Despite them beingaimed primarily at young children, some of the animatedDisneymovies feature villains that would rival the majority of those found in R-rated movies when it comes to how evil they really are. In fact, this motley crew of psychopathic child murderers and narcissistic sociopaths makes mostother villainsseem pretty tame by comparison.
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One of the reasons thatDisneyhas been able to get away with having such hardline villains over the years is because of how infrequently they win, though that’s not to say that they don’t occasionally get away withsome pretty evil atrocities. Whether poisoning kids, killing family members, or taking over their respective kingdoms using trickery and deceit, these evil animated Disney villains have each made their mark on history.
Updated July 09, 2025, by Tom Bowen:In recent years, some of the best animated Disney villains have been given a new lease on life thanks to the launch of Disney Plus. Whether through new spin-off series or simply just improved accessibility to older shows and movies, these maniacal monsters are now being introduced to a brand-new generation of kids. For the most part, they’re making just as big an impression as they did on the generations that came before them. This sudden surge in popularity shows that the best Disney villains are just as timeless as they are sinister and cements their place as the most evil animated Disney characters of all time.
15Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove)
The Emperor’s New Grooveis one ofthe most underrated Disney moviesof the 21st century and its main antagonist Yzma one of the most underrated Disney villains. Together with the help of her lovable yet dim-witted assistant Kronk, she concocts an evil plan to murder the intolerably arrogant Emperor Kuzco and steal his place on the throne.
Though she is a little reminiscent of some of the other great animated Disney villains and the evil sorceress thing had been done to death by this point, Yzma still makes for a fantastic antagonist. A big part of this is down to her interactions with the aforementioned Kronk: a relationship that would be further explored in several future feature films.
14The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)
Just likethe book on which it was based,Alice in Wonderlandis wonderfully bizarre. It features some of the most unusual characters to ever grace a Disney movie and has drawn many comparisons to sensitive subjects like mental illness and psychedelic drug use over the years.
The Queen of Hearts is far from the strangest character inAlice in Wonderlandbut she is definitely the most evil. Hers is a special brand of cruelty too, with the childish monarch opting to vent her frustrations on innocent bystanders and live animals, handing out death sentences as if they were candy.
13The Hunter (Bambi)
Though viewers never get a proper look at the hunter who killed Bambi’s mother, that doesn’t make them any less effective as a villain. In fact, the fact that their face is never properly shown only serves to strengthen the idea that, when it comes to the destruction of nature and wildlife, humanity itself is one of this planet’s greatest threats.
The scene with Bambi’s mother is one of the most emotionally charged moments in any classic Disney movie and has upset its fair share of young children over the years. Unlikeother Disney death scenes, this one was unbearably avoidable and thus helped to shape a lot of peoples' views on hunting animals for sport.
12Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)
Whichever way one slices it, Gaston is an all-around terrible person. For starters, he’s incredibly vain and displays elements of toxic masculinity when it comes to his refusal to accept that Belle isn’t interested in a relationship. This neckbeard level of entitlement makes the character practically impossible to sympathize with, which, in turn, forces viewers to see him as the out-and-out villain of the story.
In the 1991 animated version ofBeauty and the Beast, Gaston shoots the beast in the back after breaking into his castle and then throws him through a window and off a balcony. As he stands over his victim ready to strike the finishing blow, he mocks the beast for being “too kind and gentle to fight back,” making it crystal clear to viewers that his actions are driven entirely by jealousy rather than fear. He then stabs the beast in the back, though falls to his death just before he’s able to finish the job.
11Randall (Monsters, Inc.)
It’s a little strange to think that Randall is both one of the most recently introduced animated Disney villains and more than two decades old. Such is the passage of time though that that’s exactly what he is. The blue and purple chameleon-like creature serves as the main antagonist in2001’sMonsters, Inc.and can actually be pretty terrifying at times throughout the movie.
There’s perhaps an argument to be made that Randall is only doing his job and putting his own kind first, but this all falls away once Waternoose’s despicable plan finally comes to light. Randall then tries to murder Mike and is more than happy to subject a two-year-old child to the Scream Extractor; a terrifying machine designed to scare the life out of kids and suck up their fear like a vacuum.
10Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)
Shere Khan’s relentless pursuit of Mowgli can at times be pretty frightening, particularly for young kids. The giant tiger rules over the jungle with an iron paw and is said to kill humans purely for sport. Unlikesome of the other great Disney villains from over the yearsthough, Shere Khan does at least seem to have a somewhat valid reason for being evil.
The tiger is shown to be well acquainted with humans before ever encountering Mowgli and clearly has some past experiences with fire as well. It could therefore be possible that humans had previously attacked Shere Khan, which would explain why the tiger saw them as a threat. There’s also the whole nature argument, which would suggest that he’s simply doing what tigers are programmed to do.
9Sid (Toy Story)
His passion for cutting the heads off of toys is a clear and obvious warning sign that all is not right inside the head of Sidney Phillips. That the toys in question are shown to be alive not just while he makes these disturbing alterations, but also after only serves to make his actions that little bit more messed up.
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The amount of pleasure that Sid takes from disfiguring his and his sister’s toys really is a cause for concern, and, were it not for the fact that he appears briefly inToy Story 3, viewers would be forgiven for thinking that a life behind bars lay before him. That said, ifDexterhas taught the world anything, it’s thatserial killers don’t always get caught straight away.
8Jafar (Aladdin)
Aladdin is arguably one of the more morally dubiousDisney heroesdue to the way in which he tries to use magic to win Princess Jasmine’s heart. That Jafar simply enslaves her after getting his hands on the lamp and becoming Sultan shows that Al could be a lot worse though, and there are plenty of other signs of Jafar’s sinister nature scattered throughout the movies as well.
Betraying the Sultan to whom he had previously sworn allegiance shows that he’s untrustworthy, while his poor treatment of his pet parrot demonstrates his total disregard for living things. He insults and assaults Iago on a regular basis, despite the fact that the potty-mouthed parrot remains loyal to him throughout the entirety of the first movie.
7Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
The way that Ursula tricks Ariel into giving up her voice is somewhat impressive, though it is still incredibly evil nonetheless. She prays on the young mermaid’s naivety without the slightest bit of regard for the potential consequences of her actions and uses the situation to further strengthen her power and influence under the sea.
Looking around her lair, it’s clear to see that Ariel is far from the first person to fall victim to one of Ursula’s cunning schemes, nor is it likely that she’d have been the last were it not for Eric’s intervention. Indeed, had she been able to, she would have happily murdered the young prince and Arial along with him without giving it a second thought.
6Hades (Hercules)
Life was a lot cheaper thousands of years ago, though even in Greek Mythology,murdering one’s family really wasn’t cool. Despite this, however, it still happened ridiculously often, but never quite on the same scale as when Hades unleashes the Titans on Mount Olympus inHercules. Thanks to Hercules' intervention his plan ends up failing, but the intent was still pretty clear nonetheless.
One of the things that makes Hades such a great Disney villain is that he’s not only incredibly evil, but alsoquite funny as well. Granted, this is true of quite a few other villains, but while viewers are typically laughing at those characters due to their bumbling natures, they tend to be laughing with Hades more often than not.
