20 Incredibly Scary Cartoon Characters

Scary cartoon characters don’t appeal, do they? Cartoons have been our constant source of comfort. So, here are a few characters that push us out of that comfort zone.

For most of us, while growing up (and perhaps even now, no judging), cartoons have been our comfort food for the soul. When reality and its complexities hit us, we turn to the mundane colorful trope of animation to bring back the merry. Here, we can get lost in a world where friendship and goodness reign supreme. Most of our favorite ones speak the most basic and flattest facets of human nature. Netizens are calling out the scary cartoon characters from their childhood who have terrified them at some point. Most of these are legitimate stuff of nightmares.

Here are 20 scary cartoon characters we may have come across. We are glad of not crossing paths with anyone like them.

1. Ghostfreak from Ben 10

We will start off with a classic cartoon from our childhood. Ghostfreak is an alien form present in Ben Tennyson’s Omnitrix. His body is gaseous with a white complexion and black stripes running all over him. While this may sound similar to Casper the friendly ghost, Ghostfreak is nowhere like him. He has an upside-down skull for a face and possesses people.

2. Rasputin from Anastasia

He is a megalomaniac, dark sorcerer who calls himself “the most mystical man in Russia.” The most condemning part is when Rasputin tries to kill the then 8-year-old Anastasia by trying to drown her. But he fails and almost drowns himself.

3. Frank the giant harvester from Cars

You may look at us incredulously, “Cars?” Yes, that movie. Or more particularly this scene where McQueen decides to enjoy his night with his new friend. They go on pranking a few tractors only to find a goliath harvester hunting them down. Almost like an enraged bull, foaming in the mouth, chasing you.

4. Sid from Toy Story

The one person we all grew up detesting. It could have been bad animation. It could also have been his teeth. But most importantly, it was the level of sadistic cruelty. From the spider-baby doll abomination to almost blowing up Buzz Lightyear, we have all learned to steer clear of this schoolyard bully.

5. Coraline’s other mother from Coraline

A fan-favorite film with appreciation far overdue, Coraline shows us how a girl leaves her home or at least her idea of home through a portal. Here, she meets her alternate parents, who seem more loving at first. Her mother, however, is a monster. We see her transform into a metallic human-arachnid hybrid. Oh, and she rips off people’s eyes.

6. The inhabitants of the bald mountain from Fantasia

An old classic, Fantasia’s this scene is particularly terrifying because it speaks of the existence of hell and demons in a Disney production. Home to Chernabog, the sweeping scenes along with haunting music gives us vibes straight off Dante’s Inferno.

7. Hama from Avatar: The Last Airbender

A water-bending master, Hama learns blood-bending while being incarcerated. This drives her mad in search of more power. She uses her powers to exact revenge on the Fire Nation, harming innocent villagers. She passes down the ominous ways of blood-bending to Katara.

8. Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas

A green potbellied sock doesn’t seem scary? Oogie Boogie is the boogeyman in this Tim Burton classic. A master manipulator who loves to gamble away people’s lives; he uses fear and trickery to harm people. Oogie Boogie’s scenes where he opens his mouth to show the trapped bugs, are still scary.

9. Ren and Stimpy from The Ren and Stimpy Show

Their voices, which resembled scraping metal and hoarse animals torture, should have been enough, but Nickelodeon banned an episode because of excessive violence and tobacco references. Definitely not an ideal influence while growing up.

10. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog

An evil witch doctor who tries to rule New Orleans, Facilier is a suave gentleman who can sweet-talk his way out anywhere. Not evil? Well, he is also a master manipulator, vindictive, treacherous, power-hungry, and cruel man who can remorselessly kill beings to build up his voodoo magic.

11. Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Alice in Wonderland

Big brutes are just plain cruel to a poor child. These guys remind us of our childhood bullies. They pester Alice with their dumb actions and proceed to be idiots. While they may not seem scary, everything they do just reminds us of classmates or kids bigger than us, bullying us.

12. Hopper from A Bug’s Life

The antagonist, Hopper is the leader of the grasshoppers. While he may seem charismatic and respectful to hold this position, we come to know that this respect is borne out of fear. He kills three of his gang members and he doesn’t flinch from killing off ants – a sadistic racist with a fragile ego who will do anything for his image.

13. Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations

With a movie adaptation coming up, let us revisit this classic character. A larger-than-life figure who seemed to tower over her peers, Cruella is the epitome of a spoilt upper-class lady. She has a murderous thrust for dog fur, which brings her doom. Her sweeping coat cast over her thin body makes her look inhuman, which her actions definitely prove.

14. The Coachman in Pinocchio

The image of an old, wizened man should bring us an image of a man nurturing and caring for children. However, this antagonist is straight-up remorseless with no redeeming qualities. He is just plain evil and attains pleasure in luring young children away to an island. There, he transforms the boys into donkeys and sells them on the black market.

15. Lich from Adventure Time

Adventure Time may seem like a funny show with its misshapen characters. And it mostly is. However, there is one character there, almost straight out of a Stephen King novel. The Lich is a primordial being that is the manifestation of death. It corrupts Sweet P and it can never die since it exists in all the universes.

16. The Nightmare King in Little Nemo

A dark overlord of Nightmare Land, the Nightmare King is deemed too evil and locked away by Morpheus. He then proceeds to corrupt the mind of a child through nightmares. He loves tormenting his victims, killing for fun, and popping up in nightmares.

17. Judge Doom from Roger Rabbit

Doom is the Judge of a city of toons. Though this should have given him a good mood to be around such characters, he absolutely detests them. He hands out capital punishments on a whim and takes a sadistic pleasure in torturing and killing toons. We did hug our toys tighter at that turpentine scene.

18. HIM from The Power puff Girls

A powerful demon who indulges in chaos and destruction. HIM is the big red king of darkness. HIM stands out from the rest of the evil bosses (apart from his looks) because he uses psychological methods rather than physical. It is terrifying to think of the devil toying with the lives of young girls.

19. Koh from Avatar: The Last Airbender

A malevolent entity, Koh is remarkable because he is not evil in the truest of ways. Like the Sphinx, Koh is simply too powerful to desire chaos. But his powers are terrifying . With a huge centipede body, Koh takes away the faces of anyone who shows any emotion in his presence. He condemns their souls to a state worse than death, just existing but not fully human.

20. ALL the evil characters from Courage: The Cowardly Dog

This had to be here. This cartoon is the reason for many recurring nightmares around the world. If such things could happen to a cute dog, what are the chances that we are safe? From King Ramses to the Cajun Fox to Jeeves Weevil, all these characters are a different breed of evil who are hell-bent on ending the existence of our favorite pink dog.

This was a short compilation of the scary cartoon characters as selected by the netizens. Do you have more scary cartoon characters that have left an impression on you? Do share with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.