'''Maleficent''' is the titular protagonist of [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s [[2014]] [[Maleficent (film)|live-action film of the same name]] and its [[2019]] [[Maleficent: Mistress of Evil|sequel]]. She is based on both the [[wikipedia:Wicked fairy (Sleeping Beauty)|wicked fairy]] from the 1697 fairy tale ''[[wikipedia:Sleeping Beauty|La Belle au bois dormant]]'' by {{WikipediaLink|Charles Perrault}} and the [[Maleficent|character of the same name]] from the [[1959]] animated feature film ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]''.

In her own film, Maleficent is much more complex and her backstory is explored. Rather than a woman who is evil just for the sake of being evil, Maleficent suffers a devastating betrayal from the man she really loved and cared about the most, resulting in the loss of her own fairy wings. She grows bitter and hateful of King Stefan and the world in general. Due to her hatred of Stefan, she vents her anger on his infant daughter, cursing her to be killed by a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday. She also develops a certain amount of sadism telling Stefan that she enjoys watching him beg.

However, Maleficent is also very lonely and hurt inside, resulting in her rescuing Diaval, more because she needs a companion than out of pity. Maleficent also appears to be a perfectionist; due to the incompetence of Aurora's three fairy guardians, Maleficent has plenty of opportunities to kill Aurora, or just watch her die in an accident, but she makes sure Aurora stays alive until her sixteenth birthday, so that her revenge will happen in exactly the way she planned. Maleficent's desire for the perfect revenge gives her time to connect with Aurora in a way that she never anticipates; she grows to care for her like a daughter and tries to cancel the curse, eventually succeeding when she kisses Aurora's forehead.

Originally Maleficent seems somewhat disgusted by Aurora, thinking that as a baby she was "ugly" and frequently referring to her as "Beastie". However, by the time she wakes Aurora from her enchanted sleep, this degrading name has become a term of affection rather than revulsion. Maleficent is originally somewhat abusive to Diaval, often transforming him into various different forms without permission. However, she does value him for his loyalty and usefulness. She grows to care about Diaval and willingly gives him the opportunity to leave her for his own safety before infiltrating Stefan's castle.

Maleficent is very protective of her home and later Aurora and Diaval. Although she is generally very pessimistic, believing that there is no such thing as "true love", Maleficent clings desperately to the faint hope that Phillip might be able to awaken Aurora with a kiss. When the kiss fails, as Maleficent fully expected it to, she is still distraught. She thinks Aurora is beyond saving and is astonished, relieved and joyful when her own kiss wakes her. In the sequel, Maleficent is shown to have come with living with Aurora in peace. Even acting as a mother figure to her. She is also shown to be selfless as she sacrifices herself during the battle and she turns into a phoenix. She is also very considerate as at the end of the film, as she is shown winking at the couple telling them that she'll see them at the christening.

Maleficent is a member of a subspecies of fairies called Dark Fey, human in size and appearance however with large feathered wings and horns. Additionally, Maleficent is a direct descendant of the Phoenix. As such, she has the Phoenix's power, making her more powerful than other Dark Fey. As a fairy, Maleficent is immortal, retaining the appearance of the same age, and is immune to death by natural causes and aging. As a fairy, Maleficent could manifest a pair of bird-like wings, giving her the ability to fly. She can also use the size of the wings to enhance her strength and overpower and knock down other individuals who are larger and heavier than herself. Coupled with the ability to fly effortlessly at great speed, her wings allow her to seamlessly glide in any direction, which allowed her to swoop down and grab objects or people from the ground with ease. Despite their size, her wings move as if weightless.

Maleficent has the ability to heal herself from the wounds or diseases of others or themselves. Maleficent is the most powerful fairy of the Moors. Her powers are projected in the form of orange, yellow and green energy. Due to Maleficent's phoenix blood, she can resurrect herself from death. Maleficent has created her own spells and curses, and is noted to have made the Sleeping Curse herself cast upon Aurora. Her spells were normally so powerful that only "the heart's true love" could undo her curses. Maleficent has the powers to control the elements, conjure green fire, forests, and even control the weather in her battles. Maleficent has the ability to move, levitate and otherwise manipulate objects using her psychic energy in a remote manner. Maleficent can manipulate matter at will. She can change Diaval's appearance into a human, a wolf or a fire-breathing dragon. She also changed a twig into a walking staff (which later became her magic staff). Like Knotgrass, Thistlewit, and Flittle, Maleficent has displayed the ability to give/create powerful blessings to those she deems worthy of them or those who have shown her kindness. Maleficent can move from one place to another at will, disappearing into green flames. Maleficent is able to transform into a giant phoenix-like creature.

When she was still a good fairy, Maleficent lived a peaceful life in an enchanted valley known as the Moors. One day, a young boy named Stefan was caught trying to steal a jewel from the Jewel River. Despite this, Maleficent becomes best friends with the boy, which gradually blossoms into love as they grow. On Maleficent's sixteenth birthday, Stefan shows her what she believes is true love's kiss. However, over the years, Stefan stops seeing Maleficent and goes to the human kingdom, while Maleficent, being the strongest of the fairies, becomes the fiercest protector of the Moors. Later, Stefan betrays Maleficent and steals her wings so he could claim that he killed her and become king. After the painful loss of her wings, Maleficent becomes enraged over his treachery, and as her heart of gold turns to stone, she becomes the evilest magical being in the land.

One day, she comes across a farmer who has captured a raven. Taking pity on the small bird, she turns the raven into a man. After the farmer runs away in fear, Maleficent approaches the human bird, who introduces himself as Diaval. Although he is initially disgusted that she turned him into a human, because she saved him, he promises to be her humble servant. Maleficent gives him his first task: to find Stefan. Diaval flies to the castle and witnesses Stefan being crowned king, with Princess Leila, the daughter of King Henry, becoming his wife and queen. When he informs Maleficent of what he has learned, she becomes enraged by this act of betrayal. She returns to the Moors as dark clouds loom across the forest, then, creating a throne of dark and twisted roots, Maleficent sits there as the new Evil Queen of the Moors.

Bent on revenge, she places a dark curse upon the baby Aurora: to fall into a "sleep like death" for eternity when she pricks her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday before the sunsets. However, after Stefan begs her to spare his daughter's life, she also includes that the curse can be lifted only by true love's kiss and no other power on earth can change it. Over the next 16 years, Maleficent watches over the young princess, and despite her dislike for the little "beastie," she reluctantly takes care of her from afar since the three Pixies are incapable and struggle with their new life as humans. As Aurora grows up and encounters her a few times as a small child, Maleficent begins to love her as her daughter, despite her best efforts not to. By the time Aurora is nearly 16, Maleficent brings her to the Moors to explore like she has always wanted and is surprised and touched to hear that Aurora thinks of her as her fairy godmother.

Regretting her past choice, she tries to remove the curse from Aurora, but she cannot do so since no power on earth can lift it but true love's kiss. When Aurora says she wishes to stay with Maleficent, she is delighted, but when she tells her "aunts" that she wishes to leave, they reveal to her the truth about her past and about Maleficent. Aurora confronts her and is horrified and upset. She runs away to the palace, where she reunites with Stefan. Stefan locks her in her room to keep her safe, believing that Maleficent is coming for her revenge. As the sun begins to set, Maleficent finds Phillip and hurries to the castle, but all is in vain when her evil prophecy is fulfilled, and Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle. Maleficent and Diaval sneak into the castle with Phillip and bring him to the sleeping Aurora, hoping his brief meeting with her will be enough to break her curse. Unfortunately, his kiss fails, and Aurora remains asleep.

Maleficent sadly looks upon what her hatred has brought to her dear friend. She tearfully apologizes to her sleeping goddaughter and gives her a farewell kiss on the forehead. However, just before she can walk away, a miracle happens: Aurora wakes up. Maleficent's strong and genuine motherly love for Aurora was considered as an act of "true love's kiss" to break the curse that she had cast. As they attempt to flee the castle, Stefan's guards trapped Maleficent under an iron net. Maleficent turns Diaval into a dragon, and he lifts the net off of her and fights the guards. However, as Stefan enters the scene, Diaval is chained by the soldiers, and Maleficent is surrounded. Stefan taunts Maleficent and cruelly beats her. However, just before Stefan can kill her, Maleficent's wings return to her after Aurora frees them. With her wings back, Maleficent frees Diaval, and together, they manage to defeat the guards with the treacherous king still standing.

Maleficent carries Stefan onto a tower, but just when the fairy is close to choking him to death, she decides to spare his life, claiming, "It's over." However, Stefan refuses defeat and jumps on her. The two fall from the tower, but Maleficent manages to shake him off, and Stefan falls to his death. Afterward, with peace finally made between the two lands, Maleficent passes her crown to Aurora, making her Queen of both the human and fairy kingdoms. In the last scene, she flies happily through the skies with Diaval.

In the sequel, Angelina Jolie returned playing Maleficent. Maleficent returns in the 2019 sequel to the 2014 film with Angelina Jolie reprising her role. In this film, Maleficent serves as the protector of the Moors. Although she was heroic, Maleficent is deemed to be a villain by the kingdom of Ulstead. When Aurora accepts Prince Phillip's request to marry him, Diaval, Maleficent's ally, relays this news to her to announce to all the fairies of the Moors. Meanwhile in Ulstead during dinner time, Queen Ingrith accuses Maleficent of crimes of what she did to two men last seen in the kingdom. Having a conversation with the Queen, Maleficent loses her temper and warns Aurora that Maleficent is a dangerous menace to everyone in Ulstead after noticing King John being cursed into an eternal slumber (reflecting the role of Princess Aurora in an eternal slumber in the animated incarnation of Sleeping Beauty).

Maleficent retreats but is then hit by a projectile fired by Gerda, Ingrith's servant. Maleficent almost falls to her death but is saved by a mysterious creature with wings similar to hers. Meanwhile in the underground caverns, Maleficent finds herself in a colony of winged and horned creatures that look like her called Feys, among their leader Conall who heroically rescued Maleficent from falling to her death and Borra, another of her kind who is misanthropic against humans preparing for war against. When exploring, Maleficent is described as one of the last Dark Feys, a species of dark fairies hunted down to near-extinction due to many of them killed by heroic humans. It is then known that Maleficent is the descendant of the Phoenix, a legendary mystical bird that is an ancestor to the Dark Fey. After interacting with Conall and Borra, they believe that Maleficent is to end the conflict with humans by peace or war.

Throughout her discovery, the Feys residing in the kingdom prepare for war while Maleficent masters the power of the Phoenix while Conall gets wounded during battle while trying to protect her. Meanwhile, when Queen Ingrith discovers a crimson powder that eradicates every single fairy, the Feys that Maleficent met begin fighting against humans to avenge Conall's death with the soldiers firing crimson powder at the Feys, eradicating them instantly while Maleficent remains in the kingdom. However, Maleficent arrives in the kingdom to join the battle to save her kind from being eradicated by the powder. Maleficent dodges the crimson powder fired by the soldiers and prepares to kill Ingrith for her tyranny and prejudice against fairies. When Aurora stops Maleficent from doing this to Ingrith, Maleficent ultimately sacrifices herself to save Aurora from Ingrith's arrow.

Later, Maleficent revives in the form of a Phoenix to Aurora's delight and Ingrith's horror. The Queen is later transformed into a goat for her crimes while Prince Phillip forms a peace pact between the fairies and humans. Maleficent reverts to her fairy form and breaks the spindle in the spinning wheel, awakening King John from his eternal slumber. When Prince Phillip marries Aurora, Maleficent flies away with a group of younger Dark Feys to promise to come back for their child's christening.