History HeelFaceRevolvingDoor / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' qualifies, given that he's an extreme version of an AntiHero. He can appear as a hindrance to other superheroes who try to inflict a no killing rule on him. While he'd never work with a villain, it's still hard to find him to be an ally.

* Armadillo; originally a low level thief mutated into a humanoid armadillo by [[MadScientist Dr. Karl Malus]], he fought Captain America but reformed at the end because he wasn't really an evil guy. In his next appearance, he temporarily went mad as his wife [[UngratefulBastard (whom he underwent the mutation to get money to save from illness)]], [[YourCheatingHeart cheated on him]], with Cap again forced to stop his rampage. Since then, he's appeared throughout the Marvel Universe, usually serving as DumbMuscle for various villains, but has also been an MMA fighter (in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''), a rodeo performer, and even joined a hero team in ''ComicBook/CivilWar.'' His most recent appearances have had him working with the Hood's crime syndicate, & as part of HYDRA's "Army of Evil" in ComicBook/SecretEmpire so he appears to be a heel for the moment. [[note]] Perhaps justified as, being a large armadillo man, it is probably hard for him to get legitimate work, and supervillains are likely the only ones to hire him. [[/note]]

* Armadillo; originally a low level thief mutated into a humanoid armadillo by [[MadScientist Dr. Karl Malus]], he fought Captain America but reformed at the end because he wasn't really an evil guy. In his next appearance, he temporarily went mad as his wife [[UngratefulBastard (whom he underwent the mutation to get money to save from illness)]][[YourCheatingHeart cheated on him]], with Cap again forced to stop his rampage. Since then, he's appeared throughout the Marvel Universe, usually serving as DumbMuscle for various villains, but has also been an MMA fighter (in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''), a rodeo performer, and even joined a hero team in ''ComicBook/CivilWar.'' His most recent appearances have had him working with the Hood's crime syndicate, & as part of HYDRA's "Army of Evil" in ComicBook/SecretEmpire so he appears to be a heel for the moment. [[note]] Perhaps justified as, being a large armadillo man, it is probably hard for him to get legitimate work, and supervillains are likely the only ones to hire him. [[/note]]

* Armadillo; originally a low level thief mutated into a humanoid armadillo by [[MadScientist Dr. Karl Malus]], he fought Captain America but reformed at the end because he wasn't really an evil guy. In his next appearance, he temporarily went mad as his wife [[UngratefulBastard(whom he underwent the mutation to get money to save from illness)]][[YourCheatingHeart cheated on him]], with Cap again forced to stop his rampage. Since then, he's appeared throughout the Marvel Universe, usually serving as DumbMuscle for various villains, but has also been an MMA fighter (in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''), a rodeo performer, and even joined a hero team in ''ComicBook/CivilWar.'' His most recent appearances have had him working with the Hood's crime syndicate, & as part of HYDRA's "Army of Evil" in ComicBook/SecretEmpire so he appears to be a heel for the moment. [[note]] Perhaps justified as, being a large armadillo man, it is probably hard for him to get legitimate work, and supervillains are likely the only ones to hire him. [[/note]]

* Armadillo; originally a low level thief mutated into a humanoid armadillo by [[MadScientist Dr. Karl Malus]] he fought Captain America but reformed at the end because he wasn't really an evil guy. In his next appearance, he temporarily went mad as his wife (whom he underwent the mutation to get money to save from illness)[[YourCheatingHeart cheated on him]] with Cap having to stop him. Since then, he's appeared throughout the Marvel Universe, usually serving as DumbMuscle for various villains, but has also been an MMA fighter (in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' a rodeo performer, and even joined part of the 50-State Initiative in ''ComicBook/CivilWar.'' His most recent appearances have had him working with the Hood's crime syndicate, as part of HYDRA's "Army of Evil" in ComicBook/SecretEmpire and brief stints with other villains so he appears to be a heel for the moment. [[note]] Perhaps justified as, being a large armadillo man, it is probably hard for him to get legitimate work, and supervillains are likely the only ones to hire him. [[/note]]

* Armadillo, a low level thief transformed into a humanoid armadillo, who's made frequent appearances throughout the Marvel Universe. He's not a really evil guy, but his appearances fluctuate between him having a legit job & working with other villains(though this could be justified, as being a giant armadillo probably makes getting most legitimate jobs difficult so supervillains are probably the only ones willing to hire him). His most recent appearances have had him working with the Hood's crime syndicate and as part of HYDRA's "Army of Evil" in ComicBook/SecretEmpire so he appears to be a heel for the moment.

* [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor the Sub-Mariner]] deals with this so often that the trope may as well be named The Namor. He fought the original Human Torch (that's bad) and allied with him against the Axis in World War II (that's good) then swore revenge against humanity when he thought they'd destroyed Atlantis (that's bad) then swore to defend Atlantis once it was discovered again (that's good), and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons the frogurt is also cursed (that's bad)]]. To put it another way: Marvel currently has two "ruling councils" of good guys and bad guys. Namor is on both of them.

* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''
** Sabretooth started a villain, and in the X-Men tie-in he joined the Alpha Flight against Magneto, and then left that team and joined Magneto ''during a fight''.
** Multiple man has his mind distributed on so many duplicate bodies, that he's basically losing himself, and his duplicates gradually start to think by themselves. This is fully explored in the X-Men tie-in, but it also appears in the main story, as some duplicates tried to blow up the Triskelion for Magneto, and another duplicate (neither of them the "main" Multiple man, whose original is elsewhere) tried to kill Magneto because mutants also died in the flood.

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} wavers between mercenary, good guy, or doing merc work for the bad guy of the week. In recent years, Deadpool has been trying very hard to be more of a hero, especially after his long-lost daughter, Ellie, comes back into his life. This put him at odds with his wife, Shiklah, who wants him to stay the killer she married. He has fallen off hard again by accidentally siding with Hydra in Secret Empire. [[spoiler: WordOfGod came out and talked about the new series, entitled The Despicable Deadpool, which will be a part of Marvel Legacy. WordOfGod states that Deadpool will be ostracized for his mistakes in Secret Empire, and will receive no credit for the things he did to help rectify the situation. Thus, he will finally give up on being a hero, and return to his roots as a mercenary.]]

* Speaking of [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Star Wars comics]], and ESWU in general, Baron Soontir Fel. He never was shown as a really bad guy, but he switched sides like few others. Let's see -- the [[AcePilot best Imperial pilot]] barring Vader (and that's debatable), and receiver of a baronial title, he became quickly disillusioned with Empire and [[ComicBook/XWingSeries joined Rogue Squadron]] in exchange to help in searching for his wife, then involuntarily left the New Republic (he was abducted) for a stint in the Empire of the Hand, then served the Chiss Ascendancy (again distinguishing himself there up to receiving the Assistant Syndic position), and then returning to the Empire again, now serving Pellaeon's [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]]... Let's say that when his children founded a new Empire, it didn't surprise anyone.

* It's a fairly well documented fact that any time a villain becomes popular enough, Marvel will take a stab at making them a hero, or at least an anti-hero. The most ridiculous example: their repeated (at least three times) attempts to make sociopathic casual killer and rapist Sabretooth into an X-Man. At least they recently seem to have realized that rehabilitating him will never pan out, and resorted to [[ExplosiveLeash coercing]] him into behaving himself. Although there have been at least two alternate universe versions that exist primarily to allow a heroic Sabretooth without all the baggage.

** Comicbook/{{Venom}} had a tendency to hop back and forth between villain and anti-hero (usually dependent on whose perspective a given book was shown from), with the two characters that made up the original Venom - Eddie Brock and the symbiote - going through the revolving door at different speeds. Sometime in the '90s it just became accepted that he was an anti-hero, never really being cast as a proper villain, even when working as an enemy to Spider-Man. This is likely because his villain gig was taken over by his "son", Carnage. Then there was a period where the Venom symbiote was bonded to the Scorpion (definitely a villain). Then it got bonded to Flash Thompson, who did his best to stay on the anti-hero side. Then it went to Lee Price, very much a villain. Then back to Eddie Brock.

** Comicbook/{{Venom}} had a tendency to hop back and forth between villain and anti-hero (usually dependent on whose perspective a given book was shown from). Sometime in the '90s it just became accepted that he was an anti-hero, never really being cast as a proper villain, even when working as an enemy to Spider-Man. This is likely because his villain gig was taken over by his "son", Carnage. Then there was a period where the Venom symbiote was bonded to the Scorpion (definitely a villain). Then it got bonded to Flash Thompson, who did his best to stay on the anti-hero side.

*** Meanwhile. Eddie Brock, the Venom symbiote's original host (not counting Spider-Man) ended his feud with Spider-Man after becoming [[GoodCounterpart Anti-Venom]], then after he lost his new symbiote, became a symbiote-hunting AntiHero, and ultimately became the new host of Toxin.

*** And yet, written in a way that isn't [[{{Narm}} Narmariffic]]. Arguably, the above list is oversimplifying everything. Most of the time Vos is in the gray area, and occasionally shifts slightly to light or dark.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Despite his short tenure Dodge's desire to be special leads to him stealing a prototype teleporter which he uses to try and become a hero, when he screws that up he blames it on Robin and becomes a villain who sells fatal experimental drugs to finance his "revenge", then after one of the villains he recruits for his revenge plot takes over from him and the Teen Titans have all but defeated his crew he switches sides claiming to have always wanted to be a hero and seems to die in a teleporter accident fighting the guy who pushed him out of the leadership spot.

** [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Mary Marvel]] herself applies in ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'', starting out good, getting corrupted by Black Adam's power, doing a HeelFaceTurn, gaining her old powers back, and then moronically deciding to accept Black Adam's power and turn evil again after Darkseid has a friendly chat with her ([[http://readrant.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/couch-got-an-empty-spot-with-your-name-on-it-girl.jpg no, that's not a euphemism]]). And then she [[CrowningMomentOfFunny beats up Donna Troy]] [[GrievousHarmWithABody using Kyle Rayner as a club]], among other evulz. If you're wondering, this is just one reason for why 90% of the events of ''Countdown'' are subjected to a blanket decree of LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain both [[CanonDiscontinuity in canon]] and [[FanonDiscontinuity out.]]

** Poison Ivy, while always a villain when on her own, tends to reform (or at least become neutral) whenever Harley is attempting to reform.

** The Riddler sometimes went through the door as well, though currently he's a Face. It's unknown whether he will become a Heel again.

* Professor Emil Hamilton was introduced to ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics as a MadScientist who attacked Superman after Lex Luthor took credit for his inventions, in order to [[TheyCalledMeMad show them all]]! After responding well to therapy, he became Superman's science advisor. When [[Comicbook/{{Steel}} John Henry Irons]] started taking on that role, Emil went mad again and became the villain Overmind, although he blamed this on being taken over by B-13 technology through his [[ArtificialLimbs robot arm]]. Once this was dealt with, he and John Henry worked together, thanks to Emil's better understanding of B-13 tech. Then he became convinced that Superman's powers were sucking energy from the Sun and reducing the viable lifespan of the Earth, so he became the WellIntentionedExtremist villain Ruin and crossed the MoralEventHorizon by targeting Clark's loved ones. And that was the last time we saw him before ''Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}}''.

* Creator/MarvelComics' version of Comicbook/{{Ares}} started as a CardCarryingVillain who was causing wars and conflicts only because he liked it, but was also fighting alongside other Olympians against a common enemy. Then he realized the other gods would never accept him, went to Earth and lived peacefully among the mortals. Then, when his son got kidnapped, he joined the Olympians in the fight against evil Japanese god Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Later he joined one of the incarnations of Comicbook/TheAvengers but often acted like a typical villain towards [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]]. [[ComicBook/DarkReign Then]] he joined the ComicBook/DarkAvengers, a team of villains posing as heroes, and was fighting both good and bad guys as well, while being one of the few members who were treating the heroic part seriously. At the same time he was training a team of killers for ComicBook/NormanOsborn and let his son join ComicBook/NickFury, who was opposing Osborn. Finally he [[spoiler: betrayed Osborn after finding out he lied to him about Asgard being ruled by Loki and died, fighting alongside Norse Gods he was beating minutes ago]].

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} wavers between mercenary, good guy, or doing merc work for the bad guy of the week. In recent years, Deadpool has been trying very hard to be more of a hero, especially after his long-lost daughter, Ellie, comes back into his life. This put him at odds with his wife, Shiklah, who wants him to stay the killer she married. He has fallen off hard again by accidentally siding with Hydra in Secret Empire. [[spoiler: WordOfGod came out and talked about the new series, entitled The Despicable Deadpool, which will be apart of Marvel Legacy. WordOfGod states that Deadpool will be ostracized for his mistakes in Secret Empire, and will receive no credit for the things he did to help rectify the situation. Thus, he will finally give up on being a hero, and return to his roots as a mercenary.]]
* Ghost. He started out as an ComicBook/IronMan villain, but during Comicbook/DarkReign he worked against Norman Osborn from within the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} and was instrumental in taking him down. Of course, this was immediately followed by him trying to kill Tony Stark yet again. Several times. He's currently one of the most heroic members of the new Thunderbolts, despite trying to kill Tony Stark. Again.
* Due to his simple and unstable psyche and tendency to go into blind rages, TheIncredibleHulk has gone from hero to villain and back again his entire existence. For instance, Hulk will save a city one minute, then someone (typically his nemesis General Ross) will piss him off and he'll start ripping apart the city he just saved. In the end though, Hulk will usually end up doing the right thing, even if it's just by accident.

* ComicBook/TheSentry went back and forth endlessly between being the universe's greatest hero, its greatest threat, or both at the same time. He was a bundle of mental issues even without factoring in The Void (which was either a SplitPersonality, an EvilCounterpart that was created when he gained his powers, or his true self), so it's no surprise that his Heel-Face status is as unstable as the rest of him. After some years of this, the narrative finally settled on "greatest threat" in ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', where he merged with the Void and became a HumanoidAbomination. Since then he has died and been reborn (again) as one of the Final Horsemen of Apocalypse, which would seem to close the door on him once and for all (not least because he was PutOnABus at the story's end and no one seems to be banging down the doors to see him come back).

* This Trope could also be named The ComicBook/BlackAdam. He started out as a champion of his people in ancient times named Mighty Adam (that's good) then became a brutal dictator and conqueror when his family was killed by a supervillain (that's bad) then millennia later attempted to reform and even joined the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica (that's good) then became a not-so-brutal dictator of his country again (NOT the bad part) and later joined a Society of Villains to ensure their safety (that's bad). After said Society betrayed him, he later fought against them when they tried to take over Metropolis (that's good) then went back to being a harsh dictator with plans to form a new Axis Powers coalition (that's bad). When he gained a new family he tried to go back to his old heroic ways and traveled the world fighting evil alongside them (that's good). When this family was killed by supervillains he went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, ''murdered an entire country'', and fought every superhero on Earth (that's bad, but awesome). Most recently, his wife CameBackWrong and started turning his people into dirt and he tried to defend them [[spoiler: leading to a truly bizarre situation with ''Black Adam'' defending innocents from the ''corrupted [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] and Mary Marvel'']] (that's good.) Then he got turned into a statue alongside his wife for his troubles [[spoiler: and an oh so ominous shadowy figure wants to make them his champions...(that's bad)]]. At least there's a free choice of toppings (that's good)...that contain potassium benzoate (...that's bad). By the Power of Shazam, that is one busy revolving door.

** But it's not done yet. Quinlan's final story is set during [[RevengeOfTheSith Order 66]], which shows him deciding that he has to survive and kill Emperor Palpatine by any means necessary (that's bad). Ultimately, though, he realizes that his duty as a Jedi is to protect a Wookiee village from the clone commander hunting him, and seems to sacrifice his life to stop him (that's good). [[spoiler: He survives, returns to his surviving friends and promises never to let his darkness affect his infant son (that's even better).]]

* Franchise/{{Batman}} villain ComicBook/TwoFace literally flips a coin to determine whether he'll do something good or bad. Harley Quinn has also had more than one failed reformation, mostly due to her lingering, err, ''affections'' for TheJoker -- himself probably the Batman villain ''least'' likely to have a HeelFaceTurn.

* ComicBook/TheSentry, also from Creator/MarvelComics, goes back and forth between being the universe's greatest hero, its greatest threat, or both at the same time. He's a bundle of mental issues even without factoring in The Void (which is either a SplitPersonality, an EvilCounterpart that was created when he gained his powers, or his true self), so it's no surprise that his Heel-Face status is as unstable as the rest of him. This is not good news for anyone, hero or villain, when coupled to power that can sunder worlds.

** ComicBook/{{Magneto}}. Takes wider swings across the spectrum than any character in comics. Sometimes he's a straight-up villain, other times (most of them) an AntiVillain, and also an AntiHero. He formed the EvilCounterpart of the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Mutants, but has also nto only been a member of the X-Men, but even ''led'' them at one point.

* Captain Boomerang Jr. from Franchise/TheDCU. He started out as his father's replacement in [[TheFlash The Rogues]], then tried his hand at being a hero as a member of Nightwing's Outsiders. When he and Dick got into an argument about what to do with Chemo, the living chemical weapon that destroyed Bludhaven, they got into a fight and Owen absconded with Chemo to join the Suicide Squad. In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Owen's desire to be with his father again overrode his morals. He fed people to his zombie father, wrongly believing that this would revive him. Including women and children, [[EvenEvilHasStandards which prompted Captain Cold and the other Rogues to kill him.]] Cold lampshaded Owen's Revolving Door nature, saying he was like a boomerang going back and forth everywhere.