# Who's the most Evil Disney villain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576 "2019-11-17T14:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/21 "2019-11-17T23:46:36Z")
Malificent is pretty much defined as being the manifestation of evil, and her reaction to not being invited to a party is to condemn an infant child to death (mitigated to sleep by one of the other faeries) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/22 "2019-11-17T23:47:44Z")
Maoi, for convincing everybody he’s a hero even though he CAUSED the story and the exile of Moana’s people from their home by stealing the heart of the sea in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/23 "2019-11-18T00:06:52Z")
Cruela wanted to kill some puppies to make a coat. Who cares? Small animals get made into fashion products all the time by people. Call it evil if you want, but it’s hardly deviant behavior (which I believe is part of what distinguishes certain behaviors not just as evil or wrong in and of themselves, but indicative of what makes a person evil). So I’d have to go with Scar, Judge Doom, Ursula, or maybe Bambi’s mom (for bringing a child into this world, with so much evil in it). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/24 "2019-11-18T00:24:00Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Gothel is particularly evil because her villainy is real. Completely agree. This is exactly what I was going to say. We all know people who do this, and it makes it so disconcerting and uncomfortable to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/25 "2019-11-18T00:29:54Z")
Mickey Mouse. That motherfucker don’t play! You betta have his money! All of my knowledge of Disney characters comes second-hand from watching them in episodes of “South Park” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/26 "2019-11-18T01:20:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Mother Gothel from _Tangled_. All the others are EEEEEE-vil and don’t make any attempt to hide it. She spends 18 years pretending to love Rapunzel and to do what’s best for her. And she has hides it from her with a nasty passive-aggressive personality. > > And, of course, the repeated “I’m just teasing,” when she says something particularly hurtful. > > Gothel is particularly evil because her villainy is real. You don’t get many people making dalmatian coats, or stealing someone’s voice, or murdering his brother to become king (not any more, at least). But there are real Mother Gothels out there and that makes her worse. Agreed. Gothel’s song, “Mother Knows Best”, is a horrifyingly real example of how parents can manipulate and destroy the self-esteem of young girls by undercutting their agency. > [@](#): > > Mother knows best > Take it from your mumsy > On your own, you won’t survive > Sloppy, under-dressed > Immature, clumsy - please! > They’ll eat you up alive > Gullible, naive > Positively grubby > Ditzy and a bit, well, hmm…vague > Plus, I believe > Gettin’ kinda chubby > I’m just saying cause I wuv you I KNOW mothers like that. My oldest has a bestie who essentially lived with us for her last two years after I met her mother. A horrifying woman who would do the ‘I have a pacemaker, do what I say or I might die.’ and ‘You can’t go away to college! Who’s going to take care of the house?’ Good God awmighty. Yes, there are more over-the-top villains in the Disney catalog but Mother Gothel is truly terrible because of the ordinary mundanity of her villainy. Ursula and Maleficient are bad but unrealistic. Gothel is terrifying because she’s on every street in America. Ditto Frollo from Hunchback. Others might have more power but we’ve all known men who punish women for daring to ‘tempt’ them by being themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/27 "2019-11-18T02:04:20Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I KNOW mothers like that. [I know a song about that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9WIM2zZ2nI) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/28 "2019-11-18T02:21:28Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Cruela wanted to kill some puppies to make a coat. Who cares? Small animals get made into fashion products all the time by people. Call it evil if you want, but it’s hardly deviant behavior (which I believe is part of what distinguishes certain behaviors not just as evil or wrong in and of themselves, but indicative of what makes a person evil). > > So I’d have to go with Scar, Judge Doom, Ursula, or maybe Bambi’s mom (for bringing a child into this world, with so much evil in it). Cruella did steal the 15 puppies from the Dearlys (or Radcliffes in the animated film), but that was the only actual crime she committed. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/29 "2019-11-18T05:54:52Z")
If we’re going by “evil is more evil when it is the same as real world evil” then Frollo, since murderous Incel weirdos are a real-world danger too. Looking at all Disney properties, Bill Cipher is up there as outright evil. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/30 "2019-11-18T06:29:55Z")
Sid, the toy breaker in Toy Story. Bad seed. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/31 "2019-11-18T06:40:40Z")
The Horned King was an evil necromancer, that’s got to count for something beyond General Audiences. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/32 "2019-11-18T06:58:03Z")
Maximillian the robot in the black hole … could give the original t-800 a run for its money… tuens out he was the real villain and not the doc although the wasn’t evil… just mentally ill ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/33 "2019-11-18T07:05:55Z")
ok it was supposed to say turns out he was the real villain and not the doc although the doc wasn’t evil… just mentally ill ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/34 "2019-11-18T09:07:09Z")
Ethrilist: > [@](#): > > Maoi, for convincing everybody he’s a hero even though he CAUSED the story and the exile of Moana’s people from their home by stealing the heart of the sea in the first place. Maui had no idea that his theft of the Heart had that effect. His motivations were good; his actions (and specifically that one, he did plenty of actions that totally benefited mankind) had unintended consequences. Surprised that I have yet to see any votes for Jafar, from Aladdin. He strikes me as purely power-hungry and selfishly evil, without any mitigating circumstances or beneficent impulses. He was the second-most powerful person in the kingdom, but wasn’t satisfied with that. I don’t see any reason for him to be harboring resentment, like Scar (who was my first instinct, until I thought about it for a while) or Yzma (whose story is very similar, but with the twist that she was fired from her job). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/35 "2019-11-18T10:07:37Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Surprised that I have yet to see any votes for Jafar, from Aladdin. He strikes me as purely power-hungry and selfishly evil, without any mitigating circumstances or beneficent impulses. I guess it’s because he’s too much the walking mustache-twirling stereotype. That tends to be a bit comical - See: Iznogoud. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/36 "2019-11-18T11:23:36Z")
Gaston. Got Maurice locked up, tried to force Belle to marry him, tried to stab the Beast in the back, fomented a mob and had terrible taste in furniture. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/37 "2019-11-18T12:14:48Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Agreed. Gothel’s song, “Mother Knows Best”, is a horrifyingly real example of how parents can manipulate and destroy the self-esteem of young girls by undercutting their agency. > > I KNOW mothers like that. My oldest has a bestie who essentially lived with us for her last two years after I met her mother. A horrifying woman who would do the ‘I have a pacemaker, do what I say or I might die.’ and ‘You can’t go away to college! Who’s going to take care of the house?’ Good God awmighty. > > Yes, there are more over-the-top villains in the Disney catalog but Mother Gothel is truly terrible because of the ordinary mundanity of her villainy. Ursula and Maleficient are bad but unrealistic. Gothel is terrifying because she’s on every street in America. > > Ditto Frollo from Hunchback. Others might have more power but we’ve all known men who punish women for daring to ‘tempt’ them by being themselves. Apologies for the total hijack but … thank you for posting this. My mother (who’s been mentioned once or thrice here) has a pacemaker, and she used this exact. fucking. line. with me a lot. I’m almost 40 years old and still learning (e.g. finding out the hard way) what is or isn’t dysfunctional, or normal, not to mention how interpersonal communication is supposed to work. Offhand comments like these are incredibly helpful for re-calibrating that perspective. I’m living proof of the truth of the quoted post. Okay, hijacking over, sorry. My villain vote is for the butler from The Aristocats … drugging kittens and abandoning them in a field to die. All so he can steal someone’s money. He’d make a terrific boyfriend for Cruella de Vil! Also, what was the movie with two little mice, and an orphan girl with a diamond sewn into her teddy bear? The villain had a pair of pet crocodiles? In my memories she bore a resemblance to Ursula from Little Mermaid … anyway, she can be runner-up. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/38 "2019-11-18T12:30:15Z")
The guy who shot Bambi’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/39 "2019-11-18T15:25:15Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > The guy who shot Bambi’s mother. In his defense, she was delicious. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576/40 "2019-11-18T15:42:48Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Cruella did steal the 15 puppies from the Dearlys (or Radcliffes in the animated film), but that was the only actual crime she committed. Did she steal hem, or did she rescue them, as PETA does with the intention of 1) having them humanely euthanized, and 2) seeing that no part of their bodies went to waste. By making a coat of their furs, jelly from their bones, and a delicious stew from the rest? I’m not saying that Cruella, or PETA, are peerless protectors of animal rights, only that their actions represent a sort of moral gray (okay, dark gray), but hardly constitute “the most evil” thing ever depicted in a Disney film. > [@Author\_Balk](#): > > The guy who shot Bambi’s mother. If, as I have posited, Bambi’s mom was among “the most evil” then the hunter’s act can be defended as morally justifiable. Hardly evil. And, as noted above, I hear she was delicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-evil-disney-villain/843576.md?page=3)