Super villains are an integral part of the comic book world. After all, what is a hero without a villain to fight? And quite often, a villain can end up becoming even more popular than the hero himself. Now, no one knows what villains will actually be the most popular, but when they reach a certain point of popularity, then team ups with the good guys will start to occur, as the fans will demand it. And if they keep going on being even more popular and the fans connect with them even more, they may actually become full on heroes. And villains are always the most entertaining of heroes. In part because they'll cross more lines that other heroes won't, in part because they're trying to make up for the mistakes of their past. But perhaps most of all, it's the fact that flawed characters are more realistic and much more relatable to us than some of the more perfect heroes. But whatever the reason, it can't be denied that a villain turned hero is very entertaining. And this video is going to go over the five best times that super villains have become heroes, from both the Marvel and the DC Universe. Otto Octavius Doc Ock was never my favourite Spider-Man villain, if I'm honest. Although I do quite like what the PS4 video game has done with his character. But in the comics, he never really interested me. That is until he was dying and switched minds with Peter Parker. Now, none of us thought this would last more than a few comic issues when we saw it. After all, he was dying, so they'd have to switch bodies back pretty quick, or Spider-Man would be gone. But in the end, it actually did happen that Otto lived as Spider-Man while Peter Parker died in Otto Octavius' body. Now obviously we all knew that Peter Parker would come back at a later date, but we got to see Doc Ock in Spider-Man's body. And originally Doc Ock had no intention of becoming a hero, not really anyway. He was just going to do whatever he wanted. But as Parker was dying, he shared his memories with Otto, and so Octavius decided to be a hero, and a superior one than Spider-Man it was. And this comic book run is actually pretty entertaining. As we see what Peter Parker would be like if he was just a little bit more selfish. And if Peter Parker actually used his intellect to his fullest, after all him and Otto are pretty much on the same level of genius. And Otto does put his mind to good use, and he builds Parker Industries, which is basically the same as Apple in terms of the tech they sell and how successful it becomes, as it becomes a multi-billion dollar industry and has several offices all around the world. Now of course Peter Parker does eventually return, but it was a good run to see what this Spider-Man was like. And one of the most interesting parts of Doc Ock's hero journey is that he was a solo hero, and not part of a hero team. Now a villain doesn't obviously always have to join a team when they're turning good, but nine times out of ten they will be on a team, as they need other heroes to keep them on the straight and narrow, as it's very easy to fall back into their villainous ways. Now he does have Peter Parker's memories and consciousness in his head to be fair, and that does keep him honest, but it's still very impressive these are heroes for as long as he was, without the constant supervision of other heroes. Although to be fair like I say, he was quite selfish for quite a lot of it, but he still did save New York City and the world on a fair few occasions. Catwoman Now to be fair, Catwoman was never the typical super villain. She doesn't really kill, she doesn't want to take over the world, and she doesn't have some sinister master plan. She is basically just a thief, but in the beginning she was just a villain, and it was only as her relationship with Batman developed that she turned from a villain to an anti hero to an occasional hero. And the best example of this was when she was going to marry Batman, and she did become a full on hero. And watching her join the Bat family and earn her place among the others was a great moment in her character's life, and it was a great Batman moment because for a while it really seemed like Batman was going to get a happy ending. He had found a woman who both loved him and was able to accept his life as Batman, as well as his life as Bruce Wayne. But then at the last minute, Catwoman left him at the altar, as she felt that if Batman was actually happy, then he wouldn't be an effective hero. As Batman needs his misery to drive him on his mission to get rid of crime. But as entertaining as this was, I think her best stint as a hero may actually be in the injustice video games, and more importantly, in the comic book tie-in series, which sees her leave crime to fight with Batman, then leave Batman to join Superman in order to protect Batman, and then when Superman falls, she rejoins Batman again and works as a double agent with the supervillains. It's a great comic book read and a great story in the injustice video games to watch unfold. Captain Cold. In the forever evil comic event, we see the bad guys of the main DC universe team up to take out the even worse bad guys from another universe that is invading and taking over the world. Well mainly they just take over America, but in DC comics that is pretty much considered to be the world. And of course one of the villains on this team is Captain Cold. And after he has helped take out the bad guys, along the way even managing to freeze off one of Johnny Quicks' legs, he manages to get a pardon for his past crimes, thanks to his aerobics and saving the world. And after this when he goes straight he becomes Lex Lufus' bodyguard, and essentially becomes a member of the Justice League, even helping to save the world a few times. And he was actually crucial in stopping the Amazzo virus, as he was the one who discovered that the virus's weakness was the Cold. And it's a great run he had as a hero in the comics, as he's a very entertaining character, and it was actually one of the Justice League's more interesting stories in modern times. And of course in the Arrowverse slendered the star also became a good guy, joining the Legends of Tomorrow team, and even sacrificing himself to save his team and a lot of others. And even though he's dead, thanks to time travel and alternate versions of him from other realities, he still regularly appears in the Arrowverse shows, normally in an antihero type role. Magneto Magneto is a legendary character and one of the most powerful mutants there is. And throughout most of his life he has been the bad guy. In fact he was actually the X-Men's very first bad guy, and he has always been fighting humanity for the rights of mutants. But eventually he did switch sides. This happens after the events of House of M, which has wiped out most of the world's mutants, and Magneto himself has also lost his powers. Now of course he does eventually get these powers back, and when he does he decides to join the X-Men as he sees them as the best hope for Mutant Kinds future, as pretty much every Mutant in the world is on their side. And Magneto is a great X-Men character, using his immense power he quickly becomes integral to the team, even saving San Francisco from an earthquake by manipulating the tectonic plates beneath it. And earning Cyclops trust, along with a lot of the other X-Men, by saving the life of Kitty Pride, who was stranded in deep space beyond anyone's help, and basically was given up for dead. And with Magneto's trademark moral ambiguity and his quick wit, he was a very entertaining character and a fan favourite member of the team. Of course in the live action films he has also sort of become a good guy at times, and was an almost X-Men here and there, though he frequently reverse back to his villainous and murderous ways. In fact in the live action films it's very confusing to know where he's at, but it is his villainous edge that makes him so entertaining, as you never know when he's going to be the good guy, or when he's about to go on a killing spree. Legs Lufa Legs Lufa has always been the villain. Now he doesn't actually see himself that way of course, as he is a textbook narcissist, who thinks that he is essentially the saviour of the human race. Even his war against Superman is, at least in his mind, just to protect the world from meta-powered aliens. But like Captain Colt, during the Forever Evil event, he was forced to take out the evil version of the Justice League, which was actually perfect for him as he always saw the Justice League as evil anyway, and for once he actually was the saviour of mankind. And he found that he liked this. And so after discovering Batman's true identity, he essentially used it to blackmail the league, into letting him join as a member. He claimed that he wanted to protect the world, and thought that being in the Justice League was the best way to go about doing this. Though to be honest, he probably more likely liked the attention and aberration he received as a league member. Now I do have to say that the Justice League didn't actually let him join because he was blackmailing Batman. They went along with the plan because they actually intended to use this close access to his business dealings, to find evidence of criminal dealings to take him down once and for all. Of course, as it turned out, it didn't quite work out that way, and in the end, Lex Lufa actually ended up being quite a useful addition to the team, and he also managed to help save the world on a number of occasions. But sadly, it didn't take him long to go back to his villainous ways, and eventually he was forced to leave the league. He did actually still continue as a hero, or at least his approximation of a hero, for a little while after this. But he eventually turned full on Super villain again, even going so far as to forge his own Legion of Doom, which of course was to take down the Justice League. And this is a shame because he was actually one of the more entertaining members of the Justice League, and I really wish that he had stayed because, like I say, the great joy of super villains is you never quite know what they're going to do. Are they going to be selfish? Are they going to be selfless? Good? Evil? You just don't know, and that's what makes them so entertaining. Not to mention the fact that Lex Lufa had the intellect of Batman, combined with the technology equivalent of Iron Man, and yet he had none of their morals, which is basically a perfect recipe for an interesting and a hero. But which of these villains was your personal favourite, and are there any other villains that turned into heroes that you think should have been mentioned instead? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and as let us say a quick thank you to those you made this video possible, by donating to the Needle Mass Productions page on Patreon. 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