Top 5 Fr-aturdays: Top 5 Traitors in DC Comics

Welcome to another exciting addition of Top 5 Fr-aturdays! If you're like me, you are all caught up with Legends of Tomorrow. On this week's episode, we watched our heroes had to deal with their former captain, Rip Hunter, going against them, and even trying kill them. While they were able to piece together that the Legion of Doom had brainwashed him, it's still left a painful feeling of being betrayed by one of the closest friends. It actually made me think about all the other heroes and villains that had betrayed their respective teams, so we're going to be talking about that today. These traitors are ranked by the severity of their betrayal, and how it impacts both in the story and emotionally. As always this is not an opinion based list, so if you don't see a character you like, I apologize. Enough talk! Let's dive into this list of turncoats!

5: John Constantine(Injustice)

What? Constantine is a backstabbing traitor? What a surprise! Alright, let's get rid of the sarcasm here and explain why Constantine betrayal has earned him a spot on this list. In the Injustice universe, Superman and Batman read side against one another and has caused many other heroes to either pick sides or leave the planet. Enter John Constantine, who had a tragic casualty in the war, and also a reason to fight in it: the safety of his daughter. He helped Batman's side in a loose sense, as his real reason for helping wasn't to defeat the man of steel's regime was to get out of a debt to take care of his daughter. How could he do it? By having Trigon go up against both sides of course! After getting out of the debt, he berates Batman for allowing this war to go on as long as it did, and then leaves them all to their fates. I will give Constantine credit and say his reasons for his betrayal were pure, but at the cost of a lot of good heroes, he has earned a spot on the list.

4: Shawna Belzer

Remember the New 52 run of The Secret Six? I can't blame you if you don't, the release schedule for the series was bizarre, to say the least, but overall was still enjoyable. In the final issue of the series, the team works together to save their Talon, Strix, from Lady Shiva. As Catman prepares to go after the assassin, he gets stabbed in the back by Shawna Belzer the Ventriloquist. This was actually shocking to me, as up until this point, she just seemed to focus on her own delusions as Ferdie plotted behind the team's back. If anyone was going to betray the team, I expected the puppet to do it. Instead, Shawna uncharacteristically walked out of the mission stating that she was happy the way things are before the series and wants to go back to it. She even shut down Ferdie's body, effectively killing him! This isn't the lady we've been following throughout the series! It was a twist that I honestly didn't see coming, but am glad that she was brought in for her betrayal.

3: Terry Sloan

While we don't see the original betrayal of Sloan firsthand, it lies at the very heart of all of Earth 2's problems since issue one. His first and biggest betrayal was against the Trinity, and by extension Earth 2, when he created the fire pits which killed millions and allowed Apokolips to set up shop within their fiery core. this is one of the events that begin with the long conflict between him and the wonders of Earth 2. From there, Terry has sold out the planet numerous times in an attempt to keep his "Earth" safe. While one could argue that his intentions sound good, he was kidnapping some of the world's greatest wonders to do it… Including a Kryptonian that could have stopped Apokolips from attacking again. Everything he has done has been more villainous than the last, all cumulating to him keeping control of the New Earth 2 in Society. While he may have stayed the villain throughout the journey of the parallel Earth, he will always be remembered as the traitor first.

2: Indigo-1 and her Tribe

Compassion. That is the emotion that the indigo lanterns draw from. For the most part, they have always stood near the in-between to have the lanterns unite under one light. That trend will follow in nearly every major arc...until Godhead. After bringing the other lantern corps together, Indigo-1 teleports them all into the hands of the New Gods. Why would a group of "compassionate" lanterns do such a thing? The answer: to get their single ring back… while want to can argue that the indigo ring is required to keep the more murderous wearers at bay, Indigo-1, The one who suggested bringing all the lanterns together during the blackest night event, sold out her fellow land turns just to get a single ring back. Neither of the lantern books has gone back to cover this subject, but I hope with time, the indigo tribe can be brought to justice.

1: Terra

Imagine if you will a child who loved the show Teen Titans. A child who would tune in every week to see what adventures these cool heroes would go on, against the villainous Slade. One of the cooler moments of the show, in the beginning, was when we saw new heroes. The child eventually saw a heroine who could move the very ground beneath her. However, this awesome hero had a flaw… She couldn't control her powers. Due to this, she always kept the other titans at arm's length. That's when Slade offered to help in exchange for her serving him. She accepted this deal, with the price being the heads of the Titans. The child's heart broke as he watched the hero turn on the team that she saw as a family... That child was me. Unlike the source material, TV show Terra was more sympathetic rather than being a psychopath… But that didn't make the betrayal painless. Watching her close a crevice with Beast Boy inside it, begging her for an answer, is something that I still remember to this day… That was one of the first times I saw betrayal in Superhero media, and it is why it is my number one.

That's it for this week's Top 5 list! What betrayal did you find shocking? Leave a comment, and I'll see you next week!