League of Super Evil

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"I demand to be acknowledged!!"'
—Voltar

The League of Super Evil (acronym L.O.S.E.) is a cartoon series that aired on YTV between 2009 and 2012 about a Quirky Miniboss Squad made up of Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains. The team is led by the Pointy-Haired Boss Voltar, a Card-Carrying Villain and all-around Large Ham. He constantly attempts to be evil, but is largely incompetent of anything more serious than Poke the Poodle. Forming Voltar's posse of mooks is the Mad Scientist Butt Monkey Doktor Frogg and the Dumb Muscle Red Menace. Their Team Pet Doomageddon is a pandimensional hell doomhound and Extreme Omnivore.

Every episode they pull some harebrained scheme in an attempt to be evil, but usually manage only to be annoying. So far their most ambitious schemes have been to annoy the neighborhood, steal $5 to open a bank account for a free toaster, host a neighborhood barbecue and not invite the neighbors, and sneak their way into a fancy restaurant. They have also sold Evil Lemonade and Evil Piñatas. They have also stolen an ice ray that can turn the planet into an ice cube, but only to use it as an air conditioner.

Tropes used in League of Super Evil include:
  • The Ace: Glory Guy.
  • Accidental Hero: Voltar refuses cookie sales from a Suzie Scouts member. Neighbors praise him. Go figure.
    • Also the episode where Voltar and his crew is credited for "saving" a bunny that they captured under suspicion for overhearing a plot.
  • Adolf Hitler: Watch the episode Suzie Scouts. A lookalike of Hitler appears during a crowd scene, wearing a white T-shirt. He isn't named though as Hitler explicitly, so it's No Celebrities Were Harmed.
    • On the same subject, a Steve Jobs expy that runs an evil gagets and computer company that looks suspiciously like Apple also have a few appearances.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Logical. It was based off of a sketch entitled "When We Were Heros".
  • Affably Evil: This trope pretty much defines the show.
  • Affectionate Parody: Force Fighters V, of the Power Rangers. One of the elements on their Combining Mecha is a hand.
    • Heck, probably everyone. The Cougar is Catwoman.
  • All There in the Manual: The show's website.
  • Amusing Injuries: Usually Doktor Frogg as he is the resident Chew Toy
  • Animal Superheroes: Villainous variant: The Cougar.
  • Arm Cannon: Skullossus possesses one of these.
  • Art Imitates Art: Frogg and Red imitate American Gothic as part of a disguise, while Voltar and Doomy dress like farm animals.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Gene plans to become a superhero by rising through the ranks of whatever job he's on at the time... somehow.
  • Balloon Belly: The mutant Bunny after swallowing Doomageddon. (It's a long story)
    • Also Doomageddon after eating an entire freezer full of Fudgy Yummy Fudge Bars
  • Bad Guy Bar: Er, Bad Guy 5-star Restaurant, Villaynes.
  • Bad Santa: Subverted, as there is actually a variant of Christmas for villains called "Chaos-mas", where bad people get presents from Kinder Kreep for being bad all year.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: "Helicopters in space? How does that even work?!"
  • Batteries Not Included: The Henchbot Elites look fancy and feature-packed, but then you learn they require many different add-on upgrades to even be useful!
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Red Menace unleashes his anvil-sized Fists of Judgment only on those who really got it comin'.
  • Big Eater: Doomageddon
  • Brown Bag Mask: Voltar, after Humongo steals his helmet. He was seriously desperate to get it back.
  • Butt Monkey: Doktor Frogg. He's electrocuted, spat on, run over, and eaten more than any other character, usually by his own inventions or the Team Pet, Doomageddon.
    • This Troper lost count of how many times he was electrocuted in a single episode.
  • Canada, Eh?: Yes, the show is Canadian, but a few episodes have slipped in references to Canadian sports, including an episode entirely based on street hockey (However, hockey is still quite popular in the U.S.), and Doomageddon is seen curling in a library in another episode.
  • The Can Kicked Him: The one and only time LOSE is considered a serious threat is the time Frogg invents a machine to back up all the toilets in the city.
  • The Cape (trope): Glory Guy.
  • Captain Ersatz: The Cougar is an ersatz of Catwoman. Or at least she thinks she is.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: If they didn't keep telling you it would be hard to tell they are evil.
  • Chase Scene: Parodied, when the team is running away in their golf cart from a guy on a Segway. Really slowly.
  • Catch Phrase: "VICTORY!"
    • "Bad Doomageddon!"
  • Chew Toy: Doktor Frogg, sometimes literally if Doomageddon is involved.
  • Classy Cat Burglar: The Cougar
  • Color Character: Averted with Red Menace, who wears green. Lampshaded when the Legion turns up, and his counterpart Green Menace wears red.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat
  • The Cowl: Nightshade.
  • Creepy Monotone: Lair-y
  • Deadpan Snarker: Doktor Frogg
  • Dead TV Remote Gag: Kinda, but replace "TV remote" with the controller of an RC truck. Although the controller randomly worked after someone dropped it on the ground, which ended up activating a prank that they had a second thought about, and suddenly did not want to occur when they learned something at the last minute.
  • Death Course: Doktor Frogg attempts to convert a normal obstacle course to this during the pet competition. It backfires and every trap either doesn't go off at all or hits Doomageddon instead.
    • The entire crew also does this to thwart the pizza guy's journey to their house in 10 minutes or less.
  • Decoy Protagonist: Red asserts himself to be the team leader for Henchmen Appreciation Day, complete with antennae. Voltar is not amused.
  • The Determinator: When Voltar wants something, whether it's to throw an "evil" barbecue, steal a highly desired ice ray to use as a air conditioner, or get to eat at an exclusive restaurant for super villains, then no amount of danger or common sense will dissuade him.
  • Dirty Communists: Not really used in the actual show, per se, but this is likely the origin of Red Menace's name.
  • Do-Anything Robot: Subverted, most of the robots shown so far are just Mooks.
    • The Henchbot Elites can do a lot of things, but they required several expensive addons to even do one task!
  • Doomy Dooms of Doom: Anything and everything involving Doomageddon.
  • Dramatic Thunder: (Thunderous Underline variant) Parodied when Voltar is boasting to the neighborhood kids about how many TV channels their lair gets. It turns out there really was a storm producing the thunder.
  • Dub Name Change: In spanish, Doomagedon got his name changed to Apocalipsis, inverting his bowlderize.
    • Red Menace got his name changed to Simply Amenaza[1]. The communist references aren't prohibited, but Red Menace would actually be a too long name[2]
  • Dumb Muscle: Subverted with Red Menace, who is not dumb, but rather bright and resourceful. One episode showed Red scoring higher on a computerized intelligence test than Voltar.
    • Also Frogg for one episode, when he decided to use a device to convert his brain power into strength. Of course, while becoming extremely badass as a result, he also became extremely dumb.
  • Everything Is Better With Monkeys: In true silver age fashion, the maître d'hôtel of the Villains restaurant is a talking gorilla.
  • Everything's Better with Chickens: As part of a farm disguise (which also saw Frogg and Red dress like American Gothic), Voltar dresses like a chicken, and amazingly is able to lay an egg.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Frogg ends up creating clones of L.O.S.E. that turn out to be far more evil and competent than the originals.
    • Also, Mal, the one-time guest henchman for L.O.S.E. who apparently has the authority to demote Voltar.
    • Revisited somewhat in "A Lose/Lose Situation" where the Legion of Supreme Evil move in across the street.
  • Evil Laugh: Lots of it. Doktor Frogg in particular does this every couple sentences.
  • Evil Twin: The Legion of Supreme Evil, although it turns out they're about as evil as each other. Not very.
  • Evil Versus Evil
  • Expressive Mask: Everyone. Doktor Frogg has Expressive Goggles.
  • Expy: Voltar seems to be Zim in a Power Rangers outfit.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Doomageddon again
  • Face Heel Turn: Justice Gene briefly becomes Injustice Gene in one episode.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: "League Of Super Evil". Yeah...
  • Farm Boy: Red Menace (formerly)
  • Five-Bad Band: Noticeably lacking a Dark Chick however.
  • Foe Yay: When faced with a freeze ray, the General and Skullossus hold hands and grin awkwardly at each other before they're zapped.
    • Another episode reveals that Skullossus and Captain Glory Guy's relationship is positively screaming with this.
  • Food Fight: When a Monster of the Week claims that black licorice is one of the most powerful forms of dark matter in the universe, he ends up capturing Voltar, posing as him, and making a cannon that shoots a concoction of it at people. The final battle between him and Voltar, is fought with the substance.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Among others, L.O.S.E., S.W.E.A.T. and U.N.C.O.O.L.
  • Gentle Giant: Red Menace enjoys gardening and Bouncy Castles
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: A very old Classy Cat Burglar known as the Cougar who repeatedly hits on the League. Think about it, it'll come to you. Clarification: A 'cougar' is a slang term for an older woman, usually middle-aged, who seduces young men.
    • They actually got away with saying Hellhound once. As of late, this has been heard in most broadcasts of the episode that aired... without censoring, even during early hours when kids would be watching.
  • Girl Scouts Are Evil: When Voltar refuses to buy cookies from the Suzie Scouts in one episode, they don't take it too well. However, his action gets him praise by his neighbours...
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Voltar
  • Handy Remote Control: Used to control a flying stick used to win a pet competition
  • Happy Fun Ball: Black licorice is claimed by an alien emperor to be a very powerful form of dark matter.
  • Harmless Villain: All of L.O.S.E., and how. These guys make Doctor Horrible look like Doctor Doom.
  • Hell Hound: Doomageddon.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Junko? Is that you?
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: The purple Ninja waiters.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: "Justice Gene". Gene is defeated by his own organization's stringent rules. Specifically, he wears the wrong type of socks.
  • Humongous Mecha: Two of them, including Commander Chaos' Shuriken Typhoon Super S Atomic Destructo Bot.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: The LOSE logo.
  • Idiot Ball: Voltar.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains: Do we really have to say it?
  • Ironic Nickname: Humongo, Emperor of the Ginormans, is only just as tall as Voltar himself.
  • Knight Templar: Justice Gene, despite absolute incompetence.
  • Large Ham: Voltar
  • Legion of Doom: In one episode, Voltar manages to assemble a group of the most powerful supervillains... who he gets to play hockey against the neighborhood children.
  • Level Ate: Being swallowed by Doomageddon transports its victim to an ironically bright and super-happy candy land.
  • Mad Scientist: Doktor Frogg.
  • Madness Mantra: "Tofu pops are tasty! Tofu pops are tasty!"
  • Meaningful Name: The Cougar, an old Catwoman lookalike who has an attraction to younger men, figure it out.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Henchbots 17 and 32, who are constantly getting destroyed.
  • Minion with an F In Evil: Red Menace is pretty much the poster boy for this trope.
  • Monster Clown: Chuckles the robot clown
  • Most Common Superpower: The Cougar
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Doktor Frogg.
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: Voltar proclaims himself to be "the mostest evilest supervillain in the whole entire world and Europe."
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Doomageddon.
  • Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List: When Voltar realizes the potential benefits of never becoming tired, one of his first evil plots is to "make Macaroni Salad"
  • Only Sane Man: Doktor Frogg is the only member of LOSE who has standard super villain aspirations of world conquest, but he always finds his efforts stymied by a combination of bad luck and the ineptness of his allies (And it kind of says something when the teams Mad Scientist is the voice of reason.)
  • Our Time Machine Is Different: Doktor Frogg's time machine in "Back to the Coupons" is a crappy looking watch... which is also a music player with a built-in disco ball.
  • Poke the Poodle
  • Power Armor: Lightning Liz, Voltar for a few minutes.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Many of L.O.S.E.'s "victories" end up as these.
  • Road Apples: There is an episode that centers around Doomageddon's radioactive excrement and the group's efforts to create clones in order to accomplish the menial task of cleaning it up. Said clones are fitted with "fine tuning" by Doctor Frogg and coincidentally become superior to their originals, going so far as to actually beating up other villains.
  • Rule of Funny: The team earns the ire of a hyper-intelligent cyborg dolphin that can fly and shoot missiles out of its head. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Weapon of Mass Destruction that a military truck accidentally dropped in front of L.O.S.E.'s house was disposed of using a self-destruction mechanism (believing that if the military couldn't use it, no one should). Ironically the episode it was paired with, also contained the threat of destroying the Rotten Core store after a de-brained but heavily brawned Frogg got a "refund" from them (and no one gets a refund from the Rotten Core store and lives.)
  • Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Voltar and Mr. Lee, the Pizza Maker.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Voltar in a nutshell.
  • Space Does Not Work That Way: See Batman Can Breathe In Space above,
  • Spoiled Brat: Lightning Liz
  • Superhero: Being a supervillain show this is a given. L.O.S.E is usually beneath any heroes' notice but, naturally, whenever they do get one's attention they immediately find themselves in over their heads.
  • Superhero Trophy Shelf: Famous Superhero Glory Guy confiscates weapons from supervillains he defeats and puts them in alarm-rigged glass cases in his base, along with any supervillain he catches trying to raid his collection.
  • Super Villain: L.O.S.E. is trying to be this.
  • Super Zeroes: A villainous variation.
  • Terrible Trio: Natch.
  • The Napoleon: Voltar
  • The Siege: When Voltar did not get invited to a neighbor's birthday party (a party that his henchmen, and even his henchbots got invited to), he tried to get in, but every plan backfired. When he decided to turn the table and sabotage it instead, it still backfires.
  • Thirty Minutes or It's Free: Played entirely straight. What makes it even more hilarious is the fact that the pizza joint has a war room setup because of all the times L.O.S.E. has tried this in the past.
  • Time Travel Episode: Voltar finds a coupon book buried under a couch cushion, and becomes fascinated by a coupon for a free wig... which expired the day prior. You can guess where it goes from here.
  • Totem Pole Trench: Doubly subverted. There's an actual villain named Mysterio Villaino who looks like Voltar, Red Menace and Doktor Frogg interlocked vertically. Seconds later, the three show up and try the same routine on the maître d'hôtel, without success. Red Menace even mentions, "We should have gone in before that other guy."
  • Too Dumb to Live: Voltar, which makes him the worst leader ever...
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Museum Gene" dismantles the museum's T. rex exhibit to keep L.O.S.E. from "borrowing" a single bone from it. Frogg calls him out on it.
  • When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The crew is saved by this when Frogg's birthday wrecking robot (who Voltar and Red sent out as part of his own birthday festivities) stops torturing him at midnight because it's not his birthday anymore. Of course, then they learn its now Voltar's birthday...
  • Which Me?: After a series of time travel shenanigans, Voltar ends up with a whole army of clones. With different wigs too.
  • The Wonka: Humongo. He seems as clueless and evil as Voltar (the worst punishment he could think was not inviting voltar to his wedding). But he is the commander of super conquering race and have actually, you know, conquered.
  • Villains Out Shopping - The team fails at even this. One episode revolves around them ordering a pizza ... and making sure that they get it for free by delaying the delivery-guy at any cost.
  • Villain Protagonist
  • Zany Scheme: Every single episode.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: "Ice Creamed" becomes a hilarious send-up of such.
  1. ↑ Menace
  2. ↑ Amenaza Roja
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