10 Huntress - 1989
Helena Bertinelli was a member of the Bertinelli crime family who turned to a life of vigilantism
after the rest of her family was murdered.
She trained for years as an assassin and returned to Gotham to get revenge on the families responsible
for her family's death, all while pretending that she was just the innocent survivor of
the hit on her family.
Just your average Helena Bertinelli.
When in truth she was secretly taking out the criminals around her.
Due to the fact that she often kills those she hunts and is very violent, she has the
label of anti-hero.
Though over the years, working with the Birds of Prey team she has tried to reform herself
somewhat when it comes to the violence.
.
Welcome back, nerd squad.
While evil and good have been around for what seems like forever, it might also surprise
you that those that represent the grey area between what we consider to be morally good
or just and somewhat villainous have existed for almost as long.
Almost.
While the idea of anti-hero didn’t become mainstream till later in the comic book world,
today they have become one of the most celebrated kinds of heroes.
Why is this?
When we think of a vigilante they already could be considered kind of controversial
inherently as they are in their own way anti-establishment.
These are super powered people who decided to take the law into their own hands when
it comes to deciding what is right and what is wrong.
But anti-heroes go beyond this, questioning not just who should dole out justice but being
even more controversial in regards to how criminals should be punished with those anti-heroes
methods being considered somewhat controversial themselves.
Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the anti-heroes who were the first on the
scene to be celebrated and questioned by some comic book readers and what they stand for
as we countdown the top 10 oldest anti-heroes.
Be sure to stick around till the end of this list where I will have some bonus content
coming your way.
Alright, let’s get counting.
10 Helena Wayne as Huntress - 1977
Before Helena Bertinelli was Huntress we had Helena Wayne.
Helena Wayne was the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Batman and Catwoman respectively.
Although she didn’t come from a crime family, she was still heavily trained by her parents
and eventually took up the mantle Huntress as a vigilante.
Like the main continuity Huntress she was also known for being more violent than was
acceptable.
After her mother’s death she moved out and, blaming the criminal Sily Cernak for her mother’s
death, as he had blackmailed Selina into returning to a life of a crime as Catwoman, Helena Wayne
set out for revenge.
9 Venom - 1984/88
Venom would technically make its first appearance in issue 252 of volume on of the Amazing Spider-Man
but it wouldn’t be until almost fifty issues later, in issue 299 that the suit would develop
a mind of it’s own, errr… well really bind it’s mind with that of Eddie Brock’s
and be introduced to us again as Venom.
Once Eddie got his hands on the suit, he began to plot sweet revenge Peter Parker.
But during his first appearance, Peter who was also rocking a black and white suit at
the time, albeit not the symbiotic one--I know, confusing---was not at home.
So instead Venom ran into MJ in her and Peter’s apartment, scaring her senseless.
Eddie would go onto terrorize Peter but the two would at time reluctantly team-up to take
on even bigger bads, as despite kind of being a bad guy Eddie had a sort of moral code.
He definitely didn’t like to kill innocent civilians and tried to avoid when it was possible.
The two teamed up to take on villains like Carnage and eventually Eddie would become
a hero in his own right.
He’s probably got one of the best story arcs in comics because of his gradual transformation
since his introduction as Venom in 88.
8 John Constantine - 1985
Constantine made his first appearance in Swamp Thing volume 2 issue 37.
He is known as an occult detective from England who likes to do things his own way.
He’s somewhat violent and reckless with somewhat of a disregard for the smaller things.
To John sometimes you have to have break few eggs or sacrifice a few souls to make an omelet
and as long as it is for the greater good, he’s sometimes fine with that.
In his own series Hellblazer which started in 1988 and ran for over 300 issues the original
tone of the series was quite dark because the series also came out of DC’s Vertigo
line which was known for being one of the darkest imprints that DC had.
Of course sadly Vertigo is no more but in it’s place we now have the stunning DC Black
Label.
7 V - 1982
V comes to us from Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s series, V for Vendetta.
He is a mysterious character also known as patient #5 who is said to be one of the many
victims of abuse in a “resettlement” camp run by the facist and villainous Norsefire-ruled
government.
It is believed that V was a test subject at the camp who escaped.
He then adopted the mantle V and began to work on building an anarchistic uprising to
topple the oppressive regime.
His methods were meant to appear morally ambiguous so that readers could decide how to see him,
as a hero or as a madman.
V made his first appearance in the series Warrior, in issue number one.
6 Black Cat - 1979
Black Cat first introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man volume 1, issue 194 as a thief.
And that she would continue to be for a long time.
But she was also introduced as a love interest for Spider-Man which she would also continue
to be for some time.
Distracting Spidey with a kiss, she was able to get away with the goods she needed and
succeeded in breaking her dad out of jail as a result.
Though we wouldn’t learn his relation to her until the next issue.
Being a mysterious figure with self-serving motives has always left her painted as anti-hero,
even when she has heroic intentions at heart.
Although Felicia Hardy has played both sides before as well, being a full on hero and full
on criminal at times.
5 Punisher - 1974
Probably one of the most iconic when it comes to the idea of what an anti-hero is, Frank
Castle was also one of the first.
It’s likely because of him as well that the idea of seeking revenge became a somewhat
dark one.
The Punisher’s main quest is to get vengeance, not just for himself but for others whom he
thinks deserve it.
Originally she turned to a life of vigilantism after the death of his family who happened
to be on a picnic at the wrong place at the wrong time and were witnesses to something
they shouldn’t have been.
As such they were eliminated by the mob.
Despite also being shot, Frank survived the attack though the rest of his family died,
and he swore revenge.
He is also known for being an overly violent hero who fights with guns which is something
more heroes look down upon, preferring to use non-lethal force.
The Punisher would achieve next level anti-hero status when he also became the first anti-hero
to kill the entire Marvel universe in 1995 in Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe.
Paving the way for another popular anti-hero, Deadpool, to also do so, years later.
4 Wolverine - 1974
Logan being considered a little more rough around the edges and animalistic is what quickly
granted him anti-hero status.
As far as superheroes go, he was different.
He made his first full appearance in The Incredible Hulk volume 1 issue 181.
Since the beginning, his violent nature and broodiness has made him both well-loved by
fans but sometimes disliked by other heroes.
He also has less hang ups when it comes to killing, even suggesting at times that it’s
the best course of action when dealing with villains and having a pretty big thing for
mercy killing.
This has also made Logan one of the biggest anti-heros in the X-Men world.
3 Magneto - 1963
Magneto has been known as the foil to X-Men’s Professor Xavier for years.
Xavier also was the leader of the X-Men while Magneto was the leader of the first Brotherhood
of Evil Mutants, who were often the X-Men’s enemies.
Still Magneto does what he does often to make the life of mutants better, albeit through
punishing humanity.
And while he has spent a lot of time being a villain, over the years he has definitely
shifted to more anti-hero, especially in the new Dawn of X mutant relaunch where he often
works alongside Charles.
2 Catwoman - 1940
Catwoman has always operated more on the edge of right and wrong since her introduction.
Which is part of the huge appeal when it comes to her and has been part of the huge problem
in regards to her on and off again relationship with Batman.
Though Batman wasn’t really a saint either when it came to his early days.
When Catwoman first appeared in Batman volume 1 issue 1 it was as a jewel thief and Batman
at the time was engaged.
Still he was tempted to join her and become her king of crime but when he refused her
she managed to escape his clutches, sneaking away.
Batman hoped he’d run into her again, despite her criminal tendencies.
And his wish would be granted.
Catwoman would even team up with Batman and join him in his acts of heroism, though originally
it would often be for her own motives alone.
1 Namor - 1939
Namor is an interesting one.
When he first debuted in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, it was a young prince attacking land-dwellers,
seeking revenge for his people.
He would then go onto join the fight in WW2, fighting against nazis with heroes such as
Captain America.
Later he would forget who he was and only regain his memories when he was accidentally
knocked into the ocean in the original Fantastic Four series by Johnny Storm.
He would discover that the kingdom that was his underwater home had been destroyed by
the humans' wars nuclear bomb tests and as a result would attack the land, becoming a
villain.
Since then he has done a variety of good and not always so good things but what remains
constant is that Namor's methods have pretty much always been questionable.
His return to being "good" but in his own way and still while thinking very highly of
himself made him an anti-hero.
And while he is very passionate about protecting his people, there is no doubt that this means
he would also do anything to safeguard Atlantis, regardless of how morally ambiguous or severe.
Thank you so much for watching, nerd squad.
Who are some of your favourite comic book anti-heroes?
Would you like to see more anti-hero teams?
Do you prefer anti-heros or more a-typical goody goody heroes?
Or do you prefer villains maybe?
Let us know in the comments below.
And now time for some bonus content in the form of an honorary mention.
My honorary mention for this list is Batman.
Batman first appeared in Detective Comics in issue 27 and shortly after got his own
self-titled series, Batman.
In his own series he could be seen using guns, hanging people, and basically showing a disregard
for the murder of the criminals he pursued.
It wasn’t until later in his vigilante career that Batman would develop his no-kill, no-gun
policy.
Surprising?
I know.
But when revenge gets a hold of you, I guess it turns almost everyone into an anti-hero.
And that’s all she wrote today.
This has been top 10 nerd, and I’m your host, Amanda McKnight.
You stay nerdy, YouTube.