Times Simpsons Characters Went Too Far

In the small, vaguely-located town of Springfield live the Simpsons. Dad and mom Homer and Marge, and their kids, troublemaker Bart, studious Lisa, and toddler Maggie. Together, the little family goes on a variety of zany adventures, involving a host of colorful characters from the neighborhood.  

Created by Matt Groening, "The Simpsons" debuted as an animated short on "The Tracey Ullman Show" on April 19, 1987. Subsequently, "The Simpsons" debuted as a half-hour sitcom on December 17, 1989. Three decades later, the show is still going strong, wining 34 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards, and 2 Peabody Awards along the way. Today, the series is considered the most influential adult animated show of all time, one that forever changed the medium.

"The Simpsons" form of comedy makes extensive use of satire in its depiction of American culture. For much of its history, it has not been afraid to push buttons when it comes to dramatic storylines. Sometimes that same desire to push the envelope resulted in storylines that took quite shocking turns. Here are 14 times the main characters from "The Simpsons" went too far. 

If there was ever a character on "The Simpsons" who deserves the title of "supervillain," it would be the richest man in Springfield, and Homer's boss, C. Montgomery Burns. But even supervillains are rarely shown to be as evil as Mr. Burns, who at times has displayed a terrifying indifference to the damage he causes to others in his quest to further enrichen himself.

Mr. Burns makes most of his money from the nuclear power plant, where Homer works. All that nuclear activity naturally results in a lot of dangerous radioactive waste which must be disposed of — often in unethical ways. In "Marge vs. the Monorail" (Season 4, Episode 12) we seen Burns and his lackey Smithers trying to think of a place to dump barrels of nuclear waste. When Smithers suggests using the local playground as a dumping ground, Burns dismisses the suggestion with, "All those bald children are arousing suspicion. To the park!"

The implication is clear. Burns had in the past deliberately stored waste-emitting nuclear radiation near areas where children visit. Hair falling out is one of the most well-known signs of radiation poisoning, and it is chilling to consider an unknown number of kids in Springfield might be suffering from it — come to think of it, Kearney is hair-challenged, and Wendell has never seemed very healthy —  thanks to Burns.  

Early episodes of "The Simpsons" took some pretty daring, surprisingly-grounded stabs at exploring the relationship between mankind and religion. In "Bart sells his soul" (Season 7, Episode 4), we see a surprisingly dark take on this theme, which becomes all the more darker considering 10-year-old Bart was at the center of the narrative (as he was originally supposed to be for the entire show).

In the episode, Bart shows scant consideration for the niceties of religious matters, and cheerfully sells his soul to Milhouse for 5 dollars in the form of a written contract. At first, Bart is happy with the transaction. But soon he feels something is amiss. His pets won't play with him, he can't see his breath on cold surfaces, and Bart is unable to summon laughter while watching his favorite cartoon.

Finally, Bart is convinced he really did lose his soul, and imagines he won't be able to get into heaven without it. After a long, arduous adventure, Bart is finally able to regain his soul with the help of Lisa. He dreams of arriving in heaven with his soul next to him, and is finally able to sleep in peace.

Mr. Burns has done lots of messed up things over the years in his quest for wealth and power. But no one story does a better job of illustrating how evil Burns can be than the two-part saga "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" which aired as the finale of Season 6 and the first episode of Season 7. 

Throughout the first part of the 2 episodes, we see Burns slowly turning every person in Springfield against him due to his callous behavior. He robs the local elementary school of their recently-discovered oil well, and Burns' drilling operations cause chaos throughout the town. Despite mass protests, Burns goes about his final crowning achievement: blocking out the sun so the only source of energy in the town would be his power plant. 

All this leads to Mr. Burns getting shot by an unknown assailant, and every person in town is a suspect. Although Burns survives the assault, he proves he has learned nothing about becoming a better person, since one of the first things he demands after waking up is that a baby (who he tried to steal candy from) be thrown in jail. Stay classy, Mr. Burns.

2007's "The Simpsons Movie" saw the show raise the stakes for Homer's family and their entire town with a cross-country chase to undo a sinister government conspiracy to destroy Springfield. Unfortunately, it seems that the cost of saving the Simpsons household was the capture and detention of a separate, totally innocent family.

When Homer and his family are making their way out of their town as felons, they encounter a shop which carries their photo, and an offer for a large reward for their capture. Thinking fast, Bart changes the look of the people in the photo. 

In the next scene, it is shown that Bart drew a likeness to another family that was in the shop. As a result, the second family gets arrested and is shown to be led away by cops while Homer and Co. make their escape. We never hear from the captured family again and can only assume they had to spend at least some time in prison before being released. Adding insult to injury, Bart chuckles after seeing the other family get captured. 

Homer's father Abe Simpson was shown to be a strong and capable man in his youth. But old age turned him into a quavering wreck. It did not help that Homer was far too unsympathetic to his father's plight, leading to a grisly moment when Abe suffered serious medical impairment due to Homer's negligence in "Kidney Trouble" (Season 10, Episode 8). 

During a family outing, Abe manages to tag along with Homer and the others for a visit to a ghost town. On the way back, Abe begs for Homer to stop so he can go to the bathroom. But Homer is making such good time that he doesn't want to stop at any restrooms, or even at the "World's Biggest Toilet" exhibition. Abe warns that he cannot wait any longer, but Homer continues to play down the emergency. 

In the next scene, we see Dr. Hibbert explaining that Abe's kidneys have literally exploded from too much pressure. To make matters worse, Homer panics and escapes from the operation where he was supposed to give half his kidneys to his father. It takes Homer losing consciousness during an accident and winding up at the hospital for Hibbert to finally transfer part of his kidney to Abe, saving the latter's life.  

Over the years, Homer has inflicted a lot of physical punishment on Bart. But the way Bart treats Homer is no cakewalk either. There was one time that Bart did something so bad to Homer that he actually felt bad afterwards, in "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" (Season 4, Episode 18).

On April Fool's Day, Bart is annoyed to discover that his pranks are fooling no one in his family. Driven to extreme measures, he shakes a can of beer in a paint shaker. When Homer opens the beer, the resulting explosion knocks down part of the house and inflicts grievous bodily injury on him. 

At the hospital, a prone Homer is told he may never walk again. To make matters worse, a further misadventure places Homer in a coma, and Bart tearfully confesses his part in causing the initial accident that landed his father in this condition. This causes Homer to wake up in a rage and start attacking Bart. Although he appears to make a full recovery, Marge later tells Homer he lost 5% of his brain function due to the whole ordeal. Interestingly, a popular fan theory regarding the episode is that Homer never actually recovered from the coma.  

Marge can generally be relied upon to be the sweetest, most helpful person in Springfield. But steroids can do strange things to a person's mental health. This was made amply clear in "The Strong Arms of The Ma" (Season 14, Episode 9), when Marge takes up professional body building.

After leaving the Kwik-E-Mart, Marge is held up at gunpoint, and her pearl necklace is stolen. Traumatized, Marge becomes a shut-in, out of a fear of constant danger outside. To take her mind off the phobia, Marge starts working out with weights gathering dust in her basement. Soon, Marge starts competing professionally as a body builder, even taking performance-enhancing steroids that make her huge — as well as violent and volatile. 

In a particularly disturbing sequence, we see Marge tell Homer that they are going to get intimate. Homer is visibly nervous and tries to stop her. But Marge won't take "no" for an answer and tells him menacingly, "I wasn't asking." The next morning, Homer walks with a limp, clearly in bad shape after a rough night with the newly-massive Marge.