Top 10 Worst Things Done by Disney Villains

An opportunistic and greedy man, the Coachman is presumably the owner of Pleasure Island, an amusement park frequented by young boys, who then magically turn into donkeys after enough time spent there. The Coachman then imprisons and sells the transformed children into forced labor in mines and circuses when they can no longer speak; dooming them to silent, nightmarish slavery for the rest of their lives in the name of profit. Worst of all, unlike many Disney villains, the Coachman is never stopped or punished for his deplorable crimes.

The stepmother and stepsisters of the title character, Lady Tremaine and her daughters are incredibly cruel to Cinderella, heaping psychological abuse on the poor girl, while also treating her like a servant. Their behavior isn’t even motivated by some relatable purpose though, instead being petty jealousy over Cinderella’s natural beauty and charming personality, which she can hardly help. What is relatable though is the neglect and mistreatment she experiences at their hands, since all too many in the real world can unfortunately empathize with her.

A charismatic musician, actor, and symbol of Mexican pride, Ernesto de la Cruz is far more sinister than his handsome visage would suggest. When he was just starting out, Ernesto worked with his friend Hector, who was his song writer. However, Hector wanted to quit so he could return to his family. Rather than give up the songs that led to his success, Ernesto murders Hector by poisoning him and steals credit for his songs. Stealing credit for your best friend’s accomplishments is bad enough, but killing them to get away with it is another level of despicable!

The lord of the dead may be affable, but he’s definitely not the nicest god around. While consulting the Fates about his plans to take over Mount Olympus, Hades learns his plan won't work if Hercules grows to adulthood. This leads him to order his minions to murder the young godling by giving him a potion to make mortal, and therefore vulnerable to death. There's a slight flaw, as Herc retains his super strength, but it’s still attempted child murder. It may not even have been the first time Hades tries it, that spiked pacifier didn’t look all that child-friendly.

Maleficent takes being snubbed for a party way too seriously. When the evil fairy is not invited to Princess Aurora’s christening, she gate crashes it anyway, cursing the infant child with death... albeit in 16 years’ time after pricking her finger on a spindle and the curse is altered by one of the good fairies. Maleficent eventually succeeds in putting Aurora to sleep and then attempts to kill her would-be rescuer, Prince Phillip. Granted, she’s evil and murderous through and through, but if she needs to transform into a cool dragon while she goes about doing bad things, we’re not complaining.

Gaston's quite the guy... just not in a good way. The town hero may be one of a kind, but we’re glad of that fact, given that the creep imprisons Belle’s father to extort our young book lover into marriage. Gaston goes further when Belle rejects him though, using his charisma to gather the town against Beast, and when that goes awry and he loses to the transformed creature, the treacherous lout even stabs Beast in the back after being spared. This last act quickly proves his undoing though.

The Hun Army, led by the merciless Shan Yu, invade China after the Great Wall is built; seeking to assert their strength and to conquer the land. Soon after entering the country, Shan Yu deduces that the army is camped near a village by examining a doll. The army then proceeds to raze the village to the ground, slaughter its people, as well as the army nearby. The brutal reality of war and civilian casualties is horrific enough and seeing it in a Disney film is jarring but incredibly affecting.

An ancient woman kept immortal by a magical flower, Gothel is desperate to stay young, and possibly alive, when the flower is given to the kingdom’s ailing queen. When its powers are passed on to the queen’s daughter, Rapunzel, Gothel kidnaps and imprisons her in a tower to hoard these powers, using psychological abuse and manipulation to keep the girl prisoner. When Flynn appears ready to take Rapunzel away from her, Gothel resorts to stabbing him and holds his life hostage to ensure that Rapunzel stays with her forever. We’re all for living longer, but not at the cost of others’ lives.

The younger brother of the King Mufasa, Scar saw his ambition to succeed his sibling dashed by the birth of his nephew, Simba. But, in order to attain his lofty goals, Scar is willing to sink to low depths indeed. The villainous lion schemes with the hyenas to lure Mufasa into a stampede by putting Simba in danger. Yet, when this fails to kill his brother as intended, Scar takes a more direct approach, throwing Mufasa off a cliff to be trampled. We’ve seen plenty of killers so far, but it killing your own family, especially a sibling, is particularly deplorable.

Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Madame Medusa Kidnaps Penny & Forces Her to Find a Diamond
“The Rescuers” (1977)

Ursula Steals People’s Souls Using Contracts
“The Little Mermaid” (1989)

Man Kills Bambi’s Mom
“Bambi” (1942)

The fanatical Claude Frollo is easily one of Disney’s baddest baddies. Despite his apparent piousness, he uses his faith as a justification for his evil deeds, which makes him particularly loathsome. Frollo's zeal to persecute others is first seen when he murders Quasimodo’s mother by kicking her down the steps of Notre Dame. Even raising the boy he orphaned doesn’t redeem him, as he still looks to blame others after feeling lust for the first time for Esmeralda, and his haste to blame her and the other Romani people leads him to respond with an attempted genocide against them, or at least mass murder.