The 12 Best SpongeBob Squarepants Villains Ever, Ranked

In 2024, "SpongeBob SquarePants," Nickelodeon's longest-running show to date, celebrated its 25th anniversary. Created by Stephen Hillenburg, the series centers on the misadventures of a sea sponge named SpongeBob, his best friend Patrick Star, his grumpy co-worker Squidward, his greedy crustacean boss Mr. Krabs, and his brilliant squirrel friend Sandy. 

And, of course, there's Plankton, Mr. Krabs' rival who will stop at nothing to steal the secret formula for the Krusty Krab's signature Krabby Patty. The character certainly earns his spot as one of the most iconic Nickelodeon baddies, right next to Angelica Pickles from "Rugrats" and Mr. Crocker from "The Fairly Odd Parents." However, throughout the 15 seasons of "SpongeBob SquarePants," there have been plenty of other antagonistic characters who have given these villains a run for his money. 

From local bullies to existential threats to at least one serial killer, many of these villainous characters are rife with details that makes "SpongeBob SquarePants" darker than you think. Whether they only appeared in one episode or are recurring menaces for SpongeBob and his friends, these 12 bad guys are not only incredibly memorable, but they're also the worst of the worst in all of Bikini Bottom. 

Madame Hagfish may not be familiar to "SpongeBob SquarePants" purists who refuse to watch past Season 3, which is a shame, because they're missing an all-timer villain in Season 7's "The Curse of the Hex." On one stormy night at the Krusty Krab, the mysterious Madame Hagfish (voiced by Kristen Wiig, one of the best cast members in "SNL" history) arrives, but is turned away when she doesn't have enough money. In retaliation, Madame Hagfish places a curse on the Krusty Krab.

The rest of the episode sees various misfortunes befall the Krusty Krab, from an absence of customers to a sudden money-burning fire. Convinced Madame Hagfish's curse was real, Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob find her and beg her to lift the curse, and she instructs them to bring her the gold doubloon of a deadly eel (which she needs to power her laundry machine).

After agreeing to lift the curse, Madame Hagfish simply removes a "Closed" sign she places out front of the Krusty Krab, which had been the reason for the lack of customers. She might be willing to take advantage of the Krusty Krab employees, but as it turns out, there's no witchcraft at play here. 

"SpongeBob SquarePants" villain Bubble Bass has been running amok since Season 1. A frequent customer of the Krusty Krab, the episode "Pickles" sets the stage for his ongoing rivalry with the absorbent fry cook. It all begins when Bubble Bass presents SpongeBob with an intentionally lengthy and hard-to-follow order. SpongeBob tries to follow the order, but as Bubble Bass is quick to point out, the Krabby Patty is missing the pickles he requested. As a result, SpongeBob goes mad trying to remember how to make a Krabby Patty for the entirety of the episode. 

As it turns out, Bubble Bass was lying about the absence of pickles on his burger, hiding them under his tongue, only to be discovered by SpongeBob at the end of the episode. Ten seasons later, Bubble Bass' antagonism reared its head in the episode "Moving Bubble Bass," in which he manipulates SpongeBob and Patrick into doing all the work to move him out of his mother's house by pretending to be injured. Even 18 years after Bubble Bass' first appearance in the series, he's still trying to pull a fast one on SpongeBob. 

Bubble Bass often re-appears throughout the series to play the stereotypical difficult customer role (or the occasional immovable fish), but rarely is he ever as much of a nuisance to the employees of the Krusty Krab as he is in his first appearance. Still, that doesn't stop him from being one of the series' first and most despicable villains. 

While many villains in "SpongeBob SquarePants" antagonize the series' titular character, there's one who often pops up as the arch-nemesis of Squidward: Squilliam Fancyson. Compared to Squidward, a failed musician working at a fast food restaurant, Squilliam is much more successful, wealthy, and popular, which often leads Squidward to go above and beyond to try and outshine him. His very first appearance, "Band Geeks," sees Squilliam challenging Squidward in a battle of the bands at the Bubble Bowl, resulting in Squidward forming an orchestra out of Bikini Bottom residents. 

Despite Squilliam's obvious antagonism of Squidward, the band ends up blowing both of them away with a triumphant performance, making "Band Geeks" one of the best episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants" just for Squidward's sweet, sweet victory. However, it wasn't Squilliam's last attempt to humiliate Squidward. In "Squilliam Returns," Squidward lies about being the owner of a five-star restaurant, and nearly is able to convince Squilliam of it until SpongeBob ruins it. 

The competition between Squidward and Squilliam remains a back-and-forth throughout the series. Although sometimes Squidward gets the upper hand and upstages his rival, more often than not Squilliam remains the one with all the money and success. 

They always say you shouldn't meet your heroes, which turns out to be the moral of the story of "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic," a Season 2 episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants." While attending a jellyfishing convention, SpongeBob meets Kevin C. Cucumber, leader of a jellyfishers' club known as the Jellyspotters, who he admires. However, it turns out that Kevin is quite a cruel and malicious person, deciding to mess with SpongeBob when his biggest fan asks to join the club. 

Kevin's torture of SpongeBob certainly goes way too far by any normal person's standards, making him one of the few children's cartoon characters that are actually terrible, not just "evil." Not only does he ask SpongeBob to punch himself in the face for no reason, but he leaves the poor kid stranded in Jellyfish Fields blowing a Queen Jellyfish whistle that makes him say "Loser." Unfortunately for Kevin, most of his attempts to humiliate SpongeBob result in him getting stung by Jellyfish in all sorts of places.

People like Kevin are certainly an all-too-familiar sight in the world of fandoms, abusing the admiration and love of their fans for their own sick enjoyment. However, as a villain he never gets under SpongeBob's skin, and SpongeBob even proves himself to be a much better jellyfisher than Kevin could ever dream of. Even Kevin's re-appearances in later seasons prove that he hasn't learned at all from his first encounter with SpongeBob. 

Have you ever wondered whatever happened to Thomas F. Wilson from "Back to the Future"? Wouldn't you it, the actor who played Biff Tannen has been a recurring voice actor in the "SpongeBob SquarePants" universe, appearing in 17 episodes of the series', plus 50 episodes of its spin-off "The Patrick Star Show." One of his most notable roles in "SpongeBob SquarePants" was in Season 3's "The Bully" as Flats the Flounder, a new student at Mrs. Puff's boating school who threatens to beat SpongeBob up.

It doesn't take much for SpongeBob to draw Flats' ire, but SpongeBob's attempts to reason with Flats only make his threats more worrisome. Throughout the one episode, Flats tries to run SpongeBob over with a garbage truck (which puts into question why Flats is even in boating school), and even threatens to beat up his own father when SpongeBob goes to him for help. Even after being put in the E.R. and saved by SpongeBob performing CPR, Flats is still promising to beat his fellow classmate up.

The only reason a ruthless bully like Flats doesn't rank higher on this list is because, once he actually fulfills his promise, SpongeBob is completely impervious to Flats' punches. Eventually, Flats end up collapsing out of exhaustion because of how little his beating up is effecting SpongeBob. At least SpongeBob didn't have to resort to wearing a bulletproof vest.

The Flying Dutchman would probably rank higher as one of the best villains of "SpongeBob SquarePants" if he wasn't so... oddly nice. Voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray, this ghostly character first appeared in the Season 1 episode "Scaredy Pants," but has made numerous appearances since with varying degrees of villainy in each episode. In "Your Shoe's Untied," he attempts to help SpongeBob learn how to tie his shoes, which is much more friendly than a lot of the other characters on this list. 

The episode that truly established the Flying Dutchman as a proper antagonist was Season 2's "Shanghaied," in which SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward are kidnapped by the Dutchman and forced to join his evil pirate crew for all eternity. When Squidward protests, the Dutchman throws him into the Fly of Despair, sending Squidward into another dimension of terrifying, psychedelic images. Even after SpongeBob and Patrick prove they make bad pirates, the Dutchman opts to keep them to be eaten rather than set them free. When they do get away from the Flying Dutchman, they are horrified to find themselves in the perfume section of a department store.

There's a lot of malicious intent to the Flying Dutchman's actions throughout "SpongeBob SquarePants," but it rarely ever has the desired effect. Even in "Born Again Krabs," he tries to teach Mr. Krabs to be less miserly and greedy by threatening to lock him in Davy Jones' locker, but Krabs predictably disappoints. 

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy first appeared in Season 1 of "SpongeBob SquarePants," after SpongeBob and Patrick go searching for their TV heroes only to find that they're both in a retirement home. The characters re-appear throughout the series, but few episodes are as iconic as Season 3's "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," in which Barnacle Boy tires of dealing with Mermaid Man and forms a superteam with the duo's arch-nemeses, Man Ray and Dirty Bubble, called "E.V.I.L." (which stands for Every Villains Is Lemons).  

Man Ray himself had first appeared in the "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III," as a major antagonist of the superhero duo who is freed from being frozen in tartar sauce by SpongeBob and Patrick, who attempt to make the supervillain into a great superhero, which predictably fails. Dirty Bubble, on the other hand, has been seen terrorizing Bikini Bottom on numerous occasions, but even as a trio, E.V.I.L.'s greatest crime is simply scaring teenagers at Makeout Reef. Even Barnacle Boy doesn't spend too much time in the group before rejoining Mermaid Man. 

E.V.I.L. re-appeare in Season 13's "Captain Pipsqueak," when Plankton auditions for the team, beating out many other villains from SpongeBob's past, including the Earworm, Madame Hagfish, DoodleBob, the Tattletale Strangler, Dennis, and even Nosferatu. However, Plankton's plan to get E.V.I.L. to help steal the Krabby Patty secret formula goes awry when they realize it's just a sandwich.

Few characters are as unintentionally terrifying as DoodleBob. In the Season 2 episode "Frankendoodle," SpongeBob draws DoodleBob with a magic pencil he and Patrick find — and no, they aren't aware of its powers. The doodle of DoodleBob comes to life, and before they know it, all shell breaks loose. A prank against Squidward leads to DoodleBob terrorizing Bikini Bottom, and SpongeBob and Patrick are forced to chase DoodleBob down and erase him. Alas, they unknowingly let one of DoodleBob's arms stay alive. 

DoodleBob's arm not only eventually gets ahold of the magic pencil, but he even tries to erase SpongeBob from existence, ostensibly to fully replace him, which is by far one of the most twisted motivations a "Spongebob SquarePants" villain has had. The only way SpongeBob is able to defeat DoodleBob is by sticking him in a book, where the crude rendering is trapped forever. Still, the entire episode is chock full of DoodleBob wreaking havoc on SpongeBob and his friends; Patrick sustains a number of injuries.

However, DoodleBob returned in Season 11's "Doodle Dimension," in which SpongeBob and Patrick become trapped in an alternate universe in which they confront their old creation once again, which is somehow even more terrifying than the first episode. It might not be the spookiest "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode according to fans, but the character's rampaging and chanting of "Mi-hoy-minoy" will linger on in millennial's nightmares for years to come.

Compared to most other Nickelodeon cartoons, there are lots of "SpongeBob SquarePants" episodes that only adults understood, from Mrs. Puff landing herself in prison to Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob believing they murdered a health inspector. However, one incredibly memorable Season 3 episode, "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler," saw Thomas F. Wilson reprise his role as an antagonist of SpongeBob as the Tattletale Strangler, a notorious serial killer in Bikini Bottom who SpongeBob mistakenly tattletales on for littering. 

While SpongeBob frets for his life after the Tattletale Strangler is set free, the Strangler re-introduces himself to SpongeBob wearing a fake mustache and offering to be SpongeBob's bodyguard. Unfortunately for the Tattletale Strangler, every opportunity he tries to take to get SpongeBob alone and strangle him to death is thwarted, first by a series of errands SpongeBob takes on, and then by a surprise party thrown for SpongeBob inside his pineapple. 

Eventually, the Tattletale Strangler is driven mad and turns himself in to escape having to be SpongeBob's bodyguard. He's clearly one of the most dangerous and sadistic characters in all of Bikini Bottom for him to have the reputation he does, but in terms of his role in the episode, he never gets the opportunity to get the upper hand over SpongeBob, no matter how hard he tries. 

The enigmatic character known as "Dennis" is not the type of fish you'd want to mess with. First appearing in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," Dennis is a hitman hired by Plankton to thwart SpongeBob and Patrick from finding King Neptune's crown in time to save Mr. Krabs. With the gruff voice of Alec Baldwin, Dennis quickly proves himself to be one of the most violent characters in the entire Nickelodeon franchise, or as Plankton calls him in the film, "a vicious, cold-blooded predator."

In his very first scene, Dennis strolls up to the edge of Bikini Bottom of a motorcycle and intimidates a pair of locals by literally ripping off their mouths. He also very quickly disposes of the tough, anti-bubble bar patron at Thug Tug. When he finally catches up to SpongeBob and Patrick, he destroys the fake mustaches given to them by King Neptune's daughter, Mindy, to "turn them into men," and reveals what a real mustache looks like by immediately growing one in front of them. 

Although he's incredibly threatening and nearly stomps SpongeBob and Patrick to death with his spiky shoes, he's unceremoniously squashed by "the Cyclops," an undersea explorer who kidnaps SpongeBob and Patrick for his souvenir shop on the surface. Even then, he returns when SpongeBob and Patrick are riding David Hasselhoff to finish the job, only to be nearly blinded by SpongeBob's bubbles and clotheslined by a raft. 

There's an old saying that behind every great man is a strong woman, but in the world of "SpongeBob SquarePants," that's also true for bad men. Karen might be a typical evil villain's supercomputer, but she's also the wife of Sheldon J. Plankton. Voiced by Jill Talley (the wife of SpongeBob's voice actor, Tom Kenny, both of whom you've also seen in live-action on "Mr. Show"), Karen is often depicted as the smart and level-headed foil to her minuscule husband. 

Plankton and Karen also happen to be business partners: They own the Chum Bucket, a rival of the Krusty Krab. It's a running joke throughout the series that while Plankton is devising various schemes to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, Karen is the nagging wife telling him he's not good enough. Nevertheless, Plankton's evilness is what Karen loves about him, as seen when she disapproves of Plankton's change in personality after growing a second eye in Season 8's "Plankton's Good Eye." She's also the brains behind many of Plankton's best schemes, including informing him about the existence of Plan Z in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie." 

All that said, Karen is never the one to storm into the Krusty Krab herself to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, leaving all the dirty work to her overconfident and relentless husband. She's merely just an accomplice to Plankton's greatest schemes, but as is often the case with evil geniuses in movies and TV, Plankton would be nothing without her cold-heartedness and brutal honesty. 

It should come as no surprise that there is no greater threat to the people of Bikini Bottom than Sheldon J. Plankton. He has all the makings of a great villain: an unparalleled intelligence used only for creating evil gadgets, numerous schemes to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula that never pan out, and an iconic, devilish voice courtesy of actor and series co-writer Mr. Lawrence. 

Although most of Plankton's attempts to steal the Krabby Patty formula go awry, he's gotten incredibly close numerous times by doing some pretty heinous things. In his very first appearance, the Season 1 episode "Plankton!," he hijacks SpongeBob's brain in the middle of the night in order to steal himself a Krabby Patty. Other times, he's impersonated Mr. Krabs via a robotic clone, manipulated SpongeBob, and has even teamed up with previous villains from this list, like Man Ray. 

Plankton's greatest crimes come in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," in which he frames Mr. Krabs for the theft of King Neptune's crown, causing Krabs to be frozen in ice while SpongeBob and Patrick are forced to go searching for the missing headpiece. In their absence, Plankton not only successfully steals the Krabby Patty secret formula, but he uses Bikini Bottom's love for the burgers to enslave them all in a dictatorship. Nevertheless, Plankton is still capable of change in this classic cartoon, as one plot twist no one saw coming revealed that Plankton and Krabs used to be best friends.