Madame Medusa

"Adopted? What makes you think anyone would want a homely little girl like you?"

- Madame Medusa to Penny. Madame Medusa is the main antagonist of the 1977 Disney animated film The Rescuers. She is the proprietor of a pawn shop in New York City which she uses as a cover for her criminal endeavors.

She was voiced by the late Geraldine Page.

Role
Madame Medusa is aided in her misdeeds by two fearsome "pet" crocodiles Brutus and Nero, that while being tame are also brutes who enjoy causing trouble - she also had aid from the blundering Mr. Snoops, who is happy to go along with Madame Medusa because of his own greed: the two would often bicker however and their partnership is a very weak one.

Medusa is first mentioned in the movie by Penny's old cat Rufus. who explains to two mice Bernard and Bianca (the heroes of the film) that a weird lady was always trying to give her a ride, but was always turned down. He then says that the lady and her partner run a sleazy pawnshop down the street.

Bernard and Bianca head over to the pawnshop and after being scared from a ringing phone, they hide to avoid being caught. Medusa then reveals herself, irritated at the phone ringing so late at night. She picks it up and is elated upon hearing the voice talking to her, which turns out to be her partner, Snoops, believing that he has found a diamond that she has been searching for. But instead, Snoops tells her to give him time to which Medusa revokes due to the fact that he had been looking for 3 months. Snoops then says something about 'bottles' and Medusa concludes that he is talking about Penny sending message in bottles. She then launches a tirade on Snoops for his inability to 'control a little girl' and says that she will be taking the next flight to Devil's Bayou before hanging up on him by way of slamming the phone. She then grabs a suitcase, before heading to her room and comes back with a pile of clothes that she stuffs inside while huffing about Snoops' incompetence, then grabs a purple fur coat. As Bernard and Bianca try to get inside the suitcase, Medusa tries to shut it, but due to her careless packing, it doesn't. She furiously tries to shut it before jumping up and shutting it with her butt, which hurts her a bit. In her car, Medusa has trouble starting it due to Bianca being underneath the accelerator, but eventually gets going and drives in a Cruella-esque fashion (spinning around, jetting past a truck, and falling into a ditch). Her reckless driving causes Bernard and Bianca in the suitcase to fall out while she drives off.

At Devil's Bayou (presumably, a swamp in Louisiana) Penny tries another of many attempts to escape and Medusa realizes it when she calls her multiple times and she doesn't answer. She order Brutus and Nero to find the girl and bring her back. The two crocodiles manage to bring Penny back to Medusa's houseboat, and when Medusa learns about this after returning back, she demands to know how Penny escaped this time. It was then Bernard and Bianca learned that Medusa has kidnapped Penny to search for a rare diamond known as the Devil's Eye because she is the only one who can fit through a small cape opening where it could be located. Even when Snoops stated out that Penny has already founded several other gems inside the cave and proves it by showing them to Medusa in person, Medusa couldn't care less of it, as she still wanted the Devil's Eye. Bernard and Bianca then vow to help Penny find the diamond so that they can make their escape.

The next morning, Medusa and Snoops bring Penny back to the cave, where Medusa steals her teddy bear and threatens to destroy it if Penny doesn't go down and find the diamond. After Penny finds the Devil's Eye (which was located inside a skull) and returns back up, Medusa take the diamond for herself, delighted that it's finally now in her possession. However, she refuses to return Penny's teddy bear and instead sows the diamond inside it. The greedy Medusa also betrays Snoops, despite his objections that he get half of the fortune for locating the diamond. Back in the houseboat, Medusa holds both Snoops and Penny in gunpoint, preparing to leave them behind. However, Medusa falls over a trip wire (planted by Bernard and Bianca) making her lose hold of the teddy bear.

As Snoops and Medusa engage into a fight to get the diamond, Penny grabs the teddy bear and (with the help from Bernard, Bianca, and several swamp folk animals) starts up Medusa's swamp-mobile to escape. Medusa, Brutus, and Nero manage to catch up to them by grabbing hold of the rope, but Medusa starts whipping both crocodiles for no reason, much to their anger. It wasn't until Penny made a turn, causing the rope to snap and Medusa to crash on a smokestack as her houseboat has sunken thanks to the swamp animals firing up all of Snoops' firework supply. As Snoops escapes on a board laughing at her misery while Penny and the animals head away from the scene, Medusa is now at the end of the wrath both Brutus and Nero, who finally have enough of her abusive behavior and attempt to devour her. Medusa is last seen holding her grip on the smokestack as she tries to avoid being attacked by Brutus and Nero. It is unknown what happened to her afterwards.

Trivia

 * Madame Medusa is not the only Rescuers villain to be left with the crocodiles - McLeach also ended up being attacked by crocodiles (though unlike Madame Medusa, he was most certainly killed by falling over a waterfall).
 * Madame Medusa shares some similarities to Cruella De Vil. Both have selfish reasons. Cruella kidnaps the puppies to make a fur coat, while Madame Medusa uses Penny to retrieve the Devil's Eye diamond from the Black Hole. Both drive like maniacs.