Gym Leaders have been a staple of the Pokemon franchise since the very first installments, Pokemon Red & Blue. Every new generation of games features eight new Gym Leaders for players to challenge in their journey to be the very best like no one ever was. The only exception is Gen 7, which replaces Gyms with Trials.
Many of these characters possess unique qualities in the world of Pokemon characters. Usually, their professions and backstories are what connects them to the Pokemon type they battle with. These ten Gym Leaders have the best backstories, and also provide some of the iconic series' best fights.
10 Marnie
Marnie is a reoccurring character in Pokemon Sword & Shield. Her main role in the game is as a rival to the player character, though she inherits the role of Gym Leader from her brother, Piers. The most fascinating part of Marnie's character, however, is her connection to her rambunctious fanbase, Team Yell.
In Sword & Shield, players encounter Marnie along their journey as she strives towards the goal of Galar League's Champion. Her motivation here is in honor of her hometown, Spikemuth. As a city abandoned by Galar's government, Marnie wants to improve her hometown, which warrants her support from Team Yell's grunts.
9 Clemont
Many Pokemon fans recognize Clemont from his travels with Ash Ketchum in the Pokemon anime. In Pokemon X & Y, however, Clemont fulfills the role of Lumiose City Gym Leader, specializing in Electric-type Pokemon. He appears to be a genius inventor, despite the consistent fail rate of his many inventions.
Despite this, Clemont has some claim to fame in the world of X & Y. He is the inventor of the Super Training function that allows players to enhance their Pokemon's effort values, or EVs. The anime further fleshes out his childhood as an accomplished student at an Electric-type Pokemon academy.
8 Volkner
Volkner is another Electric-type specialist, who appears as the Sunyshore City Gym Leader in Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. When players encounter this Gym Leader, they discover he's the source of rolling blackouts in Sunyshore City. This is a result of his boredom as Gym Leader causing him to experiment with his gym's power supply.
Surprisingly, Volkner's boredom comes from an intimidating place. As the final Gym Leader before players challenge the Sinnoh's Elite Four, Volkner is one of the strongest trainers in the entire region. As a result, he's become depressed due to a lack of worthy challengers, which is bound to change once players face him.
7 Acerola
Pokemon Sun & Moon replaces the ordinary Pokemon League with the Island Trials, featuring several Trial Captains instead of Gym Leaders. One of these Trial Captains is Acerola, who specializes in Ghost-type Pokemon. Befitting her type preference, Acerola has a creepy backstory that may tug at players' heartstrings.
Acerola grew up an orphan in the Aether House, a location in Alola that houses abandoned children. Though she's a teenager, she still makes time to play with the orphans who end up at the residence. Apparently, she's also the last living member of an Alolan royal family, which hopefully promises the character a bright future.
6 Clair
Clair appears as a Dragon-type Gym Leader is Pokemon Gold & Silver. However, she's not the only member of her family who players get to challenge. Her cousin, Lance, appears as an original Elite Four member in the Kanto region. The two of them are descendants from a lineage of Dragon-type Pokemon trainers.
While Clair denotes herself as the strongest Dragon-type trainer, it is known that she has lost in battle to her cousin. As a result, she's hesitant to bestow the Rising Badge to victorious players until they complete an additional side-quest at Johto's Dragon's Den. Simply put, it seems that Clair struggles with an inferiority complex to Lance.
5 Lt. Surge
While players encounter Lt. Surge in Kanto's Vermilion City, he has origins outside the first generation region. Despite the vast differences between the Pokemon world and the real world, in-game dialogue states that Lt. Surge is from America. He apparently served as a pilot in the United States military, earning him his rank.
It's possible that future Pokemon games could flesh out Lt. Surge's origins as being from a region like Alola or Unova. For now, all fans know about the Gym Leader is that during an unknown war, Lt. Surge's life was saved by Electric-type Pokemon. As a result, he is supercharged with passion for Pokemon battling.
4 Giovanni
Giovanni is one of the Pokemon franchise's most iconic characters. This is due to his numerous appearances in the anime, as well as his prominence in the storylines of the main series games. Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket, though players are met with a twist when he also appears as the Gym Leader of Viridian City.
Despite his antagonistic appearance in the first gen games, Giovanni may have deeper roots in Pokemon lore. According to a Team Rocket scientist, Giovanni has a kid with red hair. In the second generation, this kid is revealed to be Silver, the player's rival, who has a strong hatred for Team Rocket due to his father.
3 Korrina
Pokemon X & Y heavily features Korrina as a part of its story. The Fighting-type Gym Leader of Shalour City is the granddaughter of Gurkinn, a master of Mega Evolution. The two of them are descendants of the first trainers to ever utilize Mega Evolution, making Korrina quite a formidable trainer with her trusted Lucario.
When she's not studying Mega Evolution or defeating Gym challengers, Korrina also stars in Trainer PR Videos. However, she also makes a big splash in the Pokemon anime after her debut during Ash's travels in Kalos. She recently reunited with Ash in Pokemon Journeys to help him to Mega Evolve his own Lucario.
2 Norman
While none of the Gym Leaders in Hoenn are to be trifled with, Norman is a stand-out when it comes to being menacing. That's because Norman is the only Gym Leader who is also the player character's father. At the start of Ruby & Sapphire, he even refuses to battle the player until they've proven themselves with four badges.
As a college friend of Professor Birch, the stakes of battling Norman in the games are quite massive. In the anime, he keeps his paternal connection to May and Max, but only deepened. Given that May initially hates Pokemon, this caused a divide between her and her determined, Normal-type specialist father.
1 Iris
Many Pokemon fans fell in love with Iris when she joined Ash as his companion during Pokemon Black & White: The Series. However, she keeps up her peppy, tomboyish attitude in the games as well. As the Dragon-type Gym Leader in Pokemon White, she stands between players and the Unova Elite Four.
However, it's her appearance in Black 2 & White 2 that really deepens Iris's character. In-between the original games and their sequels, Iris has replaced Alder as the new Unova Champion. Her team has also expanded to include non-Dragon-types like Lapras and Archeops, though she remains a formidable foe to players.