Captain Planet's Eco-Villains

Captain Planet's Eco-Villains

(pop culture)Toxic terrorists exist who conspire to pollute our skies and waters. The “greenest” of superheroes, Captain Planet, and his teenage aides the Planeteers—seen in the animated television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1996) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (2003)—fight valiantly to safeguard Earth's environment from these contemptible Eco-Villains: The sexy but sadistic scientist Dr. Blight, originally a biochemist specializing in chemical weapons, has created destructive bio-beasts and an acrimonious computer named MAL. Meg Ryan— yes, that Meg Ryan—was her voice during Captain Planet's initial season. Duke Nukem knows how to light up a room— with lethal radiation. A living nuclear battery with a red Mohawk and grotesque yellow hide, “the Duke” is sworn to reshape the world into a nuclear wasteland. Quantum Leap's Dean Stockwell was the first actor to play him. Blissfully profiting by dumping toxic waste where it doesn't belong, Sly Sludge slithers in and out of the law's eye, leaving gunk behind. Decked out in protective coveralls, Sludge, originally voiced by Martin Sheen, is assisted by a bellyaching sidekick named Ooze. The slovenly Hoggish Greedly, portrayed by Edward Asner, is a human/boar hybrid who pigs out on the planet's natural resources. His voracious appetite is never sated, no matter how many woodlands or species he improvidently engulfs. Greedly is accompanied by a lamebrain lackey named Rigger. Verminous Skumm is a sewer-spawned monstrosity who schemes to infest the world with pandemonium. A 7-and-a-half-feet-tall rodent-man with a snaking tail, this miscreant dresses in tatters and exudes pestilence. Among the actors playing Skumm was Jeff Goldblum. The underhanded tempter Zarm is duplicity personified: he can appear as a benign figure or a menacing warlord, whichever best suits his purposes. Zarm often plays the Planeteers against each other through trickery. He has been voiced by a virtual who's who of talent: Sting, David Warner, and Malcolm McDowell. Looten Plunder, originally performed by James Coburn, helms a global corporate domain erected on the remains of trampled habitats. A reprehensible controller, he puppets a private army led by killer commando Argos Bleak. Always impeccably dressed, Plunder audaciously festoons his jackets with endangered-species pelts. Most of these Eco-Villains were included in Tiger Toys' 1992 Captain Planet action-figure line.