Henry J. Waternoose

Henry J. Waternoose III (also known as "Mr. Waternoose" and simply "Waternoose") is one of the main antagonists in Monsters, Inc., alongside Randall Boggs. He is an overweight gray crab-like monster wearing a business suit with six legs, two six-fingered claws, and five eyes.

Monsters, Inc.
In the first film, Mr. Waternoose is the CEO of Monsters, Inc. He is one of three owners, all cast down from lineage. He inherited the factory from his father when he was 142 years old, and turned it into the modern energy factory that appears at the beginning at the movie.

He is first shown at the very beginning of the film, warning Thaddeus Bile and the trainees about the dangers of a human child after Thaddeus has unsuccessfully attempted to frighten a simulation child in bed.

On the day when the monsters are working to collect scream energy from the human children all over the world, Mr. Waternoose is notified that 58 doors have been lost in the week, to which Mr. Waternoose remarks how kids are growing less scared of monsters. Sulley, being the company's biggest "producer" and Mr. Waternoose's protégé, is asked to come down to the scare training room and show the new employees how scaring should be done. However, Mr. Waternoose is behind a plot to increase the dwindling scare production along with Randall, the company's second-biggest producer and a less-than-savory fellow worker.

When Mr. Waternoose finds out that Sulley and his partner Mike have brought in a human child (whom Sulley has nicknamed "Boo"), he compassionately proceeds to help them disperse the problem. He takes Boo from Sulley, but then reveals his true nature and banishes duo to the Himalayas, even though he later expresses regret in doing so, stating that he shouldn't have trusted Randall (whom he most likely hired for the task) and because of him, he had to banish Sulley. This could mean that he sincerely feels remorse over stabbing Mike and Sulley in the back, but his comment about how Sulley was his best scarer likely means more of a concern over loss of productivity and killing the golden goose more than anything.

With Randall and his assistant Fungus, Mr. Waternoose proceeds to extract screams from Boo with help from a Scream Extractor, but Sulley, who has snuck back into the Monster World, intervenes at the last moment before the Scream Extractor gets to her mouth, dismantles the device, throws it at Mr. Waternoose and Randall, and rescues Boo. Mr. Waternoose then orders Randall to stop Sulley and finish him off, but Mike, who has followed Sulley back into the Monster World, accidentally gives away Randall's cloaking abilities, allowing Sulley to knock Randall off him by punching him in the face. After Sulley, Mike, and Boo escape, Mr. Waternoose tells Randall to go after them.

While Sulley and Mike lead Randall on a wild chase through a large chamber where thousands of doors to the human world are kept, Mr. Waternoose rallies the CDA to capture Sulley, Mike, and Boo.

After the trio defeat Randall and return to Scare Floor F, Mike distracts the CDA by driving them away while Mr. Waternoose catches sight of Boo with Sulley and gives them chase to a simulation room.

Mr. Waternoose breaks into a room where Sulley has went into and confronts Sulley, declaring that he'll kidnap a thousand children before he lets the company die. Knocking Sulley out of his way, he tries to grab Boo from the bed, but he instead grabs the simulation child. Just then, the wall goes up to reveal that Mike is behind the controls. Mike, who has recorded the confrontation between Mr. Waternoose and Sulley, plays back his favorite part to reveal Mr. Waternoose's nefarious scheme to the CDA as Mr. Waternoose watches in bewilderment. With this incriminating evidence, the CDA turns on Mr. Waternoose and arrests him. As he is being dragged away, Mr. Waternoose angrily blames Sulley for destroying the company and making the energy crisis worse since there's no other way to get scream energy. Mike and Sulley seem to accept this until Mike mentions they've had some laughs, which inspires Sulley based on their experience with Boo. Laughter is proven to be ten times more powerful than screams as Monsters, Inc. comes back on top with Sulley as the new CEO, averting the crisis.

Monsters University
Mr. Waternoose is not physically seen at any point in the prequel aside from a picture in the montage near the end showing Mike and Sulley gaining promotions in Monsters, Inc. and shaking hands with him. In the picture, he has facial hair and an afro, which he lost prior to the events of Monsters, Inc.

Personality
Although Waternoose is an antagonist in this movie, he has a gentle, fatherly facade and is only driven to villainy out of desperation to keep Monsters, Inc. afloat in the midst of the energy crisis. He becomes more villainous as this drive and desperation strips away his morals and he is determined to not let anything stop what he thinks will be the best way for the company to keep going, never taking into account looking for other energy resources.

Trivia

 * Mr. Waternoose is the last animated character voiced by James Coburn before his death.
 * Although Waternoose ended up becoming involved in abducting Boo despite his claims of children being toxic to monsters, it is never made clear whether he knew children were not toxic, and thus lied about their danger to the monsters, or if he did truly believe they were toxic, but felt saving the company from bankruptcy was worth the risk of being poisoned by a child and potentially killed.
 * Waternoose's true nature is revealed near the end of the film when Mike records him on TV.
 * Waternoose was originally going to be voiced by Kelsey Grammer in Monsters University, but he was dropped out for unknown reasons.
 * It is debatable whether Waternoose or Randall should be considered the "main" antagonist of Monsters, Inc. Although most of Randall's villainous acts during the film are committed while working for Waternoose (who is more integral to the overarching plot and conflict of the shortage of scare energy and the resolved conspiracy surrounding it), Randall is much more prominent in the movie as a villain since Waternoose's antagonistic role is only revealed near the end. Also, Randall is more evil than Waternoose, since his actions and disposition are more overtly malicious and he holds a personal grudge against the protagonists, unlike Waternoose who would have preferred them not to get involved in their plot, and thus need to be eliminated.