Why the Top 5 Disney Villains are the Top 5

Somewhat inspired by the "Shan Yu From Mulan - Badass or Boring" thread, i decided to post this thread to hear the opinions of why Disney's top 5 villains are the Top 5 villains.

5. Ursula from "The Little Mermaid"

4. The Evil Queen from "Snow White"

3. Scar from "The Lion King"

2. Jafar from "Aladdin"

1. Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty"

It will go something like this:

I think Scar is a top 5 villain because it takes a truly villainous personality to plot to kill your own brother and his infant son just to satisfy your own lust for power and control (and your own jealousy)

The Evil Queen makes the list because she was the first. Maleficent makes it mostly because the dragon transformation sequence is so memorable. The other three are the most effective villains from the Disney Renaissance. They have striking, distinctive appearances and each one achieved a partial victory before being brought down (something Gaston failed to do, which is probably why he doesn't make the cut).

Ursula, Jafar and Scar also had far higher goals of actual power than Gaston, who was entirely moved by petty and banal motivations. That did a lot to make them more threatening and competent.

That's true. "Coerce the town pretty girl into marriage" is a far cry from "TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE KINGDOM."

Quick question, who came up with this list? Because I never would've guessed the Evil Queen would be on a list of the Top 5.

I honestly would put Chernabog above all the others.

Sure, he doesn't speak or have a motivation, but when you are basically, as Walt Disney described as, The Devil himself, why would he need to?

Plus, Night on Bald Mountain is so memorable.

I wouldn't put him above all others. I think he's more the "Honorable Mention" type.

I think Scar ia high on the list because he's a fairly complex villain. Not exaclty morally-wise (Frollo beats him to the punch in that regard) but I think one of the most fascinating aspects about him that makes him interesting is that he is one of the few villain who transit from Magnificent Bastard to Smug Snake. He is one of the few (the only one I can actually remember) Disney villain to show that skill in acquiring power is very different from skill handling power. Which is very unique.

By whose evaluation are these the top five? I think my top five probably wouldn't include the Evil Queen, whom I find pretty bland compared to the others. There's kind of a weird tendency to single her out as the greatest Disney villain among film buffs - she was the top representative on AFI's villain list and I also remember Siskel and Ebert singing her praises as the best animated villain ever at some point.

Agreed. I've heard some people complain that Scar becomes significantly less menacing in the second half of the movie, but I actually like his development. His view on what it means to be king clearly mirrors that of young Simba ("I am king! I can do whatever I want!), so really, the whole point is that he has no idea what it actually entails to be a good ruler, merely a good schemer.

edited 14th Feb '14 3:00:17 AM by DrDougsh

Where is Frollo?

Either way, it is a combination of different things...they are all from successful movies (yes, I know, Sleeping Beauty didn't make the production cost at the box office, but it was nevertheless the second highest grossing movie of it's year...it was just too damned expensive to make and by now, it is a beloved classic).

They have all very memorable scenes.

And in the case of the Evil Queen, Maleficent and Ursula, they are practically the archetypes for the villains which came after them. The Evil Queen is to this day very unique because she keeps talking directly to the audience, Maleficent's transformation is legendary (and I admit, the scene when she enchants Aurora gives me the creeps to this day, due to the score used - Aurora...Aurora....) and Ursula made the Villain Song a Disney stable.

I think that Jafar and Scar are overrated, though. Scar because he is so childish towards the end of the movie, and Jafar because he is a less dignified copy of Maleficent.

I'm also curious about the source for the list (and interested to see the next five slots). Judging by who's included, though, it's pretty clear that it has to do with impact on the general public, not animation buffs or Disney aficionados. That's why Frollo doesn't make the cut—Disney fans love him for his screen presence and psychological complexity, but Hunchback didn't become a big hit with the public and your average person in the street couldn't identify Frollo by name.

I agree with anyone saying that Gaston doesn't deserve to be on this list, because he just started off as a pompous, arrogant jerkass who just wanted to marry the prettiest girl. He's only dangerous around the near-end of the movie.

I do believe the Coachman deserves an honorable mention because I believe his presence teaches children a harsh aesop that there are some evil people will get away with things, and that life's not fair.

edited 14th Feb '14 3:18:20 PM by MsCC93

Foulfellow and Gideon too—none of the villains in that movie really get their comeuppance. Stromboli loses Pinocchio, but he's no worse off than he was before they met. This is partly due to the episodic nature of the story—a really effective villain needs to be present starting in Act One and stay in the story until it ends with their defeat.

But that's the thing, Scar being childish was the whole point of the character. He is a guy who thinks being King is a non-stop party, and refuses to accept any repsonsability for his actions or the people.

To all of those who asked where i got this list, i just picked the top five of this listing: http://www.dvdizzy.com/disneyvillainscountdown/

Read it carefully

I know, but he acted so smart in the first half of the movie and so incredible stupid in the second half.

For a villain with character development, I think Gaston is the better pick...it's great how he develops from a simple bully to a monster.

Like I said that's the point. Intelligence in scheming does not translate to intelligence in rulling. Being clever in one área does not translate to intelligence in other. Since the beginning of the movie he also shows traits of being immature (most obviously: "I'll be king undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am!")

That line from the song "Be Prepared" just shows how narcissistic Scar is.

You do raise a good point about the other villains. I only singled out the Coachman because he was the worst.

edited 14th Feb '14 3:18:03 PM by MsCC93

I'd argue that Scar does show some clear signs of immaturity in the first half of the film, like say, his very first scene where (after deliberately not showing up for the birth of his nephew apparently just because he didn't feel like it) he's wallowing in self-pity, whining to himself about how unfair life is and pointlessly playing around with his food, then he proceeds to antagonise Mufasa and attempt to eat his advisor for no good reason. Scar in no way bothers to make himself look good in the eyes of his brother as he should, suggesting a character that'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, but will make no effort to take extra steps beyond what he feels is necessary.

Yeah, Scar is scheming himself right out of his throne by telling Simba the truth instead of killing him off immediately and then alienating his closest allies....

The Coachman is in a way the most terrifying and successful of all of the Disney Villains, but the point of a good villain is that we either love to hate him or that he has an interesting character. The Coachman is stuff for nightmares but I don't love to watch him...in fact, he is the main reason I rarely watch Pinocchio at all.

No frollo, no buy.

Also as much as I like Jaffar, he turned into a total Saturday Morning clown of cliches in the movie's climax.

edited 14th Feb '14 4:02:34 PM by Vertigo_High

Oh, come on, Barbossa deserved ranking far higher than freaking Radcliffe and Kaa.

It occurs to me that my ranking of this list would roughly correlate with the word count of the blurbs. I thought Ratigan and especially Pete were ranked pretty low, but their essay-length blurbs that wouldn't be out of place on the last page validated my feelings a bit. Meanwhile, the Evil Queen, whom I'm surprised is so high, had an abnormally short blurb for that page. And I'm surprised Ratcliffe made the list at all.

Ratcliffe is easily one of the worst Disney Villains.

Rattigan is sadly overlooked to much because The Great Mouse Detective tends to get overlooked. He is such a delightful villain.

I'd swap Dr. Fallicier, Hades and Yzma for the Evil Queen, Ursula and Maleficent. But that's because they're my favorite villains, not the best.