History Main / HeelFaceReturn

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': After being PutOnTheBus for fourteen years in real-time, Cassidy and Butch return in an episode of ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' where it's revealed that both quit Team Rocket and have gone their separate ways with Cassidy running a restaurant and Butch running a bakery.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]
* Ryoko Asakura pulls one of these in the tenth installment of ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', serving as a BoxedCrook. This is the same girl who tried to kill Kyon simply to get a reaction out of Haruhi.

* The finale of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' features Goku fighting a boy named [[SdrawkcabName Uub]] in the World Martial Arts Tournament. As it turns out, Uub is the reincarnation of [[EldritchAbomination Majin Buu]], the final and most powerful villain in the series. However, Uub is not fighting Goku out of revenge, but because he entered the tournament to try and support his village with the prize money, and Goku just happens to be his opponent; Uub doesn't even ''remember'' his life as Majin Buu! Goku sees enough physical & emotional strength in the kind Uub that he trains him to become his successor as the guardian of Earth. Majin Buu's reincarnation as Uub was a favor granted by King Enma to Goku, though Goku doesn't actually know this.
* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita: Mars Chronicles'' features the return of Super Nova, an incarnation of Desty Nova last seen acting as TheDragon to Mbadi. Owing to his vested interest in observing Alita's progress, Nova agrees to help her restore her Imaginos body and figure out a way to resurrect Einherjar in order to save her old frenemy Erica.

* Barbossa from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' does this when he returns unexpectedly as one of the good guys at the end of the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest second movie]]. Also, to a lesser extent, Pintel and Ragetti at the beginning of the same movie, for no real reason other than to serve as comic relief.

* Ryoko Asakura pulls one of these in the tenth installment of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', serving as a BoxedCrook. This is the same girl who tried to kill Kyon simply to get a reaction out of Haruhi.

* This happens to both Man-Bat and the original Clayface in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman''. With Clayface, this is contradictory to what was shown earlier in the series unless you read an issue of the comic series ''The Batman Strikes'' which sets it up.

* Wrestling/JohnCena arranged for a ''double'' Heel Face Return in August 2010. Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/{{Edge}}, who had been unrepentant Heels up until then (Edge had had an earlier Heel Face Return when he'd won the Royal Rumble in January, but he'd subsequently turned heel again after failing to win the World Heavyweight Championship and attacking Randy Orton.) were persuaded by Cena to join him in a coalition consisting mostly of faces (Wrestling/BretHart, Great Khali, Wrestling/JohnMorrison, and R-Truth rounding out the group) after they were all individually attacked by Wrestling/TheNexus. Edge quit the group out of parnoia, while Jericho's egotism and desire to be the leader of Cena's army led to a match between the two that he lost and left due to the match stipulation. However, they eventually decided to fight beside Cena at ''[=SummerSlam=]'' after all. However, both promptly turned heel ''again'' at the actual event (granted, it was largely due to a misunderstanding on Cena's part); Jericho remained a heel for what remained of his WWE career, while Edge turned face for a ''third'' time that year after a confrontation with the ''RAW'' General Manager shortly afterward - leading to his final run prior to his untimely retirement.

[[folder:Film]]

** And then in ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', [[spoiler: the Terminator killed John and, when its mission to kill him was complete, had time to realise why killing him and having Skynet win was bad.]]

A typical HeelFaceTurn comes with a fair amount of buildup. Maybe TheHero had to [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat it into them]]. Maybe they sat through a NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech, or maybe they discovered that they're NotSoDifferent.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', when Natsu and his friends return from a mission, they suddenly discover that [[{{Jerkass}} Gajeel]] has joined their guild. They are not amused.
** We do get a flashback that explains the details about why he went from enemy to a member of Fairy Tail, though, but he does play the trope straight by having some problems making the others trust him.

* Loki is the main villain of ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', but the circumstances of ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' place him on the side of the heroes; by the time ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' rolls around he's committed a full HeelFaceTurn [[spoiler:before he's killed off]].

* Barbossa from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' does this when he returns unexpectedly as one of the good guys at the end of the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest second movie]]. Also, to a lesser extent, Pintel and Ragetti at the beginning of the same movie, for no real reason other than to serve as comic relief.
* Gunnar Jensen spends most of ''Film/TheExpendables'' as one of the main villains, before disappearing at the end of the second act. He reappears in the final scene and is forgiven by the heroes, and he spends the rest of the film series as a hero himself.
* Cecil and his cohorts in the third installment of ''Film/{{Night at the Museum}}''.

** "More Than Meets the Eye" features a comeback by Decepticon Laserbeak from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015''. As with Evan and Myles, he is established to have reformed in spite of being a villain in prior appearances.

* Storm Shadow started off affiliated with Cobra in the Creator/{{Sunbow}} seasons of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'', but the Creator/DiCEntertainment continuation had him as a member of the Joes and established that he defected from Cobra off-screen.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBotsAcademy'' episode "Museum Mystery" features the return of Evan and Myles from [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots the show's predecessor]], who have now renounced their past as criminals.

* This happens to both Man Bat and the original Clayface in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman''. With Clayface, this is contradictory to what was shown earlier in the series unless you read an issue of the comic series ''The Batman Strikes'' which sets it up.

A typical HeelFaceTurn comes with a fair amount of buildup. Maybe TheHero had to [[DefeatMeansFriendship beat it into them]]. Maybe they sat through a WorldOfCardboardSpeech, or maybe they discovered that they're NotSoDifferent.

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' plays with it with Kuroto Dan, who acts as the BigBad for the first half of the show but immediately joins the heroes upon his revival. He hasn't, however, actually turned ''good'', and remains totally unrepentant for his actions as a villain: it's just that the new antagonists are worse than he is.

* Happens to Fidget the bat in a sequel comic based on ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective''.

** Kevin was a recurring antagonist in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} the Original Series]], but becomes one of the [[PowerTrio main three protagonists]] in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]''. The explanation for his change was eventually explained in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]''.
** Gwen's ArchEnemy [[EvilSorcerer Hex]] appeared in the first three series as an antagonist, but, when he returned in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'', was revealed to have reformed offscreen. Which was particularly odd given that he was generally depicted as being more evil and with less justification than his niece Charmcaster, Gwen's trapped-in-the-HeelFaceRevolvingDoor rival, although she too would have applied for this trope [[WhatCouldHaveBeen if Gwen's college spin-off had happened.]]

* In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'', this happens when [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Grover, Annabeth and Clarisse]] return in "Threat Of Satanic Commonism," on the side of the Prayer Warriors, despite having served the Greek Gods in "The Evil Gods Part 1". To make matters worse, all three of them had been killed before, [[DeathIsCheap and Grover died more than once]]. Similarly, in "The Titans Strike Back," [[HarryPotter Ginny Weasley]] returns from the dead and willingly converts to the Prayer Warriors' side.

** Then when Chris returned in 2012, he managed this and turn heel in the span of ''ten minutes''. And he did it by saying nothing instead of a return promo and basically trolling to the crowd while shouting out things like "Yeah, baby!" for those ten minutes, for the sole purpose of turning the crowd against him. When he finally spoke on the February 6, 2012 episode of RAW, fully completing a heel turn, he outright admitted that he [[{{Troll}} trolled]] the entire audience and called them all Jericho wannabes.
* It doesn't always take an especially long absence, either. [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]], who was in a tag team with Wrestling/TheMiz, fell victim to Miz's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Miz gave him a sneak [[FinishingMove Skull Crushing Finale]], which almost ''did'' (in Kayfabe) crush his skull. Truth was out with a concussion for an even four weeks. (Because the Miz remained a heel, it was R-Truth who was likely turning.) At his next appearance a month later, his wrath had turned on the Miz. And "Little Jimmy" - his apparent ArchEnemy during his heel run - [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} was now his imaginary friend and spiritual advisor.]]

This trope [[IThoughtItMeant does not refer to]] switching [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor back to the good side]] after a FaceHeelTurn.

* It doesn't always take an especially long absence, either. [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]], who was in a tag team with TheMiz, fell victim to Miz's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Miz gave him a sneak [[FinishingMove Skull Crushing Finale]], which almost ''did'' (in Kayfabe) crush his skull. Truth was out with a concussion for an even four weeks. (Because the Miz remained a heel, it was R-Truth who was likely turning.) At his next appearance a month later, his wrath had turned on the Miz. And "Little Jimmy" - his apparent ArchEnemy during his heel run - [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} was now his imaginary friend and spiritual advisor.]]

* This happens to both Man Bat and Clayface in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman''.