Not all Disney villains are created equal; some stand far above the rest. Today, I will rank my 7 all-time favorite Disney villains based on the quality of their Disney Villain song if they have one, character design, personality, and quality of motivation. Let me know your opinions in the comments!
Without further delay, “Be Prepared” for some hot Disney Villain takes.
7. Scar
Scar easily has one of the best songs in The Lion King and a few incredible one-liners. Comment if you’re thinking of one in particular! He is so confident, sassy, and clever; as much as I know I’m supposed to hate him, I admire his hustle to get the throne. Gaslighting little Simba into thinking he killed Mufasa was a truly evil move, but it takes a well-written character to make that degree of evil believable.
6. Gaston
Gaston has not one, but TWO awesome villain songs in Beauty and The Beast. His immense confidence, charisma, and cruelty make him one of the most unique villains in the franchise. That said, his motivation could be better; it doesn’t make sense to bring a whole village to war with the Beast just because Belle doesn’t want to marry him.
5. Dr. Facilier
Again, Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog has one of the best villain songs. I love “Friends on the Other Side” visually and admire how catchy the song is. He’s an unethical businessman at his core: his drive to succeed and earn more power pushes him to make the deals that eventually end in his demise.
4. Yzma
I relate to Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove more than I probably should. Though I rebuke her methods, I honestly see why she tried to dethrone Kuzco; his spoiled nature was bad for the empire. She has a simple yet frightening character design and her dynamic with Kronk is one of my favorites in Disney. Her highly-strung, manic energy, casual intensity about taking the throne, and kooky villain laugh make her both amusing and threatening.
3. Ursula
If you’ve never seen The Little Mermaid, I consider you one of the “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” Ursula sings about. Ursula has a boisterous personality and brilliant character design. Her makeup, color contrasts, and hairstyle in her character design differ from the other villains, making her all the more iconic.
2. Hades
Hades, the god of the underworld in Hercules, is a fast-talking, temperamental, clever adversary. He is a strategist, so it makes sense that he was in a frantic scramble to defeat Hercules when he belatedly learned the boy was a (very alive) demigod. Hades doesn’t have a villain song, knocking him down to #2.
1. Mother Gothel
Gothel from Tangled is the picture of the phrase “Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss.” She is ridiculously emotionally intelligent but uses it in all the worst ways. Her character design is elegant when she is young, eerie when she ages, and ultimately brilliant. Everyone is afraid of death and resists aging; she just took that motivation to its farthest limit.
Picture sources:
What Your Fave Disney Villain Reveals About You (sweetyhigh.com)
Official List Of Every Single Disney Villain, Ranked (screenrant.com)
This week’s blog of yours is my favorite of yours to read yet. I love the formatting you used and how you used multiple semicolons. Although I do not know every villain you listed, I agree with the order, and I love how you included little descriptions. I cannot wait to read your next blog!
I enjoyed this blog the most out of all the ones I’ve read thus far. The way you separated each different character was clever. I also agree with your order.
My favorite Disney villain has to be Dr. Facilier. Like you said he has the best villain song out of all of the others and I love Disney songs.
I really like this blog post a lot, i love seeing your opinion and rankings. I couldn’t agree more with your number 1 spot. Mother Gothel was so annoying that whole movie and really angered me. Would love to hear your rankings of the Disney princesses.