| “ | Hahaha! Only what every clown worth his floppy shoes wants... to make people laugh! Then drain their positive energy like a sponge at a pool party! Is that so wrong? | „ |
| ~ Zombozo to Ben during their first encounter, when the latter asks him what he wants. |
Herbert J. Zomboni, better known as Zombozo, is a major antagonist in the Ben 10 franchise.
He is a psychic vampire clown who posed a major threat to Ben Tennyson due to his fear of clowns. Despite being having only one appearance in the original show, he played a key role in introducing the Circus Freak Trio, who became recurring villains. He would later return in Ultimate Alien and Omniverse.
In his first appearance, he was voiced by John Kassir. In his subsequent appearances, he was voiced by John DiMaggio, who also voiced Joker in Batman: Under the Red Hood.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General/Background[]
- While the Ben 10 franchise has massively high heinous standards with the likes of Vilgax, Zs'Skayr, Eon, Aggregor or Maltruant, Zombozo manages to stand out due to draining hundreds of people of their positive energy to the point of nearly killing them, his explicit intent to do the same to millions more people, his personal villainy towards Ben and Gwen, infecting people with the Zombie Clown virus, and his lower resources in comparison.
- Although Omniverse revealed that he was once a school cafeteria worker who was mistreated by the children in there, got bit by a zombie and being left to die until a circus rescued him, which resulted him in turning into a half-undead being who needs to feed on emotions to survive, this doesn't make him tragic or sympathetic as he is shown to be sadistic at devouring the emotions of his victims, while it grants him supernatural powers in which he enjoys using to wreak havoc.
- Like most villains in the franchise, he doesn't hesitate to try to kill 10-year-old Ben and Gwen, showing he is willing to hurt children.
- While he does have comedic moments, none of them ever detract from his villainy as it shows how completely sadistic, vile and horrible he really is as opposed to being funny, and his actions are played very seriously.
- Even though his defeats are often silly with him getting defeated by fear when he feeds on it, such as being mocked by Zs'Skayr for being a clown and lost when the former showed his tendrils to scare him, Gwen scaring Zombozo so badly he gave up, and when he felt fear from looking at Toepick that made him lose his power, these moments only show his cowardice.
- While he does not abuse the Circus Freak Trio, there is no indication that he cares for them as anything more than pawns, especially since he never shows concern for them when they are defeated by Ben.
- While he teams up with other villains on occasion like Sevenseven, Charmcaster and Vulkanus, this does not mean he cares for them as his alliances are strictly pragmatic.
Original Series[]
- In "Last Laugh":
- He feeds on his audience's happiness and life energy while they were laughing at his performance, dissecting them into a dull, lifeless state and could potentially age them to a zombie-like state, as what happens to Gwen. He says that he plans to take his show to the big cities and do the same to millions of people.
- He kidnaps several people, including Gwen as a "snack for the road".
- He takes advantage of Ben's fear of clowns to sadistically torment him with nightmarish illusions and even shows him what he did to Gwen just to torture him further. Naturally, he pays for it when Ben becomes Ghostfreak and turns the tables on him.
Ultimate Alien[]
- In "Hit 'Em Where They Live":
- After Ben's identity is exposed to the public, Zombozo puts a bounty on Ben's parents sending criminals everywhere to kill them.
- He mentiones that he killed and buried someone before.
- He tries to kill Ben, Gwen, and Kevin by spraying them with acid.
- He kidnaps Ben's mother and forces Gwen to watch her hanging on a tight rope that soon catches on fire, which would kill her.
- He only calls off the bounty when Gwen threatens him in her Anodite form, not because it's the right thing to do.
Omniverse[]
- In "Something Zombozo This Way Comes":
- He creates the Airborne Clown Virus hidden in a set of false teeth that bite the victim, turning them into Zombie Clowns.
- He feeds on people's fears to regain his power and even frightens Ben again to make himself more powerful than ever.
- He escapes arrest by using a cannon to launch himself away, getting away with his crimes, making him a Karma Houdini.
Trivia[]
- His 2016 reboot counterpart does not count as Pure Evil, as he has too many comedic moments—more than the original version—that detract from his villainy, and redeems himself in "Ben 10,010," which takes place in the future.
- He is one of the only four Ben 10 Pure Evil villains to be human, along with Aloysius Animo, Eon and Joseph Chadwick (before his mutation).
External Links[]
- Zombozo on the Villains Wiki
- Zombozo on the Ben 10 Planet Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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