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These Marvel Universe Characters Fit in the D&D Alignment Chart Perfectly (And Chaotic Good Isn’t Up for Debate)
Dungeons and Dragons created the TTRPG, with numerous other pieces of media inspired by the game over the years. D&D gave TTRPGs many of their basics and one of the most useful has always been the alignment chart. Everyone knows it by now, it’s become a meme format that everyone online has seen. There are three moral alignments – good, neutral, and evil – and three categories for each – lawful, neutral, and chaotic. It’s been imported across fiction by this point, with fans making alignment charts for various other pieces of pop culture. One of the most interesting places to use the alignment chart is superhero comics, with Marvel Comics being especially fertile ground for the alignment chart.
One of the most interesting things about Marvel characters is their moral alignment. The House of Ideas always endeavored to give readers the world outside their window. The real world is complex and the Marvel Universe tries to match that. While some characters have obvious places on the chart, some of them may surprise you. These nine Marvel characters fit perfectly into the D&D alignment chart, and I won’t broker any disagreement on chaotic good.
9) Chaotic Evil: Sabretooth
Sabretooth is Wolverine’s most dangerous enemy, the two of them intertwined over the decades. Victor Creed was imprisoned in his family’s basement when his mutant powers manifested, eventually escaping and killing his family. From then on, Victor became a force of chaos in the world. He’s worked for the good guys, he’s worked for the bad guys, and he’s worked for himself. He has no real morals or anything like that – he’s a hunter and the world is his prey. In his mind, he’s just enforcing the natural order of the world. He doesn’t care about anything except what he wants and what he usually wants is to kill as many people as possible. He’s the kind of person who will team up with the good guys and then swap sides halfway through. He’s the embodiment of chaotic evil, a ruthless monster who there’s only one sure thing about – he’s going to kill a lot of people.
8) Chaotic Neutral: Taskmaster
Taskmaster is one of Marvel’s most beloved villains and is a perfect example of a chaotic neutral character. He has photographic reflexes, which allows him to copy the moves of anyone he sees. He studied tapes of the superheroes, mastering their moves and then arming himself with similar weapons. He fought the Avengers numerous times as a mercenary and then decided to start a school for henchmen, teaching them how the heroes fought and how to use that against them. Taskie doesn’t really have any goals beyond using his skills to make a living. He’ll take money from anyone to do what needs to be done. Recent years have seen him taking more jobs that aren’t ostensibly evil and he’s become a rather humorous character. His fighting style fits the chaotic category rather well; one minute, he’s using Hawkeye’s archery, the next he’s swinging his sword like the Swordmaster, then he busts out Cap’s shield, and finally webs you up. You can never predict what he’s going to do next or who he’s going to be working for, but you know it’s going to be wild.
7) Lawful Evil: Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is Marvel’s most storied monarch and one of the most dangerous people on the planet. Doom is all about the law – in Latveria, he is the law. He gives his people everything they could need, he just demands total obedience to the law, and by extension him. One World Under Doom showed how he would run things and it was honestly mostly pretty great. However, because this is Doom, he based it all on a ghastly act – using the Latverian people as fuel for his spells, harvesting their various magical energies and using them as the basis for powerful spells that enforced his will and allowed him to defeat all comers as Sorcerer Supreme. So, while he did everything through the law and was able to ensure peace and abundance, he did so through a reprehensible act that no one would have ever imagined of him. He is a complex man, but he’s evil at his core.
6) Chaotic Neutral: Galactus
Galactus is Marvel’s favorite cosmic being and he’s often looked at as evil. However, this isn’t really the case. Galactus has become a force of nature, wielding the full force of the Power Cosmic and devouring worlds. He’s neutral because he has no malice in his destruction. He’s basically like any other living being – he’s fine with consuming living things of all kinds in order to satiate his hunger. He’s not Thanos, trying to kill everything because he’s a broken nihilist; he can only eat planets and so he eats planets. If you fight him, he will fight back, just like any hunter trying to catch their meal. He’s also completely unpredictable – the only thing you know for sure about him is that he’s going to eat planets. In many ways, he’s the ultimate representation of chaos in the Marvel Universe – he shows up out of nowhere, destroys, and leaves, a perfect representation of chance in a brutal universe.
5) True Neutral: The Watcher
Marvel’s cosmic beings are the ultimate representation of the concept of neutral in their universe. For the most part, they are ideals of the universe, living representations of things that drive existence in every way. However, many of them have moral alignments, based on what they are or represent. Few of them are actually truly neutral, but there is one who fits this description – Uatu the Watcher. Now, before we go on, I do need to point out that the Watcher has interfered in events, usually helping save the Earth. However, as far as it goes, even this could be looked at as a neutral act. The Watchers are an order of beings who are meant to watch and not interfere and Uatu was assigned to watch the Earth. He’s stood by as the most terrible acts happened, merely chronicling them. Watching the planet is his job, so the few times he’s interfered can be looked at as not moral, but pragmatic. He’s not saving the Earth because it’s the right thing to do, he’s saving it because he wouldn’t have a job without it.
4) Lawful Neutral: The Living Tribunal
The cosmology of the Marvel Universe goes like this – there’s the One Above All and the One Below All, two sides of sides of the same coin, and under them is the Living Tribunal. This being is the ultimate representation of law in the Marvel Universe, existing to enforce the laws of the universe. The cosmic beings go to him when they have a problem, and he weighs their words carefully before making a completely impartial decision. His entire life is about examining the minutiae of the laws of the universe constantly and using that to make decisions. He has passed judgments that could be called good, he’s passed ones that can be looked at as evil, and he’s passed ones that are truly neutral. However, all of them followed the laws of existence set forth in the beginning of things. You could make the argument that he’s true neutral, but since his existence is based on enforcing the laws in the most neutral way, lawful neutral is where he belongs.
3) Chaotic Good: The Hulk
The Hulk is the strongest one there is and there’s an argument for him having a neutral moral alignment, since he’s done things that are good and evil for a variety of reasons. However, I think good fits the Jade Giant better because for the most part his actions are usually ultimately good. Yes, even World War Hulk. Let me explain – Bruce Banner grew up with a monstrous father and did everything he could to make sure that he didn’t turn out like him. The Hulk is a childlike monster at times, but he also does his best to protect the weak; there have been numerous times when he saved lives jeopardized by the military when they were fighting against him. There’s his obviously moral stand on Palestine. Even him wanting to be left alone can be looked at as him trying to protect people from the rage and power of the Hulk. As far as World War Hulk, he went after the Illuminati, who although they weren’t responsible for destroying Sakaar like he thought did launch him away from the Earth and did a lot of dirt besides, which wasn’t all bad, and he allowed innocent people time to evacuate. He’s extremely chaotic, though, since his actions can take just about any direction imaginable, but he tries his hardest to do good with his destructive power.
2) Neutral Good: Iron Man
Iron Man is one of the greatest heroes in the Marvel Universe, so he definitely fits into the good side of the moral chart. Tony Stark changed his life when he was injured by the munitions that he created and decided to use his intellect and resources to protect the world. Now, there’s an argument that you could consider him lawful, but Stark breaks the rules all the time. Laws only bother him when his secrets are revealed; otherwise, he basically does whatever he wants. He’s ultimate a pragmatist, a man who will do anything to make sure the Earth is still there to see the sun rise everyday. He’ll life, cheat, and steal if it means that the day will be saved. He’ll betray anyone to make sure his goals are met, something that has hurt the superhero immensely. However, they all know that he’s doing the wrong things for the right reasons, so they usually forgive him his excesses.
1) Lawful Good: Captain America
Captain America is Marvel’s greatest hero, the one that everyone looks up to, so there’s no way he could be anything but lawful good. You could make the argument that he’s neutral good because of the times when he’s broken the laws of the land, but even then he was following the laws that he himself holds dear. He’s the ultimate representation of “by the book” and he makes sure that everyone else follows the rules that he does. His entire life is devoted to fighting for the freedom of everyone in the world, so that they could all live the American dream that made his life possible. He will battle anyone who does what he considers evil, even other heroes (one of the best examples of this is when he beats down the Punisher for killing Goldbug and Plunderer in Civil War). He wants a better world, one that follows rules that will make everyone more happy and free.
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