The franchise really has truly diabolical characters who serve to be loathed by players and viewers.
For those that go above the pale, see here.
Anime & Manga (includes one-time characters)
- "Charmander — The Stray Pokémon": Damian, the original trainer of Ash’s Charmander, is meant to be despised mainly for his selfish and abusive behavior in the only episode he appeared in. He abandoned his Charmander out in the woods because he believed it was weak and goes as far as lying to Charmander, saying he would come back, which makes Charmander wait for a long period of time until rain came. This jeopardized Charmander’s life, as the Pokédex said that if its tail flame goes out it would die, and it would have died in the rain and torn apart by Spearow if it were not for Ash intervening. Adding to this is the fact that Damian thought that Charmander was weak because it couldn't beat a Poliwag, even though a Fire-type like Charmander is inherently weak against water and it takes proper training and strategy to help a Pokémon overcome its weaknesses, which Damian clearly wasn't willing to invest in.
- "The Mystery Menace": The Mayor of Trovitropolis is a Sleazy Politician who abandoned his Bulbasaur in a sewer as a boy just because it wouldn't evolve. He was also willing to seal three kids in a sewer in order to contain a mysterious monster (which happened to be said Bulbasaur), not caring they could possibly die down there.
- An arc focusing on Larvitar has the Pokémon Poacher Brothers who stole the Rock Skin Pokémon from its mother Tyranitar and harmed her when it was still in its egg. The poachers' actions have traumatized Larvitar so much that it can't let its guard down around humans other than Ash, who hatched and nurtured it after receiving the egg. Thankfully, Larvitar eventually reunites with its mother and they are also saved from the poachers by Ash and his allies.
- "Good 'Quil Hunting": Koji is an egotistical trainer wanting a Cyndaquil that Ash was trying to catch. His arrogance is shown when he shouts at Ash to stay away from the Cyndaquil as he feels entitled to obtain it through illicit means: at one point having his Sandslash use Sand-Attack on Ash and Pikachu while climbing up the mound where Cyndaquil resides. Despite Ash successfully catching Cyndaquil and defeating Koji's Sandslash, Koji still refused to accept his loss, only to have the exact same fate befall him.
- "Holy Matrimony!" and "The Treasure Is All Mine!": Jessebelle, James's ex-fiancée and Jessie's doppelgänger, is defined by her unstable and violent obsession with James in both of her appearances. Although there was a time James did have a crush on her upon meeting each other at a young age (and actually planned on getting married) he then immediately saw Jessebelle's tyrannical personality as she shows disdain for his beloved Growlithe in favor of a Skitty, causing the engagement to be called off. When James unwillingly reunites with Jessebelle for the first time in years, she decides to literally whip him into shape, siccing her Vileplume on him at his most vulnerable. Even Jessie and Meowth were appalled.
- "Evolution by Fire!": Shamus is supposed to be hated for the same reasons as Damian, being a very similar kind of character. He abandoned his Tepig because it lost to a Deerling and tied it up to a post because it kept following him, resulting in it escaping and accidentally getting the rope tangled around its snout, causing it to starve until Ash helped it out. What's worse is that when doing this, he put on a remorseful act so that Tepig would still care about him, and then laughed about it once he was out of the Pokémon's sight. And he implies he's done this on multiple occasions to other Pokémon as well.
- "Confronting the Darkness!": Dr. Belmondo is a rogue scientist formerly affiliated with Lumiose University who dreams of creating the perfect robot using blatant plagiarism, hacking into Clemont's PC containing Clembot's blueprints to build Dark Clembot. He then has Dark Clembot commit various crimes throughout Lumiose City, endangering the original Clembot's reputation. Staging a break-in at Lumiose Museum during the night, Belmondo and Clemont pit their Clembots in a Pokémon battle. In a rather petulant display, Belmondo considers himself superior to Clemont as a fellow man of science, which Clemont brushes off, quickly pointing out their main weakness: Belmondo and Dark Clembot's only concern is winning battles without any regard for the Pokémon's safety. This results in an easy defeat by Clemont and their subsequent arrest.
- Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions brings us the Big Bad, Grings Kodai, who happens to be one of the most despicable human beings in the otherwise-lighthearted Pokémon franchise. He imported Zoroark and her adorable Zorua son from Unova into Sinnoh and used Zoroark to terrorize Crown City using illusions of the Legendary Beasts. He's also responsible for the disaster that caused all the trees and plant life to die 20 years prior to the film for his own greed, and he plans to touch another of Celebi's time ripples and absorb their power again at the threat of killing off all plant life again solely for the money. He even holds Zorua hostage and electrocutes it to near-fatal extents to get Zoroark's guard down before having his Ghost-types move in to attack it, and he gloats about how no one will know what he's done and that he doesn't care about the plant life as long as his visionary powers are renewed. To top it all off, he is defined by ambition, sheer arrogance, and being a selfish opportunist of the worst kind. The tables were turned on him near the end of the movie as he got his own Humiliation Conga that started when he was tricked by Zoroark, and it continued as he had his gauntlet destroyed by her, was attacked and pursued by the real Legendary Beasts, made to hallucinate that he was safe on his airship again until the illusion faded and saw to him knocking himself out, and even when he came to, his conga continued as he witnessed to his horror his Evil Gloating being broadcasted to everyone in Crown City, and to make it all the more crushing, he was surrounded by the main cast giving him Death Glares, and was finally turned in to the police for his crimes. His fate in the manga adaptation, on the other hand, had him being chased by Zoroark's vines until he suffered his Disney Villain Death in said adaptation. Both fates were truly satisfying, as the tropes describing him show how he is all the more easier to hate than any other antagonist.
Video Games
- In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Crystal, and the remakes, the evil Team Rocket organization, while a presence throughout the plot, are only encountered about four times throughout the whole campaign. However, the story features many encounters with Silver, your rude, abusive, thieving rival, who is pretty much made to be easy to hate, with his extremely abrasive and arrogant attitude, and over the course of the game shoving/kicking/punching you multiple times, breaking into Prof. Elm's lab and stealing his starter, downright refusing to accept defeat, threatening to hurt you, outright abusing or borderline abusing his Pokémon and constantly calling them weak, constantly calling you and others weak (again, despite losing to you multiple times), and just waltzing up and ripping your disguise off when trying to infiltrate the Team Rocket occupied Radio Tower; until he finally undergoes Character Development, that is, and takes a huge level in kindness.
- In Pokémon Black and White, Ghetsis Harmonia is a much more straight example of this trope than the above. Although the game's main conflict is about clashing ideals between the protagonist and N, Ghetsis is largely responsible for N's mindset, is a horrible father to N, spends the entire game giving speeches to try and convince everyone to break their bonds with their Pokémon and release them (so he can take over the world, not because he actually believes that it's better for the Pokémon, unlike his son), is extremely arrogant, and manipulates everyone around him; however it's quite emotionally cathartic when at the end of the game you get to lay the smackdown on him after he calls N a freak to his face. In the sequel Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, he's more clearly the Big Bad from the start, but even then his underlings in this game (specifically Zinzolin, Colress and the Shadow Triad) are still way more sympathetic than him. In the end, he even attempts to freeze the player.
- In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Ghetsis returns and plans to be The Starscream to Giovanni and, after being defeated, threatens Lillie's life in an attempt to get you to surrender, which shows him as the Sore Loser he truly is.
- Lusamine's Evil Genius Faba counts. He's a selfish, greedy coward who only cares about standing on top of the company, and even being "reformed" along with the company doesn't help his case. Even more so in his Ultra appearances, where he sells out his own company for his own advancement. And unlike Lusamine, he's fully aware of his own actions.
- The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team games has Gengar, the leader of Team Meanies. His despicable acts towards you gradually escalate from stealing your mission letters to blaming you for being the human who got cursed by Ninetales and forcing your team to go on the run to find the truth. However, he does have a change of heart when the true reasons for the plot are revealed.
