Evil Is Cool / Animated Films

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• Almost every Disney villain imaginable turns out to be cooler and much more lovable and funnier than the protagonist (having really awesome Villain Songs probably helps):
  • Hades from Hercules. Roger Ebert even said Hades brought, "something of the same verbal inventiveness that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin." In addition, he's such a fast talker he got The Fates, Megara, and even Hercules himself to obey his whims, all while being a Card-Carrying Villain in the whole process.
  • Honest John and his sidekick, Gideon, from Pinocchio have one of the coolest songs in Disney history: "Hi Diddle Dee Dee".
  • Who was your favorite character from Fantasia? If you responded anything but Chernabog, the towering demon on the mountain from the end of the movie, your pants are now on fire.
  • The Leviathan from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. "Evil" is perhaps a bit debatable, but it kills a staggering number of people onscreen for a Disney movie. Also: it's a giant magical/mechanical hybrid Kaiju shaped like a lobster, with a Wave-Motion Gun that can split battleships in half, and is estimated to be several miles long.
  • Jafar from Aladdin for his Evil Is Hammy nature and being one of the Evil Chancellors in fiction, and Iago before his Heel–Face Turn for being one of the funniest characters in both the films and the TV series (being voiced by Gilbert Gottfried helps).
  • Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove is arguably the most entertaining character (with the possible exception of Kronk) in the movie in her own right, completely setting aside the issue of the protagonist being (intentionally) less than likable. And if her initial Villain Song, "Snuff Out The Light" had ended up in the film, she would've been bumped up even further. In-universe, this trope itself was lampshaded by Kronk's Shoulder Devil, who promised to lead Kronk "down the path that rocks!"
  • Scar from The Lion King. He's a regicidal, fratricidal bastard, and yet none of us can shake off just how much we love Jeremy Irons. Aside from that, he has to be among the Disney villain whose plans reach fruition the fastest (halfway through). For most villains, even in general, they have to wait till the third act to get their dark rewards. He keeps them longest, too, leaving aside folks like Maleficent, who wasn't looking to gain anything as such. Plus, he has one of the best Villain Songs ever.
  • And, if you consider them to be truly evil, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. They have a dark, sinster design, look very badass (even if they aren't much), provide great comic relief, create good chemistry, and take down the villian themselves. Oh, and Shenzi is quite popular among furries. Interestingly, the 1995 TV series tones them down to Loveable Rogue territory, as if the creators realized how they were being received.
  • Zira continues his legacy in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, with her relatively more intense Villain Song.
  • Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Honestly, she's just a plain badass. "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is one of the best songs from the film. To say nothing of Pat Caroll's awesome voice work as the chatacter.
  • Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. No one overshadows-their-respective-protagonist like Gaston!
  • Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. She can summon lightning and a valley of thorns when angry, yet is subtle enough to hypnotize Aurora into touching a spindle of her own creation, captures the prince before he can save the girl and can turn into a dragon that causes everyone to go "Oh Crap".
  • The villain of The Princess and the Frog breathes this trope. Dr. Facilier (voiced by Keith David) is a nasty piece of work: powerful, scheming, persuasive, stylish, charismatic, and he has an awesome Villain Song. He's an amalgamation of previous villains like Ursula and Jafar, as well as Michael Jackson! Now this is following tradition!
  • Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame has not one, but TWO heroes to overshadow. It helps that he has probably the most audacious and amazing villain song ever, and that neither hero is really interesting enough to stand up to a character with as many layers as Frollo. And then there's Tony Jay's voice. Frollo seems like an attempt to subvert this trope, though. Instead of being a Card-Carrying Villain, he is a self-righteous, genocidal Knight Templar. Instead of being some wisecracking Evil Sorcerer (like a LOT of their villains are) or some macho hunter (like Gaston and McLeach are), he is a skinny, old, prudish, religious judge. One cannot help but wonder if they saw people root for Scar and the hyenas, thought "wow, they rooted for some power-hungry dictator who murdered his own brother? Let's give them a villain they couldn't POSSIBLY root for!", and created Frollo...but upon witnessing the Misaimed Fandom, gave up and created Hades.
  • Appropriately enough, considering his contribution on the quotes page, Vincent Price as Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. They even wrote a Villain Song just for him, and he said it was some of the most fun he ever had making a movie.
  • In The Jungle Book, there's the suavely spoken, Faux Affably Evil, badass tiger Shere Khan.
  • The Black Cauldron may have not been a smash hit, but the Horned King is by far the most redeemable part of the movie, being subtle, yet terrifying and can get scarier when excited.
  • Home on the Range may not be Disney's most well-received film, but Alameda Slim is a popular character due to his hilarious and catchy Villain Song.
  • Tamatoa only gets one scene, but he completely steals the show thanks to his truly fantastic Villain Song being both hilarious and menacing. Only Jemaine Clement could make a David Bowie-esque glam rock song sound that badass. Also, he's a crab.
  • This trope is the whole reason animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote their book The Disney Villain, which covers the creation and thought process behind the Disney foes from Peg Leg Pete up to Jafar. Over 50 of the Renaissance era Disney animators actually asked them to make the book, and decided "Sure, why not?"
  • Shan Yu from Mulan, a hardcore, badass warrior who is a deadshot with a bow and arrow and manages to survive an avalanche.
  • Cruella Devil is a terrifying, stylish villain who was the most memorable character of 101 Dalmatians. The first Disney live action remake was made in 1996 before it was fashionable and mostly because of her. She was even more villain in it, and had more screentime. Jump 25 years later, and Cruella have her own movie named after her, where she turn out to be the hero.
  • Wish: Before the release of the film, King Magnifico has already become beloved by the fans due to his cool design and sinister, power-hungry character, with many saying he gives off the vibes of the traditional villains of Disney's past movies. His Villain Song being seen as pretty cool sounding, for some anyway, also helps.
  • For Pixar villains, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear and Syndrome are widely considered to be the best ones. The former because he's the franchise's first purely evil antagonist, his backstory makes him somewhat sympathetic, and Ned Beatty makes him coldly charming despite his evil actions. The latter because of his cool weaponry, being hilarious but still a psycho at the same time, and having a somewhat understandable (albeit petty) motivation.
    • Coco: Ernesto De La Cruz is among the most popular modern Disney villains, only being rivaled by Turbo. Mainly because he manages to be both charismatic and totally ruthless, without breaking previously established characterization, but rather putting his previous scenes into a new light. He's pretty much what Disney tried and failed to do with their previous attempts at the Hidden Villain.
• The sexy, singing smog cloud that was Hexxus in FernGully: The Last Rainforest (voiced by Tim Curry, no less)
• Sharptooth from The Land Before Time. Despite killing Littlefoot's mother, there is no doubt he is this, and probably the coolest Tyranosaurus ever to appear in an animated film.
• In Rango, this is the reason behind Rattlesnake Jake's popularity. The Rule of Cool runs very high for him; he's a black hat rattlesnake western outlaw modeled after Angel Eyes, he weaves words of hellfire and damnation into his speech (which is provided by Bill Nighy), and has a Gatling gun grafted onto his tail. He's Creepy Awesome and Crazy Is Cool all rolled into one!
• Kung Fu Panda:
  • Tai-Lung. He's also one of the most sympathetic characters in the film.
  • And Lord Shen from the sequel. Never before has a peacock of all things been this badass, let alone one voiced by Sirius Black himself, Gary Oldman.
• Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians. He's extremely creepy, he has a sympathetic motivation for his actions, and he has an army of literal nightmares.
• Vlad Vlad-i-Koff from Horton Hears a Who! (2008).
• Mr. O'Hare from The Lorax (2012). Even though he looks like Shemp Howard.
• The Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2 is well-liked despite (or maybe due to) being a Fantastically Racist Manipulative Bitch implied to be behind Fiona's curse in the first place. Jennifer Saunders' cover of "Holding Out for a Hero" probably had something to do with it.
• One of the most memorable part of Cult Classic Rock and Rule is the Big Bad, Mok. He's a jaded rock star seeking to summon a demon for no better reason than a fit of pique that his popularity is falling, but he's incredibly well-animated, has great Villain Songs sung by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, and is as deliciously hammy as you'd want an evil, magic-using rock star to be.

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