Despite most animated films being aimed at children, writers and animators don’t pull their punches when depicting their villains and how evil they can be. Along with challenging the story’s heroes,a good villain often represents sinsor faults within the human spirit, which helps add a layer of realism to them. Combined withthe right voice actorto bring them to life, many animated villains have gone down in history as some of cinema’s best.
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Sometimes a story can have multiple antagonistic characters, either working independently of one another, or as lackeys to the main antagonist. Despite their limited screen time, these villains still manage to make an impact, and sometimes even outshine the primary antagonist.
The Coachman: ‘Pinocchio’
Disney’s second animated film didn’t have a single villain, but rather a number of antagonists that tried to hinder Pinocchio’s quest to become a real boy. These ranged from a couple of street bums trying to make money to a monstrous sperm whale. Yet most threatening of all is the coachman who ran the cursed Pleasure Island.
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Lacking in any morals, the coachman lures little boys who skip school and misbehave to his island to make all the mischief they want. Eventually, they are transformed into donkey and sold to salt mines and circuses. He offers no chance of redemption, just punishment, and the delight he shows in his work terrifies the film’s other antagonists.
King Louie: ‘The Jungle Book’
Mowgli’s departure from the jungles of India takes a detour when he is kidnaped by the monkeys in service to the orangutan, King Louie. This jazz loving primate is more than willing to help Mowgli stay in the jungle, but only if he shares man’s mastery of fire. While Louie claims that he wants fire to be a man himself, there’s no telling what kind of damage he could do.
While Shere Khan is the main antagonism due to his power and class, Louie could have offered a fun, more comedic alternative. His army of monkeys means he has resources to throw against those who get in his way, and the ancient ruins he lives in offer a grand set-piece for a villain’s lair. Audiences saw a hint of this inthe 2016 remake, whereChristopher Walkenplayed the character like a sinister mob boss.
Zurg: ‘Toy Story 2’
Buzz Lightyear’s arch nemesis was mentioned a few times in the originalToy Story,but never made a formal appearance. In the sequel, while Woody was being convinced to go to a Japanese toy museum by Stinky Pete the prospector, Buzz and the gang accidentally released a second Buzz Lightyear and Zurg toy from a toy store. This results in a confrontation on an elevator and a hilariousStar-Warsreference.
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The concept of a toy who believes himself to be the real Zurg has potential for a main antagonist. One idea could be by having him rally legions of toys to his cause, like what happens inJoe Dante’sSmall Soldiers.Wayne Knight,who plays the toy-collector who stole Woody, also played a comedic version of Zurg inBuzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.
Sabor: ‘Tarzan’
While Clayton might walk about with the swagger of a hunter, that’s only because Tarzan killed Sabor. This leopard established herself as the queen of the African jungle early on when she killed Kerchak and Kala’s baby and Tarzan’s parents. She would have gotten him too if it wasn’t for Kala.
The fact that Sabor doesn’t talk makes her all the more intimidating. Combined with her fluid animation, she feels like an otherworldly demon driven only by the primal instinct of survival. Her fight with Tarzan has all the makings of a climactic showdown, from the dynamic camera angles using Deep Canvas technology, to the use of lighting to show when the battle was going in Tarzan’s favor or Sabor’s.
Dwayne LaFontant: ‘Over the Hedge’
After losing the food of a hibernating bear, Vincent, RJ the raccoon has until he wakes up to get a replacement hoard. He recruits a community of foragers, who lost much of their territory to a new suburb, by showing them that humans produce tons of food. Unfortunately, their thievery results in an exterminator being called in.
Dwayne LaFontant is styled to be a child-friendly spoof of the Terminator, to the point where he calls himself the “Verminator.” With his ability to track and identify animals by scent and his overkill traps, he certainly feels like an unstoppable force to the foragers.Thomas Haden Church’sperformance is a nice mixture of monotone and unhinged, which adds to the character’s comedic value.
Anton Ego: ‘Ratatouille’
While Skinner is the antagonist for Remy the rat as he tries to prove that anyone can cook, Anton Ego comes in as the opposition to his human counterpart, Linguine. A hard to please food critic, it was his negative review of the food made by Linguine’s father that lead to his death and cost the restaurant two stars. When Remy and Linguine began to make their restaurant popular again, Ego had to come and see what the fuss was about.
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Ego could have been a simple hard to please critic archetype, butdirectorBrad Birdcircumvents thisby giving him depth and pathos. Ego truly loves good food, but his job demands that he be harsh when it is needed. The ending speech he gives after eating Remy’s ratatouille is one of the most poignant moments in any Pixar film and beautifully lays out the film’s message.
Rattlesnake Jake: ‘Rango’
When a chameleon actor named Rango wanders into a western town in the Mohave desert, he impresses the locals with tall tales that make him sound like a gunslinging legend. This includes claiming that he is a brother to the local outlaw, Rattlesnake Jake. However, when Jake gets brought in by the corrupt mayor to deal with Rango, all his lies come crashing down as he’s forced to confront a true gunslinger.
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Jake immediately steals the show thanks to a simplistic yet stylized design, which includes a Gatling gun in place of a rattle on his tail. He is also legitimately intimidating, combining the power and grace of a serpent with some of the best villains in westerns, such as Angel Eyes fromThe Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.Bill Nighy, known for playing villains in theUnderworldandPirates of the Caribbeanfranchises, ups the intimidation factor with his iconic voice.
Dr. Olivia Octavius: ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse’
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-versesaw a lot of Spidey’s greatest foes get re-imaginings for Miles Morales' universe. Leading them all is the Kingpin as he tries to find an alternate version of his family to replace the one he lost. The brain of this operation is Dr. Olivia Octavia, known to her friends as Liv, and to her enemies as Doc Ock.
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Along with being an amoral and eccentric professor, this version of Doc Ock possesses synthetic tentacles that can deflate for storage, giving her a distinct look. Despite Kingpin funding her research, she doesn’t seem intimidated by him, and has no trouble tossing around his thugs when needed. It’s easy to imagine what kind of damage in the name of scientific recognition she could get up to if she didn’t have someone holding her leash.
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