Opinion: We’re Now in Cartoon Villain Territory

In 1959, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty introduced Maleficent, one of the most iconic villains in cinema. In the film, Maleficent places a curse on Aurora, the newborn daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah, whereupon, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. That’s some seriously messed-up shit. What kind of person curses a newborn baby? Surely, the King and Queen must’ve done something terrible to drive Maleficent into such madness, right? Oh, wait, no, they just left Maleficent off the guest list of Aurora’s christening. They must’ve felt that ‘evil fairy’ wasn’t quite the vibe they wanted at the party. Big mistake. Maleficent is as vindictive and absolutely petty as she is iconic, so getting a party snub earns you a death curse. Disney gave Maleficent a retcon and makeover with two live-action movies, so she’s no longer quite as villainous as she used to be, but for years, she stood tall as the paragon of petty vindictiveness.

Fast forward to 2026, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, releases a poorly-worded text message intended for Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre where he states, “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” and proceeds to belittle Norway’s capability to steward Greenland and demands for its ownership. The leader of a sovereign nation just threatened to invade another country because he wasn’t given a medal that he has unsubtly campaigned for ever since his arch nemesis, former President Barack Obama, received one. If this were a movie, it would fall into the category of a cartoon or comedy because it’s too ridiculous to be an actual character motivation. It’s “I curse your baby to die because you didn’t invite me to your party,” level pettiness. But this isn’t the movies. 

In 2004’s Dodgeball, Ben Stiller plays the ironically named White Goodman, the wealthy owner of Globo Gym, who uses his considerable resources to make life hell for his financially struggling business rival Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn). He even forms his own Dodgeball team comprised of professional athletes purely for the purpose of preventing LaFleur from winning prize money he desperately needs to keep his gym open. But as underhanded as Goodman is, he at least played in the tournament, on a relatively even playing field with set rules. On the other hand, Trump, in an interview with The New York Times following his capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his consequent stake of the country’s vast oil reserves, said that the only thing that limits his power is his own morality. “Yeah, there is one thing (that limits my global powers). My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

We’re in trouble, then. Donald J. Trump is a man who famously said of women, “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” He has no understanding of consent, thinking that his celebrity entitles him to access. As the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, this mentality has extended to entire countries. Over the weekend, Trump unleashed a barrage of posts on Truth Social that included an AI-generated image of a world map that had Canada and Greenland overlaid with the American flag. Trump demanding Norway—we're as confused as you are—hand over Greenland or that Canada bend over to become the 51st State is just like Dr. Evil demanding one billion gagillion fafillion shabadabalo shabadamillion shabaling shabalomillion yen. After all, Trump’s understanding of the world economy and basic math—he’s boasted about reducing the cost of medicine by up to 1500 percent—is about the same level as Dr. Evil’s. 

This is the world we live in today. The most powerful man in the world, the man who possesses America’s nuclear codes, is motivated by pettiness and vindictiveness. Donald J. Trump has gone after enemies, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for fraud, or former FBI director James Comey, who investigated Russia’s involvement in the 2016 elections. Not much different from The Incredibles’ villain Syndrome (Jason Lee), who harbored a grudge against Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) since childhood that extended to hatred towards all superheroes, except that instead of killer robots with lasers, Trump employs robotic lawyers with indictments. At least Syndrome had better hair. 

The most frustrating part of all this is how we’re all at the mercy of a real-life supervillain without a superhero to come to our rescue. At least Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), who was also chummy with a white-haired genocidal world leader with an obsession for occupation and who likewise employed an army of Internet trolls, had Superman (David Corenswet) to keep him in check. What do we have? A crippled NATO that still tries to play by the rules and looks at diplomacy or economic sanctions as potential countermeasures against a man who thinks kidnapping a world leader from his home and distributing his country’s oil to his billionaire friends is perfectly reasonable. 

Let’s be absolutely clear: none of this is normal or sane. We’ve entered cartoon villain territory. The United States government has been taken over by HYDRA, and they’re not even trying to hide it. When border chief Gregory Bovino shows up for a photo shoot in SS-coded leather regalia, that’s not coincidence, that’s branding. At no point in human history has a world leader ever threatened to invade another country over not getting a medal. The particular medal in question, by the way, is called the ‘Peace Prize’. It’s a plot so shallow and unhinged it would be considered unrealistic if it were used in a movie before 2026. It would be comedic if it weren’t so dangerous. Trump’s actions as the President of the world’s biggest economy and strongest military force have ramifications for the entire world, even developing archipelagic nations in Southeast Asia. 

What can we do, then? As non-U.S. citizens, realistically, nothing. If other world leaders are reduced to appealing to Trump’s (seemingly non-existent) better nature, the world’s citizenry is far less equipped to effect meaningful change. What we all can do, however, is recognize that behavior like this from a world leader is unacceptable, that there’s something deeply wrong with feeling entitled to take simply because nobody can stop you. It’s behavior that should never be normalized, much less celebrated or cheered on. At the very least, we should all acknowledge that what’s happening today is the stuff of fiction, or should be. Hopper (Kevin Spacey) in A Bug’s Life understood that tyranny has its limits. “You let one ant stand up to us,” Hopper tells his grasshopper mob, “then they all might stand up. Those puny ants outnumber us a hundred to one. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life.”

We need to figure it out. Otherwise, the cartoon villains win.

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