First 15 Justice League Members Who Became Villains (In Chronological Order)

The Justice League is DC Comics’ best and biggest superhero team. Almost every hero in the universe strives to join its ranks and save the world alongside the greats like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. A character joining the team signifies that they have made it, both in-universe and out. Only the most popular, interesting, or beloved characters tend to join the League. While the team might have exacting standards, that hasn’t stopped a few bad eggs from slipping in. There have been plenty of heroes who have fallen from grace in DC Comics over the years.

DC’s most popular characters have been around for decades, and a moral change-up occasionally freshens things up. While these betrayals are rarely permanent, they’re always impactful, especially when the Justice League is involved. A hero betraying their closest teammates is always a juicy reveal and has led to some huge reactions from fans. Plenty of DC heroes have become villains over the years, but only some have done so after joining the Justice League and becoming bastions of heroism in their own right.

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Updated by Sage Ashford on October 27, 2024: These days, the Justice League is bigger than ever, having welcomed most heroes from the superhero community to join their ranks. With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that they’ve suffered more than a few betrayals. Generally, heroes had reasonable explanations for their actions. Either they were transformed into villains or manipulated into becoming them. Either way, the rest of the Justice League often pays the price. This list has been updated to add even more Justice League members who’ve become villains.

15 Red Tornado Just Followed His Programming

Justice League of America #146, September 1977

Red Tornado is probably best known for his seemingly endless number of “deaths” and his betrayal of the League. The latter idea has been compounded by various adaptations, including the Young Justice cartoon, that portray him going rogue. Tornado was created by the villain T.O. Morrow, who wanted to infiltrate the League.

Red Tornado’s first betrayal came in Justice League of America #146 when an outside force corrupted him to attack his teammates. While Red Tornado is a hero, this blind spot in his programming and origin makes him a constant liability to his fellow heroes, and he could do untold damage if one of his betrayals were ever permanent.

14 Rocket Red 7 was a Manhunter in Disguise

Justice League International #9, January 1988

The Rocket Red Brigade is Russia’s premiere superhero team in the DC Universe, and they have had multiple members over the years. One such member, Vladimir Mikoyan, joined up with Justice League International to safeguard Earth. However, the hero was revealed as a Manhunter during an event crossover.

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The Manhunters are a group of robots created by the Guardians of the Universe to safeguard life before the Green Lantern Corps came into being. However, they quickly became corrupt and lost sight of their mission. The League is forced to fight their former ally but is able to defeat him quickly.

13 Hawk Was a Time-Traveling Monster

Armageddon 2001 #2, October 1991

Hawk, of Hawk and Dove, is one of DC’s lesser-known heroes, but he has a pretty cool origin and power set. He’s the “avatar of war” and possesses an incredible fighting spirit. His violent energy is held in check by his opposite number, Dove, the “avatar of peace.” When one is without the other, their nature tends to become overwhelming.

During the crossover event Armageddon 2001, Dove’s death at the hands of the villain Monarch caused Hawk to kill the man in grief. In doing so, Hawk learned Monarch was actually his future self. In a confusing move, Hawk decides to become Monarch and goes on to be just as bad as his future self.

12 Hawkman Wasn’t Who He Claimed

Hawkworld Vol. 2 #23, June 1992

The history of Hawkman and Hawkwoman is… confusing. The characters have multiple canon origins as technically immortal, ever-reborn, and sometimes alien beings. This gets more confusing when you add weird retcons into the mix, as with Fel Andar.

Fel Andar assumed Hawkman’s identity for a time and claimed he was Carter Hall. This was a lie, as the man was a Thanagarian agent intent on betraying Earth and the League. When he was revealed, he killed the woman he had brainwashed to be his Hawkwoman before fleeing the planet.

11 Hal Jordan Fell to the Fear Entity

Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48, January 1994

Hal Jordan is often regarded as one of, if not the greatest, Green Lantern in the history of the corps. That’s really no surprise, considering everything he has accomplished. While Hal has a good reputation these days, he had a fall from grace in the 90s. Following the death of Superman, Hal’s home, Coast City, was destroyed. This led him to kill the other Lanterns in a bid for power.

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Hal became a villain, Parallax, and terrorized the universe for years before sacrificing himself to save Earth. However, this fall from grace was later retconned as being outside Hal’s control. Instead of turning to the dark from grief, he was corrupted by the primordial fear entity from which he took his name, Parallax.

10 Triumph was Stuck in the Past

JLA #30, June 1999

Triumph was one of the original founders of the Justice League of America—except he wasn’t. The character’s origin story has him helping the League during its founding but sacrificing himself to save the world. This erases him from the timeline, meaning no one remembers him alongside the greats like Superman and Wonder Woman.

Although they’re skeptical of his story, Triumph eventually returns and rejoins the League. This comes to a head in JLA #30 when he attempts to manufacture a dangerous crisis to gain some clout. This backfires, and Triumph is turned into a statue by the Specter, who considers it justice for the damage he caused.

9 Obsidian Turned Evil Because Of His Shadow Powers

JSA #8, March 2000

Todd Rice joined the Justice League during the latter days of the JLI, as they were split into multiple groups. However, watching so many of his teammates lose their lives caused him to become unstable. Worse, his connections to the Shadowlands might grant him his powers, but they also connected him to an old Justice Society villain, Ian Karkull.

Karkull manipulated Obsidian to turn against his friends and family, causing him to strike out against the JSA and the entire world. Even after battling his father, Obsidian remained evil for a while , even working with enemies like Mordru and Eclipso. Though Obsidian eventually turned back to the side of the angels, his allies remain wary of him.

8 Jean Loring Went Mad

Identity Crisis, June through December 2004

Identity Crisis has a bad reputation with most Justice League fans. The series reveals a lot about the pasts of various heroes, and not everyone feels these twists were justified. One character that really came out looking bad was Jean Loring, the Atom Ray Palmer’s ex-wife.

Jean wants Ray back, so she plans an elaborate attack on their mutual friend, Sue Dibny, to send him running back to her. However, this attack goes wrong and ends with the other woman dead. Jean then planned further attacks to make it seem like a killer was stalking the loved ones of heroes. Her betrayal cuts to the core of the League and fractures them for a time.

7 Max Lord Killed A Beloved Leaguer

Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1, May 2005

Maxwell Lord has a pretty storied history with the League. During his first appearances, he is portrayed as a power-hungry businessman who helps the League partially to serve his own needs. He’s selfish but still willing to help, do the right thing and act heroically.

This changes when Lord activated his mind-control powers. He begins to lose faith in the heroes and works for his own purposes. During the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Lord kills his long-time friend and ally, Blue Beetle, as part of his opening salvo against the heroes. He creates the robotic army of OMACs and takes control of Superman to help cement his power before Wonder Woman snaps his neck and kills him.

6 Mary Marvel Was Corrupted

Countdown to Final Crisis #47, June 2007

Mary Marvel is one of the nicest and most powerful heroes out there. Along with her siblings in the Shazam family, she can call upon the abilities of various gods to perform superhuman feats. Unfortunately, these powers are notoriously fickle and have disappeared from time to time. Mary went to her longtime foe, Black Adam, to help her during one such period.

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Black Adam opted to give Mary his power. However, this corrupted Mary, who quickly lost most of her winning personality and gained a darker costume. This leads to her becoming a much more violent hero and teaming up with several villains in her quest for some meaning. Thankfully, she eventually returned to the side of the angels.

5 Geo-Force Joined Deathstroke

Justice League of America #12, August 2007

Geo-Force is better known as a member of the Outsiders, but he did serve some time with DC’s biggest heroes. Brion Markov joined the Justice League during the team’s 2006 run and was a valuable member. The team appreciated his unique, earth-based powers.

However, Brion was blackmailed by Deathstroke to spy on the League in exchange for power. Eventually, Geo-Force did come clean to Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but the damage was already done. The League fought a brutal battle with the Injustice League, and Geo-Force left to rejoin the Outsiders.

4 Kyle Rayner Became The New Parallax

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1, August 2007

In the 2000s, Kyle Rayner was known as the torchbearer, responsible for keeping the Green Light alive when there was no Corps. However, that made him a target during the Sinestro Corps War, as Sinestro sought to demoralize his enemies. In their initial attack, the Sinestro Corps captured Kyle Rayner and returned him to their home planet.

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Sinestro found a way to separate Kyle from the Ion entity and force Parallax, the Fear Entity, inside him. Kyle immediately turned into one of the Sinestro Corps’ champions, fighting against his former friends in the Corps. Kyle was even responsible for killing long-time Green Lantern Jack T. Chance before Hal and the others restored him to normal.

3 The Atom Was Part Of The Crime Syndicate

Justice League Vol. 2 #23, October 2013

Rhonda Pineda made her first appearance helping the Justice League stop the Atlanteans during the Throne of Atlantis storyline. With the team needing new members, her heroism, both against the Atlanteans and later against Despero, made her one of their top choices. However, none of them knew she was a traitor from the beginning.

Rhonda was secretly the Atom from Earth-3, where she was part of her world’s Crime Syndicate of America. An advance agent of that group, Rhonda secretly infected Cyborg with a virus that caused her Earth’s Cyborg, Grid, to take control of his body. She aided the Crime Syndicate in taking over Earth, though it all caught up to her once the Syndicate began to lose. Caught by herself while she was stuck in her miniaturized size, Lex Luthor crushed her with his boot.

2 Dr. Fate Wanted To Get Rid Of All Magic

Justice League Dark Vol. 2 #6, February 2019

Doctor Fate has long been an ally, and on some occasions a member, of the Justice League. Above all else, though, he’s a member of the Lords of Order. So when the Justice League Dark’s adventures caused ripples throughout reality, Doctor Fate could no longer stand by and tolerate the chaos that came with magic.

Taking over Kent Nelson’s body, Nabu unleashed the Otherkind, allowing them to destroy sources of magic. Dr. Fate sealed off Phantom Stranger and John Constantine in his helmet as he and the Lords of Order struck down all magic to enforce order on reality. Though the Justice League Dark was able to stop him, it was a reminder of how different beings like Nabu are from humanity.

1 Green Arrow Betrayed The Superhero Community To Amanda Waller

Green Arrow Vol. 7 #13, August 2024

One of the most surprising turns of late involved Oliver Queen working with Amanda Waller. Oliver’s always been anti-authority, but he saw Amanda’s plans as too convincing to pass on. Thus, during Absolute Power, he became one of Amanda’s many pawns, helping to shut down all superpowered beings.

In the end, this was revealed as a ruse…but not one that Oliver was actively aware of. Working with Martian Manhunter, Ollie had mental blocks placed in his head to allow him to trust Waller’s plan, making him impossible to doubt. Moreover, he betrayed not only the League but all of his family until the eleventh hour. Though many of the core League members forgave him for his betrayal, others haven’t been so nice yet.

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