Similar to the Disney Princesses, the Disney Villains have their own franchise. The franchise consists of Disney's most well-known and beloved villains and span from various forms of media and merchandise, typically aimed at an older audience.
Members
Over its more than 90 year history, Disney has brought to life more than 125 different villains from films, sequels, television, video games, books and even the Disney theme parks. Although many different evil characters and enemies have been created, not all of them are official members of the Disney Villains franchise.
Conversely, some of the "villains" that are marketed are not necessarily villains since they do not fully agree with the primary antagonists l but still cause trouble to the protagonists; Anastasia Tremaine being one such example ("villain" and "antagonist" are not the same thing).
Primary members
Note: Often cited as the most popular of the villains, these villains are seen in most, if not all, current Disney Villain related productions, merchandise, etc.
- Maleficent[1][2]
- The Evil Queen[1][2]
- Cruella De Vil[1][2]
- Ursula[1][2]
- Captain Hook[1][2]
- Jafar[1][2]
- Hades[1][2]
- Scar[1][2]
- Queen of Hearts[1]
- Dr. Facilier[3]
- Chernabog[2][4]
- Yzma[3]
- Gaston[1][2]
Recurring members
- Pete[2][4]
- Lady Tremaine[1][2]
- Claude Frollo[2][5]
- Mother Gothel[6]
- Shere Khan[1]
- Oogie Boogie[3]
- Mr. Smee[3]
- Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed[7]
- Pain and Panic[7]
- Iago[1] (formerly)
- Flotsam and Jetsam[8]
- Diablo[1]
- Kronk[9] (formerly)
- Lucifer[1]
- Kaa[2][7]
- Big Bad Wolf[2][4]
- Si and Am[1][2]
- Madam Mim[1]
- Shan Yu[1][2]
- King Candy[3]
- Sour Bill[10] (formerly)
- Governor Ratcliffe[2][11]
- Jasper and Horace[7] (formerly)
- Anastasia Tremaine[2][7] (formerly)
- Drizella Tremaine[2][7]
- Madame Medusa[2][12]
- Horned King[4][2]
- Prince John[2][4]
- Sir Hiss[2][4]
- Sheriff of Nottingham[5]
- Honest John[4]
- Gideon[4]
- Stromboli[2][4]
- The Coachman
- Monstro[4]
- Percival C. McLeach[2][4]
- The Headless Horseman[13]
- Amos Slade (formerly)
- Ratigan[2][4]
- Felicia
- Bill Sykes
- Clayton[1]
- Lawrence[14]
- Lyle Tiberius Rourke
- Fates[9]
- Sid Phillips
- Hopper
- Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear[3]
- Stinky Pete
- Emperor Zurg[3] (formerly)
- Randall Boggs[3]
- Darla Sherman
- Syndrome[3]
- Mortimer Mouse[15]
- Ringmaster[16]
- Pink Elephants[17]
- Heffalumps[17]
- Woozles[17]
- Captain Gantu[18] (formerly)
- Dr. Hämsterviel[19]
- John Silver formerly)
- Scroop
- CLU 2.0
- The Lonesome Ghosts[7]
- Edgar Balthazar[2][20]
- Br'er Fox[19]
- Br'er Bear[19]
- Hitchhiking Ghosts[7]
- Alameda Slim
- Queen Narissa[21]
- Michael "Goob" Yagoobian (formerly)
- DOR-15[3]
- Hans[3]
- Duke of Weselton[22]
- Yokai[3] (formerly)
- Tamatoa[23]
- Bellwether[24]
Sub-franchises
Disney's Divas of Darkness
Disney's Divas of Darkness (also shortened to Disney Divas, DDD, or Disney's Bad Girls) is a sub-franchise consisting of the most recognizable female Disney Villains. It can be seen as a counterpart to the Disney Princess franchise because it too targets a female audience but consists of evil characters instead.
Official Members
- The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
- Lady Tremaine (Cinderella) (occasionally)
- Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)
- Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
- Cruella De Vil (One Hundred and One Dalmatians)
- Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone) (occasionally)
- Madame Medusa (The Rescuers) (occasionally)
- Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
- Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove) (occasionally)
- Mother Gothel (Tangled) (occasionally)
Disney's Sinister Cats
Disney's Sinister Cats is a lesser known sub-franchise consisting of felines. It should be noted that several of its members were not the main antagonists of their respective films. This franchise is also known as Disney Cats, but it should be noted that the franchise does not include feline protagonists like Oliver or Thomas O'Malley under this banner.
Official Members
- Lucifer (Cinderella)
- Si and Am (Lady and the Tramp)
- Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)
- Felicia (The Great Mouse Detective)
- Scar (The Lion King)
The Thirteen Reflections of Evil
A poster of The Thirteen Reflections of Evil.
The Thirteen Reflections of Evil was a Disney Villain group made for the Epcot pin trading event in the September of 2013. In the story the Evil Queen found an incantation which if performed with a magic mirror on Friday the Thirteenth would summon 13 of the most evil villains from across time and space. The villains then broke the mirror and hid the thirteen shards so no one could use it against them.
Official Members
- Chernabog
- Maleficent
- The Evil Queen
- Jafar
- Ursula
- Cruella De Vil
- Dr. Facilier
- Hades
- Scar
- Captain Hook
- Queen of Hearts
- Gaston
- Oogie Boogie
Leaders
In all crossover appearances featuring the villains, a specific villain would act as the ringleader. The leaders have varied over the years, and is usually chosen through power.
- Maleficent - The most frequent and quintessential leader of the Disney Villains. She led the villains in several park attractions, promotional material, the Kingdom Hearts series, and was the second-in-command of the Kingdom Keepers novels.
- Pete - The leader of the villains in the House of Mouse episode "Pete's House of Villains" and second-in-command in the Kingdom Hearts series.
- The Evil Queen - Led the villains in Fantasmic!, the former Walt Disney World show Cinderella's Surprise Celebration and One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On! She led the villains along with Jafar in the nighttime show Villains Night Out! during Hong Kong Disneyland's Halloween Time event. She has also served as the centerpiece in various forms of merchandise and marketing.
- Chernabog - Led the villains in the Kingdom Keepers novels, as well as being the centerpiece of several Disney Villain related merchandise and promotional material.
- Jafar - Jafar was the leader in the direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains. He also led the villains along with the Evil Queen in the nighttime show Villains Night Out! during Hong Kong Disneyland's Halloween Time event.
- Hades - Hades serves as the ringleader in the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction, the central villain in the Disney Cruise Line show, Villains Tonight!, and the host of Disney's Limited Time Magic event in 2013, Unleash the Villains. This would be reprised in 2014 for Villains Unleashed.
- Captain Hook - Led the villains in the Disneyland Paris show Disney Dreams! and the second-in-command in Mickey's House of Villains.
- Ursula - Led the villains in the Disney Cruise Line show, The Golden Mickeys.
- Dr. Facilier - Facilier served as the central villain in Disney's Maleficious Halloween Party, as well as the host of the villains-centric event Club Villain; both at the Disney theme parks. He also led Villains Mix and Mingle from 2011 to 2014.
- Lady Tremaine - The leader of the villains during the Sinister Soiree character dining event in Cinderella's Royal Table during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 2014.
- Cruella De Vil - Led the villains in the Halloween segment of Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate!.
- Oogie Boogie - Led the villains in Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular and served as the host and narrator in World of Color: Villainous!.
- Tamatoa - Was the leader of the villains in Wonderful World of Animation.
Other media
Television specials
In the Disney's Scary Tales (1981) episode special as part of The Wonderful World of Disney, Hans Conried (voice of the Evil Queen's Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) hosts the special with Disney Villains in eight segments including Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Edgar Balthazar the Bulter from The Aristocats, Willie the Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk, Kaa and Shere Khan from The Jungle Book, the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Madame Medusa from The Rescuers, and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.
Mickey's House of Villains
The Disney Villains guest star in this House of Mouse with Jafar as the leader. He and the rest of the villains overthrow Mickey Mouse and locks all the heroes in the kitchen and kick Mickey and friends out forcing them to fight to get the club back.
Disney's Villains' Revenge
In this computer game, Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, the Queen of Hearts, and the Ringmaster change their respective stories to their own advantage.
Kingdom Hearts
The Disney Villains are antagonists in the game series, with the Disney Villain Council led by Maleficent being a prominent force. All of the members command the Heartless horde as a means of controlling their respective worlds, and in turn help Maleficent in locating the Keyblade. The council consisted of Maleficent, Pete, Jafar, Hades, Captain Hook, Oogie Boogie, Ursula, and Scar. Hector Barbossa and Riku were also members for brief periods of time. Most of the members meet their demise, although Hades, Captain Hook, and Pete are the only ones to survive; while Maleficent is later resurrected, Pete is the only one to rejoin her. In the Kingdom Hearts manga series by Shiro Amano, it is revealed that a spot on the Disney Villain Council was offered to the Cheshire Cat, though he saw their goals as beneath him and refused.
Other villains also appear in the series though not connected to the council, including Clayton, Shan Yu, Master Control Program, Chernabog, Monstro, Claude Frollo, Mother Gothel, Hans, and Randall Boggs. Gaston also appears in the mobile game Kingdom Hearts χ.
Gallery
Trivia
- Almost all Disney Villains wear mostly red, black, and purple. By contrast, white, blue, and gold are the traditional "good" colors.
- Most villains appear to have either green, yellow or black (no iris) eyes.
- Green eyes were considered to be a sign of either magic, evil and/or witchcraft during the Middle Ages, yellow eyes are often common in animals but not humans, and villains' eyes are generally smaller than those of heroic characters and tend to not reflect any light at all, giving them a rather soulless look.
- Occasionally, there are villains with blue eyes (Gaston), brown eyes (Stromboli, Jafar, King Candy), gray eyes (Ursula, Mother Gothel), or violet/purple eyes (Vanessa, Doctor Facilier).
- If not counting Sid Phillips from Toy Story (due to the fact he grew up, as revealed in Toy Story 3), Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and Hans from Frozen are currently the youngest Disney Villains to date, with Hans being 23 and Gaston being around his mid-20s. (Although as Sid was 11 years old in Toy Story and the third film takes place 11 years later, he would be 22 when he appears as an adult and therefore still younger than Hans and Gaston.)
- Scar from The Lion King, Hades from Hercules and King Runeard from Frozen II are currently the only Disney Villains to be biologically related to the main protagonist of the movie (Scar is Simba's uncle, Hades is Herc's uncle and Runeard is Anna and Elsa's grandfather.)
- Ursula from The Little Mermaid was originally intended to be Ariel's aunt.
- In the novel Tarzan of the Apes, Clayton was Tarzan's biological cousin.
- Edgar Balthazar from The Aristocats seems to have more morality than most Disney Villains. When he was getting rid of Duchess and her kittens, he could've just killed them, but he chose to abandon them in the woods.
- Prince John from Robin Hood and Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas are the only Disney Villains to be based on actual people.
- Hades is presumably the oldest of the Disney Villains, being an immortal god. Mother Gothel from Tangled, while she's not immortal, is presumably the oldest human Disney Villain.
- Gaston, Jafar and Judge Claude Frollo are currently the only three male Disney Villains to have an obsession with the female lead of their respective films (Belle for Gaston, Jasmine for Jafar, and Esmeralda for Frollo).
- In deleted versions of The Lion King, Scar was to fall into lust with Nala at one point.
- Maleficent is currently the only Disney Villain to serve as the protagonist of their own theatrical feature film.
- Both Iago and Kronk have led their own direct-to-video features in The Return of Jafar and Kronk's New Groove, respectively.
- Captain Hook from Peter Pan is the only villain to be a part of the Disney Adventurers line-up.
- Dr. Facilier is the first black Disney Villain.
- Amos Slade and John Silver are so far the only Disney Villains who redeem and learn the errors of their ways.
- However, Shere Khan was originally intended to reform in the cancelled third Jungle Book movie, whereas King Candy was at one point considered to reform as well when he and Turbo were conceived as different characters.
- Hans is the first Disney Villain to be a love interest to a Disney protagonist. However, it might not count, since Hans never really loved Princess Anna in the first place, and Anna's interest in Hans was more like a naïve infatuation than actual love.
- Ursula, Scar, and Hades are the only Disney Villains to have known siblings (Morgana, Mufasa, Poseidon, and Zeus, respectively).
- Prince Hans also has known siblings, but his brothers are never seen on screen like the previously listed villain siblings. This makes Hans the only villain to have his siblings acknowledged in the original film rather than in sequel media.
- Clayton has a sister named Lady Waltham. However, unlike most Disney Villains siblings, her only appearance was in The Legend of Tarzan television series rather than a direct-to-video sequel, albeit still in sequel media.
- Likewise, Jafar has a sister named Nasira. However, she might not count as canon as her only appearance was in the video game Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge.
- Of the eleven primary members of the franchise, only five are known to have died during their film: Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Ursula, Scar, and Dr. Facilier. Jafar is killed in the sequel to Aladdin. Cruella, Hook, the Queen of Hearts, and Hades survive all their films.
- Music plays a significant part in the role of a Disney Villain. Villains engaging in song and dance traces all the way back to 1940's Pinocchio, with Honest John's "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee", though the staple was truly popularized as a centerpiece of a Disney animated musical with Ursula's "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in 1989. However, whether they perform a song or not, villains are commonly represented by a leitmotif that plays in the score during most of their scenes. These villains include: the Evil Queen, Chernabog, Captain Hook, Maleficent, Sykes, Ursula, Gaston, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, Scar, Judge Frollo, Hades, Yzma, Dr. Facilier, Mother Gothel, King Candy, Hans, Yokai, and Tamatoa.
- Scar, Clayton, Dr. Facilier, and Yokai are the only villains to permanently kill off a major character in their respective films.
- An argument could be made for the Headless Horseman, who possibly killed Ichabod Crane when the former spirited the latter away. However, Ichabod's final fate was left ambiguous.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Disney Villains Panorama
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 Smith, Dave. Disney Archive's List of Disney Villains. Disney Archives. Disney. Archived from the original on April 2, 2010. Retrieved on February 20, 2017.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Happy Villaintine's Day
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Villains portrait
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Disney Villains Monopoly
- ↑ Tangled (Disney Villains Edition)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Mickey's House of Villains
- ↑ Disney Villains Stained Art
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Villains Tonight!
- ↑ Disney Villains painting
- ↑ Pocahontas (Disney Villains Edition)
- ↑ The Rescuers (Disney Villains Edition)
- ↑ Villain Sculpture
- ↑ Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
- ↑ Mortimer Vinylmation
- ↑ Disney's Villains' Revenge
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Happy Hallowishes
- ↑ Lilo & Stitch (Disney Villains Edition)
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Unleash the Villains
- ↑ Disney Villains: Big Best Book to Color
- ↑ Enchanted (Disney Villains Edition)
- ↑ Hans Villains Pin
- ↑ Official Disney Villains Instagram
- ↑ Official Disney Villains Instagram
