Pixar movies cover a wide variety of strange settings and unique ideas. From a world where cars replace people to a world full of monsters to the magical land of the dead. It only makes sense that it would have a colorful roster of villains to match.
Pixar movies tend to be a little darker than other Disney movies, as much as any Disney animated feature can be dark. Some of Pixar’s villains really don’t pull any punches. We have some honest-to-goodness murderers in the mix here.
Ratatouille - Chef Skinner
Chef Skinner is more of a mean boss than he is an outright villain, but he’s still an antagonist to Remy and Linguini in Ratatouille.
Linguini is having a difficult time fitting into Chef Skinner’s kitchen and the overly angry boss doesn’t hesitate to yell at him, or anyone else for that matter. His biggest sin is trying to hide Linguini’s real lineage for fear that he’d lose the restaurant.
Finding Nemo - Darla
Darla liked to torment the fish by poking at the glass, which was like a terrifying earthquake for the fish, and shake them in a bag until they didn’t move anymore.
Although it’s a villainous act and all of the fish are absolutely terrified of being picked as Darla’s new pet, it’s never exactly clear if she means to do this or she just loves the fish so much and wants to interact with them. Darla’s intentions could be argued either way, but her acts still harm the fish.
Toy Story 2 - Al
Al was a toy collector in Toy Story 2 and had a devious and selfish nature about him. He frequents garage sales trying to find toys for his collection and finds Woody at Andy’s house.
Andy’s mom says that she doesn’t know how Woody got in the box of toys because Andy wouldn’t have wanted to sell Woody because Woody’s his favorite toy, but Al sneaks away with Woody anyway when she isn’t looking. All Al cared about was money and his toy collection and for that, he was a villain and antagonist man in a chicken outfit.
Toy Story - Sid
While Darla’s intentions weren’t clear in Finding Nemo, Sid from Toy Story is undeniably malicious in his intention to destroy every toy he finds.
Sid would find toys or steal them from his sister and either pull apart the toys and mix up the parts of toys or blow them up with firecrackers or a mini rocket. Sid has a reputation that precedes him and all of the toys are terrified of being his next victim.
Monsters Inc./Monsters University - Randall Boggs
Randall Boggs is one of the main villains of Monsters Inc. and has his villain origin story told in Monsters University. Mike and Randall began college as roommates and friends, but their friendship ended when Randall decided to join the rival fraternity and Mike ended up winning in the end, which Randall hated him for and thought the embarrassment he felt was Mike’s fault.
He’s eviler in Monsters Inc. as he’s set in his villainous ways and falls in line with CEO Henry J. Waternoose and doesn’t care who he hurts in their malicious scheme to become profitable in the scream energy industry.
Wall-E - AUTO
In Wall-E, humanity has fled an Earth so poisoned that it’s almost impossible for life to survive. There are no humans left. No plant life. The only animals around seem to be the cockroaches thriving on mountains of trash. After the megacorporation Buy ’n’ Large made the planet inhospitable, they implemented a system that would allow people to live in space for five years while the WALL-E units clean up all the garbage.
Unfortunately, five years wasn’t nearly enough time to fix the damage. BnL’s CEO declared the clean-up effort a failure and told the spaceship’s Autopilots not to let anyone return to Earth unless it was clear they could survive there. 700 years later, AUTO is still ruling the spaceship from the shadows. It does everything in its power to hide the living plant WALL-E found from the humans on board. While AUTO is just trying to follow its orders, its methods are cruel and almost result in WALL-E being destroyed.
Cars - Chick Hicks
Chick Hicks has the unfortunate nickname “The Runner-Up” because he’s known for always coming in second behind Strip “The King” Weathers. Spending his entire career in another racer’s shadow has made him bitter and encouraged him to try to win at any cost. He’d rather cheat his way to first place than lose to The King again.
During the tie-breaker race for the Piston Cup, Chick purposely causes The King to spin out and crash. He comes in first place while Lightning McQueen stops to help the badly injured veteran racer over the finish line. His unfair tactics cause the crowd to boo him out of the arena.
Toy Story 2 - Stinky Pete
Despite initially coming across as a kind, wise mentor to Woody in the first half of Toy Story 2, Stinky Pete the Prospector does not have anyone’s best interests at heart. He spent years alone in his box on a store shelf, passed over by children looking for more popular dolls or “space toys.” His isolation warped his mind, and now he believes that children only destroy toys, or otherwise forget and abandon them. His goal is to spend the rest of his life in mint condition in a museum.
Of course, the museum’s only interested in taking “the whole set” of Woody’s Roundup toys. It doesn’t matter to Pete that Woody and Jessie don’t want to spend the rest of their days behind glass. He’s willing to literally tear Woody to pieces to keep him from escaping with his friends.
A Bug’s Life - Hopper
Hopper is a textbook dictator. Every year, he demands a massive tribute of grain from the ants to see his gang through the winter in luxury. In fact, he frequently demands so much grain that the ants barely have enough food for themselves.
Hopper is a clear-cut analog to a capitalistic despot who depends on his subjects working themselves to the bone to give up most of the fruits of their labor, despite doing no work themselves. The only thing he protects the ants from is himself, as seen when he threatens to crush the queen. He’s also ruthless enough to kill his own gang members to keep control of his people. He goes to such extreme lengths because he knows that the ants are too numerous to stand against if they joined together, and is finally defeated when the ants rise up against him.
Up - Charles F. Muntz
Previously the globetrotting hero of Carl and Ellie, Muntz has turned to obsession trying to reclaim his lost glory. At the peak of his career, Muntz found the bones of a brand new species of bird in South America. However, scientists claimed the skeleton to be fake and publicly disgraced him. Muntz returned to Paradise Falls to try and find a living member of the species to clear his name.
However, he’s become single-minded in pursuit of this goal. It’s implied he’s already killed other explorers he believed were trying to muscle in on his discovery and shoots at both Carl and Russell. Not to mention all the dogs he sent into the labyrinth—searching for the bird—that never came out again
Toy Story 3 - Lotso
Lotso seems kind-hearted at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that Sunnyside Daycare is a prison, and Lotso is its warden. Originally owned by a child named Daisy, he was lost and replaced and eventually found himself at Sunnyside. There he was able to build a comfortable life for himself, all the while believing that children were evil and toys were worth nothing.
When Woody and his friends rebel against Lotso’s rules and try to escape, Lotso attempts to throw them into the dumpster to get rid of them. This leads to all of them, Lotso included, getting taken to the dump. He manages to escape from the conveyor belt leading to the incinerator and had the chance to save the other toys. Instead, he chose to sit back and watch his challengers burn.
Monsters, Inc. - Henry J. Waternoose
A lot of Pixar villains start out as father figures. Waternoose, the CEO of Monsters, Inc. is originally a kind of mentor to Sully. However, as the movie goes on and threats to his company start to appear, he shows his true colors.
He only cares about the success of his corporation. He’s more than willing to use Randall’s Scream Extractor to harvest children’s screams more efficiently, no matter the consequences. His memorable line, “I’ll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die!”, is caught on tape and played back to all the monsters, leading to his arrest.
The Incredibles - Syndrome
Syndrome, or Buddy Pine, probably has one of the highest body counts of all Pixar villains. He’s spent much of his adult life luring superheroes to his island and murdering them using his Omnidroids. Syndrome is credited with at least fifteen superhero deaths, and the dark tone of the movie earned it Pixar’s first PG rating.
All his hatred and bitterness stemmed from a childhood encounter with his idol Mr. Incredible, who crushed his dreams of being a sidekick by telling him he wasn’t special. He then decided to eradicate all the so-called “special” people, or supers, using technology to make up for his lack of powers.
Brave - Mor’du
Besides being a giant bear and one of the most terrifying-looking villains in Pixar history, Mor’du is actually more than meets the eye. Originally the eldest prince of an ancient kingdom, he let his hunger for power corrupt him. When his father decided to split the kingdom between him and his three brothers, he felt betrayed and waged war against his family. Eventually, he went to seek the witch and asked for the strength of ten men. His wish was granted, turning him into a massive bear, and he used the bear’s strength to slaughter his own brothers.
However, a bear can’t be king and his people turned on him. He killed many of his own men. Eventually, left alone in the body of a bear, he forgot his human self and was left only a vicious shell of his past life. Only when Merida and her mother manage to kill the bear is the prince’s spirit finally released.
Coco - Ernesto de la Cruz
De la Cruz might not have the most impressive body count, but his betrayal was much more personal. Originally an up-and-coming musician from Santa Cecilia, he and his childhood best friend Héctor traveled Mexico as a successful duo. Héctor wrote the songs, and Ernesto performed them. However, Héctor grew tired of that life and wanted to return him to his wife and child. Ernesto knew he was nothing without Héctor’s music. Instead of accepting his friend’s decision, he chose to poison him, steal his music, and pass them off as his own.
He also must have apparently just left Héctor’s body in the street, because his family never knew was became of him and believed he simply ran away. And to make matters worse, when Ernesto’s spirit thrives and is remembered by his many living fans, Héctor is forgotten and fading away. Ultimately, Ernesto was a fraud, murderer, and coward and cared more for success than he did for his friend.
