Summary
With great power comes great responsibility.Pokemonare an extremely great power, and there are plenty of villains out there with no responsibility. Across the franchise, plenty ofPokemonvillainshave had crack-pot schemes in need of foiling by a ten-year-old kid. Thankfully, one is always on hand to save the day, and none of them ever succeed.
Not all evil schemes are created equal, though. As the franchise has continued to expand, so too have the baddies' plans. From stealing and selling Pokemon, all the way to creating a brand-new universe, some villains dream far grander than others.
Updated Jun 16, 2025 by Blaise Santi:It’s been two years since the release of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, the 9th generation of the best-selling franchise. With every installment of the series, new characters reveal themselves to be some of the most nefarious antagonists players have ever fought.
Before Game Freak changes things up again by announcing the 10th generation games, let’s take a look back at some more of the notorious characters who have threatened the stability of the world of Pokemon in the mainline series of games, ranked from the least evil to most evil.
Team Plasma
Pokemon
Rapidash, Ninetales, Arcanine, Starmie, Cloyster, Tentacruel, Omastar, Kabutops, Politoed, Lanturn, Scizor, Shiftry, Ninjask, Cradily, Armaldo, Gastrodon, Hippowdon, Mamoswine, Froslass, Leafeon, Glaceon, Rhyperior, Abomasnow, Purrloin, Pidove, Timburr, Tympole, Sandile, Scraggy, Darumaka, Sigilyph, Boldore, Ferroseed, Joltik, Klink, Carracosta, Vanilluxe, Archeops, Zoroark, Klinklang, Zekrom, Reshiram
Game Appearances
Black, White, Black 2, White 2, Masters EX
Technically, N qualifies as an antagonist inPokemon Black & White, despite appearing as a rival to the player for most of the game. However, it’s later revealed that N is the so-called “king” of Team Plasma, whose dreams of segregating humans and Pokemon result in his pursuit of Reshiram/Zekrom, though by the end of the game he comes to a more nuanced understanding of what Pokemon want.
Really, the bad guy here is Ghetsis, N’s father who manipulated him as part of his schemes to rule the world.In his appearances inBlack 2 & White 2, N is more of a proper ally to the player in stopping Ghetsis from taking control of Kyurem. He’s definitely not a bad guy, just an empathetic soul whose love for Pokemon drives him to briefly side with the wrong team.
Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Masters EX
In a simplerPokemongame, Guzma might be a proper antagonist,as the leader of Team Skull. However, like N, he’s merely just a pawn for Lusamine, capturing Yungoos across the Alola region to distract players from the criminal plans of the Aether Foundation. Guzma even accompanies Lusamine into an Ultra Wormhole with the hopes of catching a Nihilego for himself, though he ends up afraid.
As far as villainous team leaders go, Guzma is all bark and no bite, it turns out. He does go through a change of heart throughout bothSun & Moonand its alternate timeline,Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, though the worst thing about him above all else is just his sour attitude towards the player and his kidnapping shenanigans throughout Alola.
Raticate, Koffing, Weezing, Golbat, Muk, Electrode, Magmar, Houndour, Houndoom
Gold, Silver, Crystal, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Let’s Go Pikachu, Let’s Go Eevee, Masters EX, Pokemon Stadium 2
After Giovanni is defeated inRed & Blue, Archer becomes the head of Team Rocket. So what does Archer do with this power? Beg Giovanni to return. He does some evil things along the way, like cutting off Slowpoke tails or taking over the radio station, but it’s just to convince Giovanni to return and take his place back at the top.
Archer has never had much imagination for his Pokemon, either. InGold, Silver & Crystal, he has just three Pokemon, which isn’t going to be very effective. A Koffing, a Houndour, and a Houndoom aren’t going to be very intimidating to players at such a late stage in the game’s story, especially when their levels are only in the low 30s.
Lusamine’s evils are more personal than a wish to destroy the world. Her mother’s complex pushes her to a dark place whilelooking for the Ultra Beasts, and she pays the price for it. Additionally, she’s one of the onlyPokemonvillainsto repent at the end and become a better person eventually. In fact, inUltra Sun & Ultra Moon, she was booted out of the main villain role by a far more evil foe.
Lusamine’s team during her final battle is a pretty formidable bunch. Interestingly, in this battle, every Pokemon has one of their stats automatically boosted in the battle due to Lusamine’s effect after having merged with Nihilego. With five Pokemon at Level 50, Lusamine will be putting a lot of pressure on players at this point in the game.
Magnemite, Magneton, Metang, Metagross, Magnezone, Rotom, Elgyem, Beheeyem, Klinklang
Black 2, White 2, Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Masters EX
Colress is a very interesting character in the canon of thePokemonfranchise. Introduced inBlack 2 & White 2, Colress isa researcher hired as the new boss of Team Plasmato uncover the true strengths of Pokemon. As the replacement for Ghetsis, his greatest accomplishment is an invention, the Colress Machine, which is briefly used in the game to awaken a sleeping Crustle.
Colress later shows up inSun & Moon, his research having led him to study Z-Rings. InUltra Sun & Ultra Moon, he also aids the player in fusing Necrozma with one of the two box legendaries, based on his experience with Kyurem in the fifth-generation games. Colress is far from nefarious, as his focus is genuinely on scientific research, but by joining Team Plasma, he’s at the very least morally dubious.
Team Rocket
Persian, Marowak, Sandslash, Nidorino, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Dugtrio, Golem, Onix, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Kangaskhan, Mewtwo, Hippowdon, Honchkrow, Gliscor, Garchomp, Rhyperior, Krookodile
Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black 2, White 2, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Let’s Go Pikachu, Let’s Go Eevee, Masters EX, Pokemon Stadium
Giovanni is absolutely aniconicPokemonvillainand is still considered by many to be the gold standard of the franchise. However, when compared to the plots of the villains that came after him, he doesn’t seem as bad. When it comes to the look and aura of a villain, Giovanni has it all, but stealing and selling Pokemon looks like a pretty basic plot in the modern era.
He’s still an extremely evil guy. The problem is, when the rest of the franchise has stories about the world being destroyed, the Pokemon Mafia doesn’t seem like that big of a deal anymore. He eventually reaches that level in the Team Rainbow Rocket arc ofUltra Sun & Ultra Moon, but by definition, that is not the same Giovanni who loses to Red in the originals.
Sword, Shield, Masters EX
Rose is a pretty underwhelming villain forSword & Shield. What puts him as a less evil villain is that, although misguided, he does what he does for understandable reasons. It’s made clear throughout the story that an energy crisis is going to hit the Galar region at some point in the future, and Rose wants to prevent it. The way he does this happens to be absolutely the worst route he could’ve taken.
Rose’s team leaves a lot to be desired. Like Giovanni, he suffers from the weakness of only using a single type (in this case, Steel), although he does a better job covering his weaknesses. Ferrothorn can be a pain to deal with if it’s allowed to stick around, and the Gigantamax Copperajah is a challenge if players have already used their Dynamax turns, but other than that, he’s not too challenging.
Team Aqua (Archie), Team Magma (Maxie)
Muk (Archie), Weezing (Maxie), Golbat, Crobat, Mightyena, Sharpedo (Archie), Camerupt (Maxie), Kyogre (Archie), Groudon (Maxie)
Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Masters EX
These twoPokemonvillainsseem to have rather short-sighted plans. For one thing, they steal the wrong colored orb for the Pokemon they’re trying to awaken. It surely doesn’t take a genius to figure out thatthe blue Pokemon is controlled by the blue orb, not the red one (and vice versa), but apparently, these two couldn’t see it.
On top of that, their misguided fantasies about what having more land/ocean would do for the world are quite dumb. Either there’s nowhere for people to live, or everyone dies because there’s way less water. What they were doing was very evil, but it’s hard to tell how much of that evil was intentional. For people so diametrically opposed, their teams are similarly disappointing.
X, Y, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Masters EX
Lysandre is one of the weirder villains in the franchise, with hard-to-understand motivations. He talks about wanting to make a more beautiful world but thinks killing everyone is the way to go about it. Additionally, he’s extremely helpful to the player in their efforts to stop him. He has all the tools at his disposal to keep the player away from his plans but chooses not to use any of them.
As far as evil goes, killing all the people and Pokemon not aligned with him is among the upper limits of how evil a person can be. What’s even weirder, though, is that he discovers the secret to eternal life, and no one seems to care. Sure, people wouldn’t use it because death is needed to power it, but at least a couple of people should be a bit curious. At the end of the day, Lysandre is far outshone byhis anime counterpart.
Dusk Mane (Psychic/Steel), Dawn Wings (Psychic/Ghost), Ultra (Psychic/Dragon)
Known Moves
Stealth Rock, Iron Defense, Sunsteel Strike, Smart Strike, Moongeist Beam, Wring Out, Morning Sun, Prismatic Laser, Photon Geyser, Psychic, Psycho Cut, Night Slash, Power Gem, Dragon Pulse
Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Sword, Shield
While Legendary Pokemon do some pretty horrible things, they’re rarely acting out of their own willpower. The human villain controls or manipulates them somehow to work for them. This is not the case for Necrozma, who acts entirely of its own free will and seeks destruction.What makes Necrozma so evilis that players get to see Ultra Megalopolis, a world where Necrozma removed all light.
It’s perhaps the most terrifying a Pokemon has ever acted in one of the games, subduing and possessing Solgaleo/Lunala at a key point in the story. It’s also one of the toughest boss fights in franchise history. It took a long time for a Pokemon to truly be the villain of the story, but it was worth the wait.
