10 Times Comic Book Villains Became Heroes (In A Big Way)

by Ewan Paterson

1. Clayface

Clayface Bat Family Detective Comics
DC Comics / Eddy Barrows

One of the best things about Batman (to me) is that even though he's doing his absolute best to stop these supervillains from tearing Gotham City apart, he's also trying to help in their recovery.

Batman: The Animated Series conveyed this better than most (and it is admittedly a case of Batman's kindness varying between depictions), but he still has a history of doing it in the comics - a trend most recently exemplified by the redemption of Basil Karlo, aka Clayface, in James Tynion IV and Eddy Barrow's Detective Comics series from 2016.

Delving into the character's tragic origins, the DC Rebirth comic picks up with Karlo at a cinema, tearfully watching the last ever film he starred in before his transformation. Batman and Batwoman then appear, and offer Clayface a place on a new team of vigilantes.

Clayface helps the Bat Family take down Hugo Strange, while Bruce uses his resources to try and cure Karlo. Like most heroic switches this one sadly didn't last for too long, but it was still extremely rewarding to see the Dark Knight fighting side by side with a villain he hadn't lost hope in.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.