10 Best Times Superheroes Became Villains

1. Green Lantern - Emerald Twilight

For a time, Hal Jordan had one of the most important turns in all of comics, where he rebranded as the villain known as Parallax during Emerald Twilight. We'll ignore how that all changed about a decade or so after his initial turn, but - when taken on its own - Emerald Twilight is a really interesting story to consider.

After Mongul and Cyborg Superman destroy Jordan's home town of Coast City, he... pretty much loses it completely. Using his powers, he remakes Coast City as it was before it was destroyed, which is a pretty big 'no' as far as the Guardians are concerned. They send a few Lanterns to apprehend Jordan, who instead goes mad with power, and kills everyone who stands in his way.

Jordan then heads to Oa, kills everyone there, consumes the central power battery and rebrands as Parallax. This actually lasts a surprising amount of time, all the way up until Zero Hour, where he's finally taken down by Green Arrow.

Many think that Emerald Twilight embodies the obscene scale of a bunch of nineties comics, but there is something uniquely interesting about Jordan's switch from good to evil. It showcased the sheer power the Lantern Corps wielded, and while the reason for his betrayal suffered a not so pleasant retcon, that doesn't take anything away from the original story.