Estella Von Hellman (better known as Cruella De Vil) is the titular protagonist of the 2021 live-action Disney film, Cruella. The film tells the story of Cruella's past when she was young and how she became the fur-obsessed villainess in the future.
In this version, Cruella's birth name is Estella. She showed a level of brilliance from a young age and a penchant for fashion design. She was raised by a single mother, Catherine Miller, who struggled to get Estella to conform to societal norms. They decided to leave their small town for London, though Catherine was tragically murdered by three Dalmatians owned by Baroness Von Hellman before they had the chance to leave. Estella blamed herself for her mother's death as the dogs had been chasing her, unaware at the time that the Baroness had ordered the dogs to kill Catherine. Estella, now orphaned, sought refuge with two petty criminals Jasper and Horace, alongside their one-eyed dog Wink and her dog Buddy. As an adult, Jasper helped secure Estella a job with the Baroness' store. It wasn't long before Estella became the right-hand-woman of the Baroness, whom she greatly admired. When she recognized her mother's necklace around the Baroness' neck, she concocted a plan to steal back the necklace, but to do so, she had to embrace her wicked side - Cruella. She donned her true hair and an elaborate gown at a gala, where her efforts to steal the necklace were futile as the Baroness wore it that night. To escape, Jasper released rats and in the ruckus, the Baroness blew a dog whistle that made Estella remember the same action shortly before her mother died. She realized that Baroness had murdered her mother.
She partnered with Jasper, Horace, and a vintage store owner named Artie to pull off elaborate schemes designed to outshine the Baroness. She also recruited her childhood friend Anita Darling, who used her journalistic connections to spread publicity for Cruella. The only thing the Baroness cared about more than her company, was her image. As Cruella, she pulled off several pop-up shows that caught media attention and won over the general public, all while the Baroness' sales dropped. She operated as Estella during the day, acting as though she helped the Baroness with her fashion designs. All the while, she began to manipulate and verbally abuse Jasper and Horace, who grew tired of her new attitude. Jasper feared that she might go too far with the Baroness' kidnapped Dalmatians, though Cruella brushed off his concerns as her not having been serious about making them into coats. She pulled inspiration from the dogs fur and used it as a print in a dress, which led the public to believe she had murdered Dalmatians for the print.
The Baroness eventually discovered that Estella was Cruella, and attempted to murder her in a fire that would be pinned on Jasper and Horace. Estella was rescued by John, the Baroness' right-hand-man, who heard Estella tell the Baroness of Catherine's murder at the Baroness' hand. John brought her to his home and revealed that the Baroness had an heir that she gave away at birth to be killed by John. He couldn't bring himself to murder the child and instead, gave it to their maid Catherine. John pressed that Estella was the biological daughter of the Baroness and the heir to the family fortune. Baroness abandoned Cruella as her narcissistic nature refused to allow something to exist that could remove attention from herself. Cruella embraced her identity as "Cruella" and said a final goodbye to her adoptive mother. She hatched a plan to rescue Jasper and Horace from prison, made-up for her actions as Cruella, and hatched a new plan to get revenge on the Baroness for the murder of her adopted mother and the attempted murder of herself. She once again partnered Artie and his team of dressmakers. Horace stole her a new car called the Panther de Ville, and pointed out the similarity of "devil" though it was pronounced "de vil". Estella quite liked the name.
She had the guests of a gala wear hairstyles that mimicked Cruella's, and lured the Baroness outside as Estella. She revealed her identity to the Baroness, who feigned remorse for letting "something extraordinary" go, though when they embraced, the Baroness pushed Estella over the cliffs to her death. Estella survived with a well trimmed skirt made into a parachute. With Estella's "murder", the Baroness was arrested and the family's fortune was inherited by Cruella de Vil. Now an heiress, Cruella turned the Hellman Hall where the Von Hellman's had resided for years into Hell Hall and made herself quite comfortable in the mansion alongside Jasper, Horace, and Artie.
Some time later, Cruella sent Anita Darling and Roger Radcliffe, the Baroness' former lawyer now a songwriter, each a Dalmatian puppy, affectionately named Perdita and Pongo.
Other appearances[]
In Better Nate Than Ever, De Vil can be seen in a TV spot for Cruella as the titular character walks through Times Square.
