Three villains who turned good

From classic fairytales, to Hollywood blockbusters – stories throughout the ages have had good guys and bad guys.

Whether it’s an evil queen, a supervillain who wants to take over the world or just a generally unpleasant character, audiences have rooted for the hero to overcome adversity.

But while some say a leopard can’t change its spots – there have been some baddies who have renounced their wicked ways.

BBC Bitesize explores three fictional villains who turned good.

Donkey Kong

While the vast majority of Mario’s battles to save the world are against Bowser – his earliest battles saw him come up against another colossal foe.

Mario’s first gaming appearance came in a 1981 arcade game. Known back then as Jumpman, the plumber had to rescue Pauline (then known as The Lady) from a giant gorilla named Donkey Kong.

That game – named Donkey Kong – established Mario as Nintendo’s hero – but the following year saw the roles reversed in Donkey Kong Jr with Mario defeating and kidnapping DK, and players attempting to rescue him as the gorilla’s son.

But, it wasn’t until 1994 that Kong had a thorough changing of his ways.

Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was one of the first games to use pre-rendered 3D graphics – to create the illusion of a 3D world in a 2D platform game. Donkey Kong – alongside his nephew Diddy Kong – takes on crocodile King K.Rool in an attempt to retrieve his stolen bananas.

Since that game, Donkey Kong has primarily been a protagonist in game appearances – albeit a grumpy one – as also seen in The Super Mario Bros. Movie when he somewhat reluctantly teamed up with Mario.

Loki

While the God of Mischief is a prominent figure in Norse mythology, modern day audiences may know him better from his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - warning, spoilers ahead.

Played by Tom Hiddleston, Loki first appeared in the MCU in Thor, scheming against brother Thor in an unsuccessful attempt to claim the throne of Asgard. His next appearance was in The Avengers as he set his sights higher, trying to take over Earth, using the Tesseract energy source to allow alien forces to invade New York City. Again, his plan was foiled.

Now imprisoned, Loki straddled the line between good and evil, working alongside Thor in Thor: A Dark World – although in seemingly sacrificing himself to save his brother, he actually disguises himself as Odin, their father and ruler of Asgard.

So far, so bad. But Loki continued to blur the lines and make more heroic choices – albeit, often under Thor’s insistence. In Thor: Ragnarok, he helped his brother overcome their sister Hela to save the Asgardians, although he did steal the Tesseract again.

He later showed his good side again when confronted by the Avengers’ main nemesis Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War – handing over the Tesseract to spare Thor’s life. He even attempted to kill the supervillain – an act which ultimately cost him his life.

However – death is rarely permanent in the MCU, and Tom Hiddleston returned as the God of Mischief in the eponymous Loki, portraying a variant of Loki from another timeline. Confronted by his actions from the main timeline, Loki agrees to work with the mysterious Time Variance Authority to attempt to save the world again – ultimately sacrificing himself (for real this time) for the sake of the multiverse and finally finding his glorious purpose as a hero for all ages.

Ebenezer Scrooge

Whether portrayed by Michael Caine, Jim Carrey or Alastair Sim – Ebenezer Scrooge has been one of literature and screen’s biggest villains for almost 200 years. After all, what could be more evil than hating Christmas?

The main character in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge displays miserly behaviour, resenting spending money, the need to be charitable or even needing to close his office on Christmas Day – seeing it as a wasted day of earning.

On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley – a man who shared a similar outlook on life, and as a result, has been condemned to an afterlife bound in chains. Marley tells Scrooge he’ll be visited by three spirits and urges him to change his ways.

After haunting visions of his past and memories of lonely Christmases and love lost through greed, followed by visions of the present showing how his behaviour has affected others – Scrooge then sees what will happen if he continues down this path, in a vision that shows his death and that of his employee Bob Cratchit’s son Tiny Tim.

He promises to change his ways and begs for another chance and is relieved to wake up the next day – Christmas Day – in his own bed. He provides for Cratchit and his family, supports Tiny Tim, makes a charitable donation and turns up to a festive family meal.

Full redemption for Scrooge who embraces a more positive and kinder lifestyle – although this hasn’t stopped his name from still being used to describe someone mean.

This article was published in June 2025