"Your mental energy shall prove most useful to us!"
"In a few hours, Calcutta will be destroyed. And tomorrow, Moscow then Tokyo. Goodbye Washington! Paris! All capitals of the world!"
— Doctor Xhatan, animated series, "The Mysterious Dr. Xhatan"
Whether in books or animation, both Robert "Bob" Morane and William "Bill" Ballantine have gone on a wide array of adventures across many places. During their travels, they have encountered many horrible creatures, but some are a step above the rest.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Book Series
- Doctor Nicolas-Athanase Xhatan, the self proclaimed "Master of Light", is a cruel and megalomaniacal physician who weaponized sunlight and built a criminal empire for his greed and ambitions. After attempting to have a young woman devoured by wolves and leaving Bob Morane and Bill Ballantine to be die in a mine he collapsed, Xhatan sets up his lair in a Burmese temple and subjugates a local indigenous tribe. Xhatan infects at least 50 men with a mutation that turns their skin green and makes them unable to breathe outside the atmosphere of his lair. Allying with Chinese armies, Xhatan massacres those who reject him with a deadly halo of light and abducts three young heiresses for ransom without any intention of releasing them afterward. Resurfacing in Paris, Xhatan causes a wave of abductions and murders before threatening the whole city in exchange for a ransom. After killing Adrien Sarvory's household and taking over his castle, Xhatan reveals his intention of repeating the process to other cities across the world and then condemns Bob and his companions to die in his attempts to destroy a village. In his last scheme, Xhatan treacherously lures athletic and strong people to a fake western town in order to brainwash them and build an army of supermen.
- Les Dents du Tigre (Teeth of the Tiger) two-parter: Minister Kuo-Ho-Tchan, nicknamed "The Clown of Beijing", is actually the true ruler of the Asiate Empire who seeks no less than world domination under his dictatorial regime. Kuo-Ho-Tchan secretly builds a lair through the labor of slaves in preparation for the next operation, sending nuclear missiles to multiple capitals and industrial centers of Europe and America. Kuo-Ho-Tchan also imprisoned large amounts of Western prisoners and had them brainwashed in order to compel them into framing other nations. When Bob Morane and Frank Reeves accidentally trespass on his base, Kuo-Ho-Tchan has Bob bloodily whipped for interrogation, threatening worse torture. After they escape, Kuo-Ho-Tchan hires Roman Orgonetz, who bombs their hiding place while also sending assassins after Frank's wife and daughter. Successfully nuking dozens of cities from Russia and Siberia and kickstarting World War III, Kuo-Ho-Tchan is eventually shot dead, but it is then revealed that he enacted a wicked plan to drown a quarter of humanity by creating algae that melts the icebergs in Antarctica.
- L'île du Passé (Island of the Past): Evariste Evaristos, the Mad Master, is a billionaire who retired to a remote island to pursue his fantasy of rebuilding ancient Rome. Enslaving the local Malaysian tribe, Evaristos regularly organizes gladiator games where bribed European fighters kill the slaves while their kind are forced to watch under the whip. Seeking more victims in order to revive Christian persecution, Evaristos captures Bob, Bill, and Pearl Standish and have them thrown in the arena. After their survival, he proceeds to make them run in the jungle before going after them with his men.
- Ananke Arc:
- Les Murailles d'Ananke (The Walls of Ananke): Simon Lusse was initially an unremarkable mansion owner. After witnessing two men disappear through the one-way portal to Ananke, he decided to use it as a trap to make people disappear so that he can steal their possessions. Having sent over 350 people—inluding his own aunt and wife—in 36 years, Simon gets rid of Peter Rovenski and his daughter for his diamond. Finding himself in Ananke after trying to get rid of Bob and Bill, Simon displays no remorse for all the lives he ruined. After the heroes save him from the Bird People and allow him to join them, Simon shoots a vengeful man and betrays his companion by stealing a gun and threatening to kill anyone who tries to follow him.
- Les Périls d'Ananke (The Dangers of Ananke): Borold is the High Priest of Ideu and the head of a murderous cult. After surviving a disaster, he turns to sacrificing children and sends his men to hunt those who escaped. When a traveler falls into his clutches, Borold compels them to prove their loyalty by stabbing a child to death or be killed along with the victim. Taking sadistic pleasure in those rituals, Borold keeps a collection of over hundred severed heads.
- Les Anges d'Ananke (The Angels of Ananke):
- Ingue is a malevolent dwarf who created a society of men with psychic abilities. Ingue also powers an anti-gravity field by hooking over a thousand prisoners of all ages to machines that drain their life and allows execution by dropping people from the sky. Under the identity of Neugi-The-Lame, Ingue secretly leads a rebellion in order to stage an everlasting war costing innumerable lives. Ingue also ordered Korto to negotiate a truce with Golo, knowing that the latter would refuse and punish him for it, and allows his own adoptive Florella to be condemned to the battery. When asked about the reason behind his atrocities, Ingue gleefully replies "Because I was bored!"
- Golo is Ingue's accomplice and the ruler of angels during his absences. Regularly raiding Neugi's men and abducting mere travelers to power the Force Field, Golo punishes any dissidents in his torture chamber when not ordering their execution by tossing them from the sky. Golo compels Bob to teach martial arts to his army by threatening his friends. When Gara sells out his companions to him hoping to negotiate his relese, Golo forces him in a battle to death against Bob instead and then rewards Bob's victory by sentencing him and his friends to the battery. Facing a rebellion, Golo angrily orders his men to kill them all.
Animated Series
- Doctor Joseph-Athanase Xhatan weaponized sunlight and seeks world domination by mass murder. In "Operation Wolf", Xhatan steals a device from a benevolent professor and attempts to use it to turn water into radioactive material. Returning in "The Mysterious Dr. Xhatan", he enslaves tribesman and make them unable to breathe outside the atmosphere of his lair. After abducting heiress Jane Sotesby for a ransom, Xhatan reveals that he engineered the death of her parents and that he plans to use a diamond to power his laser light cannon enough to destroy all capitals of the world. In "Xhatan, Master of Light", Xhatan throws Bob and Bill Ballantine in a Drowning Pit; locks Sophia in a machine which slowly drains her life; and creates an artificial sun to blow up the planet, all in order to fulfill a prophecy that will grant him godhood.
- "The Towers of Crystal": Prince Zelgung, angered over losing the throne of Mu to his sister Taima, proceeds to destroy his own civilization by launching a nuke on the city, causing the population to die from the blast or painfully succumb from the radiation. Despite himself and his loyalists getting caught by the radiation, Zelgung displays no remorse and repeatedly attempts to slaughter the survivors lead by Taima. When they leave the continent on a time traveling ship, Zelgung tries to launch a missile at it.
- "The Angels of Ananke": Emperor Hang and his chancellor Golo are tyrannical leaders of the city of angels, with any man who trespasses on their territory ending up enslaved. When Bob defeats the champion Korto in combat, Hang forces the hero to train his army, threatening his friends Bill and Sophia if he refuses. Golo at one point threatens a group of slaves who tries to take a break, while Hang tries to have Korto executed for his failure and gets rid of a servant for spilling wine. It's finally revealed that Hang and Golo regularly abduct humans and angels and hook them in pods that drain their mental energy to power the anti-gravity field. When Bob and Korto discover their scheme, they put the latter in the battery and attempt to have the former publicly executed.
