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"Oh, no! Not— I—I—I can’t say it! This is a villain so evil, so sinister, so horribly vile that even the utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men! The only safe way to refer to this king of darkness is simply… HIM."
— The narrator in Octi Evil

His Infernal Majesty, also known as simply HIM, is the secondary villain of the Cartoon Network television series The Powerpuff Girls and is a powerful, flamboyant demon who is the king of darkness, demons, and other devils. He is also, by far, the most dangerous enemy of the Powerpuff Girls, and the most evil.

Appearance

HIM has a very androgynous appearance. He has large lobster-like claws, pointed ears, black widow's peak hair, lime green eyes, a hooked nose, and a long, curled beard. He has three long eyelashes on each eyelid, rosy pink cheeks, and black lips, very often in a wide smile. A lady's red jacket and skirt with pink tulle at the collar and hemline, a black leather belt with a bronze buckle, and black, thigh-high, spike-heeled boots complete his look.

HIM has been shown in numerous satanic forms as well, most of which are often revealed in apocalyptic, hellish situations or realms. These forms often enhance HIM's power and cause him to grow to an enormous size. When engaged in battle, HIM is an entity to be reckoned with; one example of his true form was witnessed in Speed Demon when he became a giant muscular red-skinned demon with yellowish-green glowing eyes, pointed ears, and sharp, jagged teeth. HIM's torso was bare, revealing a toned chest and well-defined abdominal muscles. His lobster-like claws became enormous and turned shining black. He sported black thighs, high spiked boots with a scale pattern, and a pink garment made of fur with his voice also losing its original effeminate falsetto and being replaced with a full demonic, masculine growl.

History

Very little is known about HIM's motives for wanting to harm The Powerpuff Girls. In his first appearance, HIM shows a strong contempt towards them, but the main focus of his monologue is pointed towards being humiliated by the recent defeat of one of his monsters, rather than an overall explanation. HIM often plays on weaknesses such as fear, and seems to have a goal of breaking up the Powerpuff Girls, mainly through making them hate or fight each other.

Unlike other villains who would prefer to destroy Townsville themselves or through physical means, HIM, on the other hand, prefers using psychological methods that often orchestrate events and psychological tortures in an attempt to destroy the Powerpuff Girls like drive them apart or make them scared, many of which often come close to succeeding. HIM is only powerful in their world when there's negativity in it, and the more positivity there is the weaker he becomes which sends him back to his home world. He uses Bubbles' innocence and gullibility to move his plans along, making HIM the most threatening villain.

He made his first appearance in "Octi Evil" where he possessed Bubbles’ cute stuffed purple octopus doll, Octi. Using a microphone in a mysterious way which is purposefully never explained, HIM speaks to her through Octi. By gaining the trust of Bubbles, he tries to turn the other two girls against one another. When they finally end up enemies, Bubbles turns to Octi, who HIM has now fully possessed. Bubbles then ends up realizing his identity, but by that point, Octi has grown gigantic, and HIM goes to destroy Townsville, or according to his words, "the world". Instead of asking the girls for help, as both are at war with each other, she goes on her own to try and stop him. She flies up to Octi, who is on top of a skyscraper, and screams that HIM had used her to separate the three sisters. HIM uses Octi's tentacle to hold her and slowly crushes her, leading Bubbles to scream so loudly that her cries are heard by Blossom and Buttercup; they meet up and rescue her even though The Professor put them in time out for fighting. While the girls do not attack Octi, instead choosing to save Bubbles after putting aside their differences, HIM, angry at their choice, screams "No!" before bursting into flames and disappearing.

The next main episode where HIM appeared was in "Telephonies", where he is one of the villains the Powerpuff Girls visit because of the crank phone calls. When the girls burst in, HIM was viewing a workout video and exercising along with it. Unlike Mojo Jojo and Fuzzy Lumpkins, the girls did not attack HIM suggesting that either they know what a threat he is, or that they suspected that he was innocent based on their encounters with Mojo and Fuzzy. HIM explained that he had taken some time off to get into shape, speaking amicably with the girls all the while. After they depart, HIM calls Mojo and Fuzzy to find out what's going on, even going to form a temporary alliance with them and suggests that they complain to the Mayor about it. HIM then calls the Mayor’s office phone and soon discovers that the Gangreen Gang were the real ones that summoned the Powerpuff Girls to attack them with their crank calls after Big Billy accidentally confesses. Immediately, the three villains stormed Townsville Hall and senselessly beat them up as revenge for ruining their day with their crank calls, thus making them the ones to save the day. The Mayor, who saw this, called the Powerpuff Girls about this. However, the girls hung up on him, blasting the hotline for extra measure, thinking that it was another crank call.

During "Tough Love", disgusted over how the citizens of Townsville treated the Powerpuff Girls, HIM used his evil master-mind powers to form no love into Townsville's citizens' hearts and came up with a spell designed to turn the population against the girls. This worked as the normally-loving residents become evil, rising up against the Powerpuff Girls and unwillingly becoming Them puppets. The girls foiled HIM's plan by fighting back and swore to him that if he ever made them do that again, it would be his end. HIM confirmed to the girls that he never gives repeat performances and promised that he would be back before vanishing in a puff of pink smoke.

In "Speed Demon", set fifty years into an alternate future, The Powerpuff Girls themselves have gone missing. HIM managed to gain control of the entire planet, which in turn resulted in his powers becoming greater than ever before. He is able to take The Powerpuff Girls' punches head-on without taking any damage. In this setting, HIM was enraged and turned into his true form. These events were apparently erased when the girls went back to the present. As well as being considered one of the darkest and scariest episodes in the series by fans, this episode clearly showed just how much of an actual threat HIM truly was compared to other villains in the series such as Mojo Jojo, as even the girls could barely defeat the malevolent entity in the form They was in then.

In "Meet the Beat-Alls", HIM joins forces with Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and Princess Morbucks as the 4 evil-doers together formed their own band called "The Beat-Alls" which lasted for a short time and later became disbanded due to the arrival of a chimp named Moko Jono. When forced to engage in battle, he is an entity to be reckoned with, as HIM heralds doom in every direction.

In "Power-Noia", HIM enters the girls' heads whilst they were asleep and then torments them with nightmares about their deepest, darkest fears. Eventually, Blossom was able to see through his tricks and the girls successfully manage to conquer their fears by defeating HIM at his own game.

In "The Boys Are Back In Town", HIM resurrects and improves The Rowdyruff Boys, though the Powerpuff Girls manage to find a way to defeat them once again.

HIM also appeared in the rock musical episode "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey", where, like other villains, he is seen causing chaos and terrorizing the people of Townsville. When The Powerpuff Girls arrive, he, like the other villains, is successfully defeated. Yet when it comes to the Gnome, he is responsible for eliminating all the villains, including HIM. Later, however, when HIM and all the villains revive, the Gnome loses power.

HIM is also seen with all the other villains singing "Why Can't We All Get Along?", giving to understand that he can also have redeeming features, including his villainy.

Personality

"This is a villain so evil, so sinister, so horribly vile that even the utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men. The only safe way to refer to this king of darkness is simply... HIM."
— The Narrator, Octi Evil

HIM is shown to be an extremely dark soul. He is bitter, evil, ruthless, mysterious, diabolical, domineering, and possesses seemingly no motive other than the personal sadistic pleasure of the suffering of others. He treats everyone as a plaything, an easily replaceable toy that can be controlled and broken to his heart's content. It is shown that HIM could destroy the world quite easily if he wanted to, though his insistence on playing mind games with the girls to make things entertaining for himself is always his downfall as he has a bad habit of underestimating the girls' willpower and overall resourcefulness as a unit. This is likely due to his inability to comprehend their sisterly bond and the internal strength that comes with it.

Unlike most villains, HIM learns from many of his mistakes as he mentioned himself. Pretty much everyone, even the villains in Townsville, are frightened of HIM, though it is shown he is on decent terms with some of them from time to time.

Despite his psychopathic nature, HIM generally carries himself with a very flamboyant demeanor, usually speaking in an echoing effeminate falsetto. However, when he becomes furious, his voice changes to become a deep, masculine, commanding, and demonic growl.

HIM is actually shown to be quite polite when not causing mayhem. When the Girls first confronted him in "Telephonies", HIM acted nonchalantly and non-violently until they left, though it was shown afterward that HIM was actually angry about the situation due to Them rights as a citizen. He has also been shown to have fatherly pride in the Rowdyruff Boys, as seen in "Custody Battle", even shedding tears of joy when they made him proud. Whether this is actual love or simply immense satisfaction of his competent minions is unknown.

Powers

  • Size Alteration: HIM has shown the ability to grow in size.
    • Telephonies: HIM grew the size of his arms to grab Ace by the neck and slam him into the floor.
    • Speed Demon: HIM grew incredibly large when fighting the Powerpuff Girls.
    • Him Diddle Riddle: HIM grew really huge when talking to the Powerpuff Girls
    • Meet the Beat-Alls: HIM grew very huge when he went to attack The Powerpuff Girls.
    • The Boys are Back in Town: HIM appeared big when he got mad at The Rowdyruff Boys for not defeating The Powerpuff Girls. H
    • hoHIMr, They was actually normal size because the Rowdyruff Boys are small.
    • The Powerpuff Girls Rule!: HIM grew incredibly huge once again.
  • Transformation: HIM has the power to assume other forms, ranging from ones based on inanimate objects to existing animals, to monsters.
    • All Chalked Up: HIM changed into a butterfly.
    • Him Diddle Riddle: HIM transformed into a clock tower, a telephone stand, a train engineer, and a giant monster.
    • Power-Noia: HIM turned into some kind of red smoke that he used to go inside of The Powerpuff Girls' minds. In their dreams, he changed into Ms. Keane, the kids at the school, demonic toys, spiders, and a giant scorpion-like monster.
  • Mind Control: HIM has the ability to control other people's minds.
    • Tough Love: HIM took the love for the Powerpuff Girls from every citizen in the City of Townsville and turned it into hatred.
    • Birthday Bash: HIM willed the Professor into allowing the girls to open a monstrous present.
    • Custody Battle: HIM hypnotized two scientists into sending the earth out of orbit.
    • Second Chances: HIM mind-controlled the villains of Townsville into becoming heroes.
  • Telekinesis: HIM has the ability to lift objects with his mind.
  • Acid Spit: HIM can spit acid.
    • Meet the Beat-Alls: HIM spat acid on The Powerpuff Girls multiple times when he was stopping them.
  • Eyebeams: HIM can shoot red lasers out of his eyes.
  • Energy Blast: HIM can fire red energy blasts from his claws.
  • Invulnerability: In Speed Demon, when the Powerpuff Girls punch HIM several times, he didn't feel any kind of pain.
  • Flight: HIM can move through the air the same way the Powerpuff Girls do.
  • Teleportation: HIM has the ability to move instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between.
  • Resurrection: HIM used this power to bring The Rowdyruff Boys back from the dead in the episode The Boys are Back in Town.
  • Dream manipulation: HIM has the power to enter, manipulate, project, alter, and control the dreams of others.
  • Reality warping: HIM can warp reality to a large scale. For instance, HE could make Bubbles' drawings come alive.
  • Weather Control: HIM can control the weather by summoning lighting.
  • Possession: HIM can possess inanimate objects.
  • Animation: HIM can bring inanimate objects to life.
  • Negative Feelings Empowerment: HIM can become stronger and more powerful by feeding off the negative emotions of people such as hatred, fear, pain, etc.
  • Smoke Manipulation: HIM can generate and appear from smoke.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes

Dislikes

Episode Appearances

Appearances in other media

  • HIM appears in the video game Multiversus as a cameo in the City of Townsville stage, his face can sometimes appears on the clock tower that can be seen if the camera move at left.
    HIM (Multiversus)

Gallery

Click here to visit HIM's gallery

Trivia

  • In "Octi Evil", the narrator states that this villain so evil, sinister and horribly vile that even the utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men, and that the only safe way to refer to this king of darkness is simply: HIM.
  • In "Him Diddle Riddle", HIM owns his very own diner called the "Otto-Time Diner". This same diner is presented in the Powerpuff Girls parody short by MAD, whereas Tom Kane reprises the role in the segment "2 Broke Powerpuff Girls" alongside Tara Strong as Bubbles.
  • Him shares the same voice actor of Professor Utonium, both voiced by Tom Kane.

BONUS: Tom Kane also voices Yoda from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Tony Stark and Ultron from Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.

  • The spell HIM used in "The Boys are Back in Town," to revive the Rowdyruff Boys, was apparently taken from the Internet, but it could be a lie directed towards anyone in Townsville who would try to figure out how The Rowdyruff Boys came back, as HIM has the power to resurrect them, and make the cootie vaccine for them out of thin air.
  • HIM has a rubber duck named Mr. Quackers in "Tough Love".
  • HIM's voice and mannerisms were inspired by the Chief of the Blue Meanies in the Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
  • HIM's physical appearance is a combination of sorts, borrowing a mix of concepts and imagery in regards to Satan with cross-dresser attire.
  • HIM usually hypnotizes others to do all his dirty work (except for in "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey").
  • The version of HIM in Powerpuff Girls Z was based on the eight headed serpent Yamata No Orochi.
  • One of HIM's commonly used victims would be Bubbles; taking joy in using her naivety against her sisters in an attempt to break them up so he could take over Townsville and the world.
  • HIM is known to spy on others through the means of using monitors of some sort with even having the ability to know what the girls are up to once in a while.
  • HIM is the fourth most recurring villain, appearing in 20 episodes.
  • According to Craig McCracken's scale of the villains on The Powerpuff Girls, HIM is at the top simply because he is the most evil.
  • HIM is good at making pancakes, as seen in "Him Diddle Riddle".
  • HIM often speaks in rhyme.
  • HIM's talking style is similar to Red Guy from Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel, two other Cartoon Network shows that feature a devil-like character.
    • As an extra fact, for the Latin Spanish dubbing of the series, Him shares the same dubbing actor as Red Guy: Ricardo Hill.
    • Incidentally, both have co-starred in a bumper on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays as well as Johnny Bravo, who was creeped out.
      • They also appear together alongside other Cartoon Cartoons characters in a Cartoon Network promo starring Scrappy-Doo.
  • In HIM's world, random clips of a plane crashing and people doing random things can be seen behind him.
  • HIM is possibly underweight, as his limbs are slimmer than the PPGs' and his face is extremely thin.
  • It is shown in "Tough Love" that HIM's feet are shaped like his boots. However, in the previous episode "Telephonies", he is seen wearing sneakers while exercising and they are not shaped like his feet when he wears his boots.
  • HIM could destroy Earth if he wanted to, as seen in "Custody Battle", where he almost put the Sun to the Earth until Mojo Jojo stopped him by pointing out how stupid that is.
  • According to HIM's voice actor Tom Kane, if one were to utter his name, they would explode.
  • In an update of the Cartoon Network crossover mobile game, Cartoon Network: Match Land, HIM appears as the shop owner of Power Peppers.
  • Sedusa and HIM do not appear in the parade of criminals in "Daylight Savings."
  • HIM somewhat bears a few resemblances to Satan.
  • HIM is also similar to the Slaaneshi Daemons who are crab-clawed and androynous as well.
  • HIM's voice doesn’t echo when he Sings in See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey. It also doesn’t echo in Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL.
  • MsMojo ranked HIM as the #1 Powerpuff Girls villain.
  • HIM's powers of immortality, monster summoning, and resurrection are similar to those Hades from Greek mythology, the god of the Underworld, the dead, and the riches of the earth.
  • In "The Boys Are Back in Town," HIM watches over the failings of Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Gangreen Gang, Princess Morbucks, Amoeba boys, Sedusa, Unlucky Captured Robber Dude, Broccoloids, and The Smiths, lamenting "All the years, all the villains produce nothing." and "So much time, so little results." indicating two things: HIM was watching all these events unfold, and that he possibly had a hand in all the villains' plots.
  • HIM was originally going to have a more devilish appearance during the Whoopass Girls series, such as having horns and a long devilish tail. He was also originally referred to as "The Devil". It is likely that this had to be changed for censorship reasons.
  • People have theorized that HIM stands for "His Infernal Majesty". Whether or not this is true is yet to be confirmed. As of now, its just a fanon thing.
  • Despite being the representation of evil, he is considered a common citizen, this is shown in Telephonies when Mojo Jojo says that despite being villains they also have rights. In this same episode it is seen that when he is not planning to attack Townsville he likes to exercise by watching aerobics on TV; later in Moral Decay he is seen going to the dentist after Buttercup knocked him down teeth and in Him Diddle Riddle it was seen that he has his own restaurant although according to Professor Utonium his food is good but he is exaggerated with his prices, also in Meet the Beat Alls he is seen going to jail along with Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins and Princess.


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