Top 10 Vengeful Superheroes
Revenge is a dish best served super. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we'll be counting down our picks for the top 10 vengeful superheroes.
For this list, we'll be looking at the superheroes and fictional vigilantes who have sought revenge on criminals and those who have wronged them.
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#10: Rorschach
Walter Kovacs does not mess around. Although he was prone to violence even in his youth, the man who would be Rorschach grew up to be a masked vigilante that at first was relatively restrained. However, after a particularly disturbing case that leads to a psychotic break, Rorschach begins murdering criminals instead of capturing them. Using nothing more than his fists, improvised weapons, his wits, and a grapple gun, Rorschach fights an uncompromising crusade against crime that doesn’t even stop when he’s locked up! Rorschach may be unhinged, but he’s a fascinating character all the same. #9: Katana A modern-day samurai who takes her moniker from her weapon of choice, Katana wields a sword that ensnares the souls of those killed with it. Though the details of her tragic past vary depending on the medium, most versions depict her being driven to enact revenge on those who killed her husband with the same sword she now uses. Although not given to bouts of rage, like some of our other entries to come, Katana’s focus, determination, and skill with a blade are more than enough to earn her a place on our list.
#8: Deathlok
With a name like that, these superheroes were hardly going to be boy scouts. Yes, that’s superheroes plural! There have been several Deathloks over the years in comics and other media, though they all have aspects in common that usually help them earn their common nickname. The Deathloks are usually killed or disfigured somehow and then resurrected with cyborg technology, kind of like a predecessor to “RoboCop.” They will often seek to kill those who killed or harmed them before upon receiving their “upgrades” using their newfound abilities while struggling to maintain their humanity.
#7: Wolverine
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We all saw this one coming. The X-Men’s resident hotheaded member, everything about Wolverine, from his regenerative abilities to his metal skeleton and claws, to his tragic, amnesiac past, just screams “revenge.” Prone to rage-fueled berserker attacks in battle, Wolverine uses his healing factor to tear through his enemies with wild, violent abandon. His desire to discover his origins and who gave him his adamantium bones is also often a driving force for many of his stories, that usually ends with him taking them down. While he can be grumpy and incredibly savage in battle, Wolverine is generally good-hearted deep down.
#6: Batman
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Some may find it surprising that Batman is so low on this list, however, while the caped crusader is incredibly intense in his pursuit of criminals and he does embody the kind of darker superhero archetype, Batman has a code and lines he usually won’t cross, which is more than we can say for other heroes on our list. Even so, the Dark Knight is defined by the death of his parents and in many versions he seeks or achieves revenge on the perpetrator, as well as other criminals that cross him and those he loves. He said it himself best though:
#5: The Crow
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Revenge and resurrection seem to go hand in hand, don’t they? After he and his girlfriend or fiancée are brutally murdered, a man, usually named Eric Draven, is brought back to life by a crow, which gives him the opportunity to hunt down those responsible. Draven and the others to bear the mantle of the Crow are granted superhuman endurance or regenerative powers and other supernatural abilities, which they use to ensure their killers are killed themselves. The Crows’ undead battle to avenge themselves and those they loved are frequently impactful and always bloody.
#4: Red Hood
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Plenty of people, including villains like the Joker, have donned the Red Hood over the years, but the title is most commonly associated with former Robin, Jason Todd. After experiencing traumatic, or sometimes fatal treatment from a criminal, usually the Joker himself, Jason Todd returns to fighting crime, though not by the code he learned during his tenure as Robin; instead, using any means necessary, which includes everything from killing criminals to even taking over the underworld of Gotham. The character is so ruthless in his pursuit of those who’ve wronged him that he verges on being an anti-villain, though Batman sometimes manages to rekindle his better nature.
#3: Ghost Rider
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Few things say vengeance quite like a man with a flaming skull for a head! Like several of our other entries, Ghost Rider is a superhero epithet that’s been used by a number of heroes over the years, but they all share several things in common that make them especially revenge prone. The Ghost Rider powers are bestowed upon someone by the demon Mephisto, leading the individual to be compelled to seek out people whose crimes have been worthy of damnation and destroy or damn them with fiery chains or other brutal methods.
#2: Spawn
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Speaking of demonically powered superheroes, Spawn is another hero whose abilities were granted by Hell. After being burned alive, Al Simmons makes a deal with a demon that he will agree to serve the forces of darkness in exchange for being able to walk the Earth again and see his wife. Things don’t work out quite like he planned though, and, in addition to being merciless to criminals, he also seeks revenge on the man who killed him, as well as the demonic beings who manipulated him into his new life as a “hellspawn.”
#1: The Punisher
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One of the darkest anti-heroes out there, the Punisher is a militant, unhinged vigilante who takes the law into his own hands. After his family is killed by criminals, Frank Castle is driven to punish not only those responsible but also criminals in general, using his military training to wage an unending one-man war on those he sees as being the worst of the worst. Haunted, intense, and motivated by the death of his loved ones, the Punisher is easily the most vengeful superhero of them all.
