19 most dramatic and over-the-top Disney villains

Gaston — Beauty and the Beast

We have a confession: we fancy Gaston. But hear us out. It’s not our fault.

Gaston is a total babe. Everyone knows it. Those three girls who call him a “strong and handsome brute” swoon about it regularly.  Gaston himself knows he’s a snack, from his Ye Olde Ponytail right down to his strapping boots (we won’t talk about the sock issues).

Unfortunately, however, Gaston proves to be an example of the old adage “Looks aren’t everything.” He may be handsome, but he’s also misogynistic, vain, rude and downright cruel.

Gaston is the epitome of toxic masculinity. It is never more apparent than in his eponymous song. Thank you, Howard Ashman, for providing such a wonderful lyrical shorthand in the line “I use antlers in all of my decorating.” Showing off with the animals you killed for sport does not make you more of a man, Gaston.

He only wants to marry Belle because he demands the best and most beautiful, but he fails to see any other value in her beyond that. His taste is performative. He ridicules the Beast for being “too kind and gentle to fight back,” traits which he sees as a sign of weakness.

“Are you in love with her, Beast?” he mocks, as if that is the most embarrassing thing in the world, and not his woeful interior design skills. “Did you honestly think she would want you, when she had someone like me?”

But Belle hates him, and if he’d listened to her, he’d know that. Another man may have been hurt by Belle’s savage “He’s not a monster, Gaston, you are!” outburst.  But not Gaston. That means he would have had to listen to someone else’s voice instead of his own.

No, he’d much rather sing about himself in the third person, whilst downing 72 eggs.

I think we can all agree that is too many eggs.

Who’s your top Disney villain for drama?