When villains convert to good or pretend to

[Wussycat]

What are some episodes where villains claim that they've turned good?

When has a villain claimed to turn good and was actually telling the truth?

When has a villain genuinely turned good, but then reverted back because they were treated badly?


The Penguin has claimed to turn good in two Batman cartoons. In the 70s cartoon he only pretended to turn good. In TNBA he genuinely turned over a new leaf, but couldn't keep it up.

Count Spankulot tried to help the Kids Next Door in order to make up for accidentally spanking an innocent kid. But then Sector V get sick of his interference and set him up so that he spanks the judge that sentenced him for spanking the kid, as well as the judge's wife. Count Spankulot reverts back to villainy when Numbuh 3 lets it slip out that they set him up both times.

[Hell Boy]

To answer the third question.Vegeta from dragon ball z was a good guy for a while up until they met babidi and he turned to majin vegeta and went hell bent on killing goku again.Of course by the end of the series he mellowed out again and accepted goku as the better fighter.

[Dr.Pepper]

Also on Kids Next Door, Numbuh 2's grandma was only a true villian in one episode and then became more like an anti-hero.

[Radical]

Here's a few that I know:

Villains who were good, but still bad:

Stewie(Family Guy) - When Family Guy first came to FOX, he was one psychotic,diabolical baby on wanting to kill Lois, until after its cancellation they soften him until than one episode he was still evil on bashing on Brian for wanting his money.

Ren Hoek(R & S) - He was the biggest jerk on always bashing on Stimpy until on some episodes he had a heart and cared about Stimpy in that Stinky episode, but further on was still bad sometimes.

Prince Zuko(Avatar) - He was an interesting villain throughout season 1, and on season 2, he was kind of good as an anti-hero when Azula took over and on the end of season 2, he went to join Azula's side.

Dinobot(Beast Wars) - He was one of Megatron's Predacons until when he joined the good side and while on the good side I'd hope he'd bashed on that annoying Rattrap(I've always hated him!), but then he died and after his death, Megatron ressurected him and turned him into a new/improved killing machine.

Cyril Sneer(The Raccoons) - He's my favorite villain in one of my favorite shows, which he was evil & ruthless, but further on on some episodes he developed a soft spot at times, but further on was still the bad guy mostly.

Villains that turned good:

Xanatos(Gargoyles)
Terra/Jinx(Teen Titans)
Amazo(JLU)- don't know if he counts since Lex Luthor used him.
Amanda Waller/The Trickster(JLU)
The Hunter Lions(Samurai Jack)
Rubberband Man/Aquamaria(Static Shock)
Bart Simpson/Loogie/Damien(South Park)
Nethlite/Ann & Alan/Negamoon Sisters(Sailormoon)
Ken/Digimon Emperor,BlackWargreymon(Digimon)
Pixie/Big Blue/Tainted Cat Brothers/Centaur(Monster Rancher)
Pegasus/Marik/Noa/Dartz/Dr.Crowler/Prof.Banner/Kagemaru/Bonaparte/Sartorious(YGO!/GX)
Checkmate/Sunshine/Jeager/Skullduggery/El Nino/Barrier Freeman/Ricardo(Ultimate Muscle)
Jelly Jiggler/Softon/Dengakuman/Torpedo Girl/Suzu(Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo)
Zabuza/Haku/KibaGaara/Kankuro/Temari(Naruto)

[Silverstar]

Ren Hoek(R & S) - He was the biggest jerk on always bashing on Stimpy until on some episodes he had a heart and cared about Stimpy in that Stinky episode, but further on was still bad sometimes.

I don't think Ren can be counted as a villain. He's more of an unleashed id.

[sleepydumbdude]

Black Arachnia from Beast Wars. She tended to flip flop a lot. I guess you could say Dinobot since he was bad for a few episodes.
Then there was that main bad guy on Gargoyles who turned good.

[zoombie]

Sideshow Bob (The Simpsons) - he actully turned good, and helped throught his brother's Cecil's plan on making a cheap dam, and the idiot Cheif Wiggem puts him in jail anyway, and the Simpsons don't do a things to help him.

[NintyScreen]

King Koopa (Super Mario Bros. 3 Show) - He had only did this once. Sadly though, it was pathetic how it was very easy to tell that he was fooling around with the concept.

[veemonjosh]

Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown was shown to be on the good side about three times.

The first time, he tried to trick the monks into thinking that he was on their side. Then, IIRC, it turned out that part of him actually WANTED to be a good guy, but the damage had been done. (I can't remember which episode this was...)

The second time was once his good and evil side had been separated due to the Ying-Yang Yo-Yo. His good side joined the monks temporarally until he was forced to switch back to his evil side. A few episodes later, they eventually merged back. ("Judging Omi" through "The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean")

The third time was in an alternate universe where the events above happened differently, so Jack Spicer's good side was still part of what was left of the monks. Eventually, this was fixed when the two universes combined into one, and Jack was back to being evil. ("Time After Time Part 2")

[Movie06]

Well the Four Black Moon Sisters from Sailor Moon have been converted to good.

[Caswin]

The Abominable Snow Monster from Rudolph and the initial villain from season two of Digimon qualify. I find these conversions more believable when they actually defeat the bad guy first - not many people are going to give up a life of crime while it's still working for them.

[Zen Man]

King Koopa (Super Mario Bros. 3 Show) - He had only did this once. Sadly though, it was pathetic how it was very easy to tell that he was fooling around with the concept.

When he said he was throwing in the towel and handing his entire kingdom over to Princess Toadstool, I remember that. I still can't believe they fell for it.

[Wussycat]

AoStH - After accidentally turning Tails into a giant, Dr. Robotnik takes this as an opportunity to play hero. He brainwashes the people into believing he's the hero and Sonic's the villain by giving them gifts. All the damage Tails accidentally caused didn't help either.

[Juu-kuchi]

Optimatus in the finale of Loonatics Unleashed Season 2 is an example of a villain turning to good.

It was one of the worst conversions I've ever experienced.

[sag_2002]

Jynx (sp?)-Teen Titans: Met up with Kid Flash, became a heroine in Titans Together.

The Evil Legendary Warriors - Digimon Frontier: Villians in the first half of the season, turned good in Royal Knights/Lucemon arc.

Koichi- Digimon Frontier: Once Duskmon until the Legendary Warriors purified him

[BigEclipse]

Technically, as one point nearly every Z-Fighter (Goku's allies) were bad guys. At the start of DBZ, Piccolo was considered to be the earth's biggest threat before the arrival of Goku's brother Raditz. In all, Yamcha, Tien and Choazu, Piccolo, Vegeta, Andriod 16, Android 18 (and 17 to some extent, though he became evil again in GT, but there are some who don't consider GT canonn), Dabura, and Majin Buu, and Kid Buu. I might have missed a few, as I know of a few more villians that became good buys during the series Dragonball run.

Also, many of Kenshin's adversaries in Rurouni Kenshin became his allies, most notably Siato and Aoshi. Even Sano had his run in with Kenshin before he started wandering with him. Many of Shishio's men found work within the government as well.

Avalanche once joined the X-Men in Evolution, but it was short lived. It was also rumored that Colossus left the Acolytes to join with the X-Men during the series finale and Rogue had been a member of the Brotherhood the first half of the first season.

In the original Transformers series, one of the new triple changers, I think it was Sandstorm, left the Decepticons to join the Autobots. Also, in the first season, Jetfire (or Skyfire) also left the Decepticons to join the Autobots.

In G.I. Joe, one of Sgt. Slaughter's Roughnecks (I believe they were called that) was an ex-Cobra Viper, and Stormshadow joined the Joes in the series second run in the early 90's.

[DarthGonzo]

Several episodes of Darkwing Duck had villians team up with DW to face a common foe.

Darkwing teamed up with Bushroot in Twin Beaks and worked together with Quackerjack in The Haunting of Mr. Bananabrain. Quackerjack and Megavolt both worked together with Gosalyn and Launchpad in Time and Punishment and Stressed to Kill. Darkwing also teamed up with Bushroot, Quackerjack, Megavolt and Liquidator to take down Negaduck in Jail Bird. Finally, Darkwing teamed up with Megavolt in The Frequency Fiends, Negaduck and Twitching Channels. Morgana also started out as a villain as well, as did Neptunia and Stegmutt.

[Anthonynotes]

The "villain says they turned good but were only pretending" is a very old cartoon cliche...

Recall in "Garfield and Friends", Orson's brother Gort claimed to have turned good (Orson noting he must be sincere since he went to the trouble of bringing the show's band for his "I'm good now" song), but of course, it was all just a plot to steal the farm's vegetables...

For villains turning good and staying that way:

Does it count if this turning-good happened before the start of the series? If so, guess I'd count Digit on "Cyberchase", who (before the series' first episode/per his backstory) used to work for the Hacker until he decided to defect to Mother Board, having been turned off by seeing how evil Hacker could be...

-B.

[Tommy Lawson]

The Sun Riders in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! The first episode I saw with them had them as a villain team. It was later followed by a follow-up episode where Chiro and the other monkeys had to work together with them, and Chiro doesn't believe the Sun Riders' claim they had reformed from their evil ways. A good follow-up episode to what could have been a one-time only appearance by the Sun Riders.

[TnAdct1]

Avalanche once joined the X-Men in Evolution, but it was short lived. It was also rumored that Colossus left the Acolytes to join with the X-Men during the series finale and Rogue had been a member of the Brotherhood the first half of the first season. The part involving Rogue is not surprising, since she was originally a villainess in the comics, with change of sides (in both the comics and the original cartoon) being the result of her seeking Prof. X's help after she used her mutant power on Ms. Marvel and, along with gaining Ms. Marvel's powers, also began to be driven insane by Ms. Marvel's psyche conflicting with her personality).

EDIT: One more "bad guy to good guy" thing worth mentioning (although this one appears in the manga version of said title only, as the character doesn't appear in the anime version): Kotarou Inugami from Negima. Originally, Kotarou was one of the mercenaries that was hired to prevent Negi from delivering a message to the head of the Kansai Magic Association (and in the kidnapping of Konoka). However, despite being on the villains' side, he's actually isn't that evil (i.e. he tried to avoid harming females, he doesn't harm "innocents"). Hence, later, when he breaks out of prison in hopes of fighting with Negi again, Kotarou becomes one of the "good guys" when he helps Negi defeat a demon that was responsible for turning almost all the people in Negi's village into stone.

[Antiyonder]

Villains that turned good:

Xanatos(Gargoyles)

Xanatos, not so much. As seen in the current and upcoming issues, he still have his usual agendas and plans.

However, the upcoming comic miniseries "Gargoyles: Bad Guys" will feature the following antagonists trying to go straight:
- Dingo
- Matrix
- Yama (From Bushido)
- Fang (after opposing the Bad Guys that is)
- Robyn Canmore/The Hunter

On that note, in the unmade spinoff Gargoyles 2198 Demona will side with the protagonists of the series, but only due to the threat against Gargoyle kind.

Since Dragon Ball was brought up:
- Oolong in his first appearance kidnapped young girls from the village, but gave up when Goku caught up to him. Plus the girls he kidnapped ordered him around, whereas he wanted them to take care of him.

- Krillen while not a villain, disliked Goku at first. He even took credit for finding the rock with Roshi's Kanji symbol and got dinner instead of Goku (but the dinner was made with a poison fish so Krillen got sick). The rivalry ended after their match in the Tien Saga.


Kare Kano while the show didn't have any villains, quite a few antagonistic characters mellowed out a became friends of Yukino and Arima:
- Hideaki Asaba
- Tsubasa Shibahime
- Maho Izawa
- Reiji Arima (while his parenting left much to be desired, he was a better parent to Arima than his wife Ryoko Arima. Even decides that the best way to help his son is to shoot Ryoko.)

[Fett One]

In the original Transformers series, one of the new triple changers, I think it was Sandstorm, left the Decepticons to join the Autobots. Also, in the first season, Jetfire (or Skyfire) also left the Decepticons to join the Autobots.


It wasn't Sandstorm, it was Octane. It should be noted though that Octane only switched sides because Galvatron wanted him dead for stealing Trypticon. Octane believed that the Autobots were the only ones that could protect him from Galvatron, which is why he joined them.

[TKnHappyNess]

Let's see.

Knut (Winx Club): He wasn't really a "villain", but kind of acted more like a hench ogre to the Trix. At the end of Season 1, he asks Griffin if he can stay at Alfea. You see him once there at the end of Season 2, and near the beginning of Season 3 hitting on the transformed Stella.
Eggman (Sonic X): In Ep 39, he repairs the moon, but in Eps 40 and 41, it was part of his mind control plan. In the end, he gets thrown in jail due to a trick question by Sonic (something that had to do with both of them), and being so vain, Eggman picked himself. There was a funny moment with his "Eggman TV Shopping" infomercial.

[Dudley]

Tohru from Jackie Chan Adventures turned good. Valmont's old crew turned good as well in the last episode.

[Nexonius]

Iago (Aladdin)


He was Jafar's "go do this" bird and sidekick, then in the series, he turned good, but greedy.

[Skeeter]

Prince Zuko, from Avatar The Last Airbender. Started out as a bad guy hunting down the Avatar, wound up becoming a semi-good guy (or at least an anti-hero) during the second season then reverted to being an enemy during the second season finale.

-Kim

[Lord Pumpkin]

Team Rocket became temp good guys in Pokemon 2000 and in various eps against Cassidy and Butch/Botch.

Mirage from the Incredibles started out as a henchman for Syndrome, but reformed when he "killed" Mr. Incredible's family.

Princess Clara from Drawn Together began as a cute princess character, but she becomes more of a b**** in various episodes.

[The Weed Of Cri]

The general rule of thumb is: if it's an American show, the villians usually stay bad, even if they may temporarily join the heroes for a common cause. If it's an anime show, or something heavily influence by anime, the villians may truly reform for good, sometimes even giving up their lives to protect a former enemy (see: DBZ). A few comments on some people already mentioned:

The Brotherhood of Mutants (X-Men: Evolution): They always seemed more misguided than truly evil. By the last season (the Apocalypse story arc), most of them seemed to be willing to change. Professor X's visions of the future included most of the Brotherhood working for SHIELD as adults, so we can assume they're at least semi-reformed.

She-Go: A former superhero gone bad, maybe the first of her kind on American TV, and yet there are time when she shows flashes of virtue (her loyalty to Dr. Drakken, despite her apparent contempt for him; her willingness to mend fences with her family).

David Xanatos: as a villian, he really was never as mordantly evil as most of the show's bad guy, but even though fatherhood has changed his outlook on life, I wouldn't go measuring him for a halo. A better example of villian-turned-hero would be MacBeth or Dingo.

[RAINMAN]

In Ronin warriors, anubis was talpa right hand man and did evreything he was told to do. Until he started battleing ryo of wildfire and he started to change but did not know why. When he finally meat the ancent one who told him the truth,that he was not really evil, he truly became a good guy(and person) and help the RW`s after the ancent one`s death.