Wizards of Waverly Place/Characters

Alex Russo
"Selena Gomez"



""I'm Alex Russo, and my hobby is I like to poke things with a stick, ...but I haven't figured out how to make money with that yet so I'm in school.""

The middle child and only female out of the three Russo siblings. She is sly, outgoing, and usually underachieves when it comes to regular high school. She often gets into trouble because of her constant schemes (usually involving magic). She likes to make fun of her older brother, Justin, with whom she has a really close, complex relationship and she gets along with her younger brother, Max, the two of them occasionally being shown pulling pranks together. It is implied that she is her father's favorite child and that she shares a tight bond with her mother, although they sometimes have disputes due to Alex's rebellious and disobedient personality.

The Grand Finale reveals that she


 * Action Girl
 * Annoying Younger Sibling
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV. Yes, she is an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist.
 * Bad Liar / Consummate Liar: She alternates between these.
 * Being Good Sucks: According to her.
 * Big Eater: She definitely likes junk food more than anyone else on the show, as she's occasionally shown eating really big hamburgers.
 * Book Dumb
 * Bratty Teenage Daughter
 * Byronic Hero: Possibly.
 * Cain and Abel: The Cain to Justin's Abel, most of the time.
 * Also, the Abel to Max's Cain.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: Whenever anyone suggests she's evil/dark/scary her usual response is to grin and/or giggle and as noted below she actively encourages her Cool Loser status.
 * Cool Loser: Despite obvious traits that would make her popular in real life, Gigi enjoys teasing Alex.
 * Played with in that she often deliberately does things just to keep from being part of the "in crowd" and definitely enjoys her "bad girl" reputation.
 * In earlier episodes, Alex was actually portrayed as popular, so Gigi's bullying of her more or less makes this more confusing. In later episodes, it is justified.
 * Cute Witch
 * Daddy's Girl: In the first season.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Let's face it, Selena Gomez gets the snarkiest lines.
 * Flanderization: In the beginning of the series, she's just a mischievous, prankish, lovable jerk. By the end of Season 3, she becomes an antisocial, Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist Noble Demon, with no respect for morals and any kind of rules. The only thing that saves her from becoming a straight Villain is the fact that she seems sometimes to care about her family and friends, and fight people who are even worse.
 * Generation Xerox: She is a copy of her aunt, Megan.
 * Genre Savvy: "There's always an Evil Queen. Sometimes it's a wicked witch, sometimes it's an evil step-mother and sometimes it's your sister."
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: She's aware of what kind of Sitcom character she is, and she runs with it.
 * : In the Grand Finale, she
 * Hates Being Touched: Most of the time. If she does go out of her way to make any type of physical contact with someone, it's usually Played for Laughs.
 * The Hero: Well, Anti-Hero.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Harper since kindergarten.
 * Hot Girls Are Bitches: "A beautiful girl who is full of mischief".
 * Interspecies Romance: With Mason. Lampshaded in his second appearance.
 * Irony as She Is Cast: in "Dacing with Angels", Alex is shown to be a terrible singer.
 * Series Continuity Error: But in "Dude Looks Like Shakira" and "Make It Happen", she sings well.
 * Jerkass
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sometimes.
 * The Ladette
 * Little Miss Badass
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * The McCoy
 * Morality Pet: Her family, especially Justin. Also Dean before he left.
 * Narcissist: Most prevalent in an episode where drank both halves of a love potion but she is pretty narcissistic regularly.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: She definitely has an attachment to darker things, to the point where even Harper told her she had a lot of scary stuff in her head.
 * Noble Demon
 * The Not Love Interest: Justin's.
 * The Prankster
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Justin's blue.
 * The Rival: She will compete against Justin and Max in the wizard contest. Plus, she's probably Justin's biggest rival at the moment.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: With Justin.
 * Smug Snake: Sometimes, especially early in the movie.
 * Spicy Latina: Averted. She is too all-American.
 * Sugar and Ice Girl
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Harper's Girly Girl.
 * Tomboyish Name
 * Trickster
 * Troubled but Cute: Female version. Goes hand in hand with her Cool Loser status, and being the Anti-Hero.
 * The Unfavorite: Became something of a Running Gag in later seasons, to the point that her parents love Harper more than her.
 * Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Bordering on Anti-Villain.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: A Type 2 relationship with Justin and a Type 1 with Harper although in recent episodes Harper has been getting more willing to call Alex on her crap, moving it in the direction of a Type 2.
 * Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Except she's actually very smart, she just makes alot of stupid mistakes.

Justin Russo
"David Henrie"



He is the erudite and mature older brother who gets straight "A"s. He often tries to stop Alex's crazy schemes from becoming complete disasters, and sometimes unwittingly gets involved in these schemes. Justin is often the subject of sarcastic remarks made by Alex, due to his intelligence, his love of science fiction and other quirks. He is Alex's primary target of jealousy, because he surpasses her in almost everything. Justin is, out of the three, the most responsible. He is very cynical and highly intelligent and is, in many respects, the polar opposite of the immature and mischievous Alex. At times, it is shown that Max sees him as a role model and that his parents are really proud of him.

The Grand Finale reveals that he. 


 * Adorkable
 * Always Someone Better: Than Alex.
 * Amnesia Danger
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Berserk Button: Breaking Alex's heart.
 * Big Brother Instinct: In most episodes he either fixes Alex's mistakes or saves her. And she always expects him to do it.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Butt Monkey: For Alex, occasionally Max, when Alex brings him around.
 * Cain and Abel: The Abel to Alex's Cain, most of the time.
 * Also, the Abel to Max's Cain.
 * Captain Ersatz: The one and the only Harry Potter in "Saving Wiztech" episode.
 * The Chew Toy: Again, for Alex.
 * Chick Magnet: He's not only Harper's, but a lot of girls' magnet (including vampires, werewolves and centaurs). In "Family Game Night", a girl crushed on him so badly, that he wanted to get rid of her by flirting with Alex(who was controlled by Harper's brain) and by making Alex act rude towards her.
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: When it's about Alex. In an episode he even follows her around and tries to make her ask for his help. He succeeds.
 * Common Sense
 * Cool Loser
 * Crazy Prepared
 * Deadpan Snarker: To a lesser extent.
 * Determinator
 * Gray Eyes
 * Hollywood Dateless
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * The Hunter
 * Idiot Ball:
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Invisible Streaker: He becomes invisible in "Justin's Little Sister".
 * Knight Templar Big Brother: Most notable in "Wizards vs. Werewolves".
 * The Lancer: To Alex.
 * Mad Scientist: "The Franken-Girl IS ALIVE!"
 * Morality Pet: For Alex
 * Nerds Are Sexy
 * "No Respect" Guy
 * The Not Love Interest: Alex's.
 * Only Sane Man: He is the only one who thinks clearly and logically when it's necessary.
 * Properly Paranoid
 * Plot Induced Stupidity: At times, in order to showcase Alex's intelligence.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Alex's red.
 * The Rival: He will be Alex's and Max's rival in the wizard contest and he is, at the moment, Alex's rival in many ways.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Zeke's Sensitive Guy.
 * Serious Business: Anything and everything that interests Justin.
 * Shirtless Scene: In "Wizards On Deck with Hannah Montana".
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: With Alex.
 * The Smart Guy
 * Smug Snake: Occasionally in the series, very much so in the movie, but he got better.
 * The Spock
 * Student Council President
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky: The bookworm type.
 * Teen Genius
 * Took a Level In Badass : Especially in The Movie.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: In "Alex's Logo" he acts like this towards Alex, when he turns the entire school against her, just because he doesn't like the fact that Alex has received the Citizen Ship Award. And he is actually amused when all the students give her deadly glares and want to throw things at her.
 * Again in "Who Will Be The Family Wizard?" as well: He does not take the very well and takes out his anger over it on Alex. Granted, it was her fault, but he could have been a little less of an asshole about it considering that she was trying to save innocent lives. (Something you would think he would be in support of.)
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: See Alex.
 * Weak but Skilled: Justin is the most hard working of the siblings, but it's also frequently shown that both Alex and Max are Brilliant but Lazy.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: From Harper's point of view. Also, Justin's eyes are gray green.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: See Alex.
 * Weak but Skilled: Justin is the most hard working of the siblings, but it's also frequently shown that both Alex and Max are Brilliant but Lazy.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: From Harper's point of view. Also, Justin's eyes are gray green.

Max Russo
"Jake T. Austin"



The youngest of the three Russo siblings, he is the naive younger brother, who at the beginning of the series is an underachiever (when it comes to wizard school), being far behind his siblings in his magic lessons (as seen in "Potion Commotion"). Max is a witty, cheeky boy with a very imaginative and out-going personality. Like Alex, Max is often depicted as a slacker and is been known to use magic mischeviously. He is very naive and has a short-attention span. His mother, Theresa,sometimes treats him like the baby of the family. He sometimes assists his sister Alex in pulling pranks on their brother, Justin.

The Grand Finale reveals that he


 * Annoying Younger Sibling
 * The Big Guy: ...Kind of.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Cain and Abel: The Cain to Alex and Justin's Abel.
 * Cheerful Child: At the beginning of the series. Later he enters Justin's and Alex's world.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Easily the biggest example in the series.
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Gets up there with Alex as the series progresses.
 * The Ditz:
 * Fearless Fool: In an episode it is mentioned that Max isn't afraid of anything, due to the fact that he loses his conscience.
 * Flanderization: From Cloudcuckoolander to Too Dumb to Live.
 * Gender Bender: As Maxine.
 * Heh Heh, You Said "X": In "Future Harper", he laughs when Justin constantly says the word I.P.P.
 * Heroic Wannabe: In "Alex's Brother, Maximan".
 * Hidden Depths: In "My Two Harpers", unlike Jerry or Justin, Max demonstrates a great deal of business savvy about the sub shop - such as thinking to open a drive thru to the Wizard World and the limits of a small staff.
 * Karma Houdini: Usually because when he does crazy things it all implodes on him and he ends up punishing himself.
 * Kids Are Cruel: At the beginning of the show.
 * The Kirk
 * Out of Focus: From Season 2 onwards, majority of the main plot began to focus more on Alex and Justin's relationship. Max ends up getting pushed to the side plots.
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * The Rival: His brother's and sister's rival in the wizard contest.
 * Sidekick: Justin's, in "Franken Girl".
 * Small Name, Big Ego: To a lesser extent.
 * Took a Level In Dumbass: He starts to act crazier and more dumb as time goes on
 * : When he loses his
 * Trickster: Not as notable as Alex, but he still pulls pranks once in a while along with her.
 * Wild Card: He is on Justin's side. Or Alex's side. Or none.
 * Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb
 * Youngest Child Wins: In the Season 4 premier, Max is the only one of the Russo siblings who kept his place in the wizard competition after Justin and Alex revealed magic to the world.
 * : When he loses his
 * Trickster: Not as notable as Alex, but he still pulls pranks once in a while along with her.
 * Wild Card: He is on Justin's side. Or Alex's side. Or none.
 * Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb
 * Youngest Child Wins: In the Season 4 premier, Max is the only one of the Russo siblings who kept his place in the wizard competition after Justin and Alex revealed magic to the world.

Jerry Russo
"David DeLuise"



Jerry is the father of Alex, Justin and Max Russo and co-owner of the Waverly Sub Station, with his wife Theresa (whom he accidentally insults on occasion). He is also a former wizard, who chose to give up his powers to marry his wife Theresa, a mortal, due to a rule forbidding wizards to marry mortals.Jerry Russo is the average father. He is stern, protective and is annoyed by Alex and Max constantly, and even by Justin occasionally. Unlike his children, he does not have powers any more; nonetheless, his children inherited their powers from him.

"Jerry: I must've lost 40 pounds on the walk home. Do you know how much time it's going to take for me to gain that back!?"
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parents
 * Angrish: Usually brought on by Alex.
 * Berserk Button: Standing between him and food.
 * Bumbling Dad: On and off.
 * Casanova Wannabe: In the movie when he was "single".
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: When he tells something nice to his wife it sometimes comes out wrong. Then he tries to clarify it, but he just makes things worse.
 * Happily Married: He and Theresa are actually a fairly realistic example of how a happy marriage isn't a perfect one.
 * Hollywood Pudgy: Interestingly enough, this is an aversion in that its something he willingly invokes, as noted by when he mentions how much weight he lossed during the Season 4 premiere when the family


 * Overprotective Dad
 * So Proud of You: He often gives this line to Justin. And sometimes to Alex when she actually does a right thing.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: The episode, Wizard for a Day. First, when the aliens demand the milkshake machine, he tells them that Max is the machine. Next, as the aliens are shooting their lasers and the rest of the Russos are hiding behind the counter, Jerry is forced to choose between saving his beloved family and his precious milkshake machine. Guess which one he picked. Finally, he tries to use Merlin's hat to teleport himself to Hawaii. Yeah, that's father of the year for ya.

Theresa Russo
"Maria Canals-Barrera"



Theresa is the mother of Alex, Justin and Max Russo and co-owner of the Waverly Sub Station, with her husband Jerry; and is also the slightly more serious one out the couple. Theresa Russo is a typical mother. She's fussy, caring and can be pretty embarrassing. Unlike her children, she is a mortal. She is overprotective of Justin and Max. She tries to relate with her kids, but it doesn't always work.

""Why do you think I was so fast? I couldn't wait to get out of the water!""
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parents
 * Berserk Button: Trying to stop her from protecting her kids.
 * Happily Married: See above.
 * Hot Mom
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * My Beloved Smother: At times, she smothers her kids (especially Justin and Max) with parental affection and authority a little too much.
 * Parent Service
 * So Proud of You: Usually of Justin.
 * Spicy Latina
 * Unfazed Everyman
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In "Cast-Away (To Another Show)", Theresa insists on wearing a life-jacket on a docked ship and is apprehensive in general about water. Justin is surprised, noting that she won a number of swimming medals in high school.

Harper Finkle
"Jennifer Stone"



She is the best friend of the show's main character Alex Russo and is often known for her outrageous fashion ensembles that she designs herself. Harper is a typical teenage girl â€” kind, smart, a bit dorky and a fashion lover. She is very optomistic, though a little insecure at times. Harper has an extremely large and often (extremely) obsessive crush on Alex's brother, Justin.

"Alex: When have I ever kept secrets from you? Harper: WIZ-ard! Alex: You're never going to let that go are you? Harper: No."
 * Berserk Button: Being called a bad friend.
 * Beta Couple: With Zeke, once she (more or less) gives up her crush on Justin.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Much less prominent in her than in Max and Zeke, but it's still there.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Catch Phrase: Harper yells "See you in P.E.!" when making a hasty exit.
 * The Chick
 * Clingy Jealous Girl
 * Creator Breakdown: In-Universe in "Alex the Puppetmaster". After a fight, Harper redoes her puppet show as "a thinly veiled attack" showing the audience how Alex treats her.
 * Dogged Nice Girl
 * Granola Girl
 * Hazel Eyes
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Alex.
 * Hidden Depths: Subverted. She runs marathons, does tae kwan do, enters spelling bees and does Double Dutch jump rope but is terrible at all of them.
 * The Klutz
 * The Lancer: To Alex.
 * Morality Pet: For Alex.
 * Rummage Sale Reject
 * Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl: When they go to the 50s, she becomes the most popular girl in school in a matter of days
 * Stalker with a Crush: On Justin.
 * Stepford Smiler: Lampshaded in "Positive Alex" when Alex calls her a "Happy" and she says "Only on the outside. That's why we work."
 * And in "Third Wheel" we get to see what happens when the smile slips.
 * Strange Girl
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Alex's Tomboy.
 * Unfazed Everyman
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 1 with Alex. As the bottom, although in recent episodes she has begun to grow a spine moving in the direction of Type 2.

Zach "Zeke" Beekerman
"Dan Benson"

He is a friend of Justin's. He is one grade higher than Justin and is considered "cool", yet nerdy. He attends Tribeca Prep and is in advanced chemistry along with Justin. He is also part of an "alien language" club; he and Justin often "speak alien" to each other.


 * Adorkable
 * A Friend in Need: Played for Laughs in "Marathoner Helper".
 * Berserk Button: Mentioning there can be more than 3 meals in a day.
 * Beta Couple: With Harper.
 * Bookworm
 * Camp Straight
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Another very noticeable one, though he isn't quite up to Max's level.
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Keet
 * Nerds Are Sexy
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Justin's Manly Man.
 * The Smart Guy

Juliet Van Heusen
"Bridgit Mendler"

She is an immortal vampire who falls in love with Justin while he spies for his parents restaurant. The two fight their parents for their love (similar to Romeo and Juliet, but with a happier ending) and soon, are allowed to date despite the restaurant feud between their different families. When she was born, her parents let her have a soul so she could socialize in the mortal world, which makes her nice and down-to-earth, as oposed to most vampires, who are usually heartless and cunning.


 * Badass Adorable: A beautiful, sweet, kind-hearted vampire who can kick some serious werewolf ass.
 * Back for the Finale
 * Blondes Are Evil: Subverted. One would expect vampires to be evil, but she's not.
 * Cute Bruiser
 * Friendly Neighborhood Vampires
 * Love Interest: Justin's.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: With Justin.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Juliet has a soul and some serious differences with her parents over what constitutes a proper diet.
 * Our Vampires Are Different
 * Put on a Bus to Hell: Twice!
 * Though she does eventually come back in "Wizards Vs. Everything".
 * ...With no explanation, but at least she's Back for the Finale.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old/Time Abyss: Played for Laughs.

Mason Greyback
"Gregg Sulkin"

He is a transfer student from England, perfect in every way except for his artistic vision, and Alex's first true love. He turns out to be a werewolf and breaks Alex's heart when he shouts out that. In the end, he repents for breaking Alex's heart and


 * Berserk Button: Trying to take Alex away from him.
 * British Accent
 * Disney Death
 * Interspecies Romance: With Alex.
 * Love Interest: Alex's.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: With Alex.
 * Mysterious Past
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: Most notably, the full moon only causes him to transform into werewolf form, but doesn't make him become crazy or violent like werewolves in other stories.
 * Put on a Bus to Hell
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old
 * Stalker with a Crush: In the last half of the "Wizards vs. Werewolves" arc.
 * Shout-Out: His name is really similar to Fenrir Greyback, the famous serial killer.
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Was It All a Lie?: Alex asks this.
 * Werewolf Theme Naming
 * Wolf Man

Mr. Larritate
"Bill Chott"

He is the principal of Tribeca Prep Sr. High School, which is shown when he calls Alex into the principal's office. He also admires Justin and often compares Alex to him.


 * Born in the Wrong Century
 * Embarrassing First Name: Herschel.
 * Go-Karting with Bowser: Sometimes Alex winds up alienating everybody in which case Mr.Larritate seems to be her friend of last resort.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Shout-Out: Larry Tate was Darrin's boss in Bewitched.
 * Stepford Smiler

Gigi
"Skyler Samuels"

She is (or at least, was) Alex's rival. She has tried to embarrass Alex ever since they were in kindergarten when Gigi spilled juice on Alex's mat during naptime and said Alex had an "accident".


 * Alpha Bitch
 * Blondes Are Evil: Played ridiculously straight.
 * Brother Chuck: Was seen once in Season 2 and never again since.
 * Sitcom Arch Nemesis

Dean Moriarty
"Daniel Samonas"

He is Alex's boyfriend in the second season. He makes temporary tattoos in the boy's bathroom and is interested in cars. Dean is shown as a "bad boy", and Justin and Harper do not approve of him at first.


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Well, as bad as you're likely to get on the Disney Channel. It's Alex that's really the "bad" one in the relationship, on several levels.
 * He does temporary tattoos!
 * Badbutt
 * Love Interest: Alex's.
 * Morality Chain: In one episode Alex's love for Dean is what prevents her from turning evil.
 * Shout-Out

Kelbo Russo
"Jeff Garlin"

Jerry's brother. He was given Jerry's powers, when he married Theresa.


 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Jerry's and Megan's.
 * Beethoven Was an Alien Spy:
 * Big Fun
 * Chaotic Stupid
 * The Ditz
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * Too Dumb to Live
 * Too Dumb to Live

Stevie Nichols
"Hayley Kiyoko"


 * : In a Disney show, folks, in a Disney show. And it's accompanied with a Laugh Track.
 * The Ladette
 * Manipulative Bitch
 * Not So Different: Her and Alex.
 * Pet the Dog: When she changes the heavy metal band into a smooth jazz one to stop Alex and Justin from fighting.
 * The Rival: To Harper.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Pet the Dog: When she changes the heavy metal band into a smooth jazz one to stop Alex and Justin from fighting.
 * The Rival: To Harper.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

Rosie
"Leven Rambin"


 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Angels Are Different

Chase Riprock
"Nick Roux"


 * Awesome McCoolname
 * Badass Abnormal: Defeated Mason in werewolf form without magic or weapons.
 * Romantic False Lead

Master Gorog
"John Rubenstein"


 * Big Bad: Of his two arcs in Season 4, "Wizards vs. Angels" and the "Apartment 13B" saga.
 * Evil Overlord: The leader of the Angels of Darkness.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Our Demons Are Different
 * Winged Humanoid

Tropes associated with other characters:

 * Captain Ersatz: Prof. Crumbs (of Dumbledore).
 * Creepy Monotone: Numerous one-shot characters played by Amanda Tepe.
 * Cute Monster Girl: Frankie Stein.
 * Goth: Miranda.
 * Karma Houdini: T.J. Taylor, until his parents caught him.
 * Magical Girlfriend: Isabella.
 * Really 700 Years Old/Time Abyss: Played for Laughs. Prof. Crumbs considers 800 years old to be young, and was an adult when the wheel was invented, making him nearly as old as Juliet. Rudy Tootie, who is over 2000, makes fun of how old he is. And of course there's Juliet's parents.
 * Sibling Team: Justin/Alex, Justin/Max, Alex/Max, Justin/Alex/Max.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: The Tutor.
 * Terrible Trio: Gigi and her friends.