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You might have seen several human and Pokemon villains come and go as the story has progressed in the franchise's world. While some are only kept to fulfill the role of a filler, some show immense potential and manage to leave a lasting impact on the whole community.
Every villain is not necessarily a human being, as sometimes Pokemon can act in evil ways too. There are no limits to what a corrupted mind can think of doing. From ending the world to ruling over a region or capturing Legendaries and their powers, these villains have tried it all.
Over the past three decades, Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the Pokemon franchise, has written and designed enough materials for fans to enjoy and explore. Inside these materials is a long list of human and Pokemon villains that have shown the potential to either change or end the world.
Although it is a tough task to choose only 10 out of the many characters, we are going to discuss some of the most powerful villains in the entire series in this article.
Even though the vast majority of these characters are, at the bare minimum, fun to watch, some of them were much more successful than their peers in enacting their respective plans.
Powerul Pokemon villains like Giovanni in the franchise, ranked
10) Malamar
The self-aware villain of the Pokemon XY, Malamar can be seen repeatedly throughout the franchise as a staple antagonist. Its main goal is to take control of the entire world through its ability to manipulate people.
Malamar is seen hypnotizing different humans, trainers, and Pokemon, including most of the recurring main and side characters of the franchise. Team Rocket duo Jessie and James, along with Officer Jenny and Pikachu, get hypnotized by Malamar.
It later joins forces with two other Malamars and goes on a mission to hypnotize the greatest scientists of the Kalos region.
9) Ghetsis
Across Pokemon Black and White and their two sequels, Team Plasma was seen regulating several schemes by using Pokemon villains. With the goal of ruling and gaining absolute control over Unova, Ghetsis, one of the leaders used the group’s resources and powers for his own personal plan.
He gained control over the dual-type Dragon and Ice Legendary Pokemon Kyurem in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, and was about to achieve his villainous plans.
8) Lysandre
The leader of Team flare, Lysandre became a fan-favorite villain after his appearance in the X/Y video games and animated series. In the anime, he was almost a hair’s breadth away from achieving his evil plans in reality.
Lysandre made a twisted plan to cleanse the world of wrongdoing but by destroying the entire world - if there is no world there will be no problems.
With the purpose of harnessing Mega Evolution energy through the legendary Pokemon Zygarde, Lysandre almost achieved his goals. He also managed to create a copy of Zygarde as a Pokemon villain by transforming his Megalith, which almost defeated the heroes.
7) Cyrus
Cyrus is the leader of Team Galactic, and the main purpose of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum is to defeat him. With a poor relationship with his parents, a secluded lifestyle, and a broken personality, Cyrus grew disgusted with the world and made plans to get the power of the Creation Trio and end the universe to start a newer and better one.
In the Pokemon Platinum version of the game, Cyrus as a Pokemon villain managed to fulfill most of his plans in reality. It took almost full control over Dialga and Palkia before the intervention of Giratina. The punishment he faced also basically aligned with his main purpose of building a better world as he was sent to the Distorted World which held many possibilities.
6) Necrozma
While the franchise’s most villains are humans, the Prism Pokemon Necrozma is one of the few villains that breaks the stereotype. Necrozma served the role of the Pokemon villain in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The super powerful Pokemon was supposed to spread life through its light throughout the entire universe but got imprisoned by the Ultra Megalopolis.
Shortly after being imprisoned, Necrozma got corrupted and the Ultra Megalopolis people could not detain others any longer. Before escaping to space, it soaked its homeworld’s light entirely. Later, it also managed to achieve its Ultra Necrozma form and boost its power to an entirely new level.
5) Zero
The main Pokemon villain of the movie Pokemon Giratina & the Sky Warrior, Zero planned on manipulating a Legendary's powers. Its motive was to harness the powers of Giratina and dominate the Reserve World.
While the dual-type Ghost and Dragon Legendary Pokemon villain Giratina was wreaking havoc and devastation, Zero became successful at stealing its abilities and gaining control over its powers. If there wasn't an intervension, he would have become a god-like being by destroying the world and taking full control over the other realm.
4) Oakley
Oakley is the younger sister of the Pokemon Heroes movie’s secondary villain, Annie. With a dangerous ambition of winning and an attitude of not taking the backseat, the latter took off to take over the world.
She took the Legendary Latios under her control and used it tactically like a Pokemon villain to control the water of Alto Mare city. It didn’t end there, and in the ordeal of taking over the world, Oakley resurrected different fossilized Pokemon, and the terrorizing havoc she manifested resulted in the death of Latios later.
3) Butler
Appearing in several anime series, video games, and theatrical content, Team Magma has been successful in leaving a lasting impact on the fans. Pokemon’s sixth movie, Jirachi: Wish Maker, has Butler as a cunning antagonist. After failing to create a Groudon from a fossil, Butler was exiled from Team Magma for his failure.
Later in the film, Butler was seen manipulating Jirachi, the wish-granting Pokemon, to bring the Groudon fossil back to life. While resurrecting it, some berserk Pokemon villain resembling it came to life instead, and destroyed everything from its path forests to settlements, while consuming other Pokemon and humans. It wrecked havoc and chaos throughout the area with its long tentacles.
2) Mewtwo
Mewtwo as a Pokemon villain is an extremely powerful character. It was not born or hatched out of an egg but it is a creation of genetic manipulation of Mew.
Mewtwo, after understanding its situation, destroyed the laboratory it was created in along with the scientists that created it. It later created an army of other cloned Pokemon and declared an all-out war against the world’s best trainers.
The battle it had with its origin Pokemon, Mew, turned into a stone by Ash as a result of collateral damage. Mewtwo was shown so powerful that it managed to successfully erase the memories of all the parties involved in the event.
1) Giovanni
Team Rocket and their leader Giovanni have had a lasting impact on Pokemon franchise fans throughout the years. Several criminal organizations came and went by in the franchise but none were capable of doing what Team Rocket did.
As the very first antagonist in the franchise, Giovanni and his underlings have repeatedly shown up in the series and achieved some great villainous feats.
Avoiding capture consistently, Giovanni has pulled up nearly impossible tasks like capturing a number of Legendaries, the genetic creation of Mewtwo, taking full control of the Goldenrod City, and many more mischievous acts behind the scenes.
