History KnightOfCerebus / WesternAnimation

* Two ''Creator/NickJr'' antagonists (namely [[WesternAnimation/RustyRivets Frankie Fritz]] and [[WesternAnimation/ShimmerAndShine Zeta]] are this trope by default due to their respective franchises having NoAntagonist prior to their respective debut episodes (both of which were the Season 2 premieres of their shows). And that's not even getting into the fact that both of them are from preschool shows...

* Two ''Creator/NickJr'' antagonists (namely [[WesternAnimation/RustyRivets]] Frankie Fritz]] and [[WesternAnimation/ShimmerAndShine Zeta]] are this trope by default due to their respective franchises having NoAntagonist prior to their respective debut episodes (both of which were the Season 2 premieres of their shows). And that's not even getting into the fact that both of them are from preschool shows...

** Zarm, Spirit of War and Destruction, began as TheCorrupter, turned the Eco-Villians into a dangerous LegionOfDoom who ruined the world and nearly killed Gaia ''twice''.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM Sonic The Hedgehog]]'' -- This show's take on [[EvilGenius Dr. Robotnik]] is a [[SpiritualAntithesis meta-example of this trope]] for the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog entire Sonic Franchise]].
** In any medium, Robotnik is typically portrayed as a [[LaughablyEvil clownish and whimsical]] man who is [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass suprisingly threatening in a fight]] but [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain largely incapable]] of [[DidNotThinkThisThrough gaining or maintaining]] his goal of [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination.]] In this series, he is a [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor humorless]], high-ranking [[TheStrategist military genius]] and [[HeroOfAnotherStory war hero]] who became the de-facto [[EvilOverlord reigning Overlord of Mobius]] in a very carefully planned [[TheCoup hostile takeover]]. His goals also go farther than mere conquest, as he plans to ''[[OmnicidalManiac end all organic life]]'' by herding all living creatures into machines that [[UnwillingRoboticisation transforms them into helplessly obedient machine slaves]]. He has so much power now that he usually doesn't ''need'' to fight his few remaining enemies directly: he just uses his [[RobotSoldier Swat-Bot army]] from a distance, living quite comfortably in his lair -- though [[WorthyOpponent some enemies]] can spur him into [[FrontlineGeneral more direct action]]. He is treated ''very'' seriously until he was [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] in the second season, where his arrogance and [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent lack of fore-planning for effective resistance]] finally start to bite him in ways more typical of his other incarnations, but even then he was a major threat and his actual machinations (which extend to the point of possible [[ApocalypseHow global genocide]]) still make him TheDreaded to the heroes.

*** And then there's this third appearance in "Rickmurai Jack", where he finally faces off with the main Rick and Morty directly. [[spoiler:He is responsible for delivering some of the series' darkest {{Awful Truth}}s to Morty and the audience. His goal is actually quite understandable and sympathetic--he wants to break out of the Central Finite Curve to reach the rest of the multiverse, free from Rick's influence--but uses takes absolutely ''horrific'' methods to get there: turning the Citadel into a giant portal gun, destroying it, and planning on killing every Rick and Morty there. To top it off, he ''succeeds'' in almost all of this (with only Main Rick and Morty and a few other Mortys escaping his attempts to kill them all) and gets everything he wants by the end.]]
** The end of Season 5 onwards gives us Rick Prime. [[spoiler:Specifically, the Rick originally shown in "The Rickshank Redemption" to be responsible for killing Main Rick's family, who turns out to be RealAfterAll despite Rick previously claiming he made that backstory up. Rick spent decades afterwards trying to hunt him down for revenge, amassing a huge body count of Ricks and leading to the creation of the Citadel, but was never able to find him, and spiraled into depression, cynicism, and nihilism, becoming the man we know today, which makes Rick Prime a GreaterScopeVillain for the whole series. "Solaricks" also reveals that he is Main Morty's original Rick from the same universe, giving him a personal connection to ''both'' main protagonists, and the same episode establishes him as an even more deadly, cruel version of Rick revels in playing mind games with his enemies and straight-up murders his universe's version of Jerry (the show's original Jerry).]]

*** And then there's this third appearance in "Rickmurai Jack", where he finally faces off with the main Rick and Morty directly. [[spoiler:He is responsible for delivering some of the series' darkest {{Awful Truth}}s to Morty and the audience. His goal is actually quite understandable and sympathetic--he wants to break out of the Central Finite Curve to reach the rest of the multiverse, free from Rick's influence--but uses takes absolutely ''horrific'' methods to get there: turning the Citadel into a giant portal gun, destroying it, and planning on killing every Rick and Morty there. To top it off, he ''succeeds'' in almost all of this (with only Main Rick and Morty and a few other Mortys escaping his attempts to kill them all) and gets everything he wants by the end.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' gives us Evil Morty. Despite having only appeared in two episodes, they were both [[WhamEpisode wham episodes]] where his identity was [[TheReveal a huge reveal]]. In the first, "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", he is TheQuietOne who only has two lines (which are completely devoid of any kind of humor) and is the assistant of the episode's BigBad, Evil Rick[[spoiler:...in appearance. In actuality, he is the true mastermind, controlling Evil Rick remotely, and gets away completely undetected at the episode's end]]. He dives further into this in his second appearance in [[spoiler:"The Ricklantis Mix-up", in which it's revealed that the recently elected new leader of the Citadel of Ricks, President Morty, is actually Evil Morty. His first acts as President are to murder the [[TheIlluminati Shadow Council of Ricks]] that planned to use him as their PuppetKing and have their bodies (and those of many others who died during the episode) ThrownOutTheAirlock, along with a still-living Rick and Morty who [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew about his identity]]. At this point, he is undoubtedly the biggest threat to the "main" Rick and Morty that the series follows, and they ''[[UnknownRival don't even know he exists]]''.]]

** Lord Dregg of the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 cartoon]]. The fact that he plays his actions more seriously than Krang, the Shredder and his goons, who were all LaughablyEvil {{Harmless Villain}}s, definitely shows that this guy means business.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': All humor goes out the window when [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] first shows up. It's revealed that he's been ruling the Boiling Isles with an iron fist for fifty years and anyone who doesn't submit to his reign is either imprisoned or [[TakenForGranite petrified]], which is stated to be impossible to reverse. [[NearVillainVictory He very nearly gets his way]] in "Young Blood, Old Souls" and the sole victory Luz manages to get over him is a [[PyrrhicVictory pyrrhic one.]] In "Hollow Mind" TheReveal of him being Philip and a ''witch hunter'' planning a FinalSolution on the people of the Isles is played horribly straight, and his actions and behavior in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" showcase that he's basically a SerialKiller of witches. When the FinalBattle with him occurs in "King's Tide", the fact that he' [[PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize a grown adult attacking a group of children]] with the intent to kill them with no adults around to protect them from him is played for all the horror it's worth, and he ultimately leaves Luz with a [[ScarsAreForever permanent reminder]] of her near-death at his hands.

** At the end of the fourth season, the darkness levels are taken UpToEleven when [[spoiler: Darth Maul himself makes his return.]] Over the course of the fifth season, [[spoiler:he goes on a galaxy-wide killing spree, resulting in the death of hundreds of innocent civilians (including [[WouldHurtAChild children]]), the brutal takeover of the peaceful planet Mandalore, and the cold-blooded murder of Obi-Wan Kenobi's LoveInterest Duchess Satine ''right in front of Obi-Wan's eyes''.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': All humor goes out the window when [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] first shows up. It's revealed that he's been ruling the Boiling Isles with an iron fist for fifty years and anyone who doesn't submit to his reign is either imprisoned or [[TakenForGranite petrified]], which is stated to be impossible to reverse. [[NearVillainVictory He very nearly gets his way]] in "Young Blood, Old Souls" and the sole victory Luz manages to get over him is a [[PyrrhicVictory pyrrhic one.]]

** Season 20 onwards has Heidi Turner. Ever since she has been given [[AscendedExtra a major importance boost]], the show has become less humorous and more story driven and dramatic, with her abuse at the hands of Cartman being played dead seriously for the most part, showing the negative effects the abuse had on her mental and physical health.
** [[OmnicidalManiac Lennart Bedrager]] also from Season 20. He is arguably one of the most serious villains in the entire history of the show. Aside from a few [[TheComicallySerious comically serious]] moments in his earlier appearances, there's really nothing all that funny about him. While the damage his [=TrollTrace=] system causes upon implementation is shown in a rather exaggerated manner, he's presented as a legitimate threat and is most definitely ''not'' PlayedForLaughs.
** [=ManBearPig=] turns out to not only be real, but a major threat that seems unstoppable. It even killed Satan. The only way they stopped him was through negotiation and basically "kicking the can down the road" for future generations to deal with him. Being an AllegoricalCharacter, it also represents the very real threat of climate change, and it being RealAfterAll is essentially Matt Stone and Trey Parker disavowing and apologizing for their previous climate change denial.
** From the Post-COVID specials, Victor Chaos. [[spoiler: Rather, Butters in the future. Abandoned by his parents while he was grounded and told to stay in his room, he remained there for 15 years with only the internet for social interaction. Because of that, he became obsessed with [=NFTs=] and dangerously adept at selling them. So much so that any group he meets ends up killing each other out of anger over their tokens either increasing or decreasing in value. He was eventually put in an asylum but escaped after Stan & Kyle gave him a piece of paper that he used to convince a nurse to invest.]]

** Evil Buzz, too, at least at first. In his initial appearance, he is an incredibly sinister threat, with very practical if ruthless methods of villainy compared to Zurg's [[AffablyEvil antics]]. He even successfully conquered his home universe thanks to his competence, as well as his methods of subjugation and genocide. When he is eventually defeated by Buzz, he opts to stay behind in his ship to die rather than surrender, and even then he still survives. Downplayed in his second appearance, however. While he's still a credible threat, his level of seriousness is toned down thanks to his [[SickeninglySweethearts sickening romantic interactions]] with Gravatina. [[BastardBoyfriend Although when push come to shove, he still quite harshly leaves her to die when the ship they're in is about to explode]], so even then he was still quite the evil-doer.

** [[CatsAreMean Mirage]] as well, while most of the villains Aladdin and his friends faced are typical cartoon-y bad guys. Her introduction begins by lighting a village on fire. She was very much DarkerAndEdgier compared to the other villains, with goals usually being aimed only at making Aladdin and the other heroes suffer, or just outright causing destruction ForTheEvulz. Her exploits have included [[AdultFear kidnapping children]] and turning them into [[BodyHorror nocturnal monsters]], transforming Jasmine slowly into a [[SnakePeople poisonous hybrid snake monster]] in order to destroy her and Aladdin's love, and finally to wipe out Agrabah's very existence with a monolith that permanently erases anything that falls under its shadow. The scariest part is that due to her competence, most of the time the only reason why she doesn't succeed is either due to her EvilCannotComprehendGood or simple and straight-up luck and coincidence.

** The Cloak-Bot from the beginning of Season 3 takes this up several notches. Unlike the past minor antagonists, this one is a [[spoiler:KillerRobot who can actually destroy or terminate anything in its path [[OneHitKill in just a second.]] And unlike Anne's battles with other villains up to now, her fights with the Cloak-Bot almost culminated with it nearly killing her.]]

** King Andrias, who succeeds as the official BigBad following Captain Grime of the toads. It is revealed in the S2 finale that he's really a genocidal tyrant who came from a family of galactic conquerers, and wants to use the power of the Calamity Box to rule all dimensions, including ''Anne's world on Earth.'' And he refuses to let anyone or anything stop him, especially when Marcy messes with the box to help Anne and the Plantars escape prompting him to ''stab her with his sword.''
** The Cloak-Bot from the beginning of Season 3 takes this up several notches; unlike the past minor antagonists, this one is a KillerRobot who can actually destroy or terminate anything in its path [[OneHitKill in just a second.]] And unlike Anne's battles with other villains up to now, her fights with the Cloak-Bot almost culminated with it nearly ''killing her.''

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': While the series started out as a comedy with some dramatic moments, Herb Kazzaz was what started the show's transition into a dramedy that deconstructed television tropes and dealt with issues such as existentialism and mental illness. While not a villain per say, his refusal to forgive [=BoJack=} for stabbing him in the back all those years ago, even as he's dying of cancer, as well as [[WhatTheHellHero calling him out on his behavior]], was undoubtedly the heaviest the show had gotten at the time. And to make matters worse, this was their last interaction before Kazzaz died. Despite having passed away by Season 2, the encounter would stick with [=BoJack=] throughout the series and kick start his CharacterDevelopment, as well as his doubt as to if he's a good person; leading to even more depressing and devastating storylines along the way.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': While the series started out as a comedy with some dramatic moments, Herb Kazzaz was what started the show's transition into a dramedy that deconstructed television tropes and dealt with issues such as existentialism and mental illness. While not a villain per say, his refusal to forgive Bojack for stabbing him in the back all those years ago, even as he's dying of cancer, as well as [[WhatTheHellHero calling him out on his behavior]], was undoubtedly the heaviest the show had gotten at the time. And to make matters worse, this was their last interaction before Kazzaz died. Despite having passed away by Season 2, the encounter would stick with Bojack throughout the series and kick start his CharacterDevelopment, as well as his doubt as to if he's a good person; leading to even more depressing and devastating storylines along the way.

** [=ManBearPig=] turns out to not only be real, but a major threat that seems unstoppable. It even killed Satan. The only way they stopped him was through negotiation and basically "kicking the can down the road" for future generations to deal with him. Being an AllegoricalCharacter, it also represents the very real threat of climate change, and it being RealAllAlong is essentially Matt Stone and Trey Parker disavowing and apologizing for their previous climate change denial.

** [=ManBearPig=] turns out to not only be real, but a major threat that seems unstoppable. It even killed Satan. The only way they stopped him was through negotiation and basically "kicking the can down the road" for future generations to deal with him. Being an AllegoricalCharacter, it also represents the very real threat of climate change.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness: While most of Po's villains tend to have more comical aspects to their character, all of that changed when Ke-Pa showed up, being an ancient demon who resembled a dragon. He's [[TheDreaded feared by all the characters]] save for Po in his SuicidalOverconfidence, nearly defeated Oogway in his prime, destroyed the Jade Palace and half the village, raises a demon army, and even [[spoiler: temporarily killed Po]]. By the standards of the TV series, even now Ke-Pa stands out at the darkest and most formidable villain who brought Po and his friends to their DarkestHour.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'':
** Lord Dregg of the 1987 cartoon. The fact that he plays his actions more seriously than Krang, the Shredder and his goons, who were all LaughablyEvil {{Harmless Villain}}s, definitely shows that this guy means business.

** In the 2012 series, once [[spoiler:Dogpound becomes Rahzar, he's nobody's comic relief anymore.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Though he was introduced in the very first episode, Slade didn't take center stage until the end of the first season, and the previously light and comedic storyline took a much darker turn. Though humor episodes were still very common later on, any time Slade's around things get ''dead'' serious very fast. Things get even darker with the introduction of [[{{Satan}} Trigon]], Raven's father who takes center stage as the BigBad of Season 4, with Slade (previously killed off at the end of Season 2) [[BackFromTheDead being brought back]] as [[DemotedToDragon Trigon's herald]], though they return to normal after both are defeated. Needless to say, this was a show that tended to dance a jig up and down the SlidingScaleOfSeriousnessVersusSilliness.