50 Scariest Disney Villains

Yzma - The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

The Movie: Incan Emperor Kuzco fires his advisor, Yzma, who plots to poison him - to death! The plot backfires, though, when the poison turns out to be a potion that transforms Kuzco into a llama…

Most Evil Act: That attempt to poison the Emperor is pretty evil, as are her continued attempts to rid herself of Llama-Kuzco before her own ass becomes grass.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Yzma's plans are constantly screwed up by her lunk of a sidekick, Kronk. We can sympathise - while also laughing our heads off.

Hopper - A Bug's Life (1998)

The Movie: Pixar's second film, charting the war between a colony of ants and the grasshoppers - led by Hopper - that come to steal their supplies every year.

Most Evil Act: Hopper shows just how ruthless he is when he demands twice as much food from the ants after all of their supplies become lost in the river.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Hopper's a bad guy, but the fact that he's scared of birds (who wouldn't be at that size?) endears him to us massively.

Also, one thing to note - we know that technically Hopper comes from a pre-Disney Pixar flick, but expect a few of them to crop up in this feature as a) Disney owns them now and b) They're awesome and we don't want them to feel left out.

Prince John - Robin Hood (1973)

The Movie: An animated, animalised version of the English legend, with a fox in the role of Robin Hood and a lion as the evil, power-hungry Prince John.

Most Evil Act: There's only two things certain in life - death and taxes.

Prince John becomes overlord of both when, embarrassed by the ridicule he's suffered at the hands of Robin and the townspeople, he triples taxes and bangs up anybody who can't pay. That includes the nippers. Pure evil.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Prince John's a big baby at heart, but his scare factor's relatively low - mostly because he's the sole villain in the history of villains who sucks his thumb.

Gaston - Beauty & The Beast (1991)

The Movie: Village girl Belle is captured by the Beast, who lives in a solitary castle in the middle of nowhere, and slowly discovers there's more to him than meets the eye.

Most Evil Act: Village brute Gaston is so driven by his desire to have Belle for himself that he decides to "kill the beast!", enlisting men from the village to help him lay siege to the Beast's castle.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Despite his arrogance and narcissism, it's impossible to hate Gaston, particularly during his grandstanding (chest-flashing) solo number 'Gaston'.

Prince Hans - Frozen (2013)

The Movie: The highest-grossing animated movie of all time, based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen . The land of Arendelle is put into a deep freeze by Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel), whose magic spirals out of control.

Most Evil Act: The real baddie in this winsome fairytale, though, is Prince Hans, who has designs on the throne and leaves Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) to die as part of his plan. He also attempts to kill Elsa - and he'd have succeeded if Anna hadn't sacrificed herself at the last minute.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: All right, he turns out to be bad, but Hans' musical ditty with Anna ('Love Is An Open Door') is ridiculously hummable.

Dr Terminus - Pete's Dragon (1977)

The Movie: Live-action/animation mash in which young Pete (Sean Marshall) discovers a dragon only he can see.

Meanwhile, quack doctor Terminus (Jim Dale) comes to town pedalling his fake cures.

Most Evil Act: Scheming to capture Pete's dragon (easy) and cut him up. Why? Terminus envisions the dragon as the key ingredient in a new batch of his not-very-good cures.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Terminus is a villain with creativity on his side, at the very least.

He's wacky and likable as a sort of demented showman, and we can admire a guy who strives to turn every situation to his advantage.

Syndrome - The Incredibles (2004)

The Movie: Loving ode to the superhero genre from director Brad Bird. Retired superhero Mr Incredible suits up again when the evil Syndrome draws him into his plans.

Most Evil Act: Syndrome's mass genocide of all supers is pretty shocking stuff, particularly as he doesn't have any personal grudges against any of them, other than Mr Incredible.

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Like a lot of the best villains, Syndrome's stuck in a perpetual teenage mope, crippled by his desire for glory, which makes him sort of sad. His gadgets are pretty nifty, too.

Mother Gothel - Tangled (2010)

The Movie: Based loosely on the tale of Rapunzel. Princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is kidnapped and held in a lofty tower by Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy).

Most Evil Act: The only reason Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel is because she has regenerative powers that keep Gothel looking and feeling young. What's wrong with just calling Cher's surgeon for some tips?

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Gothel's song 'Mother Knows Best' is the best song of the film, all wry and manipulative. Just like Gothel herself.

Barbossa - Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)

The Movie: Live-action adventure flick based on the Disney theme park ride. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) hunts for treasure while also going up against pirate Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Most Evil Act: First he kidnaps Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), then Barbossa and his undead (skeleton) crew of pirates lay siege to the HMS Dauntless. Finally, he kills Jack…

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Though he's an evil pirate, Barbossa's oddly affable - and not just because his best friend is a monkey.

Si and Am - Lady & The Tramp (1955)

The Movie: Cocker spaniel Lady is upstaged with the arrival of a baby - which is when she meets Tramp, a swarthy mutt without a home.

Most Evil Act: Siamese cats Si and Am make life hell for Lady when they trash the house, then make it look like Lady was responsible. It's to the dog house for this poor purebred…

Why It's Good To Be Bad: Their song, 'We Are Siamese', is ridiculously catchy.