Relentless Cartoon Villain Of The Day.

Starting today, I'll be posting a different cartoon villain. There are definitely as many of those as there are of heroes.

With that in mind, the first one is Lex Luthor,

Superman's greatest enemy has been a cartoon character about as long as the Man Of Steel himself. Most notably, he became the designated leader of the Legion Of Doom 40 years ago in "Challenge Of The Superfriends." His backstory was even recounted with complete accuracy in the last episode. Many cartoon villains are ruthless, but none more than he.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Diablo.

Here we have an alchemist whose home base was in Transylvania of all places. He was able to fool the public, including Ben Grimm, with temporary potions. Thank goodness for the Fantastic Four, who literally put him back in his place.

Today's relentless villain is Tiny Tom, from the 1960's "Lone Ranger" cartoons.

Just as this animated series was like "The Wild Wild West," so was Tiny Tom just like Dr. Loveless. A dwarf mad scientist whose inventions were way ahead of their time. Yet, the Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Taka were always able to defeat him and send him to jail.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is the Master Of Thieves, from "Shazzan."

He was in three episodes grand total. Not only did he steal Aladdin's lamp twice, but he was even cruel to his own henchmen, turning them into mythical beasts if they failed him. He also unleashed Baharuum's evil self to do his bidding. So he's way at the top of totally evil antagonists.

Today's relentless villain of the day is The Spellbinder from "The Adventures Of Letterman."

This turban-wearing magician invariably turned inanimate objects into creatures that threatened human lives. Enter Letterman, who changed the spelling again to render the beast harmless. Did the Spellbinder ever learn? No, like most other villains, he never mended his ways.

Today's relentless villain of the day is The Ghost Clown.

This guy terrorized a circus, and was creepy from the get-go. He not only sabotaged a bike, but he hypnotized Scooby, Daphne, and Shaggy into doing things that might have proven fatal had they not been snapped out of their trances. Eventually, he was tricked into hypnotizing himself, and exposed as Harry the hypnotist, a vengeful ex-circus performer. And this was many years before Mr. Pennywise, who he somewhat resembles!

Today's relentless villains of the day are The Ghostly Trio and Spooky.

Originally called Fatso, Fusso, and Lazo, these phantoms made their debut in the Casper short "Fright From Wrong." This was one of the very few that didn't have Casper making a new friend and saving their life. Instead, the trio gave him mean pills, turning him into an evil demon. But their plan backfired when Casper turned the tables on them. Later, they were supporting characters in "The New Casper Cartoon Show," continuing to commit evil deeds, usually along with Wendy's aunties, Velma, Zelma, and Thelma. For the 1995 movie, only Fatso retained his original name. Fusso and Lazo were renamed Stinky and Stretch. They still were up to no good. Personally, I wish Fusso and Lazo had kept their names for the film. A year later, they were part of the cast of a new animated Casper series.

As for Spooky, to paraphrase Tyler Perry, he did bad all by himself, either by scaring people and animals, or ruining Casper and Wendy's day at the beach. At first, he spoke like a young boy and had a juvenile appearance just like Casper did. Only in his later appearances did he have the freckles, Brooklyn accent, and derby hat. He was also seen in "The New Casper Cartoon Show" and the series from 1996, in which the girl ghost Pearl, his girlfriend in the comics, finally became a cartoon character.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is The Witch Of Pickyoon.

She was the only Underdog villain other than Batty Man to be Halloween-themed. Her supernatural powers gave her the upper hand, putting Sweet Polly to sleep for a millennium, and manipulating Underdog. She was also the only one who neither went to prison nor mended her ways. Instead, Underdog ended her reign of terror by destroying her broom, and reducing her to a pile of ashes. So unlike most villains, she'll never be back for more.

Today's relentless cartoon villains are Rick Jordan and Cindy, from "Luvcast USA."

At first glance, this teenage couple look and act like ordinary high school students. But on the night of the full moon, exactly at midnight, Cindy becomes a werewolf, and Rick a vampire, scaring off those who see them. It is not known if they preyed on humans in their monster forms--that's left to the viewers' imagination.

As far as relentless goes, there's always The Claw from DiC's Inspector Gadget series. Claw is the mastermind behind any number of nefarious schemes, which amount to the Evil Plan of the Week. Gadget, of course, has oodles of abilities as a cyborg, but he's also an Idiot Hero. Most of the Evil Plan thwarting comes from Gadget's niece, Penny and his faithful dog, Brain. And once the Evil Plan is thwarted, Claw always eludes justice, usually by being nowhere near the villainy in question. He just snarls, "Next time, Gadget!" Which leads to a similar scenario in a different locale, but with the same outcome.

Claw reminds me of a feverish bride-to-be, meticulously planning every detail of her upcoming wedding ... except for picking a groom. Somehow, actually getting the husband was overlooked. "You mean to tell me the cute guy doesn't come included with the ceremony?"

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Sweet Tooth, from "The New Adventures Of Batman."

He was one of those who was never part of the DCU. And his M.O was unique: Putting chocolate syrup in Gotham City's water supply. And he and his gang had a steady diet of candy. He also tried to dispose of Batman and Robin by....dunking them in vats of chocolate! Eventually, he and his fellow chocoholics were arrested, but were also advised to visit the local dentist!

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Maldor The Malevolent, from "The Thirteen Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo."

All the demons had supernatural powers, but Maldor was clearly the most powerful. He had limitless dark magic skills, and may well have been the leader of the demons for this reason. His decision to turn himself into a fly-catching frog was his undoing. He was now small enough to be captured and put back in the chest.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Skeletor.

This walking, talking, skeleton man was truly a dreaded adversary. He had lots of villains at his disposal. There were even times when he and his followers gained the upper hand. Plus, his appearance was enough to give kids nightmares.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Beel Z. Bub, from "The Devil And Daniel Mouse."

This bad guy was literally the devil himself. He tricked Jan Mouse into selling her soul to become a big time rock star. Enter Daniel Mouse to defeat him and save the day.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Dr. Dred, from "The Drak Pack."

He was always coming up with some evil scheme, whether it was stealing gold from Fort Knox by shrinking himself and his henchmen, or building a weather machine. He was also a narcissist, as shown in an episode that was all about celebrating his birthday.

On top of that, he had a team of monsters called OGRE, the Organization Of Generally Rotten Enterprises/Endeavors. This included bumbler Toad, devious Fly, Mummy Man, who often bound the Drak Pack with his bandages, and the beautiful, alluring, but evil Vampira. This array of adversaries were perfect for Halloween, even though there was never a Halloween-themed episode.

Today's relentless cartoon villain of the day is The Mummer, from "Birdman."

This guy disguised himself so well that he could even imitate the voices of those he impersonated. After disguising himself as a foreign king to illegally start a war, he disguised himself as both Falcon 7 and Birdman. He was also one of the few bad guys to avoid capture. He accomplished this by hiding out in a crowded football stadium. There should have been a sequel.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is an odd choice: Castle Captor, from "The Smurfs" episode, "Lost Smurf."

The Smurfs' human enemies were bad enough, but here was a haunted castle that could not only talk, but also imprison and enslave those who entered it. Everything inside was alive, from the rugs to the empty suits of armor. Its captives included not only some humans, but Papa Smurf, Grandpa, Nanny, Hefty, Brainy, Sassette, Wild, and Smoogle. Even worse, it only appeared every 500 years, and vanished upon capturing more victims. If only Gargamel, Scruple, Azrael, Hogatha, Chlorhydris, and Nemesis had entered it!

Today's relentless villain of the day is a symbol of Halloween: Dracula.

Ever since the original book was published in 1897, this vampire has been a cartoon character nearly as many times as he's been in live action films. He or variations thereof has been in episodes of The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Groovie Goolies, The Osmonds, Wheelie And The Chopper Bunch, Superfriends The New Shmoo, The Drak Pack, The Fonz And The Happy Days Gang, Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends," Minna And The Count, the animated films Mad Monster Party and The Mad, Mad Monsters, and last but not least, classic TV ads for the monster cereals. Some of these had him interacting with other well-known monsters. He even inspired imitations like Count Bloodcount from Transylvania 6-500, Belly Laguna from The Funny Company, Batty Man from Underdog, and Bunnicula, The Vampire Rabbit. So there you have it for the ultimate Halloween baddie.

Today's relentless villain of the day is Gottfried Seneca, from "Fantastic Voyage."

This master spy was able to infiltrate C.M. D. F not once, but twice. Both times, he fooled the team with brilliant disguises. He also shrunk Professor Carter in order to assume his identity. So he's at the top of the most evil villains list.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Ernesto De La Cruz, from "Coco."

There's no better villain than him on The Day Of The Dead. He tried to destroy Miguel and Hector, and even took credit for songs he didn't write. Can't be more criminal than that.