kids look away these are not your
Saturday morning cartoons hey guys it’s
Stevie from WatchMojo and today we’re
counting down the top 10 darkest
animated shows thank you now Nickelodeon
click here to sign in with your Google
or Facebook account and take the new
trivia quiz on watchmojo.com okay bye
we’re looking at animated TV shows that
deal with dark or disturbing subject
matter as well as those that have a dark
aesthetic let’s take a look number 10
South Park this long-running series may
focus primarily on for young elementary
school-aged boys but it’s anything but
kid-friendly along with its signature
style of merciless satire and parody
South Park pulls no punches with its
subject matter either the show regularly
features death and gore most notably
Kenny’s frequent deaths as well as other
dark themes including child abuse and
rape Cartman in particular is prone to
committing acts that have the potential
to scar adult viewers let alone a child
unfortunate enough to stumble upon the
sitcom number 9 Happy Tree Friends don’t
let the title and animation fool you
this one isn’t for kids either Happy
Tree Friends follows a group of cute
colorful animals whose adventures almost
always turn out decidedly disgusting
the critters escapades almost always
devolve into gory violent messes that if
they don’t end up killing them
consistently cause them gross bodily
trauma while most of the shows on our
list featured dark or violent subject
matter as a part of their presentations
with Happy Tree Friends it’s essentially
the central conceit of the premise
in contrast to our last two entries
Courage the Cowardly Dog is for kids but
it’s no the less dark for it
following the eponymous scaredy dog as
he tries to protect his owners from
various supernatural creatures and
happenings the series takes a lot of
inspiration from horror films both in
its aesthetic and its content
despite the series being a children’s
cartoon the threat of death is
frequently present often from something
unusual or grisly while courage may be a
coward we’re not sure we could be as
brave as he is in the face of such
horrors number 7 Samurai Jack I’ll meet
some weapons let’s get back back to the
past when genndy tartakovsky
surprisingly dark show aired on Cartoon
Network following The Adventures of a
samurai who was transported forward in
time by his evil nemesis aku the series
sees Jack trying to find a way home
while helping those suffering under the
villains rule although the show edges
around showing blood for the most part
by using robots there’s still quite a
bit of violence and occasional moments
of horror the final season delves even
further into dark territory by featuring
more overt death and violence and
showing Jack himself in a notably darker
light this samurai has failed his
purpose and has accepted his fate number
6 Aeon Flux
set in a futuristic dystopia Aeon Flux
follows the eponymous heroine as she
goes on covert and not so covert
missions the shadowy cyberpunk setting
makes for a bleak tone faba missions
Aeon Flux undertakes are often violent
this is because of either their purpose
like assassination or else because they
go wrong or turn out to be something
else entirely with the death tolls of
some episodes climbing into the hundreds
or thousands yun flux herself isn’t
excluded from this either as she’s shown
to die both in the animated shorts and
the series itself
number five gargoyles what could be
strong enough to beat comics and solid
stone one of the darkest Disney cartoons
ever made gargoyles follows a group of
winged creatures who turn to stone
during the day and protect New York City
by night while also uncovering what
became of their people given that most
of it takes place at night the overall
look of the show is dark by default but
the atmosphere is also notably gothic
not only are there fight scenes aplenty
but also the gargoyles past is analogous
to genocide while several of the series
present villains are murderers Disney
went dark alright but it made for a
complex and well-written show still
laughing hunter come meet your doom
number 4 Rick and Morty basically mixed
this with a more contagious flu virus it
should neutralize the whole thing morty
an adult animated sci-fi series rick and
morty follows a drunk genius scientist
and is awkward grandson as they go on
adventures through outer space and other
dimensions Rick and Morty’s adventures
get really dark as the pair of them
though usually Rick are responsible for
countless deaths along the way and to
deal with a lot of mind-blowing
weirdness that proves emotionally
scarring at least Oh Morty speaking of
emotional damage the crap Rick and the
rest of his family put each other
through is almost as bad as they stuffed
the encounter on their adventures that
being said you’d be hard-pressed to find
a more brilliantly written animated
series let’s start oh it gets darker
Morty welcome to the darkest year of our
adventures number three
Batman the Animated Series it doesn’t
concern you
it’s my concern now arguably the
definitive animated version of Batman
the Animated Series may have a little
bit of campy humor but its major
distinguishing feature is how dark it is
created on the heels of Tim Burton’s
Batman films the animated series
features a noir and gothic art style
that relies heavily on shading to match
the visuals the show tackles plenty of
grim subject matter and featured a lot
more violence or at least the threat of
it then you typically see in superhero
cartoons some of the Dark Knight’s
villains were particularly chilling
no we’re not just talking about mr.
freeze but revenge is a dish best served
cold
number two the max I heard you almost
bit off Baker’s finger this time I
didn’t do it based on the Image Comics
series of the same name the max follows
the eponymous character who’s a homeless
man in the real world but also spends
time as his highly muscular colorful
alter-ego in a strange alternate one
called the outback along with the trippy
visuals the max features plenty of
violence and dark subject matter
particularly since the main villain mr.
GaN is a serial rapist gloomy shocking
and thoroughly bizarre the max is almost
the darkest animated show on our list
almost before we unveil our top pick
JT the work crew shuttle it’s it’s I
know resolute this is JT my oh wow
that’s a great offer how about instead I
shuffle the functions of every hole in
your face
[Music]
number one Todd McFarlane’s spawn you
don’t want to do that based on Todd
McFarlane’s comic series of the same
name
naturally spawn follows the titular
demonic hero a former servicemen who is
resurrected in health to fight evil both
hellish and earthly the art style is
thoroughly gritty and sometimes grisly
particularly given the hero’s cadaverous
appearance without his mask the episodes
meanwhile are full of betrayal
corruption murder and death with little
sugarcoating spawns world is a dark one
indeed but hey from the creator of venom
would you expect any less this series
doesn’t hold back and it’s rightfully
earned the distinction of being one of
the greatest comic book cartoons of all
[Music]
I don’t know about you guys but Happy
Tree Friends scarred me for life which
dark animated shows do you love let us
know in the comments below and don’t forget to Like and subscribe
Saturday morning cartoons hey guys it’s
Stevie from WatchMojo and today we’re
counting down the top 10 darkest
animated shows thank you now Nickelodeon
click here to sign in with your Google
or Facebook account and take the new
trivia quiz on watchmojo.com okay bye
we’re looking at animated TV shows that
deal with dark or disturbing subject
matter as well as those that have a dark
aesthetic let’s take a look number 10
South Park this long-running series may
focus primarily on for young elementary
school-aged boys but it’s anything but
kid-friendly along with its signature
style of merciless satire and parody
South Park pulls no punches with its
subject matter either the show regularly
features death and gore most notably
Kenny’s frequent deaths as well as other
dark themes including child abuse and
rape Cartman in particular is prone to
committing acts that have the potential
to scar adult viewers let alone a child
unfortunate enough to stumble upon the
sitcom number 9 Happy Tree Friends don’t
let the title and animation fool you
this one isn’t for kids either Happy
Tree Friends follows a group of cute
colorful animals whose adventures almost
always turn out decidedly disgusting
the critters escapades almost always
devolve into gory violent messes that if
they don’t end up killing them
consistently cause them gross bodily
trauma while most of the shows on our
list featured dark or violent subject
matter as a part of their presentations
with Happy Tree Friends it’s essentially
the central conceit of the premise
in contrast to our last two entries
Courage the Cowardly Dog is for kids but
it’s no the less dark for it
following the eponymous scaredy dog as
he tries to protect his owners from
various supernatural creatures and
happenings the series takes a lot of
inspiration from horror films both in
its aesthetic and its content
despite the series being a children’s
cartoon the threat of death is
frequently present often from something
unusual or grisly while courage may be a
coward we’re not sure we could be as
brave as he is in the face of such
horrors number 7 Samurai Jack I’ll meet
some weapons let’s get back back to the
past when genndy tartakovsky
surprisingly dark show aired on Cartoon
Network following The Adventures of a
samurai who was transported forward in
time by his evil nemesis aku the series
sees Jack trying to find a way home
while helping those suffering under the
villains rule although the show edges
around showing blood for the most part
by using robots there’s still quite a
bit of violence and occasional moments
of horror the final season delves even
further into dark territory by featuring
more overt death and violence and
showing Jack himself in a notably darker
light this samurai has failed his
purpose and has accepted his fate number
6 Aeon Flux
set in a futuristic dystopia Aeon Flux
follows the eponymous heroine as she
goes on covert and not so covert
missions the shadowy cyberpunk setting
makes for a bleak tone faba missions
Aeon Flux undertakes are often violent
this is because of either their purpose
like assassination or else because they
go wrong or turn out to be something
else entirely with the death tolls of
some episodes climbing into the hundreds
or thousands yun flux herself isn’t
excluded from this either as she’s shown
to die both in the animated shorts and
the series itself
number five gargoyles what could be
strong enough to beat comics and solid
stone one of the darkest Disney cartoons
ever made gargoyles follows a group of
winged creatures who turn to stone
during the day and protect New York City
by night while also uncovering what
became of their people given that most
of it takes place at night the overall
look of the show is dark by default but
the atmosphere is also notably gothic
not only are there fight scenes aplenty
but also the gargoyles past is analogous
to genocide while several of the series
present villains are murderers Disney
went dark alright but it made for a
complex and well-written show still
laughing hunter come meet your doom
number 4 Rick and Morty basically mixed
this with a more contagious flu virus it
should neutralize the whole thing morty
an adult animated sci-fi series rick and
morty follows a drunk genius scientist
and is awkward grandson as they go on
adventures through outer space and other
dimensions Rick and Morty’s adventures
get really dark as the pair of them
though usually Rick are responsible for
countless deaths along the way and to
deal with a lot of mind-blowing
weirdness that proves emotionally
scarring at least Oh Morty speaking of
emotional damage the crap Rick and the
rest of his family put each other
through is almost as bad as they stuffed
the encounter on their adventures that
being said you’d be hard-pressed to find
a more brilliantly written animated
series let’s start oh it gets darker
Morty welcome to the darkest year of our
adventures number three
Batman the Animated Series it doesn’t
concern you
it’s my concern now arguably the
definitive animated version of Batman
the Animated Series may have a little
bit of campy humor but its major
distinguishing feature is how dark it is
created on the heels of Tim Burton’s
Batman films the animated series
features a noir and gothic art style
that relies heavily on shading to match
the visuals the show tackles plenty of
grim subject matter and featured a lot
more violence or at least the threat of
it then you typically see in superhero
cartoons some of the Dark Knight’s
villains were particularly chilling
no we’re not just talking about mr.
freeze but revenge is a dish best served
cold
number two the max I heard you almost
bit off Baker’s finger this time I
didn’t do it based on the Image Comics
series of the same name the max follows
the eponymous character who’s a homeless
man in the real world but also spends
time as his highly muscular colorful
alter-ego in a strange alternate one
called the outback along with the trippy
visuals the max features plenty of
violence and dark subject matter
particularly since the main villain mr.
GaN is a serial rapist gloomy shocking
and thoroughly bizarre the max is almost
the darkest animated show on our list
almost before we unveil our top pick
JT the work crew shuttle it’s it’s I
know resolute this is JT my oh wow
that’s a great offer how about instead I
shuffle the functions of every hole in
your face
[Music]
number one Todd McFarlane’s spawn you
don’t want to do that based on Todd
McFarlane’s comic series of the same
name
naturally spawn follows the titular
demonic hero a former servicemen who is
resurrected in health to fight evil both
hellish and earthly the art style is
thoroughly gritty and sometimes grisly
particularly given the hero’s cadaverous
appearance without his mask the episodes
meanwhile are full of betrayal
corruption murder and death with little
sugarcoating spawns world is a dark one
indeed but hey from the creator of venom
would you expect any less this series
doesn’t hold back and it’s rightfully
earned the distinction of being one of
the greatest comic book cartoons of all
[Music]
I don’t know about you guys but Happy
Tree Friends scarred me for life which
dark animated shows do you love let us
know in the comments below and don’t forget to Like and subscribe
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