How Father is one of the KND’s Biggest Baddies (Explained)

Benedict Wigglestein, also known as Father, is the main antagonist of the show Codename: Kids Next Door. He is known for his cruelty and outright hatred of kids everywhere. Ahead of that, he is shown to be one of the KND’s more powerful threats in large part thanks to his pyrokinetic abilities inherited from his father (who seems to inherited it from his mother). It is often considered unwise to attack Father without a proper strategy, Sector V being the only sector trusted to even infiltrate his mansion. Throughout the show, Father is shown to be one of the most evil and manipulative villains, using charm and charisma to inspire loyalty from fellow adults and kids as well as using fear to quell any resistance. Having been faced with such fear from his own Father, Father would try to utilize this to keep everyone in line. He is considered the head and de facto leader of the villains, with many operations being manipulated by him; however, Father rarely takes part in any operations against the KND personally, instead only having others, such as the Delightful Children from Down the Lane or the Teen Ninjas, carry out his missions under his orders. When he does interfere, he is a force to be reckoned with, as his demonic abilities make him a dangerous player. Many of the worst attacks against the KND were orchestrated by him on the sidelines. Despite Father’s threat level being very high, his ego and habit of underestimating his opponents often led to his downfall, as Father has usually been defeated by others with cunning and finesse. Despite all, he’s certainly one of the KND’s worst threats and has committed atrocities and heinous deeds.

Kidnapping Sector Z:

At one point, Father had kidnapped the legendary Sector Z, an elite KND sector that has some of the biggest success rates among the KND, rivaled only by Sector V.

Sector Z in their normal state

Father’s intentions were to completely delightfulize children and turn them into obedient and polite kids that listen to all adults. Sector Z was sent to stop him, but they had failed and were kidnapped by Father and used in the machine’s test run. However, a fuse had blown, causing the machine’s abilities to increase “eleventy-billion fold” and give Sector Z fates worse than death as it had not only brainwashed the kids, but had rewritten their minds down to their DNA, creating a hive mind programming within them as they all speak in unison and have a creepily eerie tone. This makes it worse because Father has not only successfully brainwashed the kids but also robbed them of their individual identities, childhoods, personalities, memories, and even families, as the kids have no memories of who they were in their past lives, only that they are supposed to be obedient children who follow adults no matter who they are. Unlike Sector Z, who fight for kids' rights, the Delightful Children despise any type of rebellion or things deemed fun to kids, having an innate desire to destroy the things that keep children happy or even force them to watch as they eat their birthday cakes, which they refuse to share to anyone. Their delusions that they are perfect kids has led them to physically assault Santa Claus, tranquilize his elves and security team, & and attempted to take over his operations and keep all the presents under the insane belief that they are in fact being robbed since they receive nothing but coal when in reality they’re actions proved Santa’s point that they are nothing but a bunch of ungrateful brats who are unable to see the error in their ways due to their brainwashing as they are in a way programmed to make life unfair for kids everywhere. Ultimately, Father uses them as pawns or enforcers of his will, having them attempt to destroy or spy on the Kids Next Door to gain their secrets. Many of their plans can be traced back to Father, making him indirectly responsible for whatever actions that occur on the Delightful Children’s accord, such as Numbuh 1’s permanent baldness, the Destruction of the Fountain of Youth, or the creation of the Delightful Reaper (which itself was ironically also an accident). Although Father often treats them harshly, using fear mongering to keep them in line and obey him, he has shown to be surprisingly affable towards them whenever they accomplish something, such as baking a perfect cake for the delightful children 5 times a year. Oddly enough, on occasion, the delightfulization effects have been shown to wane at times as the Delightful children at times go behind Father’s back and do things he did not authorize himself this can likely be traced back to a flaw within the prototype chamber and their former lives as Kids Next Door agents, making them somewhat rebellious when the situation calls for it. The effects of the delightfulization are permanent, with any attempt to revert them being temporary, as the effects will only last for at least an hour before their hive mind takes control again. It’s even made clear that sector z deeply despises their delightfulized state and Father for what he did to them, only working with him due to the bigger threat of Grandfather at the time. Their final words that they miss the Kids Next Door before their brainwashing returns makes this fate even more tragic and notes to the viewer (and Numbuh 1) that they aren’t like this on purpose they were in fact made to be like this and forced to be the very thing they hate and despise and any moment they’re committing any crimes against kids are moments they despise or regret when their brainwashing is temporarily reversed.

Sector Z in their Brainwashed state as the Delightful Children from Down the Lane

Frequently Attempting Child Murder:

While such isn’t exactly uncommon among the KND universe with villains such as Cree, Chester, or Mr. Boss actually attempting to commit child genocide, Father however stands out with his frequent attempts to not only defeat his child enemies but also attempted to kill them especially Numbuh 1 whom is his own nephew (which Father is well aware of even before Numbuh 1 knew further adding to his cruelty). He had also visibly made attempts to kill the Gilligans' brothers, Sector W, Numbuh 19th Century, and the rest of Sector V on different occasions whenever they got in his way or disturbed him.

This isn't canniblism and genocide to you guys?

At one point, Father had orchestrated a plan to detach the KND moonbase and send it into the sun, which would kill the operatives already living there, and at another point, he attempted to bake a large cake made with actual children, which would be considered genocide and cannibalism, which makes him stand out even more (see below).

Attempting to Send The Kids Next Door Moonbase into the Sun:

During season 2, Father began to orchestrate a plot to send the kids next door Moonbase,

Kids Next Door Moonbase (Before Operation: Z.E.R.O.)

which is regarded as the main hub for global command and the heart of the Kids Next Door, into the sun, formulating a very complex and discreet plan to do so. He is well aware that taking it down or destroying it would badly destabilize the Kids Next Door, as their central communications hub also runs through the moon base and is regarded as a sanctuary among kids whenever Earth has become unsafe to live in. In doing so, Father would commit child genocide to the operatives residing at or already inside the base. Father remains in the sidelines the entire time with the KND nonethewiser and does not actually participate in the plan rather he hires and sends Numbuh 5’s treacherous older sister Cree Lincoln, a former Kids Next Door operative and a high ranking Teen Ninja, to do the job for him through elaborate planning managing to get her arrested by the Kids Next Door in order to put the next phase of his plan into fruition. However, the plan, unfortunately, is abandoned at the last minute when Cree arrives just as Chad, fka Numbuh 275, reveals he had already attempted the plan and it didn’t work, and dissuades Cree from going forward with her plan, arguing that they already have failsafes in place and forcing Cree to return to earth to regroup.

Turning the Kids Next Door Into Animals:

When the plan to have the KND Moonbase sent to the moon had failed, Father had utilized the Teen Ninjas and hired them to steal the Kids Next Door’s C.O.D.E.M.O.D.U.L.E. from the moonbase. The device contains the genetic material (including boogers) of every active Kids Next Door operative, allowing it to be used to track any rogue operatives and provide current operatives with physical access to their networks. They were successful in stealing the device despite Numbuh 12's betrayal and subsequent theft of it. Though the device was eventually recovered by Sector V, it mattered not, as Father had already synchronized it with his computer system and used an Animalizer ray to transform all current Kids Next Door operatives into mindless animals, most of them having little to no memory of their original selves.

Father and Sector V (as animals)

The ray spanned out the entire world and even aimed at the moon at one point, demonstrating its potency. Despite the Delightful Children also being turned into animals by Tommy Gilligan, Father decided not to turn the device off to restore them, showing he merely sees them as pawns rather than his own kids and shows little to no concern over them, leading Tommy to call him out on his sadism, which he gleefully agreed to. The plan, however, backfired when Tommy managed to place his booger into the C.O.D.E.M.O.D.U.L.E., causing the computer his system had synced to, to immediately target and transform Father into a mindless panther and later imprisoned in his own dungeon while the Animalization ray was destroyed, turning the animals back to normal.

Attempting to Bake Children Into a Giant Cake:

During C.A.K.E.D.-F.O.U.R., Father and the Delightful Children From Down the Lane conspire to organize a tubing contest where the winner will get a slice of the Delightful Children’s cake however the actual plan was really a trap for kids as Father deliberately sabotaged the race which would lead into a large pot filled with cake batter which Father used his flames to cook all the contestants which is both genocide and cannibalism. Unfortunately, this plan was foiled by Numbuh 2, armed with his Father’s inflatable tube, Ol’ Betsy (which was outfitted with 2x4 technology unbeknownst to everyone).

Transforming Treehouse Bases into Broccoli:

When the plan to turn the KND into animals had failed, Father had later caught on to the KND’s ongoing Tag game, Father had taken the time to infiltrate the Moonbase taking advantage of the KND’s destabilization (as many operatives were in hiding or fleeing to avoid being named Supreme Leader) to gain access to their Moonbase (using his booger the kids neglected to take out of C.O.D.E.M.O.D.U.L.E to gain access), learn much of their secrets coming across Numbuh 2 in the process who absentmindedly tagged him resulting in Father becoming supreme leader. Despite being targeted by Numbuh 86 for immediate decommissioning, he decided to use his position to make it so they can’t decommission him as the supreme leader. Using his charisma, Father managed to sway the kids to their cause, arguing that he intends to have the KND target all broccoli in the world and eradicate it. However, Father’s true plan was to hack into the KND treehouse grid in order to convert treehouses into broccoli and make the kids eat it in order to escape.

I actually like Broccoli shrug

This plan was later foiled by Numbuh 362, who threatened to forcefeed him broccoli if he doesn’t tag her, to which he does and curls up in anguish of reliving his childhood of being force-fed broccoli. It can be strongly inferred that during his time in the moonbase, he had learned of the recommissioning module through this tactic, which would later be used to recommission Grandfather in the TV film not long after.

Resurrecting Grandfather:

This can be considered the worst act Father has ever committed as he orchestrated an attack on both the Kids Next Door Moonbase and Museum of Cool Artifacts and Stuff, with the former being targeted to have most of the operatives be forced to defend the hub to KND central. In doing so, the recommissioning module was recovered along with Numbuh 1’s genetic code to activate the machine allowing him to use it to reawaken Grandfather. Before Grandfather, Father was previously known as the biggest threat to the Kids Next Door; however, Grandfather easily managed to surpass that as he possesses more advanced abilities that even Father himself does not have, such as the ability to manipulate reality and transform any living being into ancient, obedient senior citizombies through touch, giving each of his victims fates worse than death. To make matters worse the Senior Citizombies possess the same abilities as Grandfather making them extremely dangerous to go up against without risk of turning into one yourself ahead of them being virutally unkillable and possessing enhanced strength. Almost immediately after regaining his powers and memories, Grandfather betrayed Father, shunning him out of disgust and even the villains who were willing to help him achieve his quest of dominating the world and destroying the Kids Next Door, instead transforming them into his minions and sending his already sizable army out in the world. His intentions were far from benefiting the adult kind, as he intended to transform and control everyone who had ever been a kid to ensure that no one, kid, adult, animal, or teen could stop him, so he could have the world and potentially the universe to himself. Soon after his resurrection, the entire world had fallen under Grandfather’s control, with 2/3 of the KND treehouses being conquered within the hour by the time Sector V retreated back to Moonbase to warn Global Command. The Moonbase, which served as the last remaining sanctuary for kids, would fall shortly afterwards. By the time Numbuh 0 was recommissioned and recruited Father & Sector Z to aid them in stopping Grandfather, the Kids Next Door had already fallen and destabilized under Grandfather’s rule, with even a Senior Citizombified Numbuh 362 personally giving Grandfather the declaration that the kids Next door has been destroyed with every operative falling under Grandfather’s spell with the exception of the Uno family. It was even demonstrated that animals were not immune to the transformation, as many of Sector V’s hamsters immediately transformed after attacking an infected Numbuh 5, implying Grandfather potentially intended to enslave and spread his influence throughout the universe and quite possibly the multiverse. It took the Kids Next Door every resource they had to stop him again, as no one was prepared for this kind of assault on humanity, with Numbuh 2 frantically working to reprogram the birthday suits to counteract Grandfather’s powers, which were partially finished by the time he himself succumbed to it. As a last ditch effort to defeat Grandfather once and for all and running out of options, Numbuh 1 and Sector V (in their partially reformed state) and Z conspired to actually detach the KND moonbase from the moon and aimed at Grandfather in order to lead him into the decommissioning chamber and strip away his memories finally putting an end to Grandfather’s reign once more with some help from Father and the Delightful Children (albeit in their original Sector Z state). Though Father had taken responsibility for this and admitted his mistake, it was neither out of genuine remorse or empathy, but rather he was upset & disgusted that Grandfather wouldn’t share control of the world with him and ungratefully cast him out despite his accomplishments.