Villains are a crucial component of Disney's empire, and have provided the world with some of the most terrifying, evil, and entertaining moments in the studio's history. However, whether evil stepmothers or wicked witches, most villains do not act alone. The villain’s sidekick is a common trope with Disney, dating right back to some of their earliest motion pictures, Maleficent, for instance, had her crow Diablo, and Captain Hook had Smee.
Disney villain sidekicks can serve a lot of different purposes. Most of the time, they are there to act as the main antagonist’s henchman or lackey, and help them carry out their nefarious plans. However, in the movie's grander scheme of things, they can be used as comic relief against the more sinister, and often less humorous, lead villain. Sometimes, they appear to be actually fairly kind and a genial character in an unfortunate situation, and are more often than not at the receiving end of the lead villain’s temper tantrums or prolonged abuse. Other times, these sidekicks can make for even more entertaining viewing than the villains themselves, and have provided us with some of the most memorable characters ever committed to screen. Here are some of the very best Disney villain sidekicks, ranked.
7 Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed — The Lion King
The Lion King is quite possibly Disney’s most successful and beloved animated release of all time. One of the reasons for this, aside from the jaw-dropping animation and engaging and heart-rending storytelling, is its marvelous and memorable characters. From Simba and Nala to Timon and Pumbaa, pretty much every character that makes an appearance leaves a lasting impression on the viewers. Scar, one of the most downright evil and formidable villains in Disney’s history, is one of the characters that certainly leaves an indelible mark on the minds of the viewers. Like most self-respecting villains, Scar needs followers, and, in this case, they come in the form of rabid, maniacal hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed (voiced by veteran actors Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, and Jim Cummings, respectively). Providing some much-needed comic relief during Scar’s darker moments, these Disney villain sidekicks share an amazing chemistry with each other, engaging in plenty of nasty but amusing banter, leaving audiences recoiling in horror, yet grinning from ear to ear.
6 Lucifer — Cinderella
Named after Satan himself, it would seem that Lucifer’s purpose in life is to make Cinderella’s life as difficult as possible, mercilessly taunt her dog Bruno, and hunt her two mice, Jaq and Gus. It’s hardly surprising, though, seeing as this cat has been brought up by Cinderella’s notoriously unpleasant step-family. Just like his owners, Lucifer looks down on Cinderella and has little to no respect for the princess-to-be. While Lucifer is a very villainous sidekick, he certainly adds a lot of entertainment to the 1950 movie Cinderlla, especially seeing his Tom and Jerry-like interactions with those aforementioned animals.
5 Mr. Smee — Peter Pan
Smee is the evil Captain Hook’s bumbling right hand. He longs to help Hook as much as he can, and strives to keep the rowdy crew of pirates as happy as possible, but sometimes his bumbling nature can mean that he’s more trouble than he’s worth. In the classic Peter Pan movie of 1953, Smee is a pleasure to watch as he remains softly spoken and mild-mannered alongside his megalomaniac of a boss.
4 LeFou — Beauty and the Beast
The villain of Disney’s 1991 Oscar-winning mega-hit Beauty and the Beast turns out to be the hulking and handsome Gaston. He’s used to getting what he wants, so when he’s turned down by the beautiful bookworm Belle, it brings out a dark side in him. Unfortunately, his sidekick LeFou is unable to recognize this dark side. He looks up to Gaston as a hero, perhaps jealous of his looks and apparent success. Gaston takes advantage of this, and LeFou is often mistreated by his idol. LeFou seems to be simply used by Disney as comic relief, and while his quips are often hilarious, many may notice there’s a lot more to the character than meets the eye: he’s not really the hapless dope Gaston makes him out to be. LeFou flexes his superior intellect throughout the movie — it's just too bad he's unable to recognize and appreciate his own self-worth.
3 Pain and Panic — Hercules
Hades from Hercules is one of Disney’s funniest and most devilishly entertaining villains. Though Kevin Spacey, David Bowie, and Jack Nicholson were all considered for the role, it was eventually given to James Woods, who took the character and made it his own as the fast-talking, wise-cracking, leader of the underworld full of sass and sarcasm. Of course, with such a perfect villain in place, there was a lot of pressure on his two demonic, shape-shifting minions Pain and Panic. Fortunately, Disney decided to bring in the legendary Bobcat Goldthwaite to lend his distinctive voice to the pair and crank up the comedy factor to 11. The manic energy and slapstick humor employed worked perfectly against Hades’ more sarcastic style of comedy, resulting in a truly memorable villainous trio.
2 Kronk — The Emperor’s New Groove
No stranger to voicework, Patrick Warburton lends his distinctive voice to the musclebound meat-head henchman to the evil Yzma. Released at the tail-end of Disney’s renaissance, The Emperor’s New Groove failed to have such an impact as some of its recently released predecessors, but Kronk certainly left an impression. Different from many others on this list in that, although working alongside the villain of the movie, Kronk comes across as kindhearted and friendly, it’s only perhaps because of his lack of awareness that he ends up unwittingly entangled in a world of villainy. As a result of his popularity, Kronk’s role in the franchise is dramatically increased in subsequent spinoffs, and his positive traits are further examined.
1 Iago — Aladdin
Gilbert Gottfried’s unmistakable ear-splitting voice couldn’t have been better suited to the hilarious loudmouth rantings of the pet parrot to evil royal vizier Jafar in Aladdin. Sounding as close to a parrot as humanly possibly could, Iago only converses with his master in English when alone — the rest of the time, only letting out the occasional squawk to avoid raising suspicions as to his magical speaking abilities. Iago certainly has a dark, wicked side, and he and Jafar spend a lot of the film bouncing ideas off each other and making each other laugh over how deliciously evil they are. However, there’s more to the character than meets the eye. In fact, Iago was such a fan favorite that, after Jafar was vanquished in the original movie, writers were desperate not to lose Iago with him for upcoming sequels or the TV spinoff. In order to keep the character, Iago was shown to renounce the dark side and ends up joining Aladdin and his gang of eccentric sidekicks.