Welcome back to Villain's Month my viewers! And I've got a deviously wicked post for you today!
Last week, I counted down the Top 10 Disney Animated Villains. Here, we're still talking about Disney Villains...but with a twist. Taking inspiration form AniMat and his own videos on the matter, this list is a countdown of what I consider to be the Top 10 Best Disney Villains in media outside of their main animated canon. This can include the works of Pixar, Disney's cartoon shows, their direct-to-video sequels or their live-action remakes. But I WON'T be including villains from Star Wars, Marvel or Fox here. It has to come from Disney themselves, not any of the other companies they own.
So let's sit back, relax and enjoy as I dive into the Top 10 Disney Villains From Other Media...
Number 10: Fat Cat from Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers
The Disney Afternoon line-up of cartoons had a lot of memorable villains for many be it Darkwing Duck's Rogues Gallery, Magica De Spell and Flintheart Glomgold from DuckTales, Don Karnage from TaleSpin and more. I haven't seen a lot of these Disney Afternoon shows and in DuckTales's case, I only saw Season 1 of the reboot...and I didn't like it. Call me crazy if you will but it really didn't work out for me. However, I did see Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers so I can at least include a villain from that show on the list. And of course, who deserves the Number 10 spot other than the Rescue Rangers's main and most recurring enemy, Fat Cat?
Most of the villains in CDRR were kinda lame in my eyes but Fat Cat was the huge exception to the rule. So much so that I tend to enjoy the episodes where HE'S the villain more than any other. And it's easy to see why. Fat Cat is the most entertaining villain of the bunch with his overly sadistic personality, dark sense of humour and an enjoyably fun performance at the hands of voice-acting extraordinaire, Jim Cummings. He's just a hoot to watch every time he's the antagonist of an episode and he never bores me. Fat Cat is also one of the most threatening foes of the Rescue Rangers's rogues gallery with his huge size (and no I don't mean by him being fat) making him a physical match for the miniature-sized Rescue Rangers and given he's, well, A CAT(!) he's also naturally a big threat to our heroes, who are all rodents. And sometimes he can even be a threat to humans too with some of his schemes directly effecting them in some way or even how he and Klordane, his owner, successfully managed to frame Donald Drake and get him arrested so they could carry out their schemes with him off their backs. That's a baddie right there!
He's also a criminal kingpin of the animal world and as a result, he's always out to steal whatever he can get his paws on with his gang of henchmen to help. A lot of his schemes tend to be insane (and gloriously so) but they also show how intelligent he can be with how he pulls off these crazy plans or even thinks them up to begin with be it using Jamaican Fruit Bats to steal jewels for him, hypnotizing sturgeons into thinking they're chickens so they lay more eggs for him to sell off, using seashells to direct fish towards him so he can net them all and even using a bunch of moles to cause chaos in the city! I did say these plans he often comes up with are bonkers, right? XD But as crazy as they are, they tend to nearly work out for him and it's only really oversights on his part or his minions being incompetent that they tend to fail.
In spite of everything I said, Fat Cat is at the bottom of the list because he's up against some STIFF competition and again, some of his failures are down to his own idiocy at times which really does drag him down a bit. Nevertheless, Fat Cat is one bad kitty that no animal should ever do business with. He wants the best of everything, and he got himself a spot on this countdown...
Number 9: Forte from BatB: The Enchanted Christmas
Who needs Gaston when this guy is THRICE the villain he wishes he was? When it comes to Beauty and the Beast, I've always preferred Forte over Gaston and for many BatB fans, Forte's even considered the best thing that came out of The Enchanted Christmas. And yeah, I'm inclined to agree on that.
Maestro Forte was once the court composer for the prince before the curse was placed on the castle and its inhabitants and as a result, he became a giant organ. Interestingly enough, Forte actually DOESN'T want to become human again, which sets him apart from all the other household objects as they want nothing more than to be human again. Forte is pretty human as a villain in the sense that he has something that just about any of us can relate to: a need to feel useful. As a human, Forte's talents were considered wasted and unappreciated so now he's this giant organ playing music for the Beast to feed his tormented soul, he feels like he has purpose now and doesn't want to lose all of that. How many of us feel a need to have a purpose in life or at least a need to feel wanted? While I wouldn't say Forte's a sympathetic villain, this at least makes his motivations understandable and we can kinda relate to his plight.
But Forte's not just a great villain for that reason. As this giant pipe organ, he naturally towers over the cast, including the Beast himself, and just has this gigantic presence that makes him look imposing every time he's onscreen. I love the design he has, it just looks so cool and at times even creepy what with those blank eyes and his towering appearance. And what really makes this guy scary is how powerful he is. With just a few blasts of organ music, he can shatter windows, cause walls to crumble and the ceiling to collapse. That alone makes him the biggest threat to everyone in the castle as he can just snap and bring the whole place down on their heads if he wants to, and he nearly does too! And also you can't go wrong with a villain voiced by the legendary Tim Curry either. That guy can make any villain he voices deliciously and enjoyably evil. And while his villain song "Don't Fall in Love" isn't the best ever, it's still a showcase of Forte's weird musical powers he has. Just how powerful IS this guy when he can create all these illusions and bring the castle down?
Forte maybe a giant pipe organ who's only problem is being BOLTED TO THE WALL!!! But that doesn't stop him from being one of the best villains that ever came out of the Disney sequels range. Being as powerful, intimidating yet charming and having a tiny level of sympathy to him, Forte composed himself a score that easily won him a place on this list.
Number 8: Shere Khan from The Jungle Book 2016
When it comes to the live-action remakes, The Jungle Book 2016 is the ONLY one out there that can be considered good and also an improvement over the original. One of the many things it improved on was its version of Shere Khan which I do genuinely think is the superior version of the character. Don't get me wrong, the original version's great too. I just think this Shere Khan's even better.
So what makes this version of Shere Khan worthy for the list when all other live-action remake villains fail? For starters, he's the only villain in the live-action remakes who's superior to his animated counterpart. In this movie, Shere Khan is shown more and gets more of a chance to show off what a badass he is while also displaying more aspects of his personality. In this version of The Jungle Book, Shere Khan is this predator who hunts for sport rather than to eat and is a tiger who is willing to obey the laws of the jungle...but also isn't afraid to bend the rules if it suits his needs. He is patient and waits for an opportunity to present itself to him, namely the scene where Bagheera and Mowgli are out in the wide-open fields amongst a buffalo herd and if it wasn't for the buffalo's interference, he would've actually caught Mowgli. We also see that Shere Khan is also quite the schemer too. He doesn't give in easily and just waits for an opportunity he can exploit to further his own goals, which we see him do when he kills Akela to force the wolf pack to swear fealty to him and bring him Mowgli or else they're all dead. The quick and efficient way he even kills Akela is just downright horrifying with him just launching the poor guy off a cliff like he weighs nothing! And there's even that moment where he tells the story of the cuckoo bird to the wolf pups, which shows a manipulative side to him where he's possibly trying to turn them against their mother or even guilt-trip her for showing love and affection towards the thing he hates most.
And as I said, this Shere Khan gets to show us why he has his fearsome reputation. There's the swift ease he killed Akela as I said earlier and throughout the movie we see him handle Bagheera, Baloo and the wolf pack with ease with each combatant barely able to slow him down at most. While I think Shere Khan handling an entire wolf pack is a bit hard to swallow, it still amps up what a threat this tiger is when every fight he gets into barely even fazes him. He's like this unstoppable juggernaut to the point where Mowgli needed an entire jungle on fire just to defeat him in the end! Shere Khan is a true example of how scary a tiger can be with his great strength and savage might and his vocal performance at the hands of Idris Elba only serves to make him more intimidating. I love how Idris goes for a mixture of the original British charm and quiet nature of George Sanders while also adding his own flavour to the character, giving us the best of both worlds to further make this version of Shere Khan enjoyable.
A true savage predator with a cunning and manipulative side to him and a well-earned fearsome reputation that he can back up with ease, Shere Khan from the 2016 The Jungle Book roars his way into the Number 8 spot and stands as the true king of the jungle in this countdown.
Number 7: Zira from The Lion King 2
From one bad kitty to another. It goes to show how great The Lion King is when its villain makes it on the main countdown and the villain of its sequel gets a spot here. Disney just seems to nail it when it comes to evil lions I guess. XD
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride ranks as among the few Disney sequels that can actually be considered good and one of the reasons why is down to its villain, Zira. With a name that is LITERALLY the Swahili word for "hate", you know she's going to be bad news. Zira is depicted as a fanatical loyalist to Scar to the point that fans like myself speculate heavily that she might even have been romantically interested in him. Zira is a scarily accurate depiction of fanatics who display blind loyalty to whoever they're following in spite of the fact they do horrendous things and commit horrible crimes that only shows how depraved they are. People like Zira DO exist and it's pretty bold of a Disney sequel of all things to show this with its villain. Another thing Zira is scarily realistic about is how hatred can consume you. Zira is the kind of villain who lets her hatred for the hero and what they stand for drive her to commit her acts of evil and when things don't go her way, she lashes out and will blame anyone but herself. Again, people like this are all too real and it's frightening how relevant Zira is in this day and age! Who knew The Lion King II of all movies could be so timely?
But enough on that. Zira serves as a stark contrast to Scar, which was the perfect direction they could've taken this character in following the first movie. Scar was quiet, manipulative and relied on operating in the shadows and carrying out carefully constructed plans while Zira is more of a brute, is much louder and is considerably more bloodthirsty. Even her villain song, "My Lullaby" sounds positively brutal compared to Scar's "Be Prepared"! She too relies on long-term planning what with raising Kovu to be Simba's killer over the years but is also quick to improvise if things go wrong. When the assassination attempt fails and Kovu turns on them, she changes tactics and goes for Simba while he's injured and weak. Also, unlike Scar who commands a pack of hyenas, she commands a pride of lion outsiders so she also has the more powerful army (evident in the climax when the outsiders are clearly winning too!), which also makes her more fearsome as a result. Combine all this with a spectacularly evil performance from the late Suzanne Pleshette, Zira makes for one insanely memorable and fearsome feline foe that has always left an impact on me and many other fans I'm sure.
Zira maybe a hateful lioness with a serious vendetta against Simba, but she can take pride in knowing she was good enough as a villain to earn a spot on this countdown...
Number 6: Hopper from A Bug's Life
Funny he should be here as I only just reviewed A Bug's Life last month. I talked about why Hopper is so great there so I can talk about it again here.
Hopper was Pixar's first real antagonist they ever created if we're going be "truly evil villains". I mean Sid Phillips from Toy Story was hardly a villain really, just a trouble-making kid. So Hopper is where Pixar villains truly got their start and needless to say, it was quite a first impression. Not only does he get an intimidating introduction where his gang burst into the anthill and he just drops down and silently walks his way through the ant colony before demanding where his food it, but he also has this menacing appearance that makes him a stark contrast to the ants. Whereas they look rounder, considerably cuddlier and friendlier to the audience, Hopper looks sharper, chunkier and has a nasty scowl on his face to let us know he's bad news right off the bat. Only Pixar could make a grasshopper look threatening it pays off here. He even looks "armoured" in a way, which only serves to make him look tougher and more imposing as a result. Hopper is a nasty bug for many reasons, namely how he uses fear tactics to keep the ant colony in line and forces them to collect food for him and his gang or else they're all dead. Once again, he's one of those villains that hits WAY too close to home as many political leaders and cultists also use those same tactics to try and push back large groups and keep them in line.
What makes Hopper so interesting to watch is his great personality in where he can be quiet one minute and display some level of politeness and then the next, he can be shouting in your face and dropping all pretence of being nice about it, as poor Princess Atta can attest to. He can be very unpredictable too with the best example being that scene at the grasshopper's lair where he's all for staying at the lair and not going back...only to then casually murder three members of his gang just to make a point. That scene stands as among one of Pixar's darkest moments ever committed by a villain. And let's not forget how fearsomely persistent he is too. He never gives up easily and during the climax he's willing to brave even the rain itself if it means getting Flix and making him suffer for ruining everything! And as uncomfortable as it is to bring up this guy, Kevin Spacey also provided one heck of a performance as Hopper that truly brought out the character's menacing side.
With a terrifying presence and great use of fear tactics to force an entire colony of ants to serve at his beck and call, Hopper is one bug that I imagine many of us would be happy to step on first chance we get...
Continued in Part 2...
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Fat Cat, Zira, Shere Khan and Forte belong to Disney
Hopper belongs to Disney/Pixar
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