Samurai Jack: one of the most beloved and amazing animated series out there. The Cartoon Network show is full of iconic moments and characters. And let's not forget about some of those amazing fight scenes. But those fights would have meant a lot less without the intense and comical villains behind them.
Samurai Jack is a series full of antagonists, some of them are funny, some of them sad or somber. And yet others lean towards iconic or dramatic. They all have something to give to the show, and that's why we love them all so much.
But you've got to admit, some villains are better than others. So without further ado, here are the ten best villains from the show.
10 The Scotsman
The Scotsman is the first villain on our list. He's a classic example of a character who goes from antagonist to ally. While he may be one of a few characters who have made this transition, he is without a doubt one of the more iconic people of the series.
The Scotsman's large personality dominates the screen, as does his booming voice. It's no wonder he was originally presented as a foe. However, with time he's become a beloved character. So much so that his appearance much later in the series had a heavy impact on us all.
9 The Sirens
The Sirens are one of those antagonists that might be easily underestimated — but that basically is their goal. This antagonistic trio are monsters at heart, yet they can easily masquerade around as beautiful women when they feel so inclined.
It's appropriate that the Sirens follow the Scotsman in this list, given their connection. These four characters had a major confrontation, all in order to save the character for whom the series is named after.
8 The Ultra-Robots
The Ultra-Robots, aka the Ultrabots are a unit of eight robots that are highly intelligent and designed for one purpose: to find and destroy the one and only Samurai Jack. The Ultrabots had a memorable first appearance, as they were all disguised as baskets, believe it or not.
These antagonists were a tough fight for the Samurai, who realized he couldn't damage them by his normal means. Instead, he had to think outside of the box in order to take the lot of them down. But with the help of Extor, their creator, he was able to find a way.
7 The Minions of Set
As you might imagine, given the name, the Minions of Set are a set of three antagonists with an Egyptian look and dog-like characteristics. This includes having the head of a black dog. They're demons by every right and find themselves on the opposite of Jack with little effort.
The Minions of Set have a whole variety of powers, from regeneration to enhanced agility. Thankfully for Jack, the Minions of Set also have another enemy to contend with — Ra, the god of the sun. This gives Jack the edge he needed in battle.
6 The Guardian
The Guardian is perhaps one of the more iconic characters from the series. He was an extremely powerful warrior, and it was his duty to guard the time portal. That put him at odds with Jack, who wanted to use the time portal to go back home (naturally).
The Guardian holds the honor of being one of the few people to defeat Samurai Jack in battle, though he too, eventually fell to the will of Aku (as seen in the later series). Still, The Guardian's defeat of Jack proved that he was an immensely talented warrior, and one who was both dedicated and skillful at his job.
5 The Imakandi
The Imakandi are on the very short list of characters who have successfully taken down the famous Samurai Jack. Unlike many of the others who set off against Jack, they had no intention of turning him into Aku.
They're an alien race that lives in the Savannah — or a desert like it, more accurately — and are relentless hunters. They did accept the deal with Aku to hunt Jack, but it seems they were more interested in taking on the hunt itself than by earning the riches he offered. And as mentioned above, they didn't turn the Samurai in.
4 The Daughters of Aku
The Daughters of Aku are seven antagonists that appeared much later in Samurai Jack. They're a group of human-demon hybrids, and they were created and raised with one purpose in mind: to hunt down and kill the Samurai.
The daughters of Aku created a bunch of iconic scenes, from dramatic fights to much more emotional scenes involving Ashi, Jack's future love interest. Their creation, in many ways, changed the name of the game for Jack and his series.
3 The Shinobi
The Shinobi's episode created one of the breathtaking episodes of the entire series. His fight with Jack was one that people still talk about today. With no banter or chit-chat, The Shinobi and the Samurai faced off in what was a beautiful and striking black-and-white battle.
The Shinobi is, as mentioned above, utterly silent. He's also a robot, despite how organic he may appear at times. And of course, he was one of many opponents created and sent off by Aku. All in an attempt to thwart Jack.
2 Scaramouche
Scaramouche is perhaps one of the more vocal antagonists Jack has been forced to face in his time fighting Aku's men. Scaramouche is Aku's number one assassin (or rather, he was), and an android who thinks highly of himself and loves to sing his lines.
Scaramouche's voice is quite literally a weapon and one he puts to good use. And that is why his fights with Jack are so memorable. But that isn't Scaramouche's only advantage in battle — he's an excellent sword fighter, has advanced speed and agility, and can use his head to take over the body of any robot it is placed upon. This makes him rather difficult to take down.
1 Aku
Obviously any list talking about Samurai Jack's antagonists had to include Aku at the top. He's the leading source of evil in the series, and single-highhandedly caused Jack to lose everything he cared about. If not for Aku, Jack would have been content to live out his life in his timeline.
Aku was born in the Black Mass of Darkness and is quite literally an evil and shapeshifting demon. So it's probably no surprise that he was able to take over the world and rule it for as long as he has. Recall that if not for Jack, Aku would have likely continued to do so for eons more.