Best Portrayals of Santa Claus in Cartoon Network Christmas Specials

Santas reaction to Princess Morbucks bad mouthing him is exactly how Santa form the Teen Titans Go Christmas episode should have reacted after the Titans wrecked havoc in the North Pole and blew up his workshop and killed his workers by putting all five of them on the permanent naughty list.

"LIST, SCHMIST! I don't need no stinkin' list tellin' me who's naughty and who's nice! " These are the words of the beginning of the greatest Humiliation Conga given by Santa in history to one of the biggest spoiled brats in animation. In 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas, it follows The Powerpuff Girls having to save Christmas when Princess Morbucks sabotages Santa's nice and naughty lists and switches them in order to make everyone naughty and her be the only nice person on Santa's nice list so she can get her wish of becoming a Powerpuff Girl. While Santa Claus doesn't have a major role until near the climax of the special, when he does manage to do so, the results are quite epic. When The Powerpuff Girls and Morbucks try to argue over why they're at Santa's workshop and Santa Claus is confused at the situation, things take a turn when Santa realizes that The Powerpuff Girls are supposed to be nice and not naughty. Which then leads to Morbucks apparently deciding to badmouth Saint Nick himself... However, this Saint Nick isn't one to cower in fear, as he immediately lashes at Morbucks for the spoiled brat she is and ultimately puts her on the... PERMANENT NAUGHTY PLAQUE! And the icing on the cake? When Santa Claus prevents Morbucks from escaping too far when she flies away by stripping her of her powers and making her fall flat into deep white snow. All with the flick of a finger. 'Cause he's Santa Claus!

It's Christmas season in Elmore, but the spirit of the season is at risk. Richard and the Wattersons accidentally run over a man they assume to be a homeless person, and Richard and the kids come to believe that they've just hit Santa Claus, ruining Christmas. The entire Christmas special revolves around Gumball and his family trying to snap the man out of his amnesia in the hopes that Santa Claus will recover his memories and save Christmas.

Unfortunately, nothing works. Nicole finally tells the kids the harsh truth that Santa Claus isn't real. She bases this on her own experience of sending letters to Santa as a child and never receiving anything back. This revelation sends Gumball and his siblings into a downward spiral, leading them to proclaim to everyone in Elmore that Christmas is ruined.

Thankfully, a Christmas miracle occurs. The man they ran over is bumped into again and is miraculously revealed to have been Santa Claus the whole time! With the assistance of Gumball and his family, Santa works to spread holiday cheer around Elmore. They manage to successfully save Christmas, and Santa even resolves Nicole's longstanding issue by finally giving her the gift she'd been waiting for all these years. It turns out she had been sending her letters to the South Pole instead of the North Pole.

The present is revealed to be stickers of Gumball, Darwin, and Anais. This shows that while Santa was right about his gift being long overdue, Nicole's Christmas wish had already come true without her even knowing it. A happy ending, indeed.

And now we have a Santa Claus... that's voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. You know, the same guy who voices Digit from Cyberchase. Anyways, this is one of the more unique spins on Santa Claus in Cartoon Network Christmas specials, as Santa Claus has been turned into a vampire and it's up to Billy, Mandy, and Grim to save Christmas. Back to Santa himself, the first jump scare involving him jumping out of a coffin while screaming in anger and swiping his claws all over the place truly took me by surprise the first time I saw this special. Thankfully, he's shown to be more comical as he's either shown getting tired easily from swiping his claws and even was able to gain sanity temporarily before Mandy screwed up her chance to redeem Santa. Where Mandy couldn't save Santa and she, Grim, and a new character named Baron von Ghoulish who's accused of turning Santa into a vampire eventually find out that Santa's wife, Mrs. Claus is a vampire and the true perpetrator of the incident since she got tired of always having to do the work for her husband every year, Billy is able to save the day with the help of Santa's holograms by making cookies and milk for Santa to eat, turning Santa back to normal. On a side note, Santa stated that this was the SIXTH or SEVENTH time he's been turned into a vampire and that he knew his wife Nancy was a vampire long before marriage. That said, all's well that ends well with everyone holding hands and humming to the Christmas season (and Sperg getting attacked by vampire elves).

Yay! Mac and Bloo get to see Santa Claus at Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends! But, wait! What's this? Another Santa Claus?! What's the meaning of this? Long story short, what Mac and Bloo saw were actually just two of several imaginary Santa Clauses that kids imagine every year when Christmas comes around. While it's fun seeing all the unique and differentiating designs for each Santa, they unfortunately don't play much of a role in the special's main story. But, they do impact Mac heavily as he's led to believe that Santa isn't real and is quite bummed out about it. While Bloo is up to no good and eventually ends up ruining Christmas when he accidentally convinces Mr. Herriman into throwing away all the Christmas decorations and giving NO presents for any imaginary friend (Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! You just had to ruin everyone's Christmas for your own selfish needs, Bloo! ), Mac wants to find proof that Santa's real. It even got to the point where he wished that Santa would give him UNDERWEAR (as in, the gift everyone dreads). By Christmas morning, while things initially don't go good at Mac's home, when Mac goes to visit the Foster's manor, it's a Christmas miracle as all the Christmas decorations are back up and everyone is happy and full of presents!...Except for Bloo, who's sitting on a haystack of coal for being a naughty, naughty boy. However, the true happy ending comes when Madame Foster comes up to Mac and Mac gets the underwear that he wished for from Santa. While we don't get to see Santa in person at the ending, we do hear a holly jolly "Ho, ho, ho! " from him as the episode ends. What a Christmas miracle.

I don't think any Santa is as badass as the Santa from Codename: Kids Next Door. I mean, what Santa can literally pry open a metallic door with his two bare hands, be the only one capable of using the Reindeer System without getting corrupted, and literally own a squad of X-Men in the form of elite Christmas icons? In this Christmas special, Santa Claus is tied up when the Delightful Children from Down the Lane want all the presents in the world to themselves and no other kid since they're tired of being considered naughty and given tons of coal every Christmas. Meanwhile, Santa Claus's Elfa Strike Team led by an elf named Wintergreen are led into chasing down Sector V when the sector is framed for stealing the sleigh bells meant to control the Reindeer system. However, things take a turn when they realize they've been misled and they fight their way through Edna Jucation and the Faculty 4. It's then that they see the DCFDTL COMPLETELY laden in Grinch-green skin and in pain since they couldn't handle the Reindeer system, leading to Sector V having to snap them out of it and then subsequently having to snap Numbuh 3 out of it too when she tries to use the Reindeer System for herself. But Numbuhs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 couldn't have done it without Santa appearing even after being thrown down a pit by the DCFDTL and literally ripping the door to the Reindeer System open with his own two hands.

Who says Santa Claus has to be fat and smell like gingerbread? Well, definitely not this incarnation of Santa. Speaking from my perspective, this Santa and the one from Kids Next Door are probably the best examples of Badass Santa characters in Cartoon Network Christmas specials. In this incarnation, Santa Claus asks Mordecai and Rigby to help him destroy an evil magical present created by one of his elves named Quillgin that's said to grant the wishes of any person, but apparently corrupts anyone exposed to it. While Mordecai and Rigby and friends are able to carry out this quest even amidst hard challenges and obstacles as they seek to drop it into the underground lava pits of their rival park, Quillgin stops them in their tracks. When all seems lost, Santa Claus comes to the rescue with an invisibility cloak and a hoverboard. Not to mention... BUM BUM BA-BUM BUM! Santa's got a six-pack! But despite Santa's interference, Quillgin is still bent on wishing for the end of Christmas (which is why he actually made the evil magical present in the first place). Thankfully, Mordecai and Rigby barge into Quillgin and manage to throw him and the evil magical present into the lava pit, thus saving Christmas. And the cherry on top? Santa Claus decides to reward Mordecai and Rigby for their hard work by breaking his own rules of not giving anything magical as presents by finally giving them the invisibility cloaks that they've long asked for since they were kids, which they use to hide from Benson and get out of work and play video games.

Technically, Johnny Bravo's Santa Claus first appeared in Twas the Night, but since I remember A Johnny Bravo Christmas more, I chose to go with that incarnation. Either way, they're the same Santa. To start off, Santa first appeared in Twas the Night when he's mistaken for a burglar by Johnny and is beaten up. Thus, Johnny has to do Santa's job of delivering presents to all the good people in the world. At the end of the episode, Santa leaves him a gift... of a pair of boxing gloves as an indication of Santa planning for a rematch against Johnny for beating him up in this episode, tying into A Johnny Bravo Christmas. As you'd expect, Santa manages to get payback on Johnny by beating him with a boxing glove. Regardless, Santa is still nice enough to be willing to help Johnny deliver presents to him and his mom Bunny. Unfortunately, it seems Santa can't be able to do that since all the gifts are packed up and ready to go. Thankfully, an elf informs him that two kids were exposed as naughty at the last minute, thus opening up only two more positions for gifts for Johnny and his mom. While two would have been enough for Johnny and Bunny, Johnny does something selfless and decides to give the two gifts to only his mom, because the only thing he really wants is for his mom to be happy. Heartwarming, isn't it?

This Santa is one of the more grotesque ones. Is it even Santa? Either way, Knish Krinkle serves as Chowder's equivalent of Santa Claus, just as Knishmas is the Chowder version of Christmas. In this special, Knish Krinkle is a giant worm-like being who visits Marzipan City every Knishmas to taste everyone's Schmingerbread houses. If he likes the Schmingerbread house, he gives you presents. If he doesn't, he goes on a rampage, destroying the Schmingerbread house and everything else in the residence. Unfortunately, the latter has been the case for Mung Daal every Knishmas.

Since Chowder desperately wants an Electric Broccoli Trimmer for Knishmas, Mung Daal is willing to sacrifice his pride and confidence. He goes to his rival Endive to get a Schmingerbread house just to make Chowder happy. Chowder sees this and decides he has to eat the Schmingerbread house to keep Knish Krinkle away, preferring Mung Daal's happiness over his own. After a face-off between Chowder and Knish Krinkle awakens Mung Daal, Chowder explains why he ate the Schmingerbread house. This revelation leads Mung Daal and Chowder to understand the true meaning of Knishmas. Knish Krinkle is so moved that he gives Chowder the Electric Broccoli Trimmer he wanted. The story may be a somewhat broken Aesop, but it emphasizes the idea of earning your happy ending.

This one's for you, all you Camp Lazlo fans and Joe Murray enthusiasts. In this incarnation, Santa Claus is probably the only human character to ever appear on Camp Lazlo (in a show where everyone is an anthropomorphic animal). One day, Camp Kidney is taking a trip to Mount Whitehead to see a meteor shower. However, their trip is stopped short when their bus blows a tire due to apparently running over some Christmas lights. Everyone then goes to play in the snow while Lazlo, Raj, and Clam stumble upon more Christmas-themed objects, leading them and everyone to actually stumble upon Santa's workshop! Camp Kidney is having a great time exploring Santa's workshop, and Santa Claus shows them all the toys that all the elves built early so he can have a vacation in the tropics until he goes to work on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately... remember that meteor shower they were supposed to see? Apparently, one of the meteors crashes into Santa's workshop and destroys all the toys. Since Santa is so tired and is willing to cancel Christmas for 1 year before having to work non-stop for the next 200 years, Lazlo steps in and allows him to stay at Camp Kidney for a week until he's fully rested. Things initially don't go well for Santa, but he eventually starts to like Camp Kidney when he discovers tether-ball and gets addicted to it. There's even a moment where the campers try to get him to leave after his overstayed welcome by making a soup made of their own AILMENTS, yet he still liked it! Wow, talk about an iron stomach! Thankfully, he manages to get back on track when he rediscovers the joy of making toys. However, he then has to face off against Lumpus when he takes over his workshop. While Lumpus had a technological advantage, the two were evenly matched until another meteor stops Lumpus and saves Santa's workshop. Thus, Christmas is saved and Camp Kidney goes to visit him 5 months later on Christmas Eve as he thanks them for all their help and has come to love Camp Kidney... more