can we appreciate for a moment that the show Secret Saturdays essentially made Bigfoot the main big bad, and far from being a joke character he's treated as a legitimately creepy and terrifying foe who is a realistic threat to the life and freedom every single human on earth?
I mean, just LOOK at this guy.
like this is what I was talking about when I was saying cartoon network had the most iconic villains between 2000 and 2015. Classic-era Vilgax, V.V. Argost, Van Kleiss, Slade. They all have their own "aura" that makes them stand out against the crowd as distinctly sinister. Even Aku, who ABSOLUTELY IS a joke villain despite being the main villain of samurai jack, feels unstoppable any time Jack isn't in the room.
I think part of it is that they aren't merely "evil", they are MONSTROUS, and have a classic cinematic flair to them. I've heard Classic-era Vilgax referred to as a cross between darth vader and an eldritch horror. V.V. Argost is an actual monster inspired by classic old horror films, both in and out of universe. Van Kleiss, while appearing human, is a warped, psychologically inhuman sociopath consumed with the desire for power and is fully willing to torture and murder his own allies (on screen) for his own benefit. And Slade... we'll just say that his behavior really captures the predatory nature of his appearance the original Judas Contract comic arc uncomfortably well. They're all unapologetically evil, and they revel in it, which makes them REALLY fun to watch.
