I was really curious how you would describe an evil Aladdin? I certainly took inspiration from the show, when they showed us a cartoonishly evil clone of Aladdin. But I'm also interested in other visions.
Oh man, I am a sucker for evil/alternate doppelgangers or counterparts, in case that wasn't already obvious with my ranting. I could talk about them all day if anyone let me! Had to take a few days to think about this one.
Like you said, we have a few more “official” examples of an evil Aladdin already. Chaos's Aladdin is an jerk who beats people up for fun, and Shadow Aladdin is just evil for the sake of it.
And going off of non-Disney stuff, there's Aladdin from Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier, who... yeah, that guy has issues.
As for my take on an evil Aladdin, it would obviously change depending on what kind of environment Aladdin was raised in. I love Aladdin as a character because he very clearly has flaws that make things difficult for both him and the people around him. He's athletic, intelligent and kind, but he's very insecure about how other people see him. A villainous Aladdin would probably be someone who ups the insecurities and acts out because of it, likely deciding that he was going to make people think better of him whether or not it's for a good reason. What would decide on the rest would be what influences he had growing up in his life.
While I can't remember it being made canon anywhere apart from the Broadway show and the original demos of the film, I personally headcanon that a lot of Aladdin's morality stems from his desire to make his mother happy. Whether she's alive or not, she seems to have been a major source of stability in Al's early life, so taking that away from him would have certainly twisted him in another direction.
Even then, while we see that young Aladdin still argues against Amal stealing jewels, Al does temporarily turn to stealing money as a teen/young adult when he's hired as a pickpocket by the traveling circus. He immediately relents against this, though, once he sees the grief caused by leaving people in the same state that he's in.
I think an Aladdin who grew up on the streets without a caring figure in his early life would probably be much more selfish and inconsiderate, taking without thinking to give anything in return. He may have be someone who wouldn't argue against stealing jewels and wouldn't care if his actions left people on the streets. ...Maybe it'd take a bit more to get him there, but I think it's a possibility for a villainous Aladdin.
And then there's concepts where he's had a very different upbringing, like if he were raised by his father and brought into the Forty Thieves. Cassim isn't an entirely villainous figure, but he's shown to not be the most considerate when it comes to the wellbeing of others. Perhaps a "Prince of Thieves" Aladdin would be more like his father, where he cares more his own wellbeing than for others but still heavily values the life of his family.
Your version and the version of @somethingstrangeisherehehe with the necromancer Aladdin could come out in a lot of ways, most likely from Aladdin being raised by Destane as Mozenrath was implied to have been. Considering how rough Destane was implied to have been and how Mozenrath turned out, that kind of Aladdin would not be anywhere near as kind as the Aladdin we know. That, and I imagine using the bodies of the dead as your tools probably takes a lot of compassion out of people.
(I included the pictures because the links kept deleting themselves. Sorry about that.)
I love thinking about all of this stuff. It's fascinating! I'm excited to see what else you guys do with your versions, if you decide to keep going with it!














