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Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu features some surprisingly dark and cruel villains for an animated LEGO series, and some of them go above and beyond being thoroughly evil to the core.

The Overlord

  • The Overlord, also known as the Golden Master and the Crystal King, is the overarching Big Bad of the series and the greatest primordial evil to haunt Ninjago, who endlessly warred with the First Spinjitzu Master before being banished. Desiring revenge, the Overlord infected a snake with his evil and had it bite the young son of his nemesis, making him responsible for all the death and destruction caused by the Great Devourer and Lord Garmadon. Resurfacing in the present, the Overlord manipulates Garmadon into bombarding the world with Dark Matter missiles to tip the balance between good and evil, before possessing him to personally convert all of Ninjago into his corrupted slaves. Returning as a Computer Virus, the Digital Overlord creates the Nindroid army to steal Lloyd's Golden Power and subjugate all life under his apocalyptic might. Reemerging once again to turn Harumi into his latest puppet, the Overlord mines Vengestone to create warriors from the material and begin his conquest anew, setting out to corrupt the power of Creation itself and crystallize the people of Ninjago into his zombified slaves. Endlessly desiring to upset the balance and overrun the realm with his nightmarish rule, the Overlord will always return to complete his vicious purpose, exploiting whoever he can in order to reduce existence to black nothing.
  • "Hunted" (Season 9): The Iron Baron is the master of the Dragon Hunters, the current inhabitants of the Realm of Oni and Dragons. Leading an expeditioninto the Oni Lands years ago only to find the demons mysteriously gone, the Baron killed everyone in his party to keep this a secret, using the fear of the Oni to keep his followers in line. The Baron leads the hunters in subjugating the dragons, cruelly hunting and enslaving the sapient creatures for food, work, or entertainment in death matches, and threatens death to any who disobey him. When the Ninja are stranded in the realm, the Baron tries to use them to capture dragons, before relentlessly pursuing them and Faith for daring to betray him. Ultimately aiming to claim the Dragon Armor of the First Spinjitzu Master, the Baron intends to use it to control the Firstbourne, the "mother of all dragons" whose children he has been slaughtering for years, to secure his rule for all time.
  • "March of the Oni" (Season 10): The Omega is the leader of a race of beings who live for destruction known as the Oni. The Omega desires to reverse creation itself and has plans to transform the 16 realms of Ninjago into lifeless worlds. Releasing his soldiers and powers upon Ninjago City, the Omega converts the citizens into lifeless statues, intending to expand this across the entire world. Facing off against Lord Garmadon, the Omega mocks his insecurities about his struggles with good and evil and psychologically messes with him for not being "Oni".
  • "Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu — The Ice Chapter" (Season 11): General Vex, "The Formless", is a formling from the Never-Realm who lacked his people's shapeshifting gift. Leaving in resentment yet blaming his tribe for his "exile", Vex encountered a stranded Zane and wiped his memory, transforming him into the Ice Emperor and having him freeze his tribe. Forcing the noble King Grimfax into their service on pain of death, Vex manipulated the Ice Emperor into a tyrannical reign of the Never-Realm for over six decades, wiping out all but one of the yetis; freezing resources in an endless winter; and sending Grimfax to kill the people of the Great Lake, leading to the Hearth Fire being extinguished and the villagers, including many children, almost freezing to death. Petty and vindictive, Vex even attempts to kill Zane after he regains his memories in a final act of spite.
  • "Master of the Mountain" (Season 13) & "Crystalized" (Season 15): The Skull Sorcerer, in truth King Vangelis, and Hazza D'ur are the titular tyrants of Shintaro Mountain. The king of the Ivory City and an ancient necromancer whose soul was bound to his skull, respectively, the two united when Vangelis sought a way to ensure his prosperity. Together, the two raised an undead army and relentlessly hunted down the Geckles and Munce tribes living beneath the mountain, enslaving them to mine Vengestone for the Overlord. When the two tribes begin to unite against Vangelis, Hazza D'ur resurrects the vicious dragon Grief-Bringer, threatening to slaughter them all unless the Ninja surrender and re-enslaving the tribes even after they accept the offer. Vangelis even rejects his own daughter when she attempts to stop his cruel reign, allowing her to fall down the same pit he implicitly used to kill several of his own soldiers. After Hazza D'ur is destroyed, Vangelis is recruited into the Council of the Crystal King and directly aids the Overlord in ravaging the realm, using the army created from his Vengestone to turn all of Ninjago into crystallized zombies.
  • "Seabound" (Season 15): Prince Kalmaar is the cruel prince of Merlopia who wishes to wage war on the surface and conquer it with the evil snake deity, Wojira. To this end, he initially abuses his servants so as to find a way to awaken it with a special amulet. When the Ninja get involved in his plot he murders his father, King Trimaar, framing the Ninja for it and only keeping his adoptive brother, Benthomaar, alive out of pragmatism. When Kalmaar, now king, finally awakens Wojira, he takes control of it and uses its power to create a tsunami to flood Ninjago City, then has his soldiers attack to kill any survivors; when Bentho aids the Ninja in fighting him, Kalmaar attempts to kill him personally while taunting him about his adopted status and that their father should've left him to die when they met him.