Heel Face Revolving Door: Difference between revisions

When a villain is sufficiently sympathetic with the audience, they have a tendency to do a [[Heel Face Turn]]. And such characters have a tendency to do [[Face Heel Turn|Face Heel Turns]] when it's realized that they [[Redemption Demotion|really worked better as a villain]]. But, even though the character works better as a villain, he's still so sympathetic that the powers that be will often give him further temporary Heel Face Turns because they are uncomfortable with their audience [[Rooting for The Empire]].

The long-term result is the same either way -- the character in question will switch sides often enough that, in the long run, he doesn't ''have'' a side. This is what makes a [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] (or [[Face Heel Revolving Door]], depending on which side the character starts out on).

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).

*** Making it even ''more'' bizarre, {{spoiler|the guy killed his own ''father'' seven years before the events of the series itself, but did it because he thought it was the right thing to do, then joined Brittania!}}

* Evangeline A.K. McDowell from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is more or less trapped in the revolving door, appearing first as the villain, then as the [[Eleventh Hour Superpower]], then mostly remaining the "evil" good. Being a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] does not help defining her either. No matter which side she's on, she'll [[Noble Demon|stridently insist she's as evil as ever]].

** Neptuneman's the king of this, however. Initially a Seiji (Justice) Choujin, he decides nobody's enough of a challenge for him. So he makes a [[Deal With the Devil]], well, King Neptune, to help him return wrestling to its bloody and archaic roots. During the Dream Tournament arc, he is ''the'' [[Big Bad]], merciless and cruel, although he eventually admits defeat. Afterwards, during the Throne arc, he helps Kinnikuman's team during the final match, culminating in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Sounds great right? WRONG!!! In [[Ultimate Muscle]]'s latest arc, he's back to his old ways and ripping the faces off his opponents, along with [[Beware the Cute Ones|causing a sweet and honest character to become completely insane and willing to kill his ''best friends'' without any hesitation.]] Whether or not Neptuneman is again the [[Big Bad]] is unknown, considering there's an equally evil team out there [[Evil Versus Evil|they might end up fighting.]]

* [[The Dragon|Gajeel]] from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' seems to be turning into this, but he's been leaning to the Face side recently... {{spoiler|He starts out as a mercenary for a rival guild, but gets defeated and then is convinced to join Fairy Tail by Juvia, a guild member from said rival guild who did a permanent [[Heel Face Turn]]. After supposedly proving that he was on their side by doing a small show and protecting Levy (whom he had gravely injured in the previously mentioned attack on the guild) from an attack, he shows himself (although not to the guild) to be [[The Mole]] for another contractor who also aims to take down Fairy Tail. Once Laxus' attempt to forcibly rebuild the guild to his liking is foiled, he goes to his new employer and finds out his plan. He returns to the guild, where he tells Makarov of his employer's location and his plan, apparently working as a double agent.}}

* [[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)]].

* Mystique is sometimes mentioned as an example (with an actual revolving door reference [http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20081009.html here]), but isn't, really; she's more like the character who works with whichever side supports her current goal.

* [[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.

* It's a fairly well documented fact that any time a villain becomes popular enough, Marvel will take a stab at making them a hero, or at least an anti-hero.

** Saves the Republic in the Infinity Gate arc (that's good) and gets his knighthood back as a result. Then there's the ''Darkness'' arc, which sees him resorting to the dark side once again to fight [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|mutant space vampires]] (that's bad), but he's able to get himself together again in time to defeat [[Big Bad|Volfe Karkko]] (that's good). The next arc which has him as the main character doesn't really feature much of his struggle with the dark side.

** Then there's the Clone Wars stories, which sees Vos getting involved in a tangled web of [[The Plan|byzantine plans]] enacted by himself, his Master Tholme and Count Dooku. To become [[The Mole]] in Dooku's gang of dark Jedi, Vos fakes a defection to the Separatists (neither good nor bad), killing the information broker who betrayed him in the process (that's bad). While he's there, he proceeds to kill both his [[Evil Matriarch]] aunt (who organised the murder of his parents) and a corrupt senator after being convinced by Dooku that he was [[Big Bad|Darth Sidious]], injuring another Jedi Master in the process (that's bad).

** ''Finally'' appears to resolve his problems once and for all in the climactic Saleucami arc, which shows him defeat the dark Jedi Master Sora Bulq, save the life of Master Tholme and pledge to leave the Jedi to marry his love interest Khaleen after the war was over and raise their child (that's good).

** 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).}}

** 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.

* [[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.

* Speaking of [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Star Wars comics]], and ESWU in general, Baron Soontir Fel. He never was shown as a really bad guy, but he switched sides like few others. Let's see -- the [[Ace Pilot|best Imperial pilot]] barring Vader (and that's debatable), and receiver of a baronial title, he became quickly disillusioned with Empire and [[X Wing Series|joined Rogue Squadron]] in exchange to help in searching for his wife, then involuntarily left the New Republic (he was abducted) for a stint in the Empire of the Hand, then served the Chiss Ascendancy (again distinguishing himself there up to receiving the Assistant Syndic position), and then returning to the Empire again, now serving Pellaeon's [[Vestigial Empire|Imperial Remnant]]... Let's say that when his children founded a new Empire, it didn't surprise anyone.

* 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.

* 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 (Comic Book)|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"}}.

* 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.

* Tiffany from the last two ''[[Childs Play]]'' films. She does a [[Death Equals Redemption]] at the end of ''Bride of Chucky'', only to come back in ''Seed of Chucky'' back in love with the equally psychotic, if not more so, Chucky. However, upon learning that they have a child, Glen, Tiffany tries to give up killing to set a better example. Only she has a number of slip-ups and murders twice (and possibly more due to a [[Time Skip]]). She justifies these as "Rome wasn't built in a day", and that one of the people she killed had it coming.

* Computer Jack from [[Gone]]. He starts out the series as part of Caine's group, mostly out of fear. He seems to be considering a [[Heel Face Turn]] for a while, but Diana has to threaten him to get him to go tell Sam, the hero, how to survive his fifteenth birthday, saying that it's "time to do the right thing, even if it is for the wrong reason." He spends the first half of book 2 obviously on Sam's side, until Diana shows up and convinces him to pull a [[Face Heel Turn]] and help Caine again. She does this by promising him "the ultimate technological challenge". He spends all of a few chapters on Caine's side, turns off the power permanently, and helps Caine remove uranium from the nuclear power plant. He's already wondering why he came back. He seems to disappear for a few scenes so that Sam and Caine can experience [[Enemy Mine]] and team up against Drake, and then he's back on Sam's side. He stays on Sam's side through the entire third book, but he is also sick and not really in on the action at all. And there are still 3 more books to come.

* 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 (Literature)|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''.

** And, of course, Angel himself, the no-good Irish lad turned into a bloodsucking demon turned into a mourning atoner still in the demon's body. At one point, during a complex sting operation, he pretended to have turned evil again and then had to pretend pretending to be charming Buffy's mother. That's ''five'' stacked layers simultaneously!

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

*** Harmony. One of the best examples of [[Heel Face Revolving Door]], because she remained clearly the same person throughout and her switching sides fit into her conformist character. At the end, Angel tells her that he knew all along that she'd go back to Heel, because she has no soul.

** 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 (TV)|Angel]].

** And as of the end of the second season, Jesse has it going for him as well.

* Garak from ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' tends to do these at least twice per episode. He's a bastard, he has some really compelling characteristics, he's really amazingly... no wait, he's a bastard again. End credits.

* ''[[Chuck]]'': {{spoiler|Jill is discovered to be a Fulcrum agent but says she was forced to, Chuck then sees that she was going to kill Sarah and arrests her in another episode, but then Chuck finds out that Jill was telling the truth and lets her go.}}

** An even better example now is {{spoiler|Chuck's mother}} in season 4. We had 5 episodes ambiguously building her up to be possibly good and working undercover, or possibly working for the bad guys. The sixth episode of the season has her appear and swear her innocence, seeking help to stop a dangerous weapon from getting out, only for her to betray everyone. Except, it turns out all of this, including {{spoiler|shooting Chuck because she assumed he was wearing a bulletproof vest}}, was part of her [[Plan]] in order to fool the bad guys. Casey then tracks down evidence that her entire cover story is a lie and she really did join the villain years ago. In the seventh episode, she once again claims she can prove her innocence and sends Chuck on an episode-long mission to find the proof. {{spoiler|Except, this was all part of an even more brilliant gambit, as she was in fact tricking Chuck all along in order to bring herself and her boss to Orion's base and blow it up with Chuck and Sarah inside. ...AND THEN SHE SECRETLY HELPS THEM TO ESCAPE.}} That's at least six trips through the revolving door in two episodes, and nobody's entirely sure whose side she's on.

** "Hey, Rassilon! Thanks for sticking those [[Terrible Ticking|drums]] in my head so you could escape the Time War. By the way, in a few seconds you're ''all'' [[Assimilation Plot|going to be me]] - ah. Well, that didn't work out, but you still owe me your lives, so I guess - wait, breaking the Time Lock means letting out a bunch of cosmic horrors? My kind of worl - oh, even we can't survive all of them? And your escape plan means destroying the universe and becoming pure thought? Fantastic, take me with - what do you mean, "diseased?" Oh, and now you're trying to kill the Doctor. ''That'' was a mistake."

* 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}}.

* Krycek of [[X-Files]] fame, probably why he was known as "Ratboy" among the Fandom.

* Londo Mollari in [[Babylon Five]].

* This can be literal if a wrestler or tag team is employed by more than one company at a time, leaving one building as heel and coming into another face a day later. Common in the indies.

* Since "Heel" and "Face" are wrestling terms, there are of course many examples in [[Professional Wrestling]]: [[The Undertaker]], his "[[Kayfabe|brother]]" [[Kane (Wrestling)|Kane]], [[Ric Flair]], and probably the big example right now is [[Triple H]].

* 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.

* And then there was the aforementioned ADD era, exemplified by WCW in 1999 and 2000. ''Anyone'' was fair game for a turn one way or the other, even the most popular of fan favorites such as [[Goldberg]] and [[Wrestler/Sting|Sting]], with little or no warning, and, in the case of lesser stars, sometimes little or no explanation. And that's not even getting into the countless [[Fake Defector|fakeouts]].

* Captain Qwark of ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' fame. Initially he was a hero. Then he became villainous has-been. Then he got his shot at being the [[Big Bad]]. Then he returned to a hero status, and has been tagging along with Ratchet ever since.

* The ''[[Kirby]]'' games love this trope, although it's much lighter than most other interpretations. Characters like Chef Kawasaki and Knuckle Joe can appear as mini-bosses in one game, and be allies in a different one.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'': If you do things a certain way, [[Dragon Rider|Jill]] can change sides ''five'' times across the two games she's in (''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn''). That's one more than Kain up there!

** That goes double for Naesala, who seems to have this as a basic character trait. Just in the first game he works for Daein, sells a childhood friend to a Begnion noble, if you manage to talk to him in one chapter (almost a must, as he's near impossible to kill) he decides to go neutral, then he somewhat grudgingly starts helping Crimea toward the end. The second game sees him helping the Laguz Alliance, selling them out to Begnion, and then acting as a bodyguard for the Apostle when she goes to support the Laguz Alliance! No one is quite sure what side, if any, he's really on by the time he's a playable character and more than one doesn't really care as long as they get to kill him.

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

** Gil's manservant [[Battle Butler|Wooster]] may have changed allegiences from his {{spoiler|British spymasters}} to Gil and then possibly from Gil to Agatha--or he never abandoned his first loyalties. Given the way Sparks influence non-Sparks, it's not entirely clear.

** [[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.

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Galatea is an emotional basket case who will switch sides with very little provocation. It's probably safe to describe her as [[Chaotic Neutral]].

** 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.

** 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.

** Wreck-Gar of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' switches from neutral to criminal to Autobot to good for only one thing - GARBAGE! to Decepticon. This is as a result of his decisively screwed-up mind, which meant that he basically did whatever somebody else suggested him to do. At the end of the episode, Ratchet advises him to simply be who he wants to be, at which he promptly announces "I am Wreck-Gar! I am a hero!", and sticks with it.

*** The Constructicons don't really seem to understand the fact that the Autobots and Decepticons are opposing sides of a WAR THAT WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF AN ENTIRE PLANET, so they have a tendancy to flip between the two sides without a second thought. After jumping from Autobot to Decepticon for the first time, they still address the Autobots as friends and casually explain their reasoning, expecting the Autobots to understand (they did it because Megatron's oil tasted better than their). They flip sides about 7 times over the course of the series.

** In the comics, which continue the series' plot, Xanatos is housing the gargoyles at his home again, all the while doing jobs for the Illuminati, who are becoming the new main antagonists. In other words, he's uninstalled the revolving door and started outright living in the threshold.

* Pyrrah from ''[[Dragon Booster]]'' is actually one of these.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Zuko. Good God, ''Zuko.'' He found himself constantly switching sides due to his confused feelings and lack of resolve. Halfway through the third season, he finally made up his mind, but even before that he was trying to save Aang half the time, mostly for his own selfish purposes. Lampshaded in one episode when no one takes his [[Heel Face Turn]] seriously, and he accidentally burns Toph.

{{quote| '''Zuko''': Why am I so bad at being good?!}}

** 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!"