Top 10 Disney Villains of the 80s and 90s

Talk about a sadistic villain to kick this top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s list off with! Hopper is bad with a capital B! This crazy grasshopper is the leader of his gang, a gang that he rules with an iron fist. Heck, his own brother is the victim of Hopper.

Hopper forces the ants to collect food for them each year, and one year thanks to a mishap by Flik, there is no harvest for the grasshoppers. This is where the evil, nasty, and sadistic side of Hopper is shown. The ants realize that Hopper is not to be messed with, and even though the grasshoppers do not actually need to go back and get this harvest from the ants, Hopper is adamant that they have to in order to keep them in their place. He is a psycho control freak who would kill anyone who looked at him the wrong way!

At the end of the day, Ratigan was willing to off a kid, so that right there tells you this evil rat has no problems getting his hands dirty. The Great Mouse Detective is one of the more underrated movies from the Disney vault and Ratigan is certainly someone I would consider to be one of the top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s.

This fun Disney take on Sherlock Holmes is great, and in many ways Ratigan is like your classic Holmes or even a James Bond-style villain. He is ruthless and cunning and there is pretty much no line he won’t cross to take over and get exactly what he wants. If you have never seen this or have not seen it in a long time, check it out, you may be shocked at just how brutal a villain Ratigan is!

They say that there are many things “no one can do like Gaston”. However, one thing that’s missing from that song is being a grade-A abusive jerk! Sure, he may be handsome, have huge arms, and have the hairiest chest in the world of Disney. Yet, Gaston is a truly vile guy.

He starts by just deciding that Belle is going to marry him like he is doing her some big favor. He can’t take her rejection so he decides to get her poor old dad sent to the nut house if she still refuses. Then he whips up a mob, storms the Beast’s castle, and cowardly attacks him from behind after the Beast has spared him! One thing that is even crazier about Gaston is that the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie somehow managed to make him seem even more vile and evil!

Most Disney fans would consider Ursula to be one of the top ranking Disney villains of all time, let alone one of the top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s! This scary and intimidating sea witch has some very crazy powers, but it’s the way she’s able to manipulate poor Ariel that really puts her on the map as a top level villain.

It’s not just that she is bad, it’s the way she is so manipulative and tricks Ariel that makes her so vile. Although, there are some die hard fans of hers that state she is kind of misunderstood. She “technically” does just do what Ariel asks of her, but let’s face it, this is next-level manipulation! Still, if you know someone who thinks that Ursula is “not that bad” you may want to keep an eye on them! The Little Mermaid was a huge hit for Disney and the movie that kickstarted the Disney renaissance that we still have to this day.

Stinky Pete just makes it on this list as Toy Story 2 came out in 1999! Thinking that he has found his forever home, Woody ends up meeting Jesse, Bullseye, and of course, Stinky Pete.

Stinky Pete seems like a nice guy at first, but this dude is crazy and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that he, Woody, Jesse, and Bullseye end up in the hands of a collector, whether Woody wants it or not. It’s a race against time for Buzz and the gang to save Woody from this crazy prospector! The fact that Stinky Pete is voiced by Kelsey Grammer makes him even more awesome. One of the things that make Stinky Pete such a fun villain is the fact that at first, you do think he is good. In reality, being bad is a nice little twist and one that you do not see coming the first time you watch the movie.

Do you trust me? Well if you do, it should be no surprise that a villain as evil as Jafar has made it so high on this top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s list. Jafar has his eyes on the throne of Agrabah and he uses his position and sorcery powers to manipulate the good-natured (and dim-witted) Sultan.

Jafar comes up with a way to force the lovely Princess Jasmine to marry him and he pretty much leaves Aladdin for dead in the Cave of Wonders. His lust for power is ultimately what does him in and that is so awesome when it happens. Jafar is also a very eye-catching villain in that right from the moment we see him for the first time, you know he’s bad! It has to be that sinister goatee that he has, no one with a goatee like that is on the up and up! 

I feel that 1996’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame has become more loved and respected over the years. This was a darker, more mature kind of Disney movie and it features a truly evil villain in Judge Claude Frollo! Seriously, the rap sheet that this guy has is insane. The way he treats the Romani population of Paris is shocking. Horrible racism and bigotry we are talking about here.

What makes it even worse is that he uses his position of power to do it! Of course, we also have the horrific treatment of poor Quasimodo, from the death of his parents to the way he’s kept locked up and treated like a monster. Claude Frollo is just a truly horrible man and when he does get what’s coming to him, it is very, very satisfying!

On a personal note, The Black Cauldron was the first movie I ever saw in the theatre as a kid, so it holds a special place in my heart! The Horned King had to be high on my top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s list as he is from one of the darkest and scariest Disney movies. It is so dark, that it is almost like Disney does not want to acknowledge it exists. Think about it, how much Black Cauldron merchandise do you ever see?

The Horned King looks like a demonic entity and he has all these crazy and dark powers, plus he wants this cute little pig for nefarious reasons and that alone makes him a top-tier bad guy. He may not be as cunning or conniving or even as well written as some other Disney villains. However, The Horned King gets the job done on pure scare factor based on his appearance alone!

Jeremy Irons as Scar delivers a bone-chilling performance in 1994’s The Lion King! Scar is like a criminal mastermind and the fact that he is so smart and puts all this thought into his evil plans makes him such a vile, evil, and awesome villain!

He kills his own brother and then messes with the head of his nephew, causing him to run away and exile himself! Not only that, he takes over as the King and ends up running things into the ground thanks to a despicable deal he made with the hyenas. A great villain getting their comeuppance is something we all love to see! With how much pain Scar caused Simba, seeing Simba kick his butt is something that we can all agree was amazing to see! This movie does such a great job of showing what a dangerous and cunning villain Scar is, you truly do feel that he is someone who is not to be messed with!

Some of you may have gotten the reference at the start of this top 10 Disney villains of the 80s and 90s list and knew right away that Oogie Boogie was going to show up. How can you not love Oogie Boogie? This dancing and singing (not to mention gambling) boogeyman loves to terrorize people and has his sights on capturing old Sandy Claws and putting a dent in Jack’s plan of bringing Christmas to Halloween Town.

Oogie is such a fun villain and one that many people have a ton of nostalgia for! He looks cool, sounds cool, and he is just so much fun. Plus, he is made of bugs which also makes him gross! If you love this movie, there is a sequel in the form of a video game where Oogie Boogie truly shows how dangerous a villain he can be!