10 Harmless Comic Book Heroes Who Became Total Badasses

There are some comic book heroes we know and love today that just can't be seen as anything other than badass. But even though they might be awesome and highly regarded now, this hasn't always been the case.

Some heroes who might rank among our favourites started out looking fairly ridiculous until their time came to be revamped. Other lesser or undervalued players have since been thrust forward into the spotlight for all to see and admire in a big way.

Characters can languish for years in obscurity before a new creative team is brought in to breathe fresh life into them, and they can do so in a wide variety of ways: from beefing up or clearly defining a hero's powers to dramatically altering their appearance and personality; re-writing their origins to make them more interesting or taking them off in a completely different direction.

When did Rocket Racoon become such a fan-favourite? Which time travelling superhero wasn't that popular with fans initially? What superheroes didn't have such super superpowers at first?

The following characters on this list have all gone through some pretty significant changes since their debut and are now certified badasses.

A failure from the 25th century who travels back in time to become a superhero to find fame and fortune. Seems fair to say Booster Gold was never going to be a hero that readers warmed up to immediately.

His glory-seeking ways meant most of the time - Booster appeared to be a little too full of himself. Even when Booster did occasionally deliver on the heroic side of things, he never really cut it as a serious superhero.

Booster got some much-needed character development after the death of fellow crime-fighter and friend, Blue Beetle. Despite having access to knowledge of future events - Booster never utilised this and felt guilty for not preventing his friend's murder.

Vowing to change - Booster set out on a one-man war to defend those in the past using his ability to time travel, and knowledge of the future. This is where things get awesome.

Booster arguably becomes the greatest of all time-travelling heroes by repeatedly beating all sorts of time-related paradoxes. Booster embarks on a one-man mission to save the entire multiverse and turns out to be the father and mentor of the legendary Time Master, Rip Hunter.

The more knowledge Booster gains, he imparts not only onto his son but also his younger self, through sending Rip back in time continuously to train a younger Booster. This means there is no limit to how strong the character can become both in the present DC timeline, and the future.