Based on the children's book series by Aaron Blabey, “The Bad Guys” seems to be a return to
form for Dreamworks Animation. In a world where both humans and anthropomorphic animals exist,
the film focuses on a lovable gang of five as they go from
infamous thieves to hopeful good guys in the making. Among all the film’s characters,
which of them only seem bad on the surface and which ones are actual bad guys?
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is Dreamworks’ The Bad Guys: Good to Evil.
Naturally, we’ll be delving into this film’s plot a bit, including its biggest twists, as we
categorize its characters. In other words, MAJOR spoilers ahead for this latest Dreamworks film.
As always, we’re going to be starting with our most morally upstanding and heroic characters
before working our way down to the wicked. These characters are the Good.
Or, perhaps we should say ‘character’, since only one character managed to make it into
this tier - that being the lovely governor, Diane Foxington AKA "The Crimson Paw". Although formally
an infamous thief, Diane proves herself to be a shining example of a so-called ‘bad-guy’
being able to change their ways. Unfortunately, even Diane has her doubts about the Bad Guys at
first despite her own past, leading to her acting pretty frosty towards them and their
so-called ‘reformation’. However, when Mr. Wolf shows that he genuinely wants to change,
she starts becoming nicer towards him and ends up becoming his biggest supporter in his redemption.
She also saves all of the Bad Guys while they’re in prison and assists in saving the day, and was
even willing to sacrifice her new life just so the Bad Guys wouldn’t have to go to jail. When
it comes to her own past, we have to admire her for choosing to help others without any prompting
from anyone else. That all being said, Diane isn’t perfect. She can still be a bit snarky
and insulting at times, and even kept one of the diamonds she stole as the Crimson Paw,
seeing it as a ‘sentimental’ item. Still, she manages to stand out as the most good
character in the film - if only because the rest of the cast isn’t quite as moral…
We’ve now arrived at our biggest section of this list, the Grey Area,
featuring the characters who may be seen as bad but really aren’t THAT bad.
First up is arguably the main character of the film, Mr. Wolf. Wolf is the team leader of his
gang, being both the plan guy as well as an expert pickpocketer. But while he may claim
to be the ‘big bad wolf’, he’s actually the first of the Bad Guys to go good.
Sure, he originally saw their redemption as a cover story for another robbery,
which isn’t great. Once he starts getting a taste of what being good is like,
this eventually leads to him failing to finish their heist at the Gala, being unable to betray
the newfound trust and respect he now had. Wolf even tells Diane where she can find the Bad Guys’
hideout and stolen loot, though admittedly he did this without the other Bad Guys’ knowledge,
leading to it feeling like a total betrayal from their perspective. When it comes to his species,
Wolf can be a mix of both good and bad stereotypes. Naturally as a thief, he can
be sneaky and often tries to use his charm to his advantage. He can also be violent, such as in the
moment where he learns the truth about Marmalade. However, Wolf can also be brave, determined,
protective, and loyal - especially to his friends. Even Snake, who he never gave up on, always
believing that he could be good even after their falling out. He also saved Snake’s life in the
film’s climax. All in all someone who genuinely wants to be good despite all of his faults.
Up next, we have Police Chief Misty Luggins. Being the chief of police, her main goal throughout the
film is to put the Bad Guys away for good. She has quite a bit of a temper and can even be
seen as a bit crazy at times, being willing to take comically huge risks to catch them.
Chief Luggins hates the Bad Guys so much that even when they’re framed for theft,
she arrests them outright without giving them a chance to defend themselves and is absolutely
thrilled that she can finally throw them in jail. So yeah, she definitely serves as an antagonist,
hence why we can’t put her in the Good Tier even if she’s technically a ‘good guy’. But we’ll still
acknowledge that she’s a dedicated officer who’s just trying to enforce the law, trying her best to
stop crime. We suppose we can’t really blame her for being so over the top about it. Additionally
she does arrest Marmalade at the end of the film, so we’ll give a couple bonus points for that.
Next on our list is the eight-legged hacker, Ms. Tarantula. She’s an expert hacker,
able to outsmart pretty much any security measure - even security systems that are specifically
designed to counter her. Sometimes her hacking can cause more than a little damage, especially when
she’s messing with traffic lights, but you can’t say her skills aren’t useful. In fact, she’s an
incredibly strong member of the team, despite her tiny size. As for her morality and personality,
though she can sometimes have a bit of a sharp tongue, often being more than a little snarky
whenever she teases the rest of the gang, but she’s also pretty chill. We even see her become
quick friends with Diane, the two of them being two of the more focused members of the group,
and it’s just really sweet to see! We also see Ms. Tarantula take the time to order Mr. Snake
a cake for his birthday - and even if he doesn’t like his birthday, it was still a sweet gesture.
Following her is Master of Disguise, Mr. Shark. Given that he’s an ‘actor’ that tends to go over
the top with his distractions/performances, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Mr. Shark is usually
the most emotional of the group. That’s not to say he can’t still be on his A-Game, as we see
him help out when the gang gets in a jam during the film’s first Golden Dolphin heist. Though
usually a gentle giant, he does have his limits - like when Snake refuses to share his Push Pop,
leading to Shark actually eating Snake. Well, that’s one way to get a bit of petty revenge…
Outside of these moments though, Shark is probably right up there with Wolf when it comes to being
one of the nicer members of the gang, even if he can sometimes still be fairly destructive too.
From the Distraction to the Muscle, we have Mr. Piranha next. Don’t let his size fool you, Mr.
Piranha more than earns his title of ‘The Muscle’ thanks to his anger and eagerness to not just
fight but also beating people up in general. In fact, he's seen as the most unhinged and actively
violent member of the gang - though maybe that’s not too surprising, given that he’s a piranha and
all. Violent tendencies and anger issues aside, Mr. Piranha does have his moments of being more
than just a brawler. He can be pretty adorable at times, either through the times where he’s
being a bit more cheerful and sweet or through his more anxious moments. Additionally, much like the
rest of the Bad Guys, he also cares deeply about the rest of the gang - and that’s not nothing.
Nearing the end of this section is the sarcastic Mr. Snake. Being the safe-cracker,
second-in-command and literal snake of the team, Mr. Snake is probably the closest to
being an actual bad guy. While the other Bad Guys can be very nice for a group of criminals,
Mr. Snake often comes off as a bit of a jerk. He’s also extremely cynical, and is often seen arguing
with Wolf that all of them are beyond redemption. When it comes to their ‘goodness exercises’,
Snake is the one who’s barely trying - whether it's refusing to share or eating all the guinea
pigs that they were supposed to save. Still, Snake does genuinely care about his friends,
even if he doesn’t always show it - like when he FINALLY shares a Push Pop with Mr. Shark,
just to try and cheer him up. This is also seen through the film’s Big Twist.
After he eventually decides to ditch the gang, Snake uses this as an opportunity
to team up with Marmalade. However, this partnership is revealed to be a huge lie,
with Snake using his new ‘partnership’ to try and sabotage Marmalade’s scheme from within.
This is ultimately what keeps Snake from the Bad tier, even if he can still sometimes be the Worst.
Finishing off this tier is the movie’s news reporter, Tiffany Fluffit. Though a fairly
minor character within the film, she does tend to cause just a bit of trouble for the Bad Guys
through her less-than-stellar reporting, given that she tends to pop up whenever major events
are happening. Nearly all of her reporting on the Bad Guys is slanted against them,
making it even harder for them to be redeemed in the public’s eye. Even when she begins to praise
their efforts, it doesn’t take much for Tiffany to begin badmouthing them again. That said,
when Marmalade is revealed to have the Zumpango Diamond, Tiffany immediately turns on him,
accusing him of being the Crimson Paw, broadcasting his ruined reputation to
the entire city. So that’s a positive! Though, to be fair, this could be less about wanting to help
bring Marmalade to justice and more about being the one to report on a huge scoop. Either way,
while she may not be outright malicious, Tiffany’s attitude could potentially make her seem callous.
Finally, we’ve arrived at our Bad to Evil section, where only one character remains:
Getting the Gold Medal of Evil by default is Prof. Rupert Marmalade IV. Though originally seen
as a kind-hearted philanthropist, Marmalade had planned on using the Bad Guys for his
own means by the very beginning, and admits to not caring about anyone but himself. Marmalade
can be extremely pompous and extremely smug, seeing himself as more clever than anyone else.
This in turn leads to him also being manipulative, seeing the Bad Guys as a means to an end and
having absolutely no regrets about betraying them. Making him even worse than any of the Bad Guys
is that Marmalade is willing to cross lines that the gang never would, like stealing from charity
and attempting to murder people - this being seen when he kicks Snake out of his helicopter or when
he tries to kill Wolf and Diane. To sum it all up, Marmalade is a villain through and through,
having absolutely no good side to him whatsoever. Which means he easily earns this Most Evil title.
Well, that’s our list! Before we go though, we’re going to hand out a few bonus Sinner medals.
We feel that Marmalade easily earns the Pride Medal. Not only is he extremely
prideful when it comes to his status, but he’s also incredibly self-absorbed.
For the Wrath Medal, we’re giving it to Chief Luggins. Throughout the film,
her ONLY goal is to capture the Bad Guys, with her anger and hatred of them being pretty palpable.
The Gluttony Medal is, unsurprisingly,
going to Mr. Snake. I mean- the guy literally eats hundreds of guinea pigs,
being unable to stop himself from chowing down once he sees them. That’s definitely gluttonous.
Moving onto the Greed Medal, we’re giving it to Mr. Wolf. While he eventually grows past this,
Mr. Wolf has some pretty ‘sticky fingers’, as we constantly see him swiping jewelry and wallets.
In some more non-traditional examples of greed, we see him put his team in slight
danger at the beginning of the film because he wanted a longer car chase.
We’re also going to give Mr. Wolf the Envy Medal. While it was implied that all of the
Bad Guys wished to not be seen as monsters, Wolf was the one who desired it the most,
even to the point of being subtly jealous about Diane’s approval from the public.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what we should
cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist,
where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!