| “ | Time to die, Chosen One! | „ |
| ~ Skullmaster |
Skullmaster is the main antagonist of the 90s adventure cartoon series Mighty Max based on the Toyline of the same name as well as the titular protagonist's arch-enemy. He is a Lumerian sorcerer, a former apprentice of Virgil before he sought to posses the cosmic cap to make himself a god and remake the world in his image.
He once ruled the world in the past with his dark magic, only to be imprisoned in the Underworld by the previous owner of the Cosmic Cap. He was soon set freed later on in the series by the main character.
He was voiced by Tim Curry, who also played It in the 1990s miniseries of the same name, Taurus Bulba in Darkwing Duck, Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Nihilus in The Story Keepers, Slagar the Cruel in Redwall, Von Talon in Valiant, Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Anatoly Cherdenko in Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In general[]
- Despite the series being a Saturday Morning cartoon, Skullmaster is possibly the darkest villain in the series. Showing no comedic moments with full willingness to commit mass murder and even genocide, nor a hint at redeeming qualities as he abused his minions even going so far as to kill them when they're no longer useful and doesn't have a Freudian excuse turning evil due to his hunger for power and desire to rule as a god.
- Skullmaster only treats his pet dragon as a means of transportation, and doesn't show any genuine attachments towards it.
- Is an evil sadist who revels in physical and psychological torture, as well as being a card-carrying villain who is fully aware he's evil and enjoys it. Even stated to the Hydra, a being who embodies the balance between good and evil, that evil is far superior to good.
- It's also revealed that he has have cannibalistic qualities as he plan to devour Max's heart raw and sucking the morrow off of Max's bones.
- Despite Mighty Max's extremely high heinous standards, Skullmaster is easily the most vile and personal enemy that Mighty Max and Co. have faced having set the heinous standards itself. Committing horrific crimes from genocide to condemning souls to a fate worse than death, as well as constantly traumatizing and hurting the title character throughout the show.
- While he proposed a partnership with his old mentor, stating that together they can continue carrying out the ancient knowledge of Lumeria and share power, even praising his strategies, it's clear this is merely self-serving and not because he cares or respects for his former mentor. Because Virgil's destiny is linked with Skullmaster's meaning they're both destined to die, so Skullmaster is only offering him as a means to preserve his own existence.
- He calls out Lava Lord a coward for hiding behind machinery to do his dirty work and states a true warrior should meet sword to sword. This could show he has a semblance of honor, however he himself isn't honorable at all. He's willing to use hostages just to get his way, especially when his life is threatened which that on itself is a dishonorable method, if not a bit cowardly itself. Thus, making him a hypocrite on his claims, which doesn't help that he does other dishonorable things such as breaking promises and deals, cheating in fights where he usually has hostages or minions involved to overwhelm his enemies (especially in a one-on-one battle), and so on and so forth.
- Despite having a one off mentioned or having a master, we never fully know who his master is or what their relationship is like in order to determine whether he's genuine loyal or not it doesn't help that he showed zero care for anyone but himself and only concern with ruling the world for nothing but personal gain and power.
Past[]
- In his quest for power, his first act of evil was destroying the ancient civilization of Lumeria in his pursuit to find the cosmic cap. His actions made him and Virgil the last of their kind.
- Caused the destruction of Atlantis by manipulating the people to give their souls to him to save themselves from disaster. Once they refuse he tumble their walls to flood city, which force them to give up their souls to him only for him to go back on his word abd trapped them in his Crystal and killing their king.
- He condemned the entire Atlanteans to a fate worse than death, being force to live in the crystal under the torment of neither living not dead, all to fuel his Crystal of Souls to make him more powerful.
- Used his Crystal to rule the world for a time, only to be defeated by the previous cap bearer and imprisoned in the Underworld. He usurped the former ruler and enslaved the Lava monsters there using water (which is capable of doing great harm to them) to keep them in line. It was very likely that he killed the former cap bearer when he was trapped in the Underworld.
- He petrified Lava Lord, trapping him in a statue for a capable thousand years as he took control of the underworld as revealed in "Pandora's Box" two part season 2 premier.
Season 1[]
- In the present day, Skullmaster uses a machine to dig through the Earth to free him from his prison. Once he learns that a new holder of the Cap, that being Max, is coming to stop him, he sends a lava monster to kill him which results in the death of a bystander. Even told his minion to bring him his heart so he'll eat it raw.
- Even when he learns that the Cap Bearer was a child, he showed full willingness to kill him, making various death threats to him with full intent of fulfilling his words to show he wasn't bluffing.
- Continues to torment Max throughout the first season despite being imprisoned, from sending monsters after him to tormenting him psychologically out of spiteful hatred.
- Makes various attempts on setting himself free so he can continue his pursuit of power even through cataclysmic means.
- In "Where Sleeping Dragons Lie", he manipulates a cursed sorcerer named Ravendark under the guide of Loki to awaken an ancient dragon so that he'll use the dragon to shatter the Earth in an attempt to set himself free. Not showing any concerns that doing so would result in the destruction of the Earth. This act alone had Ravendark redeemed himself and force to sacrifice himself to stop the Dragon and Skullmaster.
- He also went back on his word with Ravendark in the same episode, where he promised to make Ravendark human again so he doesn't have to transform into a raven whenever he leaves the dragon cave. Skullmaster lies to Ravendark by not lifting his curse at all.
- In "Bring Me The Head of Mighty Max", he uses the power of the crystal to summon the spirits of the Atlanteans he condemned to psychologically torment Max and have him killed. This traumatized Max as a result to this leading to the events of "The Magnificent Seven".
- In "The Magnificent Seven", Skullmaster threatens to kill Max in a thousand painful ways, and putting his corpse on his master's table. He later kills Hanuman and the rest of the Heroes sent to stop him, further traumatizing Max.
Season 2[]
- In the two part season 2 premier "Pandora's Box", Skullmaster holds Virgil captive and used him as a shield to prevent Max from killing him, forced Max to open a portal to the surface which finally released him from his imprisonment.
- Skullmaster went to a indigenous tribe where he manipulates the people into drinking the Dragons Blood which transforms them into lizard monsters thus making them his slaves. Locking up those who refused to drink the Dragon's blood and sent Warmonger to kill one tribesman who escaped.
- Attempt to force Max into drinking the Dragon's Blood so he'll be his slave, later tries to kill the rest of the tribe by attempting to feed them to his pet dragon.
- Skullmaster uses a magic spell to brainwash a innocent child named Maximilian so he'll trick Virgil that he's the real Cap Bearer and lead them to an ancient city so he'll find a Lumerian Book of Spells for his plans to reshape the world to his liking.
- To find the city, he tortures a monk to find a map later kills the monk by making him fall off a snowy mountain, plummeting to his demise.
- Skullmaster grabs Max and threatens to use his sword to carve a big smile on Max's face if Virgil doesn't give him the book. He later abandons Maximilian and leave him to die once he served his purpose.
- Corrupts the Hydra, a being of balance between light and dark, having use a spell to use the evil to overwhelm the lightside of the Hydra thus disrupting the balance. Doing so would result in the end of the world.
- Skullmaster's plan was to manipulate Warmonger into betraying him and kill him so the heroes would force to use a magic spell to defeat Warmonger and the Hydra, the magic spell was one of the key things in defeating Skullmaster which Skullmaster sabotaged.
- In the series finale, Skullmaster repaired his Crystal of Skulls and used it on the mutated tribe to recharge it once they were no longer useful to him. Condemning them to the same fate as he did to the Atlanteans.
- Skullmaster used the Crystal to summon past villains that the heroes faced before to kill them, creating chaos as a result. This lead to the death of Norman, one of Max's companions and his bodyguard.
- Captures Virgil and threaten to kill him if Max doesn't give him the cap, even when Max does do as he ask Skullmaster went back on his word and kills Virgil anyway right in front of Max. He later kills Warmonger once he served his purpose as well
- Skullmaster reveals his plan that he'll use the Winter Solstice to make himself a god, using both the crystal and the cap to remake the world in his image and rule all of time and space, even the past, present, and future. He nearly succeeds in his goal hadn't not for Max sabotaging the process and reset the timeline.
Trivia[]
- In The Adventures of Mighty Max, Skullmaster doesn't count as Pure Evil due to not being heinous enough and doesn't do anything to stand out.
- He, Talon and Professor MacDougal are the only Mighty Max villains to be Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Skullmaster on the Villains Wiki
- Skullmaster on the Mighty Max Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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Skullmaster | Professor MacDougal | Talon | ||