When it comes to producing and airing programming for kids, Nickelodeon has been setting the bar pretty high since 1979. It was the first cable network that provided content exclusively for children. And in those decades of seemingly endless TV series, there have been some absolute classics.
But where there are heroes there are bound to be villains, and Nickelodeon has produced some legendary bad guys over the years. While all of them aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, some of them might have been a little too smart for their own good at times. That often caught up with them.
10 Penelope Spectra Was A Subtle Mastermind
Danny Phantom's world was filled with a variety of evil specters and ghosts that caused him no end of problems. A big one was Penelope Spectra, a ghost who had the ability to disguise herself as human, a form she maintained by feeding on people's misery.
While her intelligence didn't always come across in her plans, Spectra always brought the fight to Danny. And she did it with some of the most subtly brilliant plans that Danny Phantom had to contend with.
9 Evil Jimmy Was As Smart As The Real Jimmy
Jimmy Neutron may have been one of the smartest characters in the history of any Nickelodeon series. He was a brilliant inventor, scientist, and adventurer who wasn't afraid to take on virtually any challenge.
As such, it only makes sense that his evil clone would at least be almost as smart as him. While Jimmy was still the more intelligent of the two, that doesn't change the fact that Evil Jimmy was both smart and more than a little Machiavellian.
8 Vlad Plasimus Had A Big Chip On His Shoulder
The biggest thorn in Danny Phantom's side was the villain known as Vlad Plasimus. His real name was Vlad Masters, an equally menacing and evil name. Vlad was reputedly the first human and ghost hybrid to exist, which made him incredibly dangerous.
Vlad was the founder and CEO of VladCo. which made devices for ghosts. Eventually, he became the Mayor of Amity Park and eventually tried to take over the world. This was a ghost hybrid with big aspirations and the mind to match.
7 Squilliam Fancyson Was Cultured & Intelligent
For years, it was believed that Squidward Tentacles was the most pretentious and egotistical individual in all of Bikini Bottom. Much to the viewer's surprise, he wasn't, and the guy who was turned out to be infinitely worse.
Squilliam Fancyson took being pretentious to another level. Not only was he more successful and talented than Squidward, but he was also certainly much smarter. Squilliam had Squidward beat at every turn, and SpongeBob was the only reason Squidward ever came out on top.
6 The Almighty Tallest Weren't Just Tall
Zim ended up on Earth in a vain attempt to impress the leaders of his people, the Almighty Tallest. It's important to keep in mind that they achieved control over their people by quite literally being the tallest out of all of them. That's as good a way of determining leadership as any other.
While the Almighty Tallest weren't necessarily the best leaders in the universe, they were still the smartest out of all of their people. Then again, that might not be saying much as Zim and the rest of his kind weren't a particularly difficult benchmark to pass.
5 Baxter Stockman Defined Being A Mad Scientist
In a world filled with various mutations, it's safe to assume that there were more than a few mad scientists wandering around. Baxter Stockman was one of the maddest of them all. The man did end up turning himself into a fly monster.
That doesn't change the fact that Baxter was an absolute genius. An unhinged one, but a genius nonetheless. Regardless of who he was working for or with, he was often one of the greatest threats the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ever faced.
4 Unalaq Was A Savvy Politician
There were a lot of villains throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, most of which were other fighters and benders. But Unalaq was an entirely different kind of threat, one that Korra didn't see coming.
Unalaq was, first and foremost, a brilliantly savvy politician, one that put his mind and charm to use manipulating everyone around him. That made him stand out among the various threats both Aang and Korra faced over the years.
3 Kraang Was Literally A Brain
Anyone who has been following the Turtles for a long time knows exactly who Kraang is. This extradimensional threat came to Earth with the expressed goal of conquering it and enlisted the help of people like Shredder to do it.
Honestly, if it weren't for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he inevitably would have succeeded. Kraang was quite literally a brain with a face who talked. He was intelligence personified and wasn't afraid to brag about it.
2 Sheldon J. Plankton Was A Failure, But A Smart One
The life of Sheldon J. Plankton was disheartening at every turn. He was constantly bested by Eugene Krabs and SpongeBob SquarePants, which would be disheartening to anyone. Those two don't have enough combined brainpower to run an Easy-Bake Oven.
But Plankton's constant and unrelenting failure doesn't change the fact that he's also an incredibly smart guy. He is easily the smartest individual on the show, if not the entirety of Nickelodeon.
1 Zim Was The Villain Of His Own Story
Being the protagonist of his series doesn't mean that Zim was a good guy. In fact, he was the series' chief and primary villain since his main goal was usually either the enslavement or the destruction of Earth. He would have preferred the enslavement option, of course.
Throughout the course of Invader Zim, this small alien proved how smart he was on several occasions. Zim also proved time and time again that he was a victim of his own hubris. Despite what his opponents thought, Zim was usually the architect of his own destruction.