The Bad Guys (book series)

The Bad Guys is an illustrated children's graphic novel series by Australian author Aaron Blabey. The book series centers around a gang of anthropomorphic animals known as the Bad Guys who attempt to perform good deeds to change society's perception of them as criminals, despite their efforts usually going wrong.

For the 2022 film based on the novels, see The Bad Guys (film).
The Bad Guys
Logo of the series.
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 1 (2015)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable (2015)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back (2016)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens (2016)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 5: Intergalactic Gas (2017)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 6: Alien vs. Bad Guys (2017)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 7: Do-You-Think-He-Sarus? (2018)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 8: Superbad (2018)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 9: The Big Bad Wolf (2019)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 10: The Baddest Day Ever (2019)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 11: Dawn of the Underlord (2020)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 12: The One?! (2020)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 13: Cut to the Chase (2021)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 14: They're Bee-Hind You! (2021)
  • The Bad Guys: Episode 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! (2022)
AuthorAaron Blabey
IllustratorAaron Blabey
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Genre
PublisherScholastic
Published
  • July 1, 2015 – present (Australia)
  • December 27, 2016 – present (USA)
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)

DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to the series to make an animated feature film adaptation, which was released in America on April 22, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics.

Characters

List indicator(s):

  • A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to be announced.
  • A Main indicates a character had a starring role in the property.
  • A Supporting indicates the character appeared in two or more times within the property.
  • A Guest indicates the character appeared once in the property.
Character Book series Film
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Heroes
Mr. Wolf Main
Mr. Snake Main
Mr. Piranha Main
Mr. Shark Main
Mr. Tarantula/Ms. Tarantula Main
Agent Fox Main Recurring Main
Villains
Professor Marmalade Guest Main Guest Main Guest Guest Main
Dread Overlord Splaarghon Guest Main
Underlord Shaård Guest Main
Underlord Onsàáy Guest Main
Others
Tiffany Fluffit Recurring Recurring
Agent Kitty Kat Guest Main
Agent Hogwild Guest Recurring
Agent Doom Guest Recurring
Agent Shortfuse Recurring
Milton Guest Main
Nathan Guest Recurring
Buck Thunders Recurring
Chief Misty Luggins Main
Cuddles Recurring

    Heroes
    • Mr. Wolf - a grey wolf who is the leader of the Good Guys Club/Shadow Squad G. Tired of being seen as the villain, he recruited his friends in order to do good deeds and clear their reputation. Despite his good intentions, his enthusiasm gets in the way of the success of their missions. His first name is Moe.
    • Mr. Snake - a Eastern brown snake, who works on stealth tactics of the team. Being very self-centered and shady, he often diverts from the Good Guys Club's goals of being good by doing whatever he wants, and most of the time can't stay away from doing misdeeds, but he can be selfless when he wants to. During the second arc of the books, he is possessed by an otherworldly entity and becomes the antagonist known as "The Overlord".
    • Mr. Piranha - a Bolivian red-bellied piranha, who works on being the muscle of the film. With a temper as short as his size, he goes berserk when he is mistaken for a sardine. He also has flatulence problems which in the film, he has the same problems if he gets nervous. His family forms a mafia-like operation in which his father is the leader. His first name is Pepe.
    • Mr. Shark - a great white shark, who works as a master-of-disguise of the film. Despite his large size and intimidating appearance, he is usually the most serene of the group. At first, he took a disliking for Mr. Tarantula due to his arachnophobia, but eventually he got over it. In the film, he gets aggressive when he doesn't get a Push Pop from Mr. Snake's non-sharing habits. His first name is Lou.
    • Mr. Tarantula - a sharp-tongued expert hacking redknee tarantula also known as "Legs". Often speaking in jive, he prefers not to wear clothing, which causes confusion for the rest of the team. In the film, his character was changed to being a female also known as "Webs".

    Villains
    • Doctor Rupert Marmalade/Professor Rupert Marmalade IV - a guinea pig who wants to take over the world or destroy the world while he hated being called cute. In the book series, he was found by the Bad Guys after they rob his chicken farm, taking notice and swearing vengeance over them until later on, when he is revealed to be an alien being named "Kdjfloerhgcoinwerucgleirwfheklwjfhxalhw". In the film, he is a famous genius who supposedly "stops wars, feeds the hungry, and saved countless pandas". He was in charge of reforming the Bad Guys as a philanthropist, but secretly used them as a cover-up to his own criminal plot: mind-controlling other guinea pigs into stealing his own charity donations, but his plan is foiled by Mr. Snake, who pretended to ally with him after an argument with Mr. Wolf while secretly replacing his source of power (a heart-shaped meteorite) with a fixture resembling it, destroying the power to blow up his mansion and is finally arrested after being framed as The Crimson Paw when taking the Zoopangle Diamond.
    • Dread Overlord Splaarghon - The primary antagonist of the latter books. He is an evil centipede-shaped demon who seeks to conquer the multiverse. His main methods involve granting powers to evil characters to act as his underlords in fulfilling his will. He convinces Mr. Snake to go against his friends in return for making him an underlord. When anyone says his name, a heavy metal guitar riff plays.
    • Underlord Shaård - One of Splaarghon's minions who rules a universe full of sharp blades and broken glass.
    • Underlord Onsàáy - Another underlord. Her full name is Queen Bee Onsàáy. She rules a universe that looks like a beehive full of giant bees.

    Others
    • Agent Ellen Fox/Diane Foxington - A member of the International League of Heroes. In book 3-7, she helps the Good Guys club stop Professor Marmalade from turning every cute animal in the world into zombies. In The Baddest Day Ever, it is revealed that her name is Ellen. In the movie, she is a red fox governor named Diane Foxington, later revealed to be a former lady thief known as The Crimsion Paw and later on became Mr. Wolf's love interest.
    • Tiffany Fluffit: an anchorwoman who reports about The Bad Guys' behavior. While she's a cat in the books, she is human in the movie.
    • Agent Pam Kitty Kat: - Another member of the International League of Heroes.
    • Agent Emmylou Hogwild
    • Agent Joy Doom
    • Agent Rhonda Shortfuse
    • Milton
    • Nathan
    • Chief Misty Luggins - The strong chief of police who always tries to arrest the Bad Guys in the film.
    • Cuddles - Professor Marmalade's henchman who only appeared in the film.

    Novels
    1. The Bad Guys: Episode 1 (2015)
    2. The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable (2015)
    3. The Bad Guys: Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back (2016)
    4. The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens (2016)
    5. The Bad Guys: Episode 5: Intergalactic Gas (2017)
    6. The Bad Guys: Episode 6: Alien vs. Bad Guys (2017)
    7. The Bad Guys: Episode 7: Do-You-Think-He-Sarus? (2018)
    8. The Bad Guys: Episode 8: Superbad (2018)
    9. The Bad Guys: Episode 9: The Big Bad Wolf (2019)
    10. The Bad Guys: Episode 10: The Baddest Day Ever (2019)
    11. The Bad Guys: Episode 11: Dawn of the Underlord (2020)
    12. The Bad Guys: Episode 12: The One?! (2020)
    13. The Bad Guys: Episode 13: Cut to the Chase (2021)
    14. The Bad Guys: Episode 14: They're Bee-Hind You! (2021)
    15. The Bad Guys: Episode 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! (2022)

    Film adaptation
    Main article: The Bad Guys (film)

    On July 22, 2017, Australia's The Daily Telegraph reported that several studios had expressed interest in adapting the series into a film.[1] In March 2018, Variety reported that DreamWorks Animation would develop a film based on the book series, with Etan Cohen writing the screenplay.[2][3][4] The following year, in October, it was reported that the film would be directed by Pierre Perifel in his feature directorial debut.[5] The film was described as having "a similar twist on the heist genre that Shrek did on fairy tales, and what Kung Fu Panda did for the kung fu genre".[5] The crew worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

    On July 28, 2021, the cast was announced with Etan Cohen, the book's author Aaron Blabey and Patrick Hughes set to serve as executive producers for the film.[7] On the same day, director Pierre Perifel announced the character casting on his Instagram account.

    On October 7, 2019, it was reported that the film would be theatrically released on September 17, 2021, taking over the release date of Spooky Jack.[5] In December 2020, the film was delayed with The Boss Baby: Family Business taking its original slot, though it was confirmed that it would get a new date "within the coming weeks" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] In March 2021, the release date was scheduled to April 15, 2022.[9] In October 2021, it was pushed back again by one week to April 22.[10] The film is slated to stream in the United States on the Peacock streaming service 45 days after its theatrical release,[11] followed by its Netflix debut after Peacock's 4-month exclusive window.[12] On March 1, 2022, Universal pulled the release in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[13]

    International publishing
    • UK and French: Scholastic

    References
    1. Baker, Jordan (2017-07-22). "Aaron's amazing tale picked up by Hollywood". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
    2. Kroll, Justin (2018-03-09). "Etan Cohen and DreamWorks Animation Developing 'Bad Guys' Film Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 2019-12-20. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
    3. White, James (2018-03-11). "Writer Etan Cohen Bringing The Bad Guys To DreamWorks Animation". Empire. Archived from the original on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
    4. Vlessing, Etan. "Etan Cohen Adapting 'The Bad Guys' Books for DreamWorks Animation". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
    5. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2019-10-07). "DreamWorks Animation & Universal To Release 'Spirit Riding Free' & 'The Bad Guys' In 2021". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
    6. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-05-08). "How Animated Pics Like 'Tom & Jerry', 'SpongeBob Movie', 'Sing 2', Skydance's 'Luck' & More Are Working Through The COVID-19 Crisis". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
    7. Rubin, Rebecca (July 28, 2021). "Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina and Anthony Ramos to Star in DreamWorks Animation's 'The Bad Guys' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
    8. Welk, Brian (2020-12-28). "'The Boss Baby' Sequel Bumped to September 2021, 'The Bad Guys' Moves to 2022". TheWrap. Archived from the original on 2020-12-28. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
    9. D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 17, 2021). "DreamWorks Animation's 'Puss In Boots' Sequel & 'The Bad Guys' Get Release Dates At Universal". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
    10. Grobar, Matt (October 12, 2021). "Universal Pushes Dates For DreamWorks Toon 'The Bad Guys' & George Clooney-Julia Roberts Pic 'Ticket To Paradise'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
    11. Hayes, Dade (December 9, 2021). "NBCUniversal's New Theatrical Window Scheme To Bring Films To Peacock After As Few As 45 Days Of Release". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
    12. Anderton, Ethan (July 13, 2021). "Netflix Will Remain The Streaming Home For Universal And DreamWorks Animated Films (After They Hit Peacock)". Slash Film. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
    13. Couch, Aaron (2022-03-01). "Universal Pulls Russia Releases, Including Animated 'Bad Guys' and Michael Bay's 'Ambulance'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
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