Even the most wicked baddies out there don’t usually work alone, as proven by many of Dreamworks’
villains.
Some have a husband or wife while others have a small array of henchmen.
But whether they have a ton of people behind them or just a couple, any loyalty or love
given to them isn’t usually returned.
In the case of these villainous relationships, which ones are seen as the most toxic?
I’m Brad with WickedBinge and this is Dreamworks Villain Relationships: Toxic to Most Toxic.
Now, as we said in the intro, we're mostly going to be focusing on the business relationships
and the romantic (or rather, unromantic) relationships of these Dreamworks villains.
In other words, henchmen, partners and significant others only.
However, if you'd like us to do a video on these villains' familial relationships or
their relationship with Dreamworks heroes, let us know in the comments!
As per usual, we're going to be starting off with the villains who have the least toxic
relationships - the ones that could easily qualify for the Grey Tier in different circumstances
- before moving our way down to the hostile, the concerning and the completely unhealthy.
Starting off, we have probably the best couple that we're going to see on this list (although
that isn't saying a lot) - Puss in Boots' Jack and Jill.
While certainly not the most lovey-dovey pair around, their relationship is pretty decent
all things considered.
Jill tends to be the one who's often leading their plans and pushing things along while
Jack is more willing to follow orders.
We end up learning, however, that Jack has gotten a bit tired of the criminal life, wanting
to instead settle down and have a baby.
Jill isn't too thrilled about this idea, sort of brushing her partner off when he tries
to convince her of it.
In the end though, the two of them are able to compromise, settling for piglets instead.
Outside of this one small conflict, the two of them get along and communicate well, easily
earning them our top spot.
Next up is Lord Farquaad and Thelonious.
When Farquaad is first introduced, it's made fairly clear that Thelonious is his right
hand man.
He follows his lord's orders to the letter, whether he's torturing Gingy or threatening
the Magic Mirror.
As it turns out, Farquaad doesn't just see Thelonious as extra muscle but also takes
his advice into account when Thelonious tells him to pick Bachelorette #3 AKA Fiona during
the Magic Mirror's matchmaking game.
For the most part, their relationship is a pretty simple one, with Thelonious giving
support and Farquaad not giving him too much of a reason to ever betray him, since he isn't
too cruel to his henchmen - unlike what we'll see later on.
But apparently Thelonious still isn't all THAT loyal, since we see him using a cue-card
to encourage the audience at the church to support Shrek and Fiona's love after Farquaad
gets eaten.
Moving down the line, next is Dave and his squids.
Probably one of the most neutral boss/henchmen relationships on this list, this one is about
as basic as it gets.
Being focused more on his relationship with humans and revenge on the Penguins, he isn't
all that affectionate with his squidy henchmen.
That being said, he still gets along reasonably well with his henchmen.
He's never seen abusing them and occasionally even says "please" when giving them orders.
Granted that's a pretty low bar to clear, but it's still impressive when compared to
some of Dreamworks' other villains.
Next up, from a more recent Dreamworks film, we have Professor Marmalade and Cuddles.
It's a bit of a strange one in that we never hear Cuddles talk, with some fans even speculating
if he's fully human.
Whatever he may be, we do know for sure that he seems to be very loyal to his tiny boss.
…Well, mostly.
We see him do things like helping Marmalade get ready, giving him an extra step, piloting
his helicopter and so much more - all without getting a thank you or even any basic acknowledgement,
as though Marmalade just takes his subservience totally for granted.
Not that Cuddles seems to mind that much, but still…
In the end though, we see that even Cuddles' loyalty has its limit, and he ends up ditching
Marmalade right before he gets arrested.
Overall, it just makes their relationship come off as extremely shallow.
Onto another character with a silly name, we have Professor Poopy-Pants and Melvin.
In some respects, it is sort of nice that both characters are essentially using each
other, know this about each other and are totally okay with that.
Melvin is only working with Poopy-Pants to get extra credit while Poopy-Pants only respects
Melvin for his lack of a sense of humor and would otherwise only see him as a total suck-up.
There's no misguided sense of loyalty or manipulation, it's just a partnership in the simplest sense
of the word, and while that's still not great since they're still using each other for personal
means, at least it's honest.
From silly comics to a crazy aquatic world, we're going to talk about Don Lino and Luca
from "Shark Tale" next.
In yet another case of a villain having a right hand man, Luca is Don Lino's Right Hand
Squid.
That being said, we aren't quite sure what Luca actually does outside of trying to give
support and advice.
When he's not doing that, he's acting as another source for the film's jokes, messing up things
like the shark lair's record player and getting in the way, leading to Don Lino making it
seem like he only just barely tolerates Luca being in his gang.
He's a loyal ally and all, but we can't exactly say that the Don likes him personally.
Moving out into space, next are the antagonists from "HOME", Captain Smek and Kyle.
This is another relationship that is mostly just business, with Smek seeing Kyle as just
another Boov to use and command.
The two do work together fairly well in order to try and capture Oh, although Smek does
hit Kyle with his "Shusher" stick a couple of times.
After Oh helps the other Boov realize how much of a bad captain Smek is though, Kyle
is ready to stand up to his leader.
Before Smek can hit Oh with his Shusher, Kyle forces him to let Oh be the new captain, hitting
Smek in the head with the Shusher before giving it to Oh.
It's your basic 'henchmen grows a conscious' story, and while it does prove just how shallow
their relationship was, a story like this could've turned out MUCH worse for the henchmen,
as we'll see later on.
Following them is the one and only Capitaine Chantel DuBois and her men.
In all honesty, we can't say that DuBois seems to care all that much about her men, having
no qualms leaving them behind or getting them injured so long as she can still pursue her
hunt.
In fact, she only visits her men in the hospital because she needs them.
We don't exactly approve of how one-sided this particular relationship is, but we do
admire how much DuBois' henchmen seem to care about her, her goals and apparently their
country, as they're all able to heal their injuries after listening to DuBois sing an
inspiring song.
Even after everything they'd gone through at that point, they're still ready to get
back to the hunt.
So, points for determination and loyalty.
Entering our Bottom 5, we're going to briefly touch on Ms. Grunion and Agamemnon.
In the grand scheme of "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", this pair doesn't exactly matter much.
In fact, it only becomes a thing at the very end when Agamemnon decides to take her back
to his time period, essentially just kidnapping her to be his bride.
Thaaaats a bit of a yikes.
When we cut to their wedding, however, Ms. Grunion doesn't seem to mind it too much,
and is even seen enthusiastically kissing Agamemnon.
It's not enough for us to ignore how their relationship started, but at least things
worked out in the end.
Just outside the Podium of Toxicity, its Mrs. Tweedy and Mr. Tweedy.
Yep, we're talking about this couple again.
It's about as close to a "loveless marriage" as we're going to get from this studio, to
the point where some fans didn't even realize they were married.
They just saw Mrs. Tweedy as the boss and Mr. Tweedy as her bumbling employee.
Even when he warns her about the chickens he much smarter than they appear, Mrs. Tweedy
constantly brushes him off.
Not even him turning out to be right gets any positive acknowledgement from her.
The only thing Mrs. Tweedy is willing to give are verbal insults and kicks to the butt.
In that sense, can you really blame Mr. Tweedy for not caring much when his wife gets crushed
by a heavy barn door?
For our Bronze Medal of Toxicity, we're giving it to Gladys and the Verminator.
While they may have been partners of sorts in the war against the so-called vermin of
suburbia, it was a pretty impersonal - and pretty disrespectful - relationship that ended
up screwing both of them over.
To give him some credit, the Verminator does try to tell Gladys that the specific product
she wants is technically illegal, but Gladys dismisses him and the Verminator barely tries
to argue against it, likely just seeing the whole thing as a bigger paycheck for him.
When things go painfully wrong, Gladys immediately tries to blame it all on the Verminator to
avoid getting arrested while the Verminator, much like Cuddles, just ditches Gladys as
soon as the cops are distracted, not caring if she takes the entire fall.
We know that contract work can be pretty impersonal in general, but these two just take it to
a whole new level.
Our Silver Medal of Toxicity is going to Lord Shen and Boss Wolf.
Let's start things off with a bang: this is the only Dreamworks boss/henchman relationship
where the former kills the latter.
If not for that factor, this would've been a standard alliance, with the Boss Wolf being
loyal to Lord Shen and following orders - mostly out of fear but also out of respect - while
Shen just sees his right-hand canine as a mild annoyance whenever he messes up.
Unfortunately for the Boss Wolf, his small sliver of morality proves to be his downfall
when he refuses to risk killing his own men for the sake of taking out the Kung Fu masters.
For this insubordination, Shen doesn't hesitate to strike the wolf with one of his daggers,
leaving him for dead.
Honestly, only one other Villain relationship can top it in terms of horribleness.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Toxicity goes to Big Jack Horner and the Cricket.
Essentially being the anti-Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket, it still doesn’t take away from
just how toxic it is, there is nothing positive about this relationship whatsoever.
For as much as the Cricket tries to be a good conscience, Jack not only completely ignores
his advice, but seems to get a kick out of showing the Cricket just how horrible he can
be, going so far as to mock him for taking so long to realize that he's irredeemable.
There's no respect to be found whatsoever, though we suppose this isn't surprising coming
from Jack.
Probably the least toxic part of this relationship is just the fact that the Cricket isn’t
totally blinded by his own belief of there being good in everyone and actually trying
to stand up for himself, even getting his revenge in the end.
Outside of essentially being the thing to stop Jack in the end, this relationship was
just a disaster from start to finish, warning a spot at the very bottom.
Although, we won't lie, it was pretty hilarious to watch unfold.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what
we should cover next!
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But most importantly, stay wicked!