Cruella de Vil may be the one getting the spotlight, but there are plenty of other Disney villains who deserve the origin story treatment as well!
Of course, the temptation might be to wonder, “Who asked for this?” which is a question that generally gets brought up every time a new live-action Disney film is released. It’s a good question and one to which I don’t really know the answer, since it seems the online reaction to every new big budget live-action Disney movie seems to be, “But why?” and then that movie goes on to make a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.
Given that, it doesn’t really matter who asked for these live-action Disney movies (although the best answer might be ‘Disney execs) because the reality of the situation is that we’re going to keep on getting live-action Disney movies.
Indeed, what once seemed like somewhat of an outlier event in the Disney line-up — there were four years between the two live action versions of 101/102 Dalmations, then another ten years until Disney made the live-action Alice in Wonderland with Tim Burton — has become a staple of the Disney franchise in recent years. In 2019 alone there were four live-action Disney movies: Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
And while the vast majority of these films are live-action remakes of existing properties, Maleficent and the newly-released Cruella show that Disney is very much into giving its villains — often the more charismatic and interesting characters in Disney movies, if we’re being honest — their time in the limelight.
Here are five Disney villains we think deserve the spotlight in an origin story movie of their own.
Related: Black Widow, Cruella, to debut on Disney+ with Premier Access
5 Disney Villains who deserve their own Live-Action movie
Yzma
The Emperor’s New Groove is a criminally underrated Disney film that deserves far more recognition than it gets. It’s hilarious, genuinely heartwarming, beautifully animated and features the delightful Yzma — voiced by Eartha Kitt! — in the role of the antagonist. She’s a brilliant chemist and a hilarious villain with an arsenal of deadly poisons and overly complicated plans. Like many traditional Disney villains, Yzma wants what the protagonist has — in this case, the throne of David Spade’s Emperor Kuzco.
As a pitch for this movie, I’d say that Yzma actually has a lot in common with Cruella de Vil — she’s an older character who is unabashedly glamorous, loves the finer things in life, has pretty dumb henchmen, and her entire evil plot is undone by animals (granted, Yzma is undone by a llama who was once Emperor Kuzco, but still). We don’t know too much about her backstory in the film, other than that she raised Kuzco and has been his trusted advisor for years, but that’s what the origin story movie is for. After all, what we mostly knew about Cruella de Vil was that she wanted a fur coat made of Dalmations, and she got an entire movie dedicated to her, so bring on the Yzma movie!
Jafar
Jafar from Aladdin is one of the most recognizable Disney villains of all time, so it’s only right that he gets his own origin story movie as well. When we meet him in Aladdin, he is already the cool, calm and collected sorcerer and chief advisor to the sultan of Agrabah. We learn a bit more about him in the direct-to-video sequel and Aladdin video game, including that he bought his parrot Iago in a bazaar and has a twin sister named Nasira, with whom he was very close. Both those facets of his personality would make for great origin story fodder, as would a fun adventure story that shows how he amassed his magical knowledge and trove of otherworldly artifacts.
As an added bonus, the live-action version of Aladdin has already done the work for us by casting Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, who is not only incredibly talented — make sure you check him out in The Old Guard, if you haven’t already — but also very hot. This is a win for everyone.
Captain Hook
I’m not just saying this because Once Upon a Time cast Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Hook and actually made him a likable protagonist and Peter Pan a malevolent antagonist, but I’ve always thought that Captain Hook was one of the more sympathetic of the Disney villains. Yes, he wants to kill Peter Pan, who is a child, but it’s entirely out of vengeance due to the fact that Peter Pan cut off his hand (as a prank!) and fed it to a crocodile, who then follows Hook around for the rest of his life hoping to devour him. That’s enough anxiety and trauma to turn anyone into a villain.
Peter Pan has managed to garner more than a few successful spin-off series and movie franchises, including a Tinker Bell movie series and a Disney junior show, which means we know a bit more about Captain Hook’s backstory than most other Disney villains. A solo origin film could focus on his lonely childhood, his time at Eton College, how he first became a pirate or when and how he came into command of the Jolly Roger. There’s a treasure trove of great material there for the taking, and Disney should absolutely plunder it.
Xianniang
There were a lot of reasons that I personally didn’t enjoy Disney’s live-action Mulan, but Gong Li’s Xianniang was certainly not one of them. While she is allied with the film’s primary antagonist, Böri Khan, it’s clear as the movie goes on that it’s an arrangement of convenience rather than a true partnership.
When we finally get the climactic face-off between her and Mulan in the film, we’re treated to a fair bit of backstory that made me much more interested in Xianniang as a character than in whatever it was the movie was building towards. Like the Mulan of the live-action film, Xianniang possesses power that society says women shouldn’t have. Rather than shirking from it, she embraced it — and then was exiled for doing so. Mulan rejects Xianniang’s offer to join forces, but I honestly would’ve loved the movie a whole lot if the two had ended up joining forces and ruling the kingdom.
Since we won’t get that, Disney should at least do us all a solid and give us the origin story of its most sympathetic villain. I love redemption stories as much as anyone, but I wouldn’t mind watching a well-constructed fall from grace story either about a young girl who wanted more than society said she could have and those she punished for trying to take her power from her.
Ursula
Ursula actually should’ve been the first among the Disney villains to get an origin story movie. The only reason it makes sense to not have happened instead of Cruella is that Disney wanted to make the live-action The Little Mermaid first, and then make a live-action Ursula origin story film. I’ll take that as an explanation, but I sincerely hope that that means we’ll be hearing about an Ursula origin story coming down the pipeline soon, given that the live-action Little Mermaid is heading to theaters this summer.
Ursula is one of the most recognizable and beloved Disney villains of all time, and that strong brand recognition makes her the perfect character to delve into next. She’s one of the most — if not the most — charismatic and confident out of all the Disney villains, with a delightfully devious sort of villainy that is unabashed and unapologetic.
We learn more about her backstory in the original film than we do with most Disney villains — that she was once a royalty in her own right who was exiled by order of the king due to her lust for power and dabbling in the dark arts — which makes for a perfect set-up for an origin story. Cruella herself — Emma Stone — is even on record saying that Ursula should get the next origin story treatment, so it’s time for Disney to go ahead and ride the wave and give the people what they want!
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