Disney Villains List and Fun Facts

Sharing is caring!

Disney Villains List

Evil Queen

One of Disney’s most iconic villains is the Evil Queen from the 1937 animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In true villain style, the Evil Queen hated Snow White for her beauty and did everything she could to have her killed, including hiring the huntsman and, of course, poisoning her with an apple.

Fun Fact : The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs movie was Disney’s first-ever full-length animation production. Any guesses who the first animated character to speak was? You got it, it was the Evil Queen. The Queen’s opening line, “Slave in the magic mirror, come from the farthest space, through wind & darkness I summon thee. Speak! Let me see thy face.” not only introduced us to the Queen but also to the movie itself.

Cruella de Vil

All animal lovers, especially dog lovers, will agree that Cruella de Vil is one of the worst and most hated Disney villains of them all. Throughout Disney’s 1961 animation, 101 Dalmatians, we see Cruella continually try to capture Dalmatian puppies in order to turn them into clothing. Thankfully, she is never successful, but that doesn’t make us hate her any less.

Fun Fact : Cruella’s name comes from a play on the words “cruel” and “devil,” which, in my opinion, suits her very well. 

Ursula

Ursula is another truly iconic Disney villain who made her way onto the big screen in the 1989 Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. Ursula, who is half octopus, and half woman, takes advantage of people’s deepest desires in order to steal their souls. 

Fun Fact : Ursula was originally drafted to be King Triton’s younger sister, which would have ultimately made her Ariel’s biological aunt. If they had kept this idea, Ursula would have been the first Disney villain to be related to a protagonist biologically, however, that title now goes to Scar from the Lion King.

Jafar

Jafar is the main villain in the 1992 animation Aladdin. He spent the latter half of his life in search of the magic lamp which contained the all-powerful genie. If he managed to gain possession of the lamp, it was his goal to control cosmic power, which he would then use to overtake the throne and the entire world. 

Fun Fact : The animator who designed Jafar, Andreas Deja, took inspiration for the character from Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. Both characters wield evil staffs, they both transform into beasts, and they both have bird side kicks and flowing garments.

Maleficent

Maleficent is one of the most easily recognisable villains thanks to her pale skin, her purple eye-shadow, and the two horns that protrude from her head. She originally appeared in the 1959 animation of Sleeping Beauty, where she was responsible for the misfortune that fell upon King Stefan’s kingdom after she wasn’t invited to the christening of Princess Aurora.

Subsequently, she also curses Princess Aurora by having the princess prick her finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle before her 16th birthday. 

We later see Maleficent appear in the 2014 live-action Disney movie, Maleficent, which loosely retells the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Fun Fact : Maleficent’s name means “to do evil or harm; harmfully malicious.” Pretty fitting if you ask me. 

Madam Mim

In Disney’s 1963 movie, The Sword in the Stone, the main villain is Madam Mim, who also goes by Mad Madam Mim because mad she is, indeed. Madam Mim is not only the arch-nemesis of Merlin, but she also tries to use her powers to harm Arthur after he doesn’t believe her powers are stronger than Merlin’s.

Fun Fact : Madam Mim hates sunshine as she believes it is too wholesome. 

Prince Hans

Prince Hans is the villain in Disney’s 2013 movie, Frozen. Hans is the youngest of thirteen brothers and uses his evil, cold-hearted and manipulative personality to trick Anna into marrying him so that he can rule Arendelle. 

Fun Fact : Prince Hans is the only villain who gets to sing a duet with a princess as he sings Love Is An Open Door with Princess Anna. 

Honest John

The 1940 movie Pinocchio actually has six villains, but the main villain responsible for selling Pinocchio to Stromboli is Honest John, the con-artist fox who is anything but honest. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : Honest John was the first Disney villain to have his own musical number with “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee.”

Mother Gothel

Mother Gothel is the main villain in the 2010 movie, Tangled. Her youthful and unchanged appearance has all been thanks to a magic golden flower whose powers get transferred into Rapunzel’s hair when she is born. In order to prevent herself from getting old, Mother Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel, locks her in a tower, and prevents her from exploring the outside world. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : Mother Gothel’s dress was inspired by fashion from the time of the Renaissance, making it almost 400 years older than other costumes in the movie. This was to emphasize Mother Gothel’s true age that was hidden by the powers of the flower.

Doctor Facilier

Doctor Facilier, or the Shadow Man as he is more famously known, is the smooth-talking witch doctor in the 2009 film, The Princess and the Frog. What makes him sinister are his plans to take over the city of New Orleans with his friends from “the other side.”

Fun Fact : Dr. Facilier is the only character throughout the entire movie who refers to himself by his name, as everyone else calls him the Shadow Man.

Hades

Disney’s movie Hercules, which was released in 1997, gave us the villain, Hades, who is known for his temper and grudge towards his brother Zeus. Throughout the movie, Hades comprises an evil master plan to take over the cosmos and Mount Olympus.

Fun Fact : Hades is one of few classic Disney villains who doesn’t have a memorable song. He is also one of few that is based on someone throughout history. 

Queen of Hearts

Although her name, the Queen of Hearts, doesn’t sound antagonising at all, the Queen, who rules Wonderland, becomes obsessed with beheading Alice after the girl embarrassed her in the 1951 Disney movie Alice in Wonderland. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : The Queen of Hearts we see in the movie is actually a combination of three characters from two books, Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. These three characters include the Red Queen, the Duchess, and the Queen of Hearts.

The Dog Catcher

This nameless villain, whom we refer to as the Dog Catcher in the 1955 Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, may not be the evilest of all villains, but he sure was feared by the dogs in the movie. Thankfully Jock and Trusty prevented the Dog Catcher from ever taking Tramp away. 

Fun Fact : In the 2019 Lady and the Tramp remake, the Dog Catcher actually gets given a name, Elliot. 

The Hunter

In my opinion, one of the cruelest villains of all is The Hunter, also known as the Man in Disney’s 1942 movie, Bambi. We don’t even catch a glimpse of this villain, but his action of killing Bambi’s mother is more than enough for everyone watching to hate him with a burning passion. 

Fun Fact : Although we never find out who The Hunter actually was, Disney originally had plans to reveal the hunter as Judge Doom from the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The plot twist never made it onto the big screen, however, and the person responsible for one of the saddest Disney scenes of all times is still a mystery. 

Ring Master

The Ring Master is the villain in the 1941 movie, Dumbo. Not only does he underpay his employees greatly, but he also mistreats the animals in the circus by having them perform impossible and sometimes life-threatening stunts to simply bring in more revenue from the box office. 

Fun Fact : Herman Bing, the voice actor who played the Ring Master, was actually a circus clown during a time in his life.

Lady Tremaine

Lady Tremaine is the selfish, cruel, and evil stepmother in the 1950 animated movie Cinderella. Many people refer to her as the Wicked Stepmother, which I won’t disagree on, she really lived up to her name.

Lady Tremaine forced her stepdaughter, Cinderella, into a life of slavery while she and her two daughters, the Ugly Stepsisters, lived a life of luxury with Cinderella’s family’s fortune. 

Fun Fact : Eleanor Audley was not only the voice for Lady Tremaine, but she also voiced Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and the original Madam Leota in The Haunted Mansion. 

Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine

Staying on topic with Cinderella villains and we have Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine, who are also known as the Ugly Stepsisters in the movie. The sisters, along with their mother, aim to make Cinderella’s life hell by forcing her into a life of slavery. 

Fun Fact : In the 2002, Cinderella II, Anastasia and Cinderella actually became quite close.

Lucifer the Cat

Yet another villain in the movie Cinderella (poor Cinderella really can’t catch a break) is Lucifer the Cat, who, much like his masters Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia, is evil and cruel to Cinderella. Most of Lucifer’s plots include sabotaging Cinderella’s bloodhound Bruno and devouring the Chateau’s mice.

Fun Fact : Lucifer is one of the many names of Satan, which is the perfect fit for an evil cat like him. 

Captain Hook

It’s not very often that you see a villain scared of anything, but in the 1953 movie Peter Pan, the quirky yet loathsome Captain Hook, who is on a mission of revenge towards Peter, is petrified of crocodiles. Considering Peter fed Captain Hook’s left hand to a crocodile, I don’t really blame him. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : Disney animators used Captain Hook as inspiration for Doctor Facilier in the Princess and the Frog, and they used Captain Hook to study the movement for John Silver’s mechanical arm in Treasure Planet.

Mr. Smee

Mr. Smee is the loyal first mate of Captain Hook in the movie Peter Pan. Mr. Smee may not seem like a Disney villain, but he does enjoy piracy, and he also captures Tinkerbell, which leads to Hook finding out Peter Pan’s hiding place.

Fun Fact : Mr. Smee and Captain Hook are complete polar opposites as Hook is cruel and hot-tempered, and Smee is kind and sweet.

Scar and the Hyenas

Scar is the brother to King Mufasa in the 1994 animated film, The Lion King. Being a second-born prince meant Scar was next in line to the throne, however, that chance was lost when Mufasa had a son, Simba. Filled with jealousy and a sense of entitlement, Scar set out with his hyena henchmen to kill both Mufasa and Simba.

Fun Fact : For the majority of the movie, Scar is always seen with his claws out, and he rarely ever retracts them. Even when he is simply talking to Simba, his claws are out to differentiate him as a villain. 

Shere Khan

Shere Khan is a powerful Bengal tiger in the 1967 Disney movie, The Jungle Book. As a tiger, Shere Khan is deeply feared by other animals in the jungle and his reputation of only needing to show himself to intimidate his victims only ever contributed to their fears. As well as his animosity towards animals, Shere Khan also hated humans, vowing to kill any human that set foot in the jungle.

Fun Fact : Shere Khan was originally meant to die by Mowgli shooting him in the head with a gun that belonged to a hunter that Khan had just killed himself. But, Disney ultimately decided that the scene would be too scary, so they cut it from the movie. Khan does die by fire, however, in the 2016 remake. 

Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham

Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham are a pair of villains in the 1973 film Robin Hood. King Richard’s younger brother, Prince John, is determined to steal the throne from his older brother with the help of his sidekick, The Sheriff of Nottingham, who battles off Robin Hood along the way. 

Fun Fact : Prince John wasn’t given a mane because animators wanted him to appear weak compared to his old brother. 

Gaston

Gaston, in the 1991 movie, The Beauty and the Beast, is a villain we all love to hate. After being rejected by Belle and humiliated when she chose the Beast over him, Gaston sets out to kill the Beast and will stop at nothing until he is dead. 

Fun Fact : Gaston was the first male Disney villain in a Disney Princess movie. 

Claude Frollo

The main villain in the 1996, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame is Judge Claude Frollo. Claude Frollo is a Parisian justice minister who is committed to getting rid of who he considers the worst of all sinners, the gypsies. 

Fun Fact : Claude Frollo is considered to be the most complex Disney villain of all time, and he has more screen time than any other Disney villain to date. 

Captain Gantu

Captain Gantu is the brutish captain of the Galactic Federation who has a long-standing rivalry with Experiment 626 (Stitch) in the 2002 animated movie Lilo and Stitch. After he endangered numerous lives on his quest to apprehend Experiment 626, Gantu was discharged, and he later went to work as a henchman for Dr. Hamsterviel. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : Gantu is actually an expert in twelve martial arts. 

Edgar Balthazar

The butler from the 1970 movie, The Aristocats, makes it onto the villain list after he kidnaps and releases Duchess and her kittens in the French countryside, and Timbuktu after finding out his billionaire employer, Madame Bonfamille is leaving her entire fortune to her cat.

We can’t exactly categorize him as being as evil as Cruella de Vil, for example, because, at times, Edgar showed he had a better sense of morality. 

Fun Fact : Edgar is one of the only Disney villains who doesn’t have his own song. He sang a short snippet of “Rock-a-Bye, Kitties” while drugging the cat’s milk with sleeping pills, but that’s it. 

Sid Phillips

Sid Phillips, in Disney’s 1995 movie Toy Story is the main villain who, unlike Andy, tortures his toys by dismembering them and attaching their body parts together with other toys. 

Fun Fact : The only character throughout the Toy Story movie to know the toys are alive is Sid.

Shan Yu

Shan Yu is the brutal leader of the Hun army in the 1998 film Mulan. When the Emperor of China ordered for the Great Wall to be built, Shan Yu set out to declare war with the idea that he would take over as ruler. 

Fun Fact : Shan Yu has the largest on-screen kill count of any Disney villain. 

Randall Boggs

Randall Boggs makes his plan to take over the scaring industry by using kidnapped children known in the 2001 Disney Pixar movie Monsters Inc. Randall is also incredibly envious of James. P Sullivan, who just so happens to be the most beloved scarer in Monstropolis. 

Disney Villains List Fun Fact : Randall is always squinting because he refuses to wear his glasses. When he switches to being invisible, the glasses were a dead giveaway so they had to go. 

Disney Villains Book Series

To commemorate some of the greatest Disney villains of all time, Serena Valentino has released a Villain series of so far nine books that showcase a particular Disney villain, focusing on their life and the events that made them so shockingly evil. 

As of the time of this writing, the books, available on Amazon include: 

• Fairest of All (2009) – Wicked Queen
• The Beast Within (2014) – The Beast
• Poor Unfortunate Soul (2016) – Ursula
• Mistress of All Evil (2017) – Maleficent 
• Mother Knows Best (2018) – Mother Gothel
• The Odd Sisters (2019) – The Odd Sisters
• Evil Thing (2020) – Cruella de Vil
• Cold Hearted (2021) – Lady Tremaine
• Never Never (2022) – Captain Hook