Disney has some of the best characters that have ever come out of animation. The successful conglomerate found a way to bring talking animals to life without being overdone or cheesy. What’s better is that even their worst characters (either by personality or their acts) are still some of the best under the Disney umbrella. Scar from The Lion King is a perfect example of this. He’s probably the evilest cat under Disney and yet the most popular.
The 10 Disney cats below are defined as “the worst” for a multiple of reasons. They could have been the antagonist of the entire story—branding them evil by default—or maybe they were just flat out creepy (like Cheshire the Cat) and we were thankful they were just animation. Regardless, take a look at which 10 cats from Disney are deemed the worst of the worst.
THE LION KING: SCAR
When most people think of Disney’s evilest cats, they think of Scar. This lion literally killed his beloved brother in the most grotesque way a lion could do. To lure Mufassa in under false pretenses around the safety of his son? Really, Scar?
Once Scar’s brother is found trampled to death, Scar brings in his nephew (Simba) to witness his father’s lifeless body for himself. Then, he sicks his hyenas on him and tells him never to return while he turned the women of Pride Rock into Slaves. I know it must have been hard for Simba to almost kill a family member but Scar was too bad to the bone to be saved.
LADY & THE TRAMP: SI AND AM
Lady and the Tramp hit screens in 1955, with people everywhere falling in love with Lady, the cocker spaniel. She was such a sweet dog who loved her human parents and didn’t understand what was happening when they brought a baby into her home.
However, we’re here to talk about Si and Am, Aunt Sarah’s dreaded Siamese cats. They’re sneaky and vindictive and pin mishaps on poor Lady. In fact, during their musical debut, they went around destroying their own home making it look like Lady did it.
PINOCCHIO: GIDEON
Once Pinocchio becomes a real boy, he’s slow to learn that he can’t trust everyone. When he meets Honest John, he’s anything but honest. He tells Pinocchio he could easily become an actor and he somehow has the medical knowledge to diagnose Pinocchio with allergies. However, we’re not here to talk about Honest John, we’re here to talk about his sidekick Gideon.
In the movie, Gideon is mute unlike his partner in crime Honest John. He’s also dressed like a homeless cat (why is he wearing clothes anyway?) and can’t seem to do many things right. As it turns out, Gideon is actually a drunk who’s so loyal to Honest John that he doesn’t seem to notice that he’s taking advantage of a young puppet-child.
THE JUNGLE BOOK: SHERE KHAN
Shere Khan is the ultimate antagonist. He’s horrifying and has an emotional reason for hating humans, which is why viewers were so worried about Mowgli while watching The Jungle Book. Mowgli was brought up by a loving family of wolves who were threatened by Shere Khan once he realized they were raising a man-cub.
After Mowgli sneaks off into the jungle to live with people of his own kind, Shere Khan goes on a full-blown manhunt to kill him before he can reach safety. He’s pretty powerful to have the entire jungle at his feet but he’s still the worst.
TARZAN: SABOR
Sabor doesn’t have any lines in Tarzan (unlike a few of the other animals in the movie) but that doesn’t make him any less terrifying. He’s the leopard who single-handedly killed Tarzan’s parents and Kerchak and Kala’s baby.
Without Sabor, Tarzan would have grown up in the human world with his loving parents and Kala would have never lost her child. However, thanks to Sabor’s natural instinct to kill, he’s apparently on a killing rampage for sport. Thankfully, Tarzan hands him his fate towards the end of the movie, but who knew we could despise an animated cat so much who doesn’t have any lines?
THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE: FELICIA
Similar to Cinderella’s Lucifer, Felicia from The Great Mouse Detective is equally spoiled and mean. As a lazy house cat, she’s owned by the movie’s antagonist Ratigan. And what does Ratigan decide to feed his precious baby Felicia? The bodies and souls of people he hates. You could say Felicia is evil solely based on all the souls she eats (and her weight shows that).
What’s stranger about the relationship between Felicia and Ratigan is that Felicia literally eats mice and other “things” that upset Ratigan. However, Ratigan is a rat himself. Does Felicia not have the same appetite for her owner?
ALICE IN WONDERLAND: THE CHESHIRE CAT
The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland is creepy. He’s mysterious and acts like he has Alice’s best interest in the beginning, but later shows his mischevious side. He can become invisible when he wants to and can even take his own head off his body. Like the rest of the characters Alice comes face-to-face with in the forest, he’s a little crazy.
In fact, some may even say he’s the craziest of all. His dark sense of humor drives Alice insane which seems to give him pleasure in return. He may look cool with his yellow eyes and stripped cat-body, but he’s actually evil.
ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE JOHN
Prince John is one of those characters that wants to be a “bad boy” so bad but fails at doing so. He’s been on a power-trip for so long that now that he’s in power, he acts like a young boy who wants all the attention all the time.
After taking the throne from his brother, King Richard, Prince John demands respect and hates when people mention his royal family (especially his brother or his mother who favored his brother). What’s worse is he steals from the poor to feed the wealthy while also being a real crybaby. Imagine a young boy in a crown, crying about getting his way, and that’s Prince John.
ALADDIN: CAVE OF WONDERS
Yes, Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders totally counts as a cat! As a cave that’s found somewhere in the middle of the desert, it takes shape of a tiger with its mouth being the cave’s entrance. Magical treasures can be found inside the cave and only those who are brave enough to enter can try; however, the success rate is not that high. The treasures are guarded by a tiger’s head, after all.
The Cave of Wonders has a deep voice (almost demonic) and a horrifying roar that takes place when the cave closes. But as cool as this mysterious cave is, this “tiger” willingly kills anyone who’s not worthy of entering – a “diamond in the rough.”
CINDERELLA: LUCIFER
Lucifer could have easily joined the good side after seeing what a goddess Cinderella really was. But Lucifer was too brainwashed by his evil owners to respect the very woman that housed and fed him. After all, if it weren’t for Cinderella and her father, her evil stepmother and stepsisters wouldn’t be living in such luxury anyway.
Lucifer is a fat cat whose main goal is to eat and terrorize Cinderella’s BFF mice. Thankfully, Cinderella doesn’t pay too much attention to Lucifer but he’s still a brat with a complex.
