeries. The original Freeze, from the Silver Age, lacked any humanistic qualities, being an unrepentant villain who uses a cold theme.

** Herakles in the modern adaptation is portrayed as a villain who raped Hipoolyta (instead of just seducing her). He becomes TheAtoner, however.

* The {{New 52}} version of Silver Banshee is an inversion. Pre-{{reboot}} she was an out and out villainess but the new version has been introduced as a very sympathetic character who seems set to be an outright heroine or at worst a TragicVillain. Being {{Supergirl}}'s only friend and having a supervillain father complicate things.

* ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers: Overlord's appearance in Masterforce had him as a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and honorable enough to turn on his evil boss and help the heroes. His appearance in the Classics community had him as a straight up villain, and Decepticon conqueror, but predating that was his appearance in LSTOTW. In Wreckers he is one of the most depraved Decepticons ever, murdering populations of creatures, pitting Autobot prisoners against each other and his own troops for his amusement, and then executing all of them so they can't be rescued.

* John Rockerduck is portrayed as a CorruptCorporateExecutive in several stories but he was by no means this or any other kind of villain in the only story [[CarlBarks his creator]] used him.

* ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers: Overlord's appearance in Masterforce had him as a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and honorable enough to turn on his evil boss and help the heroes. His appearance in the Classics community had him as a straight up villain, and Decepticon conqueror, but predating that was his appearance in LSTOTW. In Wreckers he is one of the most depraved Decepticons ever, murdering populations of creatures, pitting Autobot prisoners against each other and his own troops for his amusement, and then executing all of them so they can't be rescues.

* Played with in the case of the Greek gods and goddesses in ''WonderWoman''. A number of them started out as LighterAndSofter than they were in GreekMythology. However, Ares, the God of War, is portrayed as so dangerous and TooPowerfulToLive that Wonder Woman has to actually ''kill'' him in at least one adaptation. Ares in the Greek myths, although TheBerserker and ironically a bit of a DirtyCoward, [[HiddenHeartOfGold looked after his kids]] and was worshipped like the other gods. However, the more recent Wonder Woman stories have taken to portraying the pantheon as somewhere closer to what they were like in mythology.
* In ''UltimateFantasticFour'', [[spoiler:Reed Richards]], a hero in the original [[Comicbook/FantasticFour comics]], becomes a major villain.
** This also happens to the [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], Hank Pym, several X-Men, and [[spoiler: the Black Widow]], who become more villainous characters in the UltimateUniverse than their original incarnations were.

* Chaos in SonicTheComic, who is depicted as a transformed and already villainous Drakon Prosecutor with no sympathetic backstory or clear motivation. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', he is a mutated Chao who was previously peaceful, only turning violent when all of his Chao friends were massacred by the Knuckles Tribe, under the leadership of Chief Pachacamac. Tikal the Echidna, who Chaos tortures in the comic, was his friend in the game, [[spoiler:and the two leave in peace after Chaos is calmed down.]]
** Robotnik himself, while still maintaining some of his comical pathos from the games and other incarnations, is far more evil and void of redeeming aspects, gaining a similar dictator role as his WesternAnimation/SonicSatam and Underground counterpart (see below), then he becomes even worse than game and other incarnations by [[OmnicidalManiac trying to destroy Mobius outright]].
** Even Sonic himself to an extent, who is a much bigger JerkAss. Also Super Sonic is a psychopath.
* The {{New 52}} version of Silver Banshee is an inversion. Pre- {{Reboot}} she was an out and out villainess but the new version has been introduced as a very sympathetic character who seems set to be an outright heroine or at worst a TragicVillain. Being {{Supergirl}}'s only friend and having a supervillain father complicate things.

* [[spoiler: Spike Witwicky]] in the IDW {{Transformers}} is nothing like his G1 cartoon predecessor. While in the G1 cartoon, he is undoubtedly a good guy and aids the Autobots, in the comic, he is an utter jerk to many, and has a more sinister, hidden goal for aiding the Autobots.

* [[spoiler: Geppetto and Goldilocks]] in {{Fables}}. In their respective stories, [[spoiler:Geppetto]] is a benevolent, fatherly figure while [[spoiler:Goldilocks]] is nothing more than a harmless, if annoying, intruder.