Big Bad / Pokémon

As a multimedia Long Runner with very many installments, Pokémon has many Big Bads. Although each protagonist's goal in the main series is to become Champion, the leader of each generation's evil team serves as the Big Bad, as they are the ones responsible for whatever troubles are occurring in each region. There also exist Big bad characters in spin-offs and other media.

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Main Series Games

• Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and its remakes (FireRed and LeafGreen): Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket who uses his public image as the Viridian City Gym Leader to hide his team's criminal activities. Under his leadership, they capture and steal rare and strong Pokémon to sell them, but also perform experiments on them in order to Take Over the World.
• Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal and its remakes (HeartGold and SoulSilver): The lead executive, named Archer in the remakes, is the new leader of Neo Team Rocket who continues their activities and wants Giovanni to return to lead them.
• Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald and its remakes (Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire):
  • Archie and Maxie are the respective leaders of Team Aqua and Team Magma, and which one is fought depends on which version you are playing (Magma for Ruby/Omega, Aqua for Sapphire/Alpha). Maxie wishes to awaken Groudon to expand the world's land mass so humanity can use it to further its development, while Archie wishes to awaken Kyogre to expand the world's seas levels to return the world back to nature. Notably, the other team leader will actually assist you in stopping the Big Bad; however, both leaders are Big Bads in Emerald.
  • In the Delta Episode, Zinnia and Matt/Courtney fight against each other to sabotage the rocket that will save the world from the meteor; the former was the true mastermind who manipulated Team Aqua/Magma into awakening Kyogre/Groudon to force Rayquaza down and use it to save the world from the meteor, while the latter intends to finish what the team began using the rocket.
• Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum and its remakes (Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl): Cyrus is the nihilistic leader of Team Galactic who uses them to capture the Lake trio and gain control over Dialga and/or Palkia so he may remake the universe into one without spirit, as he believes it to be the root of all evil.
• Pokémon Black and White: N Harmonia Gropius is Team Plasma's king who wishes to liberate all Pokémon from what he believes to be abusive trainers. However, his father Ghetsis Harmonia turns out to be the true culprit behind Team Plasma's goals; having raised N to merely be a tool that could use Reshiram/Zekrom to separate Pokémon from their trainers, save for Team Plasma, with his true goal being to leave the world powerless to stop him from taking over.
• Pokémon Black 2 and White 2: Zinzolin of the Seven Sages is the Neo Team Plasma boss who leads them in their new goal to Take Over the World. However, he is merely a frontman- the new acting boss of Team Plasma is Colress, appointed directly by the true mastermind Ghetsis again.
• Pokémon X and Y:
  • In the main game, Lysandre is the leader of Team Flare who uses them to steal money and Pokémon as part of his master plan to Kill All Humans and/or make himself and his followers immortal to conserve the resources of the planet.
  • In the post-game Looker Quests, Professor Xerosic of Team Flare is behind much of the crimes that Looker and the protagonist are investigating.
• Pokémon Sun and Moon:
  • In the main game, Guzma is the leader of Team Skull who uses them to carry out various criminal activities and aims to spread his destruction all throughout Alola. However, Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation, is the real villain using Guzma to unleash the Ultra Beasts on the world.
  • In the post-game, the Ultra Beasts as a whole are the main threat to the world who must be captured by the player before they destroy everything.
• Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon:
  • In the main game, Guzma is once again the leader of Team Skull who is causing chaos in Alola. However, in a series first, the true villain is not him or Lusamine, and not the leader of an evil team or even human for that matter - for these games, Necrozma takes the mantle as the main antagonist as the entity trying to steal all the light from Alola.
  • In the post-game, Giovanni returns as the leader of Team Rainbow Rocket, consisting of the villains from previous games from dimensions where they won.
• Pokémon Sword and Shield:
  • In the main game, Pokémon League Chairman Rose, head of Macro Cosmos, intends to solve the incoming energy crisis by summoning Eternatus and bringing out the second Darkest Day, which threatens to envelop the whole world in darkness.
  • In the post-game, Sordward and Shieldbert are a pair of brothers who unleash the Dynamaxed Pokémon onto the Galar gyms and destroy Sonia's history book, which they believe to be full of lies. Their final plan is to force a Dynamaxed Zacian and Zamazenta to run amok, destroying the Pokémon's reputation and preserving that of their ancestor, who is credited with the heroism that the two Pokémon performed in the past.
  • In the Isle of Armor DLC, Klara and Avery (depending on the version played) sabotage the protagonist's entry into the island's dojo and using underhanded tactics to discredit them or force them out. After a Climax Boss fight against them, they turn out to be a Disc-One Final Boss, as the remainder of the DLC has No Antagonist, being focused on the protagonist's personal growth (alongside the Pokémon Kubfu) to succeed Mustard.
  • In the Crown Tundra DLC, either Glastrier or Spectrier are running rampant across the tundra, pillaging crops and terrorizing locals, both human and Pokémon alike. The crux of the DLC's narrative sees the protagonist assisting Calyrex in regaining his power and memories to tame and subdue Glastrier or Spectrier and regain his position as the king of the tundra, with the battle against the deific horse being the penultimate step in the narrative, the last being a friendly battle with Calyrex himself at full power.
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus: The main game, in addition to catching Pokémon to complete the Pokédex, also has the player investigate the space-time distortions around the Hisui region that are causing the Noble Pokémon to go berserk. The player is blamed for the distortions by Kamado, leader of the Galaxy Expedition Team, after the space-time rift gets bigger despite the Noble Pokémon being quelled, leading them to get banished unless they prove their innocence. Kamado becomes the main antagonist when he plans to kill Dialga/Palkia to stop the rifts, ignoring the risks and consequences of such a decision, and forcing the player to confront him before they capture and calm the Legendary Pokémon. The Post-Game reveals the source of these distortions to be Volo, the seemingly friendly Intrepid Merchant who had accompanied the player throughout their journey, and the Legendary Pokémon Giratina, both of whom seek to draw out the Mythical Pokémon Arceus for their own reasons (Volo is obsessed with meeting Arceus and desires to use their power to destroy and recreate reality in his image, while Giratina wants revenge on Arceus for banishing them to the Distortion World).
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet:
  • Starfall Street has the player fight Team Star and their leader Cassiopeia, also known as Penny, a group of miscreant delinquent students forcing others in Naranja/Uja Academy to join the group. However, it turns out Team Star's reputation was marred in the past and they are actually a more heroic group designed to stop bullying around the academy whose worst crimes were truancy and stealing and modifying school equipment.
  • The Way Home presents the Professor's time machine, which acts as a gateway to the past or future for time displaced Paradox Pokémon to access the present day and cause an ecological disaster not unlike the Ultra Beasts. While the Professor's AI duplicate tries to have the player shut down the time machine, their programming contains the time machine's Paradise Protection Protocol that forces them to protect the machine instead.
  • The Teal Mask DLC has The Loyal Three, a trio of male Poison-type Pokémon who were worshipped by the people of Kitakami as heroes for supposedly driving away the terrifying Pokémon Ogerpon. It turns out that they were only mistaken for heroes in the past and they are really a trio of greedy and selfish bandits who rob people and Pokémon, including Ogerpon and her human companion. They stole Ogerpon's masks and killed her companion, and it's up to the player, Carmine, and Kieran to recover the masks and prove Ogerpon's innocence.
  • The Indigo Disk DLC has Kieran act as the main antagonist, having Took a Level in Jerkass due to his envy of the player's skill as a trainer and earning Ogerpon's friendship, and it leads him start taking extreme measures by forcefully capturing Terapagos and Terastalizing them. This backfires when Terapagos goes on a rampage, which leads to Kieran having a Heel–Face Turn and helping the player capture the Legendary Pokémon.
  • The Mochi Mayhem epilogue has Pecharunt, a Poison/Ghost type Mythical Pokémon who is taking control of people through its toxic mochi and forcing them to attack the player and Kieran. It's also the master of the Loyal Three and was the one who turned them into the thuggish bandits who would attack Ogerpon and steal her masks.

Spin-Off Games

• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon:
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team: Gengar is the leader of Team Meanies who aims to Take Over the World and manipulates events to get rid of the protagonist and their partner. He is also implied to be the one who doomed the world via meteor by grabbing one of Ninetales' tails, though this is unintentional on his part.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky: Grovyle is the thief who has been stealing the Time Gears to cover the world in darkness. However, he was actually trying to save the world. The true villain is Darkrai, the sadistic Shadow Dictator of the Bad Future who has been manipulating Primal Dialga and Dusknoir into trying to stop the heroes from saving the future.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity: Hydreigon is the one who is chasing Munna and trying to destroy the world. Except he is trying to save the world- the real antagonist is the Bittercold, an entity made of the negative feelings of Pokémon that Munna and Kyurem serve.
  • Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Entei is the one turning Pokémon around the world to stone, including Legendary Pokémon. Except he was trying to stop the force turning everyone to stone. That force is revealed to be Dark Matter, a sentient Eldritch Abomination formed from the collective negative emotions of the world's Pokémon. It acts through its brainwashed servants, Nuzleaf (the player's guardian), the 3 Beheeyem that attacked the player at the beginning, and Yveltal.
• PokéPark Wii 2: Wonders Beyond: Whereas the original game had No Antagonist, the sequel has Darkrai as the creator and boss of Wish Park who aims to brainwash all Pokémon into playing in his park forever, and is causing the void to grow bigger and threaten to destroy the Poképark.
• Pokémon Ranger trilogy:
  • Original game: Gordor is the leader of the criminal team known as Go-Rock Squad, with his four children serving as his Co-Dragons the Go-Rock Quads, who aims to capture various Legendary Pokémon, enrage them, and stage incidents in which the squad upstage the rangers as the heroes of Fiore.
  • Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Team Dim Sun is a criminal organization who uses the Gigaremo and Miniremo technology to enrage Pokémon in Almia. Initially shown to be lead by Kincaid, who goes undercover as a teacher in the Rangers' School the player starts off in to recruit new cadets, and by a trio of thugs named Ice, Lavena, and Heath, Dim Sun's true founder is revealed to be President Blake Hall of the Altru Corporation, corrupted by the Shadow Crystal as a young boy by his father, and intends to use his company's tower to drive the region into darkness and control all Pokémon. Kincaid returns in the epilogue as a Post-Final Boss who reforms Team Din Sun into Team Debonairs and tries to remake the Shadow Crystal.
  • Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs:
    • In the main/present era, Red Eyes and Blue Eyes are the leaders of the Pokémon Pinchers who lead their operations in stealing Pokémon from the Oblivia region and demolishing the obelisks, though the latter is eventually fired and is the subject of a post-game rescue mission. Turns out they are working for Purple Eyes, who is the Pinchers' Dragon-in-Chief behind many of their operations. The Pinchers, later wearing the ancient Steelhead armor used by temple guardians in the past, are then revealed to have been formed by Dr. Edward, Arley, Hocus, and Kasa, a doctor, lumberjack, magician, and fashion designer. All of them revealed to have been retired thieves known as the Societea (lead by Edward as "Ed the Thinker"), each of them wearing golden armor to regain their youth, they operate a giant fortress to conquer Oblivia. Purple Eyes eventually usurps all of them to become the final opponent and is the villain of the post-game as well, trying to get Arceus to destroy humanity as revenge for his defeat.
    • In the past era, Ellios is the tyrannical dictator in control of Oblivia and the Steelheads who aims to Take Over the World, and the original wearer of the Societea's golden armor, but he is being manipulated by Sabios.
• Pokémon Conquest has Nobunaga, who's actually trying to summon Arceus to put an end to the constant fighting.
• Pokémon Rumble Blast has the Dark Rust, the entity behind all the rust covered Pokémon.
• Pokémon Rumble World has the Magician, who tries to take over the kingdom.
• Detective Pikachu has Keith Norman as the culprit behind the spreading of R, with Roger Clifford instructing him to do the deed.
• Pokémon Masters: Team Break is an evil team of disgruntled trainers attacking the island of Pasio, stealing Pokémon from trainers and intending to sabotage the titular Pokémon Masters League. Unlike most evil teams, they lack a leader.
  • In the post game, the various evil bosses from the main series each take their turn as an Arc Villain for a Story Arc revolving around their game(s). However the main antagonist is arguably Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket who is the most recurring Arc Villain of the game.
• Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD has the villainous organization Cipher as the main antagonistic body:
  • Colosseum: Nascour is the local leader of Cipher who is masterminding their plot to turn Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon and use them to Take Over the World, but the real leader is Mayor Es Cade of Phenac City, actually Evice.
  • XD: Greevil is the true leader of Cipher who turned Lugia into Shadow Lugia and intends on using it to Take Over the World, and is also Mr. Verich.

Pokémon: The Series

• Jessie, James, and Meowth are the most recurring villains of the entire series. Desiring to capture Pikachu from Ash, the three continue pursuing him everywhere he goes, and in the majority of the episodes they appear, they are the main antagonists who Ash and other main characters have to fight off. Their danger levels often fluctuate depending on the era of the series, but whenever they aren't the main enemy, they can sometimes be in an Enemy Mine with the heroes if another threat rises.
• Giovanni, boss of Team Rocket, is the most recurring evil team boss who intends to Take Over the World and involves his organization in many criminal activities to do so, getting into conflict with Ash and friends. Under normal circumstances, he tends to function as the Greater-Scope Villain to Jessie, James, Meowth, and other recurring members of Team Rocket who confront the heroes. He returned to the role for two-thirds of the Black and White series, however, and briefly reclaims the title again in the Sun and Moon series.
• Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl: Cyrus, boss of Team Galactic, aims to summon Dialga and Palkia to use them to destroy the current world and make a new one in his image.
• Pokémon the Series: Black & White:
  • The main arc has Giovanni return to the spotlight as the villain attempting to Take Over the World, specifically by taking the Reveal Glass and using it to control the Forces of Nature.
  • The Episode N arc has Ghetsis, leader of Team Plasma who also aims to Take Over the World, specifically by gaining control of Reshiram, while the titular N is trying to stop them.
• Pokémon the Series: XY: Lysandre, boss of Team Flare, aims to wipe out the world population in order to create a utopia where people will not have to rely on him for resources.
• Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon: Initially, the villain is Faba of the Aether Foundation, who schemes to take control of the Ultra Beasts behind Lusamine's back, and was responsible for Lillie's phobia of touching Pokémon. After he is beaten and undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, the series has no villain until Guzma, boss of Team Skull. He becomes the main antagonist of the Alola League arc, with his goal being to destroy Kukui's dream by becoming Champion and preventing any more leagues from being held.
• Pokémon Journeys: The Series: The Galar Arc has Chairman Rose, CEO of Macro Cosmos and the man who runs the Galar Pokémon league, who intends on awakening Eternatus to have it serve as an alternate energy source to fossil fuels, uncaring of those who will inevitably be harmed through his plan.
• Pokémon Horizons: The Series: The Explorers, lead by Gibeon, are a mysterious group that seeks to acquire Liko's pendant, which is actually Terapagos, and solve its mysteries by force, coming into conflict with the Rising Volt Tacklers who have taken Liko under their wing. Various lieutenants in the organization, such as Amethio and Spinel, act on Gibeon's behalf in order to try to steal the pendant.

Pokémon Films

• Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo, who seeks clone supremacy, though he takes a heroic role later in the anime.
• Pokémon 2000: Pokémon collector Lawrence III, who winds up triggering the apocalypse through his collecting.
• Pokémon 3: The Unown. Molly Hale's actions are driven solely from the desire to be reunited with her missing parents, and they're the ones who granted her the power to do it. Plus, her father was trapped inside of their dimension to begin with.
• Pokémon 4Ever: A Team Rocket agent called The Iron Masked Marauder, who seeks to capture Celebi so he can take over Team Rocket.
• Pokémon Heroes: Annie and Oakley, a pair of villainous Lovely Angels who also wind up triggering an apocalypic scenario.
• Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker: Butler, a former Team Magma scientist, intends on creating a Groudon and using it to take revenge on Team Magma for firing him after his initial attempt failed.
• Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys: "Purple" Deoxys wants to reunite with its partner, the "Green" Deoxys, and invades LaRousse City with an army of clones to achieve this goal.
• Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea: The Phantom is a pirate captain who tries to steal the Sea Crown from the titular temple.
• Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon: Dr. Yung is the titular Mirage Master who kidnaps Professor Oak in order to have him create a perfect Pokémon.
• Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai: The titular Darkrai is threatening to destroy Alamos Town, or at least that's what the citizens think- but Darkrai is actually trying to save the town from Palkia and Dialga, who are threatening to destroy it with their duel to the death.
• Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior: Zero plan on harnessing the power of the titular Giratina to take over the Reverse World.
• Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life: Marcus is the one who conspired to destroy Arceus to keep the Jewel of Life for his town, and to frame Damos (and later Sheena) for it.
• Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions: Gringis Kodai extorts Zoroark into attacking Crown City as part of his plan to regain his ability to see the future and remain wealthy with it.
• Pokémon: The Movie Black/White: Damon is a descendant of the People of the Vale who wishes to use either Reshiram or Zekrom (depending on the version) and subject Victini to torture to restore his people to their former glory.
• Pokémon: Kyurem vs. The Sword of Justice: Kyurem pursues Keldeo with intent to force him into a battle that Keldeo started, in order to finally face a tough opponent.
• Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened: The Red Genesect leads the Genesect Army in their siege of New Tork City, believing it to be their home.
• Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction: Argus Steel is the leader of he thieves that want to steal Diance.
• Pokémon: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages: Hoopa Unbound, angry at being sealed away, summons a bunch of Legendary Pokémon, causing a massive distortion in time and space.
• Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel: Cabinet Minister Alva aims to usurp control of the Azoth Kingdom through forced Mega-Evolution.
• Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle: Dr. Zed seeks to steal the healing power of the Sacred Tree for his own ego.

Pokémon Adventures Manga

• Red, Green & Blue chapter/FireRed & LeafGreen chapter: Giovanni, The Don of Team Rocket, aims to Take Over the World through his schemes.
• Yellow chapter: Lance, leader of the Elite Four, who aims to destroy humanity for the sake of Pokémon.
• Gold, Silver & Crystal chapter: The Masked Man/Mask of Ice A.K.A. Gym Leader Pryce aims to gain control of Celebi and time itself in order to go back in time and save his Lapras.
• Ruby & Sapphire chapter: Archie and Maxie, the respective leaders of Team Aqua and Magma, aim to expand the seas and expand the land, respectively.
• Emerald chapter: Mysterious knight Guile Hideout, A.K.A. Archie, is targeting Jirachi and trying to get it from the Frontier Brains. Turns out he did it under orders of Sird.
• Diamond & Pearl chapter: Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic, aims to create a new, perfect universe.
• Platinum chapter: Charon, formerly a scientist working under Cyrus, takes over from him, intending to gain control of powerful Pokémon to extort money from people in exchange for letting them live.
• HeartGold & SoulSilver chapter: Archer, who takes over Team Rocket from Giovanni.
• Black & White chapter: King N leads Team Plasma in trying to get trainers to release their Pokémon, believing that battling is wrong, and engages in terrorist activities to force everyone to do so, except Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius is controlling him and just wants to be the sole Pokémon user so he can Take Over the World unopposed.
• Black 2 & White 2 chapter: Colress is the leader of Neo Team Plasma, who intends to discover how to draw out the true potential of Pokémon, except he's working for Ghetsis.
• X & Y chapter: Lysandre, leader of Team Flare, wants to cleanse the world of its ugliness.
• Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire chapter has two villains: Zinnia actively gets in the way of the protagonists and goes to extreme lengths to achieve her goals, but she ultimately turns out to be a stubborn Well-Intentioned Extremist who is trying to stop a meteorite from destroying the planet, which was caused by a Deoxys known as Organism No. 1.
• Sun & Moon chapter: Guzma, leader of Team Skull, is causing trouble around Alola, except that he's working for the Aether Foundation- the true villain is Faba, who has been manipulating Lusamine all along and using her to unleash the Ultra Beasts to get revenge on her for not returning his love.

Other Works

• Phantom Thief Pokémon 7: Io, a Team Galactic Grunt, aims to usurp control of her organization and Take Over the World for herself.
• Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure!: As in the games, specially Pokémon Diamond, Cyrus is the leader of Team Galactic who plans on controlling Dialga into destroying and rebuilding the world in his own image (Palkia doesn’t appear until the Red Chain Dialga was shackled to has been destroyed, upon which Cyrus realizes that he screwed up when the ensuing fight almost destroys the world completely to the point of being unable to be rebuilt whatsoever), until the last three volumes where he vanishes and Charon takes over, using Team Galactic and Pokémon to threaten the masses and extort them for money, with the main goal being to control Giratina.
• Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Roger Clifford is the mastermind behind the incidents in Ryme City, using his influence as a media mogul to track down Mewtwo in an attempt to use its power to cause chaos and get back at his father, Howard. However, that's merely the narrative peddled by Howard, the true Big Bad who successfully manipulates the heroes into tracking down Mewtwo for him so that he can use Mewtwo's power to forcibly "unify" people and Pokémon together by putting human minds into Pokémon bodies, destroying the Pokémon's original will in the process.