12 Best Animated Female Disney Villains, Ranked

When people watch a new Disney movie, one of the things they look forward to the most is the villains. Dating back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s villains have stood out thanks to their animation and writing. They terrify audiences with their powers while also pushing the heroes to reach their full potential. It’s almost ironic that a company so notorious for its friendly and kindhearted image has created some of the most iconic and memorable villains in film history.

Over the years, Disney has had a wide range of male villains. Yet some of their most memorable villains have been the women. While the Disney female villains’ concepts are not as varied as the male ones, they more than compensate through personality and flare. Ranging from some of the most underrated Disney villains to some of their most iconic and recognized, Disney simply wouldn’t be where they are today without their fantastic array of female villains.

12 Te-Kā

‘Moana’ (2016)

When the demigod, Maui, stole the heart of Te Fiti in Moana, he unknowingly transformed her into a demon of fire and earth. Now called Te Kā, she attacked Maui and caused the heart to be swallowed by the ocean. She also unleashes a life-killing plague that threatens to wipe out all food on the surrounding islands. It soon becomes up to Maui and Moana to stop her before she destroys the entire world in her rage.

While not one of the best Disney characters in terms of personality, Te Kā works as a destructive force of nature. Te Kā represents the disaster that will befall the world if man continues to take from nature without thinking. Yet her wrath is not unquenchable, which shows that there is hope to stop the damage from spreading. Especially compared to the other Disney villains, Te Kā is a unique and completely different style of villain, representing the unrelenting and merciless power that nature can have.

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11 Madam Mim

‘The Sword in the Stone’ (1963)

Deep in the forests of England dwells the cottage of Mad Madam Mim. Unlike the good wizard, Merlin, Mim uses her powers to spread misery and discomfort in The Sword in the Stone. One way she does this is by playing games with her victims, all of which are rigged in her favor. While The Sword in the Stone is an often forgotten and dismissed film in Disney’s filmography, Madam Mim stands out as one of the best and most noteworthy aspects of the film.

While she has some of the least screen time of all Disney villains, Mim manages to steal the show thanks to her wild personality and magic powers. Her belief in her abilities is absolute, and she delights in displaying her skills to others, especially to one-up Merlin. Her wizard’s duel with him in the climax is also one of Disney’s best, boasting impressive animation as the two try to one-up each other with shape-shifting.

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10 Dawn Bellwether

‘Zootopia’ (2016)

The surprise twist villain of Zootopia, Dawn Bellwether works as the assistant to the mayor of Zootopia, and uses her access to fabricate a conspiracy to take down the predators living in the city. Having been belittled and meandered as prey for all her life, she wants nothing more than to take the reins of power away from the predators and to rule over them with an iron grip. She attempts to do this by having the predators labeled as savages through the usage of a powerful drug, but her plans are soon discovered and stopped by the duo of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

Making great use of the classic trope of a small and innocuous character being a dastardly mastermind behind the scenes, Bellwether has easily become one of animation’s most iconic modern villains. While she doesn’t have as much time as a pure villain on-screen due to being a twist villain, the stellar vocal performance from Jenny Slate makes every moment of her villainy stand out in the final act. Dawn Bellwether is the perfect encapsulation of powerful and dangerous villains coming in all shapes and sizes. – Rob Lee

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9 Madame Medusa

‘The Rescuers’ (1977)

They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but Madame Medusa takes that proverb too far in the often-overlooked Disney film, The Rescuers. She learns of a giant diamond hidden in Florida called the Devil’s Eye, stuck down a well that fills with the tide. Since she can’t climb down to get it, Medusa kidnaps an orphaned girl named Penny to get it for her.

Madame Medusa was the final creation by legendary animator Milt Kahl before he retired from Disney, and he put his all into her animation. Her movements are beautifully exaggerated, especially when she’s fawning over her alligators, Brutus and Nero. Geraldine Page further enhances this animation with a performance that can easily switch between loud and violent to falsely kind and sickly sweet.

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8 Queen of Hearts

‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1951)

As the primary antagonistic force in the Disney classic, Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is the ruthless and tyrannical ruler of Wonderland. After Alice arrives in Wonderland and unintentionally makes a mockery of her, the Queen begins to do everything in her power as ruler to capture Alice and behead her for her insolence. With a dangerous and powerful army of playing card knights at her disposal, she rules over Wonderland with an iron fist, using her power to destroy anyone who stands in her way.

Alice in Wonderland is filled with and defined by its mass amounts of creative and colorful character designs, with the Queen of Hearts being the most standout immediate example of this. Her signature red and black color scheme amplifies her already villainous nature and actions dramatically, allowing her bigger moments to leave an even greater impact on the audience. The Queen’s vile and destructive methods of ruling have made her one of the more memorable villains in the Disney pantheon, as few villains go as far as to desire the beheading of their enemies. – Rob Lee

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7 Mother Gothel

‘Tangled’ (2010)

For many years, a crone named Mother Gothel used a magic healing flower to maintain her youth and beauty. When the flower is used to heal the dying queen of Corona, its powers are transferred to her newborn daughter, Rapunzel. Gothel kidnapped the baby and hid her in a tower while keeping her ignorant of the outside world. Having been influencing and misrepresenting the world to Rapunzel as she grew up, it only becomes a matter of time before Rapunzel learns the truth about her dangerous stepmother.

Gothel offers a real look at abusive parents with how she treats Rapunzel in Tangled. Despite having no powers, she keeps herself under control through a mixture of isolation, fearmongering, and performing small acts of kindness. The character harkens back to classic evil stepmother characters from Disney’s past and acts as the perfect evolution and modernization of the character archetype. Donna Murphy captures this with a constant condescending tone that can easily switch into fake kindness.

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6 Evil Queen

‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1937)

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, every day, the Evil Queen gazes into her magic mirror and asks it who is the fairest one of all. One day, the mirror names her stepdaughter, Snow White, which enrages her to no end. She tasks one of her hunters to kill the princess and then return with her heart, and when that fails, resorts to black magic.

As the first-ever major Disney villain to grace the silver screen, the Evil Queen became the landmark that all other Disney villains would attempt to recapture and revitalize in some way. Though she has become outclassed by many villains released after, the Evil Queen still remains one of Disney’s most iconic creations. Her hatred for Snow White is all-encompassing and ironically leads to her adopting a hideous disguise to kill her. This makes her the textbook example of an envy-driven Disney villain.

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5 Cruella De Vil

‘101 Dalmatians’ (1961)

An old childhood friend of Anita, Cruella attempts to rekindle their friendship in order to get her and Roger’s dalmatian litter. When Roger refuses her, Cruella storms off and vows revenge. This comes in the form of two thugs who break into the house and steal the puppies for her newest fur coat. While other Disney villains have goals of domination and ruling the world, Cruella manages to be just as evil and heartless with her simplistic end goal of fashion and self-beauty.

It’s all about the execution when it comes to Cruella, as her stylish and powerful screen presence transforms what should be a vile and reprehensible character into on-screen dynamite that steals the show. Cruella’s obsession with fur is the key to her character in 101 Dalmatians. Her skeletal frame is swallowed up by her coat, which demonstrates her larger-than-life attitude. Its red interior also reflects Cruella’s hidden temper, which she tries to mask with a thinly veiled friendly persona.

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4 Yzma

‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ (2000)

Having raised emperor Kuzko since his youth, Yzma was a natural choice for his royal advisor. However, Kuzko grew frustrated with her habit of ruling the empire when he was not around, so he fires her. This doesn’t sit well with Yzma, who conspires to kill him, so she can take over legitimately. Yzma especially gets a lot of mileage thanks to interactions not only with Kuzko, but her right hand man and companion in villainy, Kronk.

While The Emperor’s New Groove was a modest success on release, Yzma has gained recognition as one of Disney’s funniest villains ever. Yzma’s spindly design lends itself to exaggerated facial expressions and slapstick comedy, while Eartha Kitt delivers every line like a screechy banshee. The fact that she is an alchemist with all manner of potions also gives her a more unique motive compared to some other villains.

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3 Ursula

‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989)

Within the skeleton of a leviathan dwells Ursula the sea witch. Once she lived in the palace of King Triton but was banished for her ways. When she learns of Princess Ariel’s obsession with the surface world, she quickly concocts a plan to get back at Triton and take control of the ocean. With her scheming ways and high confidence, she is able to trick Ariel into signing a deal that all but secures her the power of the entire ocean at her fingertips.

Ursula is one of Disney’s best examples of a deal-with-the-devil-type villain. She moves and speaks like a true showman in 1989’s The Little Mermaid, able to win her victim’s trust with kind words and flashy displays of magic. Her song, “Poor Unfortunate Soul,” perfectly showcases this, beginning like a slow waltz before building into a bombastic climax. It all comes together to help establish Ursula as one of Disney’s most bombastic and memorable villains of all time.

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2 Lady Tremaine (The Wicked Stepmother)

‘Cinderella’ (1950)

After the death of her second husband in 1950’s Cinderella, Lady Tremaine came into possession of his house and his young daughter, Cinderella. Rather than embrace the child, she forced her to work as a maid, treating this unwanted third child as nothing more than a workhorse to belittle and destroy, seeing her as nothing more than a worthless pawn. When the king holds a royal ball, she sees this as a chance to get one of her daughters, Drizella and Anastasia, engaged to the prince.

Despite having no powers, Lady Tremaine is one of Disney’s most intimidating villains. It all comes down to the performance and context of Tremaine, as the way that Cinderella envisions her easily makes her a nightmarish force to be reckoned with. With a glance, Lady Tremaine can silence a room, and her dialogue is written coldly and directly so that every word matters. This is accentuated both by Frank Thomas‘ legendary animation and Eleanor Audley‘s masterful performance.

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1 Maleficent

‘Sleeping Beauty’ (1959)

The self-styled Mistress of all Evil, Maleficent is not invited to the christening of the new princess, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. In retribution, she curses the baby to die on her sixteenth birthday. When the good fairies take the princess into hiding, Maleficent spends the next sixteen years tracking them, determined to see her curse fulfilled. The character has easily become one of the biggest and most iconic Disney villains of all time, going above and being more recognized than the movie Sleeping Beauty itself.

Maleficent encapsulates everything that makes an effective fairy-tale villain. She composes herself with dignity and grace and delights in tormenting others by hanging the thing they love in front of them before snatching it away. When pushed too far, she will not hesitate to unleash her full fury upon her foes. Her transformation into a dragon in the film’s final act makes for one of the most iconic villainous moments for a Disney villain, emphasizing her pure wrath and terror that she imposes at every waking moment.

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