“Fighting crime trying to save the world… Here they come just in time… The Powerpuff Girls”
That was Christian Bale singing The Powerpuff Girls theme song, proving that Craig McCracken’s 1998 superhero animated television series has admirers of all ages at the end of the day. Why else would the series have received six Primetime Emmy nominations and nine Annie nominations? Of course, the show went on to win two Emmys and two Annie awards, thanks to the incredible animation, great production design, and fantastic musical composition. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup fought a dedicated rogue’s gallery in McCracken’s The Powerpuff Girls, which spanned six seasons and 78 episodes. They knew it was their mission to keep the city of Townsville safe from crime and the forces of evil ever since Professor Utonium developed the perfect little girls with ultra-superpowers. In today’s video, we will go through 15 of the strong trio’s most hilariously dark and sinister antagonists, delving into their backstories in great depth. Despite the fact that the show was an animated series, some of the villains included in it were quite terrible!
HIM
Meet the king of darkness and by far the evilest, strongest and most deranged enemy of the Powerpuff Girls. HIM standing for His Infernal Majesty is an exceedingly powerful, flamboyant demon who has appeared primarily as the show’s dominant antagonist. Boasting a rather androgynous appearance, his character is red in colour, has large lobster-like claws, pointed ears, a hooked nose, a pair of lime-green eyes with three long eyelashes on each eyelid and let’s not forget those black lips often ending in a smile that is just as wide as the river Nile. But it’s mainly his numerous satanic versions where he is revealed in the most apocalyptic of situations with heightened power and a gigantic size that makes his character look genuinely creepy.
Boasting superpowers like invulnerability, size alteration, teleportation, shapeshifting, mind control, telekinesis, resurrection, dream manipulation, reality-warping, weather control to the extent of spitting acid, shooting red lasers out of his eyes and firing red energy blasts from his claws, HIM has powers that are categorically spooky. In fact, his character is quite capable of scaring the hell out of every kid who watched The Powerpuff Girls back in the late 90s.
His first appearance in the segment titled, ‘Octi Evil’, where he is seen possessing Bubbles’ favourite stuffed octopus toy, Octi, can easily be regarded as perhaps one of the scariest children’s cartoon episodes ever. Taking advantage of Bubbles’ gullible nature, HIM is shown orchestrating events that not only turned the girls against each other but also drove them apart. Thank God, it was only for a fleeting moment before things came back to normal.
The fact that the girls never really get to defeat this villain in a battle, HIM just retreats and waits for the next opportunity to strike – makes his character quite a badass. In ‘Tough Love’, HIM being disgusted over how the people of Townsville treated the girls ended up using one of his superpowers and literally turned the entire town against their favourite girls. Of course, the trio fought against him but like always couldn’t defeat him as he vanished yet again in a puff of pink smoke vowing to come back. But it was in ‘Speed Demon’ that the audience got to see his true form. We are stressing on the colossal, muscular, red-skinned demon, one with sharp jagged teeth, glowing eyes, a bare torso revealing toned chest and abs and let’s not miss out on that demonic, masculine growl. Conclusively, one of the most recurring villains to have appeared in the series, HIM is a threat for sure as seen in ‘Custody Battle’ where he almost brought the sun to the earth just to prove his superiority to Mojo Jojo.
The Rowdyruff Boys
Meet the male equivalents of the girls, The Rowdyruff Boys. But unlike The Powerpuff Girls who are made of sugar, spice and everything nice, the boys were created using snips, n’ snails, and a puppy-dog tail. Brick, Boomer and Butch are just as powerful as Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup and to make things worse, there are times when they simply cannot be defeated by their counterparts. In their self-titled episode, it was Mojo Jojo, who created them during his stay in the prison with his own additions to the recipe and voila, we have the tougher, manlier and the eviler version of the girls.
The first meeting between the boys and the girls leaves the latter broken, bruised and beaten. When it comes to physical brawls, it goes without saying that the boys are way stronger and skilful. Plus, the killer instinct within them makes them go all out. Also, their personalities are boosted versions of each of the girls so it would not be wrong to expect a deadlier take on every ability that the girls normally possess.
Boasting the basic abilities of the girls such as superhuman strength, speed, x-ray vision, flight, heat vision and energy protection, the boys also have special powers like producing hypersonic waves to knock the girls away, emitting thick, toxic gas by farting which ends up amplifying their speed to the extent of even temporarily blinding and suffocating the girls. They can also generate an energy blast by forming a whirlpool of pure energy. Apart from all of these, the boys also possess extreme levels of stamina, something that effortlessly enables them to defeat the girls without showing any signs of fatigue.
But then again, like every other superhero, they have their set of weaknesses too and to be honest, they are quite hilarious. They might possess superpowers but they are still boys at the end of the day and they simply dread being kissed. This is precisely why they get defeated in the segment titled, ‘The Rowdyruff Boys. Next comes the threat to their masculinity; they will automatically reduce in size every time their manliness gets threatened. Then comes individuality, the boys are easily defeated when they are separated. We are stressing on the scene where Boomer gets beaten up by the girls and ends up having a black eye, messy hair, missing teeth and his clothes get ripped.
Do watch out for The Rowdyruff Boys, who are irrefutably considered as real threats to not only the Powerpuff girls but also the whole of Townsville.
Mojo Jojo
The character of Mojo Jojo is so much more than just being the series’ main antagonist. Going back to his origins, it wouldn’t be wrong to regard him more like an estranged elder brother to the Powerpuff Girls, someone who was to some extent responsible for the creation of the girls. Well, prior to becoming the notorious, mad scientist, who not only wanted to destroy the girls but also conquer Townsville and eventually take over the world, he was Professor Utonium’s hyperactive lab assistant, one who always broke everything.
While the professor was creating the girls, it was Jojo who had pushed the Professor towards a container of the Chemical X, not only causing it to break but also having it spilt into the mixture. That resulted in an explosion causing his DNA to mutate, turning his skin into green and leading his brain and intelligence to enlarge so much so that it actually grew out of his skull. This also gave him certain emotions like jealousy and inferiority. With his newfound intelligence, Jojo eventually ran away and became Mojo Jojo.
It’s his intellect that makes him capable of crafting new weapons, gadgets and technology – we are stressing on giant robots and colossal laser weapons and let’s not miss out on him being the creator of the Rowdyruff Boys. His character is shown doing whatever he wishes, he is more of a rule-breaker and does not really care about what other people might just think of him. He absolutely despises the trio; he hates being surrounded by people and does not like to be troubled when he is in the middle of his experiments. He’s also quite the master manipulator and his plans for world domination are fit to be a mastermind’s plan. Had it not been for his ego, he could have very easily defeated the girls but then again, he is smart enough to never really underestimate the girls, therefore making use of his gadgets and wicked plans to keep up with them.
Undeniably, the most prominent villain to the Powerpuff Girls, he is an iconic character in the animated series simply because of how silly and ridiculous he can actually be. When he is not committing crimes, he is usually quite friendly to citizens and even strangers. There are even days when he chooses not to commit crimes, especially on rainy days or let’s say that he just wants to take a break by reading a newspaper.
Surprisingly, he is even okay with the girls borrowing things from him to the extent of also striking a friendly banter with them when they are not fighting. Frankly speaking, all of this kind of makes it hard to take him seriously at times and regard him evil. But his hunt for domination over Townville shows why he can never really be ignored and why his threatening actions just cannot be taken lightly. Even with the girls always managing to defeat him, Mojo Jojo just has his own ways of coming back for more.
Fuzzy Lumpkins
Say hello to this pink, huge, hillbilly bear-like monster who is the third oldest villain in the series. As far as villains are concerned, Fuzzy Lumpkins isn’t exactly the one to leave you with nightmares but hey, do not underestimate him. His rage is immeasurable and you wouldn’t really want him to be angry in the first place. With his super-rage mode activated, he knows how to put up a real fight and he hates, we repeat ‘he hates’ having people come to his property. This beastly bumpkin will simply ambush or shoot anyone who trespasses. And God, if he turns red in colour, that means he is absolutely furious and he will stop only if he gets his property back.
Speaking of his weapons, he has got quite a lot. Of course, there is his Boomstick, which is basically an oversized shotgun. Next, comes his banjo that he addresses as ‘Joe’ and literally treats him like it was another living being. Wondering why this comes under the category of weapons? Well, Fuzzy likes to use it to play both music and as a fighting weapon. For instance, in the segment titled, ‘Fuzzy Logic’, he used his banjo to fight against the girls in his shed, in ‘Sweet ‘n’ Sour’ he was seen playing his banjo to literally torment people and in ‘A Documentary’, he was actually seen running out of his house with his banjo smashing a cameraman. Lastly, it boils down to his rage mode, his most important weapon. This not only makes him extremely powerful and uncontrollable but he even turns muscular, red and big and like we mentioned before, you don’t want to see that side of him.
Believe us when we tell you that this supervillain here was also once elected as the Mayor of Townsville. We are talking about the segment titled, ‘Impeach Fuzz’, where all he wanted was just to be left alone with his property of course and by now, we all know how protective he is of that.
Sedusa
Making her first appearance in the segment titled, ‘Mommy Fearest’, and posing as Professor Utonium’s new seemingly sweet and beautiful girlfriend, Ima Good lady or in other words, she is just trying to say ‘‘I’m a good lady’, the character of Sedusa eventually made it to the list of the trio’s archenemies. Within seconds, she not only made her way to the Professor’s heart but also very quickly took on the role of a wicked stepmom by imposing unnecessarily strict rules such as no crimefighting, no using superpowers, no watching their favourite tv show, no nightlights to the extent of even grounding the Powerpuff girls. All of this so that she as Sedusa could go about committing crimes all around Townsville.
This seductive supervillain here is infamous for using her feminine wiles along with quick wits to trick men into doing what she wants to do at the end of the day. It goes without saying that name and snake-like hair are inspired by the character of Medusa. Sedusa’s captivating, irresistible skills are quite similar to the capabilities of a siren. In the segment titled, ‘Something’s a Ms’, her character disguised as Ms. Bellum was seen seducing the Mayor, kissing him to get an early day off. This master of disguise was not only able to fool the Mayor but even the girls. Also, when it comes to her hair, she mostly uses it as a weapon to subdue her enemies. In the segment titled, ‘Aspirations’, her hair had actually turned into real poisonous snakes to attack the girls.
But having said that, once her hair, which is the main source of her power, let’s say gets shaved, she is absolutely incapable and powerless. The same can be said when her hair gets wet, she just loses her control over it! Well, all one can say is do watch out for Sedusa here, the first female supervillain to be introduced in the series!
Boogie Man
“So tell me: When things get creepy…”
“Blame it on the Boogie!”
“When things get spooky…”
“Blame it on the Boogie!”
“And when things get freaky, funky and nasty…”
“BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE!!!”
All it took for this scary monster here is to just appear in one episode and the job was done. The Boogie Man as shown in the segment titled, ‘Boogie Frights’, is a dark blue-skinned monster with long, white, twisted up demon-like horns. He is more fondly remembered for donning that white disco jumpsuit along with matching pants, shoes and his signature orange sunglasses. This monster of darkness loves to act more like the typical 70s disco dancing guy; he lives underground and comes out only at night. Of course, he hates the sun and his only wish is to shroud the world in darkness so that he can party on land all day and night, torment the kids and most importantly, never have to fear about hiding from the sun again.
While boasting the standard skills of a monster, his biggest skill was his control over the other monsters. This brings us to his associates, all of whom deserve a special mention. There is Jerome, the small green monster wearing yellow jacket and orange shades, he is more like his right-hand man. Then there are Scissors, the bird-like monster, Maggot, the slime monster and Cat Monster, the orange-skinned, female, giant monstrous feline donning leopard printed pants and shirt.
He is the personification of fear in children and his character in the series also owns a flying limousine. No wonder, he had the Powerpuff Girls under his control, making them fear him, fear the darkness and his monsters too. But thanks to the girls for being brave enough to stand up against him and eventually defeat him by hurling him into the space.
Roach Coach
Imagine a villain who in reality was a highly intelligent talking cockroach operating a human-like robot. That’s not all, the Roach Coach even had the ability to summon every roach in the city and eventually had plans of taking over Townsville. So, he had billions of cockroaches invading the city, attacking the people, crawling over the buildings, cars and even the food. That’s icky, right? Of course, beating the roaches wasn’t a difficult task but the sole fact that the girls were simply disgusted by their sight is what worked in the favour of Roach Coach.
This villain, who made his first appearance in the segment titled, ‘Insect Inside’, absolutely hated the humans. In fact, he was so sick of them making a mess in his planet that he had actually vowed to eradicate the entire human race. Who would have thought that the girls would initially be devoured by a giant cockroach monster? Full credits to Roach Coach for coming up with the humongous cockroach suit – it was not only eerie but genuinely terrifying to its audience too.
Well, the character of Roach Coach would have been the only villain to take the Powerpuff Girls down had he not met his fate of being imprisoned inside a jar, which was inside of a prison cell. Unfortunate for him but a major relief for the girls!
The Gangreen Gang
Not all villains require superpowers and who is better than a group of trouble-making hoodlums, punks and thugs proving that. Yes, we are talking about the five green-skinned teenagers – Ace, Snake, Big Billy, Grubber and Lil’ Arturo.
Ace is the leader of the gang, sporting a rather long, straight, greasy slick-back hairdo. He can be exceedingly bullying, mean-spirited, greedy and opportunistic. Boasting a nasally Italian New Yorker accent, he is the smartest member of the gang, instigating most of their antisocial activities. Let’s not miss out on his charismatic charm; after all, he did manage to charm Buttercup at one point and even manipulated her to an extent where she had briefly turned against her sisters.
Snake is the gang’s second-in-command and the closest friend to Ace. He is skinny, has a forked tongue, black lips, a rather long, sharp-pointed nose and wears a Kangol hat that’s usually turned backwards. It would not be wrong to say that his character actually hisses like a real snake.
Big Billy happens to be the largest, heaviest and also the dumbest of the lot. He loves to eat and will gobble up more junk than the rest of the gang. As for Grubber, he is literally the gang’s most ridiculous looking member. But don’t let his untidy hair, enormous chin, bulging eyes, shabby soiled clothes and that tongue lolling out fool you. He is a lot smarter than what he looks and the fact that his character is capable of changing voices gives him an edge over the rest of the gang members. And lastly, Lil’ Arturo who is the smallest of the gang is a malevolent Mexican midget. He usually carries a switchblade-like comb that he addresses as his daughter and even calls her Maria. Also, it is his character that seems to add amusement to the gang’s activities.
Lenny Baxter
Meet Lenny Baxter, also known as the Comicbook Geek, who is in every way as human as possible. And like every other human, he has his flaws and that’s more than enough to make him a villain of the girls. We are stressing on his obsession that literally crossed every limit. His fixation on the girls makes him take away everything that’s related to them. Well, he started with Bubbles’ drawings and crayons, then moved on to Buttercup’s punching meat, Blossom’s makeup kit and also a portrait of the girls with Professor Utonium. Yes, you heard that right and we know that’s crazy but sadly, he didn’t stop at that! Lenny wanted more so he went to the extent of even taking away the hotline before tricking the girls into coming to help him so that he could box them and have them forever, making the real girls the crown jewels of his collection.
It goes without saying that his creepy obsession takes on a whole new level and it proves how one can be human and still turn out to be the deadliest enemy ever. In this case, clearly, it was a grown-up man being obsessed with a bunch of kindergarten-aged girls, and his role as an obsessed fan going the extra mile to have everything that belongs to the girls, including themselves, makes him quite terrifying. Of course, the Powerpuff Girls are rescued later by the Professor along with the Mayor and the citizens of Townville and Lenny ends up going to the place where he truly belongs and that’s no other place than prison. In spite of being a regular human being without any supernatural powers, the fact that Lenny was actually successful in capturing all the girls proves that he was a lot more than just a crazed fanboy and a dangerous threat to the all-powerful Powerpuff Girls.
Also, many of you might not know this but this particular segment titled, ‘Collect Her’, was actually based on Stephen King’s psychological horror-thriller novel called Misery.
Mr. Mime
After an accidental bleach turns the happy-go-lucky Rainbow the Clown into the malicious Mr. Mime, his evil alter ego not only proceeds to turn the whole of Townsville black and white but also suck out every kind of sound out of the world making it a place devoid of colour, sound and happiness. Unlike the other villains that the girls had to face, Mr. Mime truly was a challenge. This villain here just could not be defeated by power-packed punches and other super powers and the girls knew that very well. Things took a different turn when Mr. Mime took things next level draining not only the colours but also the movements of both Blossom and Buttercup.
It wasn’t a pretty sight to see their comatose, colourless bodies lying down. In fact, even Townsville looked like some creepy, old, black and white flick but thanks to Bubbles’ presence of mind that she finally managed to bring everyone back to normal using the power of music focusing on how true happiness was all about colours. The song, Love Makes The World Go Round not only restores the happiness and life of the people of Townsville but also turns the dark corrupted persona of Rainbow the Clown back to his lively, colourful and happy personality.
Although Rainbow had no recollection of what all happened while Mr. Mime was busy creating chaos, he gets beaten up and eventually thrown in jail clearly not for long, as he shows up later at a birthday party for the Powerpuff Girls themselves in the segment titled, ‘Birthday Bash’.
Al Lusion
Everyone who has grown up watching the series is bound to remember the segment titled, ‘Abracadaver’ because it was downright spooky.
Back when Al Lusion was alive, he had quite a charming personality – we are stressing on his magician hat, the outfit with a flower on it, the moustache, goatee and even the mole on his lower right side of the face. However, in the past while performing for a crowd he was proven to be deceptive by a little girl. Being severely sensitive to being mocked at, Al Lusion tripped and fell into a spiked coffin that instantly killed him. Or did it? Because he eventually rose from the dead years later and his powerful hatred for humanity made him do horrifying things using dark magic. People were turned into objects, objects were further turned into undead animals, buildings were changed into a stack of playing cards which he deliberately toppled by removing one of the cards and let’s not forget the part where he had large saws cutting up other buildings.
His appearance post becoming a zombie was equally terrifying. Not only did he have his flesh rotted out with a visible jaw bone, cranium and also the nasal bone, but even the tips of his finger bones could also be seen. His eyes were now red with rage, the moustache only had three whiskers on each side and the goatee was unkempt, his attire was ragged and the flower on his tuxedo was dead black. In short, he was a dreadful sight. Add to that his power of levitating objects, transforming people or things into anything that he wants to, the fact that he is immortal and that he is capable of repairing himself telekinetically – all this just makes him such a badass, dark, sinister villain.
Of course, the story took a different turn when he mistook Blossom for the girl who had ruined him.
“You! You that girl! Girl with Bear! You ruined Al Lusion! You make them laugh at me! But now, revenge!”
And, it goes without saying that he wanted her to have the same fate like him – have her smashed in the spiked coffin and take his old revenge. But the only thing that Al Lusion was susceptible to was being tricked to and it was a bliss to see Blossom swapping places with him just before she was about to meet her end. Thankfully, the grand finale was saved for Al Lusion.
The Sandman
In the segment titled, ‘Dream Scheme’, The Sandman based on the mythological creature of the same name, eventually got so tired of having to travel around the world every night just to put people to sleep that he ended up inventing the giant machine, one that would drop heaps of sand on the eyes of the people putting everyone in the whole world to sleep and that too forever. Well, this worked for everyone but the Powerpuff Girls whom he personally decided to pay a visit. Having shot them with a sleepy dust gun, The Sandman happily went back to his den thinking he would finally get some sleep. As for the girls, they appeared in the same dream and realizing that they could actually travel into other people’s dreams, the trio decided to teach The Sandman a lesson that he would remember for life.
The Sandman, who on the other hand was finally home sleeping and dreaming about running through a beautiful meadow of flowers, got interrupted by the girls. Their versions of dreams showed up in his dream and literally annoyed the hell out of him. So much so that the girls actually chased him around in a psychedelic dream sequence, something that eventually drove The Sandman out of his mind. No points in guessing that he implored them for mercy once the girls woke him up and also vowed to go back to his duty again without going to sleep or in his words, catch a break.
As for the character of The Sandman, one can’t really blame him. He had his reasons to complain about his job because it was true, he hardly could ever get a moment’s rest!
Dick Hardly
For a human who wore glasses, a white coat with a pink shirt underneath chose moccasins for footwear and even had a blonde ponytail, his monster version was quite ugly. Not only was his skin turned to green, he also had four tentacles on his chest with a fifth one on his ponytail. Ridiculous, right? Furthermore, the glasses are gone, the eyes have turned black instead and all that’s left of his clothes are his pants. Well, that’s Dick Hardly, an old college roommate of Professor Utonium and although the Professor always considered him as his friend, Dick mostly took advantage of him.
Dick was a materialistic, self-centred, dishonest and manipulative businessman who attempted to make more of the Powerpuff Girls so that he could sell them to the people to acquire money and fame. He might have been a one-shot antagonist in the series but his character has often been regarded as the evilest villain in the whole franchise. During a visit to his old friend’s house, upon seeing the girls there, he ended up making his own version – The Powerpuff Girls With Chemical Extreme. He never loved the clones that he created, instead, he considered himself to be their master.
Also, post mutating into a giant monster especially after swallowing the Chemical X, he ended up being even more merciless than ever. So much so that he actually went to the extent of killing the real Powerpuff Girls while knowing very well that they were just small children. This just reflects his sadistic personality, his true vile nature. Also, unlike other villains in the series, who have always had on display some sort of morality and humour, Dick’s monster version was dead serious. He hardly ever shows even the slightest bit of morality – not to the girls, Professor Utonium and not even to his own creations.
No wonder, it was his greed and deficiency of love that caused his downfall. Also, the fact that his clones were so disgusted by his actions that they turned against their very own creator and used their powers to destroy him much to Dick’s horror. Well, serves him absolutely right!
Princess Morbucks
Rich, spoiled little girls can be a literal pain and who is better than this recurring antagonist to prove that right! Well, she is the daughter of Mr Morbucks, dwelling in a colossal manner on the very outskirts of Townsville and it goes without saying that she literally has access to anything that she wants. Apart from being egotistic, stubborn, materialistic, dictating and let’s not forget cruel, she is also someone susceptible to some rather violent temper tantrums, especially when she wants to have something. But when Princess Morbucks cannot buy her way into becoming a Powerpuff Girl, well for starters, she does not really have superpowers or say any crimefighting experience, she simply decides that there shouldn’t be any Powerpuff Girls at all.
This little villain here tries her best to mimic every look of the trio – when she realizes that she can’t fly like the girls, she literally utilizes a jetpack. Her super suit is yellow in colour, it increases her strength and speedway more than the girls, in fact, her suit can also deflect laser beams and send supersonic screaming backwards. Princess Morbucks simply makes use of her money and power to create all sorts of cool gadgets such as boomerang tiaras, energy blasting vehicles, enormous robotic weaponry and a lot of exciting weapons. No wonder, she is one of the four major enemies of the girls who happen to be children.
Dooks of Doom
This motorcycle gang of evil, grotesque cannibalistic monsters made their appearance in the segment titled, ‘Girls Gone Mild’. Their main goal is to destroy everything in their paths and that involves eating cars, houses to even humans. Wherever they go, the exhaust fumes from their motorcycles tend to leave a long trail of disorder and death. It goes without saying that they end up causing way too much chaos in Townsville and are mostly feared by everyone.
Their gang consist of three members – there’s Goll-Gorr, who is the leader of the gang. He looks like a giant, green ogre-like monster, one who drives a tank around the town and mostly makes use of his tank to firebombs at things and also people. Then, there is Hog-Gwar, who is the lancer of the gang. He looks more like a big, ghoulish pig kind of a creature, pink in colour and drives a low-riding motorcycle. And, there’s Whizzer, the butt money of the gang. He is a small furry weasel, who drives on a little moped and is mostly used as a ‘human throw hammer’ by the other gang members.
Despite the gang’s limited intelligence, they are feared by most of the people, even the girls for that matter and easily make it to the list of the hilariously dark and sinister villains of the Powerpuff Girls.