The Ultimate Antagonist

Video: LessonsfromtheScreeplay.youtube.com

While not specifically about cartoon show antagonists, I felt that this video would be appropriate to the topic at hand. There are of course several different roles an antagonist can take and not all of them have to be monumental tasks that the heroes overcome. However, there comes a time where a hero must face the ultimate antagonist.

This is someone who challenges the hero like no other. That changes them forever in ways that not even they could imagine. They can effectively define a protagonist and the story overall by their very existence. So yeah, the ultimate antagonist can be quite a big deal.

When it comes to shows, these types of villains aren’t always common. However, when they do appear, they can make or break a show. Since they do appear across several episodes, their characterization has a bigger impact than most other characters. Usually, they are given season long arcs in of themselves.

Sometimes even longer than that if the show writers keep them along, such as Megatron of the Transformers series. Megatron was a crucial antagonist. You can't make a Transformers show without having him appear because of how great he is as a villain and how much his very presence effects the plot. He is the central antagonist as well as one of the strongest in all of the series. His viewpoints and how far he'll go put him as the exact opposite of the hero of the franchise, Optimus Prime.

Joker fits this same role for Batman. He is his anti-thesis. He brings chaos to the order Batman tries to maintain. The two opposites are allowed to play off each other and really test the other's weaknesses while showing off their strengths. They allow each other to reach their full potential in their line of work.

Stretching such a character across such a span of episodes can be extremely challenging, but the reward is most assuredly worth the effort. They will create, in essence, an entirely new show as the series goes on. Now they don’t have to be ‘evil’ parse, but they do have to be a challenge in both strength and intelligence.

This video does an extremely good job of highlighting many of the best character aspects that one has to take into account when attempting to write an ultimate foe for your show’s protagonist. 

About This Blog

Hello and welcome, new blog readers. If you have ever watched a cartoon villain growing up, you have come to the right blog site. I am sure everyone has watched a cartoon show growing up. I would also hazard a guess that said show had recurring antagonists. Characters that actively challenged our heroes and vied for victory. Every show has them because they are an essential part of a given show. They help set up the tone, adventure, or eventual moral our heroes must learn.

 

Image: moviepilot.com/

Antagonists are the lifeblood of a show. They keep the protagonist from getting an easy win, an easy life that makes it interesting from the audience to watch every time the show comes. What sets them apart from movie villains is that. They are given much less time to formulate plans and execute them. This is usually 11-22 minutes to actually be a threat, which does add some challenge for writers to get right. Movie villains usually have over an hour to get them right, so show villains require more attention. As well, they usually come into contact with the flowing narrative of the show, such as the plot or ongoing character progression. That is if the show isn’t just episodic.

Growing up, amongst my favorite characters of shows was the villains. They were some of the most fun I had watching characters grow up and I honestly would remember them more often then the heroes. This is especially so with the likes of Zim (possibly my favorite antagonists ever) of Invader Zim and other such antagonists. As an avid reader and writer, I believe I'm qualified enough to write about antagonists.

The goal of this blog will be going over recurring antagonists of these shows. Antagonists that have been able to influence their shows more then once, so oneshot antagonists will be excluded. As well, I will not count a villain who had a small cameo/appearance in another episode. This will only count to antagonists who have had at least two major story appearances.

I hope you all enjoy these future blogs and have a great day.