5 Times Futurama’s Mom Was The Greatest Cartoon Villain (& 5 Times It Was Mr. Burns)

Mom’s only goal in life is to make as much money and gain as much power as possible. She has placed her name and brand on very many products but is still not satisfied with the billions of dollars that her empire makes her. In her quest for ultimate power, Mom has become the most cartoonishly villainous character on television—but Mom has a rival: Mr. Burns of Springfield.

Mr. Burns is Springfield’s chief resident evil, whose love of money and power knows no limit. While Mom terrorizes the whole of Earth, Mr. Burns terrorizes Springfield, the US, and, sometimes, the international community.

10 Mom: When She Stole Billions From Fry

When Fry discovers that he has accrued billions of dollars of interest on his bank account, he uses some of that money to buy the last can of anchovies in the world. Unbeknownst to Fry, a single drop of anchovy oil can permanently lubricate ten robots forever. Mom, afraid that Fry knows about this, and would try to use the anchovy DNA to make his own brand of cheap and effective robot oil, sends her sons to steal all the money from his account so that Fry would be forced to sell her the can of anchovies.

But, Fry always chooses his friends over money and refuses her offer to sell the anchovies because he wants to make an anchovy-topped pizza to share with his friends.

9 Mr. Burns: When He Poisoned Springfield

Mr. Burns has an unbelievable contempt for human life, a quality that endangers everyone at the nuclear power plant and in the town of Springfield. A hoarder of money, Mr. Burns cuts corners in every possible way, most notably by ignoring health and safety standards for nuclear power plants.

Although he already is one of the richest men on the planet, he never has enough. One way in which he cuts corners is by dumping toxic nuclear waste inside the trees in Springfield’s parks. He has dumped so much waste in one tree, it came alive, sprouting tentacles.

8 Mom: When She Single-Handedly Destroyed The Planet

While working at Mom’s Friendly Robot Company, Professor Farnsworth was tasked with creating better robots, as robots back then were “stiff and uptight.” Mom beat up Professor Farnsworth until he created a “bigger, sportier robot” that felt less love and loyalty to humans. “It wasn’t easy. But by sacrificing fuel efficiency, I succeeded,” the professor explains in a flashback.

Mom rushed the new robots to market despite Professor Farnsworth warning her that they do not meet emission standards. With billions of these new robot models all around the world, a new global warming threatened to boil everyone on Earth alive, leaving Professor Farnsworth to save humanity.

7 Mr. Burns: When He Released The Hounds

Mr. Burns does not like to be disturbed in his mansion on the outskirts of town. He lives a very solitary life with Smithers, his money, and his hounds, and he prefers to keep it that way. Sometimes, the people of Springfield, in bouts out wistful thinking, press his bell to ask for financial assistance, donations to charities, or, in the case of Bart Simpson, to find his lost dog.

For every request, Mr. Burns has only one solution: “release the hounds.” He keeps a pack of hungry dogs trained to kill humans in his house as an intimidation tactic against the people of Springfield.

6 Mom: When She Infected Human Brains With A Virus

In an episode parodying iPhone releases, MomCorp releases the new eyePhone, a futuristic phone that goes into your eye socket, with a microphone plugged in your ears. The hype surrounding the new eyePhone sees everyone on Earth rushing and queueing for days to get it. But, Mom has a secret agenda. She will use the account of the first person on Twit to reach a million followers, an obvious parody of Twitter, to send a brain virus to a million people.

Infected with the virus, she will control the followers to walk into the eyePhone store and buy the newly released eyePhone 2.0.

5 Mr. Burns: When He Ran For Governor

In another PR nightmare for the business leader, national newspapers pick up the story of a three-eyed fish found in Springfield waters. The fish mutated thanks to toxic waste flushed from the nuclear power plant to the rivers of Springfield. These rivers are used as a source of water for the people of Springfield. Yet, rather than pay the cost of upgrading his nuclear power plant, Mr. Burns decides to run for governor so that he can change government policy on how his plant is run.

4 Mom: When She Became Supreme Overlord Of Earth

Still heartbroken from her breakup with Professor Farnsworth on Mother’s Day many years ago, Mom decides to take it out on humans to make sure that everyone hates Mother’s Day as much as she does. She has included an antenna in every robot that is hooked to her universal robot controller.

Just once before she dies, she tells her devoted robot children that she would love to become “Supreme Overlord Of Earth.” She isn’t asking for much! She uses the controller to force all robots on Earth to rebel and conquer the planet.

3 Mr. Burns: When He Blocked Out The Sun

“Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I will do the next best thing: block it out.”

Mr. Burns is angry when oil is struck on the grounds of Springfield Elementary School, as this means that the town would no longer be dependent on his nuclear power plant for energy. When Principal Skinner does not fall for a ploy to sell the land to him, Mr. Burns begins illegally drilling the oil for himself, wrecking the entire town in the process, and causing many people to lose their jobs.

But, Mr. Burns is still upset that the people of Springfield dared to become independent of him, so he builds a device to block out the sun so that the town would become fully dependent on his plant for electricity.

2 Mom: When She Conquered All Business On Earth

Planet Express is on the verge of bankruptcy. They put a new guy in charge, referred to as “That Guy,” who looks the part of an 80s businessman but only cares about maximizing profit at the expense of the workers. He sells the company to Mom, who owns her own rival delivery company.

Mom plans to gut the company and eliminate Planet Express as competitors, forcing its workers to become unemployed without a care in the world. This strategy of acquisition and elimination is how MomCorp has grown to become the leading business and manufacturer of the entire planet.

1 Mr. Burns: “See My Vest”

Satirizing 101 Dalmatians, Mr. Burns sings “See My Vest” to Lisa and Bart. The song explains his plans to create a greyhound tuxedo using the skinned fur of live greyhound puppies. During the song, Mr. Burns shows off his collection of animal vests to the children. Some of the vests were created from endangered or extinct animals, including the endangered African rhino.

Mr. Burns had originally stolen the puppies from the Simpsons until Bart and Lisa tracked the puppies back to him. Later in the episode, Mr. Burns also tries to shoot Bart and Lisa, although he finally realizes that he cannot shoot children, and neither can he shoot the puppies.