"Having a kid stand in front of me like this... Such a thing should never happen. But for some reason, it also makes me feel nostalgic. If you insist on disrupting my plans, I will make you feel a world of pain!"
"Putting together the potential of many is how you produce a huge power... That's what an organization is... That's the strength of an organization! I failed...to make the best use of my subordinates' potential...! But you shall witness one day the revival of me and my Team Rocket!"
— Giovanni, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Pokémon has several intelligent and ambitious villains who rise above their competition.
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Core Games
Examples
- Giovanni is the evil leader of Team Rocket and the Big Bad of the Kanto games. Giovanni runs multiple illegal businesses that profit off the abuse of Pokémon, most notably the selling of Cubone skulls and the Rocket Game Corner. However, he also secretly serves as the Viridian Gym Leader. In a major push to gain power, Giovanni leads Team Rocket to invade the Silph Company for the Master Ball, convincing many of the scientists to join them. After his defeat at the Viridian Gym, Giovanni officially disbands Team Rocket and goes into hiding. While he is planning on making a major comeback with Team Rocket's resurrection, another defeat puts a hold on that. Eventually, Giovanni resurfaces as the leader of Team Rainbow Rocket, pulling alternate universe versions of other team leaders to help him. Taking advantage of the Ultra Wormholes, Giovanni invades Aether Paradise, taking Aether Foundation president Lusamine hostage. Giovanni plans on using their technology and research to gain an army of Ultra Beasts, and even when he is defeated, simply pulls out while setting his sights on another world. Although cruel, Giovanni is also honorable and polite, and is willing to yield if it means him and his team benefit in the long run.
- Diamond and Pearl: Cyrus is the boss of Team Galactic. A nihilist who wishes to end conflict, Cyrus plans to remake the universe to remove all spirit. Polite and charismatic, Cyrus travels across Sinnoh, sprouting his philosophies and intellectual findings. Keeping his minions in the dark, Cyrus successfully uses them to capture the Lake Guardians and crafts the Red Chain to control Dialga and/or Palkia. In the end, Cyrus summons the Legendary Pokémon and is only stopped by outside interference. Although suffering a Villainous Breakdown, Cyrus quickly regains composure, vowing to never give up on his dream. A very ambitious man, Cyrus's polite and philosophical exterior offset what was a horrible vision he had for the world.
- Black 2 and White 2:
- Colress is the acting leader of Team Plasma. A scientist looking for the best way to bring out a Pokémon's strength, Colress travels across Unova and battles trainers to craft a theory for him to test out. As part of Team Plasma, Colress invents a machine to maximize the full extent of Kyurem's power and fire it upon the world, freezing Opelucid City in the process. Admitting that he doesn't care about his cruel actions, Colress engages the protagonist in battle to test out his theory on hidden potential and upon defeat allows them to face off against Ghetsis to develop his theories more. Showing no loyalty to Team Plasma or Ghetsis, Colress is such a nice person that it is easy to forget that he never regretted almost destroying Unova.
- Pokéstar Studios films:
- Brycen-Man series: Brycen-Man is an ambitious and hammy supervillain who seeks to Take Over the World. After his first defeat to the Riolu Kid, Brycen-Man attacks a pier as a front to steal a powerful black diamond from within an ocean liner. Though the Lucario Kid stalls him and the liner departs, Brycen-Man manages to steal the diamond anyway by swimming after the liner, using it to build his Brycen Jet and give himself tremendous power. In the final showdown against the Lucario Kid, Brycen-Man is weakened due to the diamond's effects and accepts his apparent end, but the Kid's genuine admiration for him convinces him to declare them his archrival.
- Invaders series: E is an alien whose home planet was destroyed by a supernova, leaving the remaining members of her species homeless. Seeking to destroy all life on Earth so her people can inhabit it, E leads UFOs into the Unova region to attack people and Pokémon. Disguising as a human, E convinces the player, a member of the Unova Defense Force, to help set up a decoy UFO to lead the aliens' mothership to Earth and humanity to extermination. E is eventually forced to leave when the mothership sees Earth as dangerous, but keeps the player’s proposal for the two species to coexist in mind. In the worst endings of the final movie, E instead takes advantage of the player's emotions and turns them into her servant to assist the aliens in world conquest.
- Legends: Arceus: Cyllene, Captain of the Galaxy Team's Survey Corps, is responsible for the study of wild Pokémon. Upon meeting the player, she tests them by sending them out on a dangerous mission to collect wild Pokémon, with the threat of banishment and death in the wilderness, from Jubilife Village in the event of failure. Once the player passes, Cyllene regularly sends them out to research wild Pokémon. When Commander Kamado banishes the player, Cyllene discreetly aids them against his orders and eventually reinstates them into the Galaxy Team.
- Scarlet and Violet: Professor Sada (Scarlet)/Turo (Violet) was Arven's parent who discovered and utilized the Terastilization phenomenon while exploring the Great Crater of Paldea. The Professor proceeds to use of the Tera crystals to create a time machine with hopes of building a paradise for their family, using the machine to bring over Pokémon from the past/future, in spite of their threats to Paldea's ecosystem. Even with their untimely death as a result of their research, their numerous security systems and fail safes, including forcing their AI copy to battle any threat to the machine and, in the event that would fail, locking all Poké Balls except their own, would defend the time machine from the protagonist and their friends, demonstrating the Professor's willingness to allow the destruction of the region for the creation of paradise.
Side Games
Examples
- XD: Gale of Darkness: Greevil is the Grand Master of Cipher, ruling the organization with his sons. Under the guise of Mr. Verich, Greevil interacts with the citizens of Gateon Port and gives free food and drink at The Krabby Club. After the defeat of the organization in Orre five years prior, Greevil restores the organization with the creation of a Shadow Lugia that cannot be purified. Using the Lugia for evil purposes, Greevil works to hide Cipher's efforts in creating an army of Shadow Pokémon, only acting when the plan is in jeopardy, such as kidnapping Professor Krane when he is inventing a purification machine or attacking ONBS when they have evidence of Cipher's return. Even when production of the Shadow Pokémon fell apart, Greevil is able to kick start the last part of the plan anyway in which Lugia would lead the Shadow Pokémon to take over the world. Upon the defeat of both him and Lugia, Greevil briefly considers destroying his base to make a getaway in spite of the loss of life before surrendering so that he won't have to live with the moral consequences.
- Mystery Dungeon: Explorers:
- Dusknoir is Primal Dialga's right-hand man who pursues the player and Grovyle into the past. He poses as a friendly explorer while using his knowledge of the future in order to pick up information. He successfully deceives Treasure Town into helping him capture Grovyle, thereby dooming the future to paralysis, and even drags the amnesic player back to the future as a precaution. Once Grovyle, the player, and their partner escape, Dusknoir allows them to find Celebi, intending to capture her once she reveals herself. He brings along Primal Dialga to accompany him and the party is barely able to escape him. Despite his ruined reputation, he lies in wait in the past and forces Grovyle to sacrifice himself by dragging them both back to the future. Once they arrive in the future, he earns Grovyle's trust and lures him into a trap in an attempt to hijack his body. If it wasn't for the conscience he'd developed convincing him otherwise; Dusknoir's plan would have gone off flawlessly.
- Darkrai is the true mastermind behind the destruction of Temporal Tower, which he sabotaged so he could create a world of darkness to rule. When Grovyle and the player traveled back in time to stop it, Darkrai attacked them within the Passage of Time. This separated the two, as well as giving the player amnesia and transforming them into a Pokémon. After Temporal Tower is saved, Darkrai decides to distort space in order to create a world of eternal nightmares. Disguising himself as Cresselia, Darkrai blames the player and their partner for the distortions, and convinces Palkia that their deaths will restore everything back to normal. Once his ruse is revealed, he retreats to Dark Crater and puts the player in an illusion to convince them to join him. When that fails, he reveals an army of six other Pokémon to help him kill the player. As a final back-up plan, he has a dimensional hole ready for a quick getaway, only being stopped by the timely arrival of Palkia.
- Conquest: Nobunaga is the Warlord of the kingdom of Dragnor and a master of Dragon-type Pokemon. Seeing his homeland of Ransei ravaged by wars to unite the seventeen kingdoms and summon Arceus before the victor, Nobunaga decides to conquer Ransei himself and destroy Arceus so these destructive wars will cease. Though the Player Character pushes back his campaign, Nobunaga feigns defeat so that they will be the conqueror of Ransei instead and summon Arceus in his place; Nobunaga then launches a surprise attack against it with his five lieutenants and an even more powerful partner Pokemon than before. He treats friend and foe alike with respect even as he confidently tells them he will defeat them, and then takes his loss with dignity and acknowledges his opponent's power if they prevail. Nobunaga's reputation as the greatest Warlord in all of Ransei is well-earned.
Anime & Manga
Examples
- The Series:
- Giovanni is the boss of Team Rocket and discreetly the Viridian City Gym Leader. Giovanni approves of plans that he finds clever and supports agents that give him results. At the same time, Giovanni allows his less competent agents to do what they want if they don't get in his way. After the incident with Mewtwo, Giovanni tracks it down and captured the clone Pokémon to use as hostages before trying to force Mewtwo to obey his will. Discovering the Meteonite in the Unova region, Giovanni plans to use its power to coax business leaders and politicians into giving him power. Later on, Giovanni leads the operation to capture Meloetta and use its power to control Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. Possessing both cruelty and mercy, Giovanni never lets go of his ambitions for world conquest.
- The Original Series's "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak": A talking Gastly masquerades as the ghost of a legendary maiden for the annual Summer Festival at Maiden's Peak. Gastly uses his wits and the maiden's form to lure in Brock and James and drain them of their vitality, having done the same to many men at past festivals. Along the way, Gastly also turns into an old lady to "warn" the travelers and scam them with cheap ofuda. When the protagonists expose him, Gastly uses illusions to exploit each of the Pokémon's natural weaknesses. Though the morning sun dispels him, Gastly ends up thanked by the maiden's actual ghost for keeping her legend alive.
- The First Movie: Mewtwo is the clone of the Mythical Pokémon Mew and a confused being wondering why it's alive. Enraged at its seemingly pointless existence, Mewtwo vows revenge against humanity. Constructing the Pokémon Palace on New Island, Mewtwo brainwashes a Nurse Joy to serve as a proxy and issues invitations to the palace proclaiming to be the world's greatest trainer. Mewtwo then creates a hurricane around the island to weed out only the strongest and bravest trainers. With those that he wants at the island, Mewtwo battles them with his own clone Pokémon and steals their Pokémon with special Poké Balls. When Ash frees the originals as Mew arrives on the island, Mewtwo challenges Mew to battle with its army of clones against the originals. As the battle ends with Ash petrified, Mewtwo watches in amazement as both clones and original cry over him, and leaves with the clones to find a place for them to belong while erasing the memories of everyone involved.
- The Power of One: Lawrence III wishes to obtain the Legendary Pokémon Lugia and add it to his collection. Using the prophecy of Shamouti Island as a guide, Lawrence III attacks and captures Moltres and Zapdos, causing enough of a disturbance for Lugia to be summoned. When Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket are accidentally captured, Lawrence III releases them so they can view his collection. Even when his Cool Airship crashes, Lawrence III is still able to almost capture a distracted Lugia, and accepts the subsequent destruction of his collection.
- Pokémon 3: Entei, an illusionary guardian created by the Unown, makes it his personal mission to ensure young Molly's happiness as her surrogate father. Working with the Unown's power to create Molly her own kingdom, Entei hypnotizes and kidnaps Delia Ketchum to serve as Molly's mother, and encourages Molly to live out her dreams as a Pokémon trainer by dueling Ash and his friends when they arrive to rescue Delia. Though nearly defeating even Ash's powerful Charizard, Entei stands down at Molly's request, accepting the girl's maturation and desire to end the conflict before Entei sacrifices himself to take down the Unown to save not only Molly, but Ash and his gang as well.
- Ruby and Sapphire: Brodie, the Man of a Thousand Faces, is a thief initially under Team Magma's employ. Disguising himself as a scientist named Millie, Brodie steals data on Groudon and Kyogre from the Weather Institute, successfully fending off Team Aqua in the process. After Team Magma's dissolution, Brodie becomes a lone thief, stealthily nabbing the Ribbon Cup while it was being transported to the Hoenn Grand Festival. Evading attempts at capturing him, Brodie eventually surrenders the trophy willingly before escaping justice.
- Jirachi: Wish Maker: Butler is on the surface a friendly magician. But unbeknownst to most, Butler is a former Team Magma scientist who vows revenge after an experiment to create a Groudon failed and resulted in his firing. Working with his girlfriend Diane, Butler finds Jirachi hibernating in a crystal and gives it to Max in order to awaken it. Capturing the Pokémon Absol to prevent it from interfering, Butler attempts to use Jirachi's true eye as power source for creating a Groudon. When Ash and friends escaped with Jirachi, with the help of Diane and Absol, Butler follows them with a tracking device. Ambushing them, Butler successfully uses Jirachi's third eye to create Groudon. When the Groudon comes out as an energy stealing monster, Butler comes up with the plan to destroy it, hoping to undo all problems that he caused.
- Destiny Deoxys: "Purple" Deoxys arrives on Earth to search for its "Green" counterpart, willing to go to any lengths to reunite with its partner. Quickly reacting to the presence of Rayquaza, Deoyxs cleverly uses its various shapeshifting forms to fight off its foe, facing even total disintegration by slipping away and slowly regenerating. Years later, Deoxys invades LaRousse City, shorting out its technology and using an army of clones of itself to kidnap most of the populace, making its search for its still-missing partner easier. Anticipating the arrival of Rayquaza, Deoxys finally locates its Green counterpart, and chooses to work with Rayquaza in saving Ash and his friends from LaRousse's rogue robot army, Deoxys earning Rayquaza's respect before departing Earth for good.
- Diamond and Pearl's "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before": The evil Togepi seeks to amuse herself at the expense of others. Wandering into Team Rocket's newest base, Togepi steals their food and causes torment for both the trio and Ash and his friends while simultaneously creating the role of a "good Togepi" to trick everyone. After being found out, Togepi uses Attract to control their Pokémon and hijack Team Rocket's space ship, with the intention of going "to the end of the universe". Only stopped by the combined efforts of Happiny and Rayquaza, Togepi uses Psychic to save everyone before leaving to rest and cause strife elsewhere.
- Black & White: Colress is a perky scientist working for Team Plasma who seeks to discover how to bring out strength in Pokémon. Colress invents a machine to control Pokémon as well as up their power. As the machines get destroyed, Colress records more data and upgrades to new machines. When Team Rocket attempts to persuade Colress to join them, Colress responds by successfully controlling Meowth, in spite of his resistance, and using him against Jessie and James. Arriving at the White Ruins, Colress forces N to give the Light Stone to Team Plasma by controlling Pikachu and using him against Ash. With Reshiram revived, Colress controls it, all while marveling at the Legendary's power. Even upon arrest, Colress is still ambitious, as he plans on finding a way to communicate with Pokémon directly.
- Adventures:
- Giovanni is the Boss of Team Rocket and the former Gym Leader of Viridian City. Giovanni aims to transform Team Rocket into a world power by building an army of powerful Pokémon, capturing various Pokémon and conducting experiments on them before releasing them into the wild to regain their primal, savage instincts. All the while, Giovanni remained under the radar of the authorities, pretending to be missing so as to continue his experiments undisturbed. A competent battler, Giovanni more than often stays one step ahead of his opponents through brilliant and perfectly calculated tactics, even facing down various legendary Pokémon undaunted. Not only that, his sheer charisma and faith in his henchmen yield Undying Loyalty among the ranks of Team Rocket, rising Team Rocket from the ashes despite despite their strings of defeat. At the same time, however, Giovanni is also a surprisingly caring father to his son Silver, going so far as to use his own body as a human shield to protect his son from burning debris. When Silver rejects Giovanni's offer to join Team Rocket and vows to change his wicked ways, Giovanni simply expresses pride in his son and hopes he would one day succeed. While even more ruthless than his other counterparts, Giovanni still retains his sense of honour and respect, often allying with the heroes to save the world from greater threats.
- Lance is the leader of the Elite Four, a group who wishes to wipe out most of humanity and create a utopia for Pokemon by summoning the spirit of Lugia. Despite his hatred for humanity, Lance minimizes casualties as much as he can, allowing humans to live longer lives before wiping them out. After seeing how capable of a trainer Red is during the Pokemon League, he has Bruno test his abilities before having Agatha and Lorelei ambush him during the battle, resulting in Red's near death. Later, Lance and Agatha send their forces to terrorize the region, tricking their enemies into thinking they're unprepared for an attack on Cerise Island, and hides his Gyarados and Dragonite underground to ambush Blaine and Yellow during his battle with them. Even when seemingly defeated by the untimely appearance of Giovanni, Lance tricks him into coming to the center of Cerise Island, resulting in Lance successfully summoning Lugia and nearly wiping out mankind. Despite his cruel nature, Lance truly cared about making the world a better place for Pokemon, and after changing his ways when Yellow defeats him, works to protect humans and Pokemon alike from future threats.
- Cyrus is the polite yet chillingly stoic Boss of Team Galactic. Disappointed by the "incomplete" state of the world, Cyrus decides to build a "complete" one from the ground up, by destroying the existing universe first. Through careful planning, series of tactical diversions, and sheer determination, Cyrus manages to stay one step ahead of the heroes and succeeds in capturing the Lake Guardians, harnessing their power to create the Red Chains. When the second one is incomplete due to the Guardians' escaping, Cyrus has a weaker artificially-created Red Chain as a substitute. With the Red Chains, Cyrus takes control over Dialga and Palkia, forcing them to fight each other. The resulting clash will tear apart the Space-Time continuum, allowing Cyrus to create his "complete" world in its wake. Upon his defeat, Cyrus begins to see the error of his ways and later returns to assist the Dex Holders in taking down the traitorous Charon. Cyrus then departs alongside his loyal commanders to lands unknown, commending the Dex Holders for their noble and "complete" hearts.
- Diamond and Pearl Adventure!: Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic, seeks to use Dialga's power to recreate the world, stripping people of their free will and emotion to make it "perfect" for him to rule over. Aware of his own emotional short-comings, Cyrus keeps himself in check and works tirelessly to achieve his goal, often outplaying the heroes by several steps and reminding himself of the necessity of his evil acts for the sake of a better future. Charming enough to sway followers to his side, Cyrus and the hero Hareta form a mutual respect for each other's dedication and abilities and when Dialga and Palkia's battle threatens to destroy all of reality, it is Cyrus who comes up with a strategy to stop the catastrophe. Betrayed by Charon, Cyrus returns to lead his old followers against the traitor, with them returning to him out of sheer respect for his boldness and inspiration, in spite of Cyrus' own mistreatment and even attempts to kill many of them.
- Origins: Giovanni in this series is conniving and clever, while still distinct from his other incarnations. Once an idealistic young boy, he grew to lead the nefarious criminal organization Team Rocket, seeing Pokémon as nothing more than a business. When Red confronts him at the Silph Co., Giovanni easily defeats him by demonstrating pragmatism and greater experience, escaping the police on a helicopter, and giving Red something to think about for letting his Charizard get hurt. Giovanni gives his Pokémon different types of moves to use for almost any situation. After losing to Red in the Viridian City Gym, Giovanni disbands Team Rocket due to having been moved by Red's unflinching resolve and wishes for him to do better in the future.
Other Media
Examples
- Live!: Giovanni, as always, is the charismatic leader of Team Rocket out to conquer the world. Building the MechaMew2 robot after failing to capture Mewtwo, Giovanni lures trainers to his gym with his Diamond Badge, having MechaMew2 copy various Pokémon's attacks and using them against its opponents. Having defeated hundreds of trainers with this tactic in a single day, Giovanni plans to use the attacks copied by his mechanical marvel to gain world domination. Also having had a romance with Delia Ketchum when they were teenagers, Giovanni lures her and Professor Oak into a trap, kidnapping them to force them both to witness his victory. Luring Ash to him after acquiring his Pikachu, Giovanni easily defeats the Pokémon and orders MechaMew2 to kill Ash once and for all. Despite Mewtwo suddenly stepping in and saving the day, Giovanni still proved to be a cunning mastermind prideful of his own manipulation skills.
- Generations: Giovanni is the leader of the criminal organization Team Rocket, and secretly the Gym Leader of Viridian City. Using the Celadon Game Corner as a front for Team Rocket's illegal Pokémon trade, Giovanni earns the respect of his men to the point where no one is willing to betray him. After a failed attack at Silph Co., Giovanni's actions attract the attention of Looker from the International Police. Despite tracking him down at the Viridian Gym, Giovanni manages to elude Looker and his men in the time it takes for him to give out his final Gym Badge. Taking personal responsibility for Team Rocket's setbacks, Giovanni goes into hiding hoping to rebuild his criminal empire to be stronger than ever before. In spite of Looker's efforts, Giovanni manages to remain at large three years after his disappearance and still commands the respect from the team he once led.
