Why Disney Stopped Making Great Villains

there was a time when Disney villains weren't just good they were legendary they had Presence Power something Unforgettable but today we get this and Disney doesn't really do villains anymore and when they try something feels off the charm the Menace the magic it's fading but why well that's something Disney doesn't want you to know because their villains didn't disappear by accident it was a calculated decision years in the making but we can't talk about what happened without highlighting what made Disney villains so great in Years Gone by Disney villains weren't just obstacles they were the

reason we kept watching they stole every scene they had the best songs and let's be honest sometimes they were more interesting than the heroes scar is one of everyone's favorite examples he wasn't just evil for the sake of it he was cunning bitter and manipulative he'd spent his entire life in his brother Shadow believing he was owed the throne and he didn't just sit around and complain about it he actually made it happen he orchestrated Mufasa's death exiled Simba and ruled with an iron fist how many villains do you know that actually succeeded in their

movie that is what I call a worthy villain or Ursula in The Little Mermaid she wasn't just some random sea witch she was a master manipulator praying on the desperate by offering them exactly what they wanted all while ensuring the deal was rigged in her favor that kind of deception is terrifyingly realistic even a villain is overthe toop as Hades and Hercules had an identity his fast talking smooth dealmaking personality made him memorable he wasn't just the bad guy he had a presence that set him apart from everyone else in the movie his quips his

humor and his charm are some of the biggest reasons we all love turkeys but we can't talk about villains without mentioning the best of them all Cloud frolo Disney's most disturbing villain unlike other villains who sought power and wealth frollo's evil came from something far more Insidious he truly believed he was righteous he wasn't a cackling sorcerer or a scheming Tyrant he was a judge a man who wielded the law like a weapon convinced that his every action was justified in the eyes of God and that's what made him terrifying frollo's villainy wasn't just about

control it was about Obsession repression and self-deception he saw himself as a holy man but his Twisted sense of morality allowed him to burn down homes imprison innocent people and Destroy lives all while claiming he was doing it for the greater good Hellfire is one of the darkest moments in Disney history not just because of its haunting visuals but because it's a window into the mind of a man at war with himself he wants as morala but simply cannot accept that desire as his own failing so instead he blames her convincing himself that she is

a demon sent to tempt him and that the only way to maintain his righteousness is to either possess her or destroy her that hits way too close to home in how women are sometimes treated that is what makes frolo such a deeply unsettling villain he isn't motivated by greed or Revenge he's a man who believes with absolute certainty that he is in the right and because of that there's no reasoning with him no way to make him see his own corruption he embodies the terrifying reality of Those who commit evil not out of malice but

out of the conviction that they are the hero of Their Own Story so what made all these villains great what's the Disney recipe for an incredible villain well for one distinct personalities each villain had a strong unique identity that made them instantly recognizable clear motives they weren't evil for the sake of it they had goals whether it was Revenge power or control Charisma and charm many of them were just fun to watch you wanted to see what they do next real Stakes they challenged the hero in ways that felt significant and personal which I feel

we lack a lot of nowadays and last but not least memorable songs Poor Unfortunate Souls be prepared Gaston song Hellfire these villains didn't just make an impact they stole the spotlight and that's awesome Disney understood that a great villain wasn't just about being terrifying they had to be charismatic and for decades they perfected that balance but then something changed at some point Disney started moving away from traditional villains suddenly we didn't have SCAR or Jafar we had villains like Prince Hans who turns evil in the last like 15 minutes or bellweather in zootopia whose entire

villain reveal happens in one scene with literally zero sign it would happen and in most recent movies there's no Villain at all Encanto Ryan The Last Dragon Elemental these movies have conflict but not a clear antagonist compare that to the Renaissance Era where every movie had an unforgettable bad guy Aladdin had Jafar Beauty the Beast had Gaston The Little Mermaid had Ursula the Hunchback of notredam had frolo etc etc there's not a single Renaissance movie that doesn't have an incredible villain even newer film like Tangled Treasure Planet and the Princess and the Frog had great

ones so what happened a big part of the shift started in the 20110 when Disney began pushing for more nuanced morally gray characters they didn't want simple good versus evil stories anymore they wanted their villains to be more realistic that's why we got so many twist villains characters who seemed good only to be suddenly evil at the end literally that's all we've gotten in the past 15 years magnifico Professor calligan bellweather Hans King Candy although that was probably the only one done right but the rest they're the exact opposite of memorable I don't think anyone's

putting them on their top Disney villain lists they're just not even close to the writing charm and presence of other villains it would be fine to make your villains more nuanced and realistic but only if you can actually write them well and damn it give them a good villain song again please but anyway this still doesn't answer the why why have Disney completely given up on their bread and butter villains well there are a few key reasons one of the biggest shifts came from Pixar's influence while Disney was struggling in the 2000s Pixar was thriving

but unlike traditional Disney films Pixar rarely relied on classic villains their stories focused on internal conflict rather than external enemies and as Pixar success grew Disney took notes the Disney XX could clearly see that the old Disney villain approach wasn't working for storytelling so they wanted to lean into Pixar's widely successful Approach at the time they didn't just phase out villains they changed their entire approach to storytelling the old Disney formula of good versus evil hero versus villain felt outdated at the time modern audiences seemingly wanted something different instead of an evil queen today's Disney

movies f focus on personal struggles or systemic challenges the shift made villains feel unnecessary but that wasn't the only reason they disappeared there's also the factor of cultural and social awareness before we dive back into Disney villains though let me tell you about something that you're going to want to stick around for cuz it's so exciting this video is for the first time sponsored by Tokyo treats I'm so excited because I was already familiar with Tokyo treat before they even reached out it combines two of my favorite things Japan and snacks Tokyo treat is a

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characters are perceived and is much more hesitant to create villains that could be seen as offensive or problematic and in our recent cultural climate a straightforward unapologetically evil villain was a risk for Disney rather than reworking their approach Disney decided to completely soften them instead of evil villains became misunderstood instead of power hungry they were made tragic and when they did create true villains they were watered down compare Jafar from the original Aladdin a scene stealing power hungry sorcerer to his liveaction counterpart the original Jafar was charismatic and Theatrical the Remake just there the same

thing happened to Scar in The Lion King remake his cunning sarcastic personality was stripped completely away in favor of a serious joyless version but the real reason Disney killed its villains money villains might be fun to watch but they don't sell plush toys Disney has become more focused than ever on merchandising and a terrifying irredeemable villain doesn't print money like a marketable psychic think about it who's more profitable SCAR or Simba Maleficent or Stitch Ursula or Olaf this is why so many modern antagonists are either redeemed hidden behind a last minute twist or softened into

misguided figures a purely evil villain just doesn't fit into Disney's Ultra commercialized world anymore these villains didn't just disappear they were erased rebranded stripped of everything that made them iconic gone are the theatrical scene stealing villains characters so memorable that they literally Define their movies which is honestly a travesty without them Disney movies lose the tension charm and drama that once made them Unforgettable and right now Disney doesn't seem interested in making characters like that anymore that's the problem cuz villains or antagonists are literally the Crux of good storytelling a great villain challenges the hero

tests the limits and forces them to grow without a compelling antagonist the stakes feel so much lower don't get me wrong twist villains more nuanced villains and storytelling isn't necessarily a bad thing if anything it's some of my favorite type of Storytelling but the problem is Disney just doesn't know how to write these sorts of stories in villains it's tried for 15 years years and failed catastrophically their villains have sucked every single time which just immediately hinders the movie every fan is clamoring for you to go back to villains of the past because we know

you can do so well with that formula especially now where a lot of Animation has been taking more mature themes with brutal violence villain and Terror think about incanto it's a beautiful movie but would it have been more powerful with a real external Force pushing against Mel Would frozen have been stronger if Elsa had a true rival instead of a last minute twist villain the answer is yes this is also why movies like Puss and Boots Last Wish and Spider-Man into and across the spiderverse are dominating animation right now they aren't afraid to embrace true

antagonists characters like death the spot Kingpin they add real tension real fear and real Stakes when you compare them to Modern Disney movies the difference is nice and day so can Disney fix this could we ever see The Return of true Disney villains I really don't know the more people talk about how Disney has been the less things seem to improve right now it seems like they're more interested in reimagining their past than learning from it the problem starts at the top and unless they're willing to take risks again we might have already seen the

end of the classic Disney villain and that's a bigger loss than they realize Because deep deep down we all know the truth Disney's villains didn't just make movies better they made them Unforgettable and without them well happily ever after just doesn't hit the same