Whether you love or hate Disney, it cannot be denied that they have come up with some great villainous characters through their movie-making history. This list takes a look at the ten most evil, most repugnant, most vile of evil characters to grave the disney cartoon screen. Be sure to add your own favorites to the comments.

Large, loud and evil come to mind when Stromboli is mentioned. He is a heartless showman who burns his marionettes for firewood when they have grown too old to perform. This puppeteer’s sole passion is money and when he discovers Pinocchio’s potential (a stringless puppet who can sing and dance) he kidnaps him and forces him to work.
This fur loving woman is a danger to all animals. She will do whatever it takes to get her hands on the Dalmations. Anyone who kills cute little puppies to make coats is evil in my books. With a quote like this – how could she not be on the list: “Poison them drown them, bash them on the head!”
This money hungry governor is as greedy as they come. He does not trust the “savages” and as a result sends his men to attack them, as he believes they are hiding gold that he most desperately wants. Even when it is discovered that the Native Americans do not possess these riches, he still declares that they must “sound the drums of war”
The evil sorcerer is seen in his advisor attire in a majority of the movie. However, he goes through quite a few transformations. These include: an old cripple, sultan, cobra and a frightening genie. He pretends to be a faithful advisor to the Sultan in an attempt to steal his throne and rule Agrabah.
The self-centred and wicked stepmother psychologically abuses Cinderella. She ruthlessly toys with the poor girl’s hopes and dreams, treating Cinderella as a slave rather than an equal. In an attempt to prevent Cinderella from attending the grand ball, she locks her away with no chance of meeting her prince. Lady Tremaine successfully manages to inflict extreme suffering on Cinderella without laying a finger on her.
The ruthless leader of the Huns is determined to conquer China. He and his army climb over the Great Wall and invade the land to prove his superiority to the Emperor. Shan-Yu feels no hesitation when it comes to taking a life. Sometimes, for his own amusement, he kills without remorse. This is demonstrated when he asks “How many men does it take to deliver a message?” to which one of his henchmen replies “one” as he aims his arrow at one of two Chinese spies.
This manipulative, lip-pouting octopus has a mean hobby of collecting souls so that they can suffer in misery for the rest of their existence. She manipulates Ariel with empty promises in order to collect her soul and lure King Triton in the process.

The evil brother of Mufasa will do anything to become King of the Pride Lands, even if it means killing his brother and his nephew Simba. Although he only succeeds in murdering Mufasa, he convinces his nephew that it was his fault, leaving Simba to live with the guilt of his father’s death and tells the cub to “run far away, Simba, and never come back.”
When “the fairest of them all” reaches an age where her radiance is fading, she plots to have her stepdaughter Snow White killed and demands that she have her heart to feed on. She even uses witchcraft to transform into an old lady which allows her to give a poisoned apple to a naive Snow White.
Maleficent’s evil knows no bounds as all of her insidious plans are devised out of spite. The malicious enchantress casts a spell on Aurora to ensure that “Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die.” With her devil-like horns, she is easily seen as the most evil villain of all. If you don’t agree, look up “maleficent” in the dictionary and the definition will be “doing evil or harm”




























Malificent was scary when I was little, but I rewatched the movie last year and it made me want to kick her. I mean, thorns? Really?! NO.
I think Hades or Ursula are more evil (but they’re also funnier, so I love them anyway), or Scar. When they do wrong or evil just to gain power and rule over the world, means they’re willing to do anything and that’s scary. Wanting to be beautiful, having money? Not so much.
I thought the Disney villians were Michael Eisner, Jeff Katzenberg…….
Yank Stromboli and replace with Hades or Frollo (heck, even Capt. Hook)
Why isn’t Frollo on the list?! Of all the disney villains, he’s easily the most realistic and thus quite terrifying.
89 Kalebarkab: want to find good pop music. Help me please.
You won’t find any on this list. HTH.
This list was instantly discredited when it left Frollo out.
Burned a city, tried to kill a baby, lusted after a woman, killed another woman, tried to kill numerous other people, was extremely manipulative towards Quasimodo, and after all this he tries to justify himself a man of God.
Half the list are villains in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Great game if you can get over playing with Donald and Goofy. I agree with #124, Hades should be on the list.
Another list idea, Disney villains as ranked by body count. I’m not sure who would “win”. Early Disney movies had no problem killing off characters. I mean think about all the parents Disney kills off, the life expectancy of a parent in a Disney movie is like <10% (complete guess).
Sam: Figured the religion thing out did you? Wow, you must have a amazing grasp of the obvious!
List-wise, I’ve never seen any of these. Any of them any good?
Wow, a lot of people with their panties in a twist over ths Frollo character… I never watched that movie so I really have no idea who you´re talking about…
Anyone else noticed how Scar and Jafar totally resemble each other..?
I agree with everyone mentioning Frollo. He’s so creepily human in his evil business. He should have been included.
And although he’s on the list – let’s not forget Shan Yu; his mere physical appearance and that slow, husky voice (at least that’s the way it was dubbed in my language) so easily commanding murder and destruction were enough to freak me out when I was little. It also doesn’t help that most of the time you only get to see the gruesome results of his violence, like that ravaged town in the mountains – all the more frightening!
Miley Cyrus should definitely be here
also 131 LittleNut, Shan Yu is here, hes number 5
133: I knew (and mentioned it in my comment) – he just got pretty much ignored in the comments, poor guy.
89: you won’t find any good pop music, period. Also Ysma is scary beyond all reason.
Maleficent is the only Disney villain I know of who ever called upon “the powers of Hell”, so I think she deserves the top spot.
where’s Captain Hook?
wow this is such a deep, relevant and insightful socio-political topic….
Ooh, Maleficent! When I was a little girl, they replayed the Disney classics in the theaters. I saw almost all of the older ones – Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc. – on the big screen. Maleficent scared the hoo hah out of me, especially when she transformed into the dragon.
Brrr!
How about Oogey Boogey Man, from the Nightmare Before Christmas?
Technically, it is Disney, and I must admit he was one of my all time-favs. The whole neon-lights, casino thing was pretty awesome.
I also have to agree with whoever mentioned Sid from Toy Story…that kid was most definitely a future sociopath.
Great list, missing one that used to scare the crap outta me when i was little, Professor Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective.
Hades should be here! hes my favorite, but i guess technially disney didnt invent him
i’m sorry the greatest disney villian of all time is walt disney himself, transforming himself into a giant child eating robot lusting to feast on elian (the cuban refugee), that has got to be number 1 on the list… oh wait that was robot chicken
@ darkrose. Hmm, I noticed that too… Mind you Disney himself was very narrow minded- some might say racist. Maybe it rubbed off! Either that or the English are better thespians lol
Shan-Yu wasn’t evil, there was a war going on between the Chinese and the Huns. It was the nature of war back then, cruel as hell, but not evil.
PS: As South Park teaches us, the Mongolians were right about tearing walls down, our “Chitty” Walls.
How about Captain hook ?
To me, he really looks nasty
Maleficent was my favorite character probably in all of Disney.
How about Si and Am from Lady and the Tramp? Yeah, minor characters, but they’re cats, so of course they’re as evil as you can get!
How about Sir Hiss from Robin Hood
Yeah, I defiantly thought Frollo would be on this list. When I was younger I had noooo idea what he was singing about but when I watched it way later I was almost shocked. XD Frollo is probably one of the most evil.
Awww, I love the Disney lists! Great list here, and great additions in the comments (at least, from those who recognize the difference between Disney and…well…not Disney. BTW, while connected, I consider Pixar to be a separate entity.)
The lion king is hamlet. Scar=Claudius. Think about it.
How come everytime you put an image up for the list’s icon it is reversed from the picture inside the list?
I think my vote, in the event we were asked to vote, would have to go to Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. He plans a daring overthrow of the government, ruthlessly kills anyone who speaks against him, is physically powerful (enough to beat Basil), and changes from suave to ferociously terrifying in seconds. If rats were capable of higher intelligence, we’d all be goners.
I think Mufasa should be 2 (or 1), he’s way more evil.
Just a little tweak to the Lady Tremaine entry. Cinderella wasn’t locked in her room so that she could go to the ball. Anastasia and Drizella ripped Cinderellas dress right off her body and thats why the Fairy god mother showed up and gave her an elegant gown. Cinderella wasn’t locked in her room until the prince came to the house with the glass slipper. Lady Tremaine put her in there so that she wouldnt have a chance to try it on. Little did she know that Cinderella kept the other shoe in her apron.
Oops, “couldnt go to the ball”
Whoever said Yzma all the way up there ^^^ MAD PROPS! haha
Maleficent’s got my vote- though as far as baddies go I once had a thing for Darth Vader, until someone told me about his pink lace panties:)
Queen from Snow White, by FAR the scariest XD Awesome list, disney villains are epic imo.
yeah! evil(est) but the question is, why are people still patronizing this kind of entertainment – despite of knowing of these evil characteres? Hmmmm…
@anon485: LOL on Miley Cyrus!
I thank you for the reminiscence of some of the childhood Disney flicks that I grew up with. Walt Disney was a man of pure genius. So glad that his work in animation lives on.
To me, Maleficent was the scariest villain in all the Disney flicks.
hey,
great listing….
never realized how evil disney villains can be,
be sure to visit my blog…..
If you ever want to make a list about most boring lists on this site, you should add this somewhere.
112 dirtyrockerbarbie–”i used to rewind the part where she does her little dance while saying “BODDDY LANGUAGE… HA!” that part always cracked me up while simultaneously making me afraid of back fat.”
You got that right!!LOLLOL
Maleficent is my favorite, I’m so glad she’s number 1!
bull ***** where is captain hook!!??
how bad
They might be evil but the top 2 are certainly *****y
evil has no limit! what happened to disney!!!!!?????? now its all gay and conformist like! i loved it back when it had its own thing going! but now look at them…..jonas sisters and hannah miley two names! high school nightmare of a musical!!!!! ahhhh! i miss old disney..or maybe i just miss the bad ass viilians of old!!!
wow we cant believe we are actually bored enough to read the whole thing
When I was younger, (I just finished my freshman year of high school today. And in July I turn 16.) I couldent even finish watching Snow White. That queen just freaked me out. I like, started crying at the part where she turns into the old lady.
Malificant is really cool. She’s one creepy, evil person.
I loved the Lion King, I love Scar’s voice.
Whatever his name is in the Hunchback of Notra Dome never really scared me as a kid. He probibly scares me more now that I understand whats going on in the movie. Except his death I always thought was really scary.
Hey, what about that kid in Toy Story? Pixar is disney. That kid is, like, a toy murderer.
Aaaah, there should be a list of all the Disney movies including the word ***** somewhere in the imagery or background.
Although i think Scar should have taken top prize, Mufasa dying has probably scarred me for life.
@JAG (173): That list was already done a few weeks ago:
http://listverse.com/2009/05/10/top-10-hidden-images-found-in-cartoons/
Hah!
Thanks oouchan, I must say… I still can’t believe how much is always being fed to us subliminally. D=
love this list
@Travis (16):
haha erm,
I think Travis needs to calm down
What about the snake from The Jungle Book? He was a villain wasn’t he?
I remember when I was little it was my favourite film but I would cry whenever I used to see the snake so my mam would have to fast forward past those bits! Haha
The most evil of them all has been left off the list. In the movie Fantasia, near the end, there is a very dark scene in which Satan appears and calls the souls of earth to his domain. He is a terrifying image, especially since this movie was marketed for children.
You missed the Master Control Program (MCP) from TRON.