5 Marvel Villains Who Took Over Hero Mantles and Were Surprisingly Better at the Job

A huge part of superhero lore examines the idea of passing the mantle from one hero to the next. In Marvel Comics, many iconic heroes inherited their personas and made them their own. These types of stories show how the next generation will continue the heroic mission of those who came before. However, sometimes superheroes will find that their names and legacies have been passed down to the villains that they had been constantly fighting. There have been numerous occasions where supervillains have hijacked superhero identities and become crimefighters themselves. The reasoning behind these identity shifts can range from spite to attempts at redemption. Many of these villains proved to be just as effective, if not more so, than their heroic counterparts because of their greater intelligence and ruthlessness.

Some of Marvel’s most notorious villains have taken over the mantles of their heroic enemies. While these changes are never permanent, the time that they do spend fighting crime either leads to a lot of people being saved or complete disaster.

5) Dark Avengers

Before his redemption arc, Norman Osborn not only stole the identity of one hero, but created an entire team of villains impersonating Marvel’s greatest superheroes. During the “Dark Reign” arc, Osborn became the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. (renamed H.A.M.M.E.R.) and created his own Avengers team. Osborn would repurpose one of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits to become the Iron Patriot. The other members of the Dark Avengers were some of the most vile and cruel villains in Marvel. Bullseye became Hawkeye, Moonstone became Ms. Marvel, Venom became Spider-Man, and Daken became Wolverine. Other members included Ares, Marvel Boy, and Sentry. While the Dark Avengers mostly worked to further Osborn’s own goals, they have managed to save the day a few times and stop aggressors like Namor and Morgan Le Fay, mainly by relying on the overwhelming power of Sentry. Unfortunately for them, Osborn’s ego and reliance on Sentry led to the destruction of Asgard and Sentry turning into the ravenous Void.

4) Green Goblin

In one of the strangest status quo shifts in Spider-Man comics history, the hero’s archnemesis, the Green Goblin, gave up his villainous ways and became the next Wall-Crawler. The psychopathic Norman Osborn had his drastic change of heart when his sins were literally shot out of him by the anti-villain Sin-Eater. Suddenly overcome with remorse for all the atrocities he’s committed, Osborn dedicated his life to making amends by becoming an ally of Spider-Man. Osborn would even become the hero Gold Goblin. However, when Peter left Earth for some intergalactic training, Osborn took up the mantle and became the new Spider-Man. Osborn’s suit came with web-shooters and had adhesive pads on the hands and feet, allowing him to make up for his lack of spider powers. Despite protests from other Spider-Heroes, Osborn proves himself to be an effective Spider-Man as he defeated villains like Tombstone and Hobgoblin. While his time as Spider-Man was brief, Norman did show during that period how much he truly changed as a person.

3) Kraven the Hunter

One of Spider-Man’s darkest stories is “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” where the villain stole his life. After countless failed attempts to kill the Web-Head ate away at Kraven’s sanity, he came up with the perfect plan to prove his superiority. Kaven shot Spider-Man with a tranquilizing dart and then buried him alive. With Spider-Man out of the way, Kraven took Spider-Man’s costume for himself and started fighting crime. Kraven’s crusade led to him defeating the villain Vermin, who Spider-Man originally could not apprehend without the help of Captain America. Kraven also hospitalized 15 other criminals and killed one. When the real Spider-Man eventually dug his way out of his own grave, Kraven had one last challenge for the hero. Releasing Vermin, Kraven had Spider-Man fight the villain. However, because Spider-Man’s refused to kill the villain, Vermin overpowered him and got away. Having finished his hunt and content that he was Spider-Man’s better, Kraven took his own life. With his greater ferocity, Kraven proved himself to be a much more dangerous vigilante.

2) Doctor Doom

Avengers: Doomsday is set to have former Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. take on the new role of Doctor Doom, which ties back to the iconic storyline Infamous Iron Man. After the events of Secret Wars and Civil War II, where Iron Man fell into a coma, the ruler of Latveria decided to continue the Armored Avenger’s legacy as a form of redemption. Doom even gave up control of Latveria to focus on his new crimefighting career. Combining science and magic, Doom was one of the most powerful versions of Iron Man ever seen in Marvel Comics. Although neither Iron Man nor S.H.I.E.L.D. bought Doom’s change of heart, he quickly proved himself to be a capable hero when defeating villains like Diablo, Intelligencia, and Mephisto. Unfortunately, the re-scarring of his face, the return of Tony Stark, and Latveria falling into ruin led to Doom abandoning the Iron Man mantle and once again becoming the iconic tyrannical villain.

1) Doctor Octopus

One of the best Spider-Man stories in recent years was Superior Spider-Man, in which Doctor Octopus stole the body and mantle of the Wall-Crawler. When Doc Ock’s regular body becomes old and he is on the verge of death, he swaps minds with Peter Parker, leaving the hero to die in his stead. However, Peter’s dying words motivate Doc Ock to continue Peter’s role as New York City’s protector. Unsurprisingly, Doctor Octopus was a far more ruthless, intelligent, and efficient version of Spider-Man. He developed a new suit outfitted with retractable talons, a wrist-mounted flamethrower, and giant mechanical spider arms. To better monitor and protect the city, Doctor Octopus also developed a series of drones called Spider-Bots for surveillance and combat. All of these new features and his greater brutality allowed Doc Ock to defeat the Sinister Six single-handedly and kill Massacre. Although Doc Ock would eventually give back to Peter control of his body, the villain proved to be worthy of the title “Superior Spider-Man.”

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