A definitive ranking of the worst SpongeBob characters from bad to downright evil

If you didn’t watch SpongeBob SquarePants growing up, you didn’t have a childhood. The underwater world of Bikini Bottom was a crazy place where anything could happen, and I’m sure you often wanted to live there too. It seemed like SpongeBob and Patrick spent their days just having endless fun jellyfishing, blowing bubbles, and causing mischief. But alongside all the sunshine and rainbows, there were also a lot of sinister goings on in Bikini Bottom too. From plots to take over the world to continuous bullying, certain characters definitely had their twisted side. So with that in mind, here’s a ranking of the worst characters on SpongeBob, from bad to downright evil.

8. The Dirty Bubble

The Dirty Bubble makes the list because he’s one of the show’s actual villains, but let’s be honest, all you need to do is carry a needle and some soap around with you and you’ll be absolutely fine. He’s pretty harmless really.

7. Man Ray

Another one of the show’s villains, Man Ray wants to take over the world and rule over everyone. He’s short-tempered and temperamental, but loses the urge to commit crimes after SpongeBob converts him using a tickle belt.

6. The Flying Dutchman

So it’s clear that the Flying Dutchman can be a scary, vengeful, sadistic ghost, but a lot of the time he’s just bored and lonely. He enjoys forming friendships with people who have similar interests to him, and he has a strong sense of justice. For example, he has been known to reward people for helping him out and performing good deeds, as well as punishing those who commit horrible crimes.

5. Plankton

Plankton’s main personality trait is that he’s evil, but when you dive into it, I’m not so sure. His main goal in life is to steal Mr Krabs’ secret formula, and occasionally he does try to take over the world, but really he’s just a sad planktonic copepod who never recovered from his friendship breakup with Mr Krabs. He’s also so small that you can easily stop him from doing any actual damage.

You can’t help but feel sorry for Plankton, as he’s often ignored and trampled on by those ten times his size. It’s also revealed that he did play a part in the creation of the Krabby Patty, so you can understand why he’s so angry about Mr Krabs’ success. He also shows his soft side in “Plankton’s Pet”, when he adopts an amoeba called Spot.

Sure, Plankton is egotistical, aggressive and power-hungry, but you can tell he’s just trying to overcompensate for his size. And we’ve all seen that before.

4. Squidward

Ah, Squidward. He’s actually one of my favourite characters, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a complete dick. He’s rude, arrogant, snobby, miserable and bad-tempered, but this just makes him the most relatable. But even I will admit that Squidward is unnecessarily mean to others that he sees as beneath him, such as SpongeBob and Patrick. One of his worst episodes is “Fools in April”, when he cruelly pranks SpongeBob, leaving him physically injured.

But it’s not all bully behaviour, as occasionally Squidward does show that deep down he cares. He often feels genuine guilt if he causes harm and emotional pain to those he attacks, and he tries to make up for it afterwards. He also has been known to show his affection for SpongeBob, and stands up for him in episodes such as “Pizza Delivery” and “Born Again Krabs”. Side note: I’m still not over the fact that he’s not actually a squid.

3. Mr Krabs

We all know Mr Krabs loves money, but he takes his obsession way too far. He’s so greedy and thirsty for cash that he actually treats it better than he does his own daughter and employees. His stinginess means his employees work under terrible conditions, with SpongeBob and Squidward being paid far below minimum wage. In fact, he makes SpongeBob pay him during his first year at the Krusty Krab. He’s also known to severely dock wages over the tiniest of mistakes, like forgetting to put a pickle in a Krabby Patty.

Even worse than the low pay, Mr Krabs actually abuses his employees. In “Fear of a Krabby Patty”, Mr Krabs forces Squidward and SpongeBob to work nonstop 24 hours a day, seven days a week, leaving them exhausted and unwell. In “Squid on Strike”, he gives SpongeBob and Squidward bills instead of paying them, which fine them for any non work related activity such as standing, breathing, and even existing. Honestly, what a horrible man.

2. Mrs Puff

The reason Mrs Puff gets second place is because she literally tried to have SpongeBob killed. In “Demolition Doofus”, SpongeBob accidentally puts Mrs Puff in the hospital after a boating accident. When he comes to visit her in the hospital, she grabs his nose, threatens him, and has to be tranquilised by a doctor to stop her from hurting him. She then persuades SpongeBob to sign up for the dangerous Demolition Derby competition on the pretence of extra credit, with the hope that the other riders will smash into SpongeBob and kill him. When SpongeBob survives the competition and actually looks like he’s going to win, Mrs Puff takes a tractor and tries to crush him herself.

If being an attempted murderer wasn’t bad enough, she’s also a thief, as seen in “No Free Rides”. In this episode she steals SpongeBob’s boat after giving him a drivers license just so she doesn’t have to teach him anymore. In other words, she allows a dangerous driver to be let loose on the roads, endangering the lives of Bikini Bottom’s residents. And then in order to cover up this crime, she results to auto theft. I’m sorry, what?

In conclusion, Mrs Puff should count her blessings that she’s not currently locked up for murder, man slaughter and grand larceny.

1.  Patrick Star

This might be a controversial opinion, but Patrick is the absolute worst. He has the reputation of being dim-witted and lazy, but he’s also arrogant, manipulative, a bully and has even been known to go on violent rampages, such as in “Valentine’s Day” when he destroys a theme park just because he mistakenly thinks SpongeBob hasn’t got him a present.

It’s a wonder SpongeBob is still friends with him after the way Patrick treats him. In “I’m with Stupid”, Patrick asks SpongeBob to pretend to be an idiot in front of his parents so that Patrick can look smart for once. As the episode progresses, Patrick forgets SpongeBob is only acting, and thinks he’s actually stupid. He then proceeds to gaslight and bully SpongeBob alongside his parents, not even stopping when his friend is clearly annoyed and upset.

Perhaps Patrick’s most profound show of evil is in “Rule of Dumb”, when he becomes King of Bikini Bottom and transforms into a ruthless dictator. During his tyrannical rule, Patrick takes his power too far and turns SpongeBob into his servant, treating him like dirt. He then forces all of the citizens of Bikini Bottom to hand over their prized possessions for his castle, including an old man’s walking stick. This episode highlights all of Patrick’s horrible qualities, and makes it clear that he is the worst character out of them all.