Quote:
Originally Posted by Ficfactor
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. In long running series and franchises, characters can become stale and purposeless, and can actually serve more to the story as a whole as a catalyst for future events, whether it be by dying or (the much, much rarer) EC.
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The problem is, that when done well it's pretty awesome, from a storytelling perspective it's very rare that a full on hero-to-villain EC actually works (or sticks)
They tried it with Mary Marvel recently, complete with the costume change. The Countdown version didn't work at ALL, but the Final Crisis one did (i.e. it would have been permanent had Darkseid not been killed).
For a while, though, she had my favorite kind: Heroes who change the source of their powers to something darker, less friendly, but still keep their original goals and priorities.
It's tough to strike a balance though: It's hard to portray a hero doing a personality 180 but still firmly remaining a hero. For instance, the heroine would change her outfit in civvies and heroing, be less "wholesome" than she was before, and be a little more willing to break arms and legs (maybe even relish in it) but is still adamantly against causing death or serious injury. What's more, she goes to great effort to keep her friends and family close, even if they are a bit put off by her new attitude.
I dunno, that does sound ridiculously specific...and in reality only one character from any medium I've seen/read/played has really fit the mark: Negi Springfield from Negima!
His primary instructor is an "evil" vampire who taught him black magic, which he uses with abandon while still maintaining his original personality, motivations, and goals. Too bad he's male...
...not to say I hate it when heroines go full villain of course...not at all, not at all
But from a storytelling perspective, the above is my preferred approach.