By definition, an anti hero is a protagonist whoacts and operates outside the law or conventional moral standards.Anti heroes may frequently align with themost heroic good guys imaginable, but ultimately serve their own agenda, which may easily deviate the character from the heroes’ path if necessary.
Comics have featured hundreds of morally vague heroes over the years, each in varying shades of virtue and ideals. While they each share a common drive to enforce “justice,” their methods most always turn against the true heroes, like Spider-Man or Superman, in due time. Characters like Rorschach or Venom are prime examples of characters who work alongside heroes, and often perceive themselves as ‘good guys,’ but who inevitably are willing to cross the strongest moral line: murder. While many comic book characters fall into this category,these are the best anti heroes in comics history.
10Catwoman (AKA Selina Kyle)
First Debuted InBatman #1 (1940)by Bill Finger and Bob Kane
Selina Kyle is a quintessential member ofBatman’s Rogues’ Gallery, a morally questionable character brandished with an animal theme and reflective of some of Bruce Wayne’s defining character traits. Originally known as “the Cat,”Catwomangrew into her burglar persona in an attempt to escape her impoverished and abusive upbringing. She learned from an early age that she could only depend on herself and developed a utilitarian philosophy for her shifting morality.
However, when not exclusively thinking about herself, Catwoman has stepped up to assist Batman and the Bat Family multiple times, although she is mainly motivated by a prize to be later earned.While the anti hero has occasionally been characterized as a Robin Hood-esque thief, she inevitably returns to her self-serving waysmore often than she’s willing to put aside those selfish inclinations to help the greater good. However, as long as Bruce Wayne is around, Selina can be persuaded to lean on the side of justice with the help of a billionaire’s charm.
9Poison Ivy (AKA Dr. Pamela Isley)
First Debuted InBatman #181by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff
Another member of Batman’s classic Rogues’ Gallery,Poison Ivyhas always straddled traditional lines of morality depending on one’s perspective. From humanity’s perspective, she is frequently a nihilistic sociopathwho believes humanity to be a sickness.However, from a macroscopic planetary perspective,Poison Ivy is a champion of the environmentand preserving the natural balance of the global ecosystem.
Better than most on this list, Ivy is truly and simultaneously a hero and a villain, depending on the reader’s point of view. However, focusing on the human perspective, Dr. Pamela Isley has changed her tune recently thanks to her developingrelationship with Harley Quinn. While Quinn doesn’t necessarily represent the best of humanity, she has somewhat softened Ivy’s hate toward humanity enough so that Poison Ivy can start to imagine a world where humanity and nature can coexist. That said, her goals are ultimately aligned with preserving Earth’s greater ecosystem, and will kill whoever gets in the way of that goal.
8Ghost Rider (AKA Johnny Blaze)
First Debuted InMarvel Spotlight #5 (1972)by Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog
Whilethere have been many Ghost Riders, each with varying shades of morality and personal values, Johnny Blaze best represents the complicated nature within each Spirit of Vengeance. Blaze originally gained his powers in an infernal deal with Mephisto to save his adoptive father’s life. Bound to the wrathful spirit of a fallen angel, Mephisto’s emissary of Hell has been bound by and molded by the vengeful whims of his Spirit over the years.While Blaze is often trepidatious about his heroism, his drive to deliver vengeance upon the souls of the wicked often puts him outside the scope of the traditional hero.
Ghost Rideris often beyond caring about the sanctity of life, knowing that death in the physical world immediately leads to life in another. Additionally, because he and Zarathos can literally smell evil in a person’s soul, their targets are often the most “irredeemable” types of sinners in the macroscope of spiritual morality. Most acknowledge Blaze is a good man, but so long as he possesses the Spirit of Vengeance, he’s not a man who the Avengers can trust will walk a straight line.
7Black Adam (AKA Teth-Adam)
First Debuted InThe Marvel Family #1by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck
WhileBlack Adamwas initially introduced asa supervillainous counterpart to Shazam, he has slowly transformed into an anti hero in the last decade, whose ideals tend to be more closely aligned with his previous arch enemies. Following Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’sDark Nights: Death Metalevent, Teth-Adam experienced a full change of heart, pivoting toward becoming a protector of peace. Rather than being an avenger for the broken, he tries to be a paragon of virtue.
In doing so,Superman offered Black Adam a seat on the Justice League, where the anti hero would remain until theDark Crisis on Infinite Earthsevent. Still motivated to see a world free of the inhumane cruelty he experienced in Ancient Egypt, Black Adam still pursues those goals in whichever way he ultimately sees fit. However, despite his best intentions, Teth-Adam still struggles with his own ego and the self-empowerment he feels as the Egyptian pantheon’s modern champion.
6Peacemaker (AKA Christopher Smith)
First Debuted InFightin’ 5 #40by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette
Before his run in DC Comics,Peacemakeroriginally debuted under Charlton Comics until DC later acquired the company in the 1980s. While he was originally characterized as a pacifist diplomat, after his DC acquisition Christopher Smith began to operate with a peace-through-violence mindset. A violently unhinged vigilante,Peacemaker’s pursuit of “justice” has had to be carefully guided by various government agencies to ensure his ravenous bloodlust stayed focused.
Due to this, he has been made a prime candidate forthe Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad, often proving himself to be the most unhinged of his teams purely because of his fanatical and warped perspective of the path to true peace. In recent years, Peacemaker has seen a huge surge in popularity thanks to James Gunn’sSuicide Squadfilm and HBO’sPeacemakershow. Thanks to this, the horrifically violent, khaki-wearing, freedom-loving patriot has begun to appear more frequently in the comics, giving him a chance to refine his ideologies for both better and for worse.
5Darth Vader (AKA Anakin Skywalker)
Debuted in Current Canon InDarth Vader #1 (2015)by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca
Let’s get this straight:Darth Vaderis by no means a hero. However, as Anakin Skywalker, the fallen Jedi frequently struggled with his own morality andthe secret machinations of the Forcethat turned him toward the Dark Side before his birth. From wiping out bands of Tuskens to frequent military assassinations, Skywalker was always willing to get his hands dirty for the sake of his brand of righteousness.Most of the frustrations that led him into Palpatine’s grasp began with him realizing the Jedi Order’s rampant hypocrisy.
Of course, his willing participation in the creation of the Galactic Empire may have started with good intentions, his life as Darth Vader quickly went off-trail. That said, Vader has had his moments of moral clarity. In his most recent comics that take place just beforeThe Return of the Jedi,Vader’s secretive plot to empower Luke and overthrow the Emperor has led the Sith Lord to frequently sabotage the Empire, to give Luke and the Rebels a chance to destabilize Palpatine’s power.
4Wolverine (AKA James “Logan” Howlett)
First Debuted InIncredible Hulk #180 (1974)by Len Wein, John Romita, & Roy Thomas
Wolverinehas gone through so much torture in his hundreds of years of life, it’s not hard to understand why his sense of morality is frequently skewed. There is no doubt that Logan is a hero and both a quintessential member andleader of the X-Men, he rarely describes himself as anything close to heroic.Wolverine frequently refers to himself as a bad man who has done bad things, but who still carries the weight of every body he’s ever put into the ground.
That said, when the time comes, Wolverine is still willing to veer off the hero’s path if he believes the situation calls for a sharper solution. Wolverine’s been to Hell and back and, if he ever dies, he believes that his soul will inevitably end back up in the infernal pits of the damned. From his perspective, nothing he can do will make his immortal damnation any worse, so what’s the harm in getting his claws bloody if it’s for the greater good?
3Punisher (AKA Frank Castle)
First Debuted InAmazing Spider-Man #129 (1973)by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, & John Romita Sr.
If the moniker ofThe Punisherdidn’t make it clear on its own, Frank Castle is practically the epitome of an anti hero. A former marine with multiple medals of honor and countless kills under his belt,Castle was a perfectly molded killerbefore he ever turned toward vigilante justice. After watching the death of his wife and son, his faith in the justice system completely disintegrated, leaving behind only his will to punish.
The Punisher doesn’t really possess any greater goals past permanently putting down any threat he comes across. He’s rarely interested in stopping crime and corruption on a systemic level, as he serves as a “janitor” cleaning up the filth that slips through the cracks. However, his devotion to lethal justice almost makes him a predictable ally.Most of his allies never fully trust him, but he is considered a valuable tool whose methods are obvious enough to either reign in or unleashdepending on the situation.
2Magneto (AKA Max Eisenhardt)
First Debuted InX-Men #1 (1963)by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
WhenMagnetofirst debuted in Marvel Comics, it would have been difficult to call the leader ofthe Brotherhood of Evil Mutantsanything else but a villain. Even as his backstory was fleshed out over the years and his perspective on mutant liberation was made more sympathetic, Magneto’s inclination to enforce onto humanity the same cruelty that was enforced on his family has strongly turned the man away from any definition of heroism. However, after the founding of Krakoa, Max Eisenhardt finally turned over a new leaf and stood side by side with his longtime mortal enemy and best friend, Charles Xavier.
Magneto still despises humanity, especially afterthe Orchis invasion of Krakoa. However, he is more open to finding a path that does not directly lead towards violence. If given a chance, especially considering his attempts at peace still lead to the deaths of mutants,Magneto would certainly turn against humanity with lethal judgment, but is more willing to find a solution that ignores humankind rather than slaughtering them outright.
1Spawn (AKA Al Simmons)
First Debuted InSpawn #1by Todd McFarlane
The walking definition of an anti hero,Spawnfalls somewhere in between the Punisher and Ghost Rider in regard to his lethal brand of justice. A decorated marine, secret agent, and assassin, Albert Simmons was sent to Hell for his numerous kills, only to be revived as a magically powered punisher, designed to send the souls of the damned to his master, Malebolgia. Like Frank Castle,Spawn is a ruthless killer, with no qualms about taking a life.
He already knows that his victims will be sent to Hell when they die, so he has no trepidations about sending them early. Additionally, Spawn has little interest in his own moral standing, as he is already bound to Hell. As with many of the anti heroes on this list who have had first-hand interactions with the afterlife,Spawn knows what’s comingfor both himself and his victims. However, despite his best intentions, he frequently finds himself fighting against the forces of Heaven, for better or for worse.
