These animated villains continue to set the bar for the very best baddies.
Rattlesnake Jake – Rango
Rango remains an extremely underrated CG western that finds a pet chameleon transformed into an Old West hero. The baddie Rango ends up having to defeat is Rattlesnake Jake, voiced by the exceptional scary Bill Nighy. Designed to look as menacing as an actual western diamondback rattlesnake, Jake coils around the townspeople of Dirt with malice and a total disregard for boundaries. He licks people and throws shots of his venom around like water. A bad hombre all around who rises to the occasion in putting on quite a third act show of villainy.
Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty
The title “Mistress of All Evil” might be hyperbole in the hands of other baddies, but Maleficent the witch owns the moniker with her head held high. Disney animator Marc Davis designed one of the all-time greats with Maleficent, the wicked witch who curses Princess Aurora in Walt Disney Animation’s adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. With her sinister black silhouette and her velvety voice provided by Eleanor Audley, Maleficent is about as potent as you can get when it comes to reading instantaneously “bad” on screen. However, she’s so arc and beguiling that you end up rooting for her to stick around, either as a witch or a dragon, because she’s just that striking and memorable every time she appears.
Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear – Toy Story 3
Credit: Pixar
One of the great twists in the entire Toy Story franchise was having a sweet, stuffed bear be capable of doing terrible things. Pixar really went there in Toy Story 3 by making Lotso bear the surprise villain of the piece. Sure, they provided a heartbreaking backstory as the origins of his terrible behavior, and that certainly added resonance to his story, but they still made the hot pink fuzzball the baddie! Ned Beatty should also be praised for lulling us with his calming, Southern charm of a voice performance and then turning him on a dime into a crazed and menacing antagonist who almost gets Andy’s toys incinerated to oblivion and beyond.
The Other Mother – Coraline
Credit: Laika
The Other Mother in the Laika adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is the personification of that old chestnut: “be careful what you wish for.” She is the welcoming maternal figure that Coraline discovers inside a parallel universe. Seemingly more stylish, attentive and supportive, Coraline thinks she’s the much “better” version of her harried mother back home. But the facade soon lifts and Coraline’s Other Mother with the button eyes reveals herself to be a Belddam, with a terrifying true form that haunts Coraline and the audience. Kudos to Teri Hatcher for voicing The Other Mother with a sinister warmth that sells the scary.
Kingpin – Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Drawn as a hulking mass of villainy, Kingpin in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has the scale and brute force to be a worthy threat to Miles Morales/Spider-Man. Liev Schreiber imbues the vocal performance with a lot of New York menace and heft which is needed to sell the heightened character design. Plus, there’s a simmering rage that makes this Kingpin extremely unhinged and unpredictable; a necessary quality in crafting a memorable villain. When he gets mad and unleashes his power, there’s a brutality to it that leaves you very worried for anyone in his path.
Ursula – The Little Mermaid
Does it get much better than the legendary Pat Carroll being cast as Ursula? No, it does not. The comedian and singer put her Broadway belting skills to great use as her vocal power turned the undersea witch into a bombastic and threatening nemesis for everyone who dared cross her in Walt Disney Animation’s adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Whether she was purring out dialogue to tempt sweet Ariel into a devil’s bargain, or just nailing a showstopper like “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” we can’t imagine anyone making Ursula as potent as Carroll. The Disney animators knew it too as they translated so much of the actresses’ countenance and facial movements into their design for the villainess. From her purple skin to her punk white hair and maniacal laugh, Ursula still haunts us as one of the best.
Lord Shen
Gary Oldman’s casting in Kung Fu Panda 2 was surprising since this is one of his only animated films, but he fit right in as Lord Shen.
Only an experienced actor like Oldman could make a peacock seem so scary. Shen is a character with a pre-determined fate of getting defeated, but he goes to great lengths to ensure that this future doesn’t happen, even if it means becoming power-hungry and burning down entire villages. Oldman expertly captures Shen’s gleefully evil personality and unremorseful behavior whenever he demonstrates his advanced weaponry or makes manipulative attempts against protagonist Po. Furthermore, Shen was proof that Oldman can excel in both animation and live-action when portraying villains.
The Wolf/Death
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish defied many people’s expectations thanks to its beautifully stunning animation and hard-hitting themes surrounding mortality. One element that fans continue to talk about is The Wolf/Death. When the film begins, Puss discovers he is in his last life, which leads to The Wolf chasing him throughout. Puss and the audience later realize that The Wolf is actually Death personified.
For a character this suspenseful, Wagner Moura understood what was given to him. With emphasized line delivery and an eerie voice, Moura doesn’t let up on how terrifying Death is. Death’s hooded apparel, red eyes, and dual weapons were hair-raising already, but Moura’s soothingly fearsome voice only increased the scare factor. It’s hard to pull off the theme of death in an animated film, yet Puss in Boots: The Last Wish gets its message across, and a large part of it can be attributed to Moura’s frightening performance.
Tai Lung
The Kung Fu Panda franchise has always had amazing villains in each of its installments, and the first film set the standard with Tai Lung. Once a loving student under Master Shifu, Tai Lung was trained to become something greater than himself but was denied his destiny and went on a darker path. Considering how captivating Tai Lung’s backstory is, actor Ian McShane knew how to capture the character’s pain and bitterness.
Mother Gothel
Tangled – a retelling of the classic story of Rapunzel – is considered by many as one of the best modern Disney movies. Aside from its stunning animation and wonderfully catchy musical numbers, Tangled is additionally responsible for providing one of the best villains in Disney’s revival era, Mother Gothel. Initially an elderly woman, Gothel kidnaps and manipulates the young Rapunzel so that she can use her long golden hair to stay young forever.
Pitch Black
Pitch Black – or the Boogeyman by some – makes for a proper formidable foe in Rise of the Guardians. When people think of the Boogeyman, they think of a nightmarish figure, and the animated film is capable of demonstrating that. Pitch’s motives stem from not being believed in enough, so he goes to war with legendary characters, like Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and The Tooth Fairy.
Sources: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/best-animated-villains-list
https://www.cbr.com/villain-performances-animated-movies-ranked/