Disney’s animated movies have a reputation for family-friendly adventure, but some of the studio’s most famous villains are responsible for some truly despicable crimes. Kidnapping, child slavery and mass murder have all featured inDisney’s animated classics, proving that the studio doesn’t deserve its sanitized reputation. Disney’s villains range from the misunderstood to the truly, irredeemably evil.
SomeDisney villains are more popular than the heroes, like Scar, Ursula and Cruella, but this doesn’t mean that they’re good people. Taking some of their actions out of context highlights just how dark they can be. Murder is surprisingly common for Disney villains, with many committing mass murder or even genocide. Usually in a Disney movie, good triumphs over evil and all can be forgotten, but there are some despicable crimes along the way.
10Mother Gothel Kidnaps Rapunzel And Imprisons Her For Life
Tangled (2010)
Tangledis based on the fairy tale ofRapunzel,but it embellishes the character of Mother Gothel, giving her a distinctly Disney twist. Mother Gothel first kidnaps Rapunzel while she’s still a baby after discovering that her hair possesses magical powers that can grant her eternal youth. In order to control her and retain access to her hair at all times, Mother Gothel locks Rapunzel away in a tall tower.
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In some versions of theRapunzelstory, the princess is physically locked in the tower and mistreated.Tangledis slightly different, asMother Gothel gaslights Rapunzel to ensure that she never leaves. She tells her horror stories about the outside world, completely warping her perspective. This is just as damaging as physically chaining her to the tower, even if she may play the part of a caring mother figure.
9Assistant Mayor Bellwether Fuels Citywide Discrimination
Zootopia (2016)
Zootopiauses its cute and cuddly facade to deliver a surprisingly intelligent message about societal discrimination. This mirrors how Assistant Mayor Bellwether uses her timid appearance to conceal her true identity as the mastermind behind the “Night Howlers” plot. Bellwether plans to turn Zootopia’s predator population feral so that she can push her rhetoric that they’re dangerous and need to be segregated from the city’s prey animals.
Bellwether’s tactics are darkly reminiscent of the way real-world political figures create division.
Bellwether’s plan seems especially evil because it’s so realistic. The animal-based setting may be a complete fantasy, but Bellwether’s tactics are darkly reminiscent of the way real-world political figures create division to sustain their own agendas. She doesn’t care about any prey animals that might get hurt as a result of her scheme, showing that her flimsy morals are rooted in self-interest. WithZootopia 2coming in 2025, the sequel might struggle to find a villain quite as compelling.
8Governor Ratcliffe Tries To Start A War For Profit
Pocahontas (1995)
Pocahontasdoesn’t do its true story justiceat times, glossing over the violence and discrimination of real-world history to fit the story into the palatable form of a Disney animated movie. Governor John Ratcliffe’s offers a glimpse at the true brutality that Disney decided to tone down. He believes that the Powhatan tribe is concealing huge reserves of gold, and he’s willing to start a war so that he can get his hands on it.
Governor Ratcliffe personifies Britain’s early attitude to the American coloniesand the native population of North America. Britain initially saw the New World as an exciting land filled with untapped natural resources, and this is what Governor Ratcliffe is interested in, far more than the people who live there. Ultimately, he doesn’t get his war and his own men turn against him.
7Ursula Imprisons People As Voiceless Polyps
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Ursula is one ofDisney’s most iconic villains, as well as one of the most evil. She’s a trickster who uses her magical powers to manipulate merpeople into surrendering their souls to her. Once Ursula has stacked the odds in her favor and taken advantage of her victims, she turns them into shriveled, silent polyps to decorate her lair. The merpeople are then completely powerless, and they can only watch as more victims are lured in by Ursula’s promises of power.
Ursula’s unrepentant, unjustifiable evil is a throwback to an older generation of Disney villains.
Ursula’s evil deeds are particularly repugnant because they don’t directly benefit her. While other Disney villains are driven by greed or revenge,Ursula mostly wants to exert her power over her victims to feed her own ego. She treats her new prisoners as macabre trophies, subtly taunting them whenever she feels like it. Ursula’s unrepentant, unjustifiable evil is a throwback to an older generation of Disney villains.
6Scar Kills His Own Brother To Claim His Throne
The Lion King (1994)
Scar is another of Disney’s most popular villains, since he has a striking character design and a great voice performance from Jeremy Irons. Scar grows tired of being treated as the spare while his older brother Mufasa rules over the Pride Lands, so he takes matters into his own paws and murders Mufasa by pushing him into a herd of stampeding wildebeest. This callous ploy shows his complete lack of sentiment.He never displays even a flicker of remorse or hesitation.
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To underline his villainy, Scar manipulates Simba into believing that Mufasa’s death was his fault, thereby banishing the only legitimate rival to his rule.The Lion Kingis famously inspired byHamlet,and Scar is an even more evil and selfish version of King Claudius. While Disney eliminates some of the most distressing elements ofHamlet, The Lion Kingpulls no punches when it comes to Mufasa’s death. This makes it one of the mostemotionally devastating Disney momentsever.
5Ernesto De La Cruz Murders Héctor And Steals His Music
Coco (2017)
Ernesto is one ofPixar’s best villains, although he’s much more frightening than most of the studio’s bad guys.Pixar generally doesn’t go quite as dark as Disney with their villains, and many of their best movies don’t have evil villains at all.Cocois a clear exception to this rule, as Ernesto murders his musical partner, Héctor, so that he can steal his songs and become a star without having anyone to hold him back.
One thing that makes Ernesto scarier than most Pixar villains is the simple fact that he’s a human.
Another thing that makes Ernesto scarier than most Pixar villains is the simple fact that he’s a human. Rather than seeing a toy, a fish or an anthropomorphized emotion in the villain’s role,Cocoshows a surprisingly grounded conflict between two men, ending with Ernesto poisoning Héctor. Ernesto is a great twist villain, and the time that Miguel spends idolizing him makes it even more powerful when his true nature is revealed.
4The Coachman Sells Children Into Slavery
Pinocchio (1940)
Pinocchiohas a few villains, but the Coachman is easily the scariest and the most evil. He even manages to give Honest John and Gideon a fright when he reveals his plan to them. The Coachman makes a living by luring young boys to his theme park, Pleasure Island, which gradually transforms them into donkeys. Once they have lost the ability to speak, he sells them as slave labor.
Unlike most other Disney villains, the Coachman is never stopped.
The Coachman’s nightmarish form of child slavery robs the boys of their own bodies. Although they take on the appearance of donkeys, they appear to have the same cognizance as they did before the transformation, meaning they are forced to suffer a life of brutal work without their new owners knowing that they’re human. Unlike most other Disney villains, the Coachman is never stopped. Pinocchio escapes his clutches, but he could easily continue imprisoning children.
3Syndrome Lures Superheroes To His Island To Train His Killer Robot
The Incredibles (2004)
Syndrome’s ultimate plan is to use his advanced technology to make himself look like a hero in the eyes of the public, before selling his equipment and making a fortune. This isn’t inherently bad, but his means of achieving this goal are what make him one of Pixar’s most evil characters. To train up his killer robot on Nomanisan Island, he lures a series of superheroes there to fight it.
His means of achieving his goal are what make him one of Pixar’s most evil characters.
When Mr. Incredible gains access to Syndrome’s computer, he can clearly see how many heroes have been killed by Syndrome’s robot.The numbers amount to a mass murder, all in the name of Syndrome’s personal enrichment and his bitter vendetta against heroes after being shunned by Mr. Incredible as a child. With his technology, Syndrome could have become a hero just like his idols, but he chooses the path of a fraudster instead.
2Shan Yu Burns Villages To The Ground
Mulan (1998)
Mulannever digs into Shan Yu’s motivations for waging war against the Emperor, which makes him look like an immovable force of evil. His menacing appearance contributes to this quasi-supernatural sheen, and the fact that he’s often mentioned but rarely seen also builds up his intimidating nature. Without doing much on-screen, Shan Yu already seems like a terrifying villain, and his actions support this.
Shan Yu’s rampage across China leaves a series of razed villages in his wake.He and his men are seen carrying out several atrocities, andMulanalludes to many more which happen off-screen, including the murder of innocent women and children. Shan Yu could have his war with the Emperor without murdering innocent people in his path and destroying their homes, but he seems to derive a sick pleasure from his acts of evil.
1Claude Frollo Commits Genocide Against The Roma People In Paris
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)
Claude Frollo’s very first scene underlines his credentials as the most evil Disney villain ever, as he chases a Roma woman and pushes her down the concrete steps of Notre Dame Cathedral, fracturing her skull and killing her. He doubles down on this evil act by preparing to drown her baby, only to be stopped by a priest who warns him that such actions will doom his soul in the afterlife.
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Although Frollo reluctantly agrees to take care of the baby into adulthood, he continues his genocidal campaign against the Roma people for decades. He abuses his position of power to serve his own agenda, believing that his actions are justified by his religious zealotry. Believing that he’s in the right doesn’t make Frollo any less evil. If anything, it shows a willingness to ignore and subvert the teachings of the Christian faith to suit his own racist hatred.
