Heel Face Revolving Door: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Elizabeth''': Whose side is Jack on?

 

 

 

 

 

This is common in [[Comic Books]], media using the [[Fleeting Demographic Rule]], and collaborative media written by fans [[Running the Asylum]]. It's easier with characters who have what is initially a [[Never Live It Down]] moment or a [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?]] in their past.

 

Compare [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] (which, in some cases, is the [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] of this trope), [[Wild Card]] (where the character isn't strongly on anybody's side ever), [[Unscrupulous Hero]] (a character who is unambiguously on the heroic side but commits villainous acts on the side), and the [[Double Reverse Quadruple Agent]] (he never changes sides, but no one is sure what side he's really on).

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* A character in the anime version of the ''[[Mushiking]]'' arcade, called Soma. He is at first suspicious, but becomes good, then becomes a baddie to {{spoiler|be with his mother, who's one of them}}, and then becomes good again when everyone but [[The Dragon]] sees how ludicrous the [[Big Bad]]'s plan is. Really, this guy gets the Revolving Door award.

* Vegeta from ''[[Dragonball Z]]''. First he was a villain, then he [[Heel Face Turn|joined Goku]] and the other Z Fighters in the fight against Freeza... then he turned ''back'' into a villain in a [[Not Brainwashed]] moment during the Majin Boo saga... and then became a good guy once again. Then he ''was'' brainwashed and fused with the new [[Big Bad]], Baby. Then he was good again. The series ended before he could rotate any more.

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Kikyo can't seem to decide if she wants Naraku dead, or Inuyasha, or both. She also has difficulty deciding why she wants it done and how to do it.

* [[Gundam|Char Aznable]]: [[The Rival]], then [[The Mentor]] to his rival's successor, then the [[Big Bad]] over the course of two series and a movie.

* [[Catwoman (comics)|Catwoman]].

* [[Magneto]] of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''. Takes [[The Messiah|wider]] [[Complete Monster|swings]] across the spectrum than pretty much any character in comics [[Doctor Doom|(maybe)]].

** Since her "current goals" have been both heroic and villainous, and she's been a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], federal agent, terrorist, spy and full-fledged X-Man at various times, she pretty much counts. It's not as if the other examples of this trope spend a lot of time working ''contrary'' to their "current goals."

* [[Deadpool]] wavers between mercenary, good guy, or doing merc work for the bad guy of the week. This is due in large part to the fact that he's insane.

* [[Wolverine]] of all people could be considered this. Although he'll never outright betray the X-men and is always there for them if they really really need him, he'll also constantly run off for his own personal reasons at the drop of the hat. Despite being warned often that he can't come and go as he pleases if he wants to be a full member of the team, he always does, and the X-men always take him back.

* [[Magneto]]'s children [[Quicksilver]] and the [[Scarlet Witch]] started as members of the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Brotherhood of Evil Mutants]] then reformed and joined [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] and have been ping-ponging back and forth between heroism and villainy ever since. Quicksilver primarily because he'd really like to be a hero but is too self-centered to not do something he thinks will improve his situation just because it's illegal or wrong or something; Scarlet Witch primarily because she has a [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|mental breakdown]] whenever a writer can't think of something more interesting to do with her [[Green Lantern Ring|near-omnipotent]] powers.

** Poison Ivy, while always a villain when on her own, tends to reform (or at least become neutral) whenever Harley is attempting to reform.

*** [[Recycled Script|ANY time Two-Face gets his face restored or tries to give up on his evil personality, he always goes back to his old ways.]] One was even helped along by {{spoiler|the Joker.}}

** In No Man's Land an act of ungodly luck makes Two-Face a good guy for what looks like weeks if not months. He agrees to help Renee Montoya to try and take care of the weaker people in the city; injured, old, children, etc. Each time he helps he flips a coin, according to Montoya he apparently flips the "good" side over 100 times......in a row. It's possible that the implication there was that Two-Face was cheating. Perhaps he had honestly (temporarily) reformed, but pretended it was all the coin's fault (so he'd have an excuse if he ever turned evil again). And if that's not it, maybe Batman or Montoya just slipped him a weighted coin.

** The character "Toxin" was created to fit the other end of the Venom scale. Toxin is the symbiote child of Carnage who bonded onto a law-abiding police officer. While the struggle with the Symbiote's natural killing desire is intense, Toxin is a more straight example of a heroic Venom.

** Same with [[Morbius]] who started as an anti-villain, then went to being the anti-hero of his own series, eventually got upgraded to a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] who constantly fought against Spiderman yet would help people in need, unless he felt like eating them.

* This Trope could also be named The [[Black Adam]]. He started out as a champion of his people in ancient times named Mighty Adam (that's good) then became a brutal dictator and conqueror when his family was killed by a supervillain (that's bad) then millennia later attempted to reform and even joined the [[Justice Society of America]] (that's good) then became a not-so-brutal dictator of his country again (NOT the bad part) and later joined a Society of Villains to ensure their safety (that's bad). After said Society betrayed him, he later fought against them when they tried to take over Metropolis (that's good) then went back to being a harsh dictator with plans to form a new Axis Powers coalition (that's bad). When he gained a new family he tried to go back to his old heroic ways and traveled the world fighting evil alongside them (that's good). When this family was killed by supervillains he went on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]], ''murdered an entire country'', and fought every superhero on Earth (that's bad, but awesome). Most recently, his wife [[Came Back Wrong]] and started turning his people into dirt and he tried to defend them {{spoiler|leading to a truly bizarre situation with ''Black Adam'' defending innocents from the ''corrupted [[Captain Marvel]] and Mary Marvel''}} (that's good.) Then he got turned into a statue alongside his wife for his troubles {{spoiler|and an oh so ominous shadowy figure wants to make them his champions...(that's bad)}}. At least there's a free choice of toppings (that's good)...that contain potassium benzoate (...that's bad). By the Power of Shazam, that is one busy revolving door.

** In addition to having similar personalities and histories of jumping back and forth between good and evil, Namor and Black Adam even ''look like they could be twins''.

* Geoffrey St. John from the [[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic The Hedgehog comics]] is a prime example of one of these. It's even Lampshaded in one issues' off-panel strip.

** But it's not done yet. Quinlan's final story is set during [[Revenge of the Sith|Order 66]], which shows him deciding that he has to survive and kill Emperor Palpatine by any means necessary (that's bad). Ultimately, though, he realizes that his duty as a Jedi is to protect a Wookiee village from the clone commander hunting him, and seems to sacrifice his life to stop him (that's good). {{spoiler|He survives, returns to his surviving friends and promises never to let his darkness affect his infant son (that's even better).}}

** So, there we have Quinlan Vos; possibly the only Star Wars character even more conflicted than Anakin Skywalker.

** Luke Skywalker in ''[[Dark Empire]]'' can't compete with Vos, but he does manage to [[Turn Out Like His Father|emulate his dad]]. First he confronts the Emperor Reborn. Then he realizes that he can't win and joins him, planning to subvert the Empire from within. Then he falls to [[The Dark Side]] for real, having very Sith thoughts about killing his Master as soon as he's learned enough - when Leia and Han come to try and rescue him, he captures them and chokes Han. Then, Leia talks him into seeing the error of his ways, so he helps them escape with some important codes before trying to kill Palpatine. Palpatine beat him and bent him back into line - Sith apparently don't mind attempted murder that much, it's kind of expected - and Luke served him and regretted letting his sister go. Finally, he met Leia again, who [[Love Redeems|redeemed him]] into realizing that he didn't want what Palpatine taught, he wanted to be a Jedi.

* In the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic published by Marvel, Storm Shadow was initially conceived as a mere mercenary hired by Cobra. When his back-story revealed that he was a former student of the same Ninja master that trained Snake-Eyes, he underwent a story arc which involved a reconciliation between himself and his former sword brother. He eventually left Cobra and sided with the G.I. Joe team, going as far as to lead their "Ninja Force" division. During the end of the Marvel run, Storm Shadow was brainwashed into serving Cobra again. The brainwashing was never meant to be permanent, but the comic was canceled before the story arc could be resolved. When the comic was renewed by Devil's Due Publishing years later, Storm Shadow was still employed by Cobra for quite a few issues until he was finally free of his brainwashing and rejoined the Joes for the remainder of the series until the [[Continuity Reboot]].

** Fellow Titan Jericho is just as bad. He started out good but was driven insane by evil spirits from Raven's father's home dimension. After his father killed him to stop his rampage Jericho clung to existence as an evil spirit being. Years later he was revived and purified of his evil. Then he went evil again due to spending too much time in Superboy's clone Match. Now, he's well...kind of a mess to be honest. It's not clear at this time whether he's good, evil, or even functional.

* [[Spider-Man]]'s sometime enemy the Sandman started as a villain, then became a hero and even joined [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]. Now he's a villain again, though usually a fairly sympathetic one.

* [[Marvel Comics]]' version of [[Ares (Comic Book)|Ares]] started as a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who was causing wars and conflicts only because he liked it, but was also fighting alongside other Olympians against a common enemy. Then he realized the other gods would never accept him, went to Earth and lived peacefully among the mortals. Then, when his son got kidnapped, he joined the Olympians in the fight against evil Japanese god Amatsu-Mikaboshi. Later he joined one of the incarnations of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] but often acted like a typical villain towards [[Incredible Hercules|Hercules]]. [[Dark Reign (comics)|Then]] he joined the [[Dark Avengers]], a team of villains posing as heroes, and was fighting both good and bad guys as well, while being one of the few members who were treating the heroic part seriously. At the same time he was training a team of killers for [[Norman Osborn]] and let his son join [[Nick Fury]], who was opposing Osborn. Finally he {{spoiler|betrayed Osborn after finding out he lied to him about Asgard being ruled by Loki and died, fighting alongside Norse Gods he was beating minutes ago}}.

* [[The Sentry]], also from [[Marvel Comics]], goes back and forth between being the universe's greatest hero, its greatest threat, or both at the same time. He's a bundle of mental issues even without factoring in The Void (which is either a [[Split Personality]], an [[Evil Counterpart]] that was created when he gained his powers, or his true self), so it's no surprise that his Heel-Face status is as unstable as the rest of him. This is not good news for anyone, hero or villain, when coupled to power that can sunder worlds.

* Captain Boomerang Jr. from [[The DCU]]. He started out as his father's replacement in [[The Flash|The Rogues]], then tried his hand at being a hero as a member of Nightwing's Outsiders. When he and Dick got into an argument about what to do with Chemo, the living chemical weapon that destroyed Bludhaven, they got into a fight and Owen absconded with Chemo to join the Suicide Squad. In ''[[Blackest Night]]'', Owen's desire to be with his father again overrode his morals. He fed people to his zombie father, wrongly believing that this would revive him. Including women and children, [[Even Evil Has Standards|which prompted Captain Cold and the other Rogues to kill him.]] Cold lampshaded Owen's Revolving Door nature, saying he was like a boomerang going back and forth everywhere.

* The Enchantress (June Moon) was introcuced in [[DC Comics]]' ''Strange Adventures'' as a heroine. Then she became a [[Supergirl]] villain. Following from that, she became a member of the Forgotten Villains, and then she joined the [[Suicide Squad]], at which point it was established that June was a good person but the Enchantress was her [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. In ''Day of Judgement'', Enchantress is an amoral character who has to be pressurised into saving the world from Hell. During this the Enchantress is "killed", leaving June Moon. Later, in a ''JLA'' miniseries, they're merged together to form Soulsinger, and then separated again, but the powers stay with June, giving us the heroic Enchantress seen in ''[[Shadowpact]]''.

* Gary's daughter, Chloe, in ''[[The Astounding Wolf Man|The Astounding Wolf-Man]]''. She begins totally supporting her father, then when she finds out he's Wolf-Man, she freaks and doesn't trust him, and after she slowly starts trusting him again, she thinks she witnesses him kill her mother. After this point, she becomes a villain in the series, also thanks to being misled by a former ally Zechariah, who had his own [[Heel Face Turn]]. Eventually, Gary convinces his daughter of what really happened, and Chloe returns to his side.

* Red She-Hulk {{spoiler|aka Betty Ross}} has pulled one of those in ''[[Incredible Hulk]]'' sagas "Super Spy Banner" and "Heart of the Monster". {{spoiler|She's a Face for good in the end of "Heart of the Monster"}}.

* Marvel's Ghost. He started out as an [[Iron Man]] villain, but during [[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]] he worked against Norman Osborn from within the [[Thunderbolts]] and was instrumental in taking him down. Of course, this was immediately followed by him trying to kill Tony Stark yet again. Several times. He's currently one of the most heroic members of the new Thunderbolts, despite trying to kill Tony Stark. Again.

 

* "Whose side is [[Pirates of the Caribbean|Jack]] on?"

** "... At the moment?"

* Indy's partner in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]''. Fairly early in the movie, he's with Indy. Then, we discover he's working for the bad guys, then about halfway through the movie, he is still concerned about Indy's health, but is still working for the villains. A little more than halfway through the movie, he says he's a double agent, then at the end, he reveals he was lying about being a double agent, but he seems repentant of his actions when he choses to stay in the collapsing temple while Indy's friend and family escape. In all likelihood, he was just continually picking the paths that would lead to his one true goal: knowledge and treasure. His "repentance" was just the realization that the alien ship contained all he ever sought, and he no longer had any need or desire to battle that stubborn old adventurer.

* In ''[[Happily N'Ever After]]'', Rumpelstiltskin starts out evil and later turns good. In the sequel he's back to being evil. Though this may be more a case of [[Negative Continuity]] and [[They Just Didn't Care]], since they don't give an explanation for why he's gone back to being evil.

** Also the same case for The shrek version of Rumpelstiltskin between 3 and 4.

* [[Godzilla]] goes through this pretty much every other movie. He was undoubtedly an unstoppable menace in the first few installments, but as the original series continued to drag on, it slowly turned him from Villain to [[Anti-Hero]] to outright Hero. This was reset in ''Godzilla 1985'', where he was a villainous monster once again, and ever since he has been more consistent as either a Villain or Anti Hero.

 

== Literature ==

* Jeb Batchelder of the ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' books. Went from [[Mad Scientist]] to helpful parental figure {{spoiler|back to mad scientist, and he's been attempting to play the father figure again lately.}}

** It's arguable that he's {{spoiler|been good the whole time}} and that {{spoiler|his daughter}} Max refuses to let go of her hatred and accept that.

* In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'''s [[Novelization]], Anakin Skywalker veers between Palpatine and the Jedi in a way that's much less sudden than how it seems in the movie, even leaning several times back towards the Light Side. [[It Was His Sled|We all know where he ended up]], obviously, but the pull of doing what Obi-Wan - who wants him to defend and protect people - and Padme - who wants to love and be loved - want are as strong as doing what Palpatine wants. It's just that Palpatine knew there was a contest going on and worked to throw it, though there were some tricky moments. Notably, after waking up on the slab and hearing that he's killed his wife, Anakin ''immediately'' tries to kill Palpatine with the Force - but he's so much weaker than he used to be that he can't, and then he doesn't want to anymore. Palpatine's the only thing remotely like an ally he has.

* This applies to ''five out of six protagonists'' in ''[[Scorpion Shards]]'', the exception being the [[Sacrificial Lion]]. All five go bad and good again at least once, and some do so twice.

* {{spoiler|Alex}} of the ''[[Alex Rider]]'' series starts off as the protagonist, then neutral in ''Eagle Strike'', then working for Scorpia in ''Scorpia'', and then back to protagonist before the end of ''Scorpia''.

** Also Darla (though that one tended to have more logical reasons - whether she was a vampire or not, had a soul or not...)

** Connor probably had more switches than anyone else in the series. He showed up in Season 3 as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] taught by Holtz (also an example of the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] trope) to hate his father, Angel. He went from Heel to Face and back to Heel in Season 3, then switched sides (always thinking he was on the side of good) too many times to count in Season 4. In Season 5, given a normal life, he settled on Face.

** Faith went from thinking being a Slayer was awesome, to discovering she really enjoyed killing and hurting people, to being freaked over Buffy wanting to kill her and wanting revenge for killing her father figure, to a [[Heel Realization]], to a [[Fake Heel Turn]], undergoes a full [[Heel Face Turn]] in the last part of Buffy Season 7, to [[The Resenter]] [[Un Favourite]] in the comics, to a kinda sorta reformed Slayer, after attempting to kill Buffy [[Running Gag|again]]. At last count she's playing watchdog for [[Angel]].

** Throughout the series, Spike would switch between attacking the Scoobies and reluctantly joining forces with them for his own needs, even after becoming a somewhat ally in season 4. Heck, even when {{spoiler|he got his soul back}} the final season had him murdering people again, {{spoiler|though it turns out the First Evil was controlling him against his will}}.

* Callisto from [[Xena: Warrior Princess]] worked with Xena almost as often as she worked against her. Xena and Gabrielle, however, were ''never'' under the impression that Callisto wouldn't betray them.

** Ares too. However, his were far more erratic, and done over a much longer span of time.

* Although Castiel of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is unarguably trying to be the good guy, he appears to have been trapped in this revolving door since his first appearance. He starts out as the angel that rescued Dean from Hell, but then it's revealed the angels have plans from Dean and expect him to do exactly as they say even when their plans are morally ambiguous to say the least. Castiel starts to have doubts and sympathise with Dean, eventually twisting the rules to help Dean. But then he gets dragged off to Heaven and forced back into line, betraying Anna and setting Sam free to go start the Apocalypse, before he betrays Heaven for good and sides with Dean a couple of episodes later. He spends most of the fifth season on the Face side of things, but appears to have jumped back into the revolving door as of season 6. {{spoiler|He makes a deal with Crowley, but he does so in order to fight Raphael and prevent the apocalypse from re-starting. In order to carry out his plan though, he is forced to lie to and manipulate the Winchesters while carrying out some pretty morally ambiguous schemes. He undoes some of the worst ones though rather than risk the Winchesters, but ultimately finishes the season on a Heel note, having absorbed millions of souls from Purgatory and declared himself the new God.}}

* Cole Turner/Belthazor/The Source/The Avatar/The Ghost on ''[[Charmed]]''. There's a reason he has so many personas.

** Phoebe jumped into the revolving door with him for a while before she finally got off on the Face side again.

* Max on ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' did this is one episode, taking Justin's side, then Alex's side, then back, depending on who looked most likely to win the weekly conflict at that exact moment. He also announced to both siblings when we was doing this.

* Damon from ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' pretty much lives inside the revolving door. Of late he has been ostensibly a good guy, at least in terms of larger motivations, but he still always seems to find time to relapse and kill people to keep things interesting.

** HRG fits this trope as well. He is constantly shifting, so we are never entirely sure which side he is on save his own. We know his agenda is to protect his family, particularly Claire, which would put him on the good guys' side, but the methods he uses have alienated his family.

** Nathan Petrelli also fits this trope, even better than HRG. In Volume 4 {{spoiler|He went from [[Big Bad]] to <s> good guy</s> slightly less of a bastard guy.}}

** The next episode has a [[Sinister Suit]] conduct an [[Sinister Surveillance|thorough]] investigation into the team, noting that ''"Teal'c changes sides more often than I change the oil in my car."''.

* Kiba Yuuji from ''[[Kamen Rider 555]]'' switches back and forth between helping and hating humankind several times during the story.

** It's mentioned several times by other Cylon models that this is a characteristic of the Eights, in that they're easily swayed. Even Athena calls them on it. In fact Athena's fanatical devotion to the Colonial cause may be an attempt to compensate for this perceived weakness in herself. That and the fact that the slightest indication of treachery would get her thrown out an airlock.

** Gaius Baltar was even worse. The plot kept jerking him around from [[The Atoner]] to [[Les Collaborateurs]]. Not entirely his fault, since he had a phantom cylon in his head for most of the series, but still, would it have killed him to show some backbone once in a while? Signaled by his recurrent [[Beard of Evil]]: clean-shaven, he was [[The Atoner]], sometimes even [[The Woobie]]. With stubble, he was a [[Dirty Coward]], and usually a [[Smug Snake]] as well. On rare occassions when he actually ''groomed'' his beard, [[Manipulative Bastard|watch out]].

* Puck and Santana from ''[[Glee]]'' do this in varying degrees.

** Since the end of the first season, [[Big Bad|Sue]] seems to be doing it quite a bit too.

* Lionel Luthor in [[Smallville]], who starts off ''moderately'' evil, becomes/[[Retcon|is retconned to be]] completely evil, goes to prison, [[Freaky Friday|temporarily switches bodies with Clark]] and thereby absorbs some of his strong moral fibre (making him into a good guy), is convinced to readopt his villainous ways by an [[Evil Twin]] of Lex Luthor, and then spends several seasons stumbling drunkenly along the line between good and evil out of lust for Martha, before temporary possession by Jor-El converts him to the side of good {{spoiler|until Lex throws him off of a building and he dies}}.

** Tess Mercer wasn't much better in Seasons 8 and 9, going back and forth between hero worshipper, [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], and [[The Baroness]]. She finally settles on Face.

* Londo Mollari in [[Babylon 5]].

* [[Smug Snake|Omen]] on ''[[Dark Oracle]]'' suffered badly from this, due to a bad case of [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] comboed with a desire for [[Revenge]] and an unfortunate tendency towards partnering with those who were stronger and more evil than him. He's a villain at first, manipulating Cally as part of a plot for revenge on Doyle. He then tries to help Cally get rid of the comic book (partly out of a crush on her and partly out of a desire to hurt her [[Evil Twin]], Violet) and gets trapped in comic world for his trouble. He returns, and helps [[Big Bad Wannabe]] Vern trap Lance in the comic world, pretends to help Cally get him out while secretly working for Lance's [[Evil Twin]] Blaze whom he actually frees, and then ''finally'' pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] and {{spoiler|dies helping Cally free Lance and get rid of Blaze and Violet}}. Jeez man.

* [[Kurt Angle]] is also notorious for turning about once a year. The problem with him is that he is most effective playing a heel, but his immense wrestling talent, the gold medal, and all around [[Badass]] qualities sometimes result in Face reactions even when playing a heel, thus resulting in the bookers [[Heel Face Turn|turning him face]]. Then he does his [[All-American Face|bland face routine]] until his crowd reactions wane, and [[Face Heel Turn|then he turns heel again]]. This effect was [[Lampshaded]] during an interview [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ydZDLLtp8Y where he denounced all black people and Jesus, and still got cheered.]

* Back in the old days, before the bookers developed extreme Attention Deficit Disorder, Lex Luger was the absolute king of this, occasionally doing multiple rounds in the revolving door during the same title reign.

** Averted by Ricky Steamboat, who never once [[Face Heel Turn|turned heel]] during his career, due to being such a natural face. To give an idea of how good of a face he was (or how horrible of a heel he would have been), Steamboat's real name is [[Awesome McCoolname|Richard Blood]], and yet he had to use a different name because that was a heel's name.

*** Supposedly during his run in the WWF in the very early '90s he wanted to do a heel turn. He was told that even if he went out to the ring and cut Hulk Hogan's arms off with a chainsaw the fans wouldn't buy it.

* If you're a TNA wrestler prepare to flip-flop more than a goldfish surrounded by water and a broken fishbowl.

** See: Mr. Anderson.

* [[The Big Show]] is notable for turning about once a year. Being the largest guy on the roster means that he can play the role of [[The Brute]] against guys like [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]] and [[The Undertaker]], and just demolish the plucky babyfaces like [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] and Kofi Kingston. However, the guy has great comedic timing and plays the role of the [[Gentle Giant]] so well that bookers will eventually turn him. He will then proceed to be great friends with the Rey Mysterio's of the world.

* One infamous occasion happened in early 2003. [[Vince McMahon]] appeared on Raw to override the heel GM Eric Bischoff but then a few weeks later was involved in an angle with [[Hulk Hogan]] as a heel leading into ''[[Wrestlemania]] XIX''. So he was effectively a face on Raw and a heel on Smackdown.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Music ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[City of Heroes]] Going Rogue'' allows you to ''live'' this Trope. You can go from being a Hero into a Villain back into a Hero, Wash Rinse Repeat. Ditto villains.

* Oh [[Metal Gear Solid|Naomi!]] Do you even have a side?

* Theoretically ''you'' can take a spin in the Heel Face Revolving Door in just about any RPG with a morality system. Just alternate good choices and evil choices and voila.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the DS remake - if you use the "read the party leader's thoughts" feature (set Kain as the visible character on the map, then bring up the menu) as you're leaving the Sealed Cave, you'll see him fighting Golbez reasserting control (unsuccessfully). {{spoiler|If you repeat this as you travel through the Lunar Subterraine, Kain will be fighting the attempts of [[Big Bad|Zemus]] to control him (this time more successfully).}}

** {{spoiler|Subverted}} in the sequel, where Kain joins forces with the villain the Mysterious Maiden, he steals several crystals and fights Fabul before being defeated by the Mysterious Swordsman who is {{spoiler|Kain: the evil Kain is actually his Dark Side, who escaped Mt. Ordeals. The real Kain had to track him down before being able to pass his test.}}

* Aribeth jumps around quite a lot in [[BioWare]]'s first ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''. To date it is possible to have her switch sides five times.

** {{spoiler|Betraying Neverwinter to Morag, being redeemed in the endgame, going mad in hell, being brought back by the player, and falling to Mephistopheles' [[Reason You Suck Speech]]}}. Then again, all of the others technically stem from the first one, so if you don't take either player-prompted switches she changes sides once and stays there.

* Something that is occasionally forgotten though is that Kain did not invent this Trope for ''[[Final Fantasy]]''. That honor goes to Leon (the ''real'' one) of ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' who goes from [[Aloof Big Brother]] to MIA to [[The Dragon]] to [[Big Bad]] (for all of five seconds) to [[Heel Face Turn]] to repentant loner over the course of the game.

* Several characters in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' are prone to this, whether due to being frequent victims of [[Mind Control]] (Lamia, Excellen), having a hidden agenda (Sanger), or just generally being a [[Magnificent Bastard]] (Shu Shirakawa).

** Subverted in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Z'' where the ZEUTH team [[Road Cone|splits up]] and {{spoiler|each group is manipulated by the [[Gundam Seed Destiny|Earth Alliance]] into thinking the other has gone rogue, leading to an inter-series [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]], as well as an excuse to re-enact the destruction of the Freedom Gundam [[Fix Fic|without making either side out to be villainous]].}}

* Lee from Tekken, who is introduced as a boss character working for Mishima. He's probably neutral to evil at this point; he is not as evil as Kazuya or Heihachi, but he's not shown to be good. Later on he becomes estranged from his family due to what Heihachi does to Kazuya at the end of Tekken 2. He decides he cannot work for someone who would do such things and so he travels the world, becomes a ladies man and eventually becomes a main character in his own right in Tekken 4, before becoming one of the best characters in Tekken 5 and onwards.

** Depending on your point of view, this can happen to a lot of characters in [[World of Warcraft]], especially if they're a member of the opposing faction. For example, King Varian Wrynn is almost universally loathed by the Horde, but the extraordinary amount of [[Enemy Mine]] in the game means that much of what he does is good for the Horde as well (like killing Onyxia), and he has his [[Pet the Dog]] moment in Icecrown Citadel. Similar arguments could be made about Horde leaders from the Alliance perspective.

** The Orc race is collectively like this. They started as warlike-yet-honorable savages living in relative balance with the other races of Draenor. Then they drank demon blood and became complete monsters, with countless stories of slaughtered children and mass rape. After they were defeated by the Alliance the blood rage wore off, and after some time in concentration camps Thrall took them to Kalimdor and attempted to build a new nation that cooperated with its neighbors. The last chieftain who had drunk demon blood died killing said demon, bringing it all full circle. Now tensions have been rising with the Alliance, world war has basically been declared, and a large faction has gained power in the Horde in favor of re-militarizing led by a young idiot who has argued in favor of child-killing to a veteran who actually did it and was explaining that he was still haunted by their screams.

** Although he usually only stays with Mario until the ''Big Bad'' is gone.

* ''[[Persona]] 3'': {{spoiler|Chidori starts off as a member of Strega, the crazy-end-of-the-world guys. She then quite inadvertently befriends Junpei, a member for the heroic SEES, who talks too much about what he does. She captures him and holds him for ransom essentially, but is then captured by SEES. Junpei works up a friendship with her to the point that she won't talk to anyone else, resulting in a [[Heel Face Turn]]. Then SEES supposedly kills the other members for Strega, and she rejects Junpei. About a month later, she attacks SEES for a [[Face Heel Turn]]. ''Five minutes later'', she sacrifices herself to save Junpei, for a [[Heel Face Turn]], because of course [[Redemption Equals Death]].}}

* ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (video game)|Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' has [[Silver Sable]] going from attacking Peter now that she knows he's the titular hero to helping him save the innocents to attacking him again to finally letting him go after Trask.

* Vincent from ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'' goes from sided with Claudia and Heather all over again until {{spoiler|it's revealed he is neither sided with them as he, being an [[Smug Snake|arrogant jerk]], plans on having Heather and Claudia kill each other to save his skin}}.

** Kabal starts off as a member of the evil Black Dragons, becomes good, then reverts to evil.

* Ada Wong in ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series is between helping [[Dating Catwoman|Leon]] and [[Big Bad|Wesker]].

** While her actions and motivations in game play this straight, it's revealed at the end of her side story in the Playstation 2 and Wii versions of ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'' that she's working for a completely different organization that's above both the U.S. Government and Wesker.

* Cole McGrath in ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'' due to the fact he has to decide on acting good or evil in outcomes.

 

== Webcomics ==

* Tarvek Sturmvoraus in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' alternates between helpful, heroic, not-entirely-trusted sidekick and toadying, evil, certainly-not-trusted minion when heroine Agatha Heterodyne and villain The Other start grappling for control of [[Grand Theft Me|Agatha's body]]. He makes the switch every few ''pages'', eventually caught red-handed by the Other. Even this doesn't stop him from serving his own purposes, eventually betraying everybody. ''Absolutely [[Gambit Pileup|Everybody.]]'' Including his own father and his treacherous sister. And it seems that ''his'' goal is to use Agatha (or a lookalike), his claim to a royal ancestor, and a story out of mythology and opera to not only rule Europe, but do it to cheering crowds.

** Now it appears it MAY be a more sincere [[Face Heel Turn]] and he genuinely wants to help Agatha. For now.

* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. At first she was an (admittedly sympathetic) [[Yandere]] villain who was obsessed with Torg and would kill anyone or anything to be with him. After Torg promised to marry her, though, she shifted into a (admittedly [[Anti-Hero|anti-heroic]]) good guy, helping to take down Hereti Corp and protect the town of Podunkton. However, after her [[Mentor]] {{spoiler|is killed in front of her}} and Zoe rekindles her jealous streak, she's off on another [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].

** [[Not So Harmless|Prior to Dr. Schlock's]] {{spoiler|takeover of Hertit-Corp}}, he tended to change sides quite often, although it was almost always based entirely on who was pointing a gun at his head at the time.

*** Making it worse is that a video was actually put up solely to explain how various actions we'd seen Sarah taking over the past weeks were signs of her villainy. It couldn't be more obvious that all the footage in it is from the spinoff, for the simple reason that there's no freaking way to incorporate the majority of her scenes in the original show into the new story.

* Happens with Julie Mikan in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]''. She undergoes a [[Face Heel Turn]] at the very start whilst deciding to play, killing Owen Fontaine gives her a [[Heel Face Turn]] and a [[Heroic BSOD]], before a few days later, she once again decides to play, becoming a 'heel' for the second time.

** In ''Pavlov's Checkmate'', Cale finally gets over this, refusing to switch sides when the antagonist gives him the offer.

* Everyone in the YWC (Youtube Wrestling Community) seems to switch sides so much that they seem to live inside this door.

* [[Dark Dream Chronicle|Vadiir]] started on the side of the [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Communes]], then he went to the [[La Résistance|Rebellion]], and now he's back with the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Commune]], though he says he's a [[Chaotic Neutral|free agent]].

** http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6721353

* A few examples in ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'', but most noticeably the Lord of Angels and Demons, who switches sides at the drop of a hat. He's [[Affably Evil|never truly]] ''evil'', but he oscillates between being mildly useful and incredibly annoying.

** And now, with the sequel comic ''The Promise'', he seems to be courting an alignment switch AGAIN. The titular promise was made to Zuko by Aang, swearing to take him down if he ever started acting like his father. Throughout the comic, he becomes more and more obsessed with protecting his people and the many assasination attempts he's undergone, and the last panel of the first volume has him {{spoiler|seeking advice from his father in prison.}} And we know that he makes ''yet another'' [[Heel Face Turn]] by the end, since Korra info has already confirmed he and Aang found United Republic together. The energy generated by this kid's constant vacillating could equal that of a thousand white-hot suns.

* Wes Weasley from ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]''. "Don't tell me you're switching sides again!"

* Man Ray from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' is a villain the first time we meet him. However, he's been fitted with [[Morality Chain|a tickle belt]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|that tickles him whenever he does something bad.]] He finally tricks Spongebob and Patrick into taking it off him before going on a rampage. However, whenever he's about to do something evil he feels the tickle of the belt, eventually prompting him to become a good citizen. It seems though that the belt's influence wears off after a while because in his next appearance, he's become a villain again.

* [[Xiaolin Showdown|Jack Spicer]] teamed up with the Monks more than once, sometimes as a matter of mutual benefits in taking down a common enemy, but once even as a genuine attempt to join the side of good. However, in the end he betrayed them once again and returned to evil, because he was afraid he'd be even worse at being a good guy than he was at being a villain.

* Kevin Levin. Evil in [[Ben 10]], good in [[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]] {{spoiler|and evil again for a few episodes}} in [[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]. He's back on our side now.

** Ditto {{spoiler|Charmcaster}}. At first, she was evil. Then she [[Heel Face Turn|changed her ways.]] Then she [[Face Heel Turn|was even more evil than before]], then ended up [[Broken Bird|emotionally broken]], and now she's working toward a [[Heel Face Turn]] ''again'', with [[Word of God]] stating [[True Neutral|she's no longer evil]].

* Shere Khan from ''[[Tale Spin]]'' is a [[Deconstruction]] of [[Ambition Is Evil]], and as such shows that while a desire for only money and power (his self-proclaimed motive) is not necessarily a good thing, neither does it just make you a bad guy all the time. This means that in some episodes he's ruthlessly conspiring with sky pirates to create a fuel shortage and a monopoly, while in others he saves the day at the end by shutting down his corrupt underlings in their scheming plans, not because they were corrupt, but because they were holding the [[Idiot Ball]] a little too much and that's bad for business. He's very nearly a prototypical [[Gargoyles|David Xanatos]], with more of an emphasis on money rather than power.

* Bender from ''Futurama'' embodies this far too often to list every instance, so here's two examples: In an episode where he lost use of his body, he became a musician and inspired thousands of broken robots, only to turn it into a scam when he recovered (and didn't tell anyone). In another episode, he and Fry join the military just so they can get military discounts, but when an actual war happens, Bender ends up throwing himself on top of an explosive to protect his fellows without a second thought, knowing full well that the blast will probably kill him. Generally speaking he's a [[Magnificent Bastard]], but he's occasionally shown that there are some things he actually cares about more than his own selfish ends.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Heel Face Index]]

[[Category:Professional Wrestling]]

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]