19 most dramatic and over-the-top Disney villains

Prince Hans — Frozen

Prince Hans is a PRA: A Princes’ Rights Activist.

That’s right. Prince Hans of the Southern Isles (a suitably dramatic title, befitting of a scheming villain) arrives in Arendelle, convinced that the world has been unfair to him. It is incredibly hard being born a prince, you know.

He may be handsome, charming, wealthy, and actual royalty, but he still doesn’t have the one thing he thinks he deserves: a throne, naturally.

With 12 older brothers (we demand a chorus line of older Hanses in Frozen 2 please), he is unlikely to ever be king in his own country, so decides to try and claim Elsa and Anna’s instead. He pretends to fall in love with Princess Anna, and enabled by the impulsive weddings of Disney couples that have gone before him, convinces her to marry him.

This was the first step of many to achieve his goal. Next stop, regicide. Hans, please calm down, leading a country is not all it’s cracked up to be.

The reveal of his cruel deception in the final act of the film is one of Disney’s most thrilling moments, causing grown adults and children alike to gasp at this treachery by what could have been the beloved ginger husband of a generation.

But you have to applaud his timing. He even leans in for the kiss Anna expected to save her before. What was the need? Plus he didn’t really have to divulge his plan to Anna at all, but as with most Disney villains, the opportunity for a dramatic monologue proves too irresistible for just a mortal man.

Frankly, despite all this, his biggest crime is not having a villainous solo. As Tumblr user Fluttertree-42 points out, a dark reprise of “Love Is An Open Door” wouldn’t go amiss, and if Hans is truly committed to drama (as the pretend kiss suggests he is), singing his feelings would have been the proper way to show it.