The evil scientist has been the single greatest biggest threat to humanity for centuries - at least according to most media. At the time of its release, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus, taught book loves everywhere to distrust the scientist with a vision, because this vision was always a scourge upon the Earth. The philosophical exploration into human love and man's fears of obscurity portrayed the scientist as a mad man who chose science above the more genteel arenas of philosophy, morality and love.
Today, the evil scientist on screen continues to struggle between his egotistical desire for scientific notoriety and the more deserved search for truth and love. In essence, the evil scientist makes science look evil by association.
Felonius Gru (Despicable Me)
Famous employer of the minions, and aspiring super villain, Felonius Gru just wants to be remembered for wreaking havoc unto the world. Gru feels ashamed, having never lived up to his family's lineage of super-villainy. Although the Bank of Evil rejects his loan application to fund his theft of the moon, Gru does not let silly things like a loan refusal get in his way of stealing the moon.
After he adopts three orphaned sisters as part of his ultimate evil moon-stealing heist, Gru soon learns that being a father is more rewarding than causing epic suffering to the people of Earth.
Brain (Pinky And The Brain)
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"
An ordinary mouse at first, Brain becomes super-intelligent after an experiment in a laboratory went wrong. With his intelligence came a distaste for humans, and the belief that he alone can rule Earth perfectly. Every night, when the scientists leave the laboratory, Brain begins to work on his complex plans to take over the world, on his mission to become supreme mouse leader of Earth. Unfortunately for him, his plans are always thwarted one way or another.
With a big, fat head representing his arrogance, Brain longs for the applause of humans when he finally proves to the world how intelligent he is.
Dr. Alphonse Mephisto (South Park)
Head of the North American Marlon Brando Look-Alikes (NAMBLA), with an obsession with surgically enhancing animals by adding more butts, Dr. Alphonse Mephisto lives a very interesting life. The geneticist works at the South Park Genetic Engineering Ranch, and is often busy creating five-butt donkeys and mosquito-gorilla hybrids. Like most evil scientists, Mephisto has one major scientific goal in life: to destroy evil, useless one-butt animals living on Earth, and replace them with multiple-butt versions.
In a surprising twist, the scientist did not win a Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research on animal butts.
Professor Pee Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants (Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie)
One of the few evil scientists who started off as a good scientist, Professor Pee Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants originally wanted to use his scientific inventions to save the world. The brilliant scientist, however, struggled with no-one taking him seriously, because of his name. Rather than fill out a Change of Name form, Professor Poopypants decided that a better reaction would be to become an evil scientist, take over the world, and destroy his arch-nemesis, Captain Underpants. Ironically, Professor Poopypants creates an invention that solves the problem of world hunger once and for all, but nobody takes him seriously enough to even listen to him.
Plankton (SpongeBob SquarePants)
Plankton is a brilliant scientist and inventor who uses his inventions to try to steal the Krabby Patty Formula from his arch-nemesis and former best friend. Plankton invents things like a robot replica of Mr. Krabs to fool SpongeBob into giving him the secret formula. He also invented for himself a sentient computer wife, Karen, who is fond of giving him good advice. Karen, is frustrated by Plankton's evil obsession to get the formula and ruin Mr. Krabs, when he could use his scientific knowledge to find another way to become rich.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein)
Grandson of Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein has left behind his family legacy of evil science experiments. He is adamant that life cannot be created by humans. But Frederick cannot escape his past. When his grandfather dies, he is called back home to continue the legacy of evil, an offer too enticing for him to turn down. Young Frankenstein is a parody of the story of Frankenstein, elaborating on the story of Victor Frankenstein's affair with his scientific assistant, and how his creation of the monster nearly destroyed his hometown.
But Frederick turns his legacy around, becoming an good scientist and refusing to give up on his monster when others did.
Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas And Ferb)
The tri-state area's resident evil scientist, whose nemesis happens to be a secret agent platypus undercover as a pet, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's life makes no sense. Despite hatching evil plan daily, Doofenshmirtz also loves his daughter a lot, and takes time out to be a caring, loving father.
For all his scientific intelligence, Doofenshmirtz is not very smart. For one, he labels all his creations ridiculous names like, "The Destroy-inator" and "The Detonator-inator". Additionally, it does not occur to him that all the money he wastes on his inventions could be put into much better use, especially since they always end up destroyed at the end of each episode, thereby causing him millions of dollars of loss.
General Skarr (The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy)
"Look, if I want to kill you, that's my prerogative!"
General Skarr accidentally becomes a plant scientist after his annoying neighbor child, Billy, and his Grim Reaper pet destroy his beautiful garden. General Skarr had previously retired from a life of super villainy, and poured all his evil energy into his garden. After Billy destroyed his pride and joy, General Skarr vowed to destroy Billy.
Using his new slightly-magical, slightly scientific powers, he creates a new garden, then invites his neighborhood for a party. There, he tries to kill Billy, a 10-year-old boy, by mowing him down, just like Billy killed his garden.
Dr. Carver's Clone (The Proud Family Movie)
The lovely Dr. Carver left his clone out too long in the sun, causing his clone to become disfigured. Enraged at his disfigurement, in an ode to Frankenstein's monster, Dr. Carver's Clone chose evil over good and vowed revenge. On Legume Island, Dr. Carver's Clone forced the cashew people to become his slaves. His ultimate evil plan is to make Dr. Carver's peanut people race become his slaves too. In a convoluted plan to take over the world, he makes peanut clones of the Proud family to get Oscar's peanut multiplying formula.
Dr. Evil (Austin Powers)
Austin Powers' main nemesis and twin brother, Dr. Evil was heartbroken when he was not chosen as the International Man of Mystery at the British Intelligence Agency despite having the best grades. Angered, he transferred to Evil Medical School to train to become a doctor. Dr. Evil hates humanity, because he feels as though humanity failed him. As a result, he dedicated his life and his scientific work to bringing and enjoying as much evil in the world as possible. He hates love, and he hates humanity, and he hates Austin Powers.