Though Cartoon Network mainly caters to young children, some of the network’s most iconic shows featured incredibly dark episodes over the years.
Cartoon Network has never been shy about offering darker and weirder content than some other kid’s networks. Shows like Justice League and Teen Titans often delivered fairly mature stories with a grimmer tone, and pretty much the whole Toonami block skewed toward more of a teenaged audience.
Even the original Cartoon Network shows, the Cartoon Cartoons, were capable of a darker episode every once in a while. Sometimes it was obvious, like with Courage the Cowardly Dog, but other times it flew right over the heads of most young viewers. Rewatching those episodes as an adult can therefore be pretty shocking.
Dexter’s Laboratory has more than a few episodes with a creepy tone to them. There’s something about a child genius with a secret lab full of superweapons that lends itself to unsettling storytelling. However, “The Laughing” doesn’t have all that much to do with Dexter’s incomprehensible brilliance or his high-tech arsenal. Instead, it’s about something much, much creepier: clowns.
These are no everyday run-of-the-mill clowns, either. These clowns are contagious. Or at least the one that Dexter runs into is. After a freak accident at Dee Dee’s birthday party in which the clown in question’s dentures bite him, Dexter starts transforming into a clown after nightfall. It’s a strange premise for a funny and memorable episode that is genuinely creepy even for adults.
It’s safe to say that Johnny Bravo would probably be a more controversial figure today than he was back in 1997 if his show came out now. While pretty much all of Johnny Bravo is intended to poke fun at hyper-macho guys by mocking their toxic behaviors, it’s still fairly unsettling to see this man fail to learn his lesson and consistently refuse to take “No” for an answer.
However, in “Freudian Dip” some psychoanalysis from his neighbor Suzy pulls back the curtain on what makes Johnny tick, and it’s actually kind of sad. Johnny’s attempts to uncover the cause of his constant nightmares leads to him using a therapy doll, which helps him acknowledge his fear of intimacy, his sense of isolation, and the fact that the cool demeanor he projects is just a front for his scared inner child. Yeah, it’s pretty heavy.
The original Powerpuff Girls series was beloved enough to get its own movie, reboot series, and anime adaptation, but it was most definitely not all sugar and spice and everything nice. The show could really delve into some creepy territory, especially when it came to the unsettling supervillain HIM
In “Speed Demon,” the girls find themselves in a post-apocalyptic future in which the citizens of Townsville are not only old and decrepit but also mentally unwell. They come to find that not only are they to blame for the nightmare scenario, but HIM has taken control of the crumbling wasteland they left behind. More harrowing than all the zombie people, images of total destruction, and HIM’s awful presence combined is the implication that one wrong move for the girls can lead to so much terror and despair.
There’s no arguing that Courage the Cowardly Dog wasn’t overtly dark, so most viewers probably remember it as such. However, there are some episodes that are not nearly as remembered for their unsettling tone as classics like “Freaky Fred” or “King Ramses’ Curse.” Those episodes may very well prove to be even weirder and darker upon a rewatch.
“Car Broke, Phone Yes” features one of the creepiest characters in the series: a little alien creature disguised in a hat and trench coat who has come to steal Muriel’s kindness and use it to fuel his living spaceship. One particular shiver-inducing moment involves the creature sipping a cup of coffee as Courage watches. The creature has no mouth or stomach, so the coffee simply pours out of the bottom of its trench coat. Courage’s reaction of horror is likely to mirror the viewer's, regardless of age.
Adventure Time ran the gamut of emotions in its nine-year, 283-episode run. It offered some of the funniest, saddest, and creepiest moments from a children’s show in recent memory, or maybe ever, really. But while many will remember the tragic story of Marceline and the Ice King as the show’s darkest and most poignant moment, there are plenty more that revealed the darkness beneath the colorful land of Ooo.
“The Vault” offers its own tragic tale, but it also dabbles in some other heavy topics like abuse, trauma, and repressed memories, while also dealing with existentialist themes. Few Cartoon Network shows have performed a breathtaking balancing act between silly fun and total darkness like Adventure Time, and this episode is one of its greatest examples.
There was always an underlying grimness to Samurai Jack regardless of the particular episode’s content. The viewer knows that their anachronistic samurai hero is trapped in an awful future ruled by his mortal enemy, and all of his attempts to get back home are in vain. That’s more than a little dark, but certain episodes went even deeper into the darkness than that.
Jack’s journey to return to the past finds him wandering an abandoned home in “Jack and the Haunted House.” While exploring its eerie confines, he begins to have visions of the horrible things that took place there. He then must battle a demon that’s not only awful to look at but also represents the pain and torment of the once-happy family that occupied the house long ago. It’s an exceedingly dark episode of a show that generally leaves the darkness to bubble below the surface.
Pat Long is a freelance writer who has been gaming since Christmas morning 1995 when he first flipped on his sister’s new Game Gear and heard the word “SEGA” ring harmoniously from its speakers. He writes lists, blogs, travel guides, scary stories, ravings about music and basketball, tries to sing and play guitar, and reveres all pets.
6 Episodes Of Cartoon Network Shows That Were Darker Than You … – GameRant
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