Spongebob has shown us a wide array of characters
who range from good to bad and everything in between. In fact, there have been quite a few villains
who showed up in Bikini Bottom since the showâs introduction,
And if Patrick has shown us anything, itâs that some characters are motivated less by
their morality and more by their wits⊠or lack-thereof. Which raises the question: Which of the bad
guys in Bikini Bottom are the smartest? Iâm Kyle with WickedBinge and this is Spongebob
Villains: Dumb to Brilliant. Like with our evil to most evil ranking, weâre
only going to be including villains who appeared in the show or the movies. And for anyone that appeared in the show,
they had to have been the center of at least one
episode. All that said, letâs dive to the
bottom of the sea to solve which Spongebob villain is the most brilliant. Today, weâll be starting with the dumbest
of characters and working way up the most brilliant... Taking our first spot as least intelligent,
we have to have Doodlebob. Now, we arenât
ranking him low for the sole fact that heâs a mere doodle. After all, heâs still sentient. But
we do have to place him here for being driven by confusion and rage more than an
actual motive. Doodlebob didnât really understand why he
was created by Spongebob and Patrick and didnât see why he couldnât have the same
life as his doppleganger. Doodlebob wasnât an
incapable villain, able to catch Spongebob off guard more than a few times. But he was
foiled with an everyday sheet of paper. And judging by Doodlebobâs reaction when
he got paper stuck to his foot, he wasnât too
surprised that it was his weakness. Poor
planning on his part, but at least this tragic figure was able to get a happy ending. Next on our list is the Earworm. Burrowing into peopleâs heads and making
them lose it by playing a tune over and over is a pretty
easy way to live. The Earworrm was only
defeated when it couldnât stand the sound of Squidwardâs playing and left on its own. But thatâs where the Earwormâs intellect
comes into question. If you canât stand the idea
of Squidwardâs playing and didnât want to be around it⊠then why would he burrow
into Squidwardâs head to play that tune over
and over? How is that logical? This next spot we're giving to Patrick. While Patrick isn't the smartest guy by a
long shot, there are more than a few times that
he becomes responsible for destruction and bullying of the residents of Bikini Bottom,
often using a warped sense of logic to justify it. For example when he thought he was king, Patrick
became obsessed with taking all he could from the other fish. Free food, house supplies, money...it didn't
matter. And he felt
okay to do it because Spongebob had told him that he could have whatever he wanted. When Spongebob tried to correct the error,
Patrick accused his friend of lying, knowing that the sponge wouldn't risk their friendship
even if it meant the town hated them. Of
course not every time Patrick became the antagonist was that extreme. For instance
there were the episodes that showed Patrick trying to impress his parents and
mastering the Karate chop by performing the perfect slice. As soon as the starfish thinkshe's excelling
at something and is regarded as smart or talented in any way, he's more
than happy to flaunt superiority over those around him. Luckily it's always short lived
and tends to blow up in his face. Next up is the manager Carl. The one placed in charge of the rebranding
of the Krusty Krab being transformed into Krabby-O-Mondays. Carl gains a lower ranking on our list
because though he did effectively intimidate Squidward and pass off subpar food to feed
to the customers, Carl was really only going by what his bosses and handbook told him
to. Itâs nearly impossible to tell what ideas
were completely Carlâs and which were regulation. After all, weâve all known managers at some
point that are rude and almost sadistic because they feel justified to act
that way. After all, theyâre still technically
following the rules, right? Our next spot goes to one of the foes of Mermaid
Man and Barnacle Boy, the Dirty Bubble. For the most part, the Dirty Bubble seems
like a near invincible opponent, but heâs always brought down by what youâd
expect: something sharp. We do give credit
that the Dirty Bubble was able to clean up his act, and struggling with something that
youâre having a hard time giving up is not a sign of weak intellect. But we canât place
him higher on this list for the simple fact that heâs a bubble. A formidable villain to
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy but he has a lot of weaknesses. Next on our list is the bully Flatts the Flounder. His motives arenât really clear, but we
will say that his hate for Spongebob turned out to be way more self-destructive than
expected. With Spongebob being⊠well...a sponge, Flatts
wasnât able to inflict the amount of hurt that he had wanted to. Rather than giving up or being friends with
the sponge, Flatts spent day and night punching
Spongebob over and over to the point that Flatts was exhausted. We applaud his determination but there was
no way he was going to win this. Weâre going to throw in Kevin C. Cucumber
next. Yes, he may be a well acclaimed jelly
fisher and leader of The Jelly Spotters, but given how many times his cruel jokes
directed towards Spongebob were reversed onto him really knocks his placement down. On top of that, his own cruelty is what got
his band of Jelly Spotters to turn on him in the
end, leaving him with nothing. Speaking of bullies, next we have King Neptuneâs
son, Triton. Itâs not difficult to trick
Patrick or Spongebob, so we canât give Triton a high spot for being able to convince
them to free him so he could see his father. But we arenât going to place Triton lower. We saw through flashbacks that the god was
more than capable of creating devastationor relief to whoever he chose. Itâs actually a lucky thing that he kept
his attacks on the fish of Bikini Bottom relatively simple, just
going around zapping everyone. Next up we have the Tattletale Strangler. Now, if Spongebob and the rest of the people
around him, including the cops, werenât so easily fooled then they would have seen
through his disguise. While we can give some credit that he implemented
the old saying of âkeeping your enemies closeâ we also
have to wonder why he wasnât able to follow through on his plan to take out Spongebob
earlier. We donât wish any harm on our
favorite yellow sponge, but he had more than a few chances to get his revenge and
instead he just wound up back in prison after being annoyed by Spongebob to the point
that he couldnât take it anymore. Weâre going to give our next spot to Madame
Hagfish. Weâre giving her a decently
placed spot since her method of handling things was simple yet effective. She had been
introduced as an inconvenient customer at worst, showing up at every employee's
favorite time: right when the doors are being locked for closing. After she was unable to
pay for her meal, she was sent away and Spongebob made an effort to brighten her day
by offering her a couple of free Krabby Patties. But of course, Mr Krabs finds out and
puts a stop to it. Annoyed with how cheap the crustacean is,
Madame Hagfish places a curse on the Krusty Krab. Only, the curse that had Krabs begging for
forgiveness wound up being nothing more than a simple sign that
was posted stating that the restaurant was closed. It may have not been the most convoluted plan
but, hey, it worked. And you
can't really argue with results. Taking the next spot we have to include Squidwardâs
rival, Squiliam Fancyson. Now
there are a lot of theories surrounding Squilliam that we will likely unpack at some point,
but we aren't ranking him low over the theory that he may be faking his fortune. Squilliam has a habit of turning up anytime
Squidward is feeling especially down about himself and always has a way of making things
more stressful. He sets Squidward up to
host at a fancy restaurant, take over for his band for the Bubble Bowl, and shoves in
Squidwardâs face how charitable he is by flaunting his statue. Then he shows up
everytime, despite clawing he was too busy, just to laugh in his old rival's face. They
aren't exactly well thought out plans and sometimes Squidward gets lucky and is able
to come out on top. But we have to point out that Squilliam is
pretty good about making Squidward even more self-conscious at his
shortcomings and is often able to get what he wanted: a good laugh at the expense of
someone else. Next on our list is one of Planktonâs experiments,
PlanKrab. Cloned with both Plankton
and Mr Krabâs DNA, PlanKrab was able to take over and combine both the Chum
Bucket and the Krusty Krab. Though he was efficient and had Planktonâs
genius, thetactic he used was pretty simple: using an influential handshake to persuade
others to see his way. Thatâs not a method that others would expect
would be used by an antagonist, but it got Plankrab what he wanted:
a successful business, the Krabby Patty formula, and power over the two people who
made up his DNA. Though it was revealed
that Plankrab was guilty of a lot of illegal acts when it came to taking over the two
restaurants, he was able to rise to a position of authority very quickly and with little
effort. As the old saying goes, work smarter, not
harder. Next is the meteorologist Gale Doppler. Driven to keep his career above water- so
to speak- he came up with a pretty clever plan
to control the weather so his predictions stayed accurate. Now, holding a sentient cloud hostage with
a leafblower before nearly killing it wasnât the prettiest way to get
what he wanted, but it worked for a while. Right
up until he was punished by the parents of the child he basically tortured. Another villain from the first film, we have
The Cyclops. While we canât say that the
Cyclops is the most brilliant, they did make it so that many viewers did believe they
would bring about the end to Spongebob and Patrick. And with a simple lamp of all
things. But we have to question how smart a person
is that insists on living their life in a diving outfit. And an outdated one at that. Next on our list is the sour Mrs Grisslepuss,
or Miss Priss for short. Leader of the
T.U.O.O.F.A.T.T.A.F.A.D, The United Organization of Fish Against Things that are Fun
and Delicious, she decides that Krabby Patties are too enjoyable and need to be
outlawed. How she goes about this is the main reason
she was placed higher on this list. Mrs Grisslepuss was shown to be married to
an officer in town. And due to this
relationship, she was able to order the Krusty Krabâs closure. While that was pretty
underhanded, it was tough to argue with how effective that was. Next on our list we have Planktonamor. Like Mrs Grisslepuss, he used his power over
the people around him to get his way. Utilizing a giant jellyfish, he was able to
gain land, money and anything else he desired. The only reason we canât place him higher
was because of his confidence being his downfall. He was so sure that he was unstoppable
that he took his time getting rid of his enemies and never made any sort of backup plan
should his jellyfish turn against him. Next on our list weâre ranking two ghostly
beings together: Lord Poltergeist and the Flying Dutchman. Both thrive on tricking and scaring the people
of Bikini Bottom. While
Lord Poltergeist was only shown in one episode, tricking Patick and Spongebob into
thinking that he took their souls, the Flying Dutchman was far more frequent. He was
often more than happy to fulfill the wishes of those that summoned him, alreadyfortelling
how the situation would play out such as when he made bets with Spongebob
or Mr Krabs. Since both use the same methods of ghostly
powers and for basically the same reasons, it was hard to say who would
come out on top as who was the smartest should they be pitted against one another. Next on our list is Mrs. Puff. Itâs hard to believe this sweet woman could
ever be more than a patient teacher, as she portrays herself
to the rest of Bikini Bottom. But whenever
Spongebob is involved, she snaps. Itâs hard to blame her since Spongebobâs
antics have led to her being in countless car wrecks,
numerous hospital stays, dozens of injuries and even a few prison sentences and
temporary unemployment. There are
plenty of times that Mrs Puff showed to be a smart woman, able to brainstorm problems
and was close to helping Spongebob pass the class on more than a few occasions. But
we canât place her higher on this list since when she is trying to cause Spongebob harm
or be free of him, her impatience often led to her not thinking things out and being
incredibly impulsive, which led to her often getting hurt instead of doing what she set
out to do. Taking our next spot is the infamous Bubble
Bass. We give this guy some credit: it was
not expected to have him simply hide the pickles under his tongue without being caught. And being able to do it again and again to
shake Spongebobâs confidence and make the customers of the Krusty Krab doubt him was
impressive. But in the end, Bubble Bass
got cocky and was caught just because Spongebob was able to see the pickles while
Bubble Bass was laughing at him. Next is one of Planktonâs many ancestors,
Dead-Eye Plankton. Taking the role of an
old Western thug, he used his influence to make sure those around Bikini Gulch in order
to get what he wanted. His main motivation was to take everything
he could from the people, charging them for property with ridiculous
rates and demands. But unlike
Plankton or Planktonamor, Dead-Eye didnât really have magical abilities or robots. He
relied on the fear he once instilled into the community to intimate them. And in the end,
he was defeated just because his small stature made him easy to step on. Next from the first movie we have the bounty
hunter Dennis. While Dennis was
ultimately unsuccessful in accomplishing the job he was hired for, we have to give some
credit to his skills. During the film, we see him being able to
track down Spongebob and Patrick with little evidence to go off of,
including the soapy bubble mixture just laying on
the ground by the now ruined bar. Thereâs no doubting his abilities as a bounty
hunter. Our next spot goes to the main antagonist
of the second movie, Burger Beard. Burger
Beard was able to use both magic and logic to gain the Krabby Patty formula in order
tosell more food on land. Not only did he steal what Plankton had tried
and failed numerous times, but he was able to re-write
the stories of our favorite residents of Bikini Bottom. In the end, Burger Beard was done in with
the very method he had used, but we have to give him credit for being able
to fight off Spongebob and the others using his
Burgermobile as a weapon. Our next listing goes to Manray. One of the most well-known foes to Mermaid
Man and Barnacle Boy, Manray was able to have far
more common sense than many of the other residents of the underwater city. There are a few times that Manray was able
to be patient and let his plan play out, tricking
Spongebob and Patrick into freeing him by claiming he was determined to be a good citizen. When Manray is seen around Bikini
Bottom, heâs seen being civil to various people at the laundromat and holds down a
regular job. That may not seem exciting, but it shows that
Manray is a logical enough person to know when to fight and create chaos
and when to behave so he doesnât get caught up in any other shenanigans that may
be happening. His relationship with the
many fish around town got him to avoid suspicion on more than one occasion. Next on our list is the diabolical genius
Plankton. We of course have to give him a
higher rank due to his many methods of gaining the Krabby Patty secret formula. Plankton was able to make countless robots,
form a lot of different disguises, and gained the trust of Krabâs most trusted
employee Spongebob. Unfortunately for
Plankton, none of these plans lasted. Even his most successful attempts, including
the Chum slaves and using the Krabby Patty grease,
led to Plankton having the rug pulled out from under his feet. The bronze medal weâre giving to Mr Krabs. What can we say about Mr Krabs? He runs
a successful business and his Krabby Patties made him famous among the underwater
community. But heâs also incredibly shady. Heâs guilty of numerous violations in the
workplace, cruel treatment to his employees, graverobbing, attempted murder, theft,
holding people hostage⊠And thatâs just skimming the surface. We had to give him a
high spot because Mr Krabs is almost always able to walk away from a situation
because of his success as the owner of the Krusty Krab. People always seem willing to
forgive him, which leads to him not really needing a backup plan when he is caught
doing something illegal. Taking the silver medal of most brilliant,
weâre giving it to The Jellyons. These
creatures were efficient and downright scary. Had Sandy and Spongebob not been able
to figure out their weakness to mayo, these things would have not only taken over Bikini
Bottom, but all of the surrounding areas. Theyâre able to blend in and gather food
with little effort, just relying on others letting
their guards down long enough to be copied andhaving the real person stowed away to be
devoured later. Not to mention disguising
their offspring as something cute and unassuming is a clever tactic, knowing that the
residents would be weak to the idea of having a cute jellyfish pet. Taking the gold medal as the most brilliant
villain is Master Udon. While trying to use
people's weaknesses to sell timeshares, effectively holding them hostage until they
agree to buy, scummy we can't argue how well it worked. Even after Spongebob and
Sandy were able to leave the fake Karate Island without being weighed down with a
timeshare, Udon went on to trick Squidward and no doubt many others by manipulating
his island setup to cater whatever his client wanted. And itâs hard to compete with a
villain that avoided being caught. But what do you think? Who do you think the most brilliant villain
in Bikini Bottom is? Let
us know in the comment section. Don't forget to hit that notification bell
and binge our Good-to-Evil playlist. Where we break down the morality of the characters
in your favorite cartoons, shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!
