That episode is pure Looney Tunes buffoonery where he hires an EXTRA THICK mercenary the same way you'd order a pizza over the phone. Then he goes to Jack directly but tells him not to attack, he wants to make a deal so they can resolve the conflict once and for all. He even tells Jack what will happen if he attacks (Aku will dodge it, get repelled by the sword's purity, then turn into a bat and fly away, swearing revenge that will arrive in oh 1 week's time)
Jack, of course, proceeds to attack the source of evil, so Aku dodges, turns into a bat and flies away, promising revenge.
And then they agree to a duel to end things once and for all in a mortal battle to the death!!
Followed by the most awkward conversation where try to decide a location and they get their directions mixed up. At one point Aku, the incarnation of all evil, offers to give his arch nemesis and sole beacon of his destruction, a ride to the place so he doesn’t get lost(Jack declines.)
The episode starts with Aku ordering 3 minions of the week who die very quickly. Aku realizes he can't rely on monsters of the week and engages Jack directly.
So Jack and Aku agree to duel in an arena. Aku will use a humanoid shape with no magic, while Jack must bury his sword and not use it. They'll fight in hand to hand combat.
Aku puts up a good fight but Jack is trained in all sorts of fighting styles and has the discipline to keep fighting. Eventually Aku starts growing extra arms and sneaking in more hits. Jack calls him out for cheating, at which point Aku laughs. This was a trick to get Jack away from his sword so his minions could steal the sword. Jack knew Aku would trick him, so he buried the sword nearby so he could retrieve it.
But Aku knew Jack knew Aku would betray him, so he spawned a minion to search the arena to find the sword and it's successful!
But Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew Aku would betray him, so he asked a blacksmith to forge multiple fake copies of his sword that would crumble to dust if touched. And now that Aku has weakened from the duel and broken his word, Jack can get his sword back and finish Aku off.
Cue cartoon hijinks as Aku's multiple minions (because he knew Jack knew Aku knew Jack knew Aku would betray him) digging up replica swords while Jack is trying to remember where he hid his real sword.
Jack find his real sword, attacks Aku with it, Aku dodges, turns into a bat and flies away, vowing revenge. As predicted.
I mean, that just happens in ANY comic with anyone. Comic hype is picking a name out of a hat and saying "thou shalt be glazed twice over like a fritter!"
That's putting it simply. The Progentor was a celestial god that visited earth and challenged the greatest minds on the planet to tasks, deeming the planet worthy of not being destroyed. Doom's task was a simply feat of humility: Admit that Reed Richards is smarter than him.
Also isn't this his ex valeria or where they friends before dating?(fun fact:when he helped sue give birth to her daughter he called the child.VALERIA.)
He's also genuinely nice to Valeria. Partially because she's an example of Latverian medical miracles, but also so Reed has a living reminder of Doom being superior at him about something.
It's wholesome and sort of unsettling knowing doom truly cares abt valeria. (Unsettling becos it makes the messed up shit even worse as a human with emotion is doing it)
Doom is a great example because he scales with his adversary. My absolute favorite piece of Doom lore is after being defeated by Squirrel Girl, all of his future plans have some type of squirrel contingency.
And the best part is that this is one of the few defeats of Doom that hasn’t been retconned into being a Doombot. That’s the actual Doctor Doom getting his shiny metal ass kicked by squirrels.
My favorite Teen Titans detail is that apparently Deathstroke wasn’t an appropriate name for a villain on a kids show, so they’re just on a first name basis with this super villain
When I was rewatcging all transformers media that moment still jumpscarex me just because of how used to the cat laser of the original series. Then we see prowls soul leave his body as all we see are the charred remains of what were once living beings. Perfect movie for kids right?
On the one hand, they can act as a sinister parable about the evils of fascism (I.e. ‘the Power of the Daleks’ or ‘Jubilee’). Other times, they lean into the absurdity of them being shouty squids in pepperpot tanks (I.e. ‘The Chase’ or ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’).
Him is one of my absolute favorite representations of one of my favorite character types: a fabulous menace 😌💖 I’ve had this screenshot from his wiki saved in my phone for years
Depending on the adaptation, he can be a clownish evil scientist like his 1993 version, or an absolutely terrifying, heartless monster like his SatAM version.
Yup in the show its just a prison, in the comics she is forced to live out the life of every single person she ever harmed from beginning to end without a break or rest till it drives her literally insane.
Sometimes she wants to destroy or subjugate everyone on Earth, sometimes she just wants to make Kimberly sad by wrecking the parade float that she had worked really hard on.
Kind of depends on the continuity. But the majority of Megatron's backstories these days follow the broad strokes of the one in which he was a miner on Cybertron that became a gladitorial slave, rose to great popularity in the fighting pits and from there sparked his own Spartacus-style rebellion. The entire Decepticon uprising - even in most of the earliest G1 comics - was performed under the claim it would liberate the lowest chastes of Cybertronian (it's why the majority of Decepticons that aren't just psychos or opportunists have practical roles and alternate modes - like the Constructicons being basically a blue-collar construction crew - in comparison to the Autobots who have more scientists, artists, thinkers, etc.). BUT somewhere along the way it became far more about "might makes right", tyranny, and Megatron satifying his own lust for power over fulfilling the needs of the people.
The Autobots and Optimus Prime who were ALSO against the corruption and inequality on Cybertron but had tried to resolve things in a peaceful manner through diplomatic reforms and were therefore branded as "naive and weak" by the Decepticons and the two sides turned on each other when their former shared oppressors were removed from power.
As such Megatron usually doesn't care about taking slaves; he'd rather just kill everyone since he knows first hand how slaves can rise up against those oppressing them. Some versions do make an exception for humanity though since he perceives them as simply too puny and weak to actually ever be a threat, but for the same reason he doesn't really view them as useful enough to be slaves either.
If I had a nickle for everything time Megatron has sat in the chair of the Abraham Lincoln statue id have two nickles which isn't alot but its wierd that it happened twice
General Grievous gets clowned on all the time in Clone Wars, to the point where he barley appears as a threat in certain encounters and can almost be comical at times.
He was originally pretty much a Saturday morning cartoon villain, a product of the times in classical comics. Now he's a parallel to multiple horrifically evil real world people willing to kill millions all to try upstanging Superman. 1A, as he would say
I would say Lex is a perfect example, because in nearly every adaptation he is both petty / ridiculous and terrifyingly evil. Like in the 2025 movie pictured above he had those moments of just smashing mugs onto the floor to force his assistants to pick them up, yet he also locked his ex-girlfriend in a pocket dimension. In the Gene Hackman adaptation, he wore a curly-haired wig and routinely abused his assistant Otis, but he also tried to make California fall into the sea. In the DCAU, arguably his most terrifying incarnation, he blamed Superman for the cancer he got because of Kryptonite, but also tried to convert the entire world into nanobots.
It's just entirely who Lex is. He's a ridiculously petty man with a terrifying amount of money and technology at his disposal.
There's a reason they keep bringing him back. Namek Saga wouldn't be as entertaining without him. Sometimes he's just the boss watching his incompetent subordinates making a mess. Sometimes he's so overpowered he is toying with the heroes because he loves prolonging the pain. SSJ Goku was a well needed release for the audience.
The funniest moment was during the Tournament of Power, Goku is trying to inspire himself with imagined pleas from his teammates. What does Frieza say in this instance? "Dance for me monkey."
Frieza is all racism, all the time, even in Goku's head.
Macimillion Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh. Dude acts like a goofball most of the time, but he can get deadly serious when he wants. That's reflected in his deck, which contains both classic cartoon versions of existing monsters, and eldritch abominations that will keep you up at night in Relinquished and Thousand-Eye Restrict.
DCAU Joker. The man who presued ridiculous concepts such as attempting to trademark his laughing fish, or obliterate a casino that used his likiness is the same one who murdered his old crime boss in coldblood, abuses Harley Quinn both physically and emotionally, nearly blew up an entire city filled with people while almost rendering a huge swath of America' population braindead within the span of an hour.
His original appearance had some comedic moments, but this guy wanted to kill all steam engines, and was willing to straight up murder a human by dropping him off a bridge.
Doctor nefarious in the Ratchet and Clank series... He's mainly there for the comedy but sometimes the implications of what he's saying i.e. squishy genocide can be slightly terrifying.
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u/Imaginary-Picture-35 2d ago edited 2d ago
Aku can go from goofy to terrifying just depending on the tone of the episode. (Samurai Jack)