Cautionary Women

Just as The Little Mermaid jumpstarted the Disney Renaissance—a period when the studio released one hit 2D animated movie after another— The Emperor's New Groove   ended it. The films couldn't be more polar opposites, one an earnest retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the other a goofy original about an Incan emperor. Both had female villains, The Little Mermaid 's Ursula being the only one in the Disney Renaissance. They were bookends to one of Disney's most brilliant eras. Yzma, the latter villain, exhibited the same megalomaniacal bent as Ursula. Yzma is less Ursula than Cruella de Vil in aesthetics: barely more than a purplish skeleton with a penchant for poisons and potions. Yzma was based in part on the physical mannerisms of her voice talent, legendary "Santa Baby" chanteuse Eartha Kitt. Disney leveraged Kitt's prowess by having her sing "Perfect World (Yzma's Reprise)" in a key sequence but it ultim...

Credit: Jimmy Tyler Hindu mysticism was very much in vogue in the 1990s, with numerous A-list stars jumping on the soonest plane to India. Marvel Comics jumped on the bandwagon by introducing a villainous woman to the X-Factor comics:  Haven. Haven aka Radha Dastoor is actually not a mutant but eternally pregnant with one. Through her unborn baby's powers, she is able to create dimensional pockets in the universe where she is virtually a Hindu goddess. True to form, she can be quite the healer. One of the few Indian characters in the Marvel universe, the Bombay-born Dastoor is publicly the author of a best-selling book about the evolution of humans and mutants into one race, the New Humanity. Unbeknownst to her readers, she intends to fast-track it through Mahapralaya or the Great Destruction of the World.  In her mind, Haven is no outstandingly evil villain. She believes she is the savior of the world, even if her means mainly consist of satellites ca...