Affably Evil/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • In Veggie Tales, the French Peas often fall under this category, along with the Scallions.
  • From Phineas and Ferb:
    • Dr. Doofenshmirtz is a mad scientist who's at odds with P&F's secret-agent-platypus, Perry. Except that he spends half his time doing stuff like trying to make the perfect sweet-16 birthday party for his daughter or sharing chicken wings with Perry after he's captured him. He really is a nice guy; it's just that, well, he IS a mad scientist, after all.
    • There's also Norm the Giant Robotic Man, introduced in "Greece Lightning". He's fond of spouting random dialogue more appropriate to a married, white-collar suburbanite than a killer robot originally designed to attack platypi on sight.
  • Several villains in Invader Zim are Affably Evil, most notably Mortos der Soulstealer. In between granting ruinous wishes, he recharges his malefic hellborne powers by petting puppies, eating yummi snacks, and having fun.
  • To some degree, Señor Senior, Sr. from Kim Possible falls into this. He's a genteel, wealthy old man...who took up supervillainy as a hobby because his life had become boring. Unlike the archetypal example, he does use Death Traps, although this seems to be because he feels compelled to follow the traditions of villainy, rather than because he enjoys them. In one episode, Ron even comments that Senior's a "bad man. Good manners."
    • To say nothing of Dr. Drakken.
  • From The Simpsons:
    • Hank Scorpio, a one-shot character from the episode "You Only Move Twice". A Benevolent Boss and all-around nice guy whom you'd be happy to work for (he invites his employees to go golfing with him), who also just happens to want to take over the world, Bond-villain style. His Villain Song helps even further; apparently his twisted, twin obsessions are ruling the world and his employees' health! He also loves German beer.
      • The staff actually wanted to bring Scorpio back as the Big Bad of The Movie but changed their minds and instead made a new character voiced by the same actor.
    • Mister Burns is sometimes this, depending on the episode.
    • Sideshow Bob also qualifies.
    • In "Pokey Mom," Marge befriends a prison inmate who had previously robbed the Kwik-E-Mart and shot Apu. The episode ended with him having another Ax Crazy episode, but he was generally very polite and was an excellent artist.

Warden: Lady, I know he charmed you with some "please's" and "thank you's", but he wasn't so polite to the guy he shot.
Apu: Actually, he was. He waited with me 'till the ambulance came, then ran like a deer!

  • Krombopulos Micheal from Rick and Morty is this, an odd case of a villain like this who is also a Card Carrying Villain and a cold-blooded killer. He's a cheery, friendly, talkative guy who loves his job, even if he is a Professional Killer and an ugly, bug-like alien. He even admits to having no code of ethics at all, that he'll gladly target children and the elderly, even pointing it out on his business card and Facebook page!
  • In Gargoyles:
    • David Xanatos. So much so that he, and many of his fellow villains, are largely considered Anti Villains, or in some cases, Anti Heroes. Gargoyles was very good about having layered and complex villains, particularly for a kids' show, with even the more traditionally vicious Demona have a deep and sympathetic backstory.
    • Macbeth also fits in with this trope, as he goes after the Manhattan Clan because he thinks they can lead him to Demona, for a rather bizarre reason. They share a magical link so he wants to find her so he can kill her, which is the only way he himself can die.
  • Whenever a Megatron is played as more intelligent and less shouty, this trope usually follows.
  • The Brain, the smarter half of Pinky and The Brain. An erudite, genetically-altered lab mouse who merely wants to do the same thing he does every night: try to Take Over the World! It's eventually revealed that he wants to take over the world in order to help people by ending war and enacting humanitarian efforts.
  • In The Venture Brothers:
    • The Monarch's Henchmen #21 and #24 are two harmless, likable nerds who just happen to be Mooks for the Big Bad.
    • Arguably, most of the series' villains fits this trope. Due to the Guild of Calamitous Intent turning evil into a bureaucratic business surrounded by red tape. An example is that after Sergeant Hatred becomes the new arch villain, he sets up an appointment to see what Venture's allergic to, since it's part of the guild rules. He also says that, "There's no good reason on God's green earth that arching has to be a completely unpleasant experience for either of us." And he brought a gift basket with him. Though he's mostly being so nice to piss off the Monarch for stealing his technology.
    • Dr. Henry Killinger is this trope.
      • As is Phantom Limb.
    • It could easily be said that Rusty Venture and Brock are the most villainous characters in the show.
      • In which case, Brock easily qualifies for this. While he's prone to go into homicidal rages and kill without a second's hesitation, he's also got a calm, collected nature and enjoys activities like gardening. He also provides good advice to the boys whenever they ask for it.
    • Essentially, all the villains can be described as a mild version of this, for while they're not "evil", they do tend to be mean, in a realistic way.
  • Despite appearing to kidnap you if you say his name, Candle Jack is really a pleasant villain. He makes witty comments, thanks one of his victims for calling his name, and has a soft spot for pumpkin pWhy, thank you.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Iroh appears to be this in the first season. A mellow, easy-going, Cool Old Guy who loves tea, Pai Sho, and just relaxing. He also just happens to work for Zuko, his Troubled but Cute Anti-Villain nephew (although Iroh is never seen doing anything particularly evil, and he never really helps Zuko make any major progress toward capturing the Avatar). But it that turns out he secretly did a Heel Face Turn several years ago and, since then, he's never supported the Fire Nation in their quest to Take Over the World. And he's also a prominent figure of the Order of the White Lotus.
      • Pre-Heel Face Turn, though, he fit this trope to a T. In one Flash Back, he's seen writing a kind letter to his family in the Fire Nation while leading a brutal siege against Ba Sing Se (in the letter, he even casually jokes about the possibility of burning the city to the ground). Later during this siege, his son died, and this seems to have triggered his Heel Face Turn, possibly because of the uncomfortable realization that this is the kind of emotional trauma that he's been inflicting on Earth Kingdom families for years on end.
    • Ty Lee, a ditzy, cheerful Genki Girl who just happens to work for Azula.
    • Evil Chancellor Long Feng is a perfectly reasonable man, willing to give his enemies multiple opportunities to surrender, and an excellent host. As long as you don't try and mess with his Government Conspiracy.
  • Daemon from ReBoot. When she was first mentioned, everyone expected her to be a huge snarling monster of a Virus, not the sweet, gentle, messiah-like figure she turned out to be (actually lampshaded by Mike the TV, the first Mainframer to meet Daemon face to face). Of course, it turns out she's out to wipe out every sprite on the net, but she still remains mostly sweet and nice throughout the whole thing.
    • Also Megabyte and Hexadecimal. Megabyte is suave and sophisticated, and treats his minions with respect. Hexadecimal can go from being genuinely nice to batshit insane at the drop of a hat
      • But, of course! They're siblings. And Megabyte is the one who tortured his sister into insanity.
  • Darkwing Duck: Compared to the likes of NegaDuck, Quackerjack, and Megavolt, Bushroot seems downright sweet, stemming from his origin as a meek, much-bullied scientist -- as long as you don't get in the way of his search to find/make his one true love. Of course, he also has the honor of being the only villain on the show to murder someone onscreen.
  • Zebedee in the TUGS episode "High Winds".
  • On The Fairly OddParents, Anti-Cosmo is a proper gentlemen who loves his wife, sips tea, and wants to generally make things hard for people. HP is also fairly polite, he just wants to force every living creature to be ultra orderly. Doug Dimmadome is also rather friendly if you're not getting in the way of his goals.
  • In Jimmy Neutron:
    • Professor Finbarr Calamitous.
    • Beautiful Gorgeous.
    • Grandma Taters, an alien grandma who would just as happily knit Jimmy a hat or offer him fudge as turn him and the entire city of Retroville into cheerful, mindless meat puppets. Also doubles as a well-intentioned extremist who just wanted everyone to be happy.
      • It is implied that she eats brains, though. Even this is played affably, though, with others of her kind offering her "brain juice" to console her over her failure.
  • Another Disney example: Duke Igthorne from the Gummi Bears TV show.
  • Shannon on Home Movies is a mild version of this trope. (He's not evil so much as he is just a bully, but the show is about eight year olds, so a bully is as close to evil as you're going to get.) In his first appearance, he schedules a fight with Brendon and gives him tips on how to warm up before the fight. Later in the episode, he lets Brendon think he won, just to help out Brendon's ego a little.
  • In Looney Tunes, Wile E. Coyote, in his pursuits of Bugs Bunny, introduces himself formally, hands out a calling card, and explains why Bugs should just give up.
    • Sylvester, being a cat, wants nothing but to eat Tweety Pie and Speedy. Except, he's also a loving father to Sylvester Jr, has managed to save the lives of both Porky Pig AND Granny on more than one occasion, and has even proved that his fatherly instincts outweigh his cat instincts when he unexpectedly 'fathers' both a baby mouse (A Mouse Divided) and a baby bird (Father of the Bird).
    • Marvin the Martian embodies this trope. Chuck Jones wanted to make a new enemy for Bugs who was the exact opposite of Yosemite Sam: quiet, polite, but incredibly dangerous.
  • The Delightful Children in Codename: Kids Next Door alternate between acting genuinely polite to their enemies and insulting/mocking them.
  • Several villains from Jackie Chan Adventures could be called this, but the one that sticks out the most has to be the Wind Demon. Of all the sealed demon sorcerers, he was the most relaxed, well spoken, and generally polite. Where the other demons who were released immediately set to begin their rampages, often while berating Shendu for not getting to them sooner, Shendu wasn't even present for the Wind Demon's release, who instead engaged in small talk with Shendu's thugs, and then joined them for lunch while happily eating his prison slop, and generally seemed to be the most approachable of the group. When reality was rewritten so that the demons ruled the Earth, all he seemed to be doing was lounging on his throne, watching masked wrestlers fight while his champion's fanboy fanned him and watched. While it was implied that the battles were to the death, it seemed remarkably mild given the rest of the world's condition.
  • Adventure Time has Marceline, the Vampire Queen, who, despite possibly being evil, is so affable that she's one of the most popular characters on the show.
    • She does use her mean side about as much as her nice side, but she's generally mean in a "bullying older sibling" kind of way.
    • In one episode Finn becomes Marceline's slave to help out her old slave, and she makes him do a number of scary things (which all turn out to have good reasons). Such evil things include raising an army of the dead (so that they can go to a party), and slaying a cute living plant (which turns out to be a man-eating monster). They become friends afterwards.
  • Peep on Jimmy Two-Shoes can be very pleasant when he's not stealing everything that isn't nailed down.
  • Bull Gator from Taz-Mania, a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to capture Taz for the sake of the zoo-going children. Of course, he also has a Jerkass side to him when you see how he treats his poor sidekick, Axel.
  • Robot Devil in Futurama is actually, most of the time, rather polite as a character, despite being a robot Satan, and the depths to which Bender sinks at times leave even him appalled.
    • He even included his own hands in his roulette wheel of choices when Fry asks for a better pair.
  • King K. Rool in the Donkey Kong Country cartoon. One episode where a movie was being made had him cast as the hero.
  • Satan is often portrayed this way in South Park. He's certainly less evil than Cartman.
  • ThunderCats (2011) has Turncoat Thunderian General Grune, who maintained a genuine, abiding friendship with his fellow soldier Panthro while plotting long-term to become The Usurper of his king Claudus' throne. Presuming Panthro will go along with his scheme to defect to series Big Bad Mumm-Ra, Grune sincerely offers to rule together. He also enjoys the company of Claudus' son Tygra, training him in swordfighting as a boy.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks; The Borg Queen, oddly enough (voiced by Alice Krige, reprising the role from Star Trek: First Contact) seems genuinely concerned about Boilmer (even while having him assimilated because that's "kind of our thing"), given the hell he's putting himself through for the rest of the crew. Granted, she's just part of a simulation created by the holo-deck, and a lot of it may be the result of Boilmer managing to to teach her and the other Borg how to express empathy earlier in the drill.
  • Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy usually acts like a decent sort, although it's never wise to make him angry, given what he has been known to do to such folks...
  • The Devil is this in the Ren and Stimpy episode "Sven Hoek":

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