Well, Thunderbolts* was been released to moderate success despite barely following the source material. I think it is interesting to note that former villains joining the Avengers is a long standing tradition. In a way, this is what separates the team from the Justice League; its roster isn’t set in stone, and many villains find redemption in joining the team.

What follows is a list of notable “villains to Avengers” moments in Marvel Comic history:

The First Roster Change (Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye):

As early as issue 16, the team experienced a major shake-up as every member would leave, barring Captain America. This would result in the recruitment of former Brotherhood members Scarlet Whitch and Quicksilver. Along with Hawkeye, who made a brief appearance as an Iron Man villain during his first appearances, where he was simping for the other future Avenger, Black Widow. While Hawkeye’s redemption was quickly found and solidified after confronting his former mentor, Swordsman.

For the Maximoff twins, it would be short-lived as they would rejoin the Brotherhood briefly, only for Quicksilver to spend far less time on the team compared to Wanda, who would still occasionally perform mass genocide of mutants or use Mephisto in order to procreate with her android husband. At least on most occasions, the Avengers are willing to forgive and let her rejoin the team.

Swordsman:

A decade later, Hawkeye’s mentor, Swordsman, would seek out redemption as well, thanks to his girlfriend, Mantis. This confusing storyline, written by Steve Englehart, resulted in Swordsman becoming a weird plant ghost who got to be present at the wedding between the Scarlet Witch and the Android Vision. Probably not the best way to spend your final moments, but I guess redemption is still redemption.

Black Widow:

I’m sure MCU fans will be shocked to learn that not only is Black Widow not a founding Avenger, but she never joined the team until the 70’s. Her arc with Hawkeye simping over her comes to an end in issue 38 when she helps negotiate the end to an alien invasion. Instead, she chooses to stay defected and becomes an agent of Shield. This would lead to her co headlining Daredevil’s book acting as co lead and love interest. She would finally join in Avengers 111. However then ends up leaving the team immediately in the next issue. Her time as an Avengers is mostly remembered during the early 90’s when she co lead the team with Captain America a dynamic we saw reflected in the MCU.

The Sandman:

The only one on this list that doesn’t involve someone joining the team out of a bizarre romantic attraction. It’s rare for a longstanding villain to find redemption, and it’s even more rare for it to be a Spider-Man villain. Despite an attempt to even replace Sandman with the similarly powered Hydro Man, this heroic turn unfortunately did not stick as Flint Marco would turn to a life of crime. Why? Because of The Wizard’s make me evil machine, some people become evil out of pure psychosis or revenge; others do it because a machine made them do it. In recent years, he is usually only present if there is some sort of prison break going on, despite 30 years of character development leading to him becoming an Avenger the last 30 have unfortunately just turned him into cannon fodder with no dimension of a moral compass, so they can tell some gimmicky story.

The Dark Avengers:

After Secret Invasion, known murderer and Green Goblin Norman Osborn was tasked with forming a new Avengers team. A team that consisted of known murderers and psychopaths. Of course, this was during Brian Michael Bendis’ run on the team, so any moment involving mental illness or trauma is supposed to be played off as a joke. I’m not exactly sure if anyone on this team found redemption, considering how inconsistent character development was around this time. The only one who came out of the team reformed would be Noh-Varr Marvel Boy.

Marvel Boy:

The original run of Marvel Boy was a Grant Morrison creation where his one and only goal is either destroying the earth or returning to his home reality.

Despite getting imprisoned and tortured as a prisoner of Shield and wanting to exterminate every human on earth later on he is completely disgusted by the actions of this team of crazy people. Dark Avengers certainly changed his moral compass, but he is a completely different character during the Gillien Young Avengers run, a carefree David Bowe like character. Noh-Varr was created to be a super soldier with a lot of powers, and I think one of them was never having a consistent personality before this run. It is hard to say if Marvel Boy found redemption as an Avenger since his actions during the first half of his existence is never brought up.

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