The Most Evil Animated Disney Villains — RANKED (Part 1)
Disney has some classic animated villains, but which of them is truly the most evil? We use statistics, math, and some admittedly probably-flawed logic to find out!
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With the upcoming expected mega-release of Frozen II, we here at The Popcorn Diet got to talking. Throughout the history of cinema, villains have been some of the most memorable, interesting, and visually iconic characters ever to grace the silver screen. Walt Disney Animation, in it’s many evolutions, has always been one of the leaders in creating memorable, detestable, captivating villains to face off against their many heroes.
But who, really, is the established king or queen of EVIL? Sure, there are some great villains, with great songs (I’m looking your way, Scar and Gaston), motivations you love to hate (Frollo and Radcliffe, you both suck so much), or even late reveals (Prince Hans, you bastard), but who is the most EVIL?
Note: We’re sticking with Walt Disney Animation theatrical releases. S0 no direct-to-video, no Tim Burton productions, and no Pixar. Sorry, that’s our rules. Maybe we’ll throw in Pixar for a later update.
We decided we were up to the task of answering that question. But first, we had to establish the metrics of what makes a villain more or less evil. Together, we came up with FIVE measuring categories to rate 1–10, 1 being the least evil, 10 being the most, and sought to grade and rank Disney’s animated villains to find out who truly was the most EVIL.
AMBITION
The main question here is: How big was our villains ambition? Were they striving for total universal domination, or trying to settle a personal grudge?
Focusing On:
- How ambitious were their plans relatively to their status?
- What do they want? Power? Riches? Possessions? People? Control?
- How difficult would it be to attain their goals?
LEGALITY
In the universe of the movie in which the villain is doing their villainous deeds, what would be the legal ramifications of their actions? Keep in mind that some of Disney’s best villains are often animals operating purely by the laws of the wild.
Focusing On:
- In the world of the movie, how illegal were the actions of the villain?
- What type of world did the villain function in?
- Was the villain already in a place of power? Were the existing laws able to be manipulated?
MORALITY
Spoiler Alert: Most of these villains are pretty morally reprehensible. But, there’s still a spectrum on which that morality exists. This category is honing in on just how morally bankrupt the actions of our villains really are.
Focusing On:
- Did the villain have any remorse whatsoever in what they were doing?
- Was our villain at all justified in their specific goal or grudge?
- Was there ever a line that the villain wouldn’t cross?
EXECUTION
Simply put: how successful were they in achieving their ambition? Some villains are so good that they’re able to taste the sweet victory of success for a brief moment, others are so ineffective that they not only didn’t get close to winning, but they may have even caused their own downfall.
Focusing On:
- How close did they get to actually winning? Did they achieve their initial ambition?
- How were they defeated? Did they get taken down by a worthy opponent, or did they play themselves?
- How were they at managing their squad? Did they pick good henchmen, or did they run a staff of idiots?
AREA OF EFFECT
Ultimately, in the villains schemes, who was in their blast radius? Who, or what, would have affected had they succeeded? Some villains have small, personal aces to grind, while others want to rule the world.
Focusing On:
- Roughly how many people would’ve been impacted by the villains success?
- Did their ambition hit a wide swath of towns, cities, countries and kingdoms?
- Upon success, would the villain have made a significant impact in the history of their world?
Somewhat controversially, we decided to omit any film that didn’t have a primary antagonist, or had several smaller antagonists, or who’s villain was either not really a villain or totally redeemed by the end of the movie.
This means, as terrible as some of the things are in Pinocchio, there’s no Honest John/Stromboli/Monstro (although Monstro was just doing whale things). Likewise, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, The Sword and the Stone, Dinosaur, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Chicken Little, and Moana are all being left off our list. Sorry, Madame Mim, but you were in like, one scene.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
Without further ado, here is Part One, #36–24, or the first 13 villains on our list.
Ambition — 2
Gantu was just a guy doing his job. It just so happens that his job was to capture all 625 escaped alien experiments (including Stitch). His desire to climb the corporate ladder ties in a bit, as well.
Legality — 3
Technically speaking, Gantu is granted 100% legal rights to follow his order and get his assignment done. The grey area comes in when you look at his methods. Gantu was pretty heartless and brutal in the way he did things, and even imprisons those who simply get in his way, regardless of if they’re part of the mission or not.
Morality — 2
Is he abusive and arrogant? Sure. Does he have a quick temper? Absolutely. Gantu, however, isn’t a killer, he’s a dick, at worst.
Execution — 3
If Gantu wanted to do his job and do it well, he has a funny way of showing it. Despite capturing Stitch quickly, he’s completely inept at keeping his prisoner captive or even realizing they’ve escaped. While he’s not a victim of his own stupidity, he’s ultimately brought down by his own arrogance and Stitch just being better.
Area of Effect — 2
He’s literally got his eyes on Stitch and Stitch only. Lilo just happens to get in the way.
Total Evil Score: 12
Ambition — 2
Balthazar might be the villain on the list who I best relate to. All he wants to do is send the cats of the house away so that he can (rightfully) inherit the wealth of the diva for whom he’s busted his ass for so long.
Legality — 3
Balthazar never tries to kill the heroic cats of the film, but merely tries to send them away numerous times. Sure, he might be a sniveling putz, but he never really does anything illegal.
Morality — 3
Perhaps the lowest morality score of our entire list, Balthazar is almost totally justified in his actions. He might be greedy, and he might be impatient, but the diva wills her money to CATS, rather than her longstanding servant. You’d be mad too, don’t lie.
Execution -4
He wanted to get rid of the kittens, and he got rid of the kittens. He actually sniffed a little success before they inexplicably found their way back. After trying a second time, he ships himself off to Timbuktu. By no means a permanent defeat, but it’s not a good look.
Area of Effect — 1
It’s literally a few cats that he tried to send away. You’d be hard pressed to find lower stakes.
Total Evil Score: 13
Ambition — 1
Amos Slade just wanted to live his life, protect his farm, and keep potentially dangerous predators off his property. We should all be so lucky to have such a peaceful set of goals.
Legality — 3
The guy just wants to maintain his farm and keep the fox out, alright? Tod’s constant intrusion pushed him too far, sadly. Slade no longer was content with just sitting back and protecting his property. Instead, he took action, which meant using illegal poaching and hunting methods on a game preserve.
Morality — 3
His motivations might be pure, but that darn fox keeps getting on his property. Rather than keep a cool head, Amos throws his morality to the side and becomes relentless and law-breaking in his pursuits.
Execution — 6
Slade actually does a decent job of attempting to capture and/or kill Tod, he’s just foiled by Copper so many times. At the end, he’s got Tod in his sights, but Copper motivates him to let Tod go. He may be redeemed, but is he reformed? He’s one of the only villains to had victory in his grasp, and to willingly forgo it.
Area of Effect — 1
One freakin’ fox, the fox’s lady friend, and his dog, at most.
Total Evil Score: 14
Ambition — 4
Shere Khan was a tiger doing tiger things. That being said, his goals were to keep man out of the jungle, and to kill anyone who enters it. That’s a solid goal for a single tiger.
Legality — 3
Controversial as it may be, we’re applying the laws of the jungle here. Anything goes. It’s kill or be killed. According to him, man is a trespasser, and Mowgli is a man. That being said… attempted murder of a kid, dude.
Morality — 3
If humans in the jungle are proven to be bad, then Shere Khan is close to morally justified in his actions. The only reason his score isn’t lower is because he’s arrogant and threatening to others to try and keep his position of fear and power.
Execution — 3
Khan successfully hunts down Mowgli, but doesn’t go for the kill right away. Instead he taunts him repeatedly, gives him a head start, and then runs away like a scared little kitty when Mowgli waves some fire at him. All meow, no growl.
Area of Effect — 2
Ultimately we’re talking about one human boy here, and probably some other inhabitants of the jungle, depending on how serious he gets with his threats.
Total Evil Score: 15
Ambition — 2
This might be a controversial spot, but Gaston was a guy who wanted to marry Belle, even if by force. Everything else was done in service of making her his wife.
Legality — 6
Gaston and his placing may throw some people off, but in terms of actual evil, he’s pretty tame. Legally speaking, he leads a riotous mob, breaks into a royal property, bribes legal officials, and then attempts to commit murder. He wanted to kill the beast before he found out he was capable of mercy and intelligence, and he wanted to kill him after, too.
Morality — 3
Gaston is, at worse, a douche frat bro who wants to force a girl to marry him. Yeah, it’s not cool. But when you look at the rest of this list, it’s nothing. He wanted to kill a seemingly evil beast and manipulated people into rioting. That’s about it.
Execution — 4
If his goal was to marry Belle, congrats on never ever getting close, Gaston. Still, he got an entire village on his side, stormed the castle, and mortally wounds the beast. He would’ve gotten higher points if he did fall of the tower like an uncoordinated bitch.
Area of Effect — 2
Small potatoes again. Gaston wasn’t interested in running the world or evening gaining power. His goals put few in his crosshairs, like Belle, the Beast, Maurice, and the castle inhabitants. Compared to the other murders and villains grasping at power, Gaston is no biggie.
Total Evil Score: 16
Ambition — 2
Lady Tremaine wanted the best for her daughters, big deal. She also wanted to hold Cinderella back and treat her like garbage. I’m not saying it’s right, but I AM saying that Cinderella was the daughter that her husband had before he married her, and the last remaining reminder of him and his previous relationships. It almost makes sense. Almost.
Legality — 4
Most of the things she does are cruel, but not illegal. We could still make a solid argument for unlawful imprisonment, indenture servitude, and minor assault for tripping the King’s Ward.
Morality — 6
The Evil Stepmother doesn’t quite earn her name, but she gets damn close. She repeatedly treats Cinderella like garbage, including mental and possibly physical abuse. She’s a liar, constantly moving the goalposts for Cinderella to attend the ball, and she’s raised a couple of stone cold pieces of trash in her two daughters in Drisella and Anastasia.
Execution — 5
She has Cinderella as a servant for a good long time, and only wants in on the possibility of royalty after the Prince starts looking for his mystery girl. But other than that, it’s failure. Failure to hide Cinderella. Failure to hook her daughters up with the Prince. She almost succeeds by breaking the glass slipper, but gets a fast one pulled on her. No real punishment is brought upon her, either.
Area of Effect — 1
Severely low. She’s got Cinderella on her shit list and that is pretty much it.
Total Evil Score: 18
Ambition — 3
The Queen of Hearts just wanted to continue being queen, not be bothered with bullshit, and play croquet. Is it so much to demand a little respect?
Legality — 2
It’s tough to judge legality with villains who hold royal, legal, or spiritual power. If she’s the queen, then it’s her rules, is it not? Hell, she even agrees to a trial for Alice, even if that trial winds of being a sham. Her anger is always based in some form of logic, even if it’s flawed logic.
Morality — 5
She’s the queen, but if we’re being honest, she’s a bit petty. Lots of people apparently are getting their heads cut off for tiny nonsense. Not only that, but she loves to project her insecurities and anger on others.
Execution — 5
Once Alice came into her life, she wanted Alice dead, but she failed to make it happen. Technically though, she’s still the queen, and didn’t get any comeuppance for her aggressions.
Area of Effect — 4
Somewhat low, actually. Her subjects are clearly being beheaded, but she’s really only focused on Alice for the time that we spend with her.
Total Evil Score: 19
Ambition — 2
Bill Sykes is a loan shark and a gangster, but all he wants is his loan paid back. If only he wasn’t so bad at getting what he wants.
Legality — 6
He’s a mobster, and actual criminal, doing criminal things. In the confines of the film, however, he provides a loan. Afterwards, he kidnaps a little girl for ransom, attempts murder, and has a bad case of reckless driving with a little assault with a deadly weapon (his car) tacked on for flavor.
Morality — 8
Sykes is clearly a terrible, criminal individual. He’s noted within the movie of having people killed, threatening lives, and almost has a little girl fed to his dogs. He clearly doesn’t care about anything but himself, and even doesn’t care about the death of his own dogs. Monster.
Execution — 2
If Sykes wants his money back, then he should stop giving extensions on the due date. He doesn’t even get close to getting his money back. Not only that, but he’s taken out by numerous street animals while driving headfirst into a speeding locomotive. Weak.
Area of Effect — 2
A couple of humans and a gaggle of pets, mostly. While Sykes is a terrible, no-good criminal, his sights sure are small.
Total Evil Score: 20 (Tied with #28 & #27)
Ambition — 3
Clayton wanted to round up the gorillas of the island and sell them to zoos to get rich. He didn’t want power, he didn’t even want to sell them to the black market.
Legality — 5
Technically, on that island, nothing Clayton does is actually illegal. But within a civilized world, he’s got a lot to answer for. He leads a mutiny aboard a chartered English vessel, attempts to traffic rare animals, and definitely takes a few swings at attempted murder.
Morality — 7
Clayton is a pretty horrible person. He lies to Jane and her father, wants to imprison living, intelligent creates in a zoo, and is generally apathetic to the lives of the gorillas. On top of his mutiny, he kills the gorilla Kerchak, and tries to kill Tarzan. Clayton is bad news.
Execution — 2
Not great, Bill. He captures the gorillas, sure, but almost instantly loses them when they escape. Tarzan consistently outsmarts him, and he accidentally hangs himself by losing control and slashing at the vines trying to get at Tarzan. Smooth move.
Area of Effect — 3
Honestly, it’s pretty small, despite your love of majestic gorillas. Clayton only took aim at one gorilla pack, Tarzan, and the Porters.
Total Evil Score: 20 (Tied with #29 & #27)
Area of Effect — 2
Captain Hook may be a pirate who curses the seven seas, but all he wanted in the movie was to get back at Peter Pan for cutting of his hand.
Legality — 7
Uh, he’s a pirate. That in itself is pretty illegal, what with all the general pirate crimes. On top of piracy, he kidnaps several children, attempts murder and manslaughter, all towards the goal of trying to kill a kid.
Morality — 4
Hook is actually somewhat justified here! He wants revenge for some kid cutting off his hand, and Neverland is a land of frontier justices. Listen, it’s not good to kidnap children, but Pan is established as an equal. Not only that, but Hook displays loyalty to his pirates code, and that counts for something.
Execution — 3
Even though Hook successfully manipulates Tinkerbell to turn on the Lost Boys, and executes two successful kidnappings, he fails almost every other way. He’s defeated and humiliated by Pan, and rows away being chased by a crocodile. Poor form.
Area of Effect — 4
At absolute MOST, Neverland and it’s inhabitants. But we know for sure he was gunning for Peter Pan, the Darlings, and the Lost Boys.
Total Evil Score: 20 (Tied with #29 & #28)
Ambition — 2
Medusa just wanted to retrieve a diamond that she found… by kidnapping an orphan girl small enough to get to it. That escalated quickly.
Legality — 5
We definitely know of the kidnapping, on top of that, there’s transporting a kidnapped minor across state lines. She’s overworking her kidnapped child laborer in dangerous circumstances. After all that, she attempts to take out the kid as well as numerous precious little animals!
Morality — 7
She’s greedy enough to break all those laws, and then betrays her partner on top of is. She’s abusive, both to the kid and her crocodile pets. Overall, she’s a pretty miserable person.
Execution — 5
To her credit, Medusa actually does get her hands on the diamond, but then carelessly lets it slip through her fingers. Her plan isn’t terrible, but it sure does require a lot of additional crimes and loose strings. Her defeat comes after a chase with the animals, leaving her at the mercy of her abused crocs.
Area of Effect — 2
One human girl, two mice, and several swamp animals. Like anyone would freak out about that.
Total Evil Ranking: 21
Ambition — 2
She wants to make a stylish new coat! The material? Puppies. Yikes. She’s one of the worst, but because her ambition was so small, she doesn’t rank higher.
Legality — 5
Cruella wants to kidnap and kill 101 puppies to make her coat. That is unequivocally bad, but also kinda small compared to others on this list. We’re talking, at best, pet theft, burglary, minor assault, and definitely vehicular assault.
Morality — 9
Now THIS is where the stats really show her true colors. Cruella is a piece of human garbage for wanting to steal puppies, kill them for her coat, and then go crazy when she doesn’t get her way. She is, undoubtedly, of the WORST.
Execution — 3
It’s all about whom you surround yourself with, and Cruella picked out a couple of absolute idiots to be on her team. Yeah, she gets the puppies, but then the bust out, and she’s ultimately defeated by a self-inflicted car accident with her hired help.
Area of Effect — 3
I hate to say it, but it’s not that big. She really went after one family and yes, 101 puppies. Maybe there was an over-breeding problem?
Total Evil Score: 22
Ambition — 4
Ratcliffe organizes a venture to discover gold and riches in the New World, regardless of what gets in his way. He wanted to get rich quickly, and uses his power over a limited group of people to try and get it.
Legality — 5
As the leader of the expedition and ranking member of the settlers, he doesn’t really break many laws as governed by he himself. That being said, his terrible leadership, and his desire to push his crew to wipe out the native people of the land are legally questionable, at a minimum.
Morality — 8
Ratcliffe is a liar, first and foremost. His name is RATcliffe, for crying out loud. He lies to his men about gold and riches, about aggressive Native Americans, and lies about John Smith. He’s also totally fueled by greed, enough so to wipe out an entire tribe of people.
Execution — 3
On one hand, the United States of America exists in part do to his expeditions. On the other hand, he never actually wiped out the Native Americans, never got any gold, and has his own men turn on him. What kind of terrible leader has his crew chain him up and ship him back home to be tried for his crimes?
Area of Effect — 3
Not a huge footprint. Pocahontas, John Smith, and the local tribe of Native Americans.
