Villainous is a Mexican animated web series created by Alan Ituriel. It is based on a 2012 web series of the same name which he had previously created and was initially picked up by Cartoon Network Latin America as a miniseries of ten one-minute episodes for the Cartoon Network Anything app. The series is co-produced by CN and A.I. Animation Studios. The Villainous concept was pitched by Alan Ituriel at a contest run at the Pixelatl Festival in Cuernavaca, called IdeaToon Summit, in 2014. He met some Cartoon Network executives there and the concept was judged to fit the 6-11 year old demographic for CN Anything original content. Villainous has garnered very positive reception on Cartoon Network's online platforms, leading CN to decide to continue their own "Pitch Me" competition through at least 2017 in an aim to find more web original shows. Villainous is the first of what CN hopes to be many successful short projects for their app and YouTube channel. A TV pilot was released in June 2019, while a full-length series is currently in development and it will premiere in 2020 in the United States.
Production notes
The original Villainous webisodes were written, animated and voiced by Alan Ituriel in 2012 for ThatPlaceToHangOut.com, an art website he jointly worked on. He had to use royalty-free music and voice all characters. During the production of the new series, Cartoon Network was able to sign on YouTuber and popular Internet gamer Markiplier as the voice of 5.0.5. and attached a professional composer, Kevin Manthei, both upon request by Ituriel, to the project. Ituriel remained in control over most aspects as director, writer, storyboard artist, animator and voice of Black Hat. The English version is recorded first at TRACKS Productions using an Atlanta-based cast while the Spanish version was dubbed afterwards at Dubbing House in Mexico.
Plot
Villainous is the story of Black Hat Org., run by EvilHandyman Black Hat and his team of three less-villainous aides. Black Hat is trying to sell various evil inventions created by Dr. Flug and desperate to achieve his evil aspirations. However, things usually end up going wrong for him as the brilliant innovations tend to have small and often comical flaws.
Characters
Black Hat is a pure evil, narcissistic mastermind who runs Black Hat, Org. and appears in all of the ads that the "company" produces. Black Hat is of unknown species and is able to shapeshift, teleport, manipulate space, conjure objects at will and open portals with his claws. He is shown to be able to play the pipe organ and, according to the creator, a violin with strings made of cat guts. Black Hat is also shown to wear a smaller, black bowler hat beneath his signature top hat. An alternate, muscular Black Hat in "The Perception of Evil" was voiced by Markiplier, but in Spanish and English was voiced by Ituriel himself.
Dr. Flugslys is a nervous scientist who wears a paper bag over his head. Flugslys means 'aviation accident' or 'plane crash' in Icelandic and, according to the creator, Flug has obtained his driver's and pilot's license. Nobody has ever seen his face, except, according to someone working on the show, Black Hat himself. According to a tweet by Alan Ituriel, the reason behind his bag will be revealed once the mini-series becomes a show.
Demencia is Black Hat's crazed fan and assistant. Her outfit is inspired by reptiles and she has a love for destruction. If she crouches down, because of her hair color, her hair covers her body and she resembles a lizard. She is seen to be able to play the electric guitar. She is hinted to be an experiment.
5.0.5 is the organisation's failed experiment that cannot be killed. Intended to be an evil creature, he instead became very loving and enjoys hugging his friends. He is a big blue bear-creature with a single flower sprouting from his head that wilts and grows based on his emotions, and closes when he is asleep. He seems to be the organisation's housekeeper. 5.0.5 sees Dr. Flug as a father more than a creator, which makes Demencia his troublesome sister.
Cam Bot was revealed by Alan Ituriel in a recent Twitter poll to be the one who films all of Black Hat Org.'s ads. It is a sentient camera with useful attachments, however, the make-up puff arm was removed by Black Hat when it attempted to use it on him.
Penumbra is a villainess who suffers a skin condition that gets her burn when in contact by the sun. She tried to obstruct the sun in numerous ways but they are always thwarted by Sunblast, the superhero of Arteno City who acts like a bully towards her. She wears a white lab coat and has shadowy transparent hair that reveals a black line behind her head.
Episodes
Episodes are produced in English and dubbed in Spanish afterwards. Below are the original English and Spanish dub titles for the one-minute shorts that Cartoon Network has approved and the small, fifteen-second shorts that are also being released on the CN Anything app to promote the show, ordered by their official YouTube compilation.
Phase One
The Perception of Evil/La Percepción del Mal
Ice Cream of Fear/Helado de Miedo
Bigger, Badder/Más Grande, más Malo
Squeak/Chirrido
Horribly Heavy/Horriblemente Pesado
Wearing Evil/Vistiendo la Maldad
Bad Security/Seguridad Mala
The Portrait of Evil/El Retrato del Mal
Sculpting Evil/Esculpiendo Maldad
The Note of Destruction/La Nota de Destrucción
Phase Two
Horrible Holidays/Horribles fiestas
The Foul Flower/La flor fétida
Dementia WuZ Here/Demencia eZtubo aquí
Black Hat Organization: 2018 Anniversary/Black Hat Organization: Aniversario 2018
Trap-ical Resort/¡Verano!
Black Hat Challenge/Desafío Black Hat
Black Hat Challenge II/Desafío Black Hat II
Black Hat Challenge III/Desafío Black Hat III
Orientation Videos for Villains
Note: In general, this is a series of 10-to-11-minute specials which feature Black Hat and Dr. Flug critizicing villains from other Cartoon Network shows. The Q&A special is an exception, at 14 minutes and without a focus on a particular villain.
Black Hat makes a cameo in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "Crossover Nexus". It was later revealed in the Q&A special that this was actually an identical duplicate of Black Hat that was created in the short, "Perception of Evil".
The Black Hat Magisword, which debuted in the Villainous short, "The Lost Cases of Rhyboflavin", makes subsequent cameos in the second-season episodes of Mighty Magiswords, including "Ghosthaste".
