Hopper

Hopper is an evil grasshopper who the main villain in Pooh's Adventures of A Bug's Life. He wanted to forever keep the ant colony under his thumb, but was defeated by Flik and Pooh and his friends, when they tricked him into coming to a bird's nest, which by dark irony, Hopper is very phobic of birds.

Appearance[]

Hopper is a very large, slender, and muscular golden brown Carolina grasshopper. He has a scar on his right eye (leaving him blind in it) because of his encounter with a blue jay that almost ate him. He also towers over Flik and the ants in the film. Hopper also has long, muscular legs with large feet which are good for long-ranged kick attacks and even capable of crushing his opponents to death.

Personality[]

Hopper is a ruthless, violent, intimidating, belligerent, cunning, manipulative, egotistical, and cruel tyrant who thinks nothing of killing ants, a species he considers lower than dirt. He heels at the idea of being thought of as weak in any way, which could be why he abuses everyone around him. Hopper specifically expresses his desire to be powerful in acting like he believes grasshoppers are better than ants in every way. Hopper believes that ants were put on Earth to serve them, though mostly him, and having most of the people in his gang serve him as well. His rule over them mainly comes from instilling fear, and seeing them mainly as pawns in his game to win against the ants.

In general, Hopper is a bully who seems to derive control from making others afraid to anger him in any way, which also extends to most. His persuasive manner of speaking to Princess Atta is reminiscent of an abusive and argumentative boyfriend mocking his terrified and pusillanimous girlfriend. He also often beats up his own henchmen, on one occasion punching Thumper in the face purely out of rage he promised to never exercise on Molt. To emphasize Hopper’s cruelty and desire for total control, he even kills three of them just to paint a narrative to the others, showing how little he cares for them. Furthermore, while he won't kill him, Hopper still constantly abuses Molt and despises him despite the fact that he is his brother. The stark contrast is clearly present as opposed to how much he hates Molt, he refuses to kill him as his below-mentioned promise towards his mother. This seems to imply that if he respects anyone other than himself, it would be his late mother.

However, in spite of his generally merciless and inhumanly cruel nature, he is capable of some humane demonstration as seen when he gives the ants a second chance at providing food after they fail miserably despite having no reason to do so. Otherwise, Hopper sees mercy and compassion as weaknesses and relies mostly on fear to maintain authority, proving that he only acted merciful because he thought that they weren't a threat (however he was quick to insult the ants for attempting to fix things with him and instantly upend any mercy). Hopper was the only grasshopper who knew the ants outnumbered them from 100 to 1 and to truly know how strong they are, despite being strong. He believes that the ants are like helpless wards who cannot really think for themselves, as already mentioned seeing them below him, but still fears an ant uprising and attempts to retain complete control over them to snuff out any rebellion.

Throughout the film, Hopper grows more concerned about Flik confronting him as one rebel ant is enough to cause a whole colony's mutiny. The inference from this being how as the film goes on it is revealed that although he thinks lowly of ants, he does not just fear an ant uprising, but hates them as a whole because of it and wants to snuff out all of them. Hopper becomes gradually more clearly shown to be quite anxious about ant rebellions in front of his gang, thinly veiling his anxiousness by threatening ants and presumably killing two members of his own gang while representing how ants can stand up against grasshoppers. After Thumper beats Flik due to P.T. Flea aiding Hopper (accidentally), he also called the ant colony along with the Circus Bugs including P.T. Flea (who regrets his horrible mistake) mindless soil-shoving losers, demeaning them in order to keep them in line; however, it could be seen that he himself is the real “mindless soil shoving loser” as when encountering the real bird he mistakes her for a fake bird and taunts her which ultimately leads to his death.

His only slightly redeeming quality aside from being somewhat reasonable at times is that he may have loved (or at least respected) his mother enough to honor her deathbed promise to never kill Molt. However, he does demonstrate that he would have killed him if not for his promise. He also demonstrates having some level of affection and care for his gang members at times, but at the end of the day does not seem to respect them very much and, as aforementioned, mainly acts as if he sees them simply as pawns.

All in all, Hopper, who had a manipulative and serious personality, was also more of a magisterial and oppressive leader who would do anything to get food, even if it meant committing genocide. Also, aside from his promise to his mother, he doesn't show any regard for his family as he never shows any care for Molt, making him a truly vicious and evil bug.

Biography[]

Introduction[]

At the beginning of the film, Flik accidentally destroys the offering of food that the ants prepared for the grasshoppers. When they arrive, Hopper is angry to find the food all gone and scolds Princess Atta who intends to take over for the queen. Molt interrupts and talks about the time Hopper almost got eaten by a bird. Hopper pins Molt against the wall and tells Molt that he if hadn't promised their mother on her deathbed that he wouldn't kill Molt he would do so. Molt accidentally enrages Hopper more but due to his promise he instead punches another grasshopper. Hopper tells the ants that he's a "compassionate insect" and he'll give them a second chance.

Hopper brings in Thumper and nearly feeds Dot to him. Flik orders Hopper to leave Dot alone, but cowers back in fear when Hopper approaches and dares him to take Dot. Hopper tells the ants that they are forgetting their place and Hopper doubles the order of food that the ants must prepare. Hopper and his gang then fly back to the desert.

Hopper's Rant[]

After a while, Hopper is seen again at his hangout in the desert. Molt suggests to Hopper that they do not collect food from the ants due to them having enough food to get them through the winter as it is. As Hopper is about to punch him for suggesting this, Molt frantically tells him that it was not his idea, causing him to direct his attention towards the two grasshoppers, Axel and Loco, that had told him to tell him this. Realizing that his underlings are unable to understand the situation, Hopper demonstrates to Axel and Loco the strength of an ant by throwing a single grain at them only for them to laugh it up due to how weak it is until he pours the entire grain reserve on them, burying them alive and presumably killing them along with one other grasshopper sitting next to them. He snaps out at them in rage that it was never about food, but "keeping the ants in line" as the ants can defeat them easily with overwhelming numbers. Hopper questions does anyone else want to stay and all the grasshoppers instantly fly with him to Ant Island.

Rise to Power[]

When he is dissatisfied with the amount of offering the ants give him after a second chance, Hopper takes over Ant Island and plots to assassinate the Queen. After hearing from Dot about Hopper's villainous plot, Flik and the circus troupe return to the island and rescue the Queen, with the help of the fake bird that they made earlier in the season. Hopper had a fear of birds, revealing that he had ornithophobia. However, he soon discovers that the bird is a fake after it is set on fire by P.T. Flea, and has Thumper attack Flik upon realizing that it was his idea, briefly pausing to ask why he had the nerve to prey on his ornithophobia (fear of birds due to nearly being eaten alive by a blue jay. Flik, though winded, manages to choke out his plans to murder the queen, much to everyone's shock.

Flik's Bird Brained Idea[]

However, a quickly-recovered Flik makes his heartfelt and assertive speech about how his colony is strong in numbers and how unique they, along with the Circus Bugs, are. In anger, Hopper swats Flik to the ground and raises his foot to squish him to death, but Atta intervenes. Hopper then turns to see all of the ants and the circus bugs ready to fight and bombard him. After being ditched by his own minions, Hopper is trapped in the circus cannon. Before the ants and the circus bugs are ready to launch him, however, rain came in.

Seeking revenge on Flik for humiliating him and losing his authority over the colony, Hopper shoots himself toward Flik and flies away with him. The circus bugs give chase to save Flik, launching Tuck and Roll onto Hopper's back in an attempt to stop him. Hopper maneuvers himself through a small hole and manages to shake off the pill bugs, but they reveal that they have removed a piece of one of his antennae. This creates enough of a distraction for Atta to swipe Flik away from him, and he pursues the two across the river.

The End of Hopper[]

Flik tells Atta to stay hidden and goes out to find Hopper, only for the grasshopper to land right in front of him. He strangles Flik in an attempt to finish him off with the promise to return next season with more grasshoppers as he corners him against a bird's nest. Suddenly, the orange finch appears and notices the two bugs. Assuming that this is simply another trick, Hopper looks to Flik who confirms it and he teases the bird until she shrieks at him. As he realizes his mistake and tries to flee after dropping Flik, the bird blocks off his path, catches him, and feeds the screaming Hopper to her chicks, with a hidden Atta and Flik looking away in fear, thus foreshadowing that Hopper is the real mindless soil-shoving loser not the colony.

At the end of the movie, Tuck and Roll are shown jabbering on about their fight with Hopper while holding the still twitching piece of his antennae, which is all that is left of the villainous grasshopper, as their entertainment trophy.

Trivia[]

Hopper is ranked #19 in the Top 30 Disney Villains.
Hopper serves as a darker reflection to Princess Atta, representing what Atta would have become if she didn't let the idea of power get into her head and enjoy life with Flik’s help.
Hopper's right eye was damaged after a blue jay nearly ate him.
Hopper was voiced by Kevin Spacey in the film, and by Andrew Stanton (the film's co-director) in It's Tough to be a Bug and the video game. John Lasseter had offered the role twice to Robert De Niro, who declined both times. Interestingly, De Niro would later voice Don Lino in the 2004 DreamWorks computer-animated film Shark Tale.
Hopper is the first main Pixar movie villain to be physically fought.
Hopper is also the first main Pixar movie villain to be an animal.
Hopper wanting to force the ants into giving food to him and his gang is basically inspired by Aesop's Fable, The Ant and the Grasshopper, in which it tells about an ant collecting food with the grasshopper having no food due to the lack of work.
He is also the first main Pixar movie villain to be killed off in his movie. He was followed by Syndrome of The Incredibles, Charles Muntz of Up, Mor'du of Brave, and Ernesto de la Cruz of Coco (although his death technically occurred before the events of the film). Hopper is also the first Pixar character overall who is not an inanimate object to die.
Hopper had a soft spot for his mother, as he honors her deathbed wish not to kill Molt, despite being quite tempted to on various occasions, although many have debated if this is actual love or him simply trying to prove he can keep a promise.
In the film, he calls the colony "mindless soil-shoving losers," but in the read-along storybook, he calls them "mindless soil-sucking losers." The reason for this difference is unknown.
Hopper will become the main villain in The FT Squad's Adventures in A Bug's Life.
Hopper will become the main villain in Tino's Adventures of A Bug's Life.
Hopper will become the main villain in Ash's Adventures of A Bug's Life.
Hopper will become the main villain in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of A Bug's Life.
Hopper is the first main Pixar movie villain to be physically fought. He is also the first main Pixar movie villain to die in his movie.