Subject of Villainy

By: Christian Tresvalles

Who is Ernesto Dela Cruz?

Ernesto de la Cruz is the main antagonist of Pixar's 19th full-length animated feature film Coco. He is Hector's former childhood friend and music partner, Miguel former idol and arch nemesis, the Riveras' most hated enemy and a famous singer and musician who dazzled the audience with his good looks and his charm, and was a source of Mexican pride due to his handsome looks, strong morals, and his standing up for his fellow Mexicans. He died when he was crushed by a giant bell mid-performance and resides as a soul in the Land of the Dead. However, it was revealed that Ernesto murdered Héctor and stole all of his songs and compositions to gain fame and fortune.

In the English version, he was voiced by Benjamin Bratt, who also played El Macho in Despicable Me 2 by Universal Pictures, Antonio Pope in Ride Along 2, and El Topo in Snitch. In the Spanish version, he was voiced by Marco Antonio Solís (also known as "El Buki") in his first villainous role.

I have to sing! I have to play! The music, it's not just in me, it IS me

Many parts of literature has their own villain that opposes the leading ones, that makes a villain a villain but not all villains are the same some has a unique characteristics like Ernesto from Coco

Just like Ernesto, There are so many villains are like him based from an article from Fandom.com the villain that almost got matched Ernesto was Scarecrow from "World's Finest Comics" in September 1941 but the difference of Scarecrow to Ernesto was Scarecrow wants to take over Wayne Enterprise and make chaos to the city, But the fact that Scarecrow has a dream and that is chaos and not like Ernesto that wanted fame.

People like Ernesto was a necessary to a story and that makes a big page turner on a story that makes it a big hit.