5 Marvel Heroes Who Were Replaced By Their Own Villains

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I’ve always loved how Marvel wasn’t afraid to shake things up! They were pioneers in showing that characters didn’t have to be simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Think about Namor – he started as someone who often clashed with heroes like the Human Torch, but was the hero in his own world. He was one of the first to switch sides, and it definitely didn’t stop there! During the Silver Age, we saw villains like Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and Black Widow all become heroes. Marvel really embraced the idea of characters evolving, and they’ve taken it even further.

Over the years, heroes have been replaced, which is common in comics, but what’s really interesting is when those replacements were the hero’s enemies! These villains would end up joining the good guys, and it always made for compelling stories. I’m excited to share how five Marvel heroes were actually replaced by their former foes, and the drama that came with it.

5) Beast

Beast is often seen as a villain now, but he wasn’t always. For many years, from the 1960s to the 2000s, he was a cheerful, acrobatic hero – more like Spider-Man than the brooding Wolverine. A much darker version of Beast appeared in the ‘Age of Apocalypse’ storyline, and that version eventually found a way into the main Marvel universe. He secretly replaced the original, heroic Beast on the X-Men. This evil Beast later joined the villain Onslaught, then disappeared. The original Beast returned, but over time, he began to adopt the darker personality and traits of the evil version who had impersonated him in the 1990s.

4) Iron Man

Iron Man has evolved significantly over time, but a major turning point came after the Civil War II storyline. In this story, he surprisingly didn’t support authoritarian ideas, instead opposing the use of an Inhuman’s powers to preemptively arrest potential criminals. This led to a showdown with Captain Marvel (though the fight wasn’t particularly well-written) and left Iron Man in a coma. With a void left in the superhero community, an unlikely figure emerged: Doctor Doom. Having experienced a shift in perspective after becoming a god-like being during Secret Wars, Doom decided to honor his rival, Tony Stark, by becoming the new Iron Man. Victor Von Doom held the Iron Man title for nearly two years before returning to his classic identity.

3) Charles Xavier

Charles Xavier always hoped humans and mutants could live together peacefully, and he dedicated his life to achieving that goal. He initially worked to help people around the world, then founded a school for mutants and created the X-Men, a team designed to prove mutants could be heroes. But his old friend, Magneto, disagreed with his approach. Magneto believed humans would never accept mutants, leading to years of conflict between them. Over time, Magneto began to change, and after a significant event known as “Trial of Magneto” in Uncanny X-Men #200, he even took over Xavier’s role at the Xavier Institute, essentially becoming a teacher and mentor like his friend, though he never officially adopted the name “Professor X.”

2) Wolverine

Wolverine has been temporarily replaced by enemies on a few occasions. Both Daken and Gorgon impersonated him while he was still alive, joining the Dark Avengers team. However, a more genuine replacement occurred later. After becoming an Avenger and fighting alongside Earth’s heroes, Wolverine joined the Avengers Unity Squad to battle threats like Red Skull and the Apocalypse Twins. During this time, he lost his healing ability and ultimately sacrificed himself to prevent Weapon X from weaponizing innocent people. Following the battle, several villains, including Sabretooth, had their morals flipped. Driven to emulate Wolverine, Sabretooth stepped in to fill his role on the Avengers Unity Squad – not by taking the name ‘Wolverine,’ but by taking his place on the team, much like Magneto had done before.

1) Spider-Man

Spider-Man is often considered Marvel’s most down-to-earth hero, and he’s faced off against some of their greatest villains. Interestingly, he’s been temporarily replaced by those enemies several times. This is currently happening in The Amazing Spider-Man comic series. One famous instance was “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” where Kraven defeated Spider-Man, buried him, and then pretended to be Spider-Man to prove his own abilities. Scorpion, while empowered by the Venom symbiote, also took on the Spider-Man role as part of the Dark Avengers team (another villain, Ai Apaec, later became the second Spider-Man on that team). More recently, in The Amazing Spider-Man #700, Doctor Octopus actually took control of Peter Parker’s body. Although Doc Ock took over, Peter shared his life story, inspiring him to use the body for good. Finally, Peter left Earth for a new job and asked Norman Osborn – one of his greatest foes – to temporarily become Spider-Man and protect the city.

https://comicbook.com/comics/news/10-most-underrated-marvel-stories-x-men-avengers-squadron-supreme/embed/#

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2025-12-02 23:12