10 Comics Heroes Who Broke Their Mentor's Rules

Superhero rules are made to be broken.

By Zoë Miskelly /

The one especially difficult thing about being a sidekick is that you now have to follow the moral code and rules of your mentor, whether you like it or not. Even if you hugely disagree with part of their mantras, you have to bite the bullet, pull up your superhero boots, and deal with the fact that this is your life now.

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Although this isn't always the case. There are plenty of times that folk have completely disregarded the advice and orders of their mentors - to varying results. Sometimes, breaking the rules is exactly what teaches these loveable miscreants why they should have been following them in the first place. Sometimes, however, it makes them horrendous monstrous supervillains - so you can never quite be sure what's going to happen.

Hell, even some superheroes have opted against following what their mentors have taught them - either because it prevented them from carrying out some good deed, because it no longer matched their own personal morals, or just because they couldn't be bothered.

Ranging from understandable to downright psychopathic, here are the times heroes and their wards broke the chains of their mentor's rules - for better, and also undeniably for worse.

10. Speedy

Having spent his life until his teens stealing from food courts and off-licenses, getting to be a superhero alongside the rest of the Teen Titans was more than a bit of shock to the young Roy Harper.

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Used to enjoying life where and when he could, Green Arrow's apprentice took to party life straight away, and embraced it so much that it began to genuinely effect his prowess as a superhero.

Enraged by this, Oliver Queen kicked Roy out, the stress of which would convince Harper to become a drug addict. While Queen was horrified to learn what had become of his sidekick, it would be sometime before the two would actually reconcile - and even when they did, Roy would refuse to become his sidekick again, venturing out for himself instead under the identities of Arsenal and later Red Arrow.

Oliver wasn't exactly the most supportive mentor, however, as it was actually a pep talk from Killer Croc that helped Harper get his life back on track. When a giant evil crocodile is doing a better job at being a guardian than you, you might need to have a think about your life.

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