The popular Cartoon Network show Adventure Time is set in a dystopian world where magic and monsters reign. During the opening credits, bombs are scattered across the land, kingdoms made from natural elements are shown, a vampire makes an appearance, and then Finn and Jake close the scene. For many seasons, Finn and Jake’s dungeon adventures are centered as the plot slowly reveals that Finn isn’t the last human, Jake’s abilities are otherworldly, and the real villain is revealed.
Many cartoons will have several villains who are obvious, but Adventure Time hides their main villain, and it takes a couple watches of the show to realize that it isn’t Ice King or Hunson Abadeer, the Demon King of the Night-O-Sphere. While their methods are questionable, they’re redeemed by Marceline the Vampire Queen, who is arguably the real hero of the show. The King of Ooo, Uncle Gumbald, the Lich, and Patient St. Pim are either destroyed or go into hiding to never appear on the show again. So, the real villain is Princess Bubblegum, also known as Bonnibel, which is shocking considering how literally sweet she appears. Here are six instances that prove Princess Bubblegum was the real villain of Adventure Time.
6 Spying on Her People (Season 4, Episode 20)
Governments around the world use CCTV, some even have up to 117 cameras per one thousand citizens, as Statista reports. While the number of Candy citizens in Aventure Time is unknown, it is common knowledge that Bonnibel has a lot of surveillance in the Candy Kingdom. Specifically, she has cameras in each citizens' rooms, as revealed when the Earl of Lemongrab begins to break into the Candy people’s rooms. Her surveillance of her people irks Starchie (Tom Kenny) the most. He begins a secret club that discusses Bonnibel’s actions, which she can see and hear due to her surveillance system (Season 6, Episode 15). For a ruler who made her citizens, she does not trust them to have true free will.
5 Flame Princess’ Imprisonment (Season 5, Episode 32)
Flame Princess, also known as Phoebe, was prophesied to be stronger than her father, and, out of fear of being usurped, he ordered her to be sent into the woods. Excited by all the wood, infant Phoebe set a wooden cabin and part of the forest on fire. From her tower, Bonnibel noticed the fire, found Phoebe, and returned her to her father who then imprisoned her in a lantern. The imprisonment may have been due to Fire King, but Princess Bubblegum is the one who suggested she be contained because she posed such a threat. Both Phoebe and Bonnibel are princesses and as one of the longest rulers in Ooo in Adventure Time, Bonnibel could have handled the situation with Phoebe much better.
4 Tree Trunks' Wedding to Mr. Pig (Season 5, Episode 44)
Tree Trunks' wedding in Adventure Time was nothing but chaos. From her mama (Maria Bamford) hitting on her soon-to-be husband to Lumpy Space Princess trying to crash the wedding, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Of course, the worst part of Tree Trunks' wedding was when Princess Bubblegum discovered the King of Ooo, a con artist, was officiating the wedding instead of her. During the ceremony, Bonnibel breaks into the King of Ooo’s caravan looking for evidence. Upon interrupting the wedding, Tree Trunks stands up to Bonnibel, landing everyone in jail — although everyone was released due to Bonnibel's spying.
3 Interfering with the Fire Kingdom (Season 6, Episode 22)
When the Fire Kingdom appears to be losing its heat in Adventure Time, Phoebe, who is now the Fire King, asks Princess Bubblegum for help. Phoebe shows Bonnibel the ancient Sleeping Fire Giants. As she explains their history, Bonnibel is stealing the sparks that give the Fire Kingdom its heat. In addition to stealing these sparks, Bonnibel also asked Ice King to ice the Fire Kingdom to cool it down even more. Yet, her third action against Phoebe directly was implanting a camera in Cinnamon Bun to spy on the royal family. The pièce de résistance is that when Phoebe confronted Bonnibel, she shrugged it off.
2 Imprisoning Her People (Season 6, Episode 35)
While it is not directly known why, many years into the future, a Prize Ball Guardian finds Starchy’s tracker implant. Inside the Prize Ball Guardian, each candy citizen is asleep inside their own individual pod. Yet, Princess Bubblegum is nowhere to be seen. One of the most compelling fan hypotheses for this is on track with the last glimpse of Bonnibel. During the final moments of the Adventure Time finale, a glimpse of her life is pretty domestic. She’s on the couch cuddling with Marceline while Peppermint Butler is reading a book about dark magic. Maybe she gave up controlling everyone, but it’s still strange to put your people in an induced coma.
1 Cultivating Space (Season 8, Episode 17)
When Tree Trunks is visited by her alien husband to see their hybrid babies, she is shown something horrific. Princess Bubblegum holds a fireworks show, but Tree Trunks discovers the truth: Bonnibel is trying to cultivate space. She confides in Tree Trunks that she is attempting to cultivate space because the destruction of Ooo could happen quickly and easily. Out of the goodness of her heart, Tree Trunks promises to help Princess Bubblegum find a planet to cultivate and outer space Candy Kingdom.