The Most Fearsome Disney Villain Ever
Why Climate Change is Disney’s most fearsome villain of all time and how it can be defeated
The Walt Disney Company has told and retold some of the greatest stories of all time. In its long history of storytelling, Disney has created or told the tales of fascinating characters. Many of the most recognizable and memorable characters, the mighty heroes or fearsome villains, come from the House of Mouse.
Because of Disney’s successes in storytelling and their undeniable success in creating fascinating recognizable and memorable characters, those characters have become a central piece to culture and society. As such, there is much conversation about which heroes are the most mighty and which villains are the most fearsome.
Generally, Disney will tell stories using one of five major labels that the company operates. Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic each tell their own stories with their own unique characters. Examining heroes and villains from different storylines make comparisons even more enthralling.
In 2019, the company launched its own streaming service, Disney+, which perfectly showcases the five labels different labels. Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic each have their own space on the app. With antagonists like Chick Hicks, Darth Sidious, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Thanos, and Yzma all in one place, determining the most fearsome one of all became much more prudent.
The most fearsome Disney villain of all time is climate change. Featured primarily by National Geographic, climate change is less charming or charismatic than some of the other Disney villains. It doesn’t have a complicated and thought-provoking backstory, it’s not played by a fan-favorite actor or actress, and it’s not animated to be deceptively cute. Climate change doesn’t make a good video game character and nobody dresses up as it for Halloween. The differences don’t end there. Climate change also sets itself apart from many other Disney villains because, unlike many classic antagonists, it’s not fictional.
National Geographic is possibly Disney’s most unique storytelling apparatus. While each label has its own brand and identity, all of them operate primarily in the realm of fiction. All of them, that is, except for Nat Geo. For the most part, National Geographic is dedicated to filming nature as it is and relies on footage and facts to entertain rather than animation and storyline. Despite being the most different in the group, National Geographic is indeed owned by Disney, and therefore, all the characters featured in National Geographic can be considered Disney characters.
Earth is filled with many incredible creatures, and without adding a little bit of movie magic, most of them don’t have heroic or villainous tendencies. This means there are far fewer villains in National Geographic films than in other Disney films. Many fictional Disney villains are loosely based on real animals, but an average tiger is hardly as villainous as Shere Khan. The same could be said about Hopper and the average grasshopper, King Louie and the average orangutan, or Prince John and the average lion. The same could be said of the relatively muted characteristics of Disney’s most legendary heroes that are also based on National Geographic characters, or, real animals. Pascal, Zazu, Dory, and Koda would be far less heroic than an average chameleon, hornbill, blue tang, or grizzly bear.
Providing relatively accurate representations of nature and its inhabitants certainly holds nat geo back in terms of character development. Despite not having the deepest roster of villains, National Geographic still has the strongest villain of all time.
Climate change is so much more powerful than the other Disney villains that it can defeat or outperform nearly any of them. In many cases, it can even recruit other villains by skewing or inspiring their motives or by using other villains’ actions to advance on its own.
Thanos, Darth Vader, Cruella de Vil, and Scar are some of the most well-known and nefarious Disney villains. Thanos and Darth Vader are each considered among the most powerful beings in their perspective universes. Cruella and Scar, not possessing the same superhuman powers as the other two, aren’t known for their might as much as their heartless motives and actions.
Thanos set out to wipe out half of all living things in the universe in a misguided attempt to preserve life. He was primarily motivated by a fear of running out of food. Although the Malthusian economic principles to which Thanos prescribed have been largely disproven, and are disputed at best, climate change could have severe impacts on global food supply.
As powerful as he was, Thanos, could be seen as a mere sidekick of climate change. Reminiscent of IncrediBoy’s obsession with Mr. Incredible, Thanos developed a shortsighted fixation on one of the potential effects of climate change. His obsession lead to a blind motivation to wipe out life before food shortages could.
Darth Vader is different. He isn’t a deranged product of a symptom that resembles a potential downstream effect of climate change. Among other acts of cruelty, Darth Vader is known for using the force to choke enemies. His signature move isn’t totally unique, though. Asphyxiation is a tactic used by climate change as well. Darth Vader uses a more direct approach while climate change uses a broader and slower attack.
Climate change is attacking the earth’s atmosphere from multiple fronts. Instead of using the force to choke enemies one by one, climate change’s strategy consists of slowly removing the breathable air supply of the entire globe.
Pollution destroys the air, effectively cutting off the global population from clean air, not unlike Darth Vader. Earth’s oceans and tropical rain forests are often referred to as the lungs of the earth and both are being destroyed. Specifically, the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon Rain Forest, which produce x oxygen are being destroyed. So as climate change poisons the air it simultaneously removes the ability of the earth to clean and filter it.
Cruella de Vil’s dedication to fast fashion and fondness for turning endangered animals into avant-garde clothing makes her a menace to wildlife and the delicate balance of biological ecosystems.
Cruella’s damage to the global environment is significant and harmful, but when compared to climate change’s destructive capabilities, Cruella seems to do almost nothing.
Like de Vil, climate change will likely target endangered species. As climate change reduces global populations of animals, the endangered ones, already fighting dwindling numbers due to factors such as habitat destruction and depleted food sources will be especially susceptible and could face extinction.
Like Thanos, Cruella’s actions would be aligned with climate change. Her destructive tendencies would accelerate the end goal of total desolation of climate change.
In addition to being a villain so powerful and fearsome that even Darth Vader and Cruella de Vil fail to compare, climate change is also quite crafty.
Climate change thrives on greed, incompetency, ignorance, fear, pride, and malice to grow mightier. Those same vices also serve as the means, motive, or opportunity for a number of Disney villains.
Scar was the king of a rich and fruitful land where opportunity was in abundance. Scar’s incumbency was hallmarked by a poor allocation of scarce assets, mismanagement of natural resources, and blatant destruction of wildlife. When Scar reigned, the water dried up and his constituents were starved. Poor land management also left the terrain vulnerable to wildfire.
Scar displays a refined ability to ravage an economy and tear apart the social fabric of a community upon which a thriving economy depends. However, his talents are pathetically outmatched by climate change’s ability to do so. Climate change has the power to unravel an economy and disintegrate a societal structure in a manner so effective that Scar would look like a peace-keeping activist by comparison.
Scar also illustrates that poor leadership can have a negative impact on a planet. That poor leadership can facilitate a situation in which climate change can be accelerated.
Climate change being so much stronger than some of the strongest Disney villains might make it seem as though any opponent of climate change is outmatched. In addition to all the similarities climate change shares with those villains, there is another notable similarity. Just like Thanos, Darth Vader, Scar, and other villains, climate change is beatable. Extremely so, in fact.
Thanos was killed. Twice. Then the effects of his tirade were undone by the snap of Tony Stark’s fingers. Darth Vader’s death star was blown up, rebuilt, and blown up again. During the latter event, so was Vader. Cruella was arrested and humiliated. Before falling to his death, Scar was betrayed and abandoned by his evil and cowardly assistants.
Clearly, climate change is on the losing side.
Even without the help of the Avengers, Luke Skywalker, or Simba, the human race is far from helpless. Climate change is extremely beatable, but not easily. Just like the other Disney villains, defeating climate change will require adaptation, sacrifice, leadership, cooperation between corporations, governments, and individuals, humility, and the development of and reliance on advanced technology.
When Thanos was briefly victorious, the technology to reverse his destruction hadn’t been invented yet, so the Avengers employed the best minds, or in this case mind, available, Tony Stark. To fight climate change, a foe far more formidable than Thanos, the same needs to be done. The best minds the world has to offer need to be developing technology to reduce and reverse the effects of climate change.
In the meantime, humans worked together to adapt and find a way to survive under new and changing circumstances. This means more than Captain America hosting support groups to talk about the Mets, no matter how worthy a discussion topic.
The demise of Cruella de Vil meant less habitat destruction and fewer endangered animals being hunted. It also less market pressure on clothing companies to mass produce cheap nondurable clothing and less waste. Wasteful and irresponsible societal habits like rampant consumerism, exhibited in the form of fast fashion by Cruella de Vil, are as dangerous as they are avoidable.
Rampant consumerism comes in many forms. De Vil’s fast fashion is just one. Bottled water, food waste, and single-use plastics are a few more examples of wasteful consumption. Even unavoidable necessities of modern life, like paper products and electronics, also generate a lot of waste, and without mindful purchasing and responsible disposal, can turn powerful tools for humans into a tool for climate change.
Scar was defeated, then, more notably, his evil governmental regime was disassembled and replaced by a fair and equitable leadership group. Almost immediately, plant and animal life began to flourish.
So, the answer to the much-discussed inquiry of what Disney villain is the most fearsome is a simple one. Climate change is an intimidating villain because unlike Thanos, Darth Vader, Cruella de Vill, and Scar, it is not a fictional character. It doesn’t stay on-screen like the rest of the villains. In fact, climate change got its start in the real world long before it made its silver screen debut. Sometimes, people in the real world can resemble other Disney villains, their means, or their motives, and some villains might be based on historical figures, but the other Disney villains aren’t real. Climate change is. This can be a discomforting fact. Just as it would be paralyzing to run into Thanos or Darth Vader on the street, confronting climate change can be terrifying and intimidating.
Fortunately, climate change’s peers have developed a well-established pattern of losing, and Disney’s stories are constant reminders that good can conquer evil. Climate change is no less conquerable by good than any other Disney villain. So, while climate change is the most fearsome Disney villain of all time, it too will follow the tradition set by villains before.
Conclusion:
Climate change is worse than / could defeat / would recruit Thanos
Climate change is worse than Darth Vader
Climate change is worse than / could defeat Cruella de Vil
Climate change is worse than / could defeat / would recruit Scar.
The human race is better than / can defeat / will reject climate change.
