Be Prepared for the 15 Best Villain Songs of All Time, You Poor Unfortunate Souls

For pop culture obsessives, overthinking villains is encouraged. We analyze where they went wrong, what they did right, and who they should and should not be kissing–all while singing along to the best villain songs movies, television, and more have to offer.

The ditties and ballads that accompany our favorite antagonists as they stalk and rage about how hard it is to find a decent minion these days, or whatever they’re on about, are especially delicious. The folks at the House of Mouse have perfected the art of the villain song, so this list is a bit Disney-heavy. They’re so good, college a capella groups make them into crowd-pleasing medleys. But villain songs are as diverse as the nefarious characters they represent: some are humorous, some are sad, and others are threatening.

“Be Prepared” from The Lion King

Yeah, we’ll be prepared! For Scar to tell you in terrifying detail how his nefarious plan is going to go down! Scar was a jerk in The Lion King. So maybe he planned to murder his brother and his brother’s heir, throw the food chain a.k.a. the Circle of Life to the wind, and reign as an authoritarian King of Pride Rock. He was also sardonically funny and entertaining. “Be Prepared” is as catchy as it is foreboding.

“Last Midnight” from Into the Woods

Sondheim is not afraid of dark characters or dark materials. (In a way, his musicals Assassins and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street are 100 percent villain songs.) And in Into the Woods, a musical about fairy tale characters, the villain has a banger. The Witch sings “Last Midnight” when she finally takes out her rage on the more traditionally heroic characters like Cinderella and Little Red. The character was originated by the incomparable Bernadette Peters and also played by Meryl Streep, NBD, and Patina Miller in a revival. “You’re so nice,” she sings. “You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just nice. I’m not good, I’m not nice, I’m just right. I’m the witch. You’re the world.” It’s threatening, scary, and sad because she’s telling the truth. If you’ve ever felt villainized, you may be able to relate.

“Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid

Can we just take a minute to appreciate Ursula the sea witch and The Little Mermaid, like, in general? Menken and Ashman revitalized Disney during its renaissance period largely because they had such a strong grasp on musical storytelling. They knew how to write everything from an “I Want” song and a villain song better than anybody. “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is a Disneyfied campy burlesque number with lyrics about how men prefer withdrawn women that were so true to life and biting that the film has been accused of, like, advocating against little girls using their voices. Ursula is the villain! You’re not supposed to listen to her, just like you’re not supposed to listen to the patriarchal men who really are like that.

“I Put a Spell on You” from Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus was weird and fun in that particular way that only things from the 1990s seemed to be able to pull off. While “I Put A Spell On You” was not originally written for Hocus Pocus, it has become synonymous, amongst millennials at least, with the trio of fabulous, evil witches. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy gleefully embrace their villainous natures. It doesn’t get much better than this.

“Still Alive” from Portal

Yes, video games can have good villain songs too. GLaDOS from Portal really stole the show with “Still Alive,” sung by voice artist Ellen McClain. It’s a pretty song—really, really pretty!  But, when you get into the lyrics, it’s amazing and chilling and so incredibly passive-aggressive that it’s brilliant. Thanks, Jonathan Coulton! 

“Every Little Piece” from Pete’s Dragon

Pete’s Dragon is a seriously underrated live-action Disney movie. Check out comedian Red Buttons as Hoagy and Jim Dale (a familiar voice for current and recovering Harry Potter fans) as Dr. Terminus sing about killing and cutting up a dragon for monetary gain! Seriously. Money, money, money by the pound, indeed.

“In the Dark of the Night” from Anastasia

Fun fact: this is the second time voice actor Jim Cummings appears on this list—he recorded parts of Be Prepared when Jeremy Irons had some vocal issues during the recording process. The man can sound like anyone, and that includes Rasputin, the Mad Monk in the not-Disney animated movie Anastasia. Rasputin’s speaking voice was played by Christopher Lloyd, but his singing voice was performed by none other than Jim Cummings! If you want to hear a villain really, really revel in his evilness, listen to this one! And check out the rest of Ahrens and Flaherty’s work, they’re an iconic and in some circles underrated musical theatre songwriting team.

“Brand New Day” from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

This song is sad, threatening, and amusing all in one. You’re kind of supposed to root for this titular character, especially when he sings “Brand New Day.” Joss Whedon’s web-series Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog subverted the concept of heroes and villains years before The Boys hit the small screen. Captain Hammer, the superhero and nemesis of Doctor Horrible, decides to rebrand as Captain Steal Your Girl and date Horrible’s crush Penny just to mess with him. Righteous jealousy is just what our hero villain needs to launch into a power ballad and vow to end him. Threatening (“you’re gonna die”), poignant (“and Penny will see the evil me, not a dork, not a joke, not a failure”) and hilarious (“shiny new Australia”), all in one song.

“Gaston” from Beauty and the Beast

Gaston is presented as a bully in Beauty and the Beast who may not be intelligent, like at all, but he is cunning. He is the worst version of the “popular guy” that anyone bookish or weird or just slightly out of place in society already fears. His anthem is another hit from Ashman and Menken. The endlessly catchy “Gaston” is sung by Lefou and sounds like a joyous drinking song about how great of a guy Gaston supposedly is until Gaston interjects, not-so-subtly showing us how dangerous he is with lyrics like “as a specimen, yes, I’m intimidating!” and “I use antlers in all of my decorating!” 

Bonus: “The Mob Song” from Beauty and the Beast

In “The Mob Song,” Gaston shows his true evil colors. There are few things scarier than an angry mob, and he stirs them right up. With lyrics like “We don’t like what we don’t understand, it frankly scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least” it’s clear that Ashman was working through some thoughts and feelings on bigotry in the 90s. (There’s a really good bit about it in the documentary Howard on Disney+ if you get the chance to check it out.) And this song might be the only thing that’s better in the 2017 live action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Luke Evans absolutely goes off, reminding us that he is one of the only people in the cast with musical theater experience.

“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Singer Thurl Ravenscroft is thoroughly disappointed and disgusted with that Grinch and wants you to know it in “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from How The Grinch Stole Christmas. “You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel. You’re a bad banana with a greasy, black peel.” How’s that for imagery? Yuck. Is anything as profoundly icky as a greasy, rotten banana? Perhaps this later lyric: “You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile.” It’s a mean song for a mean dude. Pull it together, Grinch! Grow that heart!

“Little Girls” from Annie

There aren’t enough female villains on this list. Where have all the evil ladies gone? Miss Hannigan, the evil woman in charge of the orphanage in Annie, sings “Little Girls” with such drunken despair that you kind of have to hand it to her. The older one gets, the more relatable this song is. So what if she abuses her charges and schemes with her brother to kidnap Annie and scam Daddy Warbucks? She’s “an ordinary woman with feelings,” after all. Heaven forbid women have hobbies.                                                    

“The Rains of Castamere” from Game of Thrones

Just a few notes of this song can strike fear into the hearts of any Game of Thrones fan. When court musicians start to play “The Rains of Castamere” at the Red Wedding in Season 3 Episode 9, it’s the first sign that something bad is about to go down and that House Lannister is in cahoots with House Frey. The song is originally about Tywin Lannister, a villain in his own right. 

“The Room Where It Happens” from Hamilton

Miranda has written villain songs for Disney movies like many musical theater composers before him: “Shiny” from Moana and “Bye Bye” from Mufasa, for example. But “The Room Where It Happens” in Hamilton is particularly genius in how it lures you in with a winding beat and a banjo. You don’t even realize you’re watching a villain origin story as happens. Aaron Burr’s envy calcifies into ambition as the lyrics get darker: “The art of the compromise. Hold your nose and close your eyes. We want our leaders to save the day. But we don’t get a say in what they trade away.”

“Stars” from Les Miserables

We would not have Hamilton’s depiction of Aaron Burr without Javert in Les Miserables. “Stars” isn’t a moustache-twirl villain song. Javert’s menace is in his conviction and devotion to upholding the law no matter how unfair and authoritarian that law is. He is absolutely immovable in his quest to chase and convict Jean Valjean and his personal failure becomes his downfall. Tragic, but it sucks to suck!

“Mother Knows Best” from Tangled 

Donna Murphy brings so much juice to the role of Rapunzel’s toxic matriarch Mother Gothel in Tangled. Evil is not just for stepmothers! In order to steal youth from her magical hair, Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel and raises her as her own. It’s the fairy tale equivalent of that feeling you get when you become a teenager and start to wonder if your parents are living vicariously through you. And the passive aggressive lyrics in “Mother Knows Best” are unfortunately relatable: “Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it. Let me die alone here, be my guest. When it’s too late, you’ll see, just wait. Mother knows best.” We’ve all been there with our mothers at some point or another–just maybe not all at once, hopefully with so many insults, and definitely not in song. 

We’ve run the gamut of villainous emotion from pride to fear to sadness to mania. What’s your favorite ridiculous and/or depressing villain song? Do you have a ranking, or a tier? Let us know!

UPDATE: This article was updated on January 7, 2025 by Leah Marilla Thomas.

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com

Author

Close

Sara Goodwin

Sara has a B.A. in Classical Civilization and an M.A. in Library Science from Indiana University. Once she went on an archaeological dig and found awesome ancient stuff. Sara enjoys a smorgasbord of pan-nerd entertainment such as Renaissance faires, anime conventions, steampunk, and science fiction and fantasy conventions. In her free time, she writes things like fairy tale haiku, fantasy novels, and terrible poetry about being stalked by one-eyed opossums. In her other spare time, she sells nerdware as With a Grain of Salt Designs.

Link to facebook

Author

Close

Leah Marilla Thomas

Leah Marilla Thomas (she/her) is a contributor at The Mary Sue. She has been working in digital entertainment journalism since 2013, covering primarily television as well as film and live theatre. She's been on the Marvel beat professionally since Daredevil was a Netflix series. (You might recognize her voice from the Newcomers: Marvel podcast). Outside of journalism, she is 50% Southerner, 50% New Englander, and 100% fangirl over everything from Lord of the Rings to stage lighting and comics about teenagers. She lives in New York City and can often be found in a park. She used to test toys for Hasbro. True story!