Five fictional villains you didn’t consider to be disabled

For too long, visible disabilities have been used to code evil into characters. Perhaps the most obvious are facial deformities and skin conditions which are characteristic for the likes of Freddy Krueger, the Phantom of the Opera, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Voldemort. Add mutism to the equation and you get the unpredictable terror of Leatherface and Michael Myers. 

Mobility aids and prosthetics have also become a visual shorthand for villainry if we look to The Witches, Lucius Malfoy, Jafar, and Captain Hook. These signifiers of disability represent their source of empowerment. Then there are the villainous girls and women, usually infertile or vulnerably virginal. They may be extra-scary if they are arthritic like The Evil Queen, or hypermobile like Sally Skellington, or both, like Coraline’s Other Mother. 

As overdone as body horror is, disability continues to be weaponised in film as a way to drive watchers to fear or loathe particular characters. Here are some examples of how disabilities have subtly played into the creation of undesirable characters. 

Lord Farquaad - Shrek 2 (2004)

You only have to look to the towering Duloc castle and Farquaad’s extra-long-legged armoury in Shrek 2 to know this is a short king (well, wannabe king) who wants to be tall. The modifications in his castle such as the height-adjustable bench for torturing Gingy are incorporated for comedic effect. While narcissistic and obsessed with perfection, Lord Farquaad is unquestionably uncomfortable with his short stature. Never are we laughing with him when it comes to his size; instead, his height is used as a way to belittle (no pun intended) the intentions of his ambition and greed. 

Red - Us (2019)
(contains spoiler)

In Us, a family of four is terrorised by a dopplegänger family called the Tethered who were abandoned after a failed government experiment. Red is the Tethered version of protagonist Addy. Red and Addy look identical except Red speaks in a strained, raspy voice, which the actor says is inspired by spasmodic dysphonia. The strangled quality of Red’s voice makes her unique in both worlds because no one else in the Tethered society can speak, yet up in the surface world, it makes her mysterious and creepy. 

To the film’s credit, the use of a voice disorder to maintain the fear factor of a character is challenged when we realise that anyone could acquire Red’s condition. In a final plot twist, it’s revealed that Red was the original Addy, rather than the failed duplicate, and her larynx was damaged when she was strangled as a child by her dopplegänger.

Alpha Gong Gong - Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022

With a high-speed powerchair that can even boil coffee, this multiverse version of Gong Gong, who is otherwise mobility and hearing-impaired, is out for the kill. Like villains and their mobility aids and prosthetics, Gong Gong’s powerchair empowers and enables him to carry out his desires and somehow even gives him better English. For a well-intended person, this is a good thing, but in the case of trying to get your daughter to kill your grandchild, Gong Gong’s aids become an accessory of evil. But does this mean that disabled people with cruel intentions shouldn’t be equipped with accommodations? What’s a reasonable accommodation for evil Alpha Gong Gong? 

Ed - The Lion King (1994)

Ed is part of the hyena trio who serve the antagonist, Scar in The Lion King. But unlike the other two hyenas, Shenzi and Banzai, Ed doesn’t speak. He laughs a lot and he flees in the presence of a fight. Physically, Ed’s tongue is always hanging outside his mouth, his ears are notched, and his pupils are constricted and darting in opposite directions. The first perception may be that Ed is just a silly guy. But if you put the clues together, Ed’s differences would make him vulnerable to predators on his own, so he seeks the safety of a pack. Ed has clearly been the target of previous attacks and his flight response confirms he is fearful of being low in the food chain. 

Serena Joy - The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-2025)

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Serena is the wife of Commander Fred Waterford who advocated for the oppressive patriarchal state of Gilead. While her support for Gilead shows in her cruelty toward other women, she’s hypocritical and resentful of the society she has helped to uphold. While it may be considered a disability in another world, Serena’s infertility in an extremely pro-natal society affords her a position with the most power. However, the power is only constructed and superficial, as there are moments we see her yearning for biological motherhood. In Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, Serena is elderly, has arthritis and uses a cane: the stereotypical villainous disabilities for women. Yet in the HBO series, Serena is much younger and her disabilities are subtle and a result of abuse. Serena exhibits symptoms of mental ill health which are weaponised to torment and abuse other women. Like many other women in Gilead, she gets mutilated. Serena’s conditions simultaneously offer us a glimpse into her humanity, but also make her unreliable and unpredictable: a point of frustration for audiences who aren’t sure whether to like her or loathe her. 

These are all complex characters who, intentionally or not, challenge us to consider the relationship between disability and morality. Their reception also reflects how we perceive certain disabilities. If Farquaad’s height always hits as a punchline, what does that say about society’s perception of dwarfism? How does our capacity for empathy towards Ed change when we consider him as disabled? How much of Serena Joy is a tragic villain, and how much is she just an immoral person? Villains and horror have always signalled what we fear most as a society and as these disabilities become more supplementary and subtle, it’s important we still clock them. 

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