I swear if I hadn't promised Mother on her deathbed that I wouldn't kill you, I would KILL YOU!
„
~ Hopper to his brother, also vividly describing his only minor redeeming quality.
“
You let one ant stand up to us, then they ALL might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life! It's not about food. It's about keeping those ants in line. THAT'S why we're going BACK! Does anybody else want to stay?
„
~ Hopper's speech to the Grasshoppers on why they have to return to Ant Island.
“
You think it's over? All your little stunt did was buy them time! I'll get more grasshoppers and be back next season, but you WON'T!
„
~ Hopper to Flik about his planned revenge before his death.
Hopper is the main antagonist of Pixar's 2nd full-length animated feature film A Bug's Life.
He is the cunning, xenophobic, and cruel leader of a gang of grasshoppers as well as the arch-nemesis of Flik and Princess Atta.
He held no love for his affectionate yet clumsy younger brother Molt, as he really wanted to kill him, only not doing so due to making a promise to his mother on her deathbed that he would never do it.
Although his demise is gruesome, he well deserved it for his vile actions.
Though he does have a few comedic moments, none of them detract from his villainy, and he's still taken completely seriously in-universe.
He long enslaved the entire ant colony, claiming that he's protecting them from other bugs that would take advantage of them, when in reality he's the one that is taking advantage of them. This meant he lied to keep them under his control.
The reason why he does this is because he wants the ants to gather food for him and the rest of the grasshoppers every year. If the ants fail to gather enough food, he starts terrorizing them to scare them into submission.
A Bug's Life[]
He held the child Princess Dot right up close to Thumper in front of the other ants just to send a harsh message while sadistically mocking her, as punishment for not receiving the food the ants had promised him. It is also entirely possible he would have handed her to him to further prove his point if not for confrontation from Flik.
After Flik demanded him to release Dot, Hopper tauntingly held her in front of Flik and challenged him to take her from him. When Flik showed too scared to directly challenge him, Hopper is satisfied and orders him to get back in line before releasing and ordering the same of Dot. Had Flik tried to take Dot from Hopper, he most likely would have gotten severely beaten up, killed by Hopper, or even handed over to Thumper (possibly including Dot) as punishment.
While he was willing to give the ants a second chance, it was only for pragmatic reasons, and he decided to make them gather food during the rainy season (which is the time that the ants need food the most) and demanded double the amount of grain to compensate.
He buried three of his own henchmen alive under a pile of grain which killed them just to make a point, showing that he doesn’t even care about his own minions.
If listening closely, the twitching sound of an antenna can briefly be heard when Hopper wraps up his speech, heavily implying the three had suffocated to death under the grain.
He had the grasshoppers occupy the ant colony until they've gathered all the food on the island because he is displeased by the amount of grain they offer him. It's explitely mentioned by one of the ants that this would lead to them starving.
What's even worse is that it's previously shown in the film that Hopper and the grasshoppers don't even need the food gathered by the ants to survive because they have more than enough food to get them through the winter. The only reason why Hopper goes back to Ant Island with his grasshoppers and demands the ants give them all the food they can gather on the island despite the fact it would cause them to starve is because Hopper wants to maintain his dominance over the ants and remind them that they are to serve him.
He planned to kill the ant queen, which would result in repopulation of the ant colony becoming impossible, to set an example and further terrorize the colony into serving him.
He had Thumper brutally and torturously beat up Flik in front of the other ants to make an example for duping him with a fake bird, and nearly killed Flik when he accused him of being scared of the ants before Atta intervened (if he actually killed Flik, the rebellion would have likely happened anyway).
After escaping from the cannon, he took flight and snatched up Flik in an attempt to murder him.
He nearly killed Flik again by strangling him while promising to bring a whole army of grasshoppers to the ant colony the following year. Given Hopper's goal is either to continue to enslave and exploit the ants or perhaps even wipe them out as punishment for their rebellion. Before directly threatening to murder Flik, he told him in clear terms in addition to likely rallying back up his gang, he also intends to expand with more members so he can exercise even harsher means against them.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
He has a small sense of honor as he made a promise to his mother on her deathbed to never kill his younger brother Molt and actually kept it despite really wanting to do it.
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Near Pure Evils
