Magnificent Bastard/Western Animation

""Yes!""

- David Xanatos does it again

"Bob: Why, Megabyte?! Why do this?!
 * David Xanatos from Gargoyles is usually one step ahead of the Gargoyles, and everyone else. He frequently got away with actions that would send a normal man to jail for the rest of his life (although he was jailed for a short time), and was a member of the Illuminati's guild. Of course, since Xanatos was such a smooth talker, he would make you believe he was your friend all while positioning the knife in your back.
 * He might adequately be described as Lex Luthor (Evil Corporate Mastermind) mixed with Doctor Doom (genius inventor and likes mixing magic with science), only handsomer, possibly richer, and with none of the flaws that cause their plans to collapse, namely ego inflation issues and revenge obsessions.
 * He even tends to take his defeats in stride, regarding them as a learning experience.
 * There's a reason it's called a Xanatos Gambit.
 * Uncannily enough, his SECOND LINE in the show is "Magnificent!"
 * Notably, during the first story arc, Xanatos is "defeated" and sent to the slammer. Unfortunately, this means he has nothing to do all day EXCEPT formulate new plans within plans. ..
 * Xanatos's creation, Thailog, is one as well, solidified when he betrays and then outwits his maker in his very first appearance, leading a fearful Xanatos to speculate that Thailog may be even smarter than he is. Going by the comic continuation, Thailog seems to have inherited his father's fondness for schemes that profit him no matter the outcome as well.
 * Let's not forget Xanatos' wife, Fox, who also managed to outsmart him on one occasion. He even refers to her as his equal!
 * His proposal amounted to "We get along, we'll have good kids, and we're the only ones as smart as each other."
 * Megatron of Beast Wars: He's a user and abuser of his followers, a gloating sadist who enumerates the ways he's beaten his enemies as he's standing over them in his moment of triumph, a master manipulator who is only served by his underlings' treachery... and yet he carries off scheme after scheme with audacity, panache, and an almost vaudevillian flair. Nor does he work in small potatoes; his schemes include as well as  Magnificent. Bastard. Yesss.
 * Hell, he singlehandedly took over Cybertron and   in the (contested) sequel series.
 * If nothing else, his apparently keeping Tarantulas and Blackarachnia around simply so he can keep his wits sharp by predicting their betrayals would qualify him for this trope.
 * In the BOTCON exclusive story "Reaching the Omega Point," by Simon Furman, the tyrant Shokaract - who has all the powers of the Dark God Unicron - travels back in time to the Beast Wars, and beats the crap out the most powerful Transformers in existence with ease. What does Megatron do? He tries to BLACKMAIL Shokaract, threatening to destroy the "Dark Essence" that the demigod had come to protect. He fails, but provides a crucial distraction that ultimately dooms Shokaract.
 * His Transformers Animated counterpart also comes close, if not equal with him. This guy manipulates Sumdac to repair his body, avoids the mistake of his predecessors by killing  the first chance he gets, coaxed the Constructicons into his employs with just a couple barrels of fine oil, and pulled a Xanatos Gambit on Starscream to ensure that   And when he got physical, he got physical. In a rather defining moment that puts him in this trope, after receiving the Allspark Key which grants him a new body, he subsequently pummels Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots. When Optimus effectively tells him to bring it on because he won't give up the location of the Allspark, Megatron rather smugly reveals he already has the Key which will lead him directly to it and that he was only kicking the crap out of Optimus for his own amusement.
 * Really, his only mistake was not figuring out a way to  after it became clear that normal methods weren't working, an incident which rather clearly fell under Rule of Funny.
 * It is also worthy to note that this Megatron is so incredibly Badass that he doesn't even bother to remember any of the main Autobot's names unless it suits him (i.e. when he captured Bulkhead and when he fought Optimus Prime one-on-one in the final ever episode). The reason why? He does not consider any of them to be any threat to him. Only when Optimus fights him one-on-one in the Grand Finale does Megatron seem to regard him as being above the status of '"annoyance" and equal to "Worthy Opponent".
 * Also his plan with Soundwave; the first is to use him as replacement body.However,when it clears that Soundwave had grown sentient personality, he changes his plan; he convinced Soundwave to fight for the robots with him. Other Megatron usually will fall with his Villain Ball and continue with their plan; even if it risk that the target will betray them.
 * Impostor Dan, from Dan Vs. After stealing Dan's identity, and endearing himself to everyone in town, he is finally taken down by Dan. Being a Magnificent Bastard, he gets out of prison and becomes a telemarketer. He uses his position to drive Dan insane, using a hidden transmitter to act as the voice inside his head, renting an apartment, just to capture them both, and even knowing the characters so well that he can place traps exactly where they will be. When Dan chases him with a baseball bat, he gets a cop to taser him twice. He even manages to do all this while being completely likable, suave, and normal.
 * Megabyte from Re Boot. The low, British baritone voice of Tony Jay certainly helps, but this is one of the few cartoon villains that has never suffered from any sort of Villain Decay, and is actually considered more dangerous as the series progresses. His most magnificent moment (besides the guitar duel) is when he took advantage of the web invasion and subsequent Enemy Mine situation to strand Bob, Mainframe's champion, in the web. While Daemon is more powerful and dangerous, Megabyte's return in season 4 evoked much more fear from the main cast. What makes this so Magnificent is how his dispatching of Bob is so un-magnificent. He shoves him and presses a button. Dead easy. It also helps that.
 * Megabyte's bastardy in the first few seasons was completely overshadowed

Megabyte: It Amused Me."

"Dilbert: I'm sorry Alice, but he's the embodiment of all that's horrid and loathsome in this world.
 * Princess Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She's a sociopathic firebending prodigy, but she does it with such style and planning that you can't help but admire her (but hopefully not too much). She manipulates everyone around her, including her own brother, and her plans in the second season require her to out-maneuver another Chessmaster, Long Feng, which she does, effortlessly. Her Crowning Moment of Awesome was Keep in mind that she's only fourteen.
 * Heck, she
 * She also  Although that could be drifting towards another trope...
 * Azula is succeeded by Amon in The Legend of Korra, who has obtained this status in record time, SIX EPISODES! Every thing this guy does only gains him more followers. He sends a threat to city hall, and knows that they won't listen and just heighten security at the Pro Bending arena. He then has his fellow equalists disguise as simple audience members and sneak in their weapons by hiding them in their popcorn. Turns out he wanted the entire poice force there so he could take them all out at one before they could stop him and show the whole stadium how powerless they were. He also might have payed off the Pro Bending referees to not call out the Wolfbats team's cheating to ensure that they'd win the match, so Amon could then make an example of them by taking away their bending. And he knows how to take advantage of the situations: he always makes sure that people see the truth of his extremist beliefs that benders abuse their powers. It helps that the first thing we ever see him really do in the show is taking bending powers away from dangerous crime bosses.
 * Technically, he may have achieved this status in THREE episodes, because although he achieved it by the end of Episode 6, he didn't appear in Episode 1, 2, or 5. Yes, this entire feat was accomplished in just three episodes. (Technically, he does appear in the first episode, but just at the very end merely saying "I'm going to put my plan into action now", so he doesn't really do anything until episode 3.)
 * His plan in episode 6 was actually a win/win for Amon. If they do listen to his threat and stop the Pro Bender finals, then the government and police force look weak and useless against him and his Equalist movement. If they don't listen to his threat, well, we saw what happened when they didn't.
 * Book Two of the series gives us Varrick, the eccentric business genius who is also a criminal mastermind seeking to profit off of the Water Tribe's war.
 * Nerissa from W.I.T.C.H. Can also be considered a Manipulative Bastard, as can Prince Phobos. Cedric too, especially in the original comic series.
 * The Aladdin TV show has Mozenrath, comparable to Jafar from the Aladdin movies. (See also the film example section.) Even though the confidence was always there, Mozenrath was able to back up his smugness from the get-go. His very first plan involved using Genie as bait for a magic-devouring monster, in order to make Aladdin capture it for him, thus setting up a simple but yet effective Xanatos Gambit. While it didn't last for long, Mozenrath did indeed end up with the beast under his control. Aladdin and his friends did face many capable enemies during their adventures, but Mozenrath was the one who really made them sweat, always pulling something from his sleeve to put the odds back in his favor. If that wasn't enough, the lad was also blessed with a silver tongue that really got our heroes on the nerves. Really, he spends one episode just sitting on his throne, snarking and gloating to a locked up Aladdin, and it still didn't end in a complete loss for him. After all, there's a reason why he's the only villain to ever hear Aladdin say the words "You win".
 * Dogbert on the series Dilbert whose "religious belief" is "that everyone exists for the sole purpose of entertaining me." On one episode, he sets up a carnival booth where you "knock a street urchin off a beam with a baseball and win a toy." In another, he convinces Congress to abandon all holidays in favor of National Dogbert Day (The traditional Dogbert Day feast: the bald eagle. He wanted something special) for the sole purpose of being annoying. (The same reason he invented Secretary's Day.) Also, the aptly named Bob Bastard, the caped and hooded company tester on a quest to crush the hopes and dreams of engineers.

Alice: Just because it's written on a bathroom wall doesn't mean it's true.

Dilbert: He wrote it!"

""I am many things, Kal-El, but here...I am God.""
 * Tombstone in The Spectacular Spider Man proved himself to be this upon his very first encounter with Spider Man. He floors the webhead in one swift move, antagonizes him by telling him how he is fighting a losing battle, uses it as an attempt to get Spider Man to do what he wants and finally makes Spider Man look bad in the eyes of the cops. All in around five minutes.
 * Dr. Octopus as "The Master Planner" has also obtained this status. He operates his plan, for the most part, from a mental ward, has Gwen Stacy kidnapped and then has her father betray the law in exchange for her safety, damn well nearly takes over the world in the end... all while managing to casually sit back and drink coffee out of a mug labeled "Evil Genius".
 * Norman Osborn is also up there, playing both sides throughout season 1--getting paid to make supervillains to fight Spider-Man, and then getting paid to come up with the systems to contain them. In season 2 this continues, plus . Oh yeah, and.
 * Danny Phantom has an intriguing one: Vlad Masters/Plasmius. He wants to marry Danny's mom, adopt Danny and kill Jack, not exactly in that order. A lot of his lesser plans work, but the main ones probably would if he had better control of his emotions and kept his priorities straight.
 * For a more straightforward example, there's "Reign Storm" where Vlad's biggest plan then succeeded in spades, manipulating nearly everyone to get what he wants by end.
 * For even more examples, it can take several rewatches of the show to understand Vlad's plans and just how many of them he has. A couple of great examples include the fact that Vlad actually sent many of the ghosts Danny fought shortly after gaining ghost powers and the surveillance footage he received from Valerie's suit to.
 * Darkseid from the Superman the Animated Series and Justice League. Even though Superman usually won the day, he took every defeat (and victory) with the same steely expression. Even when Darkseid was beaten on his own planet, Superman threw his body to his slaves on Apokolips and said they could do whatever they wanted to with him. The slaves began to pick up their cherished leader and take care of him. While being carried off, Darkseid gave a confused and horrified Superman a parting line:

""President? Do you have any idea how much power I'd have to give up to be President? That's right, conspiracy buff. I spent $75 million on a fake presidential campaign. All just to tick Superman off.""
 * Arguably just as impressive (even if it didn't succeed) was his brilliant Evil Plan in the Justice League episode, Twilight: Playing Both Sides in the conflict between Superman and Brainiac. He successfully manipulates both Superman and Brainiac into believing he's on their side, pitting them against each other and playing both sides. He boxes them both into this even though both Superman and Brainiac know that they can't trust him and know that he'll betray them. But appealing to Superman's (and the Justice Leagues') sense of morality and Brainiac's self-preservation he does it. By the end, Superman is incapacitated and Brainiac is under Darkseid's control with him moments away from achieving his ultimate goal. Only the last minute arrival of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Orion (which nobody could've forseen) foiled him.
 * Lex Luthor from the same series tends to shift between Magnificent Bastard and Smug Snake constantly, usually depending on his current plan. He was clearly in the Magnificent Bastard zone when he delivered a Curb Stomp Battle to The Question and told him that the Luthor-For-President campaign was a load of crap:

"Demon Warrior: "Fool. You cannot hope to defeat pure evil!"
 * Slade from Teen Titans normally falls on the Smug Snake side of things, due to his overconfidence and habit of grabbing the Villain Ball at inopportune moments, but in the three-part season finale "The End" he graduates to full Magnificent Bastard by orchestrating the downfall of a nearly all-powerful demon at no real cost to himself, getting his humanity back (which was his main goal all along) and doing it with style. Of course, being voiced by Ron Perlman helps.

Slade: "Actually, I'm not such a nice guy myself." (activates hidden explosive and blows demon to cinders) "Don't bother getting up. I'll let myself out.""

"Kyle: Wendy - you didn't!
 * Bizarrely, Zim from Invader Zim can be this on occasion, in episodes like "Future Dib." Usually, though, he's Too Dumb to Live.
 * A more straightforward example would be Tak, who would have succeeded if the Villain Ball hadn't made her brag to Zim.
 * Derek Powers from Batman Beyond. Manipulated an entire city with his company, and only grew more deadly when he gained radioactive powers. Using his money, intel, and connections, he kept people under his thumb and proved to be a deadly opponent for the new Batman.
 * His son Paxton also qualifies, arranging for his father's exposure to the public and eventual demise despite Batman's best efforts to stop him. He does next to nothing for the entirety of Season Two, but then again, why bother? He had already won in his first appearance!
 * V.V. Argost from The Secret Saturdays. Bold, manipulating, cunning, and brilliant, more often than not he wins by the end of the episode and has proven to have a large array of technology and knowledge in his goal to Take Over the World. Oh, and his voice is modeled after Vincent Price.
 * Gibbs from Titan Maximum manages to be this in addition to being a real Smug Snake thanks to the main heroes being a bunch of idiots who don't always know what they're doing.
 * Heloise from Jimmy Two-Shoes has traits of this. She's normally on top, even outwitting her boss on multiple occasion, one of which drove him to a Villainous Breakdown.
 * Mojo Jojo can be this at times. While his plans tend to be hair-brained, sometimes he's shown enough savvy and manipulation to casually perform things that people rarely notice until they happen (the "Powerpuff Girls Rule!" special is a fine example.)
 * The movie played this straight.
 * Eric Cartman from South Park is this in a few episodes. While he acts like a Smug Snake or a Too Dumb to Live idiot many times, he is quite possibly the most manipulative and vicious 8 year old ever. He makes Bart and Azula look like amateurs. His most infamous act is the Scott Tenorman episode. I don't need to say anymore.
 * How about the time he got angry that the Confederates had to lose in the Civil War re-enactments? Most people would give up. Not Cartman. He decided that, for once, the Confederates would win, by starting a second Civil War. Using beer and the charisma you'd expect from a sociopath like him, Cartman gets the townfolk to pillage other cities, eventually leading to the President about to declare them seperate from the US. He manages to achieve this with only one on-screen casualty(who always survives) While he does lose, it was very close.
 * The topper to all of that, though - his campaign started as a bet with Stan and Kyle that the Confederacy would win, with a classic "One week as your slave" as the wager. He didn't win - but he then used that to point out that slavery is illegal in the US, since the South didn't win. A classic Xanatos Gambit - even though Cartman lost, he still won.
 * His outclassing Bart was directly referenced in "Cartoon Wars", where they compared Bart's most heinous prank ("I cut the head off the town statue") to Cartman's ("I made a kid eat his parents").
 * Cartman has topped himself in The Coon Trilogy. By acting frigging adorable, he has managed to befriend and manipulate Yes, that   is helping out Cartman gleefully bounce across the Moral Event Horizon while singing to My Neigbhour Totoro. Awesome.
 * Wendy Testaberger is no slouch at this either, when she puts her mind to it. After all, she sent a substitute teacher into the sun because she'd caught Stan's eye. Nevermind that she didn't show any interest in return.

Wendy: I told her... Don't. Fuck. With. Wendy. Testaberger!"

"Twilight Sparkle: Celestia... you magnificent mare... You read my letters!"
 * Star Wars the Clone Wars: Pirate leader Hondo Ohnaka seems like a drunken, idiotic pirate at first. However, so far he's managed to capture the very powerful trio of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Count Dooku in an attempt to ransom them to the Republic. Dooku never truly explains how he was captured (only warning the Jedi that Hondo's more clever than he looks), and Hondo manages to drug Anakin and Obi-Wan even after they are aware he's trying to do so and take measures to avoid it. During their attempts to escape, Hondo keeps his jovial personality and insists that it's nothing personal, and that once he has his money they can all go back to being friends.
 * How about Palpatine? He's responsible for engineering this entire massive war and will win regardless which side triumphs, either with the Republic as the Chancellor or the Separatists as Darth Sidious, with a powerful new sith follower (either Dooku or Anakin) as icing on the cake.
 * Ed Wuncler Sr. from The Boondocks is a combination of this Complete Monster and The Chessmaster. And keep in mind this is a fat, rich old man, who would normally not be the least bit threatening but let's look at all the shit he's done shall we?
 * He opened a restaurant using illegal workers and Robert as his Unwitting Pawn, knowing full well the restaurant's food was so addictive it would turn the nearby park into a cesspool of crime, thus lowering the property values so he could buy the land for dirt cheap.
 * He tricked Jazmine, a 10 year old girl who started a lemonade stand, into being partners with him and then made it so that she ended up owing him money and allowed him to sell his own cruelty free lemonade.
 * He had his dumbass grandson Ed III, and Ed's friend Gin Rummy break into people's houses so they'd buy his security system.
 * He not only had a girl fake a serious injury so Huey would quit the kickball team, thus restoring the curve, but then blackmailed him to play again.
 * Finally, he had Ed and Rummy set up a bomb in one of his buildings, and then calmly reveals when Huey and super agent Jack Flowers foil this plot that it was designed to inspire patriotism, sell merchandise, and make a movie about an obnoxious security guard who would have died in the explosion. And to top it off, when Flowers counts down 3 seconds before he shoots him, Wuncler calls PRESIDENT FUCKING OBAMA to stops him, then calmly tells them to let themselves out. And does all of this just by being crafty, evil and obscenely wealthy. Magnificent Bastard indeed.
 * Carmen Sandiego. In the mid-90's cartoon version, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, she was as slick and suave as a female James Bond, but would steal priceless artifacts either just for the thrill or for a huge not-so-evil plan (in one episode, she stole several rare statues to make the worlds largest chess game) and would constantly bait and taunt the two detectives trying to catch her, all for the sport of the hunt (even though she was the prey.
 * Chase Young from Xiaolin Showdown, mostly during the second season in which he debuted, would meticulously manipulate events so that even if the monks won, Chase would benefit from it, mostly with regard to his plans to corrupt Omi. This lead to him, on several occasions, helping the monks in order to gain Omi's trust, as well as manipulating other villains to force Omi into situations where he would have to resort to underhanded tactics not approved of by his friends.
 * Alejandro from Total Drama World Tour; at least by the usual standards of Total Drama. He manipulates more successfully than other antagonists in the past, and is responsible for more eliminations than anyone else.
 * Total Drama's original manipulator, Heather, is arguably able to match him (and beat him, in the US ending) in the same series.
 * In The Simpsons, the organized crime community as a whole shows signs of this, but outside of the organized crime community there's also Sideshow Bob, and the Springfield Cat Burglar.
 * The Springfield Cat Burglar, from "Homer The Vigilante," though a one-shot character, arguably qualifies as this. He manages to steal from several homes very sneakily, (the in-story newspaper states that he struck at least 15 homes) and is implied to have done so without waking up any of their occupants; he also distracts the pets with food. He leaves a Calling Card, too, and yet this doesn't lead back to him.
 * Sideshow Bob, however, is arguably the most obvious Magnificent Bastard in Springfield. His schemes are considerably clever, and typically just so happen to get thwarted by circumstances. Examples include:
 * Krusty Gets Busted,
 * Black Widower,
 * Cape Feare,
 * Between all the Organ Theft, kidnapping and extortion, Murdoc definitely has his moments.
 * from Galtar and The Golden Lance. When she's assigned to take down Galtar, she actually succeeds in capturing him, and only ultimately loses because  In a series where the villains tend to be generally a touch more credible than most similar action cartoons of the age,   is still the most dangerous of them all.
 * Loki from Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes, first established during flashbacks in his first appearance and cemented when . Xanatos would be proud.
 * Discord from the opening episode of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic season 2. He's as old as-possibly older than-both Luna and Celestia and the Avatar of Disharmony that ruled Equestria in an endless maelstrom of anarchy and madness and led to the discovery of the Elements of Harmony; yet he's also one of the Largest Hams available, while still being incredibly sneaky and evil. By the end of the first episode, he's played everyone for fools without even trying, all the while enjoying every second and relishing in the mayhem and suffering he causes.
 * It helps greatly that he is both apparently inspired by and shares actors with another magnificent bastard, Q.
 * Celestia herself qualifies as a heroic example if only for the fact that she set up the Mane Six to team up to create the victory in Season 1 Episode 2.
 * As well as the victory in the conclusion of the Season 2 two-parter opening.


 * Queen Chrysalis is a more straightforward example. She shapeshifts into the exact lookalike of Princess Cadence in order to marry then bump off Prince Shining Armour so that she can rule Equestria. She's also an Emotion Eater who possesses the ability to gain power from other people's love. When her true identity is exposed she reveals her Xanatos Gambit: using the power she's gained from Shining Armour's love to defeat Celestia and take Equestria by force.
 * Skipper from The Penguins of Madagascar qualifies. He happily has outmoded gender stereotypes, is openly speciest, prefers violence to solve everything, has willingly admitted that his ideal future is a post apocalyptic scenario that involves roving bands of irradiated mutants, and his team WILL succeed in whatever it is they are doing. This has ranged from escaping a zoo, preforming a good deed for a day, stealing fish while disguised as King Julien, and defeating a giant MP3 player with the power of musical mind control from taking over the city with an evil dolphin at the helm. Unlike most of the rest of the entries, Skipper is the hero of the story.
 * Spider Man the Animated Series gives The Kingpin and The Red Skull this treatment. The former is a crimelord who is behind almost every godawful thing that happens in-series, mastermind The Syndicate and the Insidious Six from the shadows, consistently evading incarceration, and frustrating Spider-Man at every turn. The latter's a Nazi spymaster who has backup plans for every situation, anticipates every contingency, and is only taken out via Captain America's Heroic Sacrifice.
 * Jerry Mouse in Tom and Jerry can be this depending on the situation and how his actions are presented. Other times, he's a Guile Hero.
 * While The Hacker suffered from Villain Decay, a new villain named Ledge becomes this when he  and he   all to impress the Hacker. And, that he succeeded in hurting the Cybersquad more than The Hacker ever did made him a dangerous foe.
 * XANA wasn't initially much of this, but four seasons of evolution through Jeremy's abuse of the Return to the past made it gradually smarter and more powerful, turning him into a Chessmaster, then a Manipulative Bastard, and eventually going toward Magnificent Bastard territory.
 * And just how do we know that all those times it caused all those calamities which forced Jeremy to use Return to the past weren't part of a Batman Gambit to make itself more powerful in the first place?