Hey, it’s this thing again! Most of you may not even remember, but Fans used to publish poppy top ten lists like this on a fairly regular basis, usually written by Will Erixon or Tim Mitts. Those guys are busier these days, but I’m giving the “top ten” thing another try for a while, and we’ll see how it works out. Since the comic’s lead characters are currently discussing villains turned to the service of law and order, this seemed like a good place to start.

Please note: these lists are unfair. They are based on my opinions, and my opinions not only vary from yours, they vary from year to year. Comments are welcome, but if my choices upset you then I encourage, nay, bless you to create your own list.

10. Kevin Levin. I don’t know of any kid’s-show characters who’ve taken a path like Kevin’s, from gothy megalomaniac to arms dealer to irritable surrogate older brother. Ben 10 is rarely great television, but it’s a fun way to burn through 30 minutes on the exercycle, and Kevin’s against-the-grain cynicism is the biggest reason why.

Gwen: Oh, you do have a heart!
Kevin: Yeah. That’s what poor people have instead of money.

9. Godzilla. Admittedly, I’m more familiar with the idea of these movies than the actual movies themselves, but who doesn’t love a city-destroying dinosaur who soon has to battle other monsters that would otherwise destroy cities slightly faster?

8. Spike. No, not the author of Templar, Arizona, whom we all know is as evil as ever. Joss Whedon’s Spike was a genuine badass in his early days, but never quite as badass as he wanted you to think, and his posing got more desperate and comical as his heart softened. Despite one or two twists best left forgotten, overall his was the most satisfying of the Buffyverse’s many, many redemption arcs.

7. The “Villains by Necessity.” Eve Forward’s delightful Villains by Necessity thrills, amuses and asks some probing questions about the nature of good and evil through this desperate cadre, most of whom barely qualify as “Diet Coke of Evil,” but who nevertheless have to restore the moral balance of the world before it finally becomes too “good” for its own good.

6. Gru. It takes a certain kind of spirit to dream big, to always fall short, and just keep dreaming, all the same. That’s what makes Despicable Me‘s Gru likable even before the kids start to awaken the joyful child within the man. A lot of what makes him funny for much of the film is his carefree cruelty to kids and to his own childlike minions, but the film replaces this feature, gradually and smoothly for the most part, with an almost equally funny view of him as a put-upon underdog.

5. The Secret Six. Marvel’s Thunderbolts and DC’s Suicide Squad are passably entertaining, but the Squad’s best characters– Amanda Waller, Rick Flagg and Bronze Tiger– don’t really fit the “villain turned hero” mold, and the Thunderbolts’ only mainstays are not terribly interesting. But the Six? They’ve carved out a unique place in superhero comics’ moral landscape, and often seem as likely to die for each other as to kill each other. Catman, in particular, is an inspiration for anyone who’s ever felt like a loser.

4. Severus Snape. Arguably J.K. Rowling’s most distinctive achievement, a man whose life contains bitter lessons that kidlit normally avoids but that children need to learn, sooner than ever these days. Not everyone who doesn’t like you is a bad person, even if they don’t like you for a bad reason. Not everyone who serves the side of right gets any reward for it at all, in the end. Some pain never abates.

3. Clint Barton. Marvel has a boatload of heroes who were once villains, but Magneto, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver no longer seem to qualify, Electra’s range is extremely limited, and the Black Widow’s new nanotech angle isn’t doing it for me. But Clint, here’s a guy I’d love to drink beer with, and I hate beer. I don’t care if he’s calling himself Hawkeye or Ronin, he’s a guy who never stops having something to prove.

2. Emma Frost. Has there ever been a homewrecker that could get an audience to cheer for her like Emma Frost? Maybe Angelina Jolie. As is generally true with Marvel Comics, the character’s quality can vary wildly with the writer, but several have given her a complex persona, an investment that’s still paying dividends.

1. The Grinch. He may be a hero for like four minutes of screen time in the animated special (or four two-page spreads in the book), but every time I experience his superhuman (supergrinchian?) surge of power, I get a bit misty. (As for Jim Carrey’s version, er, I’m sure he had the best of intentions.) It’s not about making things right with the villagers, you understand. They’ve already accepted a giftless Christmas. It’s about atonement.

Honorable mentions: Max Damage of Irredeemable, the reprogrammed T-800, Stitch. Darth Vader could have been included on the same basis as the Grinch, but I feel like the last few moments of his life are really Luke’s victory rather than his, and he dies redeemed, but not a hero. If you want to gorge yourself on similar material, TV Tropes has you covered.