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Verminous Skumm
Missiontosaveearthone028
Overview
Gender Male
Race Rat mutant
Status Alive
Powers Rat mimicry
Toxics (Mission to Save Earth Part I and Part II, temporarily)
First Appearance Rain of Terror
Voices Jeff Goldblum (first five appearances)
Maurice LaMarche (remainder of appearances)

Verminous Skumm is one of the Eco-Villains. He is a large, humanoid, mutant rat, born and raised in a sewer. Skumm is determined to take over the Earth. Skumm represents urban blight, poor sanitation, drug abuse and disease.

Biography[]

Virtually nothing is known about Skumm's origins or early life, except a quote from Gaia that he was "born and raised in toxic waste". It's plausible that he was once a normal rat who was radically mutated by toxic materials into a sentient humanoid. However, it is known that an entire race of these rat creatures exists, and Skumm is their unquestioned leader. His single most important long-term goal is actually to displace humans and have his own race dominate Earth with himself as a leader, and his methods revolve around targeting human health and safety. Despite this hostility toward humans, he is not above working with them for his own ends; he has teamed up with the other Eco-Villains many times in the past. Nevertheless, he is one of the most dangerous and vile Eco-Villains due to his tendency to directly target humans rather than ecology. Perhaps most notably, he was responsible for creating the drug Bliss in the episode Mind Pollution. In the episode, Linka became addicted to the drug and her cousin Boris died of an overdose.

Personality[]

The appropriately-named Verminous Skumm is a humanoid rat-man who ranks as one of the most profoundly wicked characters in the show. Taking a sick pleasure in the polluted and festering, Skumm's schemes revolve around attacks on human health and society. He does this in a variety of ways, from the subtle--in one episode, he secretly ran a restaurant that deliberately served toxic seafood, sickening its customers--to the extreme, such as his turning innocent people into an army of half-rat slaves with his Rat Rot mutation chemical. Similar to Zarm, Skumm has also tried to incite conflict and hostility between people. This was most notable in his attempt to generate hatred toward HIV-positive teenager Todd Andrews, but Skumm has also worked with street gangs and even introduced nuclear weapons into world conflict zones. Through it all, Skumm's end goal is to destroy the human world and remake the planet in his image, with his Rat Men followers dominating the world and Skumm himself ruling as supreme leader. Happily admitting "I'm ignorance; I'm fear; I'm hate" and taking delight in everything from disease to bigotry, Skumm is second only to Zarm in how dark and evil he is.

Appearance[]

Skumm wears tattered and dirty clothing - a blue jumpsuit that is torn and dishevelled, and a red scarf wound around his head and face. He often hides in shadows or covers his face. He favours the underground. He was originally voiced by actor Jeff Goldblum. After five episodes, Goldblum left the role and was replaced by voice actor Maurice LaMarche.

Sidekick(s)[]

Skumm has an army of rats at his disposal. Some are enormous and clothed, like him, but he is also able to communicate and control the regular rat population.

Significant Episodes[]

Quotes[]

A Formula for Hate

Trivia[]

  • Skumm is the first villain to be responsible for a personal loss by one of the Planeteers, and the only Eco-Villain that upset Captain Planet to the point of losing his sense of humour for a dramatic justice on two occasions.

Gallery[]

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