The first look of Kumbha drew both curiosity and silence. It was noticed, but it failed to surprise. Knowing Rajamouli, this is his strategy. He believes hype should rise, not erupt. He prefers anticipation that grows slows. That is why Mahesh Babu’s first look remains unseen. He wants to avoid the noise of early buzz and prefers to raise temperature towards the end.
Now that Kumbha has entered the frame, it feels apt to trace the long history of cinema’s wheelchair-bound villains, characters who embody weakness but command fear, who appear confined yet control everything around them.
This isn’t an exhaustive list. Cinema’s history is vast and moral interpretations differ, but here’s a chronological look at some notable portrayals up to November 2025, focusing on live-action films where the wheelchair is the character’s primary mode of mobility and they’re portrayed as antagonists or morally compromised figures.
Classic Era (1920s–1950s)
- Blizzard (The Penalty, 1920, Lon Chaney): A double amputee crime lord plotting revenge against the surgeon who ruined his life.
- Clayton (The Man Who Changed His Mind, 1936): A bitter invalid assisting in body-swapping experiments to escape his condition.
- Mr. Potter (It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946): The cold-hearted banker who weaponizes greed and control from his throne-like wheelchair.
- The Professor (Batman and Robin serial, 1949): A misanthropic scientist using a wheelchair while orchestrating crimes through invention.
- Ivan Igor / Henry Jarrod (Mystery of the Wax Museum, 1933 / House of Wax, 1953): The disfigured sculptor who kills victims to rebuild his wax exhibits — one of the earliest horror archetypes combining disability with madness.
Mad Science & Espionage (1960s–1980s)
- Dr. Strangelove (Dr. Strangelove, 1964, Peter Sellers): The ex-Nazi scientist whose wheelchair-bound gestures embody postwar paranoia and absurdity.
- Dr. Durea (Dracula vs. Frankenstein, 1971): A paralyzed scientist performing blood experiments in pursuit of immortality.
- Marcus Valorium (Once Upon a Spy, 1980): A missile-chair-equipped villain scheming for global power.
- David Lo Pan (Big Trouble in Little China, 1986): The ancient sorcerer appearing in an aged, wheelchair-bound form, fusing disability imagery with mysticism.
The Psychological and Grotesque (1990s–2000s)
- Jeffrey Lebowski (The Big Lebowski, 1998): A fraudulent millionaire faking his disability for manipulation and money.
- Dr. Arliss Loveless (Wild Wild West, 1999): The flamboyant Confederate scientist on a mechanized wheelchair plotting to rebuild America — literally.
- Mason Verger (Hannibal, 2001, Gary Oldman): A paralyzed sadist driven by vengeance, commanding others through wealth and cruelty.
- Ong-Bak Crime Boss (Ong-Bak, 2003): A throat-voiced, wheelchair-using crime lord trafficking sacred artifacts.
Modern Depictions (2000s–2020s)
- Obesandjo (District 9, 2009): A Nigerian crime boss exploiting aliens for profit.
- Kaal (Krrish 3, 2013, Vivek Oberoi): A telekinetic mastermind confined to a futuristic chair, blending sci-fi and mythic villainy.
- Athreya (24, 2016, Suriya): A time-manipulating genius’s evil brother whose wheelchair symbolizes his broken obsession with control.
- Howard Clifford (Detective Pikachu, 2019, Bill Nighy): A visionary tech mogul seeking to merge human and Pokémon minds for domination.
These portrayals reflect how cinema historically externalized evil (visible difference as inner corruption). Yet, modern interpretations occasionally subvert this, using the wheelchair as a metaphor for restraint, intellect, or irony rather than wickedness itself.