The movies that are part of the official Disney Princesses branch have many similarities that are what, ultimately, place them in this special group, but one of them broke a 54-year-old villain trend and started a new one. Disney is home to a variety of animated movies, but it’s best known for those starring female characters, often princesses. Disney is also known for its family-friendly adaptations of different legends and fairy tales, and all this has made way for the Disney Princesses franchise, though not all female characters in animated Disney movies can be part of it.

Disney officially recognizes 13 characters as official Disney Princesses, and while there aren’t set requirements to meet to become one of them, they have some key things in common. These characters either marry into royalty, are born into it, or do a heroic act, they usually have an animal sidekick and perform at least one song in most cases. Their movies also have many similarities, especially when it comes to their villains, but one beloved movie from the Disney Renaissance broke a decades-long villain trend… and started another one that was broken almost two decades later.

Beauty & The Beast Was The First Disney Princess Movie With A Male Villain

Gaston Ended Up Making Disney History

The Disney Princesses branch began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and was followed by Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid. The latter marked the beginning of the period known as the Disney Renaissance, where the studio’s animated movies were, once more, critical and commercial hits. The third movie from the Disney Renaissance, and the second princess movie from it, was Beauty and the Beast, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

Based on the 1756 tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Beauty and the Beast introduces the audience to Belle, who is imprisoned in a castle by the Beast in exchange for her father’s freedom and safety. The Beast was a prince who was transformed into a talking beast as the result of a curse, as punishment for his arrogance and selfishness. Belle and the Beast end up falling in love with each other, and the real villain in the story is Gaston, a hunter living in the same town as Belle who insists on marrying her despite her many rejections.

Gaston has gone down in Disney history as one of the most hated villains, but he also earned a spot for being the first male villain in a Disney Princess movie. Before Gaston, the Disney Princess branch had only seen female villains: the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, and Ursula in The Little Mermaid. As such, Gaston also became the first villain to pursue the main character for supposedly “romantic” purposes.

Tangled Broke Beauty & The Beast’s Villain Trend After 19 Years

What Gaston Started Was Ended By Mother Gothel

Gaston broke the Disney Princess tradition of only female villains but started a new one: only male villains. In the branch of Disney Princesses, Beauty and the Beast was followed by Aladdin, where the villain was Jafar, the Grand vizier of Agrabah who, at one point, and as part of his plan to take the Sultan’s place, wanted to marry Princess Jasmine. Next was Pocahontas, with Governor Ratcliffe as the villain; then came Mulan, which introduced Shan Yu, the Hun chieftain; and The Princess and the Frog, which brought one of Disney’s most terrifying villains in Dr. Facilier, a voodoo bokor.

Tangled arrived in 2010 to break the male villain trend started by Gaston by having Mother Gothel as its evil antagonist. However, Tangled didn’t revert the Disney Princess franchise to only having female villains, and has since seen a fair dose of both in Brave, Moana, and Raya and the Last Dragon. Gaston is one of the most hated villains in Disney history, and very fitting with his character, he broke a trend to start another one.