Top 10 Disney Twist Villains
Disney villains used to be obvious. Maleficent? Duh! Hades? Duh! Scar? Ursula? Cruella de Vil? Captain Hook? Jafar? Duh duh duh duh duh! The EVIL Queen?!?! Read her name! But in the 2000s and 2010s they decided to go a different avenue and leaning really hard into the idea of twist villains. So let’s countdown the Top 10. Pixar movies are also fair game & an honorable mention to Evelyn Deavor in ‘Incredibles 2’ which was technically a surprise but her name is literally evil endeavor. I guess I should give a spoiler warning since these are surprises?
King Candy in ‘Wreck-It Ralph’- Voiced by Alan Tudyk, King Candy is originally thought to be the stubborn, but silly ruler of the world within the Sugar Rush video game. But it is later revealed that he is Turbo, a racer who got his own game unplugged when he went crazy!
It was pretty standard for a Disney princess movie to feature a prince that the princess meets and quickly falls in love with. But Disney’s 2013 hit changed the formula when that prince was revealed as the villain of the movie! He just pretends to love Anna, sings a great love song with her, & tries to overthrow the kingdom when she and Elsa were gone. There actually is a theory online (CAN BE FOUND HERE) that proposes the trolls are the villains of the films and they cast a spell on Hans that I subscribe to.
Te Ka in ‘Moana’- So Te Ka is actually the villain and we know that from the beginning. But the twist is that Te Ka is really just misunderstood and is secretly Te Fiti, who had her stolen by Maui and turned into a lava monster. Does that qualify for this list? If I say it does!
Dawn Bellwether in ‘Zootopia’- As this film progresses, we eventually begin to think that the plot between predators and preys was incited by Mayor Lionheart. However, it is revealed that his sheep assistant mayor is the one who has been driving predators wild in an attempt to cause public discourse. Politics at its finest.
Charles Muntz in ‘Up’- One of the more obvious twist villains is this Christopher Plummer-voiced character who has to be like super old by the time the film takes place. That’s always what I think when I watch this. But anyways, don’t meet your heroes I guess. Because they will try to kill you, your new dog (that was formerly their dog), the exotic bird you’ve befriended, & the boy scout that travels with you. Tough.
Ernesto de la Cruz in ‘Coco- Another one that was a little more obvious, we originally are led to believe that Benjamin Bratt’s de la Cruz is young Miguel’s great-great-grandfather. But plot twist! He killed Hector, who is ACTUALLY Miguel’s great-great-grandfather, and stole the songs he wrote. And those songs are quite catchy. Remember meeeeeee.
Stinky Pete in ‘Toy Story 2’- No offense to anyone with this name, but a character named Stinky Pete has got be evil. Kelsey Grammer voices this old prospector toy who appears to be stuck in his box and tries to toy-nap Woody so he, Pete, Jessie, & Bullseye can be put on display in a museum. The earliest film on this list, released in 1999, it wouldn’t be the only Toy Story movie with a twist villain.
Lotso in ‘Toy Story 3’- You’re telling me the strawberry scented pink stuffed bear with a cane named Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear is a villain? Straight up I am. Ned Beatty voices this character who is cold, ruthless, and just straight up mean, even though he first exudes a friendly demeanor.
Miles Axlerod in ‘Cars 2’- The greatest Pixar movie there is (I kid, I kid), this film actually does play out like a spy action thriller with a twist villain that you really won’t see coming. Unless you’ve already seen it. In which case you will most likely see it coming.
Robert Callaghan in ‘Big Hero 6’- Rounding out our list is this robotics professor turned masked supervillain. Callaghan takes on the alias Yokai and tries to extract revenge on tech guru Alistair Krei, while also serving a mentor like figure to our primary characters. How despicable.
