Disney/Characters/Heroes

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Some of the most well known heroes...


There have been several character sheets made for various Disney ensemble casts on this Wiki but at the time none as yet for the male protagonists of Disney animated features. Hence this page was created to redress the issue.

The Disney Heroes tend not to get as much attention as their female, animal sidekick or villainous counterparts. Maybe its because the Disney Heroes turned out to be financially unsuccessful as a toyline (unlike their princess counterparts). Maybe its because they only appeal to a specific target audience. Either way only the villains and the princesses get dual mentions on this site; first as part of the entry for their respective films and second as part of their individual Character Sheets. This page is being made to remedy that. This page also aims to provide a broader category for male Disney protagonists, with any major heroic figure in an feature length animated film available for listing. Hence this page is not limited to official princes or named individuals; as there has been no toyline or full attempt to market them in a category. This allows tropers more leeway (within reason-i.e. must be heroic/non-villainous and in a feature length film) with entries and the heroes do not have to be official Love Interests, though it is more likely that they are.

As of the late Noughties, Disney On Ice also put on an annual Princesses and Heroes performance as seen here

Disney Heroes in chronological order of appearance

Prince Ferdinand

Featured in 1939's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs

Prince Charming

Featured in 1950's Cinderella

Peter Pan

Mowgli

Appeared in 1964's The Jungle Book

Prince Phillip

Featured in 1959's Sleeping Beauty

Arguably the first pro-active Disney Prince and certainly the mould from which later Disney male protagonists would draw from, Prince Phillip has been a fan-favorite since he first appeared on screen.

  • Badass Cape
  • Bound and Gagged: Maleficent has him bound in chains and locked up after he comes looking for Aurora, then to him known as Briar-Rose.
  • The Charmer: A friendly version. He is shown to be able to manipulate others to do things for him, such as when he goads his horse to find Aurora in the woods and when he is able to get King Hubert to agree to his desire to marry the peasant girl he met in the woods.
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • Heroic Build
  • Nice Hat
  • Non-Human Sidekick: His horse.
  • Rebel Prince: Wants to marry for love as opposed to for station, as he tells his father King Hubert.
  • Shallow Love Interest: Despite his pro-activeness, Prince Philip usually has everything done for him by the three good fairies except for the final kiss to wake Aurora.
  • True Love's Kiss

Robin Hood

Taran

  • Kid Hero
  • Put on a Bus: Due to The Black Cauldron not being a financial success, Taran-like his female counterpart Eilonwy is rarely featured in official Disney merchandising.
  • Redheaded Hero

Prince Eric

  • Blue Eyes: Of the pale variety.
  • Hot Dad
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Refused to leave a sinking ship until his men and his pet dog were safely rescued. Then in the last arc of the film he actually rams the mast of a ship into Ursula, saving Ariel and her father's lives in the process. He also appears to be heavily involved in the running of his kingdom.
  • Shiny Midnight Black
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With his daughter Melody, who has the same hair and thick eyebrows as her father does.

The Beast aka Prince Adam

Originally a French prince cursed to remain in beast form until he could find someone to love and be loved by in return, the character was said to be a challenge for the scriptwriters as he begins the film a very dark and menacing character until he is redeemed by his love for Belle.

Tropes relating to both Beast and Prince Adam

  • Adorkable: His approach to winning Belle is very much made of this-that is after the climactic rescue of Belle from wolves.
  • Badass: In Beast form he is very skilled in fighting.
  • Badass Cape
  • Becoming the Mask: Word of God is that if Belle had never arrived at the castle, the Beast would eventually have given in to his animal instincts, stopped wearing all clothing and completely forget how to speak.
  • Big Eyes, Little Eyes: In both forms his eyes are huge, to better contrast him with the main villain Gaston.
  • Blue Eyes: The only thing about him that remains the same both in human and animal form.
  • Byronic Hero: Lives apart from society? Check. Has a mean and anti-social demeanour? Check. Is redeemed by the love of a good woman? CHECK.
  • Corner of Woe: after Belle leaves the castle
  • Despair Event Horizon: The early narration states that he had "lost all hope" by the time of the main story taking place.
  • Hair of Gold: As Prince Adam. His is something of a tawny version which matches the fur he had whilst still in Beast form.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Animators used a chimera of bull, gorilla, wolf and other animals to create the image of the Beast.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: As prince he keeps his hair in a short ponytail.
  • Meaningful Name: Adam means man in Hebrew. What does the Beast turn into at the every end?
  • Nineties Anti-Hero
  • Odd Name Out: The film is set during an unspecified era of France. The majority of characters, save the stereotypically English butler and housekeeper, all have French names. Where does "Adam" fit into this?
  • Parental Abandonment: Its never explained in the original film or the sequels what happened to his parents. One wonders why an eleven year old was left in charge of an entire castle in the first place.
  • Spoiled Brat: What got him cursed in the first place.

Aladdin

Appeared in 1992's Aladdin

  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Kid Hero: Averted by the final draft. Disney was originally going to make him about thirteen years old, until it was decided that he would have a broader appeal if he was aged up. There was also the fact that animators felt uncomfortable having a sixteen year old princess fall for a thirteen year old.
  • Guile Hero: Aladdin is regularly shown to be able to outwit his foes with his brains rather than with his brawn.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: In the reprise to "One Jump Ahead", he sings that if people looked closer, they "would find out there is so much more to him".
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • Nice Fez
  • Race Lift: The original Aladdin was set in China and the protagonist and his mother were fallen members of Chinese nobility. However Disney was not the first to make him Arabic, some versions of Scheherazade's tale have the setting take place in ancient Arabia.
  • Shiny Midnight Black
  • Street Urchin
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: At least 75%, as were it not for his barely their vest-shirt he would be this trope through and through.

John Smith

  • Badass
  • Blue Eyes
  • Break the Haughty: It's not done negatively, but he is forced to see the negative implications of his original behavior.
  • Character Development: Goes from pointing his gun at Pocahontas to trying his hardest not to kill Kocoum, a very strong warrior, who attacked him.
  • Closer to Earth: Especially next to Ratcliffe, he is a far more competent, wise and benevolent leader. He pales in comparison to Pocahontas, however, who tries very hard to put him off his self-righteous attitude. It works.
  • Dumb Blonde: When he's trying not to be insensitive to Pocahontas, but still describing her as a savage.

Pocahontas: Savages?

John Smith: No, not you..

Pocahontas: Just my people.

  • Establishing Character Moment: Saving Thomas while others were willing to consider him lost.
  • Gentleman Adventurer: He's more interested in exploring than mining for gold.
  • Heel Face Turn: Somewhat. While not a bad guy at heart, his intentions to steal the Virginian land and "civilize" the "savages" are midly villainous at worst and thorougly short-sighted and inconsiderate at best. Pocahontas turns him around to make him realize the natives are fine on their own, and the land is not, in fact, under British ownership.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Thomas.
  • Hidden Depths: "I've never really belonged anywhere." Which gives a whole new meaning to the entire exploring obsession he has.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: To the point where critics agree this is the version of John Smith the actual Smith would have wanted history to see him as.
    • In reality, John Smith was much more of a Jerkass, with one of his well-documented actions being taking a Native leader captive so that the leader's tribe would provide him with plentiful resources.
  • I Come in Peace: Incredibly subverted, and not even in We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill terms. One is left to wonder just what he might've done if Pocahontas hadn't been a girl..
  • Nice Guy: It takes some time to come to the surface, but at heart he is quite understanding, friendly and interested in other cultures. Grandmother Willow cunningly remarks that he has a good heart.
  • Official Couple: With oh guess who.
    • Due to this, it is deemed very unsafe to mention the sequel, where Pocahontas is paied with.. squick.. John Rolfe to Pocahontas fans. Thankfully, Disney itself affirms the Official Couple status of Pocahontas and John Smith on their merchandise.
  • Small Name, Big Ego
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Pocahontas.
  • Taking the Bullet: For Powhatan.
  • Tall, Blond and Handsome
  • White Man's Burden: Initially. After talking to Pocahontas, he realizes that the natives don't really need their help.
  • You Are Worth Hell: The premise of If I Never Knew You.

John Smith: I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.

Simba

Hercules

Quasimodo

  • The Big Guy
  • Blue Eyes: Demonstrating his kind and gentle nature despite his ugly outer appearance.
  • Brains and Brawn: In most of Quasimodo's scenes he is seen demonstrating his strength, but other times it becomes clear that he is also very intelligent; one being when he figures a way to sneak Esmeralda past the guards outside the cathedral and a second being how he figures out the code in Esmeralda's charm and locates the gypsy hideout.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: No, he doesn't get Esmeralda in the end. But in the sequel, he does get a girlfriend named Madeline.
  • Friend to All Living Things
  • Loners Are Freaks: What the citizens of Paris think he is but truthfully he isn't a loner by choice; Frollo deliberately keeps him hidden away in the cathedral.
  • Meaningful Name: Quasimodo means "half-formed" directly translated from Latin, in a more modern form it also means "sub-human". The fact that he named poor Quasi this is just one example of Frollo's cruelty.
  • Nice Guy: Definitely.
  • Parental Abandonment: what he thinks was the case with his mother. In reality Frollo killed her.
  • Redheaded Hero
  • Roma: His true parentage.
  • Ugly Cute: A prime example of this. The animators were careful to use the description of him given in Victor Hugo's novel, but somehow created an overall effect of making him also appear cute and cuddly.
  • The Woobie /==/ Iron Woobie: Soldiers through all his hardships no matter what, even if he can't get the girl as seen above.
  • You Are What You Hate: Doesn't seem to hate gypsies, though he mindlessly accepts Frollo's beliefs about them until meeting Esmeralda provides him with a new perspective. It isn't to the very end that Frollo reveals whom his mother really was.

Phoebus

  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Averted in the Disney film, not so much in the novel it was based on.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • The Dragon: Initially he's this to the villain Frollo, but see Hidden Depths below.
  • Hidden Depths: Appears to have a clear sense of moral right and wrong despite working for Frollo, as seen in the way he treats Esmeralda and in his kindness towards Quasimodo after he is pelted by the crowd and in acknowledging the latter's role in helping warn the gypsies of Frollo's arrival.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Shining gold-plated armor no less.
  • Meaningful Name: Phoebus, as he notes means "sun-god". Esmeralda is less than impressed however.

Captain Li Shang

  • I Owe You My Life: Says this word for word to Mulan (who is disguised as Fa Ping at the time) after he is shot by an enemy arrow in the middle of a stakeout. Later on this is what partially motivates him to spare Mulan from execution after her masquerade is revealed.
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • Nepotism: What administrator Chi Fu tries to accuse him of benefitting from. His father is the General of the Imperial Chinese army and Shang is desperate to make him proud. Chi Fu, knowing this uses this to belittle him when Shang's initial training of the new conscripts goes badly.
  • Not So Different: The other reason why he [[spoiler: spares Mulan's life; her determination to save her father's life by volunteering in his place reminds him of his own desire to help his father ( whom by then had been shown not to have survived the Chinese defence against a Hun attack on a village earlier.)
  • Walking Shirtless Scene
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Towards his father, General Li. They don't seem to have a troubled relationship based on the brief interaction shown between them, but it is also shown that the General is very proud of his son's achievements.

Tarzan

Aladar

Jim Hawkins

Milo J Thatch

Stitch

Emperor Kuczo

Kenai

Prince Naveen

Flynn Rider aka Eugene Fitzherbert

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