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10 Times Marvel Heroes Needed to Be Stopped
Marvel Comics superheroes are not always perfect, with characters like Hulk and Wolverine as examples of heroes known to lose control on occasion. However, while Wolverine can usually stop himself, Hulk has found himself needing to have his friends stop him more than once. It also isn’t just the rage-filled heroes who have needed other heroes to stop them before they went completely out of control. This has also happened to some of the most upstanding heroes, where even the best heroes, such as Captain America and Spider-Man, needed to find someone to help them when they stepped over the line.
From heroes who raged out and lost control to those being controlled by other beings, here are times that Marvel Comics heroes needed to be stopped.
10) Spider-Man
The first time that Venom and the symbiotes officially appeared in Marvel Comics was in the first Secret Wars crossover series, when Spider-Man got a new black costume. However, it wasn’t revealed to be a symbiote until he returned in Amazing Spider-Man #252. That said, Peter Parker thought it was a regular costume that he could control with his mind. However, the Venom symbiote controlled Peter’s body while he slept and went out to stop crime, often in more violent ways. When Spider-Man realized an alien was controlling him, he had to get help from his friends to stop him. Luckily, he had brilliant friends like Reed Richards, who found a way to get the symbiote off him, and that created Venom, one of Spider-Man’s most hated enemies.
9) Hank Pym
Hank Pym was one of the original Marvel Comics heroes, initially taking on the role of Ant-Man. However, he began to deal with mental health issues, and Marvel had him start to change characters as he became more unhinged. He became Giant-Man, and then he turned into Yellow Jacket, although he wouldn’t let any of his teammates know it was him, not even The Wasp. Eventually, he began to think he needed to do more to be part of the Avengers, and he created his own robotic villains he could beat to prove his worth. When this plan failed, the Avengers ended up stepping in and court martialed him, with Hank going to jail, where his eventual redemption arc finally began.
8) Angel
Angel was one of the original X-Men, and he was considered one of the weak links of that team. While he was a great fighter, his only power was flight thanks to his wings. Over time, he was also part of the Champions of Los Angeles, Defenders, and X-Factor. However, it was with X-Factor that things went bad. He was attacked during the Mutant Massacre and ended up losing his wings when Cameron Hodge lied and claimed they were infected and had to be removed. It appeared Angel died by suicide, but Apocalypse saved him and turned him into his Angel of Death, with new razor-sharp wings and the name Archangel. It took Iceman faking his own death at the hands of Angel for the X-Men hero to finally snap out of Apocalypose’s control.
7) Professor X (Onslaught)
When Professor X shut down Magneto’s mind, realizing his old friend would never be rehabilitated, it created a new being based on each man’s hatred, fears, and repressed darkness. Onslaught was inside Professor X and was dormant until Xavier’s frustration grew too high, and Nate Grey accidentally helped release it. Onslaught then took control of Professor X, and he forced him to send his X-Men into a more militant stance against humans. When Onslaught realized mutants were as evil as humans, he set out to exterminate everyone, and it took the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Hulk to finally stop him, at the cost of many of their lives.
6) Daredevil (Shadowland)
Daredevil is harder on himself than anyone else is. He even turned himself in when a villain he fought died and agreed to jail time for manslaughter. However, there was one moment in his life where he did what he thought he had to do to get crime under control, and he ended up as one of Marvel’s most dangerous villains. This was the Shadowland storyline. After Daredevil had to team with Kingpin to fight and take the Hand down, Matt ended up taking control of the Hand in the end. With Norman Osborn in charge of the government, he pushed Daredevil, and the hero finally took control of the streets, which put him at odds with the city’s heroes. Daredevil even murdered Bullseye, although it turned out the Beast had possessed Matt’s soul. It took Shang Chi and a chi punch to drive out the Beast and help send Matt on his road to redemption.
5) Scarlet Witch (Avengers Disassembled)
Few Marvel Comics heroes have lost control more often than Scarlet Witch. She first lost control when Chthon possessed her and the Darkhold corrupted her on Wundagore Mountain, and the Avengers had to find a way to save her from the demon. She lost control again in “Darker Than Scarlet,” where the world’s governments destroyed her husband, the Vision, and when she tried to get him fixed, she walked into a trap and Master Pandemonium gained control of her. However, the worst moment came when she remembered her children, who were never real to begin with, and she was filled with rage and attacked her friends in Avengers Disassembled. She killed Agatha Harkness and caused the deaths of Hawkeye, Scott Lang, and Jack of Hearts. The Avengers couldn’t stop her, but Doctor Strange finally placed her in a catatonic state, while Magneto and Professor X arrived to promise to help her. Sadly, they couldn’t, leading to House of M.
4) Cyclops (Avengers Vs X-Men)
Avengers Vs. X-Men began when the teams learned the Phoenix Force was headed back to Earth. With both teams believing the Phoenix wanted to merge with Hope Summers, the Avengers tried to capture her, the X-Men wanted to let the Phoenix merge with her, and Wolverine wanted to kill Hope. What happened was that the Phoenix Force chose five people instead, with Namor, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Cyclops. The five tried to use the power for good, but the Avengers knew it would corrupt them and kept trying to strip them of it. The last standing was Cyclops, and when he murdered Professor X, he stepped over the line. He finally fell in defeat, lost the Phoenix Force, and became a martyr for the mutant nation.
3) Captain America (Secret Empire)
The Captain America situation is a complicated story, and one that still confuses many readers to this day. This was not the Earth-616 Steve Rogers as Captain America as a Hydra sleeper agent, but it was instead a Steve Rogers raised in an alternate timeline (Earth-61311) by Kobik, a sentient Cosmic Cube. He ended up on Earth-616 and posed as the real Captain America, where he betrayed all Cap’s friends and put the country under a fascist regime run by Hydra. Not knowing any better, many heroes followed the fake Cap, but it took his friends to finally stop the madness. Sam Wilson, Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man worked together to infiltrate the Cosmic Cube and brought back the original-616 Captain America, who then defeated his counterpart, helping to revert America into a free country.
2) Jean Grey
Jean Grey was an original X-Men member, but she got a massive power-up when it appeared the Phoenix Force merged with her after a trip into space. After the Hellfire Club kidnapped Jean and Mastermind messed with her head, she lost control, went into space, and destroyed a star, killing millions on a planet relying on it. The Shi’ar Empire showed up to put her on trial, forcing the X-Men to fight them for her safety. However, Jean knew that the Phoenix Force would cause more damage in the future, and she sacrificed herself to save the X-Men from the Imperial Guard. This was retconned when it was shown that it wasn’t actually Jean. However, with the Phoenix remaining connected to her, she was always someone who needed to be kept under control.
1) Hulk (World War Hulk)
One of the most dangerous versions of Hulk is Worldbreaker Hulk. This happened after Planet Hulk when a terrorist bombing killed his pregnant wife and many of his friends. Blaming the Illuminati, who betrayed him and banished him from Earth, he returned and started World War Hulk. He was in a rage and defeated several of Earth’s most powerful heroes, including Black Bolt, Iron Man, Reed Richards, and more. He even went head-to-head with Sentry and fought him to a standstill. It took all of Earth’s mightiest heroes to try to stop him, and everyone failed. It took Hulk to finally stand down to end his rampage.
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