Top 20 Most Disturbing Kids Cartoons Episodes EVER

“CatDog” (1998-2005)

The sound of a dentist’s drill is enough to make anyone squirm in their seat. But, somehow, that’s just the start of this uncomfortable episode of “CatDog.” Once the pets realize their personal dental habits affect the other’s mouth, they begin a wince-inducing war to see who can ruin the other’s teeth first. And one thing’s for sure: they definitely don’t hold back. The recurring imagery of their broken, decayed mouths makes this episode genuinely difficult to sit through. That’s not even mentioning the gruesome sound effects either. If anything, this episode will have you reaching for the TV remote. Or, better yet, for your own toothbrush.

“Batman Beyond” (1999-2001)

One “Batman Beyond” villain took a literal down-to-Earth approach to villainy. The titular Earthmover wanted to get revenge against its enemies by burying them alive underground As if the episode’s claustrophobic setting wasn’t bad enough, the reveal that his true form was a decomposing corpse is just plain haunting. But the worst part of the story is that it's hard to label Earthmover as a cut and dry villain. He mainly wanted revenge for becoming a twisted version of his former self. While Earthmover still isn’t the most sympathetic villain ever, the fact that he’s heavily implied to die by the end of the episode made this story even more disturbing.

“The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius” (2002-06)

In Jimmy’s eyes, pillow fights and pizza are all part of a perfect sleepover. Unfortunately, Carl’s knack for messing things up turns those two into walking scary stories. Sentient Italian food doesn’t sound all that frightening at first. However, kids might disagree when they see the horrifying and formerly inanimate objects chase Jimmy and the others across the house. Not even Carl’s hilarious songs can save this episode from feeling like a full-blown horror film. Thankfully, a twist revealed that it was all a nightmare. But in the end, it’s safe to say that it’s not just Jimmy who will have trouble getting back to bed.

“Samurai Jack” (2001-17)

This legendary cartoon primarily told its story through action. This terrifying installment is no different. In order to emphasize a scary house’s uneasy atmosphere, this episode abruptly swaps between art styles and color palettes. When those choices were combined with an eerie lack of background music, every moment becomes absolutely spine-tingling. The scary decisions led up to the moment when a shadowy monster debuted. In the context of this frightening episode, the villain feels more menacing than the show’s other one-off villains do. Since it was capable of spooking the typically unshakeable Jack, it was a guarantee that the viewers would get scared too.

“Hey Arnold!” (1996-2004)

Boarding this ride of an episode will give you an express ticket to having an intense fear of trains. From the moment Grandpa Phil tells the story about a haunted caravan, it’s painfully obvious where the episode is heading. But it still didn’t make the scariest portion of the story any easier. Arnold, Gerald, and Helga all become trapped in a train seemingly bound for the underworld. The tense stakes aren’t glossed over, either. There are several bone-chilling allusions to fire, brimstone, and everything in between. The trio thankfully manages to emerge from the train unscathed. Even though it’s all okay in the end, it’s still hard to watch these three young characters grapple with the thought of their own deaths.

“The Real Ghostbusters” (1986-91)

Most kids share a deep, primal fear about the monster in their closet. But in this specific case, it’s not just a childhood nightmare. The animated Ghostbusters discover that the Boogieman is all-too-real. Additionally, he also has some downright terrifying ways of scaring his victims. The way his massive head pops out of doorways is sure to haunt young audiences for generations. Especially given the creepy echo of his voice. While busting ghosts is literally in the show’s name, this marked one of the few instances where the monster wasn’t played off as a joke. “The Real Ghostbusters” definitely let the frightening Boogie Man live up to his age-old reputation.

“Rugrats” (1991-2004)

Ironically, it seems like Angelica’s worst nightmare is a lot like everyone else’s. After all, if a giant baby tried to eat us, we’d be scared, too. The episode in question centers around the spoiled Angelica becoming anxious after hearing she’s getting a new sibling. Her fears manifest themselves into a horrifying dream where her baby brother is presented as a horrifying monster. Watching him stomp and grow into a beast is horrifying. To make matters worse, her dream parents neglect and ignore her fears. The scenario Angelica dreamed up is so demented, that we wouldn’t be surprised if this episode inspired viewer’s to have nightmares too.

“The Powerpuff Girls” (1998-2005)

Given how frequently Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup save the day, it’s no surprise they have a devoted fanbase. But a loner named Lenny Baxter completely destroyed the line between “fan” and “fanatic.” After finishing his collection of Powerpuff Girl merchandise, he began quote-unquote “collecting” a lot more personal items. The sight of a grown stranger sneaking into the girls’ room is enough to get anyone’s skin crawling. But Lenny’s obsession gets even more disturbing when he tries to turn the trio into his own personal trophies. Fortunately, a group of less toxic fans rescued the heroes before they became permanent parts of the villain’s collection.

“The Fairly Odd Parents” (2001-17)

When our buck-toothed main character is berated for every good deed he’s done that day, he decides to teach everyone a lesson by wishing he didn't exist. Timmy is then transported to an alternate timeline where it turns out everyone is better off without him. What’s worse is that Jorgan tries to send him to what is conceptually similar to hell. When Timmy is able to steal Jorgan’s wand, he laments, wondering if everyone else's sadness is worth his existence. He decides it’s not and accepts his fate. It all turns out to be a test, but it’s still a pretty shocking plot.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2003-10)

The 2003 series of TMNT has a couple of dark episodes throughout its run. However none of us expected our heroes in a half shell to die on screen! When Donatello is sent to the future, he discovers things took a turn for the worse in his absence. Splinter was killed, the brothers split up, Mikey lost an arm and Shredder has taken over the world. In a last ditch effort to stop this horrible timeline from happening, the turtles charge Shredder’s HQ, dying off one by one. The saddest part is seeing Raphael crawling over to his estranged brother Leo to spend his final moments with him. It’s the: Teenage Mutant Ninja Dead Guys!

“SpongeBob SquarePants” (1999-)

Squidward has always gotten the short end of the stick, but no one expected the show to insinuate him ending it all! Squidward realises that he doesn’t have a “Happiest Memory”, prompting SpongeBob to try and create one for him. Unfortunately his efforts fail, sending Squidward into a deep depression, locking himself away for weeks. It’s here we see one of the darkest images ever drawn in the series. Squidward takes a rope and ties it up, implying that he’s decided life isn’t worth living. It may have been a bait and switch, but by the end of the episode, Squidward has a mental breakdown, leaving his depression unresolved. At a certain point, his pain is no longer funny.

“Rocko’s Modern Life” (1993-96)

Even though it aired on Nickelodeon, Rocko’s Modern Life liked to push what they could get past the censors. In this episode, Heffer finds himself choking to death after swallowing a chicken's rib-cage. While Rocko tries to revive him, Heffer meets Peaches in what is quite obviously hell. Despite Heffer’s food habits being played for laughs, the cartoon gets quite dark as Heffer is exposed to his various glutinous sins and how he would be punished. It gets even scarier when Peaches starts appearing out of nowhere when he thinks he’s safe. The cartoon likes to play with adult jokes from time to time, but the cartoon went a little far for a watershed timeslot.

“Young Justice” (2010-13, 2018-)

“Failsafe” is easily one of the most relentless and horrific episodes of a kids’ cartoon in recent memory. The episode kicks off with the death of the entire Justice League following an alien attack. To make matters worse, The Team is forced to take League’s place and defend the Earth themselves. But, after Artemis dies, the rest of The Team is picked off one by one, before suddenly waking up and finding that the whole scenario was a simulation made real by Miss Martian’s powerful psychic mind, leaving everyone devastated by these real emotions for a fake experience. We know “Young Justice” was supposed to be mature, but not that mature.

“Steven Universe” (2013-19)

While “Steven Universe’s'' stories often take place in bright and colorful settings, this chapter steers the viewer right into utter nightmare territory. During the story, the hero has to go into a hospital at night. At the same time, mysterious enemies lie in wait within the shadows. A subdued color scheme and unsettling music makes the hospital uncomfortable long before any evil gems start rising. When they do, they come in the form of some of the grisliest creature designs the show has ever seen. From the lighting to the music to the storyboarding, this entire episode is a masterclass in how to create a terrifying tone and atmosphere. But it might just do its job a little too well.

“Tom and Jerry” (1940-92)

The adventures of this cat & mouse duo is filled with endless violence, but the characters have only ever died a handful of times. “Blue Cat Blues” sees the two characters await a train to run them over after losing the girls of their dreams. (xref) However, “Heavenly Puss” pulls no punches. After Tom and Jerry engage in a typical chase, Tom is crushed by a piano and ascends to heaven. But once he gets there, he is rejected for how he’s treated Jerry. It’s here we find Tom pleading with Jerry to forgive him before he gets sent to the red hot place down below. Turns out it was all a bad dream and Tom has never been happier to see Jerry.

“Teen Titans” (2003-06)

Obsession can drive a person insane, and in “Teen Titans,” Robin was that person. In this episode of the hit series, Robin ponders over Slade’s defeat and wonders if he is truly gone, a question that begins to haunt him as he starts to see the villain everywhere he goes. Robin is driven mad by the hunt for Slade, who turns out to be nothing more than visions caused by a hallucinogenic chemical. The whole affair serves as a metaphor for paranoia and PTSD, which is what made this episode one of the darkest in the series.

“Dexter’s Laboratory” (1996-99, 2001-03)

Dexter and Dee Dee have a real nasty habit of getting caught in messy situations. Look no further than the episode “Sore Eyes,” where a self-imposed laser-eye surgery gives Dexter a terrifying lens on life. But “Filet of Soul” still managed to be more unnerving than ocular horror. During this infamous story, Dexter and Dee Dee try to give their goldfish a proper burial. Unfortunately, their actions cause the pet to come back as a sinister ghost. And the fish isn’t the only being to come back. The idea of your childhood pets coming back as strong spectral beasts is terrifying on its own. With an unsettling concept and a terrifying final jump scare, it doesn’t take a genius like Dexter to figure out why this story is so scary.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2005-08)

One of the most dangerous forms of bending in the world of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is bloodbending, the act of bending the water within a person’s blood to control their movements. It was first introduced in “The Puppetmaster,” which told the story of Hama, a former prisoner of the Fire Nation who escaped by developing this dark technique, which she continued to use to harm innocent civilians. Desperate to stop Hama and save her friends, Katara is forced to use bloodbending herself; an act that leaves her in tears. With such a dark premise, a tragic villain, and a horrifying technique, “The Puppetmaster” was perhaps the darkest – and creepiest – episode of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

“Courage the Cowardly Dog” (1999-2002)


From Freaky Fred’s debut to King Ramses’ Curse, the show always found a way to terrify its viewers in new, unique ways. This show always bordered on the scary, with plenty of episodes using chilling ideas to drive the comedic situations Courage gets himself into. But the series finale haunted many children’s dreams. During this episode, no matter how much he tries, he can’t seem to do anything right. His feelings of inadequacy manifests in the hallucination of a school teacher called “The Perfectionist”, who berates him throughout the story. It all comes to a head when Courage starts having bad dreams, where a CGI creature soothingly tells Courage “You’re not perfect”. The sudden animation switch is weird enough, but this one, among many other moments, makes the entire episode nightmare fuel.

“Invader Zim” (2001-06)

This episode is, without a doubt, the most messed up thing ever to be aired on Nickelodeon. When Zim fears that his alien biology will reveal his origins, he attempts to make his body appear more human and the episode quickly devolves into a full-blown horror movie as Zim harvests organs around the school, replacing them with everyday objects, until his hunt finally ends when he steals Dib’s lungs. Seriously, how did this one make it past the big-wigs at Nick? An alien harvesting human organs doesn’t exactly make for great children’s television, but it does make “Dark Harvest” our choice for the number one unexpectedly dark kids’ cartoon episode.