Since Disney began producing their first animated movies, villains have been a major part of the story. From the Evil Queen to newer villains like King Manifico in Wish, these characters battle our heroes and add the crucial antagonist to the battle of good and evil. In the years since, Disney villains have come to captivate audiences, with some viewers even enjoying the villains more than the heroes.
While many of these villains are truly evil, some have proven a little more sympathetic. Series like Once Upon a Time and movies like Maleficent and Cruella have shown the studio's willingness to dig into their villains to get more fleshed-out characters. Some villains have a tragic backstory that makes them stand out from their pure evil counterparts. Here are ten Disney villains from Disney Animation and Pixar Animation Studios we feel for.
Update November 22, 2023: With Wish featuring the grand return of a Disney villain with King Magnifico, this article has been updated with more sympathetic Disney villains and what exactly separates them from other Disney villains.
10 Robert Callaghan / Yokai – Big Hero 6 (2014)
2014's Big Hero 6 is one of Disney's most original and well-made movies. One of the many reasons it's great is the inclusion of a truly menacing villain in the form of Robert Callaghan. A professor of robotics at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Callaghan is thought to have died in the same fire that killed Tadashi, the older brother of the movie's protagonist, Hiro. However, halfway through the movie, it is revealed that Callaghan actually survived the fire and is the masked man who has been attacking Hiro and his friends, known as Yokai. He was also responsible for the blast.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
Towards the end of the film, Hiro discovers that Callaghan's daughter, Abigail, has been lost in a portal after an experiment by Tadashi went wrong. Callaghan was, therefore, motivated by revenge. While becoming an evil masked villain isn't the best way to deal with grief, Callaghan's anger and hurt at losing his daughter is understandable. The loss of a loved one can make people do all kinds of crazy things, so this makes Callaghan somewhat easy to sympathize with.
9 Lotso – Toy Story 3 (2010)
Toy Story 3 sees Woody, Buzz, and the other beloved toys accidentally sent to Sunnyside Daycare prior to Andy starting college. One new toy they meet is Lotso the Bear, the embittered leader of the group who runs the place like a prison. He reveals that he was accidentally left behind by his kid, Daisy. He worked tirelessly to get back to her, only to find that she had replaced him with new toys.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
While the revelation that he was replaced certainly doesn’t excuse his actions, particularly the horror scene-like part where he leaves the toys to burn in the incinerator, it is easy to understand why Lotso is the way he is. After all, being abandoned and betrayed by a loved one is bound to make anyone bitter and resentful.
8 The Evil Queen – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Queen is certainly a scary villain. However, it doesn’t mean that she’s without sympathy. Told for years that she is the “fairest of them all,” she finds that title suddenly taken by her stepdaughter, Snow White. This causes her to first send a Huntsman to kill Snow White. When this doesn’t work, she then uses a poisoned apple to put Snow White into a death-like sleep.
What Makes Us Feel For Her?
Obviously, attempted homicide is never the answer, and it’s definitely an overreaction on the Queen's part. Nevertheless, she had based her life on the knowledge of her beauty, giving her power. When this was taken away, her whole identity and sense of self crumbled away, making her actions understandable if not justifiable. With Gal Gadot set to play the character in a new live-action remake, it'll be interesting to see how sympathetic they make her.
7 Edgar Balthazar – The Aristocats (1970)
In the underrated movie The Aristocats, Edgar Balthazar serves as the story's man antagonist, though he is far from a typical Disney villain. The film centers around the cats belonging to a retired opera singer, Madame Adelaide. Edgar has served as her butler tirelessly, and when he finds out she intends on leaving the entirety of her fortune to her cats, he tries to kill them.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
Wouldn't you be at least the tiniest bit peeved if the employer you devoted your life to chose not to reward your hard work in any meaningful way, and instead left her money to creatures who don't even know what money is? Like Lotso, this doesn’t excuse Edgar's action; cruelty towards animals is never justifiable. However, it's very easy to understand the anger he feels upon finding himself in this situation.
6 Captain Hook – Peter Pan (1953)
Disney's 1953 version of Peter Pan is easily the best adaptation of J. M. Barrie's classic novel. It includes the most iconic portrayal of Peter Pan's arch nemesis, the villainous pirate, Captain Hook. While it’s unclear how their rivalry started, it is known that Peter is responsible for Hook losing his hand, which led to Hook being pursued by the Tick-Tock the Crocodile, who wants to eat more of him. Temperamental yet cowardly, vain yet murderous, Hook is everything a great villain should be.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
As well as being extremely watchable, by the end of the film, Hook isn’t much of a villain at all. Instead, he’s a pitiful man fearing for his life and exhausted from constantly fighting Peter. This makes him extremely easy to sympathize with. After all, his only motivation was to get revenge on the person who severed his hand off, which is, arguably, a pretty reasonable response.
5 Syndrome – The Incredibles (2004)
In The Incredibles, Syndrome’s journey actually starts as one of a wannabe hero. As a kid named Buddy, he hopes to aid his favorite hero, Mr. Incredible. He puts on his own costume to “help” Mr. Incredible save a man. Mr. Incredible, however, couldn't be more ungrateful and angrily tells him to go home. Hurt by this interaction, Buddy later becomes Syndrome, a villain intent on taking down Mr. Incredible and his family as payback.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
His turn from hopeful kid hero into a full-blown supervillain may be a little over-the-top, and it certainly could be argued that Mr. Incredible was only trying to save Buddy during their initial interaction. The dangerous work of a superhero is meant for kids, after all. However, in the eyes of a young boy, being shut down by your personal hero has to be a painful experience. They say never meet your heroes, and Buddy learned the hard way why that is.
4 Ursula – The Little Mermaid (1989)
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s quest to be human and meet Prince Eric leads her to the sea witch, Ursula, who was banished by King Triton, Ariel’s father, and forced to live alone. Ursula makes an agreement with Ariel: Ariel will be human for three days in exchange for her voice. It’s notable that when it comes to their agreement, Ursula fulfills her side with no tricks. The spell does exactly what she says it will, and she warns Ariel of this.
What Makes Us Feel For Her?
Yes, she uses Ariel’s stolen voice to sabotage her relationship with Eric and take Triton’s throne, but Ursula's anger and jealousy towards the family is understandable. Essentially, she was forced to become a loner, with her bitterness and villainy arguably being King Triton's fault. Everyone feels lonely at times, and so it’s easy for viewers to sympathize with the emptiness and anger she must feel. It would be interesting to explore more of Ursula's side of the story in an origin film, should that ever happen.
3 Yzma – The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
The Emperor's New Groove centers around Kuzco, an arrogant Incan emperor who misuses his power. To remove him from the throne, his former advisor, Yzma, plans to poison him. However, things don't quite go to plan, and a mix-up causes Kuzco to transform into a llama.
What Makes Us Feel For Him?
Murder plot aside, it’s easy to see things from Yzma’s perspective. Like Edgar Balthazar, she has been a loyal servant to her boss for many years, but that loyalty only ever ended in her being mistreated. Her frustration at dealing with such an incompetent leader, and her anger at having been dismissed, is more than understandable. If only she'd gone about things the right way, she might even be considered a hero.
2 Te Kā – Moana (2016)
In Moana, the title hero sails off to return the heart of Te Fiti, the nature goddess who brought the ocean to life. With her heart missing, the ocean is growing unsafe, and Moana’s island is falling prey to a darkness from the volcano goddess, Te Kā. However, Moana later finds out that Te Kā really is Te Fiti, who became angry and diseased without her heart.
What Makes Us Feel For Her?
Moana, like Frozen and Encanto, is an example of a Disney film that doesn't contain a traditional antagonist. This is because Te Kā's villainy isn’t really her fault, which is something Moana acknowledges. It was the trickster demigod Maui who stole her heart and turned her into the rage-filled being she is; she had no control over this. As a result, Te Kā is one of the easiest Disney "baddies" to sympathize with. Once Moana returns her heart to her, she becomes Te Fiti again, and learns that her past doesn't define her.
1 Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Sleeping Beauty features the villain Maleficent, who curses Princess Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die before her 16th birthday ends. She places the curse because she wasn’t invited to Aurora’s christening and is clearly a hated outcast in the kingdom.
What Makes Us Feel For Her?
Cursing a baby is extreme and certainly not the most ethical way to handle things. Then again, as is the case for so many on this list, loneliness and hatred make for a compelling motivation. Despite her death in the movie, Maleficent’s story proved so interesting that there were two live-action movies made, sympathetically exploring her side of the tale.
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