5 - Adventure Time
Adventure Time is much more subtle than the shows on this list. After all, how could a show full of candy critters, korean rainbow unicorn dragons, and talking shapeshifting dogs be that dark? Well Adventure Time is actually a very disturbing show, full of heavy post apocalyptic undertones, several depictions of Hell and death, and sexual metaphors. This all works because the show doesn't take itself very seriously. While Finn is likely the last living human on Earth, they don't dwell on it very much. Despite being a post apocalyptic world, the land they live in is actually rather happy and vivid. It's not until you see the nuclear warheads in the theme song that you're reminded of the show's dark history.
4 - Regular Show
Regular Show is borderline adult swim. It's full of blatant sexual jokes and references that really have no place in a kid's show, and there are several shootouts and deaths throughout the series. This is the last show to come on before Cartoon Network switches to Adult Swim, and it really shows.
3 - Invader Zim
Invader Zim has some incredibly scarring and gruesome moments. In the Lice episode, Zim's skin gets ripped off and green goo oozes every where. In the Best Friend episode, one of the character's eyeballs are torn out and replaced with robotic ones. But one of the most notorious examples is the "Dark Harvest" episode. This one TERRIFIED me as a child. In it, Zim is afraid to see the school nurse because he lacks human organs and he doesn't want to get discovered as an alien. So he steals them from the other students in the school. That's right. He steals peoples organs and replaces them with random objects, such as a TV remote, a dumbbell, and even a living kitten. It's a horrific episode that still gives me the creeps to this day.
2 - Courage the Cowardly Dog
Courage the Cowardly Dog is one of the most bizarre, but extremely well designed cartoons I've ever seen. The main character, Courage, rarely says even a single word, so the show is almost entirely visual. It just has such a great, spooky aesthetic that you really wouldn't expect from a kids show.
1 - The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
To be honest, I didn't watch this show that much as a kid. The episodes and TV movies that I did catch were some of the darkest (yet brilliant) things I'd ever seen. The show is about these to kids, Billy and Mandy, who win a bet and pretty much enslave the Grim Reaper. Together, they go through many dark adventures together, spending much time in parallel dimensions and horrific underworlds. The main thing that bothered me though was that the episodes rarely ended miserably with a the world being taken over by spiders who enslave and devour the humans or with a character being placed under house arrest for all eternity for something. But in good old cartoon fashion, everything is back to normal in the next episode.
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