The Arrowverse bad guys tend to swing between memorable (for good or for ill) or forgettable. That even extends to their costumes to be totally honest. Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) cut such a powerful figure in his Dark Archer costume, while Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) would just wear a suit. Some costume trends do tend to stray on this side of baffling, like all the female villains in Supergirl tending to wear pants, including Kara (Melissa Benoist) when she’s on Red K or as Overgirl?
No matter what, a superhero's costume is incredibly important to any superhero franchise. Fans can forgive it for straying from comics accuracy if it is A) an improvement or B) an interesting design. Though, in some cases, money constraints and actor comfort factors into the final product. When we get awesome redesigns from talented fan artists, we need to applaud their creativity and wish for some of these to make it on-screen.
Even though we cheer for our heroes, sometimes there is a bit of a thrill in seeing them go bad. Though, usually, these changes don’t tend to stick too long in the finished product. If it includes a costume change? Well, then who are we to argue? These talented artists decided to imagine what our favorite Arrowverse heroes would look like as villains.
Prepare to walk on the dark side for a little while. Here are 20 Arrowverse Heroes Reimagined As Villains.
Wally West As Alchemy
There were a lot of theories about Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) bouncing around during seasons two and three of The Flash. For a brief while there was a fan theory that Wally West would be Alchemy in this post-Flashpoint timeline. It was eventually revealed that Julian Albert (Tom Felton) was the not-so-good Doctor.
Courtesy of the amazing Boss Logic, we get to see what this would look like and it looks pretty amazing. We only see Alchemy Wally from behind as the real Wally looks into a reflection. It’s all somewhat gothic with the smashed mirrors and the other world.
Dark Archer Oliver
Out of all the heroes, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has most often flirted crossing the line between hero and villain. In this drawing from Kaiitan, we see a really nice head study of a villainous Oliver. The whole vibe is very anime-esque and that's definitely a positive as anime villains have some amazing costumes.
The draping of the hood, the lower face mask, and the high collar piped in red are definitely a departure from the Robin Hood aesthetic of hero Oliver. Also, it looks like one of his eyes may be a different color/replaced? It’s definitely a very interesting silhouette either way.
Mr. Terrific
The various iterations of Team Arrow have definitely gone through various ups and downs over the years. They are definitely still in a downswing phase right now, or will be, going into for season seven. Even so, the newer members still have made their mark on the city, for better or worse. Though, eventually, if you push too hard at others, they will push back.
In the Arrowverse, it’s not uncommon for people to make their own worst enemies. What if the new members became that for the team?
In a drawing from Boss Logic, we see a very different version of Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum). The red eyes and the red accents are definitely a bit of departure from his usual costume. It definitely looks like his T-Spheres may have overloaded his brain.
Barry Possessed By DeVoe
DeVoe (Neil Sandilands) did provide Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) with a major challenge in season four. It’s a pity, however, that he wasn’t too interesting. It could have gone in a more interesting direction, as imagined by Boss Logic. In this version, Barry becomes hooked up to DeVoe, presumably for the worse. While this could be a nod to how the two fought in comics, there’s something just…off about the whole thing.
Look at the distinctly unsettling at the green glow of Barry’s eyes as DeVoe’s face appear in ones and zeroes in the background. Given the villain’s propensity to possess other people’s bodies in season four, it’s honestly amazing that he didn’t try to do so with Barry.
Hawkman
The Hawks may have long departed the Arrowverse after the first season of Legends of Tomorrow, but that doesn't mean that they won’t return. Sadly, Carter Hall, aka Hawkman (Falk Hentschel), didn’t really have enough time to make an impact. It’s a shame because he has been portrayed well in the past. One of his best portrayals, however, comes from the Justice League animated series where he was a villain.
From naratani, we get a hint of that version of Hawkman again. It definitely stands out with the more comic version of the costume. There’s just something dynamic about how he has his mace raised amongst the rubble. This would definitely be a version of Hall to watch.
Oliver Arrow Throne
The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones is definitely one of the most famous thrones in pop culture. It has driven good men to depths of depravity and made bad men even worse. There’s also just something so tempting in its design. It’s no wonder that Boss Logic wanted to use that imagery and meaning by having Oliver on his own Arrow Throne.
In this reimagining, Olivier just sits there, looking confident and sure of himself.
There are arrows at his feet like there was some kind of shootout and he emerged victorious from it. Even so, the fact that he sits there, face in shadow, it makes you wonder what he did to get there. Like we said about the Iron Throne, it has shown good men how bad they can go for it.
Future Flash
For fans of the comics, Savitar wasn’t the first time that Barry would have gone full on evil. In the comics, there was a version of Barry Allen from 20 years in the future who went mad with guilt over the passing of Wally West. Seeking to change history, this overly charged version of Barry went back in time and took out almost all of his enemies.
This redesign of that villainous version of Barry from Salman Art Works is true to the comics, but could easily translate to the show. There’s something creepy about Barry glowing with Speed Force energy. At least his motivations would have made more sense than Savitar’s...
White Canary
To dedicated Arrowverse fans, Sara Lance has earned her redemption several times over at this point. Even so, she knows the temptation of giving in to her darker urges. She has proven to be a hyper-competent opponent against her allies, even without being demonically possessed. Even so, it doesn’t appear that Sara would ever return to her darker inclinations.
Courtesy of samanthadoodles, we see a less inhibited Sara. From the mark on her knuckles to her bo staff, it’s clear that she is back from messing someone up. Yet, it’s the devil may care look on her face mixed with that peace sign that really sells everything. It’s a Sara uninhibited by her guilt.
Reverse Flash Wally
Maybe one day we’ll see the alternate universe where the Crime Syndicate of America rules the roost. Hopefully, Keiynan Lonsdale could return to the Arrowverse for that crossover, if only to wear this costume. It just looks that cool on him. This is another redesign courtesy of Boss Logic. We see Wally rocking some dyed blonde hair and wearing a black and red costume.
It’s hard to say what about this works exactly. It could be the contained pose, the peak of blonde from his open cowl, or just the body language. Either way, he is one hundred percent rocking the look. The only thing we definitely know is if we get to see alternate evil versions, then we’d want to see that one.
Red Lantern Supergirl
In the season one episode “Red Faced”, Supergirl had to get emotional. It made for an intensely powerful scene, watching as Kara punched a car and raged over the fact that she would never get to have a normal life. We’ve never really seen that anger that she feels for that in the show again. The comics, on the other hand, had Kara be consumed by her rage to the point where she was a member of the Red Lantern core.
Not all Red Lanterns are villains, of course, but most of them are.
Chances remain that if Kara did go evil it would be with a Red Lantern ring on her finger. Jedi-Art-Trick perfectly balances her current costume with a Red Lantern Corps version of it.
Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond)
With the unfortunate passing of Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Firestorm is well and truly gone in the Arrowverse. The character honestly does seem pretty cursed in the multiverse. While we did see Ronnie Raymond (Robbie Amell) as Deathstorm on Earth-2, we have a more flame-tastic version of the character for Earth-1.
Courtesy of naratani, we see a Ronnie version of the character wreathed in flames. His costume in the drawing is more comic accurate than anything else. The flames that wreath him, however, seem to threaten to overwhelm him. Perhaps a baptism by fire in the most literal sense?
Felicity Smoak As Harley Quinn
Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) has a less than perfect past. Over the years, however, she definitely has settled into a happier sort of life. Well, happier in between instances of near-death and her husband being in jail, but her experiences haven’t quite sent her over the edge. While Harley Quinn does exist in the Arrowverse in some way, it would be interesting to see what would happen if one too many things push Felicity over the edge.
From Ash-DaPotato, we have a mash-up of Felicity with Margot Robbie’s version of Harley Quinn. Right now, it just focuses on the hair mixed with Felicity’s face. Considering the upcoming Elseworlds crossover, perhaps we could see a Felicity Quinn?
Lena Luthor’s War Suit
Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) has definitely been one of the best additions to Supergirl after its CW move. Despite being a help to the D.E.O., Lena definitely remains a morally grey sort of character. Who knows what she plans on the Harun-El for, after all.
We all hold out hope that she won’t go the way of her older brother.
No matter what, she would definitely make it look good. Thanks to Jessica Perez, we get a look at Lena wearing the infamous Luthor War Suit. This was definitely inspired by the New 52/Rebirth where Lex decided to try his hand at being Superman, for better or worse. It would be interesting if Lena tried to take over Supergirl’s role, especially since she doesn’t trust her anymore.
Dark Supergirl
Sometimes all a costume needs is a color change to make someome from hero to villain. Nothing quite captures this as this photo manipulation from Stark3879, which shows Kara Danvers rocking a black and silver suit. In the background? There’s a wasteland of skulls and a large sun, making the whole thing look quite alien. It definitely serves as a reminder that things can definitely get apocalyptic with an evil Kryptonian.
While Supergirl’s villains for the third season may have ripped off the plot of Man of Steel in the end, this imagery definitely invokes the worst of Krypton. For better or worse, this is probably would have happened in Zod or someone had raised Kara following Krypton’s destruction.
Earth-X Barry Allen
Earth-X brought us the worst versions of Green Arrow and Supergirl. While it was great to see Tom Cavanagh play Eobard Thawne again, we still feel like we were missing seeing the worst version of Barry. For a while, we did believe that it was going to be an Earth-X version of the Flash that we would get.
Going with this, Countlisa designed this Earth-X version of the Flash. Going under the name Blitzen, the Earth-X counterpart of Barry Allen has some serious shoulder pads. Like Overgirl and Dark Arrow, he also sports a full-face mask as lightning surrounds him. There’s also less yellow in the costume with darker brown accents to balance out the color.
Thea Queen (Tigress/Dark Speedy)
Thea (Willa Holland) went through her own villainous inclinations back in season two and early in season three. While it was pretty much agreed on that she would be Speedy the moment audiences heard Oliver’s nickname for her, people thought that it would change once things got darker for her.
There are several amazing mantles of villains that Thea could have taken up. Courtesy of IronAvenger1234, we get to see two versions of it. The one on the left is a version of Thea Queen as Tigress and the right is a darker version of her Speedy costume. We would have liked some more stripes on the Tigress costume, but both are functional and practical for the work that Thea does: hero or villain.
Red Lantern Supergirl II
Yes, it’s another Red Lantern version of Supergirl. It tends to be what people imagine for Kara possibly snapping one day and giving into her darkest parts. In this version, she has given over to herself enough that she is actually breathing fire. It’s amazing to see Kara get all dragon-like here with this drawing from Amatoisms, who admitted that they didn’t know much about this version of the character.
Even though Kara goes around in the show without a mask, this definitely makes a case for her getting her own. We may never see it in show, but a crossover perhaps? That would be amazing.
Overman
One of the more baffling questions we had coming out of the Crisis On Earth-X crossover was where is that version of Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin). Granted, it feels like the whole timeline on that universe is a bit fuzzy overall. Though Overgirl didn’t mention what became of her cousin, we figured out a good chunk of what happened to the various Earth-1/Earth-38 members.
In this redesign from TrickArrowDesigns, we get a general idea of what would happen if Overman did appear in the crossover. The suit is similar to what Overgirl was wearing and it is a solid design. It is missing another bolt across the chest, but comes with two different colored cape options.
Barry Allen As Killer Frost
A lot of these redesigns have the characters using the powers that they’ve always had. What if their villainous inclinations come from a different power set? In this drawing from Boss Logic, Barry Allen rocks his own Killer Frost inspired makeover. Or a whole Jack Frost kind of vibe, if anyone has watched Rise of the Guardians recently. It’s not a bad look for him either.
In this one, Barry’s face is devoid of color and his eyes have gone bright blue.
It would have been interesting to see the blue lips that Killer Frost rocks on his own. He does, however, have the all-important white hair. The look in his eyes is definitely nothing kind, but more creepily intense.
Injustice Arrowverse
This one is a more of a mixed bag between heroes and villains. Injustice tends to separate everyone into two sides after all. We do, however, get to see what the Arrowverse characters would look like in the video game universe, thanks to ajabelgas. Hoechlin looks perfectly intimidating in the villainous Superman’s armor. As for Barry, we get something closer to his more comics accurate self, with a bit of Ezra Miller’s Justice League costume thrown in for good measure.
These costumes would be interesting to see in the Arrowverse. Supergirl, meanwhile, gets an upgrade to something similar to her cousin. In the game, she could go either way considering on player choices in the story. They all definitely pop from the painting.
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Which of these would you most like to see on-screen? Let us know in the comments!