Henry J. Waternoose III

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This Inconsistently Heinous was Headlined on August 2023.

Inconsistently Heinous

Full Name

Henry James Waternoose III

Alias

Mr. Waternoose

Origin

Monsters, Inc.

Allies

James P. Sullivan

Mike Wazowski (both formerly)
Randall Boggs

Powers / Skills

Control of Monsters Inc.

Strength
Speed
High intelligence
Leadership
Cunning
Poise
Agility
Intimidation
Charisma
Manipulation

Goals

Stop the energy crisis and save his company from being shut down by any means necessary, even kidnapping several children and torturing them via the Scream Extractor.

Prevent Mike and Sulley or anyone else from exposing his plot.
Continue controlling the cycle of monsters scaring children at every single cost.
Silence anyone who gets in his way (all failed).

Worst Actions

Banishing several of his workers to the human world and attempting to do the same to Mike and Sully.

Trying to extract the screams from Boo using the Scream Extractor.
Plotting a mass child abduction spree and silencing others during his planned kidnappings.

Kill Count

2 (attempted)

Crimes

Attempted mass kidnapping

Attempted mass torture
Attempted murder
Assault and battery
Incrimination
Corruption
Conspiracy
Child abuse
Child trafficking
Unlawful imprisonment

Type of IH

Delusional Businessman

“	James, this company has been in my family for three generations. I would do anything to keep it from going under.	„
	~ Waternoose subtly foreshadowing his role in the film.

“	Mike: Uh, sir, that's not her door. Waternoose: I know, I know. [Randall appears and opens the door] It's yours.	„
	~ Waternoose revealing his true nature to be Randall's boss to Sulley and Mike while betraying them by shoving them into the human world and banishing them.

“	Waternoose: This has gone far enough, James. Sulley: She's home now! Just leave her alone! Waternoose: I can't do that! She's seen too much. You BOTH have... Sulley: It doesn't have to be this way! Waternoose: I have no choice! Times have changed! Scaring isn't enough anymore! Sulley: But kidnapping children?! Waternoose: I'll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die, and I'll silence anyone who gets in my way!	„
	~ Mr. Waternoose saying that he would kidnap a thousand of children to save the company before furiously smacking away Sulley, unaware that Mike was recording it so it would instantly be his undoing, also his most famous quote.

Mr. Henry James Waternoose III is the overarching antagonist of Pixar's Monsters, Inc. franchise.

He is the former chairman of the titular company and the partner of Randall Boggs, as well as the boss and father figure-turned enemy of James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski.

He was voiced by the late James Coburn.

His Evil Ranking[]

What Makes Him Heinous?[]

When his company began failing due to kids not being so scared of monsters anymore, he became desperate to save it and hatched a plan to go further by actually kidnapping children from their homes in order to forcibly extract the screams from them.
- The device he would use, aptly named the Scream Extractor, was shown to be extremely painful and potentially lethal given how Fungus was suffering during the act.
He teamed up with Randall Boggs to help him by having him kidnap a young girl that he had been scaring as a test subject.
He unjustly banished the Yeti to the Himalayas for discovering a letter about the Scream Extractor.
Upon learning that Sulley and Mike had rescued the child and were trying to send her home, he betrayed them by sending them to the Himalayas to freeze to death and not have a chance to escape without anyone but him and Randall knowing what happened.
While he did show remorse for banishing Sulley and Mike, he shed all of his remorse when Sulley and Mike managed to return and stop his plans.
When Sulley fought with Randall to save Boo, he ordered Randall to "finish him off", and when Sulley escaped with Boo and Mike, he ordered Randall to go after them because "there can't be any witnesses", showing he's willing to kill the two monsters he once had good relationships with.
He attempted to turn Sulley and Mike over to the CDA in order to frame them and recapture Boo.
When Sulley tried to reason with him to leave Boo alone, he refused, stating that he and Boo knew too much and that he’d rather kidnap as many as a thousand children than let his company get shut down, and would silence anyone who can get in his way, before knocking down Sulley and trying to grab Boo.
When he is arrested for his crimes after being exposed, instead of accepting responsibility for his actions, he instead goes on to blame Sulley for destroying Monsters Inc. despite being his own fault.
Despite having a son, he never interacts with him onscreen, so it is not clear if he cares for him. Furthermore, even he is disgusted at his father's plan and wants to distance himself away from him.
Though not as malevolent as Randall, Waternoose stands out due to his attempted mass torture being very heinous in nature, not to mention all his attempted victims were children.

What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]

He is both a well-intentioned extremist and an anti-villain, since in his eyes, his objective was the only way to stop the energy crisis, keep its inhabitants in good condition, keep his family business from going under and believes that Utopia justifies the means.
- Likewise, it is difficult to blame him for not looking for other methods to draw energy through children, since society had already accepted that the only way to obtain energy was by scaring children, with Monsters at Work even showing how difficult it was transitioning from obtaining screams to laughs.
- His crimes are also done out of desperation to save the city’s energy crisis and not out of malice as unlike Randall he doesn't show any sadism or needless cruelty with him also being uncomfortable when he watched Mary "Boo" Gibbs about to get subjected by the scream extractor, which shows that he cares about Monstropolis in general with nothing indicating it's out of any form of pragmatism.
- In that regard, Waternoose cares for not just Monsters Inc. but Monstropolis as a whole and actually believes his plans will help them to a great extent.
He was genuinely affable to Sulley and to a small extent, Mike, and felt remorse for having to betray them, even openly telling Randall that he is not even half of what Sullivan is, showing that he still respected him despite having turned on him.
- Likewise he was trying to keep both Sulley and Mike away from his crimes and he also didn’t take pleasure in exiling them and didn’t try to murder them, and simply wanted them to stay out of his plan.

Trivia[]

Originally in the scene where James P. Sullivan bursts into the room to save Boo, there were going to be over a thousand cages that Sulley would burst out of to save Boo, leaving the obvious implications that those cages would be for the kidnapped children, but this was cut because they thought it would have slowed down the movie's pacing & that the audience would understand the plan from the little information that was given to them. If this was in the movie, it would confirm that the "I'll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die" line wasn't a hyperbole and that Mr. Waternoose really did plan to kidnap a thousand children.
In the unproduced and cancelled sequel Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaredise by Circle 7 Animation, it was originally planned for Mr. Waternoose to have been revealed as the one who banished several monsters to the human world, such as Sulley's ex-girlfriend Bigfoot and El Chupacabra, the latter of whom invented the doors Waternoose used in his factory. Had this film been made, it is possible his status on this wiki could have been affected, but Circle 7's Monsters, Inc. sequel went unproduced after Disney acquired Pixar and closed Circle 7.