There’s just something magical about Disney movies, isn’t there? It’s not easy to appeal to children and adults alike, but these films just seem to have the formula to do just that. From the bright and colorful characters to the clever little innuendos and visual jokes, the whole family can find something to love here.
The villains are another case in point. These dastardly characters often terrify younger viewers, while grown-ups, a lot of the time, find themselves rooting for and even empathizing with them. After all, when Hocus Pocus’ Winifred said, “Oh, look. Another glorious morning. Makes me SICK,” we were right there with her. Here are some of Disney’s most evil villains and their greatest quotes.
Scar: “Long Live The King!”
Ah, yes. For many Disney fans, this is probably the most notorious line in the company’s history. The antagonist of The Lion King is, of course, Simba’s devious uncle Scar, voiced to absolute silky perfection by Jeremy Irons (in the original animated movie, that is).
Every line of his rousing ditty Be Prepared is iconic, but the quote that best defines everything this ambitious, conniving lion is all about has to be “Long live the king!” It’s uttered just as he throws his brother Mufasa to his doom, exiles his own nephew and claims the crown for himself. Things don’t end well for him, though, as Simba defeats him and the hyenas leave him with a heck of a lot more than a scar.
Cruella De Vil: “I live For Fur! I Worship Fur!”
When we first met Cruella de Vil, we didn’t quite know what to make of her. It was possible that she was just on a more sophisticated and stylish plane than the rest of us. After all, not everybody can pull off that hairstyle. It’s called fashion, darling. Look it up.
Of course, soon enough, we get into the dark designs that she has on the Radcliffes’ puppies, and her true evil comes to light. World domination and suchlike is a step beyond Cruella de Vil, but in the realms of small-scale, human evil, she’s one of the greatest and most unpleasant around.
Evil Queen: “Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall, Who Is The Fairest One Of All?”
Now, see, this is the problem with surrounding yourself with sycophants. Eventually, somebody’s going to have to say no to you, and you’re not going to take it even slightly well, are you?
The Evil Queen (or Queen Grimhilde, if you prefer) is the villain of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. When, one fateful day, her magical mirror claims that Snow White is now the fairest instead of herself, she… well, we all know how this goes. Snow White is sent to her death but freed, meets Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Doc, Sneezy, Happy, and Sleepy, is tricked by the Queen into eating a poisoned apple, before finally being kissed by the prince and living happily ever after.
Queen Of Hearts: “Off With Their Heads!”
As Lewis Carroll aficionados will tell you, the original Queen of Hearts and Red Queen have a lot of similarities, but are not the same character. The Queen of Hearts we meet in Disney’s adaptation combines traits of the original and the Red Queen of Through The Looking-Glass, the novel’s sequel.
The good news, though, is that she’s just as horrible and violent as she was in the books. Her classic howl of “off with their heads” (or her head, often referring to Alice) will always be associated with this villainous character, regardless of the interpretation of her.
Maleficent: “Poor, Simple Fools, You Think You Can Defeat Me? Me, The Mistress Of All Evil!”
Now, this is chutzpah you’ve just got to appreciate. Disney has brought us a wide range of devious, conniving, powerful, terrifying villains, but they’ve mostly been able to tame their egos just a little bit. Declaring yourself the Mistress of All Evil really is a bold move. Maleficent is not kidding around.
She is best known as the antagonist of Sleeping Beauty, but has appeared elsewhere several times over the years (she also pops up to cause major trouble in the Kingdom Hearts video games, for instance). She’s one of the most instantly recognizable baddies in Disney’s repertoire, though she isn’t always as outright megalomaniacal as this quote would suggest.
Winifred Sanderson: “You Know, I’ve Always Wanted A Child, And Now I Think I’ll Have One… On Toast!”
With a lot of villains, it’s very tough to choose just one quote as their most iconic. Disney’s rogues tend to be super sassy and hilarious, after all. None of them demonstrate that quality quite as effectively as Hocus Pocus’s Winifred Sanderson, played to perfection by the inimitable Bette Midler.
One of a group of three witches (the Sanderson sisters) accidentally summoned on Halloween by a young man from Salem, “Winnie” is a fountain of dark humor and evil deeds. She steals the spotlight whenever she’s on the screen, and her delivery of this quote is just one example of that.
Jafar: “Snake, Am I?”
The slippery snake Jafar is one of Disney’s most devious villains. A lot of them tend to be insidious in their actions, biding their time before striking rather than making their intentions clear, and Jafar has perfected that concept. He could teach a course.
In Aladdin, he serves as Agrabah’s Grand Vizier, second only to the Sultan himself. Naturally, he craves more power, and plots to rule Agrabah himself. He then takes things a step further by becoming a mighty genie, a decision that really didn’t work out all too well for him. Still, he did get to transform into a gigantic serpent and scare the heck out of Aladdin with his new powers, which is quite a party trick.
Hades: “Uh, Guys? Olympus Would Be That Way.”
Now, to be fair to Hades, life in the underworld has to be a whole lot less luxurious than life on Mount Olympus. You really can’t blame the guy for feeling just a little bitter about the whole arrangement.
In Hercules, James Woods’ Hades is an hilarious hothead (literally). As part of his plot to claim power and vengeance, he frees the Titans, the gods’ infamous enemies, but they don’t quite charge directly to Mount Olympus the way he’d hoped. This line defines Hades’ (and James Woods’) classic snark. A truly unique and super funny –yet still effortlessly menacing– villain.
Ursula: “They Weren’t Kidding When They Called Me… Well, A Witch!”
As we’ve seen, many of Disney’s villains boast significant supernatural/magical power, which they try to use to thwart our heroes and heroines. Ursula of The Little Mermaid is another example.
While good tends to triumph over evil by the end of the movie (this is Disney, after all), evil sure as heck tries its hardest to be a pain along the way. In this case, Ursula does everything she can to keep Ariel away from Prince Eric, right down to underhanded voice-stealing. On the plus side, though, she’s a brilliantly charismatic and entertaining villain to watch.
Randall Boggs: “That’s The Last Time I Lose To You, Sullivan!”
Monsters Inc’s iconic duo, James P. Sullivan (Sulley) and Mike Wazowski, are beloved all around the world. They’ve become all the more memorable for their unique appearance, of course, as has one of the movie’s major villains: Randall Boggs.
The reptilian Boggs always comes second to Sulley in their scream-collecting efforts and has become supremely bitter about it. He devises a plan to upstage his rival once and for all, kidnapping his beloved Boo along the way. This line perfectly defines the jealous, insecure monster.
