The crown jewel of Hanna-Barbera’s animated universe, virtually everyone on earth can recognize the intrepid members of Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Incorporated. Traveling across the globe in search of paranormal mysteries to unravel, Scooby-Doo’s teenage gang of supernatural investigators have long since found a welcome place in pop culture history. With every member of the gang achieving iconic status among mainstream viewers today, each variation of Scooby-Doo has delighted audiences from one generation to the next.

Of course, one reason behind Scooby-Doo’s continued popularity has to do with the strength of its main villains. Whether appearing in the original animated series or any one of the live-action or straight-to-DVD animated films, these ghoulish antagonists confounded Mystery Inc. with their unsettling appearances and sinister plots. From sentient computer viruses to giggling phantoms, here are some of our favorite Scooby-Doo villains, ranked in order from worst to best.

7. The Phantom Virus

It’s a common Scooby-Doo tradition to see Mystery Inc. unmask their villainous counterpart and reveal a scheming businessman or greedy land developer hiding beneath an outwardly macabre facade. In contrast to most Scooby-Doo baddies, then, the Phantom Virus appears as a wholly different kind of antagonist. The humanoid personification of a rogue computer virus, the Phantom Virus is undoubtedly among the most memorable foes the Scooby-Doo gang ever faced in their straight-to-DVD adventures, bar none.

6. Charlie the Funland Robot

Charlie the Funland Robot is a bit of an anomaly within the larger continuity of Scooby-Doo. For starters, he’s based on traditional sci-fi motifs rather than folkloric creatures or urban legends, appearing as a towering robot terrorizing the beachside amusement park of Funland. In spite of his haywire programming, it’s hard not to look at Charlie without growing a tad uneasy. Between his significant height, lifeless facial expression, and lumbering movements, Charlie is every bit as unsettling an antagonist as Scooby-Doo’s many supernatural villains.

5. The Ghost Clown

What’s scarier than a ghost? How about a ghost that also happens to be a clown? Playing off people’s worst fears when it comes to these infamous circus performers, the Ghost Clown is literal nightmare fuel made flesh and bone (or, in the case of Scooby-Doo’s animated adventures, ink and paper). Admittedly, you don’t have to do much to make a clown that much more frightening, but Scooby-Doo somehow finds a way to up the ante, outfitting the Ghost Clown with a blood-red grin, black eyeshadow, and beady yellow eyes that could make It’s Pennywise look away in sheer discomfort.

4. Captain Cutler’s Ghost

There’s just something about Captain Cutler’s Ghost that appeals to all of our collective imaginations. Emerging from the deep like some kind of shambling sea monster, almost every characteristic about Captain Cutler lingers on in the memory, from the luminous green aura he gave off to the vintage diver’s suit he employed on his nightly rampages. 

3. Space Kook

Truthfully, we have no idea what to classify Space Kook as, the extraterrestrial creature coming across a bizarre amalgamation between a ghost, an alien, and a sentient humanoid robot from beyond the stars. No matter his label, fans continue to cite Space Kook as one of the most visually striking villains to face the Scooby-Doo gang – an argument that’s certainly difficult to counter or refute. Dressed in a NASA-style spacesuit with a blue skull, muted yellow eyes, and a black helmet that turned bright red whenever he laughed, the Space Kook had a way of instantly grabbing our attention every time he appeared on-screen.

2. The Phantom Shadows

Next to the Creeper, few ghosts have been featured as prominently in Scooby-Doo’s many iterations as the meddlesome Phantom Shadows. Employing an unforgettably eerie design, the Phantom Shadows appear as a pair of cackling spirits decked out in tattered green robes and broken chain manacles around their wrists. Announcing their presence with their trademark high-pitched laughter and distinct metallic clanging, the Phantom Shadows have gone on to appear in numerous Scooby-Doo movies, TV shows, video games, and comic books, including a hilarious guest role in Supernatural’s Season 13 episode, “Scoobynatural.” If that’s not evidence of their clear popularity, we don’t know what is.

1. The Creeper

A zombified cross between Quasimodo, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the immoral Mr. Hyde of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic horror novel, the Creeper is almost assuredly the most iconic villain to ever grace Scooby-Doo’s larger canon. Regularly popping up in later Scooby-Doo mysteries, the Creeper might very well be the closest thing Mystery Inc. has to a recurring archnemesis. Though he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, the simplicity of the Creeper’s design and brutish personality make him a villain you can’t help but fall in love with, especially when it comes to his humorous interactions with Scooby and his easily frightened companion, Shaggy.