The DCU
Heel–Face Turn in this franchise. open/close all folders
Comic Books
Comic Books
- Batman:
- Villainess Catwoman has since reformed and become more of a hero than a villain, often teaming up with Batman on his missions.
- The Catwoman of alternate universe Earth-Two, also turned over a new leaf when she recovered from amnesia. Horrified, she was willing to go to jail for the crimes she had committed. When Batman sprung her from jail to help her, she revealed that she had lied; she had actually chosen to be a villain and then chosen to reform because she realized that it was her only chance for a normal life (whereupon they fell in love, got married, and had a daughter, Huntress).
- The Riddler also performed a Heel-Face Turn, but this too was prompted by amnesia (in Riddler's case, induced by a blow to the head). Additional trauma (from a bomb blast) later returns Riddler to the rogues' gallery.
- The Joker of all people tried going straight in the Silver Age story Joker's Millions, not out of a desire to do good but simply because he'd been led to believe he'd inherited enough money to never need to commit crime again. This made more sense for the character back then when he was a villain with a gimmick rather than the elemental force of chaos he has become.
- The Joker is cured of his insanity in Batman: White Knight and becomes Jack Napier in the process. He then takes it upon himself to atone for his past as the Clown Prince of Crime and stop the increasingly ruthless Batman.
- Two-Face in multiple incarnations has reformed and returned to his legitimate life as Harvey Dent (usually temporarily) following psychotherapy and reconstructive surgery. As Two-Face, he's almost by his nature a walking Heel–Face Revolving Door.
- The Penguin, briefly when DC attempted to retire the character as too campy an adversary for modern era Batman post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. The 1987 story "Love Bird" has him find his soulmate in the form of a lady as plump and bird-like as himself called Dovina, and leave his criminal ways for good, much to Batman's incredulity. However, not long after that, the Penguin was reintroduced, eviler than ever, by writer Alan Grant, and both this story and the character of Dovina have been pretty much swept under the rug.
- In DC Rebirth, Clayface developed a friendship with Cassandra Cain and became a member of the Gotham Knights.
- The Nightwing (Rebirth) storyline "Blüdhaven" introduces the Run-Offs, a support group for former villains who left Gotham to reinvent themselves. They react poorly to a member of the Bat-family coming to town, but they're sincere.
- In Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Freddy initially blames Captain Marvel for getting crippled and briefly becomes Black Adam Jr., but he realizes that this was a mistake pretty quickly.
- Convergence:
- The pre-Flashpoint Emil Hamilton was last seen under arrest for his actions as Mad Scientist Ruin. Here, he is working on S.T.A.R. Labs project to help pierce the dome surrounding Gotham City. Keep in mind Hamilton has gone through the Heel–Face Revolving Door quite a few times.
- Also, there is Telos, who after learning of his true past of being an actual person rather than a living planet who was enslaved by Brainiac, decided to help the heroes against Deimos and declaring that all the captive cities should not die.
- Superwoman in Convergence: Crime Syndicate, after reflecting on much of her life while on death row. And later during her fight with Wonder Woman from DC One Million, where she specifically wishes to save her city as a means of atonement for her criminal deeds and the accidental death of philanthropist Bruno Manneheim.
- The Flash villains the Pied Piper and the Trickster both reformed. The Pied Piper had always been the sort of villain who had stolen money for orphanages. The Trickster had pulled off a Deal with the Devil and escaped, and reformed because he couldn't do anything to top that, and didn't want to go to Hell when he died, after his trick. A recent apparent Face–Heel Turn was actually an attempt to pull off a Fake Defector trick — which turned tragic when they appeared to be in on the death of Bart Allen, the Flash. The Trickster is now dead, but the Pied Piper is facing Reformed, but Rejected.
- Also The Shade (still kinda a jerk).
- Following Forever Evil (2013), both Captain Cold and Lex Luthor are inducted into the Justice League thanks to their high-profile role in defeating the Crime Syndicate.
- In Gotham City Garage, Harley Quinn helped Lex Luthor perfect his mind-controlling devices. When she realized that they were turning people into drones unable to love someone other than Lex, she was horrified and defected.
- The "Chinese Gods", or what remained of them, in Great Ten. After Celestial Archer introduced them to his patron goddess, who told them that they were simply altered humans, Gong Gong, Lei Zi, Kuan Ti, Lei Kung, and Chu Jung decided that they would fight alongside the Great Ten.
- In the Legion of Super-Heroes storyline The Great Darkness Saga, after spending the whole conflict pontificating about the foolishness of opposing to his Master, the Servant of Darkness who happened to be a clone of Orion is eager to attempt to wring Darkseid's neck after the original Orion's memories are restored by Izaya.
- Plastic Man was originally a petty criminal, but became a hero after acquiring his stretching powers.
- Superman:
- In Bizarrogirl, Supergirl's Bizarro counterpart, who was previously an adversary, develops a better understanding of good, evil, life, and death, and tries to become a hero (or as much of one as a Bizarro can be).
- In Superman: Villains, Winslow Schott, the Toyman, turns himself in when Superman reveals his identity to the world. Apparently, suddenly seeing Superman as a person made him realize that all the times Supes had told him he could be better, he'd actually meant it.
- In Superman vs. Shazam!, the Quarmerr, who had been forced to serve Karmang but never wanted any part in his plans, gives up and reveals Karmang's true scheme as soon as he is found by Mary Marvel.
- In Starfire's Revenge, Rodney Marlowe quits being Starfire's minion when he learns she executed his brother Derek.
- Wonder Woman:
- Paula von Gunther starts out as Diana's first recurring villain who isn't Mars, but after it's revealed that she was only working for the Nazis because her daughter was being held hostage by them and Di saves her daughter, she switches sides and is henceforth one of Diana's most stalwart allies throughout the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages of comics.
- Wonder Woman (1942): Sofia Constantinas started out as a criminal, before her interactions with Wonder Woman led her to turning over a new leaf and taking up the oath of an Amazon.
Films
Films
- The Dark Knight Trilogy:
- An example of a Heel-Face Turn already accomplished by the time of the story is that of the convict in The Dark Knight who threw the detonator out the porthole after rebuking the guards for not having already done it.
- Selina Kyle is a trickster who starts out as a Friendly Enemy to Bruce Wayne, but ultimately graduates to an outright ally after she has a Heel Realization upon betraying him to Bane.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
- The Flash (2014):
- Most notable example is probably Leonard Snart/Captain Cold. Although he does retain his somewhat villainous mannerism, he turns out to be a legitimately good person. He even becomes a member of a team consisting of time-travelling scientists and superheroes, the Legends.
- Killer Frost, Caitlin Snow's second personality. In Season 3, she starts out as a manifestation of Caitlin's repressed pain and anger, she gradually learns to see value in giving others a hand and being a nice person. She even learns to love Caitlin as a sister she shares a body with (and vice versa). In Season 6, Frost starts living her own life and express herself on a level previously unseen.
- Marlize De Voe in Season 4. Despite being a caring and empathetic person, she is slowly twisted into a cold, fanatical zealot by her husband, Clifford De Voe/Thinker. However, her good qualities push through and arise, bringing her back to the good guy status, courtesy of Harrison Wells and Cecile Horton, who managed to convince her to do the right thing.
- Orlin Dwyer/Cicada in Season 5. As a Sympathetic Murderer, he is constantly asked by Barry and the team to abandon his anti-metahuman crusade. It takes several attempts to persuade him, but eventually he agrees, upon learning that he and his niece Grace might become normal again. After being healed, he truly does revoke his grudges, but doesn't last long enough to do more good as he is killed by Grace's future variant for abandoning his mission.
- Smallville:
- Lionel Luthor starts out as a ruthless businessman, bad father, and the Trope Codifier for Magnificent Bastard, undergoes an abrupt about-turn while in prison. His devotion to a life of poverty and charity work is short-lived, however, as a fight with Lex motivates him to return to ruthless tactics, ostensibly to actually protect Lex... And then he finds himself serving as a conduit for Clark's dead father, Jor-El, repenting for his past acts, devoting his life to protecting Clark, and suffering from really bad migraines. Unfortunately, all of this is so confusing that no one actually believes that he's a good guy when he begs them for help. He is eventually killed by his own son, Lex, after which Clark finally learns, once and for all, that Lionel had been on his side in the end, dying to protect Clark's identity as the Traveller from Lex. Clark acknowledges that Lionel was the third 'father' who had died for him, and honours him the same way he honoured Jonathan Kent — by pouring a handful of dirt on his coffin.
- Metallo pulls one in Season 9, after a restructuring of his system purges him of the adrenaline rush that heightened his aggression and made him evil. Since the comic book character is still evil though, there's no telling if it will last.
- Brainiac appears to have turned to the side of the angels. He now calls himself Brainiac 5 and is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, claiming that they and Clark "cured" him of his evil. He returned to the present to aid Clark by 1) preventing Smallville High's student councilor from trying to kill Clark at his high school reunion and 2) showing him his past, present and future, to help Clark get over his misplaced guilt over Pa Kent's death and his fear of the future, and move toward his destiny. However, since this is due to reprogramming, it may not count as genuine. Made even more muddled by the fact that this version of the character was reprogrammed into performing a Face–Heel Turn in the first place before the destruction of Krypton.
- Tess Mercer also attempts one of these in Season 10. Despite her Heel–Face Revolving Door track record, she sticks with it — even shooting down Earth-2 Lionel's offer to become the father she never had — right to the end of the series, when in the Grand Finale, she uses her last breaths to give a last-minute verbal Take That! to Lex and wipe his mind with a neurotoxin, ensuring that he cannot use any of the knowledge he accumulated since the beginning of the series against the newly dubbed Superman.
- Wonder Woman (1975): In "Fausta the Nazi Wonder Woman", Fausta turns on her Nazi masters and helps Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor escape.
Video Games
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Knight:
- Batman puts Azrael through a number of tests to see if he's willing to join Batman's cause, as Batman felt that he would probably need a replacement should things go pear-shaped. At the end of the tests, he brings Azrael to a base where he reveals that he's figured out that the Order of St. Dumas is just using him to further their schemes. The player is then given the choice to either perform this trope or a Heel–Face Door-Slam. Choosing the former has Azrael break his sword over his gauntlet and be utterly disgusted by the actions of the Order.
- Poison Ivy turns against the other supervillains and helps Batman save the city from fear toxin. Even though she states she's not doing it for Batman (she's doing it to save all the plants that the fear toxin would kill), it's still this trope.
- At the end of the game, Jason Todd abandons the Arkham Knight mantle and picks up his comic book persona of the Red Hood, whose first act is to save Batman from Scarecrow.
- At the end of the main story of LEGO DC Super-Villains, the Rookie is given the choice to either stay with the villains or join the Justice League, though you have the option to change your alignment between hero, villain, and neutral while in the hub.
Western Animation
Western Animation
- Parodied in one episode of The Batman whem Joker decides to become a crime-fighter. Although he does target some actual criminals like Penguin, his "crime-fighting" mostly consists of things like poisoning jaywalkers and little girls playing hopscotch ("graffiti").
- Vandal Savage of all people has one in the Justice League episode "Hereafter", though it takes destroying humanity and living alone on the obliterated Earth for 30,000 years to make it happen: in that time, he reflects on the error of his ways, learns the futility of lusting for power, and ultimately becomes a kindhearted humble person who decides to live alone on the planet as punishment for his crime. He gets the chance to Set Right What Once Went Wrong when Superman is thrust into his future by Toymaker, by helping to send Superman back in time with information to prevent his past self from ever destroying the Earth in the first place.
- Teen Titans (2003):
- Terra in Season 2 (her comics counterpart had no such turn), but this is after a time as The Mole and then a Face–Heel Turn, helping Slade achieve near victory. She's the one who ends up killing Slade, but ends up performing a Heroic Sacrifice proving that Redemption Equals Death (or Redemption Equals Turning To Stone... it is a children/family show, after all).
- Jinx also performs a Heel-Face Turn towards the end of Season 5, thanks to being thrown into a Dating Catwoman-ish scenario with Kid Flash (and the fact that her villainous idol treated her like crap; Madame Rouge lives to regret that decision). She even acts as a Double Agent for the heroes during the Final Battle.
