Top 10 Darkest Cartoon Network Episodes 

"If you don't show the darkness, you won't appreciate the light." *-Don Bluth*

I always knew HIM was the most competent villain in the Power Puff universe, Mojo JoJo is the best villain but HIM actually has the ability to take over the world

3:31 Steven:What have you done to them their ? White diamond:shhh i made them T posers

"Haunted" is straight up a masterpeice. Robin facing his inner paranoia and fully trusting his team, fully exploring the trauma Slade put him through, and showing him finally succeeding in vanquishing his demons. It may not be the darkest episode of a Superhero cartoon, but it accomplished so much.

I feel like the whole concept of Simon in Adventure Time was extremely dark for me. I got sad whenever I thought about it, it's similar to watching someone deal with a family member that has dementia. The thought of memory being stripped away is bad enough, but seeing the reaction in Marceline as she grips to the person he used to be was what made it even darker.

I’d actually replace either Steven universe episode with “cat fingers”

#5: We interrupt Steven universe to bring you resident evil

Him: it's a hugging virus People in 2020: we already have that

"Come Along With Me" was not the darkest episode of Adventure Time. It is the saddest because it's the show's finale.

Oh this is definitely serious and dark, he didn’t start the video with his traditional “howdy”

The Lich in my opinion is definitely darker than the last episode. His entire existence is boggling to any mortal being that comes in contact with him. He also can literally kill people by breathing on them. It’s much more interesting than a generic villain (evil overlord who is evil and can do evil). The finale wasn’t that great because all of the build up was wasted, like Gumbald literally just lost anticlimactically. The Lich had tons of build up, literally being defined as the ultimate evil. He forced Finn to kill Bubblegum and possessed his childhood hero. So much more impactful than a villain that appears in one episode and doesn’t even fight the heroes!

Thank you for putting "Haunted" at number 1. I feel like Teen Titans flies under the radar of a lot of "most disturbing/darkest cartoon episodes" videos for whatever reason, and it's good to see someone include this episode in particular in a video.

So what you're telling me is that Adventure Time ends with the entire cast fighting what's effectively an elder god until one of them bites the bullet and becomes the new embodiment of death to basically hit the snooze button on the apocalypse for another hundred thousand or so years.

The hospital scene on Steven Universe actually looked like Silent Hills

Change your mind isn’t the series finale. It does feel like one though and it would be satisfying as a series finale but there’s a sixth season and a movie coming. It may only be a season finale but it would be good as a series finale.

(14:31) "Golb, adventure time's equivalent to Satan" that's actually pretty inaccurate. Satan is an entity that represents the embodiment of evil, Golb on the other hand is a representation of chaos, entropy, and nihilism this is a major difference due to the fact that Satan is not benevolent, Golb however IS benevolent in that he does not actually care as to what happens around him. In summary Golb could be compared more to a Lovecraftian entity such as Azathoth or Yog-sothoth, but Satan is a stretch.

As a sufferer of schizophrenia, I relate to Robin's suffering a bit. And also Squidward when he has his panic attacks or paranoia. Haunted is one of the best teen titans episodes. Steven Universe and Teen Titans remain my favorite Cartoon Network shows.

This quote ((Slade: I am the thing that keeps you up at night, the evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest, and neither will you. )) is so chilling.

"Steven univese finale" *laughs in SU future*

“All three of his mothers” Ok I get pearl and Garnet but like... ...amethyst?...

I agree with #1. Sometimes the most realistic episodes can be the most darkest. Most people think dark means death or horror. But relatable situations are even darker. Life is dark. But humanity can bring light to their lives if they allow it. We are our only fear because we let ourselves hide or hesitate.

Courage is probably one of the few shows to scare me from the disturbing characters like the giant cockroach, make me cry a little when I watched the episode of courage losing his real parents, and make me laugh at the stupid or goofy moments.

I had a feeling Steven Universe would be here. There are several other dark Steven Universe episodes but Change your mind had me on edge and is currently my favorite episode! And it's definitely not the series finale. It might've been a fitting finale but there's a movie and confirmed season 6 I believe.

Samurai Jack is on adult swim, so it makes sense that it has a dark episode.

I’ve really missed these top 10s. Good to see another one. Btw you should do a Nickelodeon version of this list!

Amethyst is like a big sister as opposed to a mother.

I think the episode "the dreams" from "The Amazing World of Gumball" deserved a spot on this list. Basically, as you can tell by the title, it's an episode where you can see of what different characters of the series dream at night. We already get Larry's, Allan's and mr. Small's dreams, which are quite disturbing, but none of them were terrifying like what is first presented as Anais's dream. You REALLY have to see it to believe it.

Ah, yes. My favorite show: Cartoon Network.

You know...steven universe "change your mind" isn't series finale but just season finale, there are more episodes to come...

That courage episode really got to me as a kid, because my family life wasn't much different. And as strange as it may sound, it helped me come to grips with the fact that it isn't normal, and how fucked up my family actually is.

I think the Lich, and Fear Itself should have gotten honorable mentions at least.

Yeah Haunted from TT (Teen titans) was a REALLY dark episode when it comes to CN and I like your choice for pick for it to be #1!

"I'm the thing that keeps you up at night. The evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind."

Change Your Mind isn't the series finale of Steven Universe. Season 6 and a TV movie have been confirmed by the show's writers.

*every flapjack’s episode*

An episode I thought was super dark, was the Justice League episode were Superman was in a comma where he lives in his perfect world. It just seemed really harsh, dark and just sad.

Howdy! Been looking forward to checking out Cartoon Network's darker episodes. Feel free to leave your own suggestions for videos if you'd like. Either way, thanks for dropping by :)

Just so you know steven universe isnt over yet. To this day they're still having recording sessions. Were just waiting on a verification

I remember watching Haunted for the first time. It was one of the only episodes of a cartoon (that wasn't a finale) that left me absolutely speechless.

that teen titans episode gets me crying every single time because it's so scary ngl

The coffee episode from we bare bears was darker than tore life because it was just creepy in general. The upside down head turning and red eyes of the result of Ice Bear’s sleep deprivation was very freaky and uncomfortable...

I’m surprised there wasn’t a single episode of Regular Show or Flapjack on here. Whatever your opinions are of them, you have to admit that those shows could be pretty f***ed up sometimes.

Lets get em boo!

“Steven Universe Finale” Steven Universe The Movie: Oh sweetie we ain’t done yet

It’s not really dark, but still handles mature themes: Mindful Education from Steven Universe. I have never watched a show handle the issue of anxiety so well, animated or not. Maybe I’m just biased and over-emotional, but I really think that that episode is something special.

You should do top 10 best spongebob episodes in honor of Stephen Hillenburg

Oh,man!I remember no.1!I always thought this was dark!Also,that Courage episode always scared me as a child!That mask!That MASK!

"And now that I'm a doctor, I think I'll perform some surgery" Still gives me chills

I am still not sure it is pure delusion in #1. A lot of the injuries and impacts that Robin takes during the encounter with the shadow Slade couldn't just come about from shadow boxing, he very clearly gets thrown around by an unseen force. Heck when we see the battle through Cyborg's eyes we see a pretty brutal hit to Robin's diaphram that bends his back in a way that muscles really can't do. It is shown later on that Slade is quite literally in hell to an extent, so perhaps it is possible contact with his ashes imparted some kind of curse that, while weak and easy to dispell, allowed him to physically attack Robin until Raven's intervention enabled Robin to break it. That is just my take on it though. DC, even the Teen Titans universe, is shown to have magic and demons so I figure it is possible Slade could have pulled that off. He is evil Batman after all.

Let's not be skeletons from OK KO is one of the darkest episodes I can think of. While it is somewhat controversial as there is a debate as to how well it gets it's message across, the imagery and ideas are what makes it dark for me. KO gradually loses his friends and even his mom to violence, and the only remaining trusted authority figure turns against him. He shows some symptoms of PTSD in the scene where Carol is shot in front of him. The climax shows KO essentially shooting Gar in self defense, being forced to use the weapons he was against. Love it or hate it, I personally think it's one of the darkest episodes ever to come from CN. Your reality is an illusion is another somewhat dark episode as it tackles the idea of reality being subjective, although the ending of the episode has a somewhat optimistic approach to the idea. Also it is kept from being too dark by the way it parodies gags within cartoons, like KO struggling to pick up a rock that's a part of the background. Still, even after the problem is resolved, it seems like KO still has a little bit of existential dread as he looks terrified when his mom sings the show's theme song to comfort him. Plaza alone was another strangely dark episode. Basically KO starts to feel lonely and starts hallucinating a bunch of weird stuff out of sheer loneliness, such as killing his friend and a lot of nightmarish visuals involving horses. O.O Anyways, great video as always Strider!

10: The Haunted House (Samurai Jack) 9: Change Your Mind (Steven Universe) 8: Twisted Sister/Speed Demon/Tough Love (The PowerPuff Girls) 7: The Rival (The Amazing World of Gumball) 6: Tote Life (We Bare Bears) 5: Nightmare Hospital (Steven Universe) 4: Come Along with Me (Adventure Time) 3: The Mask (Courage the Cowardly Dog) 2: Only a Dream (Justice League) 1: Haunted (Teen Titans) *You're Welcome*

Personally, I think "Finn the human" is the darkest episode of adventure time. idk

It's actually the season finale not the series finale because they confirmed it's going to have another season. Just trying not to have people get confused

BRO AS SOON AS YOU SAID "dog meat" MY DOG CAME IN BRO!

No lie the rival from amazing world of gumball was funny as hell

Change Your Mind does creep me out tho... I was freaked out by White Diamond possessing the gems and taking Steven's gem out. I loved that James Baxter scene though! (Edited this comment because Change Your Mind is actually the finale of the OG series)

The eps with Lapis and Jasper in SU are great for the depiction of an abusive relationship and how it's not always one sided - Both people end up becoming toxic and doing horrible things. It's hard to break out of the cycle. Very dark, but I related too much I was practically hundred-yard staring the whole scenes with them.

just to point out also when his gem is removed, steven's human half is literally SLOWLY DIEING!

I remember that Samurai Jack episode! The thing that still sticks to me is that when I was little and watched it, first it was late in the evening, second the black and white/traditional art style alone made me feel physically and psychologically afraid, sick and...unsafe and I couldn't bring myself to watch it till the end and had to switch the channels.

Anything Courage is almost a big nope everytime lol :p

I agree with you for the rival. That episode was dark as hell

You deserve way more subscribers phantomstrider!

The Courage the Cowardly Dog episode you mentioned here (The Mask) is the main reason the show was cancelled I believe. Families were not happy with how realistic it was, and thought it was unsuitable for kids so they had to cancel the show unfortunately.

OMG! He called Garnet, Amethyst, and pearl mothers!! XD

3:00 *Season finale the show isn't over

Bunny > bliss She is the original purple powerpuff

For me,one of the darkest CN episode is a We Bear Bears episode where Grizz got a giant burrito and he became obsessed with it. He takes that burrito EVERYWHERE. From cinema to roller coasters,hell he even talks to it like it's his best friend. Yeah i know it's quite similar to "Toat Life",but i think this episode is darker,because.....Well,at least "Toat Life" has some light hearted We Bear Bears charm to it and has a good message at the end,while this episode is a lot more uncomfortable. And the reason why Grizz is quite obsessed with that burrito is quite powerful. I'm not gonna spoil why he is,if you haven't watched that episode,go and watch it.

WOW.... That was SERIOUSLY dark.... And heartwarming in a way... :') Well handled, Strider.... And well done..... :D

I flipping balled my eyes out during come along with me, Adventure time was very important to my life, as I grew up with the show, as when I a young kid who had a simple mind adventure time was meaninglessness fun, but as I grew up and matured, so did the show and it’s characters. Sometimes shows can be more than a show, and have much deeper meanings to some people.

While I don't necessarily think it's the darkest episode ever aired on Cartoon Network, I do feel the need to mention a recent Ninjago Episode tilted "Game of Masks". This is Season 8 Episode 7 and the reason I mention it is because of how it portrays mature themes of violence, death, and romance. This episode opens with a flashback to the main villain's childhood, where you learn that her parents died in an attack from a mythical snake monster. They don't show the exact way they die but it's either from being eaten by the monster or from being crashed by a collapsing building. This leaves the main villain orphaned as a little girl who blames the main characters for failing to protect her home and her family. We even see the poor little girl in shock as social workers try to figure out where her parents are and who she is. And that was just the flashback in the cold open. Later in the episode in the current day, we see the villain attempt to kill the main character. Up until this point she has been hiding her true identity and intentions. She has successfully manipulated the main character into thinking she is a harmless girl and even seduced him to a degree. But then the main character figures it out. The villain slips up and accidentally says too much. She tries to play it off but the main character is too smart and pieces her true identity together from other hints seen in prior episodes. He feels broken hearted and betrayed and honestly, we as the audience do as well. No longer needing to hide her true identity, the villain explained her plot and thoughts. She wants to make the main character suffer as much as possible, to have him lose everything just as she did so long ago. She's driven completely by revenge and she hates the main character. You see the level of her insanity as she takes out a knife and straight up tries to murder the main character while simultaneously trying to distract him with seduction. Even the main character is shocked by the lengths she goes to. He realizes that this villain has killed, stolen, kidnapped, plotted, and lied to get where she is. Her victims even include her own adoptive parents who raised her after she was orphaned. I feel the need to mention this episode because the darkness in it is so realistic. You see the trauma of an orphan, the rage of vengeance, the violence of a terrorist, and the crazy girl who will try to seduce you in order to hurt you. These feel like real problems that many in the real world deal with to varying degrees. The scenes where the villain was orphaned even felt like seeing the aftermath of a terrorist attack or a school shooting. It was intense, it was dark, and the thing that scared you the most was how real it felt. You had to take a step and remember that you were watching a show about Lego people. The genius writers really went above and beyond, somehow putting so much emotion and realism in plastic figures. That truly is a spectacular achievement.

When you said "Number 7..." An add for Hershey Kisses XDDDDDD

How about these two? Clarence: Little Buddy Steven Universe: Fries boy

Hello Darkness my old Friend

How could you forget Bible Black?

I’m actually quite surprised that there was no Ben 10 episodes on here. I still remember the arc were Ben felt he was ready to kill one of his closest allies and how much drama and emotion came from that story. The show does a great job at representing what power can do to people.

Justice League Just a Dream scared the everliving hell out of me as a child. Good choice. Btw you should cover dark Justice League episodes because there were a LOT

My boi Courage, always taking one for the team

Personally, I thought the We Bare Bears episode "Neighbors" was dark. It's basically about a couple becomes neighbors with the bears, but grizz thinks there's something off with them. Grizz thinks they're hunters that want to hunt the bears and goes crazy!

in nightmare hospital i hate how Connies mom is so Arrogant

3:20 Steven Universe “Change Your Mind” was only the season finally, not series.

What about Fear Itself from Teen Titans or that episode from Young Justice where everyone straight up dies?

Every episode of courage the cowardly dog. That show is the source of all my fears.

23:24 I love the detail how Slade (as a figment of Robins imagination) doesn't affect the tree branch, but Robin does.

I like those Ninjago episodes where the main villain, who is a genie, subverts the 3 wishes trope by turning the ninja's desires against them to psychologically torture them and pick them off one by one. Not really an episode as much as a series of scenes spread around season 6 but they're a dark concept and are very creative. And I like them.

I’m honestly surprised that Over The Garden Wall didn’t even get a mention. The last episode of the series “The Unknown” was especially dark. Still enjoyed the list! Also, Top Ten Worst Animated Knockoffs Part 2???

To catch a falling star, Ben 10 ultimate alien, is darker than all of these

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Pink Steven in this. There was something so genuinely unsettling about what happened after Steven’s gem was removed.

Pretty bummed that Over The Garden Wall didn't even get an honorable mention.

My favorite slade wilson (deathstroke) quote in teen titans is "on a contrary". It's like everytime he said that, he has a back up plan

Only Batman would overcome his own Fear easily lol

The gem creatures look a lot like the cannibals in the game “The Forest”

But that Teen Titans episode was one of the best Cartoon Network episodes, period. Such great storytelling. While it was bone chilling with its theme of paranoia and mental health, it was pretty accurate to PTSD symptoms and effects. It was a fantastic episode with a tremendous message to convey.

I think "The Creeps" from Adventure Time is worthy of at least an honorable mention.

No one: PhantomStrider pronouncing Anais: *_UN-ICE_*

>Up to number 2 "Huh. I'm surprised I haven't seen Teen Titans on this list ye-" >Haunted "There it is." Also I would have put "Birthmark" on this episode too because holy shit some of the implications are terrifying

Yesss, I really needed this! Just binged and rewatched your previous vids a few days ago.

And anais wonders why she has no friends.

"kitty's dear friend bunny" yeah... friend...

There’s literally an episode both in “My Gym Partner’s a Monkey” and “Camp Lazlo” where the implication is that everyone in the show has been killed and replaced by some evil entity.

I didn’t hear a howdy my day is sad