Best Cartoon Villains

I wanted to dedicate this article to the most memorable, and in my opinion best 80's/90's cartoon villains. We loved the heroes, but we also loved the badass guys from time to time! After all, when we were kids, someone always wanted to be the bad guy!
Let's Go

SKELETOR

Who better? This is truly an iconic character. A mysterious sourcerer, master of black magic with a skull instead of head and big muscles, badass to the end.
In the original Master Of The universe cartoon from 1983, like most villains, he just was. He was never given any origins and we knew that he's a black sourcerer and the head of the bad guys with evil looking headquarter called the Snake Mountain. Just classic all the way.
In the 90's incarnation of the cartoon, moved from Fantasy barbarian land to futuristic sci-fi space, Skeletor was a mutant and co-managed the army of mutants with Flogg. I know it's a rare thing, but The New Adventures Of He-Man was MY He-Man. I didn't get a chance to see Masters Of The Universe untill few years later, but even in this cartoon Skeletor was IT, the coolest villain of them all.
In 2002 He-Man went back to the roots, to the land of magic and fantasy and gave the cartoon and its world a modern spin and more complex stories. Here we witnessed the birth of Skeletor. He was originally Keldor, King Randor's evil brother who got the vial of acid splashed on his face while trying to kill randor and take over the kingdom of Eternia.

This is I think the only modern cartoon thats really outstanding.It really stands out from all this garbage that Nickolodeon and CN produces nowadays, and really worth watching. They nailed original Skeletor's personality perfectly. Great script and stories, feels like a good fantasy movie/series filled with magic and dragons
On the silver screen Skeletor was potrayed twice. 1987's Masters Of The Universe starred Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and excellent Frank Langella as Skeletor. As a side note, MOTU's director, Gary Goddart, co-wrote Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time with James Cameron.The second silver screen portrayal of the Skeletor took place in 1990's The New Adventures Of He-Man two toy commercials. Actor unknown


SHREDDER

Ninja Turtles' and Splinter's nightmare. Another ultimate classic cartoon villain, how can you not love the Shredder!
Former corrupted and greedy ninja Oroku Saki moved to New York to start a criminal organization called the Foot Clan. He joined forces with Krang, evil brain from Dimension X. Boy,those were the days. The stories and characters were so unique that you just couldnt help but to regularly watch the Teenage Turtles fight the most bizzare obstacles brought on them by Shredder and Krang. And also, how not to love Bebop and Rocksteady!-"You idiots!" "duh, sorry boss" *scratching head* ; haha, priceless
2003's TMNT incarnation is a completely different and unrelated take. In my honest opinion, a disaster I could not sit through. This time Shredder is an alien criminal named Ch'rell who was banished from his planet and left on earth. He looks like a brain (hmm) and eventually develops a human form known as Oroku Saki... No other bad guys from the previous series are present here.
Shredder was featured in two movies, 1990's TMNT and in 1991's sequel. His origins were virtually the same as in the original cartoon. Shredder was played by James Saito in the first movie and Francois Chau in the second.I loved the first two movies, the third one was a flop, and im not even gonna mention that CGI movie


LEX LUTHOR

Superman biggest arch-enemy. Luthor had many incarnations in the comic books, but the one his most known for is for being a cruel billionaire.
In Super Friends series, which ran for over a decade (!) from 1973 to 1986, Lex Luthor was an evil scientist with the exact same origins as in the old comic book universe. He was a part of a group formed by super villains called Legion Of Doom,teaming up with the likes of Scarecrow and Riddler among others. He also sported a classic super villain outfit
My asbolute favorite Superman cartoon is 1988's version which has the same feel and style as Captain Planet and TMNT.Luthor was shown as an evil businessman for the first time ever in media other than comic books, which at the time just got a reboot by John Byrne
Just as in comic books, the same incarnation remained forever. In 1990's Bruce Timm's cartoons Superman:The Animated Series and Justice League, Luthor was again a crude and evil businessman who hated Superman.
On the big screen Luthor was portrayed by 4 actors thus far, at least in his most notable tv and movie appearances.
Luthor in the first movies was still portrayed as an evil scientist, played by Gene Hackman.After that he started being presented as a wealthy businessman: by John Shea in Lois & Clark,Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville and Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns


JOKER

Here's I think, the most recognizable villain of all times, almost as known and iconic as Batman himself.
As Batman's arch-enemy, he was naturally the main villain of 1968's The Adventures Of Batman cartoon which later transfromed into The New Adventures Of Batman in 1977. Here we could see the classic Joker who often teamed up with other villains like Penguin. Whats surprising tho, is that he only appeared in one episode of Superfriends
The most famous and favorite incarnation is the one from Bruce Timm's 90's Batman Animated Series cartoon. Voiced by Star Wars' Mark Hamil and depicted as a homicidal maniac, this character was a winner. I dont know about you guys, but this character really creeped me out and really seemed dangerous and unpredictable.
I dont know much about the Joker from the new The Batman manga series, only that he "moves and fights like a monkey". I just couldnt get pass few minutes of that disaster that is the new Batman cartoon.
On the big screen we've seen joker portrayed by Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger


GREEN GOBLIN

Another comic book super villain that made a memorable impression on the silver screen. Spider-Man's arch enemy, The Green Goblin is another one of those phenomenal timeless characters.
In 1967's cartoon, Goblin found himself teaming up with Electro and Vulture and is portrayed as a robber fascinated with magic
1980's cartoon (which is my absolute favorite) saw a different Goblin. This time Norman was someone who uncontrollably was turning mentally and physically into Green Goblin and had a niece, Mona, who knew about his double identity.
1994 spawned the most popular Spider-man cartoon to date.Strictly following the comic books, the series was an enormous success. Green Goblin was Norman Osbourn who had a serious mental personality disorder. He is then exposed to a gas that makes him strong but insane at the same time.Later on in the series, Goblin gets stuck in another dimension and then haunts Harry to inherit the identity. An interesting fact is that here Goblin is voiced by the same guy who voiced the 80s version, Neil Ross.
2008 saw yet another new SpiderMan cartoon. This Manga style garbage is as aweful as the new Manga Batman. Here Goblin's story is almost identical to the one from the motion picture.
In the movie, Green Goblin/Norman Osbourne was portrayed by Willem Defoe and then Harry Osbourne/Green Goblin II by James Franco


MEGATRON

"More than meets the eye!" Its hard to find a person who wouldn't know what transformers are. The never ending saturday morning war between Autobots and Decepticons
Megatron is a bad guy and villain, but other than that i've always seen a tough and charismatic leader in him as well, but I would never wanna meet the 'guy'. He reminds me of Commander Cobra a bit, the way he is absolutely relentless and purely evil. Some villains very rarely, but occasionally, show softer side. Not him.
As for the new manga cartoon (what the hell is with that manga remakes? No offense to manga fans, but I never liked it, not one bit. I was always into the realistic style), I cant judge it yet as i havent seen it, never had a chance to do so. But seeing a disastrous new Batman, TMNT and Spidey, I dont know if I want to see this one.
I never liked the way Megatron looked in the movie.They couldve done so much more. Not only he doesnt resemble Megatron at all, but he looks like a folded paper taken out from a thrash can. And I also think that Transformers movie was one of the worst movies that ever graced the screen


COMMANDER COBRA

And how would I forget Commander Cobra? the ultimate leader of the terrosirt group.Of course nowadays showing cool super villains as terroist leaders wouldn't be a good idea or in good taste that is, but back then it was simply another group of costumed bad guys.
Cobra just like Megatron was a strong leader and a fascinating character. The fact that weve never got to see his face and that the show hinted that he's deformed made him that much more interesting. And that weird creepy voice of his, that was something! I didnt like the contradictory origins they gave him in the movie or his incarnation and pursuit of Serpentor in the DiC series tho.

VERMINOUS SKUMM

This is the worst pest for our beloved Planeteers. Verminous Skumm is a real dirty rat. Born and raised in a sewer, this towering "Ver-man" aims to mold the world in his image, and is determined to inherit the Earth.
He is truly a personified filth and dirt. Over 7 feet tall, dressed in dirty rags, this is the guy who wants to poison our planet leading to its decline. Disguisting guy, you can say that.
Verminous isn't maybe as famous as other cartoon villains, but I always thouht he is in every way the classic bad guy of my childhood silver screen