From disturbing source material to real-life inspirations, Disney's classic antagonists have some truly unsettling stories behind them. Join us as we explore the darker side of beloved villains like Cruella de Vil, Maleficent, and Frollo, revealing the chilling tales that weren't meant for the silver screen.
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00:00A blood congeal, then I'll be perished in the land.
00:05Welcome to MsMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for weird, wild, and truly
00:11disturbing facts about classic Disney antagonists.
00:14For this list, we're considering classic Disney to be any movie the studio made before
00:19the year 2000.
00:20So typical of your kind to twist the truth to cloud the mind with unholy thoughts.
00:2810.
00:29Cruella DeVille Was Supposed to Make a Comeback – 101 Dalmatians
00:33I'm through with all of you.
00:34I'll get even.
00:35Just wait.
00:36You'll be sorry.
00:37You fools!
00:38You idiots!
00:39Decades before Glenn Close and Emma Stone gave life to Cruella DeVille in live-action
00:47adaptations, the canine-hating fashion icon almost returned in another Disney classic.
00:53Cruella was set to make her grand return in 1977's The Rescuers.
00:59When animators first started working on the film, they envisioned it as a vehicle for
01:03her character, and it would have expanded her reign of terror from dogs to mice.
01:08Ah, shut up, you idiot.
01:10What?!
01:11Oh, oh no!
01:12Not you, miss!
01:13Mummy Norris here!
01:14Why, you imbecile!
01:15If her hatred of dogs wasn't already enough, this would have made her the enemy of all
01:20non-human creatures.
01:21Rather than trying to capture lightning in a bottle twice, the creators scrapped this
01:25idea and introduced a new villainess, Madame Medusa.
01:29You don't have a way with children.
01:33You must gain their confidence, make them like you.
01:39Yeah?
01:40How do you do that?
01:43You force them to like you, idiot!
01:459.
01:47The myths of Hades are not Disney-friendly.
01:49Hercules.
01:50You know, I haven't been this choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka caught in my
01:55throat.
01:56Huh?
01:57James Woods voices Hades in this animated musical based on the Greek myth.
02:01Disney portrays the ruler of the underworld like a greasy used car salesman.
02:05I really don't have, like, time to bat this around.
02:08I'm kind of on a schedule.
02:09I've got plans for August, okay?
02:10I need an answer, like, now.
02:11Going once, going twice.
02:12Alright, yes, we're there!
02:13He talks fast and he's the movie's bad guy, but he's not necessarily a bad guy
02:21overall.
02:22Guys, get your titanic rears in gear and kick some Olympian butt!
02:27Whoa, is my hair out?
02:29If you go back to the myths, though, Hades is no laughing matter.
02:34While some modern interpreters argue that his villainy is overstated, there's still
02:39plenty to work with.
02:41Kidnapping Persephone, handing out harsh punishments, and ruling over souls are all in a day's
02:46work for the Lord of the Dead.
02:47Son of my hated rival trapped forever in a river of death.
02:52Going once!
02:53Is there a downside to this?
02:55Going twice!
02:56Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
02:58You get her out, she goes, you stay.
03:01Number 8.
03:02Gaston was based on the screenwriter's dating life, Beauty and the Beast.
03:06Up until Belle found herself the target of a man with a violent temper and a fragile
03:10ego, the Disney princesses had never faced a male antagonist.
03:15Cinderella, Snow White, and the like were terrorized by older women who were envious
03:20of their youth and beauty.
03:21Gaston was a genuine departure from the norm.
03:24Belle, it's about time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more
03:28important things, like me.
03:31The whole town's talking about it.
03:35It's not right for a woman to read.
03:37Soon she starts getting ideas and thinking.
03:40Screenwriter Linda Woolverton said she didn't have to look far for inspiration for a male
03:44villain.
03:45Gaston was based on men she'd dated.
03:48My little wife massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs.
03:53We'll have six or seven.
03:55Dogs?
03:56No, Belle.
03:58Strapping boys like me.
03:59Imagine that.
04:00Do you know who that little wife will be?
04:02Let me think.
04:03You, Belle.
04:04He represented a new era of Disney villainy.
04:07Gaston is a man who seeks to possess a young woman, whether she wants him or not.
04:12There's something very real and truly sinister about him.
04:16Since I looked at that loony old man.
04:18See, I promised myself I'd be married to Belle, and right now I'm evolving a plan.
04:27Ursula is King Triton's sister, the Little Mermaid, a piece of lore that was dropped
04:33from the final film would come back later to supplement the stage version of The Little
04:37Mermaid.
04:38I might be willing to make an exchange for someone even better.
04:44In the 1989 original, Ursula the Sea Witch seems to manage being an iconic villain without
04:49any tragic backstory or secret connection to her target Ariel.
04:53But Ursula was actually written as King Triton's sister, making her Ariel's aunt.
04:58I think villains who have a little of a con artist in them are more fascinating because
05:03they give you a facade.
05:04Though this detail never appears in the film outright, it's since been adopted for other
05:10media, including the 2023 live-action remake.
05:13Ursula.
05:14Let her go.
05:15Forget it, big brother.
05:21She belongs to me now.
05:24It adds an extra layer of intrigue to the story and makes her already dastardly plot
05:28feel more personal and vicious.
05:32Maleficent's design had creepy inspirations.
05:35Sleeping Beauty.
05:36Why, it's Maleficent.
05:37What does she want here?
05:38Well, quite a glittering assemblage, King Stefan.
05:46She's the mistress of all evil, so Disney knew they had to pull out all the stops for
05:51this one.
05:52With her horns, hard edges, swooping cape, and sleek refinement, Maleficent was a shift
05:57from the previous depictions of witches and evil queens.
06:00Before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle
06:07of a spinning wheel and die.
06:10Even at her most evil, she wasn't decrepit and aged.
06:15Animators Mark Davis and Ivan Earle took inspiration from another kind of cinematic villain, the
06:20femme fatale of film noir.
06:22They pulled costume elements from classical depictions of the devil and predators from
06:26the natural world, such as vampire bats.
06:29These elements would later be brought to life for the 2014 live-action movie Maleficent.
06:34Before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of
06:43a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep-like death.
06:48The evil queen may have been based on Joan Crawford, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs.
06:53A lot of elements came together to craft the first Disney villain.
06:57For her hag-like alter ego, the evil queen's voice actress, Lucille Laverne, removed her
07:02false teeth to achieve a creepy vocal effect.
07:14The character's glamorous and beautiful appearance is believed to have been based,
07:18in part, on contemporary Hollywood star Joan Crawford.
07:22Given the mythic status Crawford achieved after her death, this adds an unintentional
07:27irony to the story.
07:34Snow White is the queen's step-daughter, and let's just say she's not exactly
07:39maternal toward her.
07:51The allegations that Crawford's daughter, Christina, made in her memoir, Mommy Dearest,
07:55wouldn't come out until many years later.
07:59Once you know the connection, it casts the story in a new light.
08:094.
08:10Gaston almost had a different dark fate, Beauty and the Beast
08:14The writers had to tone down elements of Gaston's character.
08:18For example, one of his last lines was changed from Time to Die to the less violent Bell
08:24is Mine.
08:29In the finale, Gaston plummets to his death from the top of the Beast's castle.
08:34However, an early pitch had him taking his own life after Bell rejects him.
08:48Some fans even claim there was another version where Gaston survives his fall, only to be
08:53devoured by wolves.
08:54If that sounds familiar, it's because a similar fate would be Falz Scar in The Lion
08:59King three years later.
09:01As it stands, the true ending leaves a lot more to the imagination.
09:073.
09:09The wicked stepmother is much worse in the Brothers Grimm tale, Cinderella
09:27Like many classic Disney films, Cinderella is based on an old fairy tale, though it's
09:32been adapted and retold many times.
09:34Charles Perrault's 1697 version is cited as the main inspiration behind the 1950 animation
09:41film.
09:42However, one of the most well-known versions of the story comes from The Brothers Grimm,
10:03in which Cinderella's wicked stepmother is even worse.
10:07She convinces her daughters to hack off parts of their feet to fit the slipper, hoping one
10:12of them will win the prince's hand in marriage.
10:14There's a lot of deeper meaning in that, but it's probably not fit for a young movie-going
10:28audience.
10:292.
10:30Frollo is even creepier in the book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
10:35The thing about this underrated adaptation of the classic French novel is that it preserves
10:39a lot of the story's dark undertones.
10:42Even so, Frollo is somehow even worse in Victor Hugo's writing.
10:53While Hellfire gives us a glimpse into the self-punishing religious zealotry that fuels
10:58the man, the book makes us see him for the repugnant predator that he is.
11:02He stabs a man out of lustful jealousy for Esmeralda, and has her hanged for bearing
11:08witness to it.
11:09Though Disney cleans the story up for its target audience, they're still surprisingly
11:16true to Frollo's awfulness.
11:19It's made all the more complex by Tony Jay's towering voice performance.
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11:481.
11:50The Real Life and Death of John Ratcliffe – Pocahontas
12:05Any historian will tell you that the conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans
12:09is greatly toned down in this 1995 historical fantasy.
12:14The real-life relationship, or lack thereof, between Pocahontas and John Smith is complicated
12:20enough.
12:21But the story's villain, Jamestown Governor John Ratcliffe, has been heavily massaged.
12:41Ratcliffe may have been a tyrant, but he was never sent back to England for punishment
12:45like he is at the end of Pocahontas.
12:47Instead, he stayed in Virginia and was later captured by a group of Powhatan people.
12:53The details of his grisly execution sound more like a horror movie than a Disney movie.
13:08Which of these Disney villains scared you as a kid?
13:11Let us know in the comments.
13:20Do you agree with our picks?
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