| NOTE: This article is only about the version of Mr. Wolf from the 2022 animated film adaptation, as the original book version was not voted a Magnificent Baddie. Thus, only movie Wolf's info and actions should be put here. |
| “ | Do I wish people didn't see us as monsters? Sure I do. But these are the cards we've been dealt, so we might as well play them. | „ |
| ~ Mr. Wolf on his life and his teammates' lives. |
| “ | Hey you! That's right, come 'ere, little closer. I said closer! Now that we've had some time to get acquainted, uh- not so scary now, are we? Webs, hit it! | „ |
| ~ The reformed Wolf's last line in the film as he addresses the audience one final time. |
Mr. Wolf is the main protagonist of The Bad Guys, Dreamworks' 2022 animated film adaptation of Aaron Blabey's book series of the same name.
A suave pickpocket wolf, he is the strategic leader of the titular Bad Guys, a gang of "evil" animals that went along with society's stereotypes of them and devoted themselves to a life of crime. Wolf has done many successful capers with the aid of his four loyal teammates: the safecracker Mr. Snake (who is also his best friend), the hacker Ms. Tarantula, the master of disguise Mr. Shark and the thug Mr. Piranha.
After attempting to steal the famed Golden Dolphin but being ultimately foiled and arrested, Wolf will come up with a scheme for him and his friends to feign redemption so as to be pardoned and go back to their life of crime, but the experience of what true good feels like, advice from the philanthropist Professor Marmalade and encouragement from Governor Diane Foxington (who will become Wolf's love interest in the film) will gradually convince Wolf to reform for real, which will put him at odds with his colleagues, especially the cynical Snake.
He is voiced by Sam Rockwell, who also voiced Justin Hammer from What If...?.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He is given a very charismatic, often outright endearing performance by Sam Rockwell.
- He has a very charming personality and attitude, being a suave and soft-spoken loveable scoundrel who is almost always well-dressed and oozing confidence with every word and gesture. Even after his redemption, his loveably cocky attitude never changes.
- He is very snarky and witty, which leads to him having a lot of entertaining banter with the equally as sarcastic Mr. Snake and Diane Foxington, dialogue with the latter even becoming somewhat flirty at points.
- He is an ultimately tragic character, as he, like the rest of his gang, was never offered the chance to be anything more than a notorious criminal due to the world discriminating and fearing him for being a wolf. Even his bravado and cockiness are ways for him to hide his unhappiness with how society has treated him and he has always secretly wished he had the chance to be a good guy.
- He is a very skilled pickpocket, being able to rob bystanders blind without them even noticing.
- In spite of being the de facto leader of the Bad Guys, Wolf's relationship with them is that of a friend rather than a boss. As they have been his only friends throughout his life, Wolf is very caring towards them, even if he often expresses that through snark, and he is very loyal towards them, being willing to lay his life on the line for their sake. His care for the gang is best shown at the beginning of the film, as Wolf organizes a birthday party with cake and everything for Snake even though they were currently in the middle of a police chase.
- He has multiple scenes where he breaks the fourth wall and playfully talks to the audience, making him even more charismatic.
- He always makes sure to look good, with sharp-looking suits (mainly a beige one) and an attractive smug smile on his face. This goes so far that he even poses so he looks good in his mugshot.
- He is a strategic genius, being able to come up with elaborate capers where all of his gang's abilities can be used to their fullest: Mr. Snake's safecracking and stealth, Mr. Shark's mastery of disguises, Mr. Piranha's sheer brute force and Ms. Tarantula's hacking.
- He is an expert driver, being able to pull off nigh-suicidal stunts to evade the police in his car. This also comes in very handy during the climax, as the gang chases the money vans Marmalade has hijacked and are later chased by literal waves of his mind-controlled guinea pigs.
- Under him, the Bad Guys have lead countless successful heists, their secret hideout being full of stolen goods and treasure, while always evading the authorities, in spite of the police's best efforts, especially the obsessed Chief Luggings. It has come to the point where Wolf will intentionally sabotage his getaways because he wants the police chases to be as long as possible, as they're his favorite part.
- Despite being a wanted criminal, Wolf somehow manages to have his car insured.
- Although he is a very feared criminal and could easily dine and dash, Wolf still goes out of his way to pay places he dines at and even leaves tips, showing he's Affably Evil and doesn't stoop so low as to hurt small businesses.
- He ambiguously decides to go where no criminal ever went before and steal the Golden Dolphin so his gang goes down in History. Although his teammates are reluctant at first, especially Mr. Snake, he manages to convince them in Snake's case, by showing him that the one who's to get awarded the trophy is the philanthropist Professor Marmalade, who happens to be a guinea pig (Snake's favorite food).
- He devices a scheme to steal the Golden Dolphin:
- As the first step of his plan, him and his gang disguise themselves as wealthy people and infiltrate the art museum the ceremony will be held in.
- Disguised as Oliver Poodleton, Wolf steals Chief Luggings' ID by bumping into her and, after a conversation with Diane as they contemplate an abstract sculpture, "Mr. Poodleton" gets a selfie with her so that her eyes in the picture can be used to bypass an eyescanner.
- Wolf sends Webs to access security cameras and guide the gang, Snake to infiltrate the vents and reach the room with the Dolphin so he can act like a rope, a disguised Shark to create diversions when needed, and Piranha to beat up security.
- As he pickpockets bystanders and eventually sets his eyes on the purse of an old woman descending the stairs (actually Marmalade in disguise), Wolf unintentionally saves her when she trips by grabbing onto her purse and puts her back on her feet to avoid unwanted attention.
- Although things get tricky at points, the Bad Guys eventually manage to steal the Golden Dolphin and are ready to leave with the loot, only getting caught because of Wolf involuntarily wagging with joy (an impulse he couldn't control) when he hears Marmalade's speech on goodness and relates to it.
- Before his gang is taken away by the police, Wolf retorts Diane and Marmalade's speeches on the goodness within everyone back at them to convince the two to give the Bad Guys a chance at heroism, which they were always denied for being "evil animals". Although Marmalade only pretends to be convinced by Wolf, Diane really is somewhat convinced by Wolf's smooth talking, even if still very skeptical.
- He explains to the Bad Guys that they'll merely feign redemption so they'll be pardoned and free to steal the Golden Dolphin anew.
- During Marmalade's training, Wolf tries to have the Bad Guys behave so their "redemption" is credible.
- Although a slapstick scene, Wolf shows he's very durable by surviving a truck hitting him at full speed.
- He opens up to Diane on how angry he is at the World for discriminating him as inherently evil and how he feels like him and his gang wouldn't be accepted even if they did change. This makes Diane sympathize with him, as she too had to deal with stereotypes on her species, and she finally starts trusting him.
- He has an adorable scene as he does his very first real good deed: seeing the cat from an earlier test is on the tree again, Wolf climbs the tree to get the kitten down. The cat is initially scared of Wolf, to the point of almost falling, but Wolf saves him, puts him back on the tree and gets the cat to trust him with kind, empathetic words, finally managing to bring the cat down to safety. Wolf gets attached to the kitten, even saving him from the tree once again before leaving Marmalade's mansion with the meteor later in the film (and by doing so, unwittingly saving the cat's life, as the compound would have later exploded) and even gives him a small pair of sunglasses. When being imprisoned at the end of the film, Wolf leaves the cat in Diane's care.
- As Marmalade was secretly filming Wolf's good deed, him and the rest of the Bad Guys become beloved celebrities overnight.
- After getting over some internal turmoil on wether or not to turn good, Wolf organizes a new caper to steal the Golden Dolphin at the charity gala: Snake will steal a randomly generated password from a suitcase cuffed to Luggings, while the rest apply electrical sappers to power sources. When it's time for the Dolphin to be handed to Marmalade, Wolf will press a button to briefly turn off the light so the Golden Dolphen can be replaced by a fake while the gang leaves with the real thing.
- When Piranha starts singing "Good Tonight" to distract everyone so Snake isn't caught, Wolf and Diane share a dance, showing they are both very good at dancing, and the bond between them grows even stronger, to the point of heavily implied romance.
- The Bad Guys' performance at the gala is so beloved, the charity manages to raise around 1 billion dollars.
- During the dance, he gives Diane's ring back to her.
- When all that's left for the plan to be completely successful is for Wolf to press the button, he realizes he can't betray all the newfound trust he has gained, especially Diane's, and he doesn't go through with it, finally reforming for real.
- When the Bad Guys are incriminated by Marmalade for the theft of the Love Meteorite, Wolf, as a last attempt at redeeming himself, marks his hideout's coordinates on a map and hands it to Diane so he can give back all of his stolen loot. This will help Diane trust him even after Marmalade frames him, leading to her freeing the Bad Guys from prison.
- During his attempted escape at the gala, he manages to take 3 cops down by shaking champagne bottles and using the corks and streams of wine as projectiles and then takes out a fourth officer by forcefully handing him the bottles.
- He immediately realizes Marmalade had been manipulating him all along just by noticing Marmalade mimicking the old lady Wolf had helped back at the museum (who was actually him in disguise).
- After the Bad Guys have a falling out with him, as they feel betrayed by Wolf for redeeming himself, Wolf visits the hideout, which has been completely emptied by the police, and leaves a single Push Pop popsicle in the Bad Guys' fridge. Wolf knew that there was some good deep within Snake and, as he predicted, push come to shove Snake shares the Push Pop with Shark to cheer him up, being generous for the first time in his life. This inspires the Bad Guys to turn good, with Webs, Shark and Piranha going to help Diane and Wolf stop Marmalade while Snake feigns defection from the Bad Guys to "partner up" with the Professor and manipulate him into defeat.
- He sets off with Diane to steal the Meteorite from Marmalade so he doesn't use it to mind-control guinea pigs into stealing the charity's money.
- Looking at the city map, he realizes that Marmalade's targets is mobile, as he plans to hijack the vans carrying the charity money.
- Him and Diane sneak into Marmalade's compound and almost steal the Meteorite before Wolf falls for a trap by Marmalade and they are captured.
- After stealing the Meteroite (actually a lamp disguised as it that Snake has replaced the Meteorite with) with the help of Webs, Shark and Piranha, who came back to help him and Diane, the gang sees that the guinea pigs still are under the mind-control and they come up with a plan to redirect the hijacked vans back to their intended destinations.
- Through Diane's gadgets, Tarantula's hacking and each member's efforts, the heroes manage to return all the stolen charity money to their destinations (including hospitals and schools).
- He throws away the chance to return the "Meteorite" and be pardoned for the sake of getting Snake back, braving hordes of mind-controlled guinea pigs to do so, even though he still thinks he has betrayed the gang, showing just how loyal Wolf is to his friends.
- When Marmalade uses a claw on a chain from his helicopter to try and get the "Meteorite" in exchange for Snake, Wolf threatens to melt off the chain with a lipstick blowtorch to make sure Marmalade holds up his end of the deal and returns Snake safely.
- When Marmalade kicks Snake off his plane and onto the crater below, Wolf leaps over the crater with his car to save him, sacrificing his beloved vehicle for his best friend.
- Mid-fall, Wolf apologizes for having kept his want for redemption hidden from Snake and the others and tells his friend he loves him. Wolf and Snake then embrace as they reconcile.
- While every other Bad Guy tears up as they prepare to die in the fall together, Wolf nonchalantly pulls out his hidden grappling hook and saves all his friends, while also destroying Marmalade's mind-control helmet and damaging his helicopter.
- When Diane almost reveals her secret identity as the Crimson Paw and destroys her career so as to defend the Bad Guys, Wolf doesn't allow her to do so and turns himself in to protect her, the rest of the gang following in tow.
- When Luggings is too stunned by Wolf turning himself in to cuff him, he softly encourages her to achieve her lifelong goal of catching him.
- When, thanks to Snake's trickery, the Meteorite and Marmalade's compound explode, Wolf pats the guinea pig on the head, asserting his final victory over his former manipulator.
- In prison, Wolf and the rest are so well-behaved that they befriend the guards and, in spite of their countless thievery, are released just a year later for good behavior.
- At the end, the freed Wolf and the gang, Diane and the cat all ride off in the distance with sunglasses on, ready to start their new lives as good guys.
- Wolf is initially petty towards Diane, wanting to steal the Golden Dolphin in part to spite her as after she insulted him and his friends on live TV and he having nothing but contempt for her at first as a snobby little miss perfect. However, as Wolf and Diane discover they are not so different from one another and even develop some very good chemistry, the two come to care greatly for one another, Diane even helping Wolf choose good. In the end, Wolf even sacrifices his freedom so that Diane doesn't lose her position.
- Although he has a humiliating moment where he tries to escape with his gang with a grappling hook only for his pants to be ripped straight off and leave him in his underpants, Wolf manages to be Magnificent and smooth talk Diane into giving the Bad Guys a chance even while still missing his pants. Later in the film, he makes a joke on how grappling hooks rip your pants off, showing he took that embarrassing moment in strides.
- He has two major moments of losing his cool: turning feral with anger after Marmalade reveals his true colors and trying to attack him and lashing out at his team that they weigh him down during a quarrel with Snake. In both cases, he quickly comes back to his senses and realizes with remorse what he's done and, in the latter case, he makes it up by reconciling with his friends.
- While for most of the film he is Marmalade's pawn, falling for all of his machinations just the way the guinea pig wanted him to, he quickly realizes Marmalade tricked him, helps Diane decipher the scientist's evil plan and, with his gang, foils Marmalade's heist, defeating his former manipulator.
- In the end, he not only redeemed himself, but also helped all his friends turn good too.
- In the "Maraschino Ruby" short, when Chief Luggings tries to trick the newly redeemed Bad Guys into stealing the titular Ruby by replacing it with a candy replica and pubblically taunting the Bad Guys as too "stupid, lame and stupid" to steal it, Mr. Wolf gets the gang arrested by making it seem like Snake shoplifted a Push Pop, only to then have Shark, disguised as a lawyer, prove they actually paid for it and then stating the fact that Luggings herself committed entrapment by trying to trick the gang into stealing. With the precedent to press charges against Luggings, Wolf makes her pubblically take back her taunts. While doing so, he pick-pockets the real Maraschino Ruby from Luggings, replacing it by putting Snake's Push Pop in her pocket, and then comes up with an elaborate inverse heist as he and the gang return it to the museum.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He has been pick-pocketing and organizing capers with his gang for years, stealing more for the thrill of it than for any gain, and originally revels in him and his friends' infamy as feared criminals. Eventually, he decides to steal the Golden Dolphin to go down in criminal history.
- He is a very reckless driver, endangering himself, his friends and multiple people on the road while escaping from the police.
- Through Webs, Wolf causes a lot of hacking and even has Webs engineer road accidents so his gang get away during car chases.
- He has Piranha assault innocent people.
- Originally wants to just feign redemption to get the police off his and his gang's tails, until his want to redeem himself becomes genuine.
- Confused on what to do with the kitten up the tree, Wolf initially suggests smacking it.
- Although justified in his rage, he nevertheless wanted to assault and most likely kill Marmalade when he revealed his true colors, though he quickly comes back to his senses.
- Although biologically speaking it's justified as he's a carnivore, some lines of his heavily imply he too preys on animals like Snake.
Trivia[]
- He is the only main protagonist in a Dreamworks film to be a Magnificent Baddie.
- Only the film version of Mr. Wolf counts as a Magnificent Baddie, as the book version of him used to be more of a petty thug rather than a master thief and a gang leader like in the film, and is also much less suave or elegant and even has some ditzier moments.
- Mr. Wolf, Giorno Giovanna, Bruno Bucciarati, The Animator, Meta Knight (game only), Sasha Waybright, and Angel Gabby are, so far, the only Magnificent Baddies who are also Near Pure Good.
- With 4 characters in it qualifying, The Bad Guys is currently the individual film with the highest number of Magnificent Baddies.
- Its announced that Bad Guys is getting a sequel there is a chance this might affect his status as MB.
External Links[]
- Mr. Wolf at the Heroes wiki
- Mr. Wolf at the Villains wiki
- Mr. Wolf at the DreamWorks Animation wiki
- Mr. Wolf at the The Bad Guys wiki
- Mr. Wolf at the Near Pure Good wiki
- Mr. Wolf at the Guile Heroes wiki
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 Magnificent Baddies
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Animated Features Animated Television | ||