From Jefar to Hans, Disney has been creating villains since its beginning. The first-ever Disney villain was The Evil Queen from “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs” in 1937.
With almost 90 years of creating villains, certain things are bound to change. But are these changes for the better or worse?
If you go online, you can find people speaking about how Disney villains aren’t what they used to be and that the new ones don’t hold up to the older ones. But are these people just blinded by nostalgia, or have Disney villains actually gotten worse?
Look into old villains
To see the difference between old Disney villains and new ones I watched some old Disney movies and some new ones.
The first villain I decided to look into was Jafar from “Aladdin.”
In the movie, Jafar is obsessed with power. This greed for power leads to him doing all of the evil actions in the movie.
Jafar is so corrupted by this need for power that he is willing to do just about anything to get it. From controlling others to trying to make Jasmine marry him, Jafar has no limit to what he is willing to do for power.
This greed for power also ends up being his downfall. At the end of the movie, Aladin tells Jafar that the Genie is still more powerful than him, and so Jafar, wanting to be the most powerful, turns himself into a genie.
He is so blinded by power that he doesn’t think about how Geines are put into tiny lamps and forced to obey others. His greed for power ultimately leads to his demise.
I really liked Jafar’s character and how we see his desire for power lead him down this path. All in all, I thought he was a very well-written character and very fun to watch.
Another older villain I looked at was Scar from “The Lion King.” Scar is the brother of King Mufasua, and he wants to become king.
Like Jafar, Scar is obsessed with trying to gain power and become king.
He manipulates the hyenas to work for him, and we see this in one of the best Disney songs ever made, “Be Prepared” is an amazingly made song that also shows how much power and influence Scar has; it really sets him up as a threat.
In the end Simba and Scar fight, and at the end of the fight Simba wins. But it is not Simba who ends up killing Scar, but instead, the hyenas end up being the ones that bring Scar to his ultimate demise.
Scar is a very evil character and we get to watch as he kind of falls into madness, along with that Scar has some of the best music in the entire show.
Look into new villains
With Disney’s newest movie, “Wish,” this topic has been brought into the spotlight.
Wish currently has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and many people are speaking about how poorly the main villain of the was written. And after watching the movie, I definitely agree.
The main villain of Wish is King Magnifico. He has the power to grant people wishes that grant them whatever they want, but he only accepts wishes that benefit him.
In the end, he gets put into a magic mirror with the power of a magic star. To be honest I wrote so little about him because I genuinely cannot remember much about him as a character despite having watched the movie twice (I fell asleep the first time watching it).
Honestly, he really represents how I feel about that movie as a whole, really boring and doesn’t really feel like it has as much soul as the old Disney movies. I am not exactly sure why, but this movie just felt so bland and soulless.
Honestly, he really represents how I feel about that movie as a whole, really boring and doesn’t really feel like it has as much soul as the old Disney movies.
— Ethan Tisdale
Another new Disney villain I decided to check was Hans from Frozen. I personally really like Frozen, so this was a fun watch.
So Hans wants to control Arendille. To do this, he tries to marry Anna, but then he realizes that marrying her wouldn’t make him king. He decides to try to kill both Anna and Elsa, but in the end, he is stopped and imprisoned.
I personally think Hans is a pretty good villain, though I do wish that he showed up a bit more during the movie. I like how, at the start of the movie, he doesn’t seem evil, but then towards the end, in a really cool scene, we see him show he is evil by letting Anna die and then going to try and kill Elsa.
Have they gotten worse?
So, have Disney villains gotten worse? I think they have. With the old movies, I could say that almost every villain was well-written and fun to watch, but with the new Disney villains, it is really hit or miss: either they are really well-written and great to watch, or you are going to fall asleep in the middle of their song.
But with the new Disney villains it is really hit or miss, either they are really well-written and great to watch, or you are going to fall asleep in the middle of their song.
— Ethan Tisdale
I hope Disney sees the reaction people had towards Wish and tries to make better villains. They definitely still can make decent Disney villains; Hans wasn’t a terrible villain. So, I hope they put in the effort to try and make Disney villains like they had done in the past.
