Source: marvel.com
1. Hawkeye
(Iron Man, Avengers, Thunderbolts, Marvel Comics)
There’s no better Number One for this list than the guy who turned into such a great hero that no one even remembers he started off as a villain.
Clint Barton was born into an abusive family, but he ran away with his brother Barney to join the circus. There, Clint learned archery and became the best of the best, able to hit anything without fail. Clint was inspired by Iron Man, and decided to be a hero. However, he soon ran into the Black Widow, who convinced him to adopt more villainous means. The duo faced off with Iron Man many times, but eventually Barton got sick of supervillainy and signed up with the Avengers.
He served with them for many years, even helping to kickstart their West Coast branch, but that wasn’t the team that would define him. No, that would be the Thunderbolts. After the original Thunderbolts were unmasked as secretly being the Masters of Evil, much of the team wanted to reform for good. And who was brought in to help them with that? Hawkeye, the reformed villain reforming villains. It was brilliant, and it would go on to define Clint’s personality for good thereafter.
And there you go, ten bad guys who went good. Maybe next time I’ll look at the opposite side of the coin? Or something completely different. Who can say?
