So I have two villains from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command whom I am certain qualify as Pure Evil.
Those villains are NOS-4-A2 and the Evil Buzz Lightyear.
Here are my arguments for them.
First off, let’s talk about the heinous standard for the series in general.
It’s actually pretty dang high for this kind of show. In the pilot episode alone, Zurg enacts a plan which assimilated most of the galaxy with himself, turning them into basically his puppets. This isn’t particularly traumatic for those affected but is still remarkably dark. Other notable actions of evil Zurg commits includes multiple attempts at omnicide, trying to conquer the galaxy, experiments on sapient aliens like Gravitina and Torque, hell, he even tried to steal Christmas! Though he does have laughable moments, there are times when he drops the goofy façade to remind everyone what he’s capable of. Not for nothing he’s the Evil Emperor. One could definitely make the case he’s Pure Evil...however, what prevents him from really counting is that he actually has redeeming qualities, namely he cared about Nana Zurg and has a very low opinion of Klerm, remarking he “gives evil a bad name.”
Now with the heinous standard set, let’s talk about the candidates.
First up, NOS-4-A2. The show’s breakout villain. NOS-4-A2 was created by Zurg to take over Star Command, but he since evolved beyond his original programming to become much more sinister. After he was beaten that time, NOS-4-A2 got up to some nasty stuff, draining the energy from several robots more for pleasure than outright hunger, tries to massacre the staff of a space diner after taking control of it (long story), and is makes repeated attempts to brutally torture XR, who he enslaved into helping him take control of Star Command but broke free of his control and defeated him.
However, his crowning act of villainy comes in Revenge of the Monsters, where he teams up wth XL and kidnaps Ty Parsec, who is inflicted with the Wirewolf curse because of NOS-4-A2. He forcibly transforms Ty back into the Wirewolf and then goes to Planet Z, where he usurps control of it from Zurg and tried to kill him. What’s notable here is that NOS-4-A2 completely acknowledges that since Zurg is his creator that makes him his father, but doesn’t care all the same and still tried to kill him. After that, he uses Ty, still trapped as the Wirewolf, to power a weapon which harnesses the Wirewolf curse, causing Ty great pain. NOS-4-A2 knows it cause Ty pain but doesn’t care at all.
With the curse harnessed he begins transforming the galaxy into Wirewolves, including Mira and Booster. Though at first it seems he wants to rule over the galaxy, he actually intends to feast on every machine in the galaxy, including the Wirewolves and XL, prompting XL’s betrayal of NOS and helping to defeat him. When his plan is foiled, NOS-4-A2 tries to kill Buzz Lightyear one last time out of spite, only for Ty to take his revenge, turning on him and tossing him onto a metal spike, impaling NOS and destroying him once and for all.
No denying NOS-4-A2 has comedic moments, especially in the Slayer, but this never detracts from his evil or villainy. He’s like animated Joker in this regard, someone who has laughable moments but is still undeniably a monster to the core. While an argument could be made he is made of evil due to being created by Zurg, it’s a weak one, as every robot is shown to have complete morality, even the bad ones. NOS-4-A2’s attacks on robots are also treated no differently than if he was attacking organic life, and many of his scenes are some of the darkest in the show.
In short, he is pure evil with no question.
Now for the Evil Buzz. He comes from a universe where Zurg was a burger boy and Buzz Lightyear the emperor of evil. When Zurg manages to open a portal to the other universe and investigates, we saw firsthand what the Evil Buzz has done. Many planets have been left smoldering wastelands, Capital Planet is literally dust and Star Command is in ruins. When Zurg finally meets the Evil Buzz, the first thing he does is threaten to vaporize Zurg. Zurg instead forms an alliance with him, with the promise of facing off against his good counterpart. The Evil Buzz captures good Buzz and throws him into a prison, leaving him at the mercy of the many, many slaves there who have a bone to pick with Buzz, namely this universe’s Booster and Mira Nova, whose father Evil Buzz killed.
Back in the main universe Evil Buzz and Zurg launch an attack on Star Command and Evil Buzz manages to cripple it, allowing Zurg to finally capture Star Command. During these scenes, Evil Buzz has quickly established himself as the greater evil when compared with Zurg, who is terrified and awed by him. Once Buzz Lightyear manages to team up with what’s left of Star Command in the Evil Buzz’s universe and stages an attack to defeat him, Evil Buzz instead activates the self-destruct to his ship, which will destroy him, Zurg and all Star Command. The two alternate universe space rangers manage to free Star Command and avoid its destruction while Zurg escapes. Evil Buzz and good Buzz face off, with the Evil Buzz rejecting Lightyear’s offer of redemption, takin his chances. Chances which he survives.
After being picked up by Gravitina, whom he enters into an affectionate relationship with, he disguised himself as Shiv Katall, a codename Buzz used to infiltrate Zurg’s forces, then steals technology to build a space station capable of withstanding the sun’s gravity and heat. Once that is completed, he reveals his plan is payback his good counterpart ruining his own universe by having Gravitina launch sunquakes at anywhere in the universe, starting with Capital Planet. Star Command destroys all but one of these solar flares, which impacts and destroys Alliance Plaza. After Mira and Buzz manage to cause the space station to lose stabilization and fall towards the sun, the Evil Buzz decides to leave Gravitina to her fate without hesitation, simply saying they should “start seeing other people.” Then the floor falls out from under him and he seemingly falls into the sun, however, good Buzz isn’t convinced he’s gone. Booster tries to reassure him by pointing out only Buzz Lightyear could have survived that...guess who’s seen flying away in a rocket with a psychotic smirk on his face?
And that is the last we see of the Evil Buzz.
Now, in terms of heinous deeds? I’d put the Evil Buzz up there with the likes of Darkseid and AM. Though we are never given an exact number, it is still made completely clear, with no question, that the Evil Buzz has conquered his own universe and ravaged it, leaving it a ruined husk. Furthermore, there is the blatant implication he actually likes it that way, given how he accused Buzz of ruining it before trying the whole sunquake plan. His relationship with Gravitina is very affectionate and played for laughs yet this also makes his abandonment of her that much worse, given how callously he did it. While he is fairly generic, this is deliberate, given that Buzz himself is a generic space hero parody. He’s also never once played for laughs save that aforementioned relationship. So, no issues at all with him counting.
I did bring this up before in the past, but it never really went anywhere, which is why I bring it up again.
So, what do you guys think? Should NOS-4-A2 and Evil Buzz Lightyear be added to the Pure Evil category?