The Disney Universe is awash with golden knights of good. Buzz Lightyear, Moana, and The Incredibles are just the tip of the good-guy iceberg. On the flip side are the burning hot sentinels of evil. Maleficent, Jafar, and Ursula terrorize their respective animated domains, giving the heroes a hard time and causing grief to the rest of the world.
Other Disney villains are much more than base-level evil folks. Some have extenuating circumstances that cause them grief, and in turn, they lash out. Here are a few Disney villains who get a bad rap and may just be misunderstood.
Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed
The Lion King is a wonderful movie chock full of memorable music, lovable characters, and one terrible villain. Scar is a monster on four legs, scheming and manipulating others to take control of the Pride Lands. While Simba and his immediate family and friends are the targets of Scars evil plot, the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed catch a bad rep for falling in with a false savior.
Scar’s trio of lackeys are not the bad guys. They are the lower class citizens of the Pride Lands. The hyenas are forced to eat scraps and live in an elephant graveyard. After so much neglect, hunger, and disrespect, anyone would be willing to follow a leader who promises them basic things like food. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed did what they needed to survive — even if that meant following a guy who killed his brother and nearly brought the Pride Lands to ruin.
Te Kā
Te Fiti had a rough go of it. In Moana, Maui, the demi-god of the wind and sea, snatches Te Fiti’s heart out. This turns the once beautiful island god into the tortured, lava-spewing monster, Te Kā.
The film positions Te Kā as the villain, the final obstacle for our unlikely heroic duo of Moana and Maui to overcome. But, in reality, Maui is the villain of the movie, having created Te Kā in the first place. Te Kā is just another casualty in a long line of selfish acts on the demi-god’s part.
The misconception comes from people within the world of Moana not knowing Te Fiti and Te Kā are one and the same. Kudos to Moana for realizing this and rectifying the problem before the big idiot Maui pulls another vital organ out of the planet or something.
AUTO
The plucky, endearing robot hero of Wall-E embarked on a fantastical space journey, all for love. He and his companion EVE set out to prove that the once uninhabitable Earth was once again lovable. Unfortunately, the ship’s computer, AUTO, hampers them at every turn, all to maintain the status quo on the ship.
The film is set up so we are meant to root against AUTO. The heroes and even the captain work hard to return to Earth despite the computer’s best efforts to thwart their plan. AUTO, however, was simply following the last secret directive, Directive A-113, given to it by the original Buy n Large CEO.
Directive A-113 states that the effort the clean up the Earth has failed, the planet is uninhabitable, and no one is allowed to return to Earth. AUTO was just a noble computer trying to protect the ship’s inhabitants. And, to AUTO’s credit, the Earth was still a damn mess when they finally got there.
Gaston
Beauty and the Beast is a love story that spans generations. The major obstacles to Belle and Beast’s budding relationship are copious amounts of hair, a general lack of understanding on how to eat a bowl of soup, and Gaston. The latter is a pompous, desperate fella who courts Belle at every turn and concocts schemes to try and force Belle into marriage. When he ultimately realizes that a Beast has captured Belle’s heart, he becomes hellbent on killing him.
Gaston is a manipulative, Johnny Bravo-style ass. However, he does have a point about the Beast. After all, there is a literal monster living near his town. When he sees the Beast for the first time in that magic mirror, he quickly switches from manipulative jerk to the town’s protector. While his initial murder-centric reaction is strong, who could blame him? A monster lives only a couple miles away from the people he holds dear.
The most recent live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast revealed that Gaston is also a war hero. He is programmed to protect, which would explain why everyone thinks he’s so great, and why he was so proactive about quickly eliminating the monster threat. My, what a guy, that Gaston!
Al McWhiggin
The protagonists of Toy Story 2 find themselves facing off against several villains. Between Stinky Pete, Emperor Zurg, and Al McWhiggin, our heroes have their hands full. Stinky Pete is a selfish jerk, and Zurg has Buzz Lightyear syndrome, thinking he is a real boy. Al, however, isn’t really a villain. He’s just a guy trying to get by.
We are meant to root against Al as he tries to (and almost succeeds in) selling the entire Woody’s Roundup crew, which consists of Woody, Stinky Pete, Jessie, and Bullseye. We love Woody and don’t want him separated from Andy, Buzz, and the rest of the cast.
But consider Al’s perspective. All he wanted to do was achieve his goal of attaining wealth. Granted, this involved the petty crime of stealing Woody from a garage sale, but he also fixes Woody’s ripped stitching, which is a kind gesture. Yes, a gesture motivated by greed but still kind.
It is easy to feel sorry for him. He was so close to reaching a personal goal, something we can all relate to. But, ultimately, he ended up in a chicken suit, crying on TV. We laugh because Buzz is charming and Woody is Tom Hanks. Well, Al is you and me, regular people trying to make it. Yet we cheer for virtual plastic. How far the (not so) mighty have fallen.
