The 15 Best Scooby-Doo Villains, Ranked

Hanna-Barbera Productions has cranked out numerous cartoons over the decades. Many of them have been lost to the annals of time, like “Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles,” however, there’s no denying the studio produced some all-time classics, and few have been as enduring as “Scooby-Doo.” 

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” debuted in 1969 and had a solid, repeatable format: The talking Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, along with his pals — Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred — drive around solving mysteries. The gang comes across some spooky locale and gets told that a ghost or monster of some kind is freaking everyone out. After some shenanigans, they capture the creature, only to pull off the mask to reveal it was a regular human being all along. However, the key to Scooby-Doo’s longevity is that the franchise is constantly changing, whether it’s animation styles or comedic sensibilities. 

Scooby and the gang have faced many antagonists over the years, and some definitely leave more of a mark than others. Some have awesome designs while others present unique challenges for the meddling kids to overcome. So take a trip down memory lane with us to look back at the best Scooby-Doo villains from across the franchise’s history… if you dare. 

The original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” truly deserves its kudos for making iconic monsters out of pretty simple designs. The Green Ghosts, aka the Phantom Shadows, aka the Giggling Green Ghosts, are about as simple as you can get. In the episode, “A Night of Fright is No Delight,” there are two ghosts haunting a manor, trying to scare anyone who would come inside. In the end, it turns out to be the attorney duo of Cuthbert Crawls and Cosgood Creeps, so they could keep the inheritance of Colonel Beauregard Sanders all to themselves. 

The Green Ghosts have been one of the most enduring Scooby-Doo foes. Notably, the ghosts appeared again in the “Supernatural”https://www.slashfilm.com/”Scooby-Doo” crossover episode, “Scoobynatural.” The Winchesters get transported into a television set and go into the episode, “A Night of Fright is No Delight.” A ghost gets a much darker interpretation here, becoming a genuine Phantom Shadow and actually killing and dismembering people. It’s a fun deviation of what fans know about the Green Ghosts, but the plot probably warrants a greater reaction than just “Ruh-roh!”

“Be Cool, Scoody-Doo!” updated the franchise with a more modern sense of humor, and that’s perfectly reflected in the episode, “Doo Not Disturb.” The gang checks into a hotel that’s haunted by The Ghost of Mother, the hotel manager’s deceased matriarch. It turns out to be the manager’s brother behind the mask, who wanted to lower the value of the hotel, so his sibling would be willing to sell it. 

There’s something inherently funny about this ghost’s design, as she’s literally just someone’s mom making sure the rules are enforced, even “Tsk, tsk, tsking” Shaggy and Scooby while wagging her finger as they disobey her commands. Still, there’s no denying how terrifying her perpetual scowl and glowing red eyes are. For some folks, the worst thing they can imagine is their mother telling them to eat their vegetables from beyond the grave, and that’s precisely what we get here. 

Old Iron Face from “The Scooby-Doo Show” episode, “The Creepy Case of The Iron Face,” already has a pretty slick design. The legend is that a convict welded an iron mask onto his face, and now he’s breaking other prisoners out from Skull Island. It turns out to be Mama Mione all along, but the reason Old Iron Face makes this list is due to one of the coolest climaxes to any “Scooby-Doo” episode ever.

You see, Old Iron Face breaks convicts out by placing them inside mechanical sharks and riding them to freedom. This leads to the villain getting into a water-skiing showdown with Shaggy and Scooby, as they all ride the metal sharks. It’s so over-the-top and ridiculous that we can’t help but love it. You might think this is when the franchise jumped the shark (due to literally bringing sharks into the mix), but it couldn’t be further from the truth. The show still had plenty of gas left in the tank.

It was only a matter of time until Scooby and friends had to contend with actual monsters, which is a big part of the fun in 1988’s “Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School.” Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy-Doo (ugh) become the gym teachers at a school where the students are the children of the Wolfman, Dracula, and other characters from the best Universal monster movies ever. They’re legitimate monsters, not just lawyers in masks. Since a movie with real monsters needs a devilish foe, we get the introduction of Revolta and her assistant, the Grim Creeper. 

Both are genuinely freaky-looking for a kids’ movie: Revolta has four arms and rotting skin, while the Grim Creeper is basically a sentient potato that’s been left on the counter for too long. While Revolta’s ultimate goal is to kidnap the students, she proves just how powerful she is by creating an evil doppelgänger of Shaggy. It’s a shame these two have been confined to the one movie after all these years because there’s a ton of potential with them. 

“The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo” is a criminally underrated addition to the character’s lore. It had a 13-episode run in 1985 where Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Scrappy-Doo, and Flim Flam (don’t ask) unleash 13 ghosts that wreak havoc on the world, and it’s up to them to retrieve them all. There are some fiendishly cool ghosts here but none more so than Zomba from the episode, “That’s Monstertainment.” 

Zomba has the ability to trap people in movies and TV shows, even trapping our heroes into the wonderfully-titled classic horror film, “The Son of the Bride of the Ghost of Frankenstein.” Maybe that’s a big reason why a writer for a film news site holds her so dear. That’s a cool power to have, assuming you’re able to escape eventually. Zomba’s exactly what we want out of a ghoulish “Scooby-Doo” villain: She has cool powers and a memorable design, making for an entertaining 22 minutes of television.

Remember what we said earlier about simple designs sometimes being the best? That’s the case with the Ghost of Captain Cutler, one of the very first antagonists Scooby-Doo and Mystery Incorporated had to contend with. He’s a ghost in a deep sea diving suit that glows yellow, leaving irradiated footprints everywhere he went, and that’s all you really need to have an iconic villain.

His design is instantly recognizable as belonging to the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, which is probably why he’s shown up in other TV shows and comics since. His reveal is also pretty neat since underneath the mask of the Ghost of Captain Cutler is … Captain Cutler. He faked his own death to steal yachts, proving that the person behind the mask could truly be anyone. Granted, he does lose some aura points considering Shaggy’s the one who realizes his true identity before Velma does.

Professor Huh? from “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo” is the villainous alter-ego of Donald Jones, Fred’s father. This gives him a personal connection to Mystery Inc., as well as conflicting feelings within Fred as to whether he should apprehend his own family. “Be Cool, Scooby-Doo” may have been more known for its humor, but the Professor Huh? episodes get downright psychological. 

Even without being family, Professor Huh? has an awesome way of throwing people off his tracks. He speaks intelligibly and leaves behind seemingly random clues no one could solve. His actions are completely random so that no one is able to guess what his next move is going to be. Donald Jones is incredibly smart, and he knows the best way to avoid run-ins with the Scooby gang is not to play their game. It makes him a dangerous opponent, but perhaps there’s still a hint of humanity left inside him to reconnect with his son…

“Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase” remains one of the best Scooby-Doo movies and a fascinating time capsule of Y2K-era technology. The gang visits an old friend who has developed a video game. Unfortunately, his game also serves as a host to a “phantom virus” that comes to life, and they all get transported into the game itself. Their only means to escape is to finish playing the game. 

The Phantom Virus is a fun villain, even if the whole exercise feels like an excuse to promote the “Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase” video game. Still, this villain’s a nice escape from the usual monsters and ghouls they usually contend with (even if they’re only disguises). Perhaps “Cyber Chase” was ahead of the curve in some ways, showing all the ways technology can backfire on users. In the age of social media, a phantom virus is the least of our worries.

There’s something to be said about coming up with the perfect names for all of the Scooby-Doo villains. Sure, they can be named something that’s just an apt descriptor, like Ghost Clown or Headless Specter. But “The San FranPsycho” is absolutely perfect. It sounds like it should be the title for a bad Asylum movie we’d watch 10 times just for how hilariously awful it is. As it stands, we have to contend with the monster from “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?”

The San FranPsycho has a dark backstory: He was an inmate at Alcatraz who tried to escape but was eaten by sharks in the waters. He’s returned to attack athletes in the Grind Games. The San FranPsycho’s monstrous visage is juxtaposed wonderfully by the reveal that it’s little, ol’ Rutie Banez, who couldn’t compete in the Grind Games herself because she was bad at skateboarding. Maybe she should’ve gone into costume design rather than extreme sports.

After being on the air for so many decades, it only makes sense the “Scooby-Doo” franchise would try its hand at a “Friday the 13th” homage. The gang winds up at a camp where there’s a legend of a counselor from long ago falling off a cliff and going insane. The Woodsman was born, even if it did turn out to (yet again) be a guy in a mask.

What makes the Woodsman so terrifying among all Scooby-Doo villains is he’s genuinely a mix of Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th” and Freddy Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” He sports rotting green skin and carries an axe with him. It’s not just for show either, as he swings it wildly, clearly willing to hurt anyone who gets in his way. The Woodsman is a slasher villain in the “Scooby-Doo” universe, and his presence makes us realize how awesome it would be to get an R-rated, gory Scooby-Doo movie at some point, where a villain like the Woodsman could really let loose. 

Speaking of R-rated “Scooby-Doo” movies, we almost got one with the 2002 version written by James Gunn that had a bunch of jokes cut to give it a far more family-friendly rating. Even if there are fewer adult jokes, the movie’s a hoot. While the main antagonist turns out to be Scrappy-Doo, who turned evil after the gang abandoned him, we hold a special place in our hearts for the Luna Ghost.

This villain kicks off the movie, turning out to be Old Man Smithers, but if you’re going to have a live-action Scooby-Doo movie for the first time, you can’t afford not to have a killer design for your first ghost. That’s probably why he was used in most of the film’s marketing; he just looks so cool. And not for nothing, but the gang shortly disbands after capturing the Luna Ghost after growing increasingly disillusioned with how repetitive their roles have become. So in a way, the Luna Ghost did what no other Scooby-Doo villain has done: Break apart the Scooby gang. 

No one would blame you if your main memory from “Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Curse” is the Hex Girls singing, “I’m a Hex Girl.” That song is an absolute bop, and we crank it every Halloween. But the film also deserves credit for giving the Scooby gang one of its most formidable foes yet, namely the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft.

This was part of that era of Scooby-Doo movie home releases where the gang had to deal with actual monsters. Sarah was killed centuries ago for witchcraft, and when her spirit’s freed, she seeks to destroy the world for having wronged her. It’s kind of a miracle the good guys win in the end, seeing as how Sarah has actual powers, like being able to turn pumpkins into monsters. It speaks to the power of the gang’s friendship they manage to subdue her because Sarah may have actually succeeded in wreaking havoc globally had they not been around to stop her. 

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” ventures into “Event Horizon” territory with the Spooky Space Kook, and honestly, his design is sublime. He’s a ghost in a space outfit with a haunting laugh. All you can see from the helmet is a skull. This is the kind of horror design you expect to see out of a cosmic horror movie, not a children’s cartoon from the 1960s. 

It’s easy to see why he became a fan-favorite. Look at him. He’s amazing. It’s always amazing in the original cartoon how many people are trying to pull off a real estate scam or something when they could probably make a ton of money building costumes and designing special effects. These people are geniuses and don’t realize it. As far as the Spooky Space Kook, he’s continued popping up in Scooby-Doo media, occasionally with his helmet in the background of a scene as a sly Easter egg. Even when he’s not the main villain, the Space Kook’s outfit is simply iconic. 

When you read through a list of the best Scooby-Doo villains, you probably expect certain entries. And it wouldn’t be a proper list without mentioning the Creeper, who’s probably the monster most people think of when Scooby-Doo comes up. The design simply screams “classic Scooby-Doo antagonist.” He’s a hunched-over monster with green skin. He may be a simplified version of Frankenstein’s monster, sans neck bolts, but it gets the job done. It’s a simple, effective look, and the Creeper has basically become the de factor poster child for the franchise’s bad guys.

The Creeper’s look is so good it keeps coming back up. For example, the gang runs into the Creeper when they’re inside a video game in “Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase,” only it’s a real digital monster rather than Mr. Carswell in a mask. The Creeper may not be the most powerful monster. He doesn’t even have any special abilities, but he’s become intrinsically linked to the franchise by pure aesthetic alone. 

It’s hard to over-exaggerate what a seismic shift “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” felt like at the time it came out. The “Scooby-Doo” franchise was entering a bold new era after being largely absent from the zeitgeist throughout the 1990s, and this time, the monsters were real. Yes, the gang had met real monsters before like in “Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School,” but those stories tended to feel non-canon and inconsequential. “Zombie Island” was a whole different story, with the best villains in the entire franchise: Lena Dupree and Simone Lenoir. 

“Zombie Island” took cues from “The Twilight Zone” in upending audience’s expectations with real monsters. You think the zombies are just people in masks at first, only for it to be revealed that they’re real zombies. Not only that, but we assume Lena and Simone are virtuous at first, only for them to come out as the true antagonists, transforming into monstrous cat creatures that need to absorb others’ life forces to sustain themselves. Their cat visages are genuinely frightening, and it’s a fascinating reversal that the zombies were trying to warn the gang to stay away from them. Simone and Lena exist in a class all their own, and they’re the villains all other Scooby-Doo foes should aspire to.