The 1990s were a great decade for animated movies, with some of the most memorable animated villains of all time. The 1990s saw the Disney renaissance, with movies like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King producing great villains to rival the studio’s old classics. Pixar produced their first feature-length animated movies in the 1990s too, and Studio Ghibli added some more classics to their impressive filmography.
Like any live-action villain, a good animated villain needs to be designed to push the protagonists in interesting ways. They often represent the dark side of the heroes or a larger evil they are trying to vanquish. However, the medium of animation means that these villains are unique. Their physical characteristics and movement can be exaggerated to create more intimidating characters, and the performance of the voice actors is also vital in making a great villain.
Related 10 Best Animated Movie Villains Of The 1980s
The 1980s was an exciting and innovative time for animation, and many movies increased the complexity & nuance of their central villains.
15 Sid
Toy Story (1995)
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Director John Lasseter Release Date November 22, 1995 Cast Tom Hanks , Don Rickles , Annie Potts , Tim Allen , Jim Varney
Sid may not be one of the best Pixar villains, but he’s the perfect antagonist for the first Toy Story movie. While Buzz and Woody spend most of the movie squabbling with one another over the prestige of being Andy’s favorite toy, Sid is a common enemy for them to unite against. He doesn’t know that the toys are sentient, so he isn’t really doing anything morally wrong, but his bizarre experiments hint at some underlying malice within him. He also has the look of a villain, with the skull design on his T-shirt, and his permanent scowl across his face.
14 Donald Curtis
Porco Rosso (1992)
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Director Hayao Miyazaki Release Date July 18, 1992 Cast Shûichirô Moriyama , Tokiko Katô , Bunshi Katsura Vi , Tsunehiko Kamijô , Akemi Okamura , Akio Otsuka , Hiroko Seki , Reizō Nomoto , Osamu Saka , Yu Shimaka
Donald Curtis is Porco’s main rival in the skies, and the only pilot in the Adriatic who can come close to matching his skills. His ego makes it hard for him to accept that Porco might be both a better pilot and a more attractive romantic prospect than him, especially since he is cursed to live with the head of a pig. Curtis is always talking about his future plans to become a Hollywood star and potentially taking a run at the White House, although he finds himself being second-best. Curtis eventually learns some humility and redeems himself after suffering a defeat at the hands of Porco.
13 Sheila Broflovski
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
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Director Trey Parker Release Date June 30, 1999 Cast Trey Parker , Matt Stone , Mary Kay Bergman , Isaac Hayes , George Clooney , Brent Spiner , Minnie Driver , Dave Foley
Even though the first South Park movie features both Saddam Hussein and Satan, Kyle’s mother is the true villain. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s response to the pearl-clutching, perpetually outraged critics who accuse their show of being too vulgar. Sheila Broflovski is so incensed by the profanity of Terrance and Philip that she is willing to start a war between Canada and the United States. Even when casualties start to mount and a portal to hell opens up, she believes that she is in the right. With Sheila, Parker and Stone predicted the outrage over their own movie.
12 Rasputin
Anastasia (1997)
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Director Don Bluth , Gary Goldman Release Date November 21, 1997 Cast Meg Ryan , John Cusack , Kelsey Grammer , Christopher Lloyd , Hank Azaria , Bernadette Peters , Kirsten Dunst , Angela Lansbury
20th Century Fox’s response to the Disney dominance of the 1990s also features a princess, a sprinkling of magic, and a despicable villain. Anastasia doesn’t claim to be a faithful historical retelling of Russian history. This means that it has the freedom to exaggerate and embellish the characters, and the dark caricature of Rasputin is one that borrows from the swirl of myths that have risen around the mysterious monk. This Rasputin is an evil sorcerer who looks like a zombie and lives in a palace made of bones. He’s an overblown vision of evil, but his humorous sidekick Bartok makes his scenes fun.
11 Hopper
A Bug’s Life (1998)
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Director John Lasseter , Andrew Stanton Release Date November 25, 1998 Cast Dave Foley , Kevin Spacey , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Hayden Panettiere , Phyllis Diller , Richard Kind
Hopper stands head and shoulders over the ants in A Bug’s Life, and he’s just as powerful as his intimidating frame makes him seem. Hopper has the ants firmly pressed under his thumb, forcing them to provide him with an endless supply of food, or else they will have to face his wrath. He has the look and feel of a stereotypical mob boss at times. Always flanked by his goons and only flexing his power when necessary, Hopper knows how to say a lot without doing much at all. Ultimately, he doesn’t look so big when the ants come together as a collective.
10 Gaston
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
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Director Gary Trousdale , Kirk Wise Release Date November 21, 1991 Cast Paige O’Hara , Robby Benson , Angela Lansbury , Jerry Orbach , David Ogden Stiers , Bradley Pierce , Jesse Corti , Richard White
Gaston is one of the funniest Disney villains, but the things that make him hilarious are closely tied to the things which make him so detestable. He is extremely narcissistic, and he struggles to comprehend that a woman could ever be uninterested in him. His arrogance makes him look clueless, but his fragile ego also leads him to try and kill the Beast when he is rejected by Belle. Gaston represents everything that the Beast isn’t, so he’s a perfect antagonist. He is a conventionally attractive hero worshiped by the people around him, but he is utterly heartless, so he isn’t the man for Belle.
9 Pharaoh Rameses II
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
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Director Brenda Chapman , Steve Hickner , Simon Wells Release Date December 18, 1998 Cast Val Kilmer , Ralph Fiennes , Michelle Pfeiffer , Sandra Bullock , Jeff Goldblum , Danny Glover , Patrick Stewart , Helen Mirren , Steve Martin , Martin Short
Ralph Fiennes is known for his portrayal of villains, from Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise to Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List. The Prince of Egypt shows that he can be just as intimidating in animated form. He plays Rameses, the adoptive brother of Moses who becomes Pharaoh of Egypt and proceeds to brutalize the enslaved Hebrews. Rameses refuses to free the slaves in Egypt, which brings about a series of plagues from God. Even when he sees blood raining down from the sky and locusts swarming over the city, Rameses is arrogant enough to stand his ground.
8 The Puppet Master
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
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Director Mizuho Nishikubo , Mamoru Oshii Release Date December 8, 1995 Cast Atsuko Tanaka , Akio Otsuka , Iemasa Kayumi , Koichi Yamadera , Yutaka Nakano , Tamio Ôki , Tesshô Genda , Masato Yamanouchi
Ghost in the Shell is a masterpiece of adult-oriented animation. It’s an explosive action thriller that shares some of its visual and thematic flair with Blade Runner, as an investigator has to hunt down a suspect in a world where people’s identities can shift in an instant. The Puppet Master, as his name suggests, is pulling the strings for a long time, but he remains unseen. Ultimately, it’s revealed that he isn’t as he seems, and the villain of Ghost in the Shell turns out to be just another victim of an oppressive technocratic society that sells individuality while enforcing subservience.
7 Kent Mansley
The Iron Giant (1999)
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Director Brad Bird Release Date August 6, 1999 Cast Vin Diesel , Christopher McDonald , Harry Connick Jr , Jennifer Aniston , Eli Marienthal
Just like in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Iron Giant tells the story of a child who befriends an enigmatic alien, while the government tries to track them both down. The main difference is that the Giant is 50-feet tall and capable of mass destruction. In some ways, Kent Mansley is justified in wanting to control and contain the Giant, but this doesn’t excuse his actions. Mansley clearly has some issues with anger, and he lets his dedication to his task blind his judgment. In this way, he represents the collective paranoia of the Cold War years.
6 Stinky Pete
Toy Story (1999)
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Director Lee Unkrich , Ash Brannon , John Lasseter Release Date November 24, 1999 Cast Tim Allen , Tom Hanks , Joan Cusack , Annie Potts , Kelsey Grammer
Stinky Pete is a great twist villain, because his betrayal doesn’t come out of nowhere. Toy Story 2 lays the track for his villainous turn by showing his bitterness over never being a toy who never gets played with. If he has to drag his friends to the toy museum by force, then he sees this as mere collateral damage. Kelsey Grammar’s rough, deep voice is perfect for Stinky Pete, as he can transition from a gentle guardian to an intimidating antagonist in a split second. Stinky Pete and Lotso are the most compelling Toy Story villains so far, but Toy Story 5 could change this.
5 Claude Frollo
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
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Director Gary Trousdale Release Date June 21, 1996 Cast Tony Jay , Tom Hulce , Jason Alexander
Claude Frollo is so shockingly evil that it’s surprising that he ever made it into a Disney movie. He isn’t evil in some fantastical, magical way, like Maleficent or Ursula. He’s a very grounded bigot who advocates genocide. He is introduced with a scene in which he kills a woman and prepares to throw her infant son down a well, and this is just the beginning for Frollo. He continually abuses and neglects Quasimodo, making it a small miracle that Quasimodo survives his childhood with any optimism about the world. Frollo also tries to kill Esmeralda rather than grappling with his own human desires.
4 Lady Eboshi
Princess Mononoke (1997)
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Director Hayao Miyazaki Release Date July 12, 1997 Cast Yôji Matsuda , Yuriko Ishida , Yûko Tanaka , Kaoru Kobayashi , Masahiko Nishimura , Tsunehiko Kamijô , Akihiro Miwa , Mitsuko Mori , Hisaya Morishige
Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is an environmental fable about humanity’s destructive nature. Like any of the characters, Lady Eboshi doesn’t neatly fit into categories of good and evil. She is beloved by the people of Irontown, and she often helps those in need. However, Lady Eboshi is responsible for a lot of the trouble in Princess Mononoke, and her disrespect for the natural world leads her to take on the god of the forest. She is an imposing, primarily self-serving figure who struggles to see other people’s perspectives. The layered characters make Princess Mononoke one of Studio Ghibli’s best movies.
3 Oogie Boogie
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
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Director Henry Selick Release Date October 29, 1993 Cast Catherine O’Hara , Glenn Shadix , Ken Page , William Hickey , Chris Sarandon , Paul Reubens , Danny Elfman
Oogie Boogie’s design makes him stand out, even though many of the residents of Halloween Town are also nightmarish monsters. Oogie Boogie is a tattered burlap sack filled with insects squirming around inside him, and his personality is just as repugnant. He’s a theatrical villain who loves the business of being evil, and he delights in hearing the tortured screams of his victims. He may carry dice to pretend that he leaves people’s lives up to fate, but he always stacks the odds in his favor, because the house always wins. Oogie Boogie also has one of the best songs in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
2 Jafar
Aladdin (1992)
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Director Ron Clements , John Musker Release Date November 11, 1992 Cast Scott Weinger , Robin Williams , Linda Larkin , Jonathan Freeman , Frank Welker , Gilbert Gottfried , Brad Kane , Lea Salonga
With his eyebrows permanently arched down into a disdainful grimace and a cobra’s head on the end of his staff, Jafar immediately looks the part of a dark sorcerer. It’s a mystery why the Sultan ever decides to trust a man whose entire appearance screams evil. Jafar sets his sights on the throne, but he also wants to manipulate Jasmine into marrying him, despite her repeated rejections. His scheme to get his hands on the lamp and abandon Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders shows that he has the cunning to go with his malevolent exterior.
1 Scar
The Lion King (1994)
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Director Roger Allers , Rob Minkoff Release Date June 24, 1994 Cast Matthew Broderick , Moira Kelly , Nathan Lane , Ernie Sabella , Robert Guillaume
Scar is one of Disney’s greatest villains of all time, and killing Mufasa provides him with one of the most terrifying moments in any Disney movie. Scar is Mufasa’s jealous brother who wants to reign as king himself. He forms an alliance with the hyenas to achieve this goal. The fascist imagery of Scar ruling over the hyenas might be a bit too much for another villain, but he really is trying to stage a militaristic coup and rule with an iron fist. Jeremy Irons’ performance perfectly emphasizes Scar’s sneering bitterness and self-importance.