Venom, Rhino, and Penance are some of Marvel's kindest villains

Kindness is a complex virtue, being more than simple good manners and politeness. Many of the heroes of the Marvel Universe display true kindness, generously giving of themselves without expecting repayment, and striving to maintain friendly relationships with the people they protect. Others are monstrous or dangerous and have more complicated relationships with the public, fighting for good out of kindness and because it’s the right thing to do. Villains, however, are a different story.


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Doctor Doom is the champion of his kingdom and Doctor Octopus’s time as Spider-Man taught him the value of heroism, but both act out of a need for superiority rather than kindness. While most villains endlessly justify their crimes, those who are truly kind have moments of recognition that make them question their evil ways. Some villains have complex morals and feelings that make them blur moral lines, while others put their evil ways behind them and become heroes or anti-heroes.

10/10 Black Cat’s Kindness Is Complex

Black Cat reappears in Amazing Spider-Man 606 from Marvel Comics

Felicia Hardy started with nothing and trained to become one of the greatest jewel thieves of all time. Her criminal career put her on Spider-Man’s radar, and their chemistry together has been electric since their first meeting. That strained Peter Parker’s marriage sometimes, but MJ and Felicia have actually become good friends. Her enemies may mysteriously die but, despite questionable morality, Black Cat can be very kind.

She’s fought alongside heroes as often as she’s She can be cold and vengeful, especially after heartbreak or betrayal. She’s not above working with true villains to get what she wants, but she doesn’t want world domination or genocide. Felicia is kind to those who catch her curiosity, which is historically risky for cats.

9/10 Morbius Is Still A Doctor

Morbius attacks Blade in Marvel Comics

Morbius, the Living Vampire, cannot help his thirst for blood and has killed innocent people. That doesn’t mean he’s not a nice guy. While he started as a vampiric villain, his chic outfit and sympathetic plight eventually made him a vigilante and anti-hero, feeding exclusively on bad people.

It’s common for characters who are labeled “monsters” to fight fellow heroes before teaming up with them, and Morbius is no exception. Blade, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and more have scrapped with Marvel’s grooviest pseudo-vampire, but he’s won them all over. Morbius cares deeply for his Legion of Monsters team.

8/10 Hurting People Isn’t Rhino’s Goal

Spider-Man watches Rhino sniff a flower in Marvel Comics

While some Spider-Man villains are ruthless, bloodthirsty killers, others started as simple bank robbers and haven’t changed much. The Rhino doesn’t stray from his criminal ways too often, but that’s partly due to the B and C-list company he usually keeps. He’s usually a hired thug and nothing more.

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His kindest feats, however, speak volumes about his character. This villain, who’s seen his wife die repeatedly, stepped in to stop the Hulk at the Banner-Ross wedding, joined the Thunderbolts, refuses to harm innocent people and children, and once increased his own intelligence but asked to have it lowered again because it felt wrong. He’s not necessarily a “good person,” but his kindness shows in his efforts to control himself.

7/10 Kobik’s Kindness Is Childlike

Kobik befriends Red Skull in Marvel Comics

Kobik resembles a child but is actually a sentient configuration of cosmic cube fragments. Taking the form of a child to represent its internal conflict, the being was raised simultaneously by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Red Skull. As such, it used its unfathomable reality-warping power to rewrite history and merge the two organizations.

Saving Captain America’s life caused the events of Secret Empire, created by writer Nick Spencer and artists Rod Reís and Daniel Acuña, because Kobik didn’t know better. She’s killed and resurrected Avengers because, though her tantrums are deadly dangerous, she’s a brand-new lifeform and responds best to kindness.

6/10 Penance Was Trying To Make Amends

Penance from Marvel comics

Robbie Baldwin is a remarkable mutant who embodies time and motion. When he and his team tracked a group of villains to a school, one of them, Nitro, caused an explosion that killed 612 people. Robbie blamed himself and transformed from Speedball into Penance, hunting down his former teammates in the name of the superhuman registration act.

Penance wore spike-lined armor to increase his new ability to generate physical power from pain. He was later brainwashed by Norman Osborn, who used his guilt against him and facilitated his rage. Eventually, his ex-teammates found him and appealed to his kindness, restoring Speedball to a matured version of his former glory.

5/10 Erik Josten Was Too Friendly To Stay Bad

Atlas from the Thunderbolts in Marvel Comics

Power Man, Smuggler, Goliath, and Atlas are all names that Erik Josten has tried out. One of Marvel’s true misfits, Josten has been through a lot of changes, but one constant is his affinity for teams. As the evil Power Man, he and his C-list friends would commit petty crimes and inevitably get beat up.

Related: Every Roster of The Thunderbolts, Ranked

When Erik had the opportunity to be truly evil, he made the choice to become a hero instead. His super strength has saved more lives than he ever took, and he continues to do so under the name Atlas. He’s a Thunderbolt who still prefers teamwork, giving the impression that he was always a nice guy with poor taste in friends.

4/10 Curt Connors Is A Nice Guy When He’s Not The Lizard

Spider-Man fights The Lizard in Marvel Comics.

Dr. Curtis Connors was a father, husband, and veteran before an untested limb-growing serum turned him into the monster known as the Lizard. When he’s scaly and green he’s angry and mean, prowling New York’s sewers and preying on unsuspecting victims.

When he’s not a giant lizard monster, Dr. Connors recognizes the horrible things he’s done and wants nothing to do with his alter ego. He’s even switched teams mid-conflict, siding with Spider-Man to team up against the disasters he so often has a hand in. He’s kind enough to own and try to fix his mistakes, and that’s more than most of his colleagues can say.

3/10 Bucky Barnes Was A Villain For 50 Years

The cover to Marvel Comics' Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldierm featuring Bucky's many faces

Bucky Barnes had it rough for a long time. For fifty years after World War II he was presumed dead when, in actuality, he was brainwashed and sent out as the Winter Soldier. Between murdering JFK and falling in love with the Black Widow, he spent a lot of time acting on the will of others, but Bucky was never fully gone.

Related: The 10 Best Comic Book Anti-Heroes Of All Time

It was Bucky’s conscience and intrinsic kindness that empowered him to eventually reclaim his life and his memories. There are many characters in Marvel comics who have long and murky paths, but Bucky is one of the few who actively took action to set things right. His guilt signifies his morality and tethers him to his villainy all at once.

2/10 Absorbing Man And Titania Support Each Other

Titania and Absorbing Man fighting zombies as members of Gamma Flight

Make no mistake, both the Absorbing Man and Titania can be very unpleasant. Titania got her powers from Doctor Doom in the hopes of becoming popular and continues to use them to that end. Carl Creel got his powers from Loki and immediately used them to further his criminal career. Things changed when they found each other.

Both villains were mostly used as punching bags and pieces of greater stories, but their romantic relationship has defined them more clearly. These criminals in search of power and respect have become a family whose main goal is to be together. It’s them against the world, so they’re good to one another.

1/10 Venom And Its Hosts Were Misunderstood

Venom returns a purse in Lethal Protector #1 from marvel comics

Eddie Brock’s childhood was awful and his promising career in journalism was shattered by one misleading headline and a corrective exposé by Peter Parker. Flash Thompson was a bully in high school who later lost his legs and sense of purpose after his military service. Both were good people in rough spots when Venom came along.

The Venom symbiote itself isn’t so different from its most popular hosts. It never really fit in on its home planet, and all it wants now is to survive. With a goodhearted host, they may have some dark tendencies, but Venom’s team effort at kindness is the redeeming quality that paved the way for their eventual anti-hero status.

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