"Enjoy the few seconds of life which remain to you! I will teach you a thousand subtle shades of pain, a hundred ways to die, until I finally lay your lifeless body at my master's table!"
—Skullmaster, Animated series'', "The Maxnificent Seven"
Mighty Max had some surprisingly dark storylines for a kids' franchise and some terrifying villains.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Animated series
- Skullmaster was Virgil's apprentice before his hunger for power made him seek the Cosmic Cap in hopes of ruling the world. Skullmaster destroys all of Lumeria in his quest for power, later destroying the city of Atlantis and trapping the souls of its people to fuel his Crystal. In the present, Skullmaster attempted to murder Max in order to gain the Cosmic Cap despite Max's young age; and manipulated a sorcerer into summoning a dragon that would crack open the world. Skullmaster would later kill many heroes who attempted to destroy him. Once freed from his imprisonment, Skullmaster enslaves an indigenous tribe by mutating them into half-dragon hybrids. Skullmaster later corrupts the Hydra, which would've disrupted the balance between good and evil, resulting in the world's destruction. In the finale, Skullmaster kills all of the indigenous tribe to recharge his crystal and use it to make himself a god. Skullmaster kidnaps Virgil to force Max into giving him the cap, then kills Warmonger once he was no longer useful.
- "Werewolves of Dunneglen": Professor MacDougal discovered the existence of werewolves, along with the fact they were peaceful guardians of Scotland. She captured the pack and hooked them up in a rather unpleasant situation where their blood was painfully extracted into a formula for her. After drinking it, MacDougal would achieve the ability to transform herself and used it solely to kill innocent people, becoming the scourge of the highlands. When Max stumbled upon her lair, MacDougal locks him inside and takes her formula so she can kill him, gleefully referring to him as "breakfast".
- "The Missing Linked": The nameless Mad Scientist is an ignored outcast who created Corpus in revenge, having used the beast to wipe out everyone in his hometown. The scientist intends to unleash his pet abomination upon the entire world, where a truly horrible fate awaits; everyone devoured by Corpus is not killed but assimilated by the beast, reduced to nothing more than a disembodied face in howling agony.
- "The Cyberskull Virus" & "Cyberskull II: The Next Level": Morlen Kurt, aka Cyberskull, was a genius programmer who merged with his Computer Virus, dubbing himself a "Digital God" after Mega Corp. stole his video game. Using his reality-warping powers to attack the corporation's CEO and his employees, Cyberskull later starts turning all of reality into a digital horror zone according to his image. After his plan at assimilating the whole world into cyberspace failed, Cyberskull installs wireless transceivers disguised as label tags to take control of Mega Corp's CEO J.C. Megas and have him use satellites to drain the Earth of its electricity, uncaring of the lives at stake. Cyberskull then starts brainwashing numerous people into forming a cult of his liking to worship him as a god, while he plans to use Max and his allies as his first sacrifice.
- "Souls of Talon": Talon is a soul-devouring entity imprisoned in the Astral Plane who seeks to be free and steal the souls of everyone on Earth. After savaging over 1 million souls of both man and beast, Talon attempts to escape the Astral Plane, only to be denied by the gatekeeper. He attacks the gate, damaging it and causing natural disasters in the physical world. When Max and company enter the Astral plane to stop him, Talon steals the Cosmic Cap and leaves Max trapped within the astral plane while Talon goes to wreak havoc on Earth, stealing the souls of countless civilians on Earth. After the disc that kept him immortal was stolen by the heroes, Talon attempts to steal Max's soul and threatens to torture him for eternity if he doesn't give him the disc back.
- "Clown Without Pity": Freako the Clown lures dozens of Russian children to his Circus of Fear, where he uses his magic mirrors to transform the poor children into misshapen abominations who can't even speak anymore despite fully remembering who they were. Freako intends to subject everyone in the world to this process in revenge for having been laughed at for his clownish appearance.
The Adventures of Mighty Max (Marvel UK)
- Issue #3's "Time & Again" & Issue #9's "Tomb With a View": Pharaoh Venom is an evil ruler from ancient times. After being sealed off for thousands of years, Venom grew to hate the whole world and, upon getting released from his prison, he immediately casts a spell that destroys the Earth and everyone in it. After Max, Virgil, and Norman managed to save themselves, go back in time and prevent him from destroying the world, Venom swore revenge and kidnapped Max, planning to use his body to escape his imprisonment and terrorize the world.
- Issue 3's "Nuts With Bolts!": Master Brain is the megalomaniacal machine who plans to become the new ruler of Earth. To this end, it started to create various deadly robots, disguise them as toys, and send them to warehouses and toy stores across the world, intending to activate them at the right time and wipe out humanity in one swoop. Completely apathetic when its robots were activated early and rampaged through London, Master Brain gleefully revealed its scheme when cornered by the heroes.
