Top 10 Cartoon Villainesses In Movies

#10: Other Mother “Coraline” (2009)

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Be careful what you wish for. When Coraline first meets this being from another pocket of reality, she seems like the perfect parent. Aside from the creepy buttons she has for eyes, she’s everything Coraline’s regular mom isn’t. She dotes on her and gives her everything she wants, all the while keeping the guise of a loving mother. And then things turn nasty. As the film reaches its gothic climax, the Other Mother is revealed to be a devourer of children’s souls, using their greed as bait in order to ensnare them. Should that fail, she’s not above resorting to violence. Throw in the fact that her true form is absolutely horrifying, and you have the makings of a solid villain.

#9: Dawn Bellwether “Zootopia” (2016)

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Looks can indeed be deceiving. When we’re first introduced to Miss Bellwether, she seems like a sweet, shy, and clumsy sheep who is constantly getting pushed around by her lion of a boss. As we soon discover, this is the perfect cover for a conniving megalomaniac who lacks any empathy for anyone else during her rise to power. Taking advantage of the tension between predators and prey, Bellwether manipulates events and the citizens of Zootopia until she’s standing atop them all, showing herself to truly be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And it was an almost-flawless plan, save for one fatal error: Bellwether’s confession by way of monologue.

She may not be the most intimidating of villains, but you have to give it to Mad Madam Mim, because she stays true to herself to the very end. With a love for all things wicked and an abject hatred for everything good, especially sunshine, Mim is an oddly hilarious ball of villainy that’s still a pleasure to watch. That’s not to say she’s not dangerous. With powers that rival Merlin’s, she gave us one of Disney’s most entertaining and creative battles sequences, with her ability to shift between various animal forms almost instantly. Anyone who nearly barbecued fiction’s most famous wizard has more than earned her spot on here.

#7: Mother Gothel “Tangled” (2010)

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Evil mothers seem to make up a large chunk of Disney’s villain roster. Luckily, fabulous characters like Gothel manage to breathe new life into the archetype, giving us an antagonist who thrives upon deception. After kidnapping a princess whose hair contained healing properties, Gothel locks her in a tower and raises her as a daughter. While Gothel manages to convince Rapunzel that the world is cruel and that the teen is safest with her for most of her young adult life, eventually the princess slips away. And that’s when Gothel shows her true colors. Cruel, vicious, and not above imprisoning and murdering in order to keep her youth, she won’t be winning any parent of the year awards anytime soon.

#6: Lady Tremaine [aka the Wicked Stepmother] “Cinderella” (1950)

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Presenting the original lady who pioneered the wicked stepmother role. She may not have any superpowers or even kill anyone, but her treatment of Cinderella and the fact that she does everything she can think of to spoil her happiness, Lady Tremaine skyrockets herself onto our list. Armed with an icy disposition, sharp tongue and determination to marry her children off in order to gain vast wealth, Lady Tremaine’s brand of villainy is a very human one, and in some ways, is all the more potent as a result. After all, are there many more despicable things than robbing a young girl of the chance at a fairy tale ending?

#5: Yzma “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000)

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She’s an advisor with mad scientist tendencies who will do anything to secure herself the throne, and someone who will happily kill off the young, spoiled emperor, and practically anyone else, to do so. What makes her so different from the rest? She is hilarious. Despite having a skeletal figure, her energy is utterly infectious, especially when it comes to her mass freak-outs. Sure, she’ll use whatever means necessary in order to remove you and get what she wants, but you can’t help but kind of root for someone who puts so much gusto into trying to assassinate someone else. Good on you, Yzma. Never lose that drive. Oh and she’s also “scary beyond all reason.”

Setting the trend for all great Disney villains who followed, this Queen with a desire to be “the fairest one of all” presented us with a character that may be beautiful on the outside, but is as ugly as could be within. When her Huntsman fails to tear out Snow White’s heart, this amoral monarch decides to personally see to it that her competition is silenced, disguising herself as an old hag and supposedly killing off Snow White with a poisoned apple. How fitting that the Queen perishes just as she shows herself for just how much of a monster she is, proving once and for all that beauty is not just skin-deep.

#3: Cruella de Vil “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (1961)

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How best to summarise the evilness of this fashion fiend? Well, she doesn’t appear all that intimidating at first, only seeming to care about what she wears and making sure it contains fur to some extent. Bu then things get surprisingly dark. She pays a couple of goons to kidnap dozens upon dozens of Dalmatian puppies so she can skin them for their spots and make a new fur coat out of them. If that’s not sickening enough, just wait until you get a load of her road rage. Honestly, we still have nightmares about that face she pulls.

When the boss is on a roll, you make sure to get the heck out of her way. Manipulating the sweet, but naïve, Ariel into surrendering her voice for a chance at true love, Ursula manages to secure herself the trident of Ariel’s father, the King. She then imbues herself with terrifying magical power, grows to a juggernaut size and turns the surrounding sea into her personal playground. If you thought the ocean was a scary place before, chances are, under Ursula’s rule, things would be a million times worse. Good thing Prince Eric knows his way around a ship. Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Scarlet Overkill “Minions” (2015) Queen of Hearts “Alice in Wonderland” (1951) Madame Medusa “The Rescuers” (1977) Fairy Godmother “Shrek 2” (2004) Mrs. Tweedy “Chicken Run” (2000)

#1: Maleficent “Sleeping Beauty” (1959)

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It turns out that excluding this particular sorceress from a celebration is a death wish. The villain who stole the spotlight from the admittedly rather bland heroine, Maleficent places a curse upon the infant princess Aurora, dooming her to die by her 16th birthday. Fortunately, a good fairy named Merryweather reduces the fatal curse to one in which Aurora will instead fall into an eternal slumber unless she’s saved by true love’s kiss. But back to Maleficent: this witch is not one to stand back and let things play out without ensuring they will go her way. So years later, when Prince Phillip attempts to rescue Aurora, Maleficent goes full on alpha, transforming into a demonic-looking dragon. If it weren’t for the meddling of Merryweather and her fellow fairies, this villain would have ultimately won the day. Despite the fact that the fairy tale has evil perishing in the end, there’s no denying that this villainess certainly left an impact. Do you agree with our list? Who is your favorite cartoon villainess? For more devious top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to MsMojo.