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Back in the 1960s, Marvel comic heroes were portrayed as good and righteous peace-loving knights in shining underwear. Saving the damsel in distress and punching the bad guy to oblivion was their only job. But as the comic book medium gained popularity among a more mature audience, writers made their heroes darker, grittier, and flawed.
While heroes like Spider-Man live by the adage “with great power, comes great responsibility,” other heroes take up the responsibility to defeat evil by whatever means necessary, even if means committing a horrendous act of murder.
With that in mind, we look at five Marvel superheroes whose moral compass doesn't always point one way when they're going about saving the world.
These Modern Marvel heroes do not shy away from delivering a killing blow to their adversaries
5) Blade
In a universe infested with bloodthirsty vampires, one needs to occasionally pierce a stake or two through the heart of the undead. That is exactly the job of Eric Brooks, aka Blade. The vampire slayer is armed to the teeth and has killed vampires with swords, guns, rockets, and absolutely any weapon you can imagine (you can’t expect anything less from a man whose name itself is Blade, after all).
Blade’s mission is to rid the world of Vampire infestations and it seems that the night-slayer is well on his way to accomplish this. With hundreds of kills under his name, Blade murders his enemies with absolute style and grace.
4) Venom
It’s a no-brainer that an extraterrestrial being with a hunger for brains (and chocolates) will have an extraordinarily high kill count. Venom is a symbiote from outer space that latches on to people and needs to constantly chow down a human or two for its survival.
Venom has devoured hundreds to fill his tummy. Usually, its urge to kill is controlled by its compassionate human host Eddie Brock. To make matters worse, the symbiote often latches on to hosts who are straight-up insane and subsequently gone on a rampage.
3) Deadpool
The classic old mercenary who loves talking and slashing. Deadpool is Marvel’s poster boy for murders and he rightfully deserves the title. The Merc with the Mouth has killed the X-Men, Avengers, and the heroes of the Marvel Universe not just once but twice. In the mother of all fourth-wall breaks, he even killed Gerry Dugan, the writer of Deadpool Comics.
Deadpool’s broken moral compass and insane personality have made him kill over thousands of heroes, villains, and even civilians.
2) The Punisher
The name and the huge skull on the chest are enough to give it away but the merciless killer speaks less and shoots more. Frank Castle’s sentimental backstory provides catharsis for his gruesome acts of mass murder. Castle’s solution to everything is a bullet. Criminals get a bullet in the head, robbers get a bullet in their feet, and even litterers and jaywalkers aren’t safe from the Punisher’s wrath.
But sometimes, the Punisher’s trigger-happy personality causes grave tragedies. The man has dropped a nuclear warhead and eradicated both heroes and villains. As of 2013, it is estimated that he has killed almost 48,502 people, and the number might have doubled or even tripled by the latest issue.
1) Wolverine
A weapon has one purpose and one purpose only - to kill. You can’t expect anything less from someone named Weapon X. The hacking, slashing, claw monster that we all know and love is a most brutal killer who boasts a body count that might even put supervillains to shame.
In the comic Wolverine: Enemy of the State, Logan went on a rampage that killed almost 52,000 people in a single day. That means, on average, he kills 1.66 people every second, which is a horrendously high number. Also, don’t forget that Wolverine has been doing this for centuries; he has participated in numerous wars and had a brief stint with villainy which hardcore fans would like to forget.
All the above heroes have performed atrocious acts but the numbers speak it all. Fans love heroes who can claw their way towards their goal despite a little blood on their hands.
