Claude Frollo. The personification of hubris which makes his death all the more ironic. “And so he conquered the evil and cast it into the fire!” a moment before he plunges headfirst into Hell.
They weren’t “villains” in the strictest definition, but good lord Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum scared the ever-loving crap outta me as a kid. Those creepy glances they gave each other and their shifty behavior? Errrrgggh! I hated them.
In truth, most of the characters in that movie creeped me out, and to this day the animated version of Alice in Wonderland makes me profoundly uncomfortable. I actually begged my sister not to subject my then-3yr old niece to it, I didn’t want her to get psychologically scarred by it like I was. She ended up watching it when she was about 10yrs old, and she too classifies it as a low-key horror movie now. We bonded over our mutual discomfort with it.
The only character I really loved was Bill. Poor Bill.
Scar. Have had too many bosses like him, (metaphorically) willing to murder to get ahead. To the point of gleefully destroying the child (creative people working for them).
Mother Gothel scared the crap out of my daughter when she was little. I think it was because of that scene where she de-ages rapidly. This also led her to be scared of the Queen from Snow White when the changed into the old hag.
I’m going way out there and saying the Coachman from Pinocchio.
This guy lures young boys to Pleasure Island, tempts them with all kinds of fun things they’re not supposed to have. Then turns them into donkeys and sells them to salt mines.
Hear me out- definitely Frollo (especially because a lot of people become villainous like him in the name of religion) but I’d argue Gaston is the scariest.
He is a very real villain. Everyone has met a Gaston-type in their life! Many women have dealt with multiple Gaston-like men! Hell I was raped by one a month before my 18th birthday. That’s what makes him such a great villain.
Chip whistler, Disney may have literal demons like Bill cipher but those don’t exist but the legal mumbo jumbo chip does actually exist and you cant do anything about it most of the time. And because of clever marketing he makes you think he is doing good for everyone so the evil is hidden
For those saying Frollo, that is valid. If you are interested in French history, reading Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Victor Hugo presents the original side where Claude Frollo is a fairly young man and while his actions and obsession do destroy him, he is slightly more sympathetic.
I also enjoy the musical version. The songs “Belle” and “Tu Va Me Detruire” explain a bit about his character and are very well done by the performer.
But also have to give an honorable mention to The Horned King from Black Cauldron. The animation style (and the PG rating) were so out of character for Disney at the time… and he WAS pretty monstrous. First time my little brain had ever encountered the concept of a necromancer raising hordes of moldering corpses to fight for him…
Years later I read the books, and the deathlord Arawn is actually a separate character from the Horned King (in league or the Horned King was the commander of his army or something, it’s been a minute).
The thing about Gaston is, there are people like that who: treat women like 2nd class citizens, act like women should flock to them, can’t handle rejection for shit, and yet have charisma out the asshole so that people will listen to him even though what he’s saying is wrong
Scar. There are plenry of extremely treacherous rulers and leaders just like him in the world and they control far too much to be realistically stopped before they cause enourmous harm
I’m torn between Mother Gothel from Tangled and the Abuela from Encanto.
There’s certainly other villains that are more visually scary by being able to transform into monsters but these two hit a deeper nerve by evoking a lot of the toxic parental behavior I had to endure growing up.
Mother Gothel hitting all those super strict authoritarian “Mother Knows Best” notes, the way she feeds Rapunzel fake hope knowing full well she’s never planning on giving her the freedom she deserves, the subtle ways she attacks Rapunzel’s self-confidence/worth to keep her subservient. It’s all so gross before you even consider the whole kidnapping aspect of the story.
Encanto feels like it built upon that, zooming out to show how that kind of unempathetic and manipulative parent can fracture an entire family system. Isabella is the “perfect” child who can do no wrong, Louisa is the one who is so desperate for the familial validation that she’s pushing her mind and body to the breaking point only to be rewarded with more work, and Mirabel is cast aside because she doesn’t have an exploitable talent.
Frollo. He is so realistic. A religous nut job with lust for Esmerlda. Kills Quazimodo’s mother, almost kills him has the creepist (but best) villian song a ablist. And burns a city to the ground almost kills Esmerlda.
Comments
Horned king or Maxamillion.
Cruella
Judge Frollo
Judge Claude Frollo.
He was a crazy religious conservative who wanted to genocide the gypsy population in Paris and enslaved Quasi after murdering his mother.
Kathleen Kennedy.
Jafar! Phenomenal cosmic power!!!
Professor Ratigan
kinda piggyback, but in the movie “Bambi” the villain is never shown…..the villain being “man”
Honestly? Hans from Frozen is scarily manipulative like when Anna ‘dies’ he’s scarily convincing for a Disney villain
Emperor Palpatine
Ursulla
Kathleen Kennedy
Probably Bambi when you realise it’s mankind that’s the villain
Claude Frollo. The personification of hubris which makes his death all the more ironic. “And so he conquered the evil and cast it into the fire!” a moment before he plunges headfirst into Hell.
Cruella
Walt Disney
Mother Gothel because there are people in real life who are really like that.
Maleficent
Mother Gothel because, magic aside, she’s pretty much the archetype for every narcissistic abusive mother on the planet.
cruella, who in da hell wants to actively kill puppies 😭
snow white
Scar wasn’t necessarily the scariest, but I feel he was the most EVIL.
They weren’t “villains” in the strictest definition, but good lord Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum scared the ever-loving crap outta me as a kid. Those creepy glances they gave each other and their shifty behavior? Errrrgggh! I hated them.
In truth, most of the characters in that movie creeped me out, and to this day the animated version of Alice in Wonderland makes me profoundly uncomfortable. I actually begged my sister not to subject my then-3yr old niece to it, I didn’t want her to get psychologically scarred by it like I was. She ended up watching it when she was about 10yrs old, and she too classifies it as a low-key horror movie now. We bonded over our mutual discomfort with it.
The only character I really loved was Bill. Poor Bill.
Governor John Ratcliffe from Pocahontas.
Jafar,
Scar. Have had too many bosses like him, (metaphorically) willing to murder to get ahead. To the point of gleefully destroying the child (creative people working for them).
Peter Pan
Dr. Facilier
Ursulla from The Little Mermaid.
Max from the Black Hole.
Creepy reddish robot with a sole red eye, and a spinning blades that kill his master
Mother Gothel scared the crap out of my daughter when she was little. I think it was because of that scene where she de-ages rapidly. This also led her to be scared of the Queen from Snow White when the changed into the old hag.
Mickey Mouse.
Chernabog, bro was literally Satan himself in a disney flick
Judge Claude Frollo, Scar, Lady Tremaine and Cruella
Bob Iger
Maleficent for sure!
Snow White 2025
The horned king from Black Cauldron still the best Disney horror movie imho.
Madame Medusa from The Rescuers terrified the ever loving shit out of me as a kid.
Putting Penny down that blowhole was pure nightmare fuel.
Madame Medusa
Walt or Roy.
The Queen that turned into an old woman. Scared the hell out of me as a kid
Jafar
Walt
What about sleeping beauty’s witch? Conjuring all of hell to try and kill that poor girl and keep her boyfriend away?
Cruella Deville. Don’t steal my puppies!
Disney
Gaston. Because his character is too real.
Jafar by far.
The bad guy in The hunchback of Notre Dame.
If fantasia counts the evil bat demon guy on bald mountain.
Has to be either Frollo or Cinderella’s stepmother.
Jafar
Claude Frollo always gave me the most creeps. Hunchback is still one of my favorites though
Cinderella’s step- mother and all three of those bitches got theirs.
The scrawny lion from Lion King can’t remember his name🫤
I’m going way out there and saying the Coachman from Pinocchio.
This guy lures young boys to Pleasure Island, tempts them with all kinds of fun things they’re not supposed to have. Then turns them into donkeys and sells them to salt mines.
The fuck dude…
Cruella, making an outfit out of dog skin! WTF!
The most petty is Maleficent, cursing a baby because she wasn’t invited to the party. 😂
Michael Eisner
Scar
Mother Gothel.
All my raised by narcissists/bpds know what’s up.
Sheev Palpatine?
Elsa, nothing else needs to be said.
Maleficent cursed a King’s daughter because she wasn’t invited to the babies christening, I’d hate to see what she’d do to people REPOing her car.
The Horned King.
Hear me out- definitely Frollo (especially because a lot of people become villainous like him in the name of religion) but I’d argue Gaston is the scariest.
He is a very real villain. Everyone has met a Gaston-type in their life! Many women have dealt with multiple Gaston-like men! Hell I was raped by one a month before my 18th birthday. That’s what makes him such a great villain.
The fucking whale from pinocchio
The horned king from the black cauldron
Hands down. Started me down the rabbit hole for loving all things morbid
Truly terrifying as a kid. Lol
Bob Iger
The magnet in brave little toaster
“Now you’ll deal with me, o’prince, and ALLLLLL THE POWERS OF HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” Maleficent was scary af.
Chip whistler, Disney may have literal demons like Bill cipher but those don’t exist but the legal mumbo jumbo chip does actually exist and you cant do anything about it most of the time. And because of clever marketing he makes you think he is doing good for everyone so the evil is hidden
Everyone saying Gothel has a point, but I’m old and when I was a kid, Lady Tremaine was the scariest because we didn’t have Gothel yet.
Rattigan
Probably Darth Sidious
WALT
Frolo
Cruella De Vil devil is right in the name
Judge Claude Frollo
whoever greenlit Sebastian and Flounder’s CGI designs clearly HATES the world.
Snow White
From the Black Hole, Dr. Hans Reinhardt‘s robot bodyguard, Maximilian.
For those saying Frollo, that is valid. If you are interested in French history, reading Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Victor Hugo presents the original side where Claude Frollo is a fairly young man and while his actions and obsession do destroy him, he is slightly more sympathetic.
I also enjoy the musical version. The songs “Belle” and “Tu Va Me Detruire” explain a bit about his character and are very well done by the performer.
https://youtu.be/uOr_MOq7-ps?si=QWC5pUXyYu4eG4sN
Belle:
https://youtu.be/Lefbtf5jjbg?si=IgtZ3kSpVTiF-9vU
Walt
Walt Disney
Maximillian from The Black Hole
“The horned king” is awesome
Anxiety from Inside Out 2
Cruella – it’s told from the perspective of the dogs!
Please don’t skin me and my babies for fashion
Have to agree with the Mother Gothel crowd.
But also have to give an honorable mention to The Horned King from Black Cauldron. The animation style (and the PG rating) were so out of character for Disney at the time… and he WAS pretty monstrous. First time my little brain had ever encountered the concept of a necromancer raising hordes of moldering corpses to fight for him…
Years later I read the books, and the deathlord Arawn is actually a separate character from the Horned King (in league or the Horned King was the commander of his army or something, it’s been a minute).
Yzma. She is… How would you describe her?
Scary Beyond all reason.
The thing about Gaston is, there are people like that who: treat women like 2nd class citizens, act like women should flock to them, can’t handle rejection for shit, and yet have charisma out the asshole so that people will listen to him even though what he’s saying is wrong
Alma Madrigal (Abuela) because she hurt a lot of people by loving & fearing too much.
“And I’m sorry I held on too tight
Just so afraid I’d lose you too”
And that’s really scary, because it’s so very human.
Professor Callaghan from big hero 6. A man with nothing to lose, seeking revenge is probably the scariest/most evil you can get.
Cruella. Killing puppies for a coat 😭
Dr. Terminus from Pete’s Dragon. He literally sings a song about chopping up a unique animal for money and how wonderful that is.
The guy that’s ran pleasure island. (Sorry I forgot the name)
Cruella DeVil is pretty damn evil.
Gaston🙏
Scar. There are plenry of extremely treacherous rulers and leaders just like him in the world and they control far too much to be realistically stopped before they cause enourmous harm
Bob Chapek.
Dr. Facilier / Shadow Man from Princess and the Frog
He has voodoo magic. He’s done a lot worse things than turn people into frogs.
Kathleen Kennedy
I always feared Lena Gogan
Ursula
Walt.
How has no one mentioned Death from Puss in Boots?
Coach Jack Reilly and the Hawks.
They were savage on the ice.
N/A.
The Horned King from The Black Cauldron.
I’m torn between Mother Gothel from Tangled and the Abuela from Encanto.
There’s certainly other villains that are more visually scary by being able to transform into monsters but these two hit a deeper nerve by evoking a lot of the toxic parental behavior I had to endure growing up.
Mother Gothel hitting all those super strict authoritarian “Mother Knows Best” notes, the way she feeds Rapunzel fake hope knowing full well she’s never planning on giving her the freedom she deserves, the subtle ways she attacks Rapunzel’s self-confidence/worth to keep her subservient. It’s all so gross before you even consider the whole kidnapping aspect of the story.
Encanto feels like it built upon that, zooming out to show how that kind of unempathetic and manipulative parent can fracture an entire family system. Isabella is the “perfect” child who can do no wrong, Louisa is the one who is so desperate for the familial validation that she’s pushing her mind and body to the breaking point only to be rewarded with more work, and Mirabel is cast aside because she doesn’t have an exploitable talent.
Geppetto. Guy makes haunted puppet boys.
Ursula
Snow white
Chernabog.
This demon literally rises from mountain and summons spirits of the dead. No back story or anything, just pute evil
Frollo. He is so realistic. A religous nut job with lust for Esmerlda. Kills Quazimodo’s mother, almost kills him has the creepist (but best) villian song a ablist. And burns a city to the ground almost kills Esmerlda.
Judge Claude Frollo
Peter Pan he’s a pedo
The horned king had no humor to him at all, just a cruel reanimated corpse with a thirst for power.
The magic mirror (Snow White)
Actual scary: Chernabog
Metaphysically scary: Frollo
Judge Frollo