Invader Zim was a cartoon that changed a generation and became a pop culture phenomenon.
One that still has a monopoly on Hot Topic merchandise racks around the world.
It practically created its own alternative cult subculture in the early 2000s.
Despite only having an initial runtime between 2001 and 2002, after being cancelled in the
middle of its second season, the series left a lasting impression on the animation industry
and quirky memes for years to come.
With the release of it’s wildly anticipated movie, Enter the Florpus, fans were delighted
for the return of Invader Zim’s endearing yet grotesque comedy that they longed for
since their childhoods.
Today, however, we’re going to dive right into the good, the bad, and the downright
evil of Invader Zim.
Which is quite the difficult task… considering the vast majority of characters are villains
or wannabes... but we’re sure to have a few choices here that might even surprise
a hardened fan.
Maybe this time consider it less a list of who’s the best, and more of a list of who’s
the best at being the worst.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is Good to Evil: Invader Zim.
Oh, also.
Spoiler warning for those who haven’t seen Enter the Florpus!
First on our list is Clembrane.
If you haven’t seen the new Invader Zim movie, Clembrane is a clone of Professor Membrane
that Zim creates some time after the series finale and before the events of the film.
His plan was for the clone to take the professor’s place and then ground Dib forever, leaving
Zim to do whatever he liked.
However, Clembrane is ultimately considered a failure-- not because he, quite frankly,
looks and acts absolutely nothing like Professor Membrane, but because he doesn’t make the
pudding Dib loves quite right.
Can’t blame a guy for trying.
Clembrane, to be frank, is kind of incapable of evil.
Sure, he works with Zim to begin with, but he’s so convinced he’s the real professor
that his love for Dib and Gaz is enough that he’s willing to turn on Zim for them.
All this guy really wants is to go around and make pudding for everyone, even if it’s
arguably the lesser kind.
The worst thing he’s capable of is throwing a toddler level tantrum if anyone questions
his authenticity as the real Professor Membrane- but considering his rather unethical creation,
no one can really fault him for being confused.
Next on our list is Gir.
A fan favourite from the beginning-- especially with his adorable iconic dog suit.
In many ways, where everyone else was designed to be kind of gross and gritty…
Gir is, well, absolutely adorable.
1 He is Zim’s hyperactive robotic assistant
and is really the closest thing the guy has to a friend.
Similarly to Clembrane, the little guy’s just incapable of being truly evil.
He shows relatively little interest in Zim’s plans, generally going back to whatever he
was doing immediately after Zim issues an order.
Sure, he is involved with some shady stuff, which is a natural consequence of being the
side-kick to Zim, but to be honest Gir’s intelligence is lacking.
// He doesn’t really have the capacity to understand why something is wrong.
I mean… he’s kind of defective, to say the least.
He does have some moments of clarity-- Can you find this clip maybe: “But if the big
'splody goes fast, won't it get all bad?"-- but there’s far more examples of Zim taking
advantage of his relative ignorance.
One suspicious thing about Gir however is his uncanny ability to make others do things-
bend to his will, even.
Specifically, he shows a strange capability of manipulating people to dance for him--
he does this both with Zim and Gaz on two separate occasions.
Could there be something a bit more sinister in Gir’s mind games?
This power certainly could be used for evil-- but chances are, Gir has no intentions of
using it for anything other than his own silly enjoyment.Which… we totally approve of.
It might be surprising for some hardcore fans to see Dib this early on the list, but we’ve
decided to do the controversial thing in placing him here.
Many fans agree that Dib is the actual villain of the series and, seeing as Zim is the main
character, he is definitely the antagonist.
But does being the antagonist to Zim of all people really make you evil?
Probably not.
After all, Zim is essentially an Anti-Hero.
And on some level, Dib’s intense determination, even at the mocking of his peers, to protect
Earth from Zim’s invasion is rather admirable.
Invader Zim is special in its own way for not having him be the protagonist- and it’s
better for it.
But just because Invader Zim’s subversive morality makes Dib the bad guy, doesn’t
mean he actually is a bad guy…
If that makes sense.
And, to be fair, he’s twelve years old.
Of course, if Dib were all good he’d be at the start of this list.
But, like any desperate and vengeful kid, he’s prone to his revenge fantasies, some
of which are a little gruesome.
Specifically, his dream of dissecting Zim for fame and fortune is a little heinous,
and thus puts him a little lower on the list.
Still, one could argue he is the show’s good guy.
Gaz, Dib’s younger sister, is next on our list.
The only long time female protagonist on the series, she is... as some fans might describe
her a “true neutral.”
While not downright evil, she has a short fuse and can be creepy and rather dark most
of the time.
She also shows a surprising lack of empathy or camaraderie towards her family in the series,
and is rarely seen smiling.
She’s known for vowing revenge on anyone who stands in her way or otherwise interferes
with her and she usually gets her way in the end, should she pursue it.
A notable example of her vengeance is when she destroys one of Dib’s missions simply
because he ate the last pizza slice.
Petty, but completely understandable.
On the flip-side however, it’s important to remember once again that Gaz is approximately
10-12 years old and anyone who’s met a preteen will be aware that sometimes they’re just
like that.
And Enter The Florpus shows that she does have some affectionate feelings towards her
family.
She even says she’s only tough on her brother because she knows he can take it, showing
that she does care for him in her own way…
Ahhhh….
Who would have thought?
Next on our list is our show’s protagonist, Zim.
Objectively, as an alien invader desperate to conquer planet Earth, he’s kind of evil.
There’s no question about that-- Zim may be the protagonist of the series, but he’s
by no means the good guy.
Even for an Irken, who are already imperialist invaders of unsuspecting planets, he’s pretty
evil.
His tendency to seek destruction and overzealously pursue his goals of annihilation not only
put Earth in danger, but also his fellow Irkens.
He’s brash, arrogant, and to be honest... a complete megalomaniac.
He’s cocky and self-congratulatory whenever he makes even a small amount of headway, which
is very rare.
To be honest, he’s so incompetant at being evil at times, it’s hard to even see him
as a threat- often the biggest threat is his ignorance and his determination to be evil,
rather than his evil plans themselves.
However, in Enter the Florpus, he’s shown that he actually does have the potential to
be a serious threat when he puts his mind to it- and when he’s not being thwarted.
He’s willing to complete the mission, even if it results in his own death in the process.
To be fair, Zim only seems to have interest in conquering Earth, rather than ever actually
enslaving it and ruling it himself- when a group of humans actually do announce their
loyalty to him, he can’t wait to get away from them.
He seems most comfortable in ensuring destruction rather than gaining power- In a lot of ways,
Zim kind of represents someone so obsessed with his work that he builds his identity
around it…
Not knowing that if he were to accomplish his goals, he probably wouldn’t be happy…
Because the work that he’s built his identity around is now gone.
He’s a dog chasing cars!
Next up, Tak, despite her minor screen time, managed to achieve some evil in her one episode.
She’s determined to take Zim’s mission since he ruined her training as an Invader
and she blames him for her subsequent punishment.
Deeply vindictive, she sets on conquering Earth in Zim’s place and is clearly the
better Invader of the two, and she’s obviously aware of this fact.
Her plan to annihilate Earth, strip it of its magma and fill its core with sweets to
appease The Tallest shows a level of ruthless cunningness and manipulation that other characters
only strive for.
Another surprise entry here is Ms. Bitters.
Even considering she’s typically described as an old hag incapable of positive emotion…
It still might be tough to understand why she’s higher on this list than other characters.
Well, teachers like Ms. Bitters are objectively the worst and should not, under any circumstances,
be allowed to teach kids.
She greatly hates children (and most other things) and constantly intimidates them whenever
they do something wrong.
To be honest, intimidating kids shouldn’t be ranked as worse than trying to invade Earth
but, well...it kind of is, all the same.
Especially when she does so in such a demonic, yet oddly familiar way.
In some shape or form, we’ve all had a teacher like Ms. Bitters.
And although she’s not capable of taking over the earth… she’s someone who would
probably spread that level of negativity if she had the ability to.
The only difference is the lack of means.
But, at the end of the day, she’s a teacher who’s lousy at her job and shouldn’t be
let anywhere near children, and, yes, is rather evil.
But, all the same, she’s not quite evil enough to land her at the bottom of our list.
Unsurprisingly nearing the end of our list, we have The Almighty Tallest.
Hardcore fans of the series will remember how the Irkens’ hierarchy works in the series-
for those who may be rusty on their Irken knowledge, however, here’s a recap.
Society works in a strict hierarchical class structure where the taller the Irken is, the
more power they have.
The tallest Irken at any given time is given the role of The Tallest, and they become ruler
over the entirety of the empire.
Should it come about that there are two Irkens of the exact same height, such as is the case
with Red and Purple, they must share the leadership.
Regardless, this kind of imperial class structure is as completely pointless as it is evil.
Aside from invading other planets, attempting to destroy Earth, and the general, obvious
evilness, The Tallests are uncontested, and undemocratically elected dictators of the
Irkens’ land.
Their only merit, in fact, is the fact that they’re tall-- obviously this is just a
silly tidbit in an otherwise crazy and wacky television series, but it’s food for thought
all the same.
Aren’t all imperial dictators instated due to some equally ridiculous notion of merit?
Be it wealth, status, bloodlines, or something else, any so-called justification for a dictatorship
is just as silly as electing someone because they’re tall.
Naturally, such a useless election system leads to abuses of power.
And The Tallest are, as a result, prone to being cruel, vindictive, and malevolent, and
tend to pointlessly torment and dispense of even highly ranked Irken soldiers- as they’re
all expendable to them.
I mean, remember the airlock scene?
But still, The Tallest are not the lowest down on our list-- so who have we declared
as the most evil character in Invader Zim?
Well, we’ve decided the role goes to Professor Membrane, Dib and Gaz’s father.
You may be thinking, sure the guy is a bit of an absentee father and seems to have a
stranglehold on Earth technology, but evil?
Sure, this might be a controversial choice, but we definitely have our reasons to be highly
suspicious of the real nature of Professor Membrane.
It’s been fan conjecture for a while now that the good doctor has actually been experimenting
on his children this whole time- and it gets even worse.
Take this theory from Reddit user mateogg for a start.
They point out that Dib has higher than normal intelligence, to the point where he’s immune
to Tak’s technology.
They suggest this is because Professor Membrane experimented on him to increase his intelligence,
fearing that he otherwise wouldn’t live up to the Membrane legacy-- this could also
explain his abnormally large head, something he’s repeatedly teased for in the show.
Interestingly, Gaz is devoid of empathy, obedient to her father, and above average hand-eye
coordination.
Is it possible that she’s been experimented on too to turn her into a super soldier bodyguard
for Dib?
It gets creepier than that though.
Sources say that, had the series continued and not been cancelled by Nickelodeon, it
would have been revealed that Professor Membrane isn’t Dib’s father at all.
In fact, Dib is a clone of Professor Membrane.
But why would the professor clone himself?
Could it just be as we hypothesised earlier, that he needed someone to continue the Membrane
legacy?
Maybe not quite.
It’s said that one of the episodes never produced explained why Dib is so unlucky and
why he seems perpetually destined for failure- and that’s because he was part of an experiment
to create the unluckiest person alive.
When you think about that, it gets even more sinister.
Flashbacks to Professor Membrane’s childhood show that his was quite an unlucky one too,
such as getting an endless supply of socks for Christmas and being attacked by sharks.
Could he have experimented on Dib as a means to reroute his bad karma?
The professor certainly seems to not have any issues with his luck as an adult.
If this is truly the intended path for the series, it proves Professor Membrane is a
bigger villain than any of the Irkens could hope to be.
Without the unreleased episodes, though, his specific reasons for experimenting on his
children remain a mystery- although, we can very easily argue that there’s most likely
no not-evil reason for it.
So, why else does Membrane deserve to be the most evil on our list?
Well, his global science empire is definitely not as benevolent as he’d like it to seem
and his stranglehold over the industry is deeply sinister.
The positive public opinion of him seems artificial and manipulated, and he seems to think anything
is morally justifiable if it’s “for science”- including locking Gaz in a cage, comparing
her to a pig.
To be honest, the guy is just downright sinister, and therefore earns his place as most evil
character in “Invader Zim.”
But what do you think?
Do you agree with us that Professor Membrane is actually the most evil?
And do you agree with the rest of our “Invader Zim” rankings too?
Let us know in the comment section below.
Also, let us know which cartoon we should feature on Good to Evil next.
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But most importantly, stay wicked.