List of Disney villain characters

This is a list of Disney villain characters often based on animated fictional characters who have been featured as part of the Disney character line-up. Some of these villain characters have appeared in sequels, video games, comic books, stage productions, or live-action adaptations of the original films.

Much like with the Disney Princess line with Disney's princess characters, the company's villain characters are also often grouped together as part of a Disney Villains franchise.^[1][2][3]

List of villains[]

This list of characters are those featured in Disney productions and merchandise as "official" villains.

Primary Members

These villains are seen in most current Disney Villains related merchandise, live events, attractions, etc.:^{[citation needed]}

Minor Members

Characters that appear or have appeared in the franchise less frequently:

Merchandising[]

In August 2018, a strategy game entitled Disney Villainous was published by Ravensburger and released exclusively to Target stores. The game has players compete as Disney Villains attempting to accomplish their goals from the film, while simultaneously trying to slow down their opponents. As of March 2021, four standalone expansions have released, with each adding three different playable villains.^{[citation needed]}

Villain merchandise was available at the former Villains in Vogue store in Sunset Blvd, at Disney's Hollywood Studios. This first store was so successful that the Disneyland Villain Shop was opened afterwards in 1991.^[13] Both of these have since now closed.^{[citation needed]}

USAopoly has released a number of products featuring Disney villains. Among them is a Monopoly-based board game called My Disney Villains Monopoly, where the players decide which of 30 villains can appear on each space on the board (characters that appear in the game that are not part of the official Villain list include Beagle Boys, Three Little Wolves, Pom-Pom, Man, Hound Dogs, and Chief); a checkers game;^[14] and a collector's card game set.^[15]

An online Disney trivia game called Who Wants to be a Villionaire, released in October 2001, is loosely based on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and features several villains as hosts, asking questions about the film in which they are featured. The "Phone-a-Friend" feature is renamed "Phone-a-Fiend" and will connect the player to Cruella de Vil.^[16][17]

There is a sub-franchise derived from Disney villains entitled Disney's Divas of Darkness. The line-up includes Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, Ursula, and the Queen of Hearts.^[18]

The Villains Designer Collection re-imagines the stylish wickedness of Disney villains. This line of merchandise includes Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen, the Queen of Hearts, Ursula and Mother Gothel.^[19]

Books[]

Several books dedicated to Disney villains have been released. Among them are:

• Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files by Jeff Kurtti;
• Disney's The Villains Collection: Stories from the Films by Todd Strasser;
• Disney's Villains: A Pop-Up Book by Walt Disney Company;
• Disney Villains: The Essential Guide by DK Publishing; and
• Disney Villains (Ultimate Sticker Books) by DK Publishing.

There are also books to color, like Disney Villains: All the Rage and Disney Villains Giant Book to Color ~ Diabolical Deeds!

Live events[]

Several characters from the Disney villains make meet-and-greet appearances at various Walt Disney Parks and Resorts locations. Previous parades such as Disney's Hollywood Studios' Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade, SpectroMagic and Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade featured a float dedicated to villains,^[20] and Parade of Dreams (an Ursula float).^[21] The villains are also meetable characters at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

A 1999 exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum entitled "The Disney Villains" included displays featuring Disney's official villains, along with other villainous characters such as Ronno from Bambi, Br'er Fox & Br'er Bear from Song of the South, and Clayton from Tarzan.^[22]

Fantasmic![]

Disney villains play a vital role in the nighttime show Fantasmic!, performed at the Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios theme parks.^[23] In the shows, the Evil Queen decides it is time to finish off Mickey Mouse once and for all, and invokes other villains to help her.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party[]

Disney villains appear in Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, a Halloween-themed event held annually during the months of September and October at the Magic Kingdom theme park of the Walt Disney World Resort and at Disneyland Paris Resort. A stage show and meet-and-greet with the villains led by Dr. Facilier (and prior to 2011 by Maleficent) titled "The Disney Villains Mix and Mingle" is held on the Cinderella Castle Forecourt Stage. Among those to visit are the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and the Evil Queen among others.^[24] During the fireworks show HalloWishes some villains arrive to the celebration, starting with Ursula "plopping in" on the party and adding her own musical mix to the festivities. Jafar and Oogie Boogie (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) soon follow, and arriving last is Maleficent showing the audience how Halloween should really be celebrated.

Dream Along with Mickey[]

In the Dream Along with Mickey stage show at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the Disney villains appear onstage to threaten Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. Maleficent states that since people no longer believe in dreams, it is the perfect time for her to return to power and make the Magic Kingdom "The Place Where Nightmares Come True"—a play on the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts slogan of "The Place Where Dreams Come True." She is also accompanied by Captain Hook.

Villains Tonight[]

The Disney villains star as the main characters in the Disney Cruise lines' variety show, Villains Tonight. This musical stage production features Hades on a quest to get more evil in the Underworld by summoning up Disney's most powerful villains so he can keep his job. This show features Maleficent, Jafar, the Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, Scar, Yzma, Ursula, and Chernabog in a variety of comical situations while performing various musical numbers from their respective appearances. This show debuted on the Disney Magic cruise ship March 27, 2010, and the Disney Dream on January 26, 2012.^[25]

Video games[]

Disney's Villains' Revenge[]

Disney's Villains' Revenge is a 1999 video game which tells the story of how the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, Queen of Hearts, and the Ringmaster change the story from the original movie to the way they wanted the story to end, with no "Happily Ever After".

Kingdom Hearts series[]

In the Kingdom Hearts series of action role-playing games developed and published by Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix, Disney villains play a major role as they seek to harness the power of darkness within the Kingdom Hearts. The villains are antagonists in different worlds, such as the Villains group led by Maleficent, with Peg Leg Pete as her main henchman, Hades in Olympus, Jafar in Agrabah, Ursula in Atlantica, Captain Hook in Neverland, and Scar in the Pride Land. Other villains in the group outside the official line-up are Oogie Boogie of Halloween Town, Captain Barbossa of Port Royal.

Other Disney Villains in the games are Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, Chernabog in End of the World & Symphony of Sorcery, Shan Yu in the Land of Dragons, The Evil Queen in Dwarf Woodlands, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella in Castle of Dreams, Claude Frollo in La Cité des Cloches, Gaston in Beast's Castle, King Candy in Candy Kingdom, Mother Gothel in Kingdom of Corona, Randall Boggs in Monstropolis, and Hans in Arendelle.

Other villains outside the official line-up that also make appearances include Clayton and Sabor in Deep Jungle, the Master Control Program & Sark in Space Paranoids, Captain Gantu in Deep Space, CLU & Rinzler in The Grid, the Beagle Boys in Country of the Musketeers, Julius in Traverse Town, and Davy Jones and Cutler Beckett in The Caribbean. Monstro, the whale from Pinocchio, is both a character and a location as well as a boss in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix.

Epic Mickey series[]

Epic Mickey introduces new villains to the world of Disney, most of which are from old-style Disney movies and attractions. In the first game, Mickey unwittingly creates a monster called the Shadow Blot (not to be confused with the Phantom Blot). As Mickey tries to get rid of it, Yen Sid approaches and Mickey is forced to flee, leaving some of the Blot undestroyed. Years later, the Blot has Mickey kidnapped so that his heart can be used to escape Wasteland. With Oswald's help, Mickey returns home as the Blot is defeated.

In the second game, a character called The Mad Doctor tries to rule in the Shadow Blot's stead. In the first game, the Mad Doctor supplied robots for the Blot. If the player choose the Hero path, The Mad Doctor turns from a robot into a toon. If the player chooses the Scrapper path, The Mad Doctor is left in the final battle room to rot. Lastly, at the end of the second game, several versions of Pete look like they're going to try to take over the Wasteland.

Other media[]

Television[]

Characters from the franchise have been featured in television specials. The first, Our Unsung Villains, was aired in 1956 as part of Walt Disney Presents. In the special, Walt Disney himself hands hosting duties over to the Magic Mirror, who hosts a show devoted to Disney villains such as the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen and Captain Hook, and Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear.

In 1977, there was an update to this show entitled Disney's Greatest Villains, that featured the Evil Queen and Captain Hook again, along with nine other characters from the franchise, plus Willie the Giant. Segments from this special were featured in A Disney Halloween.

A handful of Disney Villains appear in the ABC fantasy drama television series Once Upon a Time.

Descendants[]

In the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants appear Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, who are the children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil, respectively. They used to live on The Isle of the Lost, an island where all of Disney's villains and their various sidekicks have been imprisoned, along with all the other villains and their children. Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos were chosen by Prince Ben (son of King Beast and Queen Belle) to live in The United States of Auradon.

In the animated series Descendants: Wicked World, appear Freddie, Dr. Facilier's daughter, CJ, Captain Hook's daughter, and Zevon, Yzma's son.

In the sequel, Descendants 2, Uma, Harry and Gil, children of Ursula, Captain Hook and Gaston, appear as the main antagonists. Dizzy, Drizella's daughter, also appear as a more friendly character.

In the last film, Descendants 3, appear Celia, Dr. Facilier's daughter, and Squeaky and Squirmy, Mr. Smee's twin sons.

Direct-to-DVD films[]

Mickey's House of Villains[]

The Disney Villains star in Mickey's House of Villains, the 2002 film adaptation of the Disney Channel animated television series Disney's House of Mouse. Set during a Halloween party, Jafar takes over the house with a musical number of "It's Our House Now", and all the other villains in the house join in. In the process, Jafar trap all the heroes in the kitchen, throw Mickey and the others out into the street, and change the House's name to the "House of Villains". Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie Mouse in turn try to return things to normal, but Chernabog keeps throwing them out. Afterwards, Mickey dresses in his famous sorcerer outfit from Fantasia and challenges Jafar to a magical duel using fireballs. Mickey's sorcerer hat is bounced off and there is very little time to put it back on, but then Aladdin saves the day by escaping the kitchen to the backstage room on the magic carpet and giving Daisy who gives Mickey the lamp to trap Jafar. Mickey sucks Jafar into the lamp, while the rest of the villains flee, restoring the house to normal.

Once Upon a Halloween[]

In the film Once Upon a Halloween, on the night before Halloween, the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs plans to conquer Halloween, and asks her cauldron to show the viewer several villains to which one of them helps her in her plan.

Novels[]

The Kingdom Keepers[]

In The Kingdom Keepers, Disney villains form a group known as the "Overtakers".

Board Games[]

Disney Villainous[]

The Villainous board game franchise, published by Ravensburger, puts players in the roles of Disney villains. It has been praised by critics and fans for its lush artwork and easy-to-learn yet compelling strategy elements. The game is unique in that it features an asymmetrical structure, with players working to complete their own unique goals. The core game, The Worst Takes It All, has been followed up with four expansions (to date): Wicked to the Core, Evil Comes Prepared, Perfectly Wretched and Despicable Plots.

Legacy[]

Disney villains proved their mark in cinematic history when the American Film Institute named The Queen as the 10th-greatest movie villain of all time. Other Disney Villains on AFI's list were Hunter from Bambi and Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians.^[26] AFI did not rely on Disney's classification of who qualified as a villain, but used this definition instead:

a "villain" was defined as a character(s) whose wickedness of mind, selfishness of character and will to power are sometimes masked by beauty and nobility, while others may rage unmasked. They can be horribly evil or grandiosely funny, but are ultimately tragic.

See also[]

• Judge Doom

References[]

Further reading[]

• Thomas, Frank and Johnston, Ollie, The Disney Villain (1993) ISBN 1-56282-792-8, ISBN 978-1-56282-792-2