But for anyone who grew up watchingDisney moviesthat might seem surprisingly recent.
You show a child Chernabog for the first time, and Ill show you a week of nightmares.
These baddies appear in stories where good triumphs, and happy endings always restore order.
But no one forgetsBambis mother.
Hence why we decided to compile a list of Disneys greatest villains and their most unforgettable animated scares.
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Take Hans (voiced charmingly by Santino Fontana).
Hes literal royalty and is clearly modeled after generically handsome princes of Disney movies past.
But Princess Anna (a wholesomely kooky Kristen Bell) knows no more about him than the audience.
Of course Rapunzel doesnt know shes a princess, because Gothel kidnapped her as a baby.
Gothel did this to rekindle her youth by stealing the healing powers hidden inside Rapunzels magical hair.
The dynamic is lessCinderellaand moreMommie Dearest.
Pretty twisted for a movie with a frypan-wielding horsie, nay?
when it comes to offering a visage in evil.
Which is probably why he is even more disturbing to watch as an adult.
Like so many other men of religion, he blames a womans existence for his own perversions and failings.
Cruella is only about the surfaces, and thats what makes her one of Disneys evilest creations.
The people who brought her to life also had a lot of fun.
Even one of the men she dognapped from couldnt begrudge her that style.
Indeed, Roger Radcliffe wrote her a superbly ear-wormy jingle.
Yet there is something distinctly original about Jafar too.
Few Disney villains are as seriously threatening as this literal snake by the end of the story.
Chernobog declares war on Heaven, God, and goodness in what was the original WDAS most perverse animation.
And we never need to.
It also gives a perfect face to mans arrogance and sense of entitlement.
There is nothing supernatural, silly, or camp about this guy.
Hes a mean, self-centered egotist who gets brutal when denied what he thinks is his by rights.
You know, as a birthday present.
Thats the most stone cold villainy weve ever heard of.
The artistic ambition informs why Maleficent is herself so visually dazzling.
Her inky black colorings spontaneously erupt into sickly green-and-yellow hellfire.
Its an unforgettable aesthetic that is heightened ever more by actress Eleanor Audleys pitiless cackle.
This is a character who from head-to-toe is mesmerically evil because she enjoys it.
Long live the king, he hisses.
And so the deed is done.
But beneath it all is a glittering ugliness that reaches a boil when Scar murders his brother.
It givesThe Lion Kingits operatic heft.
It also makes the character an unforgettable wretch.
