For fans of Disney's Villainous board game, a new expansion is always something to be excited about. Each villain's unique objective ensures that every box comes with tons of new content, and it's always great to see one's favorite villain represented in the game. Last July, the developer Ravensburger branched out from Disney's main content and introduced Marvel's Villainous, featuring five villains from Marvel comics and the MCU. It's no secret that Marvel isn't the only brand that Disney owns now, so this standalone game opens up a whole new set of possibilities for future expansions.
For those that aren't familiar, Disney's Villainous sees players take control of an infamous Disney Villain, tasking them with using strategy, wits, and a good deal of luck to complete their objective before any other player can. At present, there are three expansions for the main game and a stand-alone Marvel box, but there is still no representation for Pixar. Disney and Pixar have almost become synonymous at this point, so it's surprising to see those characters not included, especially since Pixar has some of the most iconic villains in animation. A new box would likely include five or six new villains, and these are some of the best choices.
Toy Story - Lotso
Picking a villain from Toy Story is difficult for a number of reasons. There seem to be a lot of great villains like the Prospector, Sid, and even Al the Chicken Man, but most of these characters aren't truly evil. Emperor Zurg would make another great option, but he doesn't show up as a real antagonist in the films in the same way that Lotso does. Lotso's objective would likely include managing Sunnyside Daycare and keeping Woody and the other toys from escaping.
Coco - Ernesto de la Cruz
Another classic twist villain, Ernesto de la Cruz would fit amazingly well in the world of Villainous. Ernesto de la Cruz could have the unique objective of making sure that his partner and now nemesis Hector is forgotten. In the fate deck, players could find cards representing Miguel, Hector, Dante the Dog, and several others. The challenge in this character would be balancing pulling too much trouble out the fate deck while still trying to find specific heroes that need to be defeated. There are also plenty of great locations from the movie that could be included in the villain's domain.
The Incredibles - Syndrome
Though he may seem like a better fit for a Marvel's Villainous box alongside other supervillains, Syndrome from The Incredibles would find his home with other Pixar villains. When creating an objective for Syndrome, his would likely be multifaceted. One possibility is that Syndrome could use his Omnidroid cards in order to defeat super heroes from the deck. Each time he vanquishes a hero with it, the card could grow in power. Eventually, after it becomes powerful enough, it could turn on Syndrome just like it does in the movie, and his final objective could be to defeat it and become Metroville's hero.
Monster's Inc. - Waternoose
Though many Monster's Inc. fans might be tempted to let Randall fill this slot as the more iconic villain, Waternoose is definitely the one pulling the strings and the true villain of the movie. Instead, Randall would take the form of a powerful ally, perhaps allowing the player to perform more actions or copy other cards with his chameleon like abilities. Waternoose's objective would probably revolve around collecting enough screams from children to keep his company afloat, and he would also likely have a card referencing his famous line about kidnapping a thousand children.
A Bug's Life - Hopper
A Bug's Life is an underappreciated entry in Pixar's portfolio, and Hopper is an equally underappreciated villain. Few others share the same level of brutality that Hopper displays, and there are some great moments in this movie that would be amazing to see in card form. Hopper's main goal in the movies is to keep the ants under his control, but his plot to do so involves killing the Queen Ant. In a Pixar's Villainous game, Hopper's objective would probably be to vanquish the Queen Ant, probably requiring a special trap card in order to do so.
Up - Charles Muntz
Charles Muntz is an intrepid explorer, but behind his friendly facade is a plot to capture and potentially kill a rare, flightless bird that happens to be named Kevin. This objective practically writes itself, as Charles Muntz would need to find and capture Kevin, but Carl, Russel, Dug, and other heroes would make that a difficult task. In terms of allies, Charles Muntz relies mostly on his dogs, and their leader Alpha could be his most powerful ally in the deck. Aside from being one of the saddest Pixar movies around, Up does have some potential for great villainy with Charles Muntz.
Ratatouille - Chef Skinner
Chef Skinner originally only cares about continuing to run Gusteau's restaurant, but eventually his sole obsession is capturing Remy and outing Linguini as a fraud. Instead of making his objective about vanquishing Remy, it could instead be focused around earning stars for Gusteau's. Though the restaurant was famously a 5-stars at its height, it fell into obscurity after Gusteau himself died and Chef Skinner took over. This would be a huge goal of Chef Skinner's though he would no doubt use less than ideal means to get there.
WALL-E - AUTO
AUTO is a strange case when it comes to villains as he's really just following his own programming, but his ultimate goal is to initiate directive A-113. This secret directive states that Earth will never again be inhabitable, so even though WALL-E and EVE find a plant on Earth indicating that life can survive there, it tries to keep the ship from ever returning. To represent this in game, AUTO's objective could be similar to Dr. Facilier's, requiring him to draw a specific card titled Directive A-113. There would need to be specific conditions met in order to play it and win, but it would be an interesting villain nonetheless.
Disney's Villainous is available now.