The evil redesigns as the Killuminati. It begs the question - what would the other Avengers look like if they'd been villains instead of heroes?
In this list, we're looking at the times when Marvel gave its most iconic heroes villainous redesigns, from the Superior Iron Man to the Unworthy Thor. In each case, we're trying to stick as close as possible to the original heroes, looking at the times they explicitly went evil and the costumes they chose to wear at those times.
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10 Iron Man, aka Tony Stark
The Superior Iron Man and Iron Apex
Easily the most famous time that Marvel reinvented an Avengers hero as a villain, the fallout of the AXIS event flipped Tony Stark's moral alignment, turning him into the Superior Iron Man. Created by Tom Taylor and Yıldıray Çınar, the Superior Iron Man is an arrogant, amoral version of Tony wearing the white Endo-Sym Armor. The suit is based on the biology of Venom's symbiotes, and is bonded to Tony's body and mind, allowing him to use it with a thought. Notably, Tony often wore an open-face helmet as the Superior Iron Man, though with a bulletproof layer to stop him being vulnerable to attack.
Of course, it's also worth noting the redesign that inspired this list - Tony's rebirth as the Iron Apex in the pages of New Avengers.
Salvador Larroca's art turns Tony Stark into an inhuman cyborg with claw-like gauntlets, showing how a villainous Iron Man would reject his humanity in favor of post-human ascension.
9 Hulk, aka Bruce Banner
Kluh and Titan
Also caught up in AXIS, the Hulk was transformed from a being powered by rage to one powered by hate. Designed by Jim Cheung, Hulk became Kluh, aka 'the Hulk's Hulk.' With jet-black skin, white hair and glowing red ridges, Kluh was a towering threat who almost killed Nova before Hulk's original personality returned. However, as fearsome as Kluh was, even he couldn't hold a candle to Titan.
Titan was created by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley, with superior strength, energy projection and the power to consume energy from other living beings. This monstrous being was a result of the demonic D'Spayre messing with Hulk's mind, combining dark magic and eldritch influence with Hulk's gamma powers. This resulted in a towering volcanic form brimming with red energy.
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8 Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker
The Superior Spider-Man and Spider-Shot
Spider-Man's most famous 'evil' era was as the Superior Spider-Man, with Doctor Octopus stealing Peter Parker's body and taking over his heroic legacy. The Superior Spider-Man wore a black costume with a red upper torso and mask, often using four prehensile arms that emerged from his back. Introduced by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, the Superior Spider-Man suit added additional gadgets to Spider-Man's arsenal, but the most vicious addition were retractable 'talons' on the fingers.
However, the Superior Spider-Man was specifically Doctor Octopus trying to be heroic, not Peter Parker turning evil. For that, fans need the assassin Spider-Man from Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin and Clayton Henry's What If? Spider-Man vs. Wolverine #1. This is a version of Spidey who became a lethal vigilante similar to the Punisher, adding a firearm setting to his web-shooters.
The assassin Spider-Man (sometimes referred to as Spider-Shot) wore a black and red costume with no webbing decal, intimidating villains with black eyes usually held in a narrow scowl.
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7 Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers
Vox Supreme's Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel may not have turned truly evil for this look, but she was trying to kill the Avengers while wearing it. Captured by the villainous Vox Supreme, Captain Marvel was fitted with a symbiote-esque suit that monitored all sounds in her vicinity. Vox sent Captain Marvel to kill different of the Avengers, threatening to murder innocent Kree refugees if she refused. Thankfully, Carol found a way to outsmart the surveillance, and only played the part of a villain while setting up her plans to escape Vox Supreme's control.
Captain Marvel's evil costume is black and red with a giant Kree star on the chest and face, with the former able to light up with power when Carol uses her abilities. With her helmet off, the suit is still connected to her biology, causing black-rimmed eyes brimming with red energy.
6 Thor Odinson
Lord Thor, Unworthy Thor, Ice Giant Thor and Chad Hammer
Thor has turned evil a bunch of times, usually with an awesome redesign to match. Ethan Sacks and Michele Bandini's What If? Thor asked what Thor would look like if he (not Loki) had been born a Frost Giant, while the recent Roxxon Presents: Thor (Al Ewing and Greg Land) imagined an all-American corporate apologist Thor named Chad Hammer. As the Unworthy Thor, Thor also ed the evil Avengers during Secret Empire, though the look (which includes a metallic uru arm and the enchanted axe Jarnbjorn) wasn't created specifically for this short villain spell.
However, Thor's darkest moment came in Thor Volume 2 #67 by Dan Jurgens and Max Fiumara. This version of Thor took over leadership of Asgard and turned into a brutal ruler, eventually killing the Avengers. A towering figure with a lengthy beard and traditional Asgardian armor, this is an aging Thor cast in the same mold as his father Odin. While Thor eventually stopped this future from coming to , his son from this timeline recently entered mainstream Marvel lore.
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5 Captain America, aka Steve Rogers
Hydra Cap, aka Stevil
In 2017's Secret Empire (by Nick Spencer and Steve McNiven), Captain America finally revealed he was working undercover for Hydra, unveiling a dark green suit of armor powered by a Cosmic Cube fragment. This militaristic redesign combined Cap and Iron Man's costumes with Hydra coloring, and included an escutcheon shield with an energy blade at its base.
While Hydra Cap was later retconned as a false identity created via Cosmic Cube, Secret Empire originally confirmed that the evil version was the original - a personality suppressed by America during WWII and reawakened in the modern day.
4 Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff
Her Original Costume
There's no need for Black Widow to 'turn' evil, since she was originally introduced as a villainous Russian agent. Created by Stan Lee, Don Rico and Don Heck in Tales of Suspense #52, Black Widow was a Soviet spy in a black and blue costume composed mostly of fishnet, and was originally intended as an Iron Man villain. Wearing a pointed mask and stylized 'B' earrings, as well as a short cape, Black Widow was later reworked into a repentant hero.
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3 Doctor Strange, aka Stephen Strange
General Strange, Leader of the Black Priests and Guru Strange
Dealing with dark magic, Doctor Strange has always been closer to villainy than most other heroes, and he's stepped over that line several times. Most recently, Doctor Strange met General Strange. Created by Jed MacKay and Pasqual Ferry, General Strange is an excised portion of the Sorcerer Supreme's life, containing the trauma he experienced while fighting a millennia-long war for the Vishanti. This version of Strange wears a bright red costume and has blazing fire covering one side of his face, as well as being significantly older.
Stephen also crossed the line in the run-up to Secret Wars when he became the leader of the Mapmakers. Wearing the group's golden pauldrons, Strange also covered his body in eldritch symbols to become a living spell, even striking down fellow heroes in his mission to keep Earth-616 safe from Incursion (and in the effort, growing a gigantic fiery eye in the middle of his head.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness likewise gave MCU fans a grotty take on an evil Strange.
Like Iron Man, Doctor Strange is getting an evil cone in New Avengers, with the introduction of the shaggy-haired Guru Strange, so far only seen in Rod Reis' variant cover for New Avengers #2.
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2 Jessica Jones
Jewel and the Variants
With news that Krysten Ritter is fully entering the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Jessica Jones is finally a full-fledged MCU hero. Typical for the character, Jess is the only person on this list who looked more heroic when she was evil. Fans met this evil Jess, aka Jewel, in The Variants by Gail Simone and Phil Noto, though she wears Jess' original hero costume as designed by Mark Bagley - a white costume with blue edging, with a pink 'jewel' symbol and hair.
This version of Jewel killed the X-Men of her home reality and then traveled the multiverse, gathering new powers and an army of Jessica Jones variants who she eventually led in an attack against the original.
1 Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill
Lord Starkill and the Ravagers
Star-Lord has always been a rogue, but the version of Peter Quill introduced in Margaret Stohl and Michele Bandini's Captain Marvel Volume 7 #126 is an out-and-out bad guy. This Peter uses the codename Lord Starkill and is a member of an evil Guardians of the Galaxy line-up named the Ravagers. Lord Starkill worked as a pirate and bounty hunter, pursuing the Reality Stone on behalf of Thanos.
As Lord Starkill, Peter wore a stripped-down, militarized version of his Star-Lord costume, including his helmet from the Annihilation era. Receiving a less intimidating transformation in this reality was Groot, who became the gigantic carrot-being Root.
Those are the official redesigns that iconic MCU heroes received when Marvel turned them evil, showing what beloved Avengers could have become (or once were.) Let us know your favorites in the comments below, as well as any evil redesigns of Avengers you think belong on this list.
