Happy Friday! October is somehow almost over, and I feel like I've barely done anything Halloween-related.
To celebrate the near-end of the spookiest month out there, I'm going to look at the real stars of Halloween: villains! Last week, I ranked Disney villain sidekicks, and now it is time for their notorious leaders to take the spotlight
Of course, keep in mind that a high ranking does not necessarily mean likability; it means how effective the villain is in their specific role, whether that is a likable villain, a scary villain, etc. After all, the point of several of these villains isn't to be likable; it's to be a good antagonist to our heroes.
15 Queen of hearts
Disney loves to have strange side characters who don't make sense. Alice in Wonderland is filled with these characters, so it is no surprise that their villain is also full of weirdness. The Queen of Hearts is the perfect villain for this story; she is a mix of being non-sensical and kinda scary. After all, the Queen of Hearts is an exaggeration, but real dictators do exist. Of course, we aren't meant to take the Queen of Hearts too seriously, and she doesn't even play a huge role in the movie, which is why she comes in at number 15.
14 Dr. Facilier
My thoughts on Dr. Facilier always go back and forth. On the one hand, he has one of my favorite Disney villain songs ever. The song is a masterpiece that covers so much content, and the imagery during the music is especially effective. However, with the exception of a few highlights in the movie, I don't think Dr. Facilier plays a huge role in the film. In fact, without his song, we would barely know anything about his character. The voodoo component is interesting, but we don't have a motivation for Dr. Facilier other than staying in the "good graces" of his friends on the other side—which is very creepy but doesn't connect to the overall story of The Princess and the Frog.
13 Jafar
If you notice a lot of similarities between Jafar and Maleficent, then you are not the only one. Jafar is essentially the male version of the mistress of all evil, and the creators actually modeled Jafar after Maleficent, from the outfit and body type to the transformation into a scaly animal to the bird sidekick and the similar villain personalities. He's very effective as the scary, power-hungry villain, but some of his lines or actions are a bit uncomfortable, even if they do send significant messages of real-world villainy (e.g. when he tells Jasmine that being speechless is a fine quality for a wife). He plays a great villain, but he loses points for not being the first. Which brings us to...
12 Maleficent
Scary!!! If we're going by just the original Sleeping Beauty and not the live-action adaptations, Maleficent is simply pure evil. She is often referred to as the worst villain ever, and she calls herself the "mistress of all evil." Yikes. Nightmare material. In fact, lots of Sleeping Beauty is actually downright terrifying, like when Maleficent says Prince Phillip must deal with her and "all the powers of hell" (Yes, that's actually in the movie!) She's definitely effective as a scary villain, and just about every villain imagery is used to convey this message while toeing the line of what's appropriate for kids. It's effective but perhaps a bit one-dimensional, which is probably why we've seen so many spin-offs about Maleficent's character.
The dark black and green colors, the shading, the dragon: everything about Maleficent's imagery screams evil.
Photo Retrieved from Disney Fandom | Maleficent.
11 Randall
Now I know what you may be thinking: Randall isn't the main villain in Monsters Inc. It's Mr. Waternoose. Isn't Randall a sidekick? However, we don't know that there is a villain higher up than Randall until the end of the film, and even then, Randall is less of a sidekick and more of a co-villain. The sidekick in Monsters Inc. is Fungus because the Disney sidekick usually doesn't exist to achieve their own wants or needs but to achieve the wants or needs of the central villain. While Randall definitely helps Mr. Waternoose, there is no doubt that he gets something out of it too (the same can't be said for Fungus who doesn't really get anything out of his position).
Anyway, Randall has so many of the great villain imagery: a creepy slithering voice, invisibility, squinting eyes. Everything about him screams scary, smarmy, and sly. The unpredictability of his invisibility makes him especially enjoyable to watch, and of course, his interactions with other characters are great. I don't know which is my favorite: his famous "winds of change" line that purposefully makes no sense or his beating from the tiny Boo.
What does this even mean? It makes no sense, and that's why it's so funny.
Photo Retrieved from Meme Generator.
Skip to 2:35 to see a child beat up an evil lizard.
10 Hans
Listen, I have mixed feelings about Hans (his role as a villain, not him as a character. We can all universally agree that Hans sucks). The reveal of his true intentions was one of the biggest plot twists ever, resulting in one of the largest cinematic gasps ever. His character was also an effective way for Disney to subvert its usual tropes. However, other than his evil speech and overall terribleness, Hans really doesn't do anything or contribute much to the plot. He exists because Frozen needed some type of villain character, even if he doesn't drive the main conflict; yet, he was a big step for Disney shifting its direction of princess movies. For actual storytelling purposes, he ranks rather low, but his impact on audience and culture is high enough to bump him up a few spots.
9 Sid
How do you create a villain for a bunch of toys? Create a diabolical kid who likes to blow up his toys. What's so great about Sid is that even though he's exaggerated a bit for movie purposes, we all know or remember that weird kid who had more fun destroying toys than playing with them, so he feels like a natural villain for the toys. Plus, the scene where Woody and the toys freak out Sid is one of my favorite Pixar scenes out there.
A truly iconic scene.
And of course, we love a good Easter egg with Sid's return in Toy Story 3.
8 Yzma
In a movie that is purposeful in its lack of seriousness, Yzma is the perfect villain. We don't need a villain who is scary, and we don't need a villain who is easy to hate. We need a villain who is just as chaotic and silly and weird as the story's plot and protagonist.
Enter Yzma.
Even Yzma's very obvious horrible lines or actions aren't taken seriously because of the humor embedded in everything she does. It's hard to choose just one Yzma moment that is the best because there are so many gems, but I think her peasant line is one of the funniest Disney moments to exist (though her original plan to kill Kuzko was a close contender).
Classic Yzma. Does she resemble anyone you know....?
Photo Retrieved from Twitter
7 Lots-o'-Huggin'-Bear
You may know from my previous posts that I love the Toy Story films and that the third one is my favorite. There are several reasons why, but Lots-o's role is one of the big ones. Serving the role as the villain/driver of conflict and as a metaphor of abandonment, manipulation, and dictatorship, the use of a fluffy pink bear that smells like Strawberries as a diabolical dictator is a clever sleight of hand, ranking him above Sid the creepy kid.
Have you ever seen a scarier image?
Photo Retrieved from Disney Fandom | Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear.
6 Ursula
Ursula is a great villain because she marks a shift in the portrayal of Disney villains, especially in princess movies. She has the iconic "Poor Unfortunate Souls," the first Disney princess villain to have a villain song. Additionally, while she still has some of the tropes of early villains (evil women, usually jealous), she is much more interesting than the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, or Maleficent. Ursula is sassy and snarky and an absolute joy to watch in the entertainment factor. However, as iconic as the line"Don't underestimate the importance of body language" is, Ursula is still a little too similar to the original Disney villains.
5 Mother Gothel
Maleficent is terrifying because she doesn't pretend to be anything but pure evil. Mother Gothel is terrifying because she pretends to be the opposite. The trend of manipulative villains in recent Disney movies is an interesting one, usually resulting in a plot twist at the end when the audience finds out a hero or silly side character is actually evil (Hans from Frozen, King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph, etc.). The audience knows from the beginning that Mother Gothel is evil, but Rapunzel doesn't, creating an effective use of dramatic irony. The contrast between "Mother Knows Best" and its reprise is one of my favorite Disney music moments (read more about that here!).
And of course, despite her being a manipulative and scary villain, I can't deny that Mother Gothel has some very iconic lines that I sorta feel bad laughing at.:
This is definitely awful and very manipulative, but also.....iconic.
Photo Retrieved from Pinterest.
Mother Gothel manages to delivery manipulative yet hilarious lines
Photo Retrieved from Pinterest.
4 Scar
The Lion King is one of the only Disney movies to show a death onscreen, and Scar is one of the only villains to murder on screen. While this could easily make the film too dark, Disney does a good job portraying death and grief and making Scar an effective villain.
What makes Scar so effective is that his villainy is based on established villains or histories. Several people have made the connection between Scar and historical tyrants, and it's well-known that The Lion King is based on Hamlet. In a story about kingdoms and ruling, Scar's tyrannical persona fits perfectly with the story. And while we don't need sassy Scar remarks to make him better, I think we can all agree our lives are better because of the line "I'm surrounded by idiots."
3 Hades
You'll notice that most Disney villains are either sinister and serious or quirky and goofy. Occasionally, they are both. Hades isn't quite as goofy as Yzma, and he certainly isn't near Maleficent's or Scar's diabolical levels. The mixture of sassy and sinister works perfectly in this mythological-based story. Children may have a vague idea of Hades and Hercules, so the goofy side of Hades entertains them while the sinister side reinforces that he is a villain. Adults probably do know the background of Hades, and the creative portrayal of the god of the underworld is humorous. Whether he's oh-so-casually mentioning his evil plans, yelling at his very unhelpful sidekicks of Pain and Panic, or delivering some universal truth about men, Hades lights up the story whenever he is on.
How can you not love Hades when he has iconic lines like this one?
Photo Retrieved from I Waste So Much Time.
2 Gaston
Yes, "Gaston" the song is a big reason why Gaston is a good villain. But it's so much more than that. Several villains in children's films don't feel like real villains because they are goofy or lovable in some way, like Hades or Yzma. Yet several more are downright scary or vicious, like Maleficent or Ursula; however, with the recent trend of villain backstories or villain retellings, we are seeing another side to these villains, like Disney's live-action adaptation of Maleficent or book retellings that examine the reason why these villains turned evil, usually highlighting some type of injustice. Almost every Disney or fairytale villain has gotten a spinoff that attempts to paint them in a more positive light, but Gaston will never get this spinoff (or at least not an effective spinoff) because there is no circumstance in which we could think of him as anything other than a villain.
And that's impressive.
Scar is evil and killed Mufasa, but audiences recognize that there's a golden boy/disappointment dichotomy between the siblings (which makes us sympathize with Scar if only for a second). Ursula is so fun to watch that it's not a stretch to imagine a story where we actively root for her. Mother Gothel is another villain who would be hard to sympathize with, but still, audiences have debated whether there is any affection for Rapunzel or what drove Mother Gothel to stay young and healthy forever.
Gaston on the other hand? There is not one redeemable quality. There is not one way in which we can spin a story that makes us want to root for Gaston. We may never see someone turn into a dragon or wield a magic staff, but we do see misogyny and toxic masculinity. The portrayal of these real-life villainous issues is very effective, especially for a 90's children's film.
1 Captain Hook
I'm fairly certain this is an unpopular opinion, but nothing will change my mind. Captain Hook is my favorite Disney villain, though I will admit that I love the original Peter Pan story (and really any Peter Pan spinoff), so my opinion may be a little biased.
Captain Hook isn't really scary. He's a massive goofball, but in a land where no one grows up and imagination runs wild, it makes sense that the villain would be just as childish and whimsical as the heroes. It's true that all Captain Hook wants is to beat Peter Pan because of his missing hand, and we don't really get much motivation beyond that. But I would argue that we don't need that motivation or backstory. Peter Pan isn't setting out to accomplish anything except an entertaining and creative story that's fun for children and adults to watch, and Captain Hook's role as a villain accomplishes that.
But the real reason I love Captain Hook so much relates to the ticking crocodile, or should I say the ticking time? With the background of all my Peter Pan knowledge, I know that the character's whimsy was amped up for the movie. In the original J. M. Barrie version, Captain Hook is a symbolic villain, representing the fear of growing old and, ultimately, dying—there is a reason he fears the crocodile so much. The knowledge of the impending passage of time (the clock in the crocodile) is just as scary as the fear (or crocodile) itself. We still see this in the movie, though it's presented as much of an imaginative idea that a metaphorical one. I think it accomplishes both fields, making Captain Hook both an entertaining and intriguing villain.
Is Captain Hook swimming away from the crocodile or time? Depends on how philosophical you are feeling today.
Photo Retrieved from Disney Fandom | Captain Hook
Did any of your favorite (likable or unlikable) villains not make the list? How would you rank your favorite villains? Leave a comment or send a message below, and be sure to check out @genielampofstories on Instagram for more Disney content.
Until later, have courage and be kind.
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