Trust is a huge issue for many people. It's the basis of all relationships. There are different levels of trust and it can be important to know the level or degree of trust you have with another.

As with relationships, trust among superhero teams is crucial. When fighting deadly supervillains and trying to protect innocents, heroes need to know their teammates have their backs. They need to be able to trust that others will be there when they need them since letting them down in this situation could lead to serious consequences. There are also many secrets shared among members that could destroy a team if it got out or was used against them.

In the superhero community, there are many heroes who never falter. Unfortunately there are heroes who have betrayed their teammates for one reason or another. Once they got their heads back on straight, can they fully be trusted again?

== TEASER ==

As in life, there are many factors that could lead to a betrayal. The reasons for superheroes aren't always so simple. They may have moments of great anger but there's also brainwashing, blackmail and, of course, possession. Once the hero commits the foul act, they return to the team and are usually completely forgiven. What's surprising is the number of heroes that have turned on their teams.

Scarlet Witch may have caused the most damage against the Avengers and mutants in the Marvel Universe. When she lost her mind, she caused the destruction of the Avengers Mansion and was pretty much responsible for the deaths of Jack of Hearts, Scott Lang, Hawkeye and Vision (even if she didn't directly kill them). Some of the dead heroes came back but it's not something you can easily forgive and forget. She also reduced the mutant population of the world to under 200 by uttering a few words.

Scarlet Witch may have not been fully responsible for everything she did but she was still the cause. She wants to make amends but it's going to take a long time. Her current status or place isn't exactly known but it's going to be a long time until everyone fully trusts her again.

What about Wolverine? During the Enemy of the State storyline, Hydra, the Hand and Dawn of the White Light teamed up to kill and resurrect superheroes and keep them under their control. Wolverine ended up attacking SHIELD, Reed Richards, Daredevil, the X-Men as well as killing several SHIELD agents and Northstar.

Obviously Wolverine was able to break his programming with some help. Despite all the death and havoc he caused, he is now publicly part of the X-Men. He is even allowed to be the headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Looks like no one has a problem trusting him after everything he's done.

Let's not forget about Batman? Whether he was right or not to keep secret files on his teammates in the Justice League of America with protocols on how to defeat them, in some ways he betrayed their trust. It was these files that were used by their enemies to defeat them.

What about Gambit? He worked for Mister Sinister and lead the Marauders to the Morlocks which caused the Mutant Massacre (which also lead to several X-Men being critically injured).

Cyclops got possessed by Apocalypse as did Angel/archangel/29-2112/. Both have been forgiven.

Bucky Barnes was brainwashed by the Russians into becoming the Winter Soldier and killed several Americans on various missions. He later was allowed to become Captain America when it appeared Steve Rogers was dead.

The list goes on.

Nobody is perfect. Heroes have a harder time dealing with the moments when they fall from grace since they are often placed up high on pedestals. If they are momentarily possessed, you can't really say it's their fault. If that is the case, how can you prove that they really were possessed and not just in a bad mood? The public usually has a short attention span and will forget when their heroes do something wrong but when the betrayal is done at a personal level (like against teammates), it's going to take a little more to get over. Forgiveness can be given but once the trust is shattered, it can take a long time to actually forget.