There’s something about villainous cartoon characters that stands out. Love them or hate them, your favorite cartoons just wouldn’t be the same without them.
Their wicked acts push you to the edge of your seats, biting your nails as you pray for their failure, and for your cartoon hero to triumph. Our list rounds up the top 30 cartoon characters that were villains, each one more wonderfully wicked than the last.
Buckle up, because things are about to get delightfully evil.
Mojo Jojo is a super-intelligent chimp with a brain as big as his ego. He speaks in loops, often saying what he just said again. Once a lab assistant to Professor Utonium, an explosion turned him from monkey to menace.
His plans are big, bold, and mostly… bananas. He’s the villain who keeps coming back, yelling “Curses!” with cartoon drama. And yet, somewhere under all that evil, maybe, just maybe, he just wants attention.
Year of Creation: 1998
Voice Actor: Roger L. Jackson
Biggest Act of Villainy: He once brainwashed the whole town of Townsville! They followed his every word until the Powerpuff Girls snapped them out of it. Chaos much?
Scar is the king of sass, shadows, and savage betrayal, with a mane flowing like a villain’s cape, and a voice dripping with danger. Born second, he was never king, but oh, how he dreamed!
Scar is the type to smile while pushing you off a cliff. His sarcasm could slice stone. With hyenas by his side, he turned Pride Rock into a gloomy graveyard.
Year of Creation: 1994
Voice Actor: Jeremy Irons (singing by Jim Cummings)
Biggest Act of Villainy: Scar killed his own brother by throwing him off a cliff. Then, he blamed Simba and took the throne!
Plankton is one percent evil and ninety-nine percent hot gas. He’s the owner of the Chum Bucket, a restaurant with zero customers. While he’s shorter than your pinky toe, his ego is skyscraper-tall.
He wants one thing: the Krabby Patty formula. Just one recipe! But each plan is a fizzy flop. He talks big, falls harder. Plankton is the king of failure, and yet, he never quits. That’s both scary… and a little inspiring.
Year of Creation: 1999
Voice Actor: Mr. Lawrence
Biggest Act of Villainy: He once stole SpongeBob’s brain to control him like a puppet. Talk about getting into someone’s head. Literally!
Azula is firebending royalty with a heart colder than the South Pole. She’s sharp, smart, and scary, but don’t be fooled by her graceful moves or polite voice. Behind that calm smile is a volcano ready to blow.
Azula destroys her enemies with style, can shoot blue flames, and plays mind games like it’s chess, and she never loses… until she breaks. Azula is the kind of villain who makes other villains nervous.
Year of Creation: 2006
Voice Actor: Grey DeLisle
Biggest Act of Villainy: She betrayed her own best friends, locked them up, and crowned herself Fire Lord.
Jafar is a tall, twisty sorcerer with a cobra staff and a soul full of sand who’s always scheming and always sneering. As the royal vizier of Agrabah, he wore fancy robes and literally hid evil plans up his sleeves.
If evil were an art, Jafar would have a gallery. He turned from man to sorcerer to genie. That’s a whole villain glow-up.
Year of Creation: 1992 (Aladdin film) / 1994 (TV series)
Voice Actor: Jonathan Freeman
Biggest Act of Villainy: He hypnotized the Sultan, nearly married Jasmine by force, and turned into a genie just to rule forever.
Shego glows green and punches hard. She’s the muscle behind Dr. Drakken, but really, she’s smarter than him.
Shego used to be a hero, but one day she flipped the script. Now she’s a villain-for-hire who takes joy in chaos and sarcasm. She’s like a thunderstorm in lipstick. Oh, and don’t call her a sidekick, unless you want to get zapped.
Year of Creation: 2002
Voice Actor: Nicole Sullivan
Biggest Act of Villainy: She broke into a space station and tried to crash it on Earth because she was bored.
HIM is horror dipped in glitter. He wears a tutu, talks in a sweet-creepy voice, and is somehow more terrifying than a whole monster movie.
No one knows if he’s a demon, a nightmare, or a fashion disaster. But one thing’s certain, he loves pain. HIM doesn’t fight with fists. He plays with minds, dreams, and hearts. He’s like a bad dream that sings lullabies. And when he shows up…boom! Everything goes wrong.
Year of Creation: 1998
Voice Actor: Tom Kane
Biggest Act of Villainy: He once trapped the girls in a world where they never existed. The whole town was destroyed.
Ursula is a part octopus, part diva, creature that slinks through the sea with lipstick, tentacles, and tricks up every sleeve. Her laugh is louder than thunder, and her plans? Deliciously dark.
She calls herself a “poor, unfortunate soul,” but don’t fall for it. She steals voices, breaks promises, and sings while ruining lives. Ursula knows deals, but she always wins. Her underwater cave is filled with the shrunken, squished remains of her victims.
Year of Creation: 1989 (film) / 1992 (TV series)
Voice Actor: Pat Carroll
Biggest Act of Villainy: She tricked Ariel into giving up her voice, then turned into a fake beauty to steal the prince. Slimy and sly!
Megatron is a metal monster with a voice like thunder and fists that punch like trains. He’s the big bad of the Decepticons, always shouting about domination while stepping on dreams (and buildings). He believes in peace through total destruction!
His plans are so big, they need blueprints from outer space. And yet, his biggest weakness? His giant ego.
Year of Creation: 1984 (as a toy/cartoon), 2007 (Animated version)
Voice Actor: Corey Burton
Biggest Act of Villainy: He brainwashed innocent robots into soldiers and turned Earth into a war zone. Talk about turning “home sweet home” into “boom boom battlefield.”
Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz is an evil genius who builds wild machines to take over the Tri-State Area. His voice squeaks like a confused accordion, and he always tells tragic backstories that somehow involve baked goods.
Doofenshmirtz is the king of comic evil. He’s so bad at being bad, it’s good. His plans fail more than a wobbly ladder. But he never gives up.
Year of Creation: 2007
Voice Actor: Dan Povenmire
Biggest Act of Villainy: He once built a time machine to erase every birthday ever.
Maleficent is the Disney queen of darkness who curses with class. With horns like a goat and a glare that melts steel, Maleficent is the kind of villain who turns a missed invitation into a lifelong grudge.
She’s part fairy, part dragon, all fury. Her magic? Top-tier. Her wardrobe? Flawless. Her mood? Forever bitter. Maleficent is one of the most elegantly evil cartoon characters you’ll ever find. Even her green flames have style.
Year of Creation: 1959 (film), appeared in House of Mouse 2001
Voice Actor: Susan Blakeslee (TV)
Biggest Act of Villainy:
She cursed baby Aurora to die because she wasn’t invited to a party.
Mandark is a kid scientist who’s obsessed with beating Dexter. While Dexter builds for science, Mandark builds for domination. With his slick hair and greasy attitude, his whole life is one long “I’ll get you, Dexter!”
He’s the brainiac nobody invited to the birthday party. And now he wants revenge.
Year of Creation: 1996
Voice Actor: Eddie Deezen
Biggest Act of Villainy: He hacked Dexter’s lab, stole his inventions, and tried to delete him from science forever.
Zim is a loud, proud, and completely clueless tiny alien who was sent to conquer Earth. He wears a pink outfit, has glowing green eyes, and shouts everything like a villain in a soap opera.
Earth fears nothing from him, but he believes he’s brilliant, though even toasters seem smarter. Zim’s plans include robot bees, meat planets, and brain-slugs. He’s chaos in boots, a villain powered by pure delusion.
Year of Creation: 2001
Voice Actor: Richard Steven Horvitz
Biggest Act of Villainy: He turned the school into a nightmare zone and replaced kids with robot clones. All while screaming, “I WILL RULE YOU!”
The Joker is madness with makeup. His grin stretches wider than sanity allows. He laughs when others scream and tells jokes nobody survives.
Every day is April Fool’s, and every prank ends in disaster. He loves chaos like a fish loves water. The Joker doesn’t want money or power. He wants Batman to cry. He’s terrifying, but somehow… oddly charming.
Year of Creation: 1992 (Animated Series)
Voice Actor: Mark Hamill
Biggest Act of Villainy: He gassed a whole TV studio to air his own twisted comedy show. The laughs? Real. The danger? Deadly.
Ice King is the villain you love to feel sorry for. He’s a lonely old wizard with a crown that messes with his brain. He kidnaps princesses, not because he’s mean, but because he wants friends. His beard is snowy, his nose is pointy, and his penguin army waddles behind him.
He’s the oxymoron of villains: a “friendly kidnapper.” Deep down, he’s just a confused man looking for love.
Year of Creation: 2010
Voice Actor: Tom Kenny
Biggest Act of Villainy: He tried to freeze all of Ooo to force people to come to his “friend party.”
Hades’ blue flame hair flickers with fury, and his insults come faster than lightning. As god of the Underworld, he’s always grumpy, especially when Hercules shows up.
Hades loves deals, double-crosses, and drama. He talks like a salesman and schemes like a snake in a toga. If sass were power, he’d rule Olympus. His plans are always flashy, messy, and doomed to fail. But boy, does he make villainy look fun.
Year of Creation: 1997 (film) / 1998 (TV series)
Voice Actor: James Woods
Biggest Act of Villainy: He unleashed the Titans to crush Mount Olympus and trap Zeus. His “family reunion” came with a natural disaster bonus pack.
Lord Boxman is evil, but in a hilarious, yelling-at-the-wall kind of way. He runs Boxmore, a factory of doom, and spends his days making angry machines to fight heroes.
He’s dramatic, loud, and obsessed with destroying a strip mall. His face is square, his brain is squarer, and his hatred is cartoonishly loud.
Year of Creation: 2017
Voice Actor: Jim Cummings
Biggest Act of Villainy: He built an army of killer bots to invade a peaceful plaza, all because he hated happiness.
Skeletor is a talking skeleton with a voice like sandpaper and a bodybuilder’s frame. He yells, he schemes, he fails, then he tries again! His catchphrases are as bony as his face. “You fools!” he screams while tripping over his own evil plan.
His blue skin, purple hood, and endless rants make him look like a spooky action figure with Wi-Fi problems.
Year of Creation: 1983
Voice Actor: Alan Oppenheimer
Biggest Act of Villainy: He once opened a portal to trap all heroes in another dimension. Sadly, he fell in too.
Bill Cipher is a yellow triangle with one eye, a top hat, and a voice like static. However, he can bend time, twist minds, and turn dreams into nightmares. He’s a dealmaker with a devilish grin and zero chill.
One minute he’s joking, the next, poof! You’re a sock puppet. He’s the kind of villain who breaks the rules of reality for fun. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Year of Creation: 2012
Voice Actor: Alex Hirsch
Biggest Act of Villainy: He caused “Weirdmageddon”, a total apocalypse made of nightmares, flying eyes, and floating islands.
Shredder is sharp, scary, and seriously angry. With blades on every limb, he looks like a walking blender. He’s the archenemy of the Ninja Turtles and the leader of the Foot Clan.
He’s a storm in metal armor, always stalking the shadows. His only hobby? Revenge, revenge, and more revenge.
Year of Creation: 1987 (Animated series)
Voice Actor: James Avery
Biggest Act of Villainy: He turned New York into a war zone, even controlling robots to wipe out the turtles. All over an old grudge.
Zuko began as the world’s angriest teenager. With a scar on his face and a chip on his shoulder, he hunted the Avatar like it was his full-time job.
Banished from the Fire Nation, Zuko believed honor came through battle. His firebending was fierce, his temper fiercer. He growled, pouted, and kicked over tea sets. Yet, under the fire and fury, there was a storm of confusion. He was a villain with a heart slowly melting.
Year of Creation: 2005
Voice Actor: Dante Basco
Biggest Act of Villainy: He betrayed his uncle and helped Azula capture Aang. One step forward, two fire-blasted steps back.
Slade is mystery in a mask. No one knows his real face, and honestly, we’re scared to find out. He’s calm, cruel, and always ten steps ahead.
He controls, manipulates, and haunts the Teen Titans like a shadow you can’t shake. With zero powers and one eye, he still terrifies a team of superheroes.
Year of Creation: 2003
Voice Actor: Ron Perlman
Biggest Act of Villainy: He turned Robin into his apprentice using fear and guilt.
Syndrome started as a super-fan… and ended up a super-villain with a serious grudge. Rejected as a child, he grew up bitter and built gadgets that made him “super.”
He wants to erase real superheroes and sell powers like phones. He’s not just angry—he’s petty. And dangerous. A walking warning about holding grudges and naming yourself after a disease.
Year of Creation: 2004
Voice Actor: Jason Lee
Biggest Act of Villainy: He built a killer robot, unleashed it on a city, and planned to “save” it, just to look like a hero.
Hex is a dark wizard cartoon character with a voice dipped in doom. With his fancy cloak, creepy mask, and scowl that never takes a break, he wants one thing: power. And he’ll chase ancient artifacts like a cursed collector.
When Hex shows up, expect spooky lightning, floating books, and Ben 10 running for his alien life.
Year of Creation: 2005
Voice Actor: Khary Payton
Biggest Act of Villainy: He summoned an ancient entity to erase all time, just because he lost a duel.
Monkey Fist is a one-time rich British archaeologist who’s now half-ninja, half-monkey. Obsessed with mystical monkey power, he flips, kicks, and grunts through Kim’s adventures.
His movements? Graceful. His plans? Bananas. Monkey Fist believes he’s a chosen warrior, but honestly, he’s just a posh guy who took “going ape” way too literally. He’s wild, weird, and always up to monkey business.
Year of Creation: 2002
Voice Actor: Tom Kane
Biggest Act of Villainy: He tried to awaken an army of stone monkeys to take over the world.
Vicky is the babysitter from your worst nightmares. With red hair, sharp teeth, and a love for torture disguised as “babysitting,” she rules over Timmy Turner with an iron mop.
She’s the queen of cruelty and the boss of bad behavior. If evil came in teen form, it’d wear braces and demand twenty bucks an hour.
Year of Creation: 2001
Voice Actor: Grey DeLisle
Biggest Act of Villainy: She locked Timmy in a closet for a whole day and blamed the dog.
Vilgax is a space squid cartoon character with muscles that could crush moons. He’s a warlord, conqueror, and nightmare in armor. His voice rumbles like an earthquake, and he smells like danger.
He’s been blown up, frozen, and fried, but still keeps coming. He wants the Omnitrix (Ben’s alien watch), and he’ll tear the galaxy apart to get it.
Year of Creation: 2005
Voice Actor: Steve Blum
Biggest Act of Villainy: He invaded Earth with an alien army and nearly took the Omnitrix off Ben’s arm by force.
As far as villainous cartoon characters go, Dr. Drakken is the bluest evil genius you’ll ever meet. His skin’s blue, his schemes are bad, and his brain? Questionable.
He talks big, builds doomsday machines, and loses to a teenage cheerleader. Every. Single. Time. Drakken is cartoon evil at its most laughable.
Year of Creation: 2002
Voice Actor: John DiMaggio
Biggest Act of Villainy: He built a weather machine to freeze the world and hold it hostage for cash.
Lord Hater is an evil skeleton in a hoodie with anger issues the size of a planet. He wants to be the “most hated in the universe.”
He leads the Watchdogs, an army of bumbling minions who trip more than they fight. Hater throws tantrums that make toddlers look mature.
Year of Creation: 2013
Voice Actor: Keith Ferguson
Biggest Act of Villainy: He conquered peaceful planets just to boost his villain ranking. Evil for fame?
Evil Morty is not your average stuttering sidekick. This Morty has a brain sharper than Rick’s sarcasm. He hides behind cuteness, then strikes with cold, calculated fury.
Evil Morty isn’t loud or flashy. As one of the most popular cartoon characters of all time, he’s calm, clever, creepy, uses politics, mind control, and a little murder. While other Mortys cry, this one rules.
Year of Creation: 2013
Voice Actor: Justin Roiland
Biggest Act of Villainy: He wiped out thousands of Ricks, became president of the Citadel, then broke the multiverse.
