Cruella de Vil, Voldemort and the 25 greatest movie villains of all-time

19. Lady Tremaine

You may not recognize the name Lady Tremaine, but if you are a fan of Cinderella, then you will likely recognize her by her other moniker, the wicked stepmother. If there is one character we would categorize as a villain in Disney’s Cinderella, it would have to be the stepmother.

Not only does she treat her stepdaughter worse than even an everyday servant, but she has no problem using psychological warfare on her as well.

Hear me out. I know there are other villains you might think are better for this list, even among the Disney crowd, but what makes Lady Tremaine so great as an epic bad guy is the fact that her portrayal is shockingly realistic.

Without any type of magic or powers, she is able to subjugate someone who is actually supposed to be a part of her family. She abuses Cinderella and uses her for her own gain. And the fact that she is downright cruel to her own stepdaughter is something that is hard to ignore.

Perhaps the reason she is higher on the list than even a character like Scar is the fact that when we look at Lady Tremaine, we don’t expect to see a villain. She is supposed to be a caring figure and instead she seems evil to her core and she does things with a sneer on her face that leaves you no doubt that she cares about nothing but herself (even her own daughters are little more than pawns in her life).

As far as a comeuppance goes, it was pretty epic watching her being taken down a few notches. Had she even been a tad bit nicer to her own stepdaughter, things could have been different. But, she chose to be petty, vindictive, and cruel, and in the end she got exactly what she deserved.