“The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.”
Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t wrong when he offered these words of wisdom.
Heroes are great and all that, but a great antagonist makes a film.
From Hannibal Lecter to Lots-o-Huggin’ Bear, via Anton Chigurh and the Joker, it’s plain to see that devious bastards are the ones that stand out.
Disney is no different in this respect. Beyond loveable protagonists and, let’s face facts, very creepy princes who need to learn that an erection is not consent, the House of Mouse has given audiences some cracking scoundrels. Some heinous. Some nightmarish. Some deeply misunderstood.
But which Disney villain is the most evil?
Everyone has their favourites in this respect – with the Euronews Culture team split between the devious Jafar in Aladdin and the business-savvy octopus queen of sass that is Ursula in The Little Mermaid.
However, the good folks at PixlParade have taken it upon themselves to take a data-driven approach to the question.
They have compiled a list of the most popular Disney villains, included some deep cuts, and stressed that their focus is on original Disney antagonists. So no Star Wars or Marvel characters.
The team then established point values to the crimes, violations and prejudices the characters are guilty of. For example, mass murder gets you 50 points; child abuse / cruelty adds 15 points to the rap sheet; and arson will cost an extra 8 points… The points were totalled to produce a final score and a ranking of the 50 most evil antagonists.
You can check out the full villain scoring rubric point values and their sub-divisions here.
The number one villain may surprise you…
Before we get to the top spot, we can tell you that Cruella de Vil ranks surprisingly low considering her crimes against animals (35th spot). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Evil Queen is also quite low (33), despite attempted murder, abuse of power and assault. As for Master Control Program in 1982’s Tron, it comes in at 19 with charges including attempted genocide / mass murder, psychological abuse, and theft.
Trust AI, they said… It’ll be fine, they said…
Now to the Top 10.
Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent comes in at 10 with a total of 241 points; the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s Captain Hector Barbossa and Captain Salazar are at 9 and 8 respectively (242 / 253); The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Oogie Boogie is in 7 with 271 points; Scar from The Lion King just misses the Top 5 with an already impressive 284 tally; Mulan’s Shan Yu makes n°5 (313); Gravity Falls’ Bill Cipher is a surprisingly high entry at 4 (375); the Horned King from the lesser-known 1985 film The Black Cauldron steals the bronze with three extra points and a total of 378; and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’s Jadis the White Witch nabs the silver with 418 points…
Drumroll, please.
According to the analysis, the worst, most irredeemable, most evil Disney villain is… Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The religious fanatic and extreme xenophobe led a crusade of “moral cleansing” and earned the highest score of 425 among the Disney villains.
He is guilty of… Deep breath… Murder, genocide / mass murder, attempted genocide / mass murder, attempted child murder, attempted murder, assisting / ordering / conspiring murder, attempted domination, mass indoctrination / enslavement, attempted forced marriage, war crimes, child abuse / cruelty, terrorism, torture, tyranny, abuse of power, unlawful imprisonment, exploitation, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, psychological abuse, psychological torture, stalking, animal cruelty, assault, hate crimes, mass arson, vandalism, mass property / environmental damage, deception / cheating / fraud, slander, treason / betrayal, harassment, sexual harassment, aaaaaaaaaaand conspiracy.
How does he find the time?? And good luck to any lawyer representing him. Not even Atticus Finch could get him off – especially when you recall his teaching methods with Quasimodo during that alphabet recital scene.
A is for Abomination. B is for Blasphemy. C is for Contrition. D is for Damnation. E is for Eternal damnation…
What do you think? Is Judge Frollo worthy of most evil Disney villain, or was another cheated of the top spot?
Just don’t say Captain Hook. If ever there was a misunderstood “villain”, it’s the Captain of the Jolly Roger. How would you feel if some arrogant flying twink who kidnaps children chopped off your hand and fed the limb to a crocodile??
#JusticeForCap.