MB Proposal: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mrs. Tarantula and the Crimson Paw from The Bad Guys

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“	We may be bad, but we're so good at it.	„
	~ Mr. Wolf on his team.

Last time bad looked this good it was with Megamind.

Quadruple Proposal, folks! And one from a new animated movie that I did not expect to love as much as I did.

Today I bring you an all-or-nothing proposal on 4 sneaky lil' thieves who have stolen plenty of smiles from me, although they are all very risky candidates whose Slip-Ups I'll have to talk my away around of with not such ease, especially without TVTropes having yet decided if any of them qualify. But I am mostly confident that these funny criminals can qualify.

NOTE: This Proposal is taking in consideration the Film and only the Film. From what I've seen of the book: Wolf and Snake aren't organized, successful thieves, but petty crooks with their villainy fully off-screen and most of the story is their initial incompetence at being good guys, which is only one part of the Film. Tarantula and Crimson Paw, meanwhile, are pretty much separate characters from their book counterparts they're adapted from. If we talking superficial charm, Book Wolf also lacks the attractiveness, elegance and a lot of the suave attitude he has in the Film.

What's the Work?

The Bad Guys is a 2022 animated film by Dreamworks based on the australian book series of the same name.

While the book already started with the titular predators trying (and often failing) to become the Good Guys, in the film the five animals Wolf, Snake, Tarantula, Shark and Piranha are an organized band of criminals, the titular Bad Guys, who are always ready for a good heist.

One night, they try to go down in criminal history and steal the Golden Dolphin, but when it goes awry they opt to feigning redemption to be freed and continue life as criminals, although Wolf and, later, the rest of the gang will soon realize good really does feel good and, with help from the governor Diane Foxington, the Bad Guys will redeem themselves, even stopping a larger threat.

Who are They? What have They Done?

The Bad Guys are a band of devious, delightful thieves, each being an animal commonly associated with fear and evil who, thus, decided to give in to society's point of view and be evil as the stereotypes dictate, while also becoming the loyal only friends to one another.

Their leader is the charismatic pickpoket Mr. Wolf, who organizes the heists and is also the best friend of the cynical safe-cracker Mr. Snake. The rest of the gang are the energetic master of disguise Mr. Shark, the insane thug Mr. Piranha and the witty master-hacker Mrs. Tarantula or "Webs".

The gang lead countless successful heists and robberies in spite of the police's efforts, especially the crazy Chief Luggings. However, after returning to their hideout after their latest hit, the gang is shocked and enraged to see the new Governor, the snarky Diane Foxington, insult them on live television as insecure, sloppy hasbeens. Wolf wants to prove Diane wrong and go down in criminal history with the rest of his gang, so he plans to go where no thief ever went before and steal the Golden Dolphin award, which was to be given to the guinea pig philantropist Professor Marmalade.

The disguised Bad Guys infiltrate the ceremony and each of them stays in position even if some problems arise, such as Wolf accidentally saving an old lady and realizing he loves being considered a "good boy" and, later, him and Snake being at the mercy of a complex security system which Webs only barely manages to deactivate in time.

The gang leaves with the trophy, but not before Wolf overhears Marmalade's speech on goodness and is overwhelmed by his wagging, giving the gang away and having them all arrested. Wolf, however, smooth-talks Diane and Marmalade into giving him and the Bad Guys a chance at redemption, since society never gave them one. After Marmalade accepts to mentor them to good, to Diane's skepticism, Wolf explains to his teammates that they'll just feign redemption and steal the Golden Dolphin again.

Marmalade's attempts at redeeming them, however, are all failures, culminating in him sending them to use their thieving skills to rescue guinea pigs from a lab. Due to Snake loving the taste of the critters, the mission goes horribly wrong and Diane is ready to have the Bad Guys incarcerated, but softens up when Wolf reveals his genuine insecurities to her and gains her trust as she motivates him to reform for real. That night, Wolf finally manages to rescue the kitten from a tree, his first true good deed and, as Marmalade was secretly filming all along, the bad Guys are now publicly beloved.

Come the charity gala, the Bad Guys prepare for their second attempt at stealing the Golden Dolphin, but Snake is almost caught and, to distract everyone, Piranha starts the "Good Tonight" musical number, leading to the gang becoming even more popular, the gala raising 1 billion dollars and Wolf and Diane strengthening their bond as they dance toghether, to the point where, seeing all the newfound trust he and his gang have gotten, Wolf doesn't go through with the plan and decides to redeem himself for real, to the shock of his friends.

However, that's when an important artefact, the Love Meteor, is stolen and, of course, the Bad Guys are blamed and arrested. Before they're taken away, Marmalade reveals his true colors has he had manipulated everyone all along, even being the "old lady" Wolf had helped, and he stole the Meteor so he could use its incredible magnetism to mind-control all the guinea pigs the Bad Guys had freed and use them to steal all the money from his own charity.

As the Bad Guys are taken away and the world fears them once again, only Diane smells something rotten and, since Wolf even told her the coordinates of their hideout as a last shot at redemption, Diane comes to trust the Bad Guys and become wise to Marmalade's true colors. When the Bad Guys arrive to prison, Wolf spills the beans over his newborn reluctance to be the villain, causing a terrible fight between him and Snake until a new figure interrupts.

The infamous, mysterious master criminal The Crimson Paw, comes to the rescue and effortlessly takes down all of the prison guards before revealing herself to be Diane, there to break the innocent Bad Guys out of prison so they can all stop Marmalade toghether. However, the gang feels betrayed by Wolf and they all split up.

After driving back to her house, Diane consoles an insecure Wolf by telling the story of how she gave up her successful life of crime to be an honest politician after she realized she was enforcing the stereotypes that foxes are sly and dishonest, and her and Wolf gear up so they can steal the Meteor from Marmalade. Back at the Bad Guys' hideout, however, the Bad Guys are shocked to see all their stolen loot was confiscated and now all that's left is a single Push Pop that Snake gives to Shark to cheer him up, something the selfish reptile never did before. Moved by this, the rest of the gang realize that Wolf was right and that they too can and should turn good, but Snake furiously rejects this and storms off.

During their attempt to steal the Meteor, Wolf falls for a trap and Diane and him are captured by Marmalade. How did the guinea pig know they'd be there? Snake partnered up with Marmalade and ratted them out. Marmalade's heist via guinea pig horde is now in motion and the two canines are left to die, until Shark, Piranha and Tarantula come to their rescue, now fully redeemed, and they all drive off with the stolen Meteor, not before Wolf rescues the cat again, of course.

With Diane's gadgets and Webs' hacking, the Bad Guys then redirect the money vans Marmalade's minions had highjacked and they and the villain's plan is foiled, the rodent watching angrily from his helicopter. The Bad Guys then plan to give back the Meteor so the police trust them again, but they just can't leave Snake behind and they pursue Marmalade's helicopter. That's when the treacherous guinea pig throws Snake off the helicopter and takes the Meteor back, the Bad Guys leaping over the Meteor's crater to save Snake. Snake and the rest of the Bad Guys make amends and are ready to die in the fall toghether, but Wolf still has a grappling hook up his sleeves and saves the gang while hammering the final nail in foiling Marmalade's scheme.

The police come to arrest the Bad Guys anew, but Diane tries to defend their innocence and is even willing to reveal she was the Crimson Paw. However, Wolf doesn't allow her to sacrifice herself and turns himself in for her, the rest of the gang following in tow. When it looks like Marmalade was heroically trying to put the Meteor back in the crater, it's discovered that the "meteor" the heroes were fighting over was actually a lamp, as Snake never betrayed the Bad Guys and simply duped Marmalade into a false partnership, using his own mind control helmet to have the guinea pigs switch the lamp and the meteor and then put the real meteor back in its place and put it into overdrive, causing both the meteor and Marmalade's mansion to blow up. As the guinea pig stole Diane's ring (really the Zumpango Diamond she stole as the Crimson Paw), the diamond then falls from him and Marmalade is mistaken for the Crimson Paw and arrested.

Diane expresses her pride for Wolf and the gang as they are taken away, while Wolf reveals to Snake and the rest that he had put the Push Pop that kickstarted their redemptions in their fridge, knowing Snake's hidden goodness would come out.

Just one year later, the gang is released from prison for good behaviour and they ride off with Diane and the kitten into the sunset, starting their new life as Good Guys.

What Makes Them Magnificent?

Wolf

“	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'.

behold, the Faces of Evil.

Now, I have to get an important factor outta the way: I have a huge crush on Wolf. "Down bad" doesn't begin to cover it, but I'll try to be as impartial and objective as a simp can be and adress all his pros and cons fully.

An incredibly slick pickpocket, Mr. Wolf is the leader of the Bad Guys and a strategic genius who plans the gang's heists, cleverly finding ways to make good use of each of his teammates' talents. His plans allowed the Bad Guys to steal treasure upon treasure and escape the police for years.

Always affable even as a villain, as shown when he pays the restaurant he and Snake were in even without any pragmatic reason, Mr. Wolf deeply cares for all his comrades, his found family practically, even organizing a b-day party for Snake mid-heist and he's always loyal towards them, even risking his life to save Snake when he still thought the serpent was a traitor.

Always in a fancy suit and often with a smug smile, Wolf is very styley and puts the "smooth" in "smooth criminal". Witty and snarky, he struts about with gangster-like swagger wherever he goes (and in the instances where he fails at being cool, he utterly succeeds in being adorable).

Perhaps an even bigger thrill-seeker than Piranha, Wolf is always delighted by his rule-breaking and will even sabotage his own escapes to make the police chases longer, as they're his favorite part of any heist. Arrogant? Absolutely, but he backs it up with his cleverness, incredible if reckless driving and his sheer skill. Despite this, like the rest of his gang, he is tragic and insecure deep down behind his smug facade, as he felt forced into villainy by society's stereotypes regarding his species.

He and his gang come closer than any villain before them (except Crimson Paw) to stealing the Golden Dolphin, but his plan ultimately fails for want of a tail. Despite being defeated (and his underwear), Mr. Wolf thinks quickly on his feet and convinces Diane Foxington and (falsely) Prof. Marmalade to give him and his gang a shot at being good through charisma and smooth-talking, also using a lot of meaningful echos to stuff the two said before.

Although initially a scheme to get the police off his and the gang's back, Wolf eventually finds out that Good feels Good and is the first in his gang to turn good, which starts with him showing how gentle and empathetic he can be by rescuing a kitten off a tree in a very adorable scene. With his turning to good also comes with an adorable romance between him and Diane, with the two having amazing chemistry, especially with their snarky banter. During the gala, on top of a lot of Diane x Wolf ship tease, we also find out that Wolf and Diane are amazing dancers, as if they couldn't be any more charming.

With help from Diane and, later, his friends, Wolf stops Marmalade's evil scheme, uses a grappling hook to save his gang at the last minute and, when Diane almosts sacrifices her political career, Wolf sacrifices himself for her by turning himself him, his gang following in tow, and later regains freedom after just 1 year of jail thanks to his good behavior.

In the end, Wolf admits that he pulled off a huge Batman Gambit on his friends, as he reveals he was the one to leave the Push Pop in the fridge knowing that, when push came to shove, Snake's hidden heart of gold would come out and he'd share the Push Pop for the first time in his life, convincing the rest to redeem themselves.

If we talking physical feats, Wolf ain't half bad: on top of great speed, Wolf shows incredible durability (he survives a truck running him over) and strength (he supports the weight of a goddamn great white!) and, while no Diane, he still has some fighting prowess, improvising two champagne bottles as weapons he takes down 4 cops with while escaping the cops at the gala.

Now, I've described what makes him charming...buuuut, let's just say that, if he is approved, Wolf is at the extreme of a Magnificent Baddie with Slip-Ups: the boy messes up a lot. Now then, I will try to list his Slip-Ups and explain why they are either not too damning or how he makes up for them:

• Like (almost) every criminal before him, he is eventually done in by trying to steal the Golden Dolphin, but he did come extremely close and was only spotted because he started wagging listening to Marmalade's speech, aka a physical impulse he couldn't have controlled.
• He has an admittedly humiliating scene where he tries to escape via grappling hook, but has his pants stripped away instead, leaving him in his undies. However, the humiliation isn't focused on as much as it would be in most kids media and, matter of fact, even while in his underpants, he manages to be charismatic and tricky, convincing Diane to give him a chance at redemption. Other than him and Stanley Pines, how many characters can be Magnificent while in boxers? Also, later in the film, Wolf even makes a joke about grappling hooks taking your pants off, showing he took the slip-up in strides and is able to laugh at himself.
• Marmalade has him wear first an Old lady outfit and, later, a sheep onesie, both being treated as demeaning for him. These are two instances of Wolf looking ridicolous in a movie where he's otherwise always sharp-dressed and fancy.
• His first attempt at saving the kitten is hilariously bad, but he redeems himself wholly by performing as well as he did the second time around.
• He has two major moments of losing his cool: when Marmalade successfully provokes him by revealing he ruined the Gang's life and manipulated him, Wolf went absolutely feral and jumped at the guinea pig...it did not look pretty; later, in prison, Snake and Wolf have a heated discussion on Wolf chickening out of the villain's life and Wolf ends up lashing out and telling his friends that maybe they are hindering him, leading to the gang leaving him. Both these moments, however, are very brief and both times Wolf quickly regains his senses and is very remorseful to see what he did or said, and he makes up for the second one further by reconciling with his friends.
• He was originally petty towards Diane, as she pinpointed the Bad Guys' insecurities and flaws on live TV and large part of why Wolf wanted to steal the Golden Dolphin was to prove her wrong and spite her. However, the mutual contempt Wolf and Diane had for each other later turns into good friendship and even a strong implied romance, the two learning they are not so different. At the end, Wolf sacrifices his freedom just so Diane doesn't lose her position: if that doesn't completely redeem Wolf from his initial pettiness towards Diane, I don't know what does.
• Him failing to get the Dolphin the first time was due to an involuntary, incontrollable reaction of his, while the second time he chose at the last moment to not get it.
• The worst part, I'd say, is when after a whole film of being smart, Wolf falls for what's clearly a trap by Marmalade as he tries to go for the Golden Dolphin and gets him and an annoyed Diane captured. This is luckily a mercifully short instance of foolishness from Wolf and he and Diane are freed by the Bad Guys, who did redeem themselves thanks to Wolf, so it doesn't hurt Wolf's chances too much.
• He was Marmalade's pawn for vast majority of the film and acted the way the rodent wanted him to act at every turn. However, it does take Wolf a single line from Marmalade ("after all, you're such a good boy") to immediately connect all the dots and he later makes it up by helping Diane figure out the full extent of Marmalade's plan and, later, him and his gang manage to put an end to the guinea pig's heist, thus Wolf ultimately defeats his manipulator.

Wolf had a rocky trail, I'll admit, but he always looked good, never gave up and, most importantly, ultimately made up for all the rough spots and sticked the landing, so I do believe he's a Wholly Grown Magnificent Baddie with Slip-Ups.

Snake

“	Out of all the people in the world, I hate you guys the least.	„
	~ Snake to his teammates.

Little piggies can outwit the Big Bad Wolf, but they'll never see the Snake Attack coming.

The oldest, most cynical of the gang, Snake is the Bad Guys' expert safe-cracker, who is essential to all heists thanks to his slithery cunning, his stealth and his safe-cracking skills.

We are shown many times how competent Snake is at executing the hits, such as using his molting to change outfits, using Luggings' fingerprints on her glasses and later himself to open her fingerprint-locked suitcase, even pretending he was a glass when he was caught. So yeah, he absolutely lives up to the title of "Houdini but with no hands".

Witty and ruthless, Snake manages to compete with Wolf in the constant Snark vs Snark the two have, as they are best friends and very caring towards one another, though you'll never get Snake to admit it. As such, Snake is very sympathetic in the scenes where he starts having doubts about Wolf wanting to betray him, culminating in them having a sad (but luckily brief) falling out, as Snake feels stabbed in the back by the one guy he thought he could trust in his 57 years of the whole world hating him. Luckily, the two reconcile and have an heartwarming scene of hugging each other mid-fall, Snake thinking that he's going to die with the rest of his gang and being at peace with that.

Initially the most reluctant to reform, Snake eventually does see the charm of feeling like a good person and formulates a deviously heroic plan to set things right. Using his outward villainy, Snake dupes Marmalade and joins him, pretending to have betrayed the Bad Guys. In reality, Snake nonchalantly asks his new "friend" Marmalade to try on his guinea-pig-mind-control helmet and sneakily has the guinea pigs replace the meteorite with a lamp in its shape, knowing the reformed Bad Guys and Diane would steal the lamp, and then puts the meteorite back in Marmalade's machine and sets it to overdrive mode, resulting in both the Meteorite and Marmalade's mansion being destroyed in a blast. The redeemed Snake is still manipulative, but he used it to defeat the evil Marmalade and save the day.

Like Wolf and the rest of the newly redeemed Bad Guys, Snake turns himself in to save Diane's political career and manages to spend just one year in prison thanks to good behaviour.

When it comes to visual gags, Snake is the funniest character in the film, by a long shot, my personal favorite moment being how he manages to play the bass.

Also the gang fail at most of Marmalade's tests because of Snake, but due to him not giving a shit about redemption rather than him being incompetent, so it doesn't count.

Webs

“	(Wolf: Very slick, Webs.) I also took over the police dispatch, blurred their satellite imaging system, grounded their chopper and one more thing.	„
	~ Webs during a police chase,

Don't let her cuteness fool you, she's a sneaky, devious little gal and knows your IP adress.

Thanks to natural talent (and Youtube tutorials), Webs is a ridicoulously efficient hacker and possibly the most valuable member of the gang alongside Wolf. With her hacking, she allows all of the gang's plans to come toghether and, at various points, the gang would have been toast without her, especially at the Golden Dolphin heist, where Tarantula braved incredibly powerful security, tight time and Piranha's gas in order for the guys to just barely make it.

Adorable yet badass at the same time, with her skills, Webs is so much of a trickster that she manages to have a cake delivered to the Bad Guys mid-heist for Snake's birthday and is even able to vote despite being a wanted criminal. Extra points to her for voting for Diane because of her enviromental program, showing Webs cares about the planet.

Voiced by Akwafyna (who is NOT unbearable this time around), Webs is very sarcastic and witty, even managing to outsnark Wolf and Snake at times (like with the "have you tried rebooting" exchange) and is the unquestionable voice of reason among the film tritagonists (her, Shark and Piranha).

After a brief falling out with a defecting Wolf (even then, at least she had the decency to say a "Sorry, Wolfie"), Snake's first good action of sharing with Piranha has her realize she and the gang can and should change and turn good and she goes to save Wolf and Diane from Marmalade's deadly trap.

A key component in stopping Marmalade's plan thanks to her hacking redirecting all the money vans towards their intented locations and later putting everything on the line to save Snake, Webs, in the end, follows in tow with the rest of her gang and turns herself in to save Diane's political career, but only spends 1 year in prison thanks to her good behaviour.

The Crimson Paw

“	A Wolf and a Fox, are not so different. Maybe they will believe you, maybe they won't, but it doesn't matter. Don't do it for them, do it for you. This is a chance to write your own story, to find a better life for you and your friends. Come on, what have you got to lose?	„
	~ Diane showing her thievery skills to Wolf, holding the ring he stole from her earlier and then motivating him to redeem himself.

Diane Foxington is the reasonable fox who was originally known as the infamous master thief, the Crimson Paw and she was arguably the greatest thief to ever live: she conceiled her identity perfectly and never got caught, while using incredible gadgets, amazing athleticism and martial artistry and sheer vixen cunning and wit to successfully carry out grand yet creative heists all on her own, stealing all sorts of valuables, sometimes for money, other times for fun.

An infallible criminal through and through, she eventually succeeded where no thief before or after her ever did: stealing the Golden Dolphin, which she did effortlessly and with a clear path of escape, but then she sees herself in the mirror and shamefully realizes she's just perpetrating the stereotype that foxes are cunning thieves. Disgusted by herself, she put the trophy back and then abandoned life as a criminal, being the only villain in the film who redeemed herself all on her own.

Diane successfully erased all traces of her past and, to atone for her crimes, pursued the life of the honest politician to help others and, through charisma and good policies, she rose till she became the universally beloved governor of Los Angeles, with even Tarantula voting for her due to Diane's policy on climate.

Always dressed elegantly (be it a formal suit and tie, stylish dresses or a badass ninja suit), Diane is very witty and manages to compete with Wolf's own sarcasm, the two having amazing chemistry in the film: starting out with nothing but contempt for one another, Diane and Wolf progressively learn that the two of them aren't so different (mostly through snarky exchanges) and come to even have feelings for each other (though the sarcasm doesn't stop even then). Initially (correctly) skepticle about the Bad Guys' redemption, Diane comes to trust Wolf even after Marmalade frames him and, by the end, she is willing to ruin her own life to defend the Bad Guys by revealing she's the Crimson Paw, while they, in turn, turn themselves in to prevent her from doing so.

Overall, Diane was one of the main reasons the gang and especially Wolf were able to find redemption.

Diane possesses amazing thieving gadgets Wolf can't help but geek over, but her coolest asset is no doubt her badass motorbike which is convertible into a briefcase! With all her skills, including some hacking of her own, she is indispensable help to the Bad Guys in foiling Marmalade's evil plan, with her having an awesome scene during the pursuit of the money vans where she slides under one of the trucks.

What further makes her stand out is that the gal is a One-Woman Army, her incredible fighting skills, strength, agility and trickery allowing her to effortlessly take down dozens of policemen to free the Bad Guys from prison, even taking out two of them at once with a shoe! And this physical prowess of her was but foreshadowed earlier in the film as she proves to be an amazing dancer when dancing with Wolf at the gala, even raising him over her head at one point and spinning him around.

Amazing thief, badass fighter, adored politician, voice of reason among the heroes, a fiery gal through and through and even a bit of a scientific genius, at this point the greatest concern is: Is she TOO Magnificent and a Mary Sue? Nope!

Other than her showing clear vulnerability in her flashback when she shamefully abandoned her life of crime, Diane, while not an outright MB with Slip-Ups, still has enough missteps to not be a Mary Sue: She too was fooled by Marmalade for the longest time, it's probable Wolf's Poodleton disguise fooled even her (though there is ambiguity there) and, most importantly of all, she was about to ruin her own life by revealing her past to the police in order to defend the Bad Guys: while very selfless and heroic of her, that would have been a very foolish thing to do, likely resulting only in her gong to prison with the Bad Guys, and it's fortunate that Wolf and the rest prevented her from making the sacrifice.

What Makes Them Baddies?

All 4 of them are cunning master thieves who are (or were) always ready to steal any treasure or valuable they may find, sometimes for money, but often just for the thrill of being bad guys, with Diane even stealing the Zumpango diamond twice, once for money, the second time for fun. These guys were all rotten criminals and oh so proud of it. In Diane's case her true villainy is all in the past, she still was a proud criminal, and still magnificent at the time, so her time doing crime does count.

They are also each guilty of unique, personal crimes:

• Wolf is a real reckless driver, which greatly endangers both him and others. As we don't see his criminal sheet, it's unknown if he ever tried eating people in the film like in the book, but some lines do confirm he eats animals like any predator.
• Snake is a lethal predator who loves eating adorable critters and, according to his criminal record, has even attempted eating PEOPLE. When it comes to attitude, he's also the most sinister and abrasive of the entire gang.
• Webs is a master-hacker and constantly tampers with police databases, etc. and even hacks traffic lights and causes road accidents at the start of the film to escape the police.
• While it was needed to free the Bad Guys, which was the right thing to do, Diane still beat up and locked away multiple, innocent police officers in the S.U.C.M. prison, even those who were trying to run away (though even then it's justified, as they could've sounded the alarm) and wasn't the least bit remorseful about it, she was proud outright.

Obviously, they're not too heinous: they are just thieves for the most part, their worst actions are off-screen or fridge horror, they are all likeable baddies even before redemption and they pale to Marmalade's evil, as he has no redeeming qualities (except maybe care for his henchman) and steals from HOSPITALS.

Competition?

Nope:

• Mr. Piranha is the insane, often foolish and dimwitted comic relief who only provides brute strength (and a good singing voice) to the team. Also fart jokes, no to him.
• Mr. Shark is a master of disguise, but also a huge emotional manchild who's the second largest comic relief after Piranha. Even his status as a master of disguise is only due to this being a cartoon where his terrible disguises can work.
• Chief Luggings is an antagonist, not a Baddie and is simply very over the top over justice being done, plus she's an hotheaded one and has been outwitted by the Bad Guys for years.
• Cuddles has almost no characterization nor schemes of his own, and he cowardly leaves Marmalade behind once the going gets tough.

• Marmalade, Marmalade, Marmalade. Is he ridicolously brilliant, charismatically gained universal love and pulled a Batman Gambit on Wolf throughout the whole film? Yes. Is he Magnificent? Absolutely NOT. The filmmakers confirmed that, even in his Pwecious goodytwoshoes facade, the audience was meant to want to punch the guy. He is admittedly more laughable than most twist villains, but I'd say he's a Hate Sink: he's petty, manipulative (not in a fun way) and pulls so much Kick the Dog stuff. He is also (very satisfyingly) outwitted and played for a sucker by Snake and, after having lost everything thanks to the heroes, he is brought away and ends the film as a screaming, humiliated mess. He literally makes the 4 guys on here look better by comparison, as they never STOLE FROM HOSPITALS. No to Marmalade.

Now, let's discuss the Competition the 4 give to ONE ANOTHER.

First, let's talk resources: I'd say they are all equal under this regard. Wolf, Snake and Webs are all on the same team, by logic they all share the same resources, even Webs' personal gadgets or Snake's personal snake abilities are still to be considered resources that the team possesses rather than them alone. As for Diane, she works solo so she has less resources than the Bad Guys when it comes to manpower, but I'd say she makes up for it by having much better gadgets than them. Also, funnily enough, the fact she's a powerful official doesn't really heighten her resources, as she's shown to be a honest politician who doesn't embezzle and at one point, she could've used her status to get info she needed, but decided to hack instead because "You know, paperwork". So, again, all 4 are on equal ground when it comes to resources.

Now, Diane is a big threat to the other three qualifying, because she is a much better thief than any of them and, unlike them, never has that huge a SlipUp in the film. However, while she is still very cunning and can manipulate, as is clear with her managing to become a powerful and publicly loved politician, in the film she doesn't have one impressive feat of manipulation like Wolf's Batman Gambit towards his team or Snake playing Marmalade for a sucker. So while Diane stands out when it comes to heroism, fighting skills and sheer competence, she doesn't overshadow Snake and Wolf thanks to the latter's two respective impressive feat of manipulation.

Now, Webs. The standard set by the other 3 is the main reason I had doubts about Webs, but then I thought about it and I'd say that she too can qualify. The main reason for that is that Webs is arguably the most useful member of the Bad Guys, her hacking skills being vital to their heists and her efforts saving her gang during the first Golden Dolphin mission. Sure Wolf is the brilliant planner and all members of the Bad Guys do their job, but Webs is the efficent enforcer that allows the gang to be as successful as they are. On top of usefulness, what also helps Webs stand out is her wit and sarcasm, with her even managing to Outsnark Snake and Wolf in some scenes (like the "have you tried rebooting" scene).

I'd say they all stand out.

Final Verdict?

Can we get 4 Magnificent Baddies from 1 film? Let's see how it goes. I, for one, am rooting for 'em.