Abis Mal

Abis Mal is a villain from Disney's Aladdin series who first appeared in The Return of Jafar. He is an incompetent thief who dreams of enormous riches. His name is a play on the word "abysmal". Mal is voiced by Jason Alexander.

The Return of Jafar
The movie opens with Abis Mal and his minions in their hideout, with Abis Mal keeping all the gold and treasures for himself, much to the anger of his gang. Aladdin ultimately intervened, making a fool out of Abis Mal and taking all the treasure (with the intent to return it to those who need the money). Later, Abis crosses paths with Aladdin on the Agrabah streets, and orders his minions to attack. Abis winds up in another embarrassing defeat when Iago gets in the fray. That evening, while Abis was drawing water from a well, his gang decided to do away with their double-crossing boss. Just before they arrive, though, Abis pulls up a black lamp (or, rather, Jafar's lamp) and begins to shine it up, hoping to get some cash off it. Naturally, in doing so, Abis Mal releases Jafar, and scares off Abis's would-be murderers in the process.

Knowing that he could not directly kill Aladdin (as a genie), Jafar saw a chance for revenge through Abis's partnership. Of course, he was still required to grant Abis's three wishes. Abis's first wish was to have "The Legendary Sunken Treasure Ship of Gordumare" and Jafar granted it by teleporting himself and Abis to the ship itself, which was at the bottom of the ocean. Unable to breathe under water, Abis then had to forfeit his second wish to return to the desert (Abis did not verbally wish to return to the desert because he was holding his breath. He nodded "Yes" when Jafar asked him if he wanted to return to the surface.) Now down to one wish and threatened by Jafar to work with him if he wanted it, Abis became Jafar's unfortunate patsy.

Teamed with Jafar, Abis Mal succeeds in capturing all of Aladdin's friends, with the ultimate finish being that Aladdin would be executed for the murder of the Sultan (although the real Sultan was still alive and captured). With his goals complete, Jafar turns to the business of freeing himself from the power of the lamp, which can only be done if Abis Mal (technically Jafar's "master") wishes for it. He offers Abis Mal huge amounts of gold and treasure in return for using his last wish to free Jafar---essentially granted all of Abis Mal's wishes without technically using the wish itself. Abis, however, isn't convinced that Jafar's claim is true and hesitates from wishing, thinking that after making the wish all the treasure Jafar had conjured would merely vanish. Aladdin quickly moves in to capture Jafar's lamp in Abis's moment of hesitation and quickly incurs Jafar's wrath. During the fight, Abis Mal winds up tangled in a tree, where he stays for the rest of the film, including after Jafar's death. In the very end after the credits Abis Mal is still tangled in the tree and is left to ponder, "Does this mean I don't get my third wish?".

Aladdin TV Series
Abis Mal is the most recurring villain on the Aladdin television series with 13 appearances. He is joined in the series by a tall slender man named Harud who balances out Abis Mal's loud and moronic behavior with one that is calm and clear-thinking. Abis Mal's usual plans involve looking for an ancient or powerul magic to conquer the Agrabah throne, looking for ancient and valuable treasures, or seeking revenge on Aladdin for always ruining his plans. Most of the credit for Mal's plans working belongs to Harud though, as Abis is often too short-sighted to plan ahead or forsee repercussions. As a running gag, Harud often avoids doing physical labor by telling Abis Mal how rewarding the work will be, causing him to greedily insist on doing the job. Despite being rude and mean to anyone who isn't threatening him, he seems well connected, and is never in short supply of maps, tips, or magical items.

Trivia

 * In the Return of Jafar, Abis Mal learns that genies couldn't kill, but in "Some Enchanted Genie," he acts surprised when Eden tells him that she can't kill.(possibly due to his poor memory)
 * He has a small obession with hats. He is disappointed when the sultan's turban is shredded in the Return of Jafar and often when anticipating being sultan he mentions being able to wear the "big hat". He is seen several times in the series considering different hats that he sees. When he travelled back in time to change history, his ancestor Abnor Mal showed a similar interest in hats.