Many popular works feature twist villains that subvert expectations and show the range of people who can turn to the dark side—even the stars and much-loved heroes. Time and again, the unthinkable happens: the protagonist of a story looks up to a popular, heroic icon with a history of battling evil, but after meeting them in person, it seems their moral code was only skin-deep.
A common trait among many heroes-turned-villains is their buoyant personality and cheerful presence in the public eye. On the other hand, some villains may keep themselves in the shadows, letting their actions tell one story while their sinister deeds reveal another. In any case, the most unexpected villains are always those the protagonist deems kind-hearted and positive. Never meet your heroes, main character.
10Ernesto de la Cruz – ‘Coco’
ThroughoutCoco, all Miguel wants to do is locate guitar legend Ernesto de la Cruz in the spirit realm to get his blessing to play music. No signs point to la Cruz’s more selfish nature at the beginning—after all, what kind of villain would invite a host of spirits to his gigantic party? However, just before la Cruz’s performance, Miguel figures out his true colors, and the star’s inner villain begins to show.
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Though Ernesto de la Cruz carries no secret motive or sinister plot, his past tendencies to do anything to “seize his moment” reveal that he is much more volatile and selfish than expected. Poisoning Héctor may have been a one-time event, but la Cruz goes down a slippery slope as the years go by, being perfectly content to trap Miguel in the spirit world and leave Héctor to be forgotten. Luckily, karma catches up to him in the end in the most bombastic, Ernesto-fashion possible. He’ll definitely be remembered, but not for the reasons he hopes.
The Bad Guysconvinces its audience that the primary “twist” villains are right in front of them; the Bad Guys take up lessons to be good before performing a heist, planning to reveal their true nature in their moment of glory. However, as the night arrives, Mr. Wolf has second thoughts and forgets the mission until he’s framed for the crime. As it turns out, their goodness teacher, the much-loved philanthropist Professor Marmalade, is behind the scheme, as well as an even larger, billion-dollar heist no one expects.
Professor Marmalade is almost too kind from the beginning. He is soft-spoken, selfless, and enamored by the simple joys around him. The movie turns up his sweetness level to one hundred, which may be suspicious in any other film, but his role next to The Bad Guys makes it seem impossible for him to be sinister at all next to such a seasoned group of heist professionals. During the final reveal, Marmalade doesn’t even ditch his soft voice or cute appearance. Though his motives were hidden, his personality wasn’t a guise after all—which is perhaps the most unexpected element of the twist.
8Henry J Waternoose III – ‘Monsters, Inc.’
Monsters, Inccreates a world from the concept of monsters under the bed, but only a few of the creatures are scary on the insideandoutside. Mr. Waternoose isn’t a big shot in Monstropolis, but his role as CEO of Monsters, Inc. and value as a mentor to Sully is clear from the beginning. Unfortunately, Waternoose’s loyalty to his company is what ultimately turns him against Sully and reveals his lack of sympathy to human children. to alleviate the effects of a scare shortage, he allows Randall to try out a dangerous invention on Boo to maximize scare energy with seemingly no care in the world for the baby’s safety.
Unlike the stereotype of evil big businessmen, Waternoose is kind and open-minded to his employees. Though his concern about a human breaking free is feigned, he does nothing to bring his employees down; at the beginning of the film, he politely asks Sully, his best worker, to help him teach beginning scarers for their own, and the entire company’s, benefit. However, someone who would “kidnap a thousand children,” in his own words, before the scare crisis catches up to him, definitely holds his own well-being above others.
7Charles Muntz – ‘Up’
Unlike most twist villains, Charles Muntz’s status as a fallen star is shown right at the beginning ofUp. A paleontologist accused of bringing back fake bones of a rare bird, Muntz vows to continue his search in South America and never return until he finds the creature once and for all. When Carl Fredericksen encounters him during his and Russel’s mission to cross the falls, Carl is absolutely head-over-heels about meeting his idol, and they bond over his past adventures.
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Muntz’s goal seems noble at first, but his means of accomplishing it led to several skeletons in his closet. Determined to be the only adventurer to find his prize, Muntz kills prying visitors left and right to make sure no one sabotages his mission. Like Ernesto de la Cruz, Charles Muntz upholds his motto (“Adventure is out there!”) by resorting to villainous levels of ambition. Perhaps all those years alone with his dogs with a thirst for finding Kevin did damage to his moral code…
6Cozy Glow – ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’
The back half ofMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magicintroduced a whole new cast of characters to learn from the “Mane” six, attending Twilight Sparkle’s newly-built school of friendship. Among these pupils is Cozy Glow, a small, pink pegasus who seems to value friendship and put others before herself. Unfortunately, her avid studies at the school were only for her own benefit the entire time; Cozy believed that, contrary to Twilight’s philosophy, the elements of harmony that are key to friendship can be manipulated for one’s own gain.
Judging by personality, voice, and appearance alone, Cozy Glow seems like the last pony to go up against Twilight and her friends, especially after they’ve saved Equestria so many times. Cozy is well aware of her innocent demeanor, however, and plays it to her advantage. When she becomes top of her class after feigning incompetence, she takes the chance to work alongside Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer by helping them with faculty work, waiting for the window of opportunity necessary to usurp the school for herself. Later on, she even befriends Equestria’s most formidable villains as means of revenge. Evil or not, those friendship lessons definitely paid off.
5Professor Callaghan – ‘Big Hero 6’
Though reluctant at first, Hiro Hamada is enamored with the idea of attending the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology to expand his robotic knowledge and be taught by the legendary Robert Callaghan, a famous robotics expert responsible for breakthroughs in the industry. When there’s an explosion in the institute and a man in a Kabuki mask is the one behind it, Hiro enlists Baymax to take down the culprit, believing it to be a jealous Krei; however, when they pursue and capture Yokai, the man behind the mask turns out to be Callaghan, having stolen Hiro’s microbots to get back at Krei.
Callaghan is violent and revenge-seeking, but his motivation and anger toward Alistair Krei makes total sense–for better or worse. After Krei decides to move forward with risky experiments on his latest portal invention, Callaghan’s daughter Abigail is trapped and presumed dead. While he is rightfully imprisoned by the end of the film, having Hiro rescue Abigail repaired the damages of the past and leaves room for new, better beginnings.
4King Andrias – ‘Amphibia’
King Andrias is a gentle giant who admires his subjects. Constantly working alongside Marcy and supporting her friends, Andrias seems selfless and caring towards others–anyone willing to give Sprig their credit card for unlimited spending is undeniably generous, villain or not. However, when his ulterior motives are revealed, King Andrias is willing to turn his back on his partners, dropping Sprig from the castle window and stabbing Marcy, his closest partner, with a fiery sword.
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Andrias has the confidence and grit capable of forming his army and going to war, but luckily, there is still good in him at the end of the day. When the Core demands King Andrias hand over Marcy as its new host, he’s reluctant at first, and later on, Andrias manages to turn things around at the end by betraying his army and trying to set things right. While his actions in theAmphibiafinale don’t undermine his season and a half of maniacal, selfish planning, at least his big personality and commanding presence was used for good a few times.
3Uncle Aaron / The Prowler – ‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse’
Spider-man: Into the Spider-Versebrought Miles Morales’s life onto the big screen, featuring his aloof but well-meaning uncle, Aaron. Bearing the weight of his strict father, Miles connects with Aaron and goes off creating graffiti art alongside him, viewing Aaron as a means of escape from his expectations. Only after the halfway point in the film does Miles realize that his uncle is The Prowler, a vicious hitman going after Spider-man under Kingpin’s command.
While Uncle Aaron’s alter-ego The Prowler causes significant trouble for Miles (and the fate of the universe), he ultimately regrets his actions and values Miles over his mission. When he realizes Miles is Spider-Man, he immediately stops trying to kill him, though it’s a move that Kingpin uses against him. Though Aaron was not as angelic as Miles believed,Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verserepeatedly plays Aaron’s last words of advice to Miles: “Keep going.” Though flawed, Aaron remained the cool uncle until his death and carried a meaningful legacy.
2Chester V (‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2introduced the lovable, quirky scientist Chester V, inventor of the FoodBar and owner of the science company Live Corp. Flint Lockwood idolizes Chester for his successful inventions and relates to his past of being bullied and isolated, so when Flint is tasked with shutting down the FLDSMDFR on Chester’s behalf, he readily agrees.
Chester V plays up his friendly persona for Flint to get him to shut down the machine, but when he isn’t fooling anyone, he doesn’t hesitate to be hostile and calloused. For the most part, however, Chester retains his playful personality while he gloats and carries out his evil deeds. While hanging Flint’s friends over a shredder to turn them into food bars, for example, Chester keeps on his signature smile and dances around the room, confident that his holograms and own success will allow him to triumph over all else.
1Gideon Gleeful (‘Gravity Falls’)
Gideon Gleeful is famous in Gravity Falls for his role as a performing fortune-teller, charming his small-town audience with his singing and adorable persona. While Dipper isn’t fooled by his scam, Mabel is enamored by cuteness, and the two momentarily bond over their mutual love for all things adorable. Though his soft-spokenness and cuteness are played up for the show, they linger a little in his actual personality—until things don’t go his way.
Gideon’s controlling and sadistic personality offstage was revealed to Dipper and Mabel Pines in his debut episode “The Hand that Rocks the Mabel,” but for the rest of the Gravity Falls population, he manages to carry on his cutesy persona until Grunkle Stan reveals his string of surveillance microphones, proving he was a fraud after all. From then on, Gideon’s life in prison showcases his short temper and manipulative tendencies, but after his moment of redemption in the series finale, he decides to live the rest of his childhood being friendly and cute…most of the time.
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