Pixar Villains/Antagonists in Future Kingdom Hearts Games

[DisneyXPixarfan95 36]

Do you think we might see other Pixar villains/antagonists in possible future games in the Kingdom Hearts series, besides only just Randall from Monstropolis in Kingdom Hearts III?

Well that's the question, Pixar has had several different villains/antagonists from their 23 films so far, but it will depend on Square Enix and especially the crew/team at Pixar on what role the antagonists from the Pixar films will play in the original story exclusive to KH, and whether or not that specific Pixar antagonist would fit within the original story or simply not add them in at all.

When compared to the Disney villains (e.g. Maleficent, Pete, Hades, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, Ursula, Scar, etc.) and the original Kingdom Hearts villains (e.g. Xehanort, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Vanitas, Braig/Xigbar/Luxu, Organization XIII), the Pixar Villains aren't really threatening and they don't pose the same level of malevolence as other villains they can utilize. On top of that, Pixar isn't known for their villains in the first place, as the main conflict in each film is the protagonist's internal/external struggles they face in the film (e.g. Woody's jealousy of Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story, Marlin's external struggles on finding his son Nemo, Joy's intrapersonal conflict on not allowing Sadness to touch the Memory orbs, Merida wanting to be independent, etc.) with the antagonists only serving as a foil (e.g. Chef Skinner) or an obstacle (e.g. Terry) to the protagonist. Of course, Pixar does have its well-known villains such as Sid, Hopper, Stinky Pete, Randall, Syndrome, Lotso, and recently Ernesto de la Cruz, but at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter in that front for inclusions or not, I know people really wanted Zurg for Toy Box, but sadly he wasn't represented because he's just a minor character in Toy Story 2.

In Randall's case for Monstropolis in Kingdom Hearts III, he was just brought back by Vanitas as a "pawn" so he can collect Negative emotions (Screams) for the Unversed and for Vanitas. Plus, he was just "there" to be kind of antagonizing the situation to Sora and the gang, which would likely explain Pixar being very restrictive on Monstropolis and why we never got to fight Randall as a boss (let alone a mid-boss) in Kingdom Hearts III, which I'm not surprised so I don't blame Pixar's decision on not allowing us to battle him as a boss when compared to Nomura and his team's decision on not making CLU and Gaston bosses in Dream Drop Distance and X respectively.


Regarding Ernesto De la Cruz for a potential Coco world, depending if Nomura and his team would retell the events of the movie or have it be an original story (a sequel or a prequel to the film) at Pixar's request, if they have the plot of the world be a prequel to the film it wouldn't make sense for Sora, Riku and/or Kairi (whoever is going to visit the world) to encounter him and know about his true nature that he murdered Héctor and stole his music and songs (cause that goes to Miguel who figures it out himself once he finds out about Ernesto's true nature in the Land of the Dead in the original movie) or literally have him go the same route like what Randall went to in Kingdom Hearts III where he's just antagonizing the situation, although to be honest, I feel Ernesto wouldn't be much of a boss as he literally isn't much of a fighter when compared to Randall. I think the likely route for Ernesto is have the Coco world be a prequel to the film and have him be just indirectly mentioned, or have a small cameo in one to two scenes in the world, cause he does a Sunrise Spectacular at the end of Dia de Los Muertos, but only to have his concert be briefly interrupted by a Giant Nightmare Dream Eater or a Heartless.

For The Incredibles, just like with San Fransokyo (Big Hero 6), given that they have the superhero aspect they can put any random threat in the world (e.g. Underminer, Heartless, the OC Villain (Xigbar/Luxu, MoM, one of the Foretellers), etc.), since its most likely going to take place after the events of the 2nd film given that Evelyn Deavor was arrested. Speaking of which, I also wouldn't get my hopes up on battling Syndrome due to his demise in the first film which will disappoint certain players that wanted to battle him in the Kingdom Hearts series only to have their hopes crushed he's not in the game, so that's that, even the same can be said for Hopper (A Bug's Life) due to his demise from his own film.

As for Terry from Pixar's Soul, when compared to the other Pixar antagonists, she's more of an "obstacle" than a full fledged villain as her job is counting the number of souls that enter the Great Beyond and dislikes whenever the "count is off" or a soul is missing, so more than likely if we wound up getting a world based on the film she's going to give pursuit to Sora and the gang and be an obstacle much like how she tried to find the soul of Joe Gardner in the film, instead of having her as an actual boss or go through what Randall went through in KH3.

Personally, I'm okay with having more original KH centric stories for the Pixar worlds, but if they do have the Pixar villain/antagonist appear and be involved in the original story, I don't want Pixar to continuously be very restrictive like what they did with Randall in the Monster's Inc. world back in KH3.

But what do you guys think do you want some Pixar antagonists in a future KH game or just only leave Randall as the ONLY Pixar Villain/antagonist in the series?

Edited January 29, 2021 by DisneyXPixarfan95
Fixed some areas on Terry summary.

[WakelessDream 2,278]

It seems like the Pixar worlds were a bit more flexible in terms of integrating Kingdom Hearts into them, rather than just sticking with the main plot of the movie, so I think that it could be fairly easy to have a Pixar villain integrated into being the main world villain with a little bit of creativity. 
 

You bring up a good point about how in Pixar movies the villain isn’t really the main source of the conflict though, so I think that’s where the main hurdle is. I certainly wouldn’t want a Pixar villain to be sidelined but I’m leaning more towards them being maybe an obstacle rather than the main boss of future Pixar worlds if that makes sense. 
 

I do believe that the Pixar worlds were pretty well received and regardless of the type of role the villains would play in it, I’m optimistic that we will get more Pixar worlds in future games, so I don’t think Randall will end up being the only Pixar antagonist showing up in the series. 

[ocean's rage 772]

i certainly would have liked a  boss fight against zurg 

Edited January 26, 2021 by ocean's rage

[SweetYetSalty 330]

I think we'll see more Pixar Villains and characters in general in future KH titles. I suppose the question now is, how will they be used? Will we get boss fights? Randall, despite the potential to be a clever and sneaky boss was not used in KH3.

[ocean's rage 772]

2 hours ago, SweetYetSalty said:

I think we'll see more Pixar Villains and characters in general in future KH titles. I suppose the question now is, how will they be used? Will we get boss fights? Randall, despite the potential to be a clever and sneaky boss was not used in KH3.

i cant help but wonder if that was in part due to pixar's own influence 

[SweetYetSalty 330]

6 hours ago, ocean's rage said:

i cant help but wonder if that was in part due to pixar's own influence 

I think it was Pixar that didn't want Randall to be attacked by a Keyblade or something. It's a minor thing for me, because I enjoyed Monstropolis without a Randall fight, likewise Toy Box didn't have any of Toy Story's enemies in the game.

[DisneyXPixarfan95 36]

8 hours ago, ocean's rage said:

i cant help but wonder if that was in part due to pixar's own influence 

@ocean's rage More than likely, when compared to Toy Box, I'd say Pixar was a bit to clingy and somewhat restrictive with Monstropolis (although not in the same level as the restrictions seen in Arendelle and Kingdom of Corona) which would explain why Randall wasn't fought as a boss and the ONLY major nitpick I had on the world. Not to mention in some interviews from Nomura and in the KH3 Ultimania, Monstropolis was the Pixar world that did had more guidelines than Toy Box.

21 hours ago, WakelessDream said:

It seems like the Pixar worlds were a bit more flexible in terms of integrating Kingdom Hearts into them, rather than just sticking with the main plot of the movie, so I think that it could be fairly easy to have a Pixar villain integrated into being the main world villain with a little bit of creativity. 
 

You bring up a good point about how in Pixar movies the villain isn’t really the main source of the conflict though, so I think that’s where the main hurdle is. I certainly wouldn’t want a Pixar villain to be sidelined but I’m leaning more towards them being maybe an obstacle rather than the main boss of future Pixar worlds if that makes sense. 
 

I do believe that the Pixar worlds were pretty well received and regardless of the type of role the villains would play in it, I’m optimistic that we will get more Pixar worlds in future games, so I don’t think Randall will end up being the only Pixar antagonist showing up in the series. 

Yeah that's true @WakelessDream and to be honest, having the Pixar worlds be told as original stories over the retelling of the movie is the only restriction I enjoyed cause it takes existing Pixar characters and create a brand new story exclusive to KH (a prequel, sequel, interquel) without creating an alternate version of the film with KH elements and SDG shoehorned into the plot having them feel out of place. I like that change and I can imagine how will the other Pixar films like The Incredibles, Coco, Inside Out, Soul and Onward would look like once they have their own worlds in a future KH game. I mean sure I can understand a few being divided by this cause some folks want to have the worlds retell the movies events just so they can battle a specific Pixar villain (e.g. Zurg, Syndrome, Hopper, Randall, etc..) and explore the rest of the movie's locations instead of just an original area exclusive to Kingdom Hearts, but that's okay, Pixar is best know for their storytelling which is why the majority of their films (aside from Cars 1-3, Brave, The Good Dinosaur) received critical acclaim and I appreciate the work they've done as an animation studio and the original stories they requested to Nomura for the Toy Story and Monster's Inc. worlds in KH3.

As far goes a which Pixar antagonists we might see in the next KH games, well it's hard to know for sure, I think the ones that met their demises from the original films (e.g. Hopper, Syndrome, Charles Muntz, Mor'du) are definitely not going to make an appearance that's for sure, so I possibly think the likely ones I see making an appearance in a future KH game are The Underminer for the Incredibles world as a early or mid-boss, Terry for the Soul World where she tries to go after Soul Sora after realizing "the count is off", and perhaps Ernesto de La Cruz for the Coco world. However, when compared to the former two antagonists, I think Ernesto would be just indirectly mentioned, or have a small cameo in one to two scenes in the world if they go the Prequel route, thus making him possibly the ONLY Pixar antagonist that Sora and the gang won't interact with.

But hey, I'm just excited on what's to come for the next game.

Edited January 27, 2021 by DisneyXPixarfan95

[ocean's rage 772]

5 hours ago, DisneyXPixarfan95 said:

@ocean's rage More than likely, when compared to Toy Box, I'd say Pixar was a bit to clingy and somewhat restrictive with Monstropolis (although not in the same level as the restrictions seen in Arendelle and Kingdom of Corona) which would explain why Randall wasn't fought as a boss and the ONLY major nitpick I had on the world. Not to mention in some interviews from Nomura and in the KH3 Ultimania, Monstropolis was the Pixar world that did had more guidelines than Toy Box.

well there were one or two pretty big chances in arendelle and corona in regards to their villains which makes me doubt how restrictive they were. although san fransokyo was guilty of the biggest lore shift

[finthebin 1]

I think it would be cool, The Incredibles would be great, and I would want Finding Nemo, just as long as it doesn't have the same controls as KH1 Atlantica

[WakelessDream 2,278]

17 hours ago, DisneyXPixarfan95 said:

Yeah that's true @WakelessDream and to be honest, having the Pixar worlds be told as original stories over the retelling of the movie is the only restriction I enjoyed cause it takes existing Pixar characters and create a brand new story exclusive to KH (a prequel, sequel, interquel) without creating an alternate version of the film with KH elements and SDG shoehorned into the plot having them feel out of place. I like that change and I can imagine how will the other Pixar films like The Incredibles, Coco, Inside Out, Soul and Onward would look like once they have their own worlds in a future KH game. I mean sure I can understand a few being divided by this cause some folks want to have the worlds retell the movies events just so they can battle a specific Pixar villain (e.g. Zurg, Syndrome, Hopper, Randall, etc..) and explore the rest of the movie's locations instead of just an original area exclusive to Kingdom Hearts, but that's okay, Pixar is best know for their storytelling which is why the majority of their films (aside from Cars 1-3, Brave, The Good Dinosaur) received critical acclaim and I appreciate the work they've done as an animation studio and the original stories they requested to Nomura for the Toy Story and Monster's Inc. worlds in KH3.

As far goes a which Pixar antagonists we might see in the next KH games, well it's hard to know for sure, I think the ones that met their demises from the original films (e.g. Hopper, Syndrome, Charles Muntz, Mor'du) are definitely not going to make an appearance that's for sure, so I possibly think the likely ones I see making an appearance in a future KH game are The Underminer for the Incredibles world as a early or mid-boss, Terry for the Soul World where she tries to go after Soul Sora after realizing "the count is off", and perhaps Ernesto de La Cruz for the Coco world. However, when compared to the former two antagonists, I think Ernesto would be just indirectly mentioned, or have a small cameo in one to two scenes in the world if they go the Prequel route, thus making him possibly the ONLY Pixar antagonist that Sora and the gang won't interact with.

But hey, I'm just excited on what's to come for the next game.

Kingdom Hearts in general I feel is at it's best when it melds the series original aspects (like the main characters, lore etc) with the Disney aspects, so I agree that having original plots over movie retellings is a big plus. The Pixar worlds we got in KH3 did this really well imo. That being said, I think they could still incorporate some villains who already met their demises, for all we know a future Pixar world could be a retelling of a movie, but given that Pixar seemingly allows for more flexibility, I trust that it wouldn't be as bad as strictly sticking to the movie's plot as say Arendelle was. 

As for which villains I would like to see personally, I think Hopper, Syndrome and Ernesto de La Cruz could make for some interesting foes. They seem the most villainous to me in terms of malevolence to their non-Pixar counterparts, but of course they would need to take into consideration which Pixar movies would work best as worlds as a whole rather than just inclusion based on which villains would work best. 

If they can make it work well though, I'm all for more Pixar, we've already seen what they're capable of with KH III.  

[ocean's rage 772]

im just a little worried that if they do brave we'll end up with some bad fake accents 

[Ewan Callister 8]

Emperor Zurg, I do believe Toy Story will be a prominent world going forward so hopefully Zurg will be included next time.

[DisneyXPixarfan95 36]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:03 AM, ocean's rage said:

well there were one or two pretty big chances in arendelle and corona in regards to their villains which makes me doubt how restrictive they were. although san fransokyo was guilty of the biggest lore shift

Tbh, San Fransokyo was literally the ONLY new Disney world introduced to Kingdom Hearts III that didn't had any restrictions compared to Arendelle, Kingdom of Corona, Monstropolis and Toy Box, going by how it was handled.

 

On 1/26/2021 at 8:27 PM, SweetYetSalty said:

I think it was Pixar that didn't want Randall to be attacked by a Keyblade or something. It's a minor thing for me, because I enjoyed Monstropolis without a Randall fight, likewise Toy Box didn't have any of Toy Story's enemies in the game.

Yeah @SweetYetSalty, I could tell Pixar was a bit overprotective and somewhat restrictive on Monstropolis when compared to Toy Box, which would explain why Randall wasn't fought as a boss let alone a mid-boss in the level, so that was my ONLY nitpick of the level, other than that I enjoyed Monstropolis.

Edited January 30, 2021 by DisneyXPixarfan95

[ocean's rage 772]

4 hours ago, DisneyXPixarfan95 said:

Tbh, San Fransokyo was literally the ONLY new Disney world introduced to Kingdom Hearts III that didn't had any restrictions compared to Arendelle, Kingdom of Corona, Monstropolis and Toy Box, going by how it was handled.

it would seem that way. still they way they did it really bugged me

[KHfan4 106]

TBH, I didn't really like the newer movies, and their worlds in KH3. I'd still rather see Atlantis and Treasure Planet anyway. A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo might be fun though

[DisneyXPixarfan95 36]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:23 PM, Ewan Callister said:

Emperor Zurg, I do believe Toy Story will be a prominent world going forward so hopefully Zurg will be included next time.

Personally, I say Toy Box (Toy Story) and Arendelle (Frozen) are going to be the ONLY likely Disney worlds introduced to Kingdom Hearts III that would return for the next KH game (likely Kingdom Hearts IV).

[DisneyXPixarfan95 36]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:16 PM, WakelessDream said:

Kingdom Hearts in general I feel is at it's best when it melds the series original aspects (like the main characters, lore etc) with the Disney aspects, so I agree that having original plots over movie retellings is a big plus. The Pixar worlds we got in KH3 did this really well imo. That being said, I think they could still incorporate some villains who already met their demises, for all we know a future Pixar world could be a retelling of a movie, but given that Pixar seemingly allows for more flexibility, I trust that it wouldn't be as bad as strictly sticking to the movie's plot as say Arendelle was. 

As for which villains I would like to see personally, I think Hopper, Syndrome and Ernesto de La Cruz could make for some interesting foes. They seem the most villainous to me in terms of malevolence to their non-Pixar counterparts, but of course they would need to take into consideration which Pixar movies would work best as worlds as a whole rather than just inclusion based on which villains would work best. 

If they can make it work well though, I'm all for more Pixar, we've already seen what they're capable of with KH III.  

That's true @WakelessDream and I also do appreciate the stories for the Disney worlds from the first KH game along with Beast Castle's and Space Paranoids story in Kingdom Hearts II, where they are a combination of the film's plot but largely original and connected to the KH story. Regarding future Pixar worlds retelling the story, who can say, maybe we might see retellings of the movie's plot for some of them or most of them will be largely be original stories like with Toy Box and Monstropolis in KH3 at the end of the day it's up to Pixar and to a degree Nomura who decides on how they want the story of the Pixar worlds told . What I do know is that John Lasseter who was involved in the Toy Box story process no longer is CCO at Pixar after leaving the company for "missteps" and now Pete Docter (Monster's Inc, Up, Inside Out, Soul) is the new CCO so perhaps we might get more Original stories and a few retellings, just as long as the retellings aren't in the same level as Arendelle and especially Kingdom of Corona's story from KH3, but that's a discussion for another time.

As for the Pixar villains you want to see I agree with the ones you choose, especially Hopper, in fact Hopper is one of my Top 5 favorite Pixar villains next to Syndrome, Ernesto De la Cruz, Randall and Lotso due to how intimidating he was to the ants and the bugs in the film, plus he showed no mercy, I mean he even killed two members of his colony for not wanting to return back to Ant Island. I think he's worthy to be boss material as long as Pixar doesn't become overprotective and clingy with Hopper and pull a "Randall" on him and not make him a boss.

Of course, that's up to the story team at Pixar if they want to see these villains (chiefly those that died in the like Syndrome and Hopper) appear and as you said it yourself, Nomura and the team need to take in consideration which Pixar movies and also Disney movies (the Animated Features Canon and also Live-action) work best as worlds in the different KH game(s), cause the way Nomura and his team decide which Disney films they want as worlds is "subjective" and very wishy-washy cause literally it comes down to the following:

• Which Disney (Animated and Live-action) and Pixar films, Nomura and the team want to see added as worlds for the specific KH game
• The themes that the specific Disney and Pixar film (new and/or returning) have in common to the theme of the specific KH game (e.g. Friendship, Trust, Connections, Promises, etc.) - Which is debatable
• The Story the world can offer
• The gameplay value and the environment that the world can offer.
• Level Variety (e.g. a City based level, a Forest level, a Snow/Ice level, a Pirate level, a Desert level, a Tropic/Ocean level, a Jungle level, etc..)
• Disney giving Requests and suggestions on which Films they want to see added in the game as worlds to Nomura and the team (e.g. Big Hero 6 in KH3).

Still, I'm just excited on what Pixar worlds we might see and given that the next potential game after Melody of Memory is likely going to be set in the "Unreality" I could envision Coco and Soul as possible candidates as worlds for the next KH game, while The Incredibles could be the Superhero level for Kingdom Hearts IV and be the replacement for San Fransokyo.

[KiraNort 49]

Given how strict Pixar and Disney are with their villain now, we could see them? Fight them? No.

[Clark Brenner 1]

I think that we will have to fight Mordu in  the Brave world, Syndrome in Metropolis, Ernesto de La Cruz in Coco, Hopper in Bug's Life. There are other potential characters as well. Maybe they have Pete the Prospector as a secret boss or Emperor Zurg. There is still a lot of options, but some Pixar worlds don't work as well as others with combat.