Everybody has their own tastes on who the best Disney villain is. Some prefer the diabolical and tyrannical brand of evil like Scar and Jafar while others prefer the goofiness of a Hades or if you're really a weirdo, the lusting eyes of Judge Frollo. There is no denying though that some Disney villains are so iconic that they even upstage the heroes of the very films they starred in. Heck, it was so obvious in the case of Sleeping Beauty that they made an entire movie with Maleficent as the protagonist instead of Aurora. So with that in mind, it's fun to imagine if the Disney villains were redesigned to give them a more heroic look to them.
In character design, there a few basic tenets that are followed if you want to make somebody look "evil." Think of classic villains from fiction like Batman's Joker. His body has always been shown to be long and lean with a face full of sharp angles and exaggerated features. These design points are followed by tons of Disney villains so with making them heroes, artists have to soften up their faces and make them appear fuller. Another staple of evil colors is that they often stay away from primary colors (those being red, blue and green for the non-artistic folks reading), instead embracing secondary colors like purple or just full on black. Thankfully there are a ton of talented artists on the internet across several websites such as Pinterest, Tumblr, and Deviantart who know and adjust their villains-turned-heroes accordingly. So without further ado, let's dig into 20 Disney villains turned into heroes.
19 Aurora And Maleficent Bump Into Each Other
As classic as the evil fairy Maleficent is in the original Sleeping Beauty, the reason why she hates the royal family isn't really given in the film. We just accept as an audience that she is evil and then she curses the young princess with the old spinning wheel deal, and yadda yadda yadda true love's kiss blah blah blah. But if she wasn't such a wicked sorceress, then maybe she would have been invited to Aurora's birthday party after all. We don't need imagination, though, because we have DeviantArt artist cinnamonscribblez7 to imagine it for us.
The Hulk and Gamora from Marvel show us being green doesn't mean you're evil.
In this re-imagining, Maleficent is given a redesign to reflect her turn to the good side. Her original color scheme is kept even down to the green skin. The size of her dress is greatly reduced and gone are her signature horns, crow, and staff. Another dramatic change for this heroic Maleficent is her de-aging. She seems to now be around the same age of Aurora which is different than the dynamic in the 2014 live-action movie where Maleficent takes on a motherly sort of figure to the princess. Well done, cinnamonscribblez7.
18 Ursula Teaches Ariel The Waves
Mothers in Disney are like evil unicorns; they're almost impossible to find, and when they are, they're not the greatest of parents (Mother Gothel anyone)? Since the actual mothers inside Disney are so rare, perhaps we have to look to already existing characters to watch over the many princesses. And since there aren't many elder females inside The Little Mermaid, why not use Ursula, right?
An Ariel who is also experienced in magic? Yes, please.
This fan artist decided, instead of re-imagining Ursula with a new design, to create a scenario where Ursula is the mother of Ariel. Now, while it isn't necessarily explicit that Ursula has gone to the good side, the fact that child Ariel looks the same makes me think Ursula isn't going to steal her voice. That isn't to say that Ursula is a proper goodie-two-shoes. Maybe with Ursula as her mother, Ariel will grow up to not be so naive and willing to throw her life away for a man she doesn't even know. If Ursula has her moral switch turned to good, Ariel could have been one of the more wise and mature Disney princesses. But I suppose we wouldn't have one of Disney's best villains.
17 Introducing The Not So Cruella De Vil
Cruella De Vil might just be from a visual level one of the most iconic designs in animation for a villain. Even if you aren't too familiar with the actual 101 Dalmatians story, everybody knows the giant fur coat surrounding the frail, tall frame of the sickly pale woman with a fur addiction. Turning De Vil into something attractive or even half way decent might seem like a challenge, but artist pastelshark1103 on DeviantArt makes it look easy.
When all else fails, include a cute dog in your drawing.
The first thing done to make Cruella into a good girl is obvious; the giant robe of fur is ditched in favour of something much more sensible. Not only that, but I have to believe that the fur is synthetic since if it wasn't, then well, she's still a villain to most. Another key change is beefing her up and ramping up the pigmentation in her skin colour quite a bit, so her sickly physique is no longer a problem. Her eyes have also grown bigger and is face is more rounded instead of being sharp and angular. With this look, you would absolutely trust this Cruella with a bunch of puppies.
16 Ursula And Morgana Join The Mermaid Club
The Disney animated sequels are... not really good. Most of them are repetitions of the original movies they're based on with lesser animation and cheap imitations of classic characters. The worst example of this might be The Little Mermaid 2, which stars the daughter of Ariel, Melody, as its protagonist, and Ursula's sister Morgana as its villain. But artist oakwolf6554 on DeviantArt must have liked the movie in some way because they were inspired by it to make this cute drawing.
Instead of switching up the visual designs of Ursula and Morgana, the change in their moral compass is instead demonstrated by the company they keep. Morgana, Ursula, Ariel, and Melody all are chilling on the beach as a happy group of friends and family. Ursula is still keeping a bit of her devious side however as we can see her throwing up bunny ears behind Queen Ariel. That wicked act of evil was captured on a picture taken by her sister as Ariel's daughter is chuckling away at her mom's misfortune. You have to wonder how that camera doesn't get broken in a darn ocean, but I digress. Gotta love how Sebastian is skeptical about all this though. He's gotta stop being so crabby.
15 Jafar Becomes A Worthy Sultan
Jafar may not be considered one of Disney's most creative or dynamic villains, but you can't deny that his design is one of the best. The high arched shoulders on his cape, the long face, and the serpent staff are all landmarks of the villain but if you were going to redesign him as a good guy significant changes would have to be made. Thankfully, artist cancersyndromedits on DeviantArt pulled it off pretty flawlessly.
Somehow, I think Jasmine would be a tad more willing to kiss this sorcerer.
Without betraying the original look of the character too much, cancersyndromedits successfully made Jafar into a guy who you could actually believe would be a vizier to the Sultan or perhaps even the Sultan himself. Let's start with the headpiece, as its rounded shape, lighter colours, and curled feather make him seem more warm-hearted. Next up is his staff. An easy note to any designers; if you want to make your object less evil, make it 100% snake free. And finally, we no longer have to deal with the long face. Instead, Jafar's new jaw, nose, and eyes are more rounded to make him appear friendlier. Perhaps this new Jafar won't be so keen on throwing street rats into the dungeons?
14 Hades: The Spirit Of Vengeance?
Just because these Disney villains have changed their ways and become heroes, that doesn't mean they have to necessarily look the part! If you're unfamiliar with Marvel Comics, you may be wondering why Hades from Hercules is looking more evil than usual here. Well, artist lady___hades on DeviantArt has found inspiration in an actual superhero to come up with this new design; Ghost Rider.
If Hades used Ghost Rider's Penance Stare, would he destroy himself?
For those who didn't watch or blocked out the Nicholas Cage movies from their memories (I wouldn't blame you), the basic premise behind Ghost Rider is this. A man makes a deal with the devil to save his father's life but as he learns, making deals with the devil is bad and is bound to a demon who curses him with demonic powers. It's quite ironic that Hades looks like the Spirit of Vengeance here considering that Hades is actually more in the role of the person who gave the Rider his powers. The funniest thing about all this is that both Marvel and Hercules are Disney properties so it's not outside of the realm of possibility for these two to eventually cross over at some point.
13 Randall Is No Longer A Monster
At the time of the original Monsters Inc. movie in 2001, Randall Boggs was just a slimy vengeful creature who was bent on getting the top scarer ranking and also partnered with his boss to create a machine to extract screams from children by force. But when the prequel to the original Monsters University came out in 2013, we saw that Randall was originally just a dweeby geek. A loss to Sulley in the Scare Games, though, opens up a darker side to him. DeviantArt artist yula568 chose, however, to turn Boggs back into a sympathetic figure with this drawing.
In yula568's scenario, Randall escapes from the human world and tries to take vengeance on Mike, but just as he is about to strike the final blow, a rush of memories come flooding back. All the good times he's had with Sulley and Mike, including one time where Mike tried to surprise Randall on his birthday with a horror movie and a cake. Randy breaks down the walls he's put up for so long and embraces his one-time friend, putting an end to his evil ways. If there was going to be a sequel to Monsters Inc., a story of Randy's redemption isn't a bad way to go.
12 No Shame For Gaston
There are fan theories online about how Gaston is really the hero of Beauty And The Beast instead of the Beast or Belle. While plenty would disagree with that opinion, it would be interesting to see Gaston in the light of a good guy. The artist over at DeviantArt by the name of coffeevulture has made a couple of a drawings of this what-if universe where Gaston was a complete jerk.
In this one, we see that Gaston has actually chosen to read! I know, despite this being a simple activity that seemingly everybody on the planet does, this is a big step for our brawny man. His book of choice? Why none other than George R.R Martin's Game of Thrones, of course! If you think about it, this is the perfect book to get somebody like Gaston reading. Full of fighting, drama, grown-up situations, and just so much destruction, I can easily see Gaston liking something like this. I'm not so sure that Game of Thrones would be something that Belle herself would be into, but I'm sure she's glad that her man found something he enjoys. Let's just hope he doesn't get inspired by some of the villains in that book and returns to his evil ways.
11 Gaston In His Perfect Form
Gaston is the best at a lot of things. Heck, he has a whole song about it after all! Yup, Gaston is certainly great at having a thick neck, hunting, and being fast but some girls want something more than that. For those girls, DeviantArt artist coffeevulture offers up a brand new version of Gaston and this iteration of the character is somebody who remains true to his personality but has his moral switch flipped to good.
In this universe, is Gaston the one who slays the beast? Or does he make him the best pie ever to chill him out?
In this drawing, we can see that Gaston has put down his gun for an iron to become the boyfriend/husband that Belle has always wanted. After all, nobody cooks, cleans, and pleases like Gaston! The artist has largely kept the same design for Gaston, as he should. After all, the original Gaston is meant to be the prototypical handsome hero and Belle IS into beefy strong guys to some extent. Most women aren't going to turn down those big muscles of Gaston and add in his newfound sensitivity, he really is the perfect man.
10 Lotso Gets His Hugs
When Toy Story 3 was announced, there was excitement but there was also some worry. With such an amazing legacy behind them with the first two films, why would you potentially mess up this franchise? Thankfully though, the third Pixar/Disney effort knocked it out of the park and a large part of that was its villain. Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear's posed as a corrupt prison warden with various underlings but what if he wasn't the devil of Sunnyside Daycare?
In this re-imagining from Deviantart artist sony_mae, Lotso is eventually reunited with his owner after being lost. After all, the whole reason Lotso turned to villainy was that his owner Daisy forgot him on the side of the road and replaced him with a new one. So if Daisy took him back into her life, what reason would he have to be evil? In terms of visual differences, there isn't much here that's changed except for his fur color being a little bit more subdued against the pinkish background. So if Lotso was a good guy, who would be the villain of Toy Story 3? Well, I'll tell you who, that clapping cymbal monkey! You know what I'm talking about and for the sake of our sanity, I won't be showing a picture, but if you really want one, here you go.
9 Ursula Makes A Deal With Ariel?
So by taking a look at a few rankings from other sites as to who is the worst Disney princess, I've noticed that many think of Ariel as the worst of them all. That's pretty amazing considering that characters like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty had practically no personalities but still are considered better than this entitled and idiotic brat. It isn't hard to imagine someone like this being a villain and DeviantArt artist salemcattish decided to run with it and create a drawing that flips the roles of Ursula and Ariel.
So am I alone in preferring this design for Ariel?
In Ursula's redesign, we see somebody who doesn't make us wet ourselves in terror. The first change comes with the color of her octopus body which instead of being black as the night, is bright cooling blue. Her face has also become more rounded as this is a common trick in character design to make someone seem more innocent. Ariel, on the other hand, almost resembles a metal/goth version of herself with over the top eyeshadow and black trim around her waist. She is also wielding her father's trident showing that she either stole it or her father loans out his most powerful weapon.
8 Sid Learns From His Mistakes
When you really get down to it, Sid from Toy Story is one of the most sympathetic villains in the entire Disney/Pixar canon. Unlike other villains who run the gamut from sorcerers to gods and demons, Sid is just a regular albeit slightly messed up kid who comes from a broken home. He doesn't know that the toys are alive like the audience does and when you see Sid scream in terror when the toys scare the life out of him, you have to feel a bit bad for him. Well if he wasn't already a non-villain, this drawing by yourwandharry at DeviantArt clinches it.
If you can't tell because of how much older they look here, Sid is the kid on the left while Andy is the one on the right. This drawing is based off a fanfiction where these two grow up and get close to one another, bonding over their messed up families and supporting each other through the hardest parts of childhood. While the artist doesn't specify which scene this is from, I like to think of it as Sid finally telling Andy about the time his toys scared the heck out of him and Andy consoling him. That kid does definitely need a hug.
7 A Cure For Syndrome
With The Incredibles 2 coming out very soon, it's kind of surprising that we actually don't know too much about the villain of the movie's plan. Perhaps that could be because Disney/Pixar knows that whoever that villain in the sequel is will have quite a legacy to live up to. After all, Syndrome is one of Pixar's most ingenious villains ever. But what if he cleaned up his act? Well, thankfully we have DeviantArt artist syndrome_violet's imagination and drawing skills for that.
Who knew the cure for Syndrome was a haircut?
In terms of his look, he still has the freckles and the giant jaw of the Syndrome we love to hate but that's where the similarities end. The first thing to notice is that Syndrome has ditched the troll doll (or Vegeta for the DBZ fans reading this) haircut in favor of a normal combed to the side hairdo. He's also ditched the edge-lord looking black and white supervillain outfit for a plain old suit and pants. It is interesting to think if Mr.Incredible treated Buddy a little bit differently on that fateful night of his wedding how things would have turned out. Perhaps Buddy still would have gone on to be a technical wizard but instead, use his scientific gifts to help humanity rather than rule it.
6 Leaving A Scar On Your Soul
For plenty of people, Scar is the most despicable of all the Disney villains. Sure, there may have been other baddies who have committed far more violent actions or destroyed the lives of more people. But the absolute iconic moment of Scar pushing his brother Mufasa down into the stampede is stamped into every 90s kid's mind like a tragic tattoo so of course Scar is hated as much as he is. This drawing by DeviantArt artist laniej, however, shows off a completely different kind of Scar we've never seen before; a remorseful one.
It's a common trope in fiction, the "my God what have I done" moment. You all know these moments like when Spider-Man realizes that he could have saved his Uncle Ben if he stopped the robber or when Vegeta sees his son get destroyed because of letting Perfect Cell live in Dragon Ball Z. Well, clearly Scar is having one of these moments when looking at the lifeless body of his brother after the stampede had passed. Instead of ruling as a heartless king in the wake of this, perhaps Scar will actually live up to his brother's legacy or maybe even admit to his actions and turn the Pride Lands over to Sarabi. Whatever he does, I can't see Scar going down his evil path after this scene.
5 A Warm Jafar In Agrabah
While watching Aladdin, a couple things come to mind. Why is Iago able to speak but none of the other animals can? And most of all, why does the Sultan trust Jafar given how dang nasty evil he looks? With such an iconic appearance, it would be interesting to see what he would be like as a hero. Mei Yu's redesign of Jafar as a good guy on her YouTube channel Fun2draw thankfully doesn't disappoint.
According to Yu, Jafar is one of the hardest characters to redesign while still trying to make him look like Jafar. To start with, she had to ditch the serpent staff entirely since as Harry Potter taught us, snakes and nearly everybody associated with them bleed pure evil. Another change, as is the case with most of these redesigns, was his facial features. Instead of the sharp lines and long face, this new Jafar's face is more rounded. Finally, his old dark red and black color scheme is trashed in favor of a lighter red and royal blue. Maybe it's the fact that he's rocking Spider-Man colors, but this Jafar looks to be a great protagonist to me.
4 Mother Gothel's New Do
In recent years, Disney has faced a problem of having animated films where the villains aren't quite to the caliber of their old baddies. That's why I have to give my respect to Mother Gothel from Tangled for being one of the best Disney villains from the modern era. The whole time she is on-screen you just have the urge to see this ancient and manipulative old hag get what's coming to her. But with a redesign from Mei Yu from the Youtube channel Fun2draw, I suddenly don't have as much of a problem with this mommy.
In her artificial youthful appearance, Mother Gothel doesn't have the ridiculously evil facial features that some other Disney villains have so Yu didn't change too much of that. All she did was open up her eyes a little bit more and gave a more natural looking smile. The big change here is without a doubt her hair. Instead of her hair being down, Mother Gothel looks like she stepped out of an 80s music video with big curly hair. The dress color is also slightly brighter to differentiate her from the original look. With heroic looks like this, her and Rapunzel can be the biggest duo in Disney history.
3 Sailing The Seas With The New Captain Hook
Watching Peter Pan as a child, you might be inclined to support the flying boy in green tights over the bad pirate brandishing a rapier. But really Captain Hook is one of the most sympathetic villains in the entire Disney pantheon. The guy had his freaking hand eaten by a crocodile because of Peter. Clearly, we should have been supporting the long-faced swashbuckler this whole time. Well, thanks to Mei Yu from the YouTube channel Fun2draw this captain finally got his due.
Now, this is a captain whose ship you'd want to hop aboard.
In Hook's redesign, Yu wanted to go with a look that invoked designs of other Disney princes like the ones from The Little Mermaid and Mulan. His pupils are bigger and his facial features as a whole are less angular than in his original villain form. The clothing is slightly different as some features like the hook and feather look less exaggerated. Even his hair seems to have been toned down and not as big. Aside from that though, most of it is kept the same because hey, he was a good guy in the original fairy tale. Not even joking about that part, look it up.
2 Introducing Beneficent
Maleficent was already turned into a quasi-heroic figure inside of the 2014 live-action movie Maleficent. She was given a deep redesign visually but she definitely fit the bill of a villain. DeviantArt artist salemcattish has a series of drawings which re-imagine Disney villain and hero relationships as inverted. In this one, we see both a heroic Maleficent and a villainous Aurora.
Let's focus on Maleficent though, for the sake of this list. You may have noticed that the signature horns of the evil fairy aren't horns anymore at all; it's hair! While it may be stripping her of one of her signature visual bits, it definitely makes her seem more innocent. Gone also is the giant flowing black and purple robe and staff in lieu of a soft blue and pink dress. Last but not least is her face and skin. Not only is the classic witch green skin color gone, but her face has also taken on a more rounded shape eliminating the sharp lines of her old design. It's also worth noting Aurora is slightly taller than Maleficent in this drawing ensuring that she looks mightier than our heroine. The awesome looking staff on Aurora also helps.
1 The Noble Ruler Of The Underworld
While Hercules is a Disney movie that draws a lot of mixed reactions from people, one thing that everybody agrees on is that James Woods' Hades absolutely steals the show. With his wit, fiery temper and sympathetic position of being saddled with the worst job of the gods, he upstages the actual hero Hercules in every way. I can guarantee you that a ton of people wouldn't mind seeing a movie starring Hades as the hero and if you're going to do it, why not use this redesign.
People may have dogs, but how many have a cute dog with three heads? That's right, nobody but Hades.
Of all the redesigns on this list, this one may be the most jarring. While this heroic Hades retains his original blue skin from his Disney look, that's about it. This God of the Underworld ditches the heavy black robes and pudgy physique in favor of a buff body and a traditional Ancient Greek white robe (FYI, it's called a Chiton). He's also adopted some wristbands which correspond with the bottom of his robe and he's literally letting his hair down. If fans already liked Hades before, they're absolutely going to love this new handsome ruler.