Disney is known for creating magical worlds, charming heroes and princesses, and happy endings. But let’s be honest: it’s often the villains who really make the stories stick (no wonder so many people actually like them). Plenty of Disney’s antagonists have left their mark over the years. Some have deeper motivations, while others are just straight-up cold, with zero room for empathy. Some manipulate, others kill. Some want entire kingdoms, others just want to feed their own egos. But out of all of them, who’s the most truly evil? This isn’t about popularity or flair, we’re talking pure villainy.
Here are the 10 best Disney villains, ranked by how cruel they are in their stories. In the end, the question is simple: who, if they existed in real life, would be absolutely unforgivable?
10) Mother Gothel (Tangled)
Mother Gothel is undeniably toxic, but her evil works in a quieter, more psychological way. She kidnaps Rapunzel as a baby to exploit her powers of eternal youth, building a relationship rooted in manipulation and emotional control, all under the guise of motherhood. Despite the constant gaslighting, Gothel keeps Rapunzel alive and relatively well-treated – not out of care, but because she needs her. Her focus is control, not destruction. That doesn’t make her innocent, but compared to Disney’s most dangerous villains, her impact is far more contained. She’s less of a global threat and more a disturbing portrait of emotional abuse, which places her at the bottom of the list.
9) Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)
Charismatic but dangerous, Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog is the kind of villain whose actions are driven entirely by personal ambition rather than a desire to cause suffering. He uses shadow magic to deceive, manipulate, and steal souls (undeniably cruel), but he does it in pursuit of power and status, not destruction for its own sake. It’s hard to see him as the epitome of evil, especially since his connection to his “friends on the other side” makes him as much a servant as he is a master. On top of that, his need to feed his spiritual debt limits the scale of what he can actually do. He’s threatening and harmful, yes, but his arc is more about cutting dark deals than spreading pain for pleasure.
8) Jafar (Aladdin)
One of Disney’s most iconic villains, Jafar is the textbook example of someone who craves power and nothing else. He lies, manipulates, enslaves, and attempts to murder Aladdin, all in a calculated effort to seize control of Agrabah, meaning his evil is politically and hierarchically motivated. He wants to rule, and not necessarily destroy lives without reason. He exploits the existing systems of power rather than, for example, creating a genocidal regime from scratch. That said, Jafar doesn’t hesitate to endanger lives or show open contempt for others. He imprisons Jasmine and bends the rules of magic to turn himself into an all-powerful genie, but, still, everything he does is driven by ambition, not sadism. He’s ruthless, but not cruel on the same level as Disney’s most vicious villains.
7) Hades (Hercules)
Hades might not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of Disney villains (since Hercules isn’t exactly a flagship movie), but that changes once you realize he has one of the highest destructive potentials in the Disney universe. He plans nothing less than the fall of Olympus by unleashing the Titans and taking control of the divine realm.
His plan is megalomaniacal, so why isn’t he higher in the ranking? Because Hades doesn’t act with personal cruelty. He’s sarcastic, fast-talking, theatrical, and often more interested in cracking jokes than causing real pain. His disregard for life feels more indifferent than actively malicious. That said, we can’t ignore that he’s fully willing to destroy gods, worlds, and kill the hero if it helps him win. Hades manipulates Megara emotionally and causes suffering, but at the end of the day, he’s more of a strategist than a direct enforcer.
6) Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
Ursula is cunning and predatory – evil in its purest form. She makes deceptive contracts with vulnerable victims, fully aware that most won’t be able to hold up their end of the deal, and then punishes them by transforming them into miserable, trapped creatures. When she manipulates Ariel, her goal is to exploit an innocent teenager and ultimately steal Triton’s throne. She does all of this with visible enjoyment and zero empathy, even sabotaging Ariel’s chances just to tighten her control and amplify the situation. Ursula doesn’t just want power; she wants to humiliate and dominate. Her level of psychological manipulation, combined with her willingness to hurt and turn living beings into hostages, places her far above the more political or comedic villains in terms of sheer cruelty.
5) Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians)
Cruella is perhaps the purest example of evil: she wants to kill dozens of puppies purely out of vanity. Unlike villains who kill for revenge, power, or ambition, she acts solely out of selfishness. Her plan to turn innocent animals into fur coats has no justification – it’s narcissism at its coldest and most inhumane. Her anger and total contempt for the innocent make her a disturbingly memorable figure, even without magical powers. Rightly placed in the top 5 of this list, Cruella proves you don’t need to rule kingdoms or destroy worlds to be one of the worst villains. It only takes a complete lack of empathy combined with a willingness to kill without reason.
4) Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
She casts a death curse on a baby simply because she wasn’t invited to a party. The disproportionate nature of Maleficent’s act reveals a wounded pride taken to the extreme (something the live-action movie later tried to soften by portraying her as an anti-heroine). Despite the fairies’ efforts to neutralize the curse, Maleficent remains resolute in destroying Aurora’s life, showing her intent isn’t merely punishment but total elimination. What makes her even more dangerous is her ability to transform into a dragon and her cold ruthlessness toward anyone who opposes her. Unlike Jafar or Hades, who rely on manipulation and negotiation, Maleficent is a direct force of vengeance and destruction. Her goal has never been to rule, only to hurt and assert dominance.
3) Scar (The Lion King)
The Lion King is one of Disney’s most brutal movies largely because of Mufasa’s death, and it gets worse when you realize it was his own brother who cold-bloodedly and deliberately murdered him. But Scar doesn’t stop there; he manipulates his traumatized nephew into fleeing, ensuring no one questions his claim to the throne. His rule drags the whole kingdom into misery and hunger, showing he just doesn’t care about anyone else. Scar embodies both personal and systemic cruelty. He betrays family, kills a king, and reduces the Pride Lands to a wasteland. He’s sadistic, ruthless, calculating, opportunistic, and destructive by nature.
2) Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
Jealousy can drive a person to do anything, and the Evil Queen proves this by trying to kill her stepdaughter. She sends a hunter to rip out Snow White‘s heart as proof, and when he fails, she takes matters into her own hands with a poisoned apple. Her only reason? To be the most beautiful woman around. The sheer futility of this desire, combined with the cold precision of her plan, places her firmly at a very high level of wickedness. This isn’t a lapse in judgment or a thirst for power; she simply cannot tolerate the existence of another woman more beautiful than herself.
The Queen delights in causing suffering and carries out her schemes with astonishing meticulousness and theatrical flair. Besides, she has no allies or complex motivations, so she acts alone, which only makes her more terrifying. She wants to kill an innocent girl just to protect her ego. That is pure evil.
1) Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
It’s clear who deserves the number one spot. Judge Claude Frollo is, without question, Disney’s most disturbing villain. He leads a crusade of “moral cleansing” and is responsible for persecution, psychological torture, attempted genocide, and murder – all under the guise of faith and justice. That pretty much says it all. He kills Esmeralda’s mother, tries to kill Esmeralda herself for rejecting him, all while considering himself righteous and divinely inspired.
What makes him truly terrifying is how close to reality he is, embodying fanaticism, institutional abuse of power, and moralism that can easily mask personal evil. No magic required. Frollo is human, and his villainy stems entirely from twisted beliefs, which makes him even more frightening. This is real-world evil, and that’s why he sits at the very top of the list.
The post 10 Best Disney Villains Ranked by How Evil They Are appeared first on ComicBook.com.
