Sunday 29 January 2023

Death Battle Predictions: Maleficent VS Jafar

 

“Everybody loves a villain - let's face it.” -Campbell Scott


Maleficent, the Dark Fairy who placed a terrible curse on a Sleeping Beauty.


Jafar, Aladdin’s Royal Vizier of Agrabah and social-climbing schemer.


Evil can take many shapes and sizes, sometimes literally! These two Machiavellian masters of sorcery have surpassed all others in their respective worlds, whether to commit evil acts for the sake of it, or simply to gain more power. But in this Disney duel, only one of them can walk away, while the other will be consigned to endless sleep, doomed to see their dreams turn into nightmares, one by one. Will the Wicked Fairy consume Jafar with all the powers of Hell, or will the ruler of Agrabah maintain his status as the world’s greatest sorcerer? It’s time to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

For this match, we will be analyzing all media that specifically pertains to their individual franchises. For Maleficent, this means the original Sleeping Beauty and Angelina Jolie films are on the table. For Jafar, the original three Aladdin movies and cartoon, plus the live action remake. No crossovers where they both appear together with other Disney characters (and each other) will be on the table, which means no Kingdom Hearts, no Once Upon a Time, no Disney Infinity, no Descendants, and nothing from those weird Kingdom Keepers books. The only exception is the Aladdin cartoon’s Hercules crossover, which is just outright canon to Aladdin, but doesn’t really add anything.


Simple enough, let’s get cracking.

Background

Maleficent

“Now you shall deal with me, o’ prince, and all the powers of Hell!”


Once upon a time, there was a princess who had been cursed to sleep forever, never to awaken unless revived by true love’s kiss. This Sleeping Beauty’s name was Princess Aurora, and the Dark Fairy who had cursed her was reviled by all in the land. With the green skin of a witch and the horns of a devil, this malevolent mistress of magic was known far and wide by one name, “she who does only evil or harm”: Maleficent.


The curse she wove was cast long ago, sixteen years before Aurora fell into her eternal sleep, at the palace’s grand celebration of the princess’ birth. In a plume of emerald fire, Maleficent appeared uninvited, and spoke the incantations that would plague the royal family for years to come. Her exact motives are widely disagreed upon; some older stories, in which she went by the name Carabosse, suggest that the king and queen welcomed every other fairy with a gift, but forgot to honor the Wicked Fairy the same way. Later tales paint a Jolier-uh, sorry, jollier picture, in which Maleficent was a misunderstood hero, betrayed by a power-hungry king and quick to regret the curse she had cast.


This, however, is pure fantasy. The cold, hard truth, as it was told in the most well-known version, is that Maleficent had no true motive; the king and queen merely had not invited her to the celebration. In retribution for this act, which could barely be considered a slight, she turned all the powers of Hell on an infant who had done nothing wrong. No matter how one might try to excuse her actions, she is malice and evil personified, a being that spreads nothing but terror.


It took a battle through lightning, fire and thorns to reach the slumbering princess, but no matter how hard Maleficent tried to stop it, in the end, evil died and good endured. She was struck down by an enchanted sword, and the curse was broken by true love’s kiss. And so good returned to the world, with Maleficent vanquished. A good thing, too, because as long as Maleficent’s blackened heart was still beating, no knight or princess; no royal or commoner; no kind soul in the land would ever have their happily ever after.

Jafar

“A snake, am I? Perhaps you’d like to see how sssssnake-like I can be!”


Welcome to Agrabah, city of mystery, of enchantment. Here, you can find several kiosks containing watermelon, pots, bread, sugar dates, figs, pistachio, pretty necklaces, fresh fish, and of course, the palace. The city is ruled by the Sultan, his daughter Princess Jasmine, and the royal vizier, a dark man with a dark purpose, the sorcerer, Jafar.


Jafar is the second most powerful man in the city, and acts as the Sultan’s advisor. However, despite the helpful advice he may have given out over the years, Jafar hated being second best, wanting to overthrow the Sultan and assume that power for himself. To that end, he sought out a mysterious cave, the Cave of Wonders. For it was here that he thought he would find the key to ultimate power. However, he had a bit of a problem. Only one could enter the cave, a so-called Diamond in the Rough. This turned out to be a lowly street rat named Aladdin, who had a bit of history with the guards under Jafar’s rule. After a successful arrest, Jafar tricked Aladdin into finding the cave, promising him a special reward should Aladdin find a certain treasure, a seemingly common lamp. But this was no ordinary lamp, for it contained a being with phenomenal cosmic power, a Genie that could grant any wish of the master’s desires. Unfortunately, Jafar failed to get the lamp before it and Aladdin were trapped inside the cave, but this failure sparked a different idea.


If Jafar couldn’t gain the power through cosmic wishes, he would simply marry into it, proposing to marry Princess Jasmine so he becomes the Sultan. And while he seemed to get the Sultan to agree (mostly due to hypnotism), the interference of Prince Ali Ababwa, who was actually Aladdin in disguise, thwarted his plans and revealed him for the cowardly snake he is to the Sultan. Fortunately, his parrot Iago was able to swipe the Genie’s lamp from Aladdin, making Jafar the Genie’s new master. Finally, the position of Sultan was his, but he quickly realized that neither Jasmine nor the former Sultan would bow to him, so instead he wished to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, intending to rule with an iron fist. However, despite his amazing power, the Genie will always be his superior….but not for long. Using his final wish, Jafar transformed into a genie himself, with the universe under his control. Unfortunately, what he didn’t expect was that he got all the pros of becoming a genie, but also all the cons, including confinement in a magic lamp of his own. So Jafar was sealed away by the very power he sought after, sent off to the Cave of Wonders for 10,000 years. 


Or at least he should’ve been. Instead, by chance, he was found by a thief named Abis Mal, who wound up freeing Jafar, making him Jafar’s master. But Jafar was the real mastermind, using Abis Mal to return to Agrabah to get revenge on Aladdin. To that end, he entrusted his now former sidekick Iago, who had betrayed him earlier, to lead Aladdin and the Sultan to a waterfall, and ended up capturing all of Aladdin’s friends, and framing him for the death of the Sultan. Unfortunately, Jafar failed to convince Abis Mal to wish him free, and Aladdin and co. fought him to get the lamp that had shackled him. But despite the clear numbers advantage, they were no match for Jafar’s incredible power. But, thanks to interference from Iago, Jafar’s lamp was pushed into the molten lava below, melting it and causing Jafar to be erased. At last, the magical and now cosmic threat to Agrabah had been thwarted.

Experience & Skill

Maleficent

As the most powerful of the fairies, Maleficent is essentially the most skilled sorcerer in her world. In the Disney Villains: Top Secret Files, it is established that she attended a magic school in her youth, which is also the case in the Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy novel. In said novel, it is established that she was a child prodigy, more gifted than other fairies, and capable of quickly mastering a variety of advanced spells and charms simply by reading books. She has knowledge of various forms of magic, and acquired her extensive knowledge of dark magic whilst enrolled in the academy. 


The good fairies have claimed that she “knows everything” with the exception of things like joy and love, and that she will be able to anticipate any course of action that they could attempt in order to prevent the sleeping curse from taking effect. In the live action film, she spent years acting as the defender of the Moors, and fought in battles against entire armies, defeating hordes of soldiers singlehandedly.

Jafar

Despite being raised as a lowly nobody like Aladdin (at least according to the remake), once he was hired by the Sultan, he quickly rose to second best in all of Agrabah. But despite that, he still had plenty of schemes and machinations behind the scenes all these years. Using hypnotism, Jafar managed to persuade the Sultan to do his bidding, whether that be invading an entire city (or at least he would if Jasmine hadn’t intervened), or giving Jafar his ring (which has been in the family for years) with a blue diamond on it. He’s even used a disguise to trick Aladdin into getting the Genie’s lamp from the Cave of Wonders. 


And as the world’s most powerful sorcerer, Jafar soloed Aladdin, Abu (who was an elephant at the time), Jasmine, the Sultan, and Rajah (Jasmine’s pet tiger) with absolutely no trouble, and ruled Agrabah, locking the Sultan and Jasmine in chains. Even after Aladdin returned to do battle once again, Jafar proved to be a dangerous threat, turning Abu into a toy, unraveling the magic carpet, and always keeping Aladdin from grabbing Genie’s lamp. And after becoming a genie himself, even despite being forced to serve Abis Mal, Jafar still managed to trick him into doing his bidding. And though he technically couldn’t kill Aladdin, he managed to find a workaround, creating a lava river for Aladdin to fall in.

Equipment

Maleficent

Magic Staff

The staff which Maleficent uses to conjure spells; in the live action film, she created the staff out of wood by transforming a twig (20:23). She is capable of materializing the staff out of smoke (48:35), or summoning it to herself telekinetically (33:16). In the event that Maleficent were to die beyond her ability to regenerate normally, Diablo can bring her back to life once by breaking the orb on the end of the staff, releasing a green mist that will reform into her body.

Spinning Wheel

The spinning wheel that Maleficent conjured in order to facilitate her sleeping curse (50:52), as every other wheel in the kingdom was destroyed by the royal family in an attempt to prevent the curse from being fulfilled. Upon pricking their finger upon the spinning wheel’s needle, a cursed individual will fall into an eternal sleep (or die, if the curse is not altered) (51:02) that can only be broken by true love’s kiss (1:11:30).

Handheld Candle

Nothing special, just a handheld candle that Maleficent has used (57:32). It lights up rooms and stuff.

Diablo

Maleficent’s pet raven, Diablo, is completely loyal to her and much more competent than any of her more basic grunts, finding Aurora quickly after Maleficent assigned him to the task. He is fast enough to dodge blasts of magic from the good fairies (1:06:48), though not forever, as he was eventually hit and turned to stone (1:07:03). Interestingly, Maleficent seems to genuinely care for Diablo, reacting emotionally when she learned of his fate.


In the live action movies, his name is changed slightly to “Diaval”, and Maleficent makes use of him much more extensively. After saving his life as a raven, she grants him human form (22:13), and subsequently transforms him into a variety of different animal forms most appropriate to the situation. Such forms include his original raven form, a giant wolf (45:05), a strange-looking beaked bear thing (1:28:48), and a dragon reminiscent of the original Maleficent’s Dragon Form (1:19:10). She also threatened to turn him into a “mealy worm” at one point (46:35), though the benefits of this in a combat situation are obviously nonexistent.

Jafar

Scepter

The staff Jafar uses for all of his sorcery needs. Capable of casting spells that cause mass destruction or control people, it’s clearly a weapon not meant to be trifled with. It is worth noting that this staff is needed for Jafar’s magic, and if it’s destroyed then he can’t use magic anymore. However if it is just thrown away from him, he can telekinetically drag it back to him.

Iago

Jafar’s not-so-trustworthy pet parrot. Iago was by Jafar’s side at all times. He helped him escape from prison and take the lamp from Aladdin. In the remake, Jafar was even capable of turning him into a more ferocious, giant bird, who was able to run through buildings like they were nothing. But in the sequel, The Return of Jafar, Iago betrayed Jafar and joined the side of Al, mainly because Jafar is kind of a dick.


His most important trait however, is the fact that he is voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. Rest in peace king.

Abilities

Maleficent

NOTE: Maleficent is established to be the most powerful fairy (8:22) and stated to “know everything” by the three good fairies (12:48). It thus stands to reason that all of the magic that the good fairies have demonstrated is something that she could hypothetically replicate.

Magical Curses & Blessings

Possibly the most well-known ability demonstrated by Maleficent and other fairies across Sleeping Beauty media; by speaking her desired effect, she can cast a spell on a person of her choosing, magically determining their fate in whatever manner she wishes. In the original movie, she used this ability to place her curse on Aurora, dooming her to prick her finger on the spinning wheel 16 years in the future, and die (8:41). 


This was, however, altered by the fairy Merryweather, who changes the curse to eternal sleep instead of death, and establishes true love’s kiss as a means of breaking the curse (9:54). She was unable to undo the curse entirely because Maleficent was much too powerful, but could still change it somewhat. In the live action movies, however, Maleficent includes the eternal sleep and true love’s kiss stipulations herself from the beginning, and is able to set her curse to last until the end of time, unchangeable by any power on Earth (30:56 - 32:55). This even includes herself, as she later attempted to remove the curse and was unable to, due to her original stipulation (53:30).


In addition to dark curses, other fairies are capable of using this power to grant magical blessings. For instance, Flora and Fauna were able to bless the infant Aurora with great beauty and the gift of song (5:45). Merryweather intended to grant her happiness as well, but needed to instead use her blessing to alter Maleficent’s curse (9:54). The fairies later used similar blessings to enchant Prince Phillip’s sword and shield (1:05:10), granting them with enough magical power to stand up to and slay Maleficent’s Dragon Form. Based on this, it seems as though blessings and curses created by a fairy are more powerful than their other magic, given that the good fairies are explicitly weaker than Maleficent normally (9:38).

Wings

In the live action Maleficent films, she possesses powerful wings characteristic of a Dark Fey, which allow her to fly at high speeds, and can be flapped with enough speed and force to create shockwaves, blasting opponents backward (13:12). She originally lost these wings when King Stefan cut them from her body (18:13), but they were still capable of moving on their own whilst detached from her, so long as Maleficent herself is nearby. Even 16+ years after they were severed, the wings managed to return to her and reattach themselves to her back (1:22:25).

Regeneration

Maleficent possesses a powerful healing factor that makes her difficult to kill permanently. In the original Sleeping Beauty, she disappears at the end of the film after being stabbed by Phillip’s blessed sword (1:10:36), but returns in follow-up media thanks to magic contained within her staff. When Diablo breaks the glass orb at the end of the staff, it releases a green mist which then reforms into Maleficent, despite the fact that her body was completely gone beforehand with no physical remains. It seems that this is one-use, however, as she later dies again and does not come back again.


In the live action films, her healing factor is more prominent, allowing her to heal burn wounds (13:27), and reattach her wings years after they are severed (though she notably does not regrow them) (1:22:25). Because she is descended from the phoenix from whom the Dark Fey began (54:10), she has the ability to regenerate herself after death, reconstituting her body from being reduced to ashes (1:36:12).

Telekinesis

Maleficent has been shown using telekinesis to hurl people (30:39) and objects through the air, and freeze targets in place (30:40). She can tear apart structures around her just by walking past them (24:40), and ragdoll entire groups of soldiers effortlessly (45:28).

Fire Manipulation

Maleficent possesses the ability to manipulate green fire in various ways, which is arguably her go-to ability for combat. She can create a burst of fire around herself to repel others (9:20), and launch destructive fireballs powerful enough to destroy stone structures (1:29:52). She can extinguish fire with her magic (48:35), and is naturally unaffected by fire that she creates (9:20). In her Dragon Form, she can of course also breathe fire (1:09:24).

Lightning Manipulation

Maleficent can harness the power of natural lightning from storm clouds above her, calling down devastating lightning strikes to smite those who would dare oppose her (1:07:31). Though she can conjure clouds herself, and thus should always have access to natural lightning, she has also fired electrical blasts directly from her staff before (16:57). Lightning is of course incredibly fast, hundreds of times faster than sound, and Maleficent’s bolts are powerful enough to blast apart rock formations (1:07:31) and stone bridges (1:07:37). Upon striking a target, Maleficent’s lightning can impart onto it separate magical effects; for instance, the lightning she called down around Aurora’s castle caused a bramble forest to sprout from the ground where it struck (1:08:00).

Wind Manipulation

Upon her initial arrival in the first Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent demonstrates the ability to cause intense gusts of wind (7:30).

Ice Manipulation

A relatively vague ability that has never been used onscreen (hence the image), but something that Maleficent does possess. While discussing how to subvert the curse, one of the fairies suggests turning Aurora into a flower, since a flower can’t prick its finger. One of the other fairies responds that Maleficent would then send a frost. (12:16)

Weather Manipulation

Maleficent possesses the power to manipulate the weather, conjuring storm clouds across a large scale and twisting the clouds above her castle (1:07:42). In doing so, she can call down lightning bolts to aid her in combat (1:08:00) (see above).

Plant Manipulation

Maleficent possesses the ability to create and manipulate thick, black bramble vines, sprouting them from the ground across a large area. In the original Sleeping Beauty, she created a bramble forest around Aurora’s castle (1:08:00), and in the live action films, she created thick bramble walls around her kingdom (33:48), preventing anyone from entering or exiting without her allowance. She was able to manipulate the bramble vines from the wall to attack people (39:00), and it was practically indestructible, impossible to burn (39:38) (though in the original movie, Maleficent’s dragon breath was able to burn the bramble forest).


Additionally, she has the ability to manipulate plants that already exist, fashioning bridges (23:30), barriers (1:05:00), and even a throne (25:00) out of roots. She can grow branches large enough to surround an entire castle (1:42:20), and fix damaged tree branches with her magic (1:55). In the live action films, her Magic Staff was created from a transformed twig (20:23).

Transmutation

Possibly the ability that is used most commonly by fairies across Sleeping Beauty media. Maleficent herself has used transmutation many times, turning everyone in Aurora’s castle to stone, frequently altering Diablo’s form from that of a crow (human - 22:13; wolf - 45:05; mealworm - 46:35; dragon - 1:19:10; bear - 1:28:48), and transforming Queen Ingrith into a goat (1:43:30).


The good fairies have also used transmutation plenty. For instance, they considered transforming Aurora into a flower (12:16), suggested turning Maleficent into a toad (11:26), turned falling boulders into bubbles (1:06:10), turned arrows into flowers (1:06:18), and turned Diablo to stone (1:07:03).

Hypnotism & Mind Manipulation

Maleficent possesses the ability to hypnotize others and control their minds. She does this to Aurora in the original Sleeping Beauty, placing her into a trance and compelling her to move through her castle in the manner that Maleficent wants (48:45). Upon reaching the spinning wheel, Aurora heard Maleficent’s voice in her head, compelling her to touch the needle with her finger, and she complied (51:02).

Teleportation

Maleficent possesses the ability to teleport, manifesting herself out of a plume of green fire (7:40), and appearing out of thin air within a fireplace (48:35). Additionally, while it seems to be a different ability that involves actual physical travel, at one point she transports herself from her castle to Aurora’s in a swirl of fire, moving quickly between the two locations (1:08:50).

Conjuration

Maleficent and other fairies have shown the ability to conjure objects and such out of nothing. For instance, Maleficent conjured a spinning wheel for Aurora to prick her finger on (50:52), and the good fairies conjured a crown for Aurora (48:00). Additionally, though they are not “objects” per se, Maleficent has conjured storms, bramble, fire, etc. out of nothing plenty of times.

Vanishment

Maleficent possesses the ability to make physical objects disappear, and then bring them back afterward. She does this while she is hypnotizing Aurora in the original movie, causing a wall section to disappear and allowing Aurora to walk through the opening (49:20). Afterward, the wall section reappears, closing off entry to the hallway (49:40).

Clairvoyance

Maleficent potentially possesses some degree of clairvoyance, as the fairies feared she could hear them from afar as they discussed ways to subvert the curse, stating that “even walls have ears” (11:52). This is possibly paranoia though, or the clairvoyance is simply limited, as Maleficent spent the better part of 16 years looking for Aurora after the king and queen sent her away, and was unable to find her until close to the end.


In the first live action film, she was able to sense her curse being completed (1:09:15).

Creating Visions

Maleficent can conjure visions of a possible future, showing them to an onlooker. She did this to taunt Prince Phillip, showing him a vision of himself in the far future, returning to break Aurora’s curse as an old man (1:02:32).

Energy Projection

Maleficent can produce blasts (32:23) or omnidirectional bursts of green energy (1:29:17) to strike targets. These blasts can hurl people away (32:03), and extend far enough to cover an entire courtyard (1:29:17).

Destruction

Maleficent possesses the ability to destroy objects; for instance, causing the spinning needle to disintegrate into sparks (1:41:06). The good fairies were also able to break the chains binding Prince Phillip (1:04:50).

Sleep Manipulation

Outside of her curse, Maleficent also possesses a more general ability to put people to sleep, though not eternally. She makes Aurora fall asleep in the first live action film (44:33), and the good fairies in the original were able to put all of Aurora’s kingdom to sleep until Aurora’s curse was broken (53:33).

Healing

Maleficent has demonstrated a minor ability to heal others, healing the scrapes on Aurora’s face (1:44:55).

Barriers

Though Maleficent has not demonstrated this ability personally, one of the good fairies was able to create a rainbow-colored barrier to block a downpour of boiling water (1:06:38). Maleficent herself has used roots to create a more physical barrier for defense (1:05:00).

Size Alteration

Though Maleficent has not demonstrated this ability personally, the good fairies have demonstrated the ability to grow and shrink their bodies at will (11:52).

Life Granting

Though Maleficent has not demonstrated this ability personally, the good fairies have shown to be able to bring inanimate objects to life, such as a bucket, mop, broom, etc. (34:38)

Biological Manipulation

Though Maleficent has not demonstrated this ability personally, the good fairies have shown the ability to alter or remove the biological traits of a target, specifically magicking away each other’s wings (14:15), and restoring them later on.

Jafar

Sorcery

Jafar is a skilled sorcerer. He can conjure up magical spells, manipulate fire, project energy, shapeshift, and various other magical abilities.

Transmutation

Through his magic, Jafar has demonstrated that he can transform people with transmutation, such as turning Abu from an elephant back into a monkey and later turning him into a toy.

Puppetry

Jafar was shown to be able to control others during his transformation to sultan, making Aladdin, Jasmine, and the Sultan seem like playthings to him.

Summoning

Jafar has been shown to summon inanimate objects out of nowhere to defend him, like when he spawned a wall of swords in front of Aladdin.

Fire Breath

Jafar has been shown to breathe fire in his battle with Aladdin, mainly to keep his opponents away from him, and also because fire breath is cool, y’know?

Teleportation

Self-explanatory. Jafar possesses the ability to teleport anywhere he wants.

Forms

Maleficent

Dragon Form

Maleficent possesses the ability to transform into a giant black dragon (1:09:06), a final trump card that she utilizes in a last attempt to stop Prince Phillip from reaching Aurora. In this form, she breathes green fire (1:09:24) powerful enough to ignite her own bramble forest (1:09:40), and is heavy enough to crush a cliffside under her weight (1:10:20). Her fangs in this form are venomous, though she is not immune to her own venom, so if she’s not careful, she could end up killing herself with a poorly-placed bite. The Dragon Form was durable enough to tank hits from Phillip’s fairy-enchanted Sword of Hope (1:09:36), requiring an additional blessing for the blade to kill her (1:10:10).

Phoenix Form

In the live action movies, Maleficent is established to be descended from a phoenix, and capable of taking the form of a giant phoenix herself. She initially achieved this form after dying and then reforming from ashes (1:36:12), and whilst in the form, was capable of shattering a tower with a mere flap of her wings (1:36:58). The form is also fairly durable, having survived crashing through a courtyard and carving a large trench into the ground (1:38:04). After taking this form, Maleficent can transform back into her human-esque state at will (1:39:33).

Jafar

Snake

Jafar has the ability to transform into a giant cobra, which he uses to battle Aladdin in the climax of the film. In this state, he possesses the physiology and abilities of a real-life cobra, except amped up due to his giant size.

Genie

As a final wish, Jafar gains the powers of a Genie. Like the original he gained this form from, he possesses cosmic power and the abilities listed above, as well as weather mimicry, illusions, and telekinesis. With the power of a Genie at his fingertips, he can warp reality and essentially do anything he can imagine with almost no limit.


However, it comes at a cost. He must also abide by all three Genie rules listed below:

  1. A genie cannot make two fall in love.

  2. A genie cannot directly kill another person (Although alternative means are ambiguous).

  3. A genie cannot revive the dead.


Additionally, if the Genie’s lamp is rubbed by hand, they must become subservient to whoever has done such. And if a Genie’s lamp is somehow destroyed, they will also perish with it.

Feats

Maleficent

Overall

  • Placed a curse on Princess Aurora, nearly dooming her to eternal sleep

    • Made said curse unchangeable by any power on Earth, including her own, save for true love’s kiss

  • Stated to be the strongest out of all the fairies

  • Said by the good fairies to “know everything” with the exception of love, kindness, and the joy of helping others

  • Claimed to wield “all the powers of Hell”

  • Said to hold the power of life and death, destruction and rebirth in her hands

  • Acted as the Protector of the Moors for years in the Angelina Jolie films

  • Defeated Prince Phillip, the three good fairies, King Stefan, Queen Ingrith

  • Is one of the most popular Disney villains and even the lead Disney villain in Kingdom Hearts.

Power

Speed

Durability

Jafar

Overall

  • Controlled Agrabah’s Sultan for years

  • Stole the Genie from Aladdin, becoming his master temporarily

  • Wished to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, a wish that was successfully granted

  • Exposed Aladdin’s identity as the false Prince Ali, before banishing him from Agrabah

  • Temporarily became ruler of Agrabah, subjugating the Sultan and Princess Jasmine

  • Wished to become an all-powerful Genie and was successfully transformed into one

Power

Speed

  • Hurled a tower all the way from Agrabah to a frozen wasteland at high speed (Mach 4.19)

  • Tagged the Magic Carpet, who flew from the frozen wasteland to Agrabah in a few minutes (Mach 25.15)

  • Likely scales to Aladdin who:

    • Blocked a whip strike (Mach 1)

    • Could block incoming lightning from the Ethereal (Mach 53.6)

    • Dodged lightning strikes from Jafar in the SNES game (Mach 78.57)

  • As Genie Jafar:

    • Grew to massive size rapidly, dwarfing entire planets (1,191.3 times FTL)

    • Moved planets around at high speed (11.631 times FTL)

    • Likely scales to the normal Genie, who:

      • Spun the Earth at high speed (0.092c)

      • Flew Aladdin tens of thousands of kilometers into space within a few seconds (0.0382c)

Durability

  • Got crushed by giant palace doors

  • Likely scales to Aladdin, who:

    • Blocked a whip strike like it was nothing 

    • Fell several feet, hitting a stone wall on the way down 

    • Crashed through stone

  • As Genie Jafar:

    • Tanked blasts from the regular Genie

Weaknesses

Maleficent

Though Maleficent is the most powerful of the fairies, she has her fair share of shortcomings, chief among them being, as explained by the good fairies, her inability to understand love, kindness, and the joy of helping others. As such, while she is likely capable of all the same magic that any other fairy can cast, magic that isn’t evil may not always be her immediate go-to.


Additionally, despite being stronger than the good fairies, one of them was still able to alter her curse, lessening its effect and adding in the solution of true love’s kiss. While her dark magic is powerful, she lacks the ability to alter her curses after they have been cast, as seen by the fact that she did not undo Merryweather’s alterations, and in the live action films was unable to revoke her own curse. A powerful enough blessing from the fairies was also capable of enchanting Phillip’s sword to the point of killing her.


Lastly, she has a specific weakness to iron in the live action films. Simply touching it can burn her (though does not prevent her from using her powers normally), and a devastating enough wound struck by an iron weapon can turn her body to ashes.

Jafar

Jafar may have Agrabah under his fingertips, but he’s hardly flawless. Like most villains, especially of that era, Jafar’s hubris and arrogance can and has gotten the better of him, making him underestimate his opponents greatly. And if he’s indisposed in any way, like when he was sealed in the genie lamp, then his sorcery reverts back to the way it was. Any objects or beings he’s affected will return to normal.


While the Genie form is incredibly powerful, it’s not without its limits. For one, Jafar is tied to the lamp. Not only does that mean he can’t travel far distances without it, but should it be destroyed, Jafar will die too. But perhaps the most important caveat to his power is that genies are unable to kill anyone directly. No matter how much they may want to, they simply are unable to kill people through their own power.

Verdicts

Maleficent Verdict
(Maleficent VS Sorcerer Jafar)

Stats

Maleficent and Jafar are both pretty easy to lock down stat-wise. Given that Maleficent is the strongest fairy and Jafar is the strongest sorcerer, both scale to practically everything in their respective worlds, though in Jafar’s case, prior to becoming a Genie himself, he was still explicitly second to the Genie in power.

Maleficent’s best feat comes from her first live action film, where she creates a massive wall of bramble around the Moors, her kingdom. While it is impossible to lock down an exact size for the Moors, given that it is a fictional magical location, we know that it is big enough to be considered a kingdom, and that it is large enough to contain entire forests, bodies of water, and mountain ranges. Using an appropriately-sized country from real life with somewhat similar geography, it is possible to estimate the size of the wall, and calculate the amount of energy needed to grow wood based on its caloric content. Ultimately resulting in an energy output for Maleficent equaling over 89 megatons of TNT.

Jafar, having wished to become the world’s strongest sorcerer, scales above the many magic users that appeared throughout the Aladdin cartoon, the most impressive of which being Frigeed, who conjured a blizzard large enough to cover Agrabah, and the desert around it according to the Genie. Agrabah is implied by the narrator to be located somewhere in Jordan, so the best desert to use for an estimate would be the Wadi Rum Reserve, with an area of around 720 square kilometers. In order to reduce the temperature to freezing across that volume, Frigeed must have been exerting energy in excess of 22 megatons of TNT. Jafar’s power would thus exceed that.

Comparing the two numbers, Maleficent would have roughly a 4 times advantage in raw power.

In terms of speed, it’s simple enough, both Maleficent and Jafar have done battle against heroes fast enough to dodge their lightning strikes, which are conjured from the sky and are thus as fast as natural lightning in speed. Comparing the reaction shown by Prince Phillip to that of Aladdin, Maleficent would be around 3.3 times faster than Jafar, with speeds of Mach 260 and Mach 78 respectively.

In summary, compared to Sorcerer Jafar, Maleficent is about 4 times more powerful and 3 times faster.

Arsenal & Abilities

Maleficent’s magic is ultimately quite a bit more varied than what Jafar has demonstrated. Both of them have fire, lightning and energy based attacks, shapeshifting, transmutation, telekinesis, teleportation, and the ability to conjure objects out of thin air. However, with this list, we’ve already reached the end of Jafar’s repertoire, and Maleficent is entering the battle with a lot of additional powers.

For starters, Maleficent’s ability to conjure wind and frost, as well as manipulate the weather gives her more elemental versatility than Jafar has shown. Her plant manipulation is a lot more versatile than any of his elemental abilities as well, and operates across a greater range of effect. Jafar may be able to act as a puppeteer, physically moving his enemies around while they’re left helpless, but Maleficent can actually alter their minds or force them to sleep, granting her an additional level of control that Jafar cannot replicate, nor defend against if subjected to it.

Scaling to other fairies, Maleficent could potentially magic away body parts and grow and shrink things at her leisure. She can make physical objects disappear and reappear at will, or bring objects to life to fight on her behalf. Her implied clairvoyance could allow her to gain information more effectively than Jafar, and her ability to create illusory visions could be used to misdirect or distract him. Ultimately, she just has a lot to throw at him that he does not have an answer or equivalent to, while none of Sorcerer Jafar’s abilities are anything that Maleficent does not possess herself.

Maleficent’s regeneration is also frankly a pretty massive advantage, because it means she has far more leeway in terms of remaining in the fight if caught lacking. Killing her through raw force will be ineffective due to her phoenix form, and even a less conventional death can still be undone at least once through her staff. Given that she can reattach severed limbs as well, maiming her will not inconvenience her for long, whereas similar injuries to Jafar will not go away.

Lastly, Diablo may not be as verbose as Iago, but he’s ultimately a more useful companion. His intellect is on the same human-like level as Iago’s, and his various transformations (particularly the dragon) are more varied and powerful than Iago’s giant bird form. Of course, neither fighter is terribly reliant on their avian associate anyway, but it is still a factor worth mentioning.

Tertiary Factors

While there isn’t too much to discuss here, it is worth noting that Maleficent is considerably more experienced than Jafar when it comes to magic, and fighting in general. Jafar only became a sorcerer toward the end of the first movie, when he made his wish on the Genie, and his experience beforehand was primarily centered around scheming and manipulating rather than fighting. Even factoring in his time as a Genie, he’s still fairly inexperienced. Maleficent, in comparison, has formal magic instruction and years of experience studying various magical arts. Additionally, the live action films establish her experience as the defender of the Moors, fighting in battles against entire armies. She’s simply been doing this for far longer, “this” referring to both spellcasting and hands-on combat.

Of course, it’s also worth admitting that as a dragon, a lot of that cleverness goes out the window, as she seemingly becomes a lot more straightforward and single-minded (possibly because her abilities in the form are just not very varied). After she came back to life in the original continuity, she straight-up died just by biting herself in her Dragon Form… so it’s pretty probable that Jafar is at least working with more smarts at that stage. Maleficent would be better off sticking with her normal state, given its versatile magic.

Conclusion

"Listen well, all of you! The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who adore her. But, before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel... And die!"


Advantages:

  • More powerful than Sorcerer Jafar

  • Faster than Sorcerer Jafar

  • Has a wider variety of abilities to draw from compared to Jafar’s normal magic

  • More experienced

  • Ability to regenerate from her staff or from ashes makes her harder to kill permanently

  • Some hax abilities such as hypnotism or transmutation are things that Jafar does not have resistances to

  • Ability to manipulate future events through her curses could hypothetically be very useful, though the full extent of her capabilities with this are vague

  • Diablo’s transformations are more impressive and varied than Iago’s

  • More attractive

  • Didn’t try to marry a 15 year old


Disadvantages:

  • Outclassed in stats and versatility against Genie Jafar

  • Lacks resistances to some of Jafar’s hax, such as transmutation or reversing a target’s age

  • Some of her abilities, such as regen and her more powerful spells, have lengthy start-up time

  • Dragon form is much more straightforward compared to her normal state, losing out on a lot of her hax

  • Diablo is not nearly as cool as Iago

  • Her live action films aren’t as good as the Aladdin remake


Ultimately, the fight is relatively straightforward when comparing Maleficent strictly to Sorcerer Jafar. She has an advantage in both power and speed, not massive but not negligible either. Her abilities are much more versatile, as she possesses all of Jafar’s abilities, and many others on top of that which he has no equivalent to. Her regeneration means that it’s going to be harder to eliminate her permanently than it would be to kill Jafar, and she has years more training and experience in magic and combat as a whole. There are ultimately very few categories in which Sorcerer Jafar possesses any particular advantage over her. At this stage, Maleficent would win the fight with moderate difficulty at worst.

But hey, that’s just Sorcerer Jafar! Jafar becomes a Genie at the end of the first movie and then keeps it for a whole additional movie, so it should be reasonable to include it. Does Maleficent still beat him with that? 

…Welllllllllllllllllll…

Jafar Verdict
(Maleficent VS Genie Jafar)

Stats

Jafar may fall behind as a sorcerer, but once the Genie form comes out, he’s on a whole other level. Maleficent may be able to output 89 megatons of TNT as mentioned before, but as a Genie, Jafar was able to toss around multiple planets, and scales to Genie who can spin the Earth around and turn himself into a Sun. Given the mass and radius of the Sun, that’d be an energy worth over 54.5 million yottatons of TNT, a VERY clear difference in power. And as far as speed is concerned, Jafar scales to Genie, who flew Aladdin tens of thousands of kilometers into space, a feat coming out to about 3.82% the speed of light, more than 129 times faster than the fastest feat we’ve seen Maleficent pull off. If that wasn’t enough, Jafar also moved planets around at a high speed as a Genie, a feat calculated at over 11.6 times faster than light, more than 39 thousand times faster than Maleficent.


So yeah, complete turnaround for Jafar going from Sorcerer to Genie. Even with her impressive grab-bag of tricks and regenerative abilities, there’s no way that Maleficent wouldn’t be completely overwhelmed.

Arsenal & Abilities

As a genie, Jafar gains a whole new set of abilities, including weather manipulation, illusions, telekinesis, and reality warping. So while Maleficent’s abilities maaaaay be more varied, Jafar’s are more potent and practical. And really, given a Genie’s ability to alter reality in pretty much any manner he can think of, it’s pretty likely that Genie Jafar could replicate any ability Maleficent could possibly muster, and then some, turning the versatility advantage all the way around. Plus, once Maleficent goes dragon, her options become a lot more limited, nullifying her versatility and ensuring Jafar always has a new ability for Maleficent to deal with. Not to mention, while Jafar may not be able to defend from some of Maleficent’s abilities, the reverse is also true.


Like Jafar, Maleficent has shown no special resistance to transmutation, which Jafar has shown off by turning Abu from elephant to monkey, and then monkey to wind-up-toy. There’s also de-aging, which Jafar has shown against Rajah, turning her from a full-grown tiger into a baby kitten. Once again, this is something Maleficent has no shown resistance toward. Sure, Jafar may not be fast enough to land them as a sorcerer, but as a Genie, with that much of a speed difference, Jafar could land both of these and leave Maleficent incapacitated, making her crazy regeneration kind of a moot point. And sure, Jafar even as a Genie can’t resist Maleficent’s abilities either, but she’s not fast enough to capitalize on that in any way. Her regeneration takes time, so it’s pretty unlikely that Jafar wouldn’t be able to notice her reforming and prepare a counterattack, nor is it likely she’d be getting off any sneak attacks while he thinks she’s dead.


The biggest thing working against Jafar is the Genie’s rule of not killing anyone. No matter what, Jafar as a Genie is unable to directly kill anyone with his own power, no matter how much he may want to. But therein lies the keyword: Directly. There’s no rule against indirect killings, which he’s shown by splitting the earth beneath Aladdin’s feet to make him drop into lava. Heck, if anything, Maleficent’s regeneration might be more of a detriment, as it means Jafar can go all out without worrying about killing her, leaving Maleficent with few options to win with her abilities, most of which again, Jafar also possesses.

Tertiary Factors

Aside from the things already covered in Maleficent’s verdict, Jafar at his max size should tower over Maleficent, even as a dragon, turning any conventional attack into nothing more than a bug-bite by comparison. Maleficent may be giant as a dragon, but Jafar as a Genie could reach out into space in size. While that might not seem like a huge factor at first glance, given that Maleficent’s magic has never shown enough area of effect to alter something of that size, it’s pretty unlikely that abilities like transmutation would be able to transform all of that at once, rendering such options ineffective.


Also, Jafar may be lacking in experience and smarts when compared to Maleficent normally, but once she goes into her dragon form, that’s where things turn around. Maleficent as a dragon is… just that, a dragon. A dragon without Maleficent’s tactical mind and wide variety of abilities. Jafar as a Genie doesn’t have such a drawback. Jafar’s been scheming for years, and his tactical mind and the like stick around even at his strongest. You could argue that Maleficent could just stay in her human form to keep that advantage, but considering she doesn’t do so in canon, she may make the same choice against Jafar, especially considering how much he’d overwhelm her otherwise.


Plus, in all of Maleficent’s battles and experience, she has not encountered something like a magical genie, especially one that dies if his lamp is destroyed. As such, she’d have no way of knowing to destroy the lamp. Even if she did, it’s not like Jafar is gonna sit there and let her do that. He’d know to protect the lamp, and has proven that he has the power and speed to do so. Maleficent would likely be defeated far too quickly to figure out a plan of attack anyway.

Conclusion

"Now where were we? Ah, yes. Abject humiliation!”


Advantages:

  • More powerful, faster and tougher as a Genie

  • Reality warping powers as a Genie exceed the versatility of Maleficent’s magic

  • Has options like transmutation and age reversal that Maleficent does not resist, and would be capable of incapacitating her in ways that she cannot regenerate from

  • Has multiple workarounds to his restriction against killing

  • At his maximum size, has a massive size advantage as a Genie, too large for Maleficent to affect in any meaningful way

  • Versatility and tactical abilities greatly exceed Maleficent’s straightforward fighting style whilst in her Dragon Form

  • Maleficent would have no easy way of determining that the lamp is his weakness, and he would be capable of defending it from harm if it came down to it

  • Superior birb

  • Better singing voice


Disadvantages:

  • Without the powers of a Genie, would not fare as well against Maleficent’s stats and varied magic

  • Less experienced

  • Restriction against killing would still somewhat limit the ways in which he could take Maleficent down, even if he still has multiple means of winning

  • Lacks resistances or direct counters against some of Maleficent’s specific powers, even as a Genie, such as transmutation, hypnosis, and magic curses

  • Creepy

  • Ugly

  • Not Angelina Jolie


Ultimately, what this fight boils down to is whether you feel Jafar should be allowed his Genie form in the first place. But considering that’s what he is throughout the entirety of The Return of Jafar up until his death, arguing he shouldn’t be allowed such a form becomes moot. And with it, this goes from a relatively close but straightforward win for Maleficent to a completely lopsided win for Jafar. With such a massive gap in power and speed, and several abilities Maleficent has no counter against, there’s only so much she can do. Even her regeneration can only carry her so far. Sure, Jafar can’t directly kill her, but you’d be surprised what you can live through. Jafar takes a very easy win in this battle in this state. 

Final Tally

Team Maleficent (0) - she’d win without genie tho


Team Jafar (7) - Brobuscus, Drhippotime, Nobrainer13, Retro, Rina, Speedy, Yultehdoof


Next Time…
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