Smug Snake/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

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*** Hiss's voice-actor Terry-Thomas was [[Typecasting|born to play this sort of role]].
** Kaa from Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' ''is'' a Smug Snake. This is the complete opposite of his personality in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s original book, where he was more of an [[Old Master]] who has the respect (and fear) of the Jungle. [[Disneyfication|Disney didn't like the idea of a snake being a hero.Go figure]]. The Smug Snake in the book? ''Shere Khan''.
** Queen Grimhilde, the evil queen in ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'', being the Trope Confider for [[Vain Sorceress]] and all.
** Gladstone Gander in the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' cartoon. See the comics section.
** Lady Tremaine in ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' is incredibly stuck up and clearly going for an "evil mastermind" vibe, but she ends up not being nearly as efficient as she thinks herself to be.
*** Though Gladstone's Smug Snake characteristics were notably more subdued in his animated incarnation than in the original comic books. The episode "Dime Enough For Luck" even goes so far as to portray him in a fairly sympathetic light.
** Captain Hook in ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]''. Kind of hard to enforce a fearsome reputation when [[Butt Monkey|you're constantly being made the butt of jokes and slapstick gags.]]
** [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Jafar]]. He thinks he is very clever, and does manipulate the heroes quite a bit, but in the end his lust for power prevents him from thinking through the consequences of his actions, {{spoiler|specifically that being a genie would force him to live in a lamp and grant wishes,}} which proves to be his undoing. He even has a bit of a snake theme going on.
** Cruella De Vil in ''[[101 Dalmatians]]'' is a classic example. Contrast her usual demeanor with her frequent temper tantrums and [[Villainous Breakdown]] in the climax.
** Edgar the butler in ''[[The Aristocats]]''. Incredibly snooty and self assured, but even more of a [[Joke Character|Joke Villain]] than the above-mentioned Captain Hook!
** Madame Medusa in ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]''. For all her ego and sarcastic disdain for others, there's nothing remotely magnificent about her.
** Professor Ratigan in ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' is an interesting case of a villain who can be both this ''and'' a [[Magnificent Bastard]].
** Sykes in ''[[Oliver and Company]]''. Complete with a very smug looking [[Psychotic Smirk]] that he quite often gives.
** Gaston in ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''. Very social savvy and manipulative, but also insanely conceited, [[Book Dumb]], and ultimately a [[Dirty Coward]].
** Jafar in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|JafarAladdin]]''. He thinks he is very clever, and does manipulate the heroes quite a bit, but in the end his lust for power prevents him from thinking through the consequences of his actions, {{spoiler|specifically that being a genie would force him to live in a lamp and grant wishes,}} which proves to be his undoing. He even has a bit of a snake theme going on.
*** Unlike most of these smug snakes, Jafar graduated to a [[Magnificent Bastard]] in the second movie.
** Scar in ''[[The Lion King]]'' starts the film as a true [[Magnificent Bastard]] as he schemes to take the throne and literally claws his way to power, skillfully manipulating others in order to get what he wants. But once he actually has what he long desired, he gets sloppy and devolves into a lazy, whiny, spoiled [[Psychopathic Manchild]] whose Jerkassery is barely concealed by [[Faux Affably Evil]]-ness like it once was, and when his manipulations fall apart and the truth about his murder of his brother comes to light, he turns into a [[Dirty Coward]] who seals his own fate by trying to shift the blame to his hyena followers, right when said followers are within earshot! [[What an Idiot!]]
* {{spoiler|Pong Krell}} from ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]''
** Governor John Ratcliffe in ''[[Pocahontas]]''. All about greed, bigotry and ego, incredibly low on intelligent thinking. He does get better in that regard in the direct-to-video sequel, but he still doesn't think far ahead enough, as shown by his [[Villainous Breakdown]] when his plans start to fail.
** Judge Frollo in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' has exactly one moment of a clever [[Batman Gambit]] and spends the rest of the film acting like a snooty, self-important, genocidal [[Jerkass]] of a [[Knight Templar]] who is fully convinced he is a "righteous man" who has God on his side despite his ''very clear'' indulgences in sadism and lust.
** Clayton in ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]''. He's more charismatic and manipulative than Ratcliffe, but stiff suffers the same problems.
** Yzma in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]'', a self absorbed yet bungling [[Treacherous Advisor]]/[[Mad Scientist]] whose schemes are not nearly as "Brilliant, Brilliant, BRILLIANT!" as she makes them out to be.
** Lyle T. Rourke in ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'', like Grimhilde, Sykes, Scar, and Frollo before him, is both this and a [[Complete Monster]].
** Scroop, the spider-like pirate in ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', especially in contrast with the film's [[Magnificent Bastard]] main antagonist, Long John Silver.
** The Bowler Hat Guy in ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]'' is this in addition to being an [[Unwitting Pawn]] to ''his own AI-powered Bowler Hat.'' (No, seriously.)
** Both the Director and the Agent in ''[[Bolt]]'', especially the latter.
** Both King Candy/{{spoiler|Turbo}} in ''[[Wreck-It Ralph]]'' and {{spoiler|Prince Hans}} in ''[[Frozen (Disney film)|Frozen]]'' try their hands at Magnificent Bastardry, but their egos outweigh their manipulations and planning skills.
** Recently, ''Zootopia'' gives us {{spoiler|both Mayor Leodore Lionheart and Assistant Mayor Bellweather}} as shoe-ins for this trope.
** Gladstone Gander in the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' cartoon. See the comics section. Flintheart Glomgold, Ma Beagle, and Magica De Spell also qualify.
*** Though Gladstone's Smug Snake characteristics were notably more subdued in his animated incarnation than in the original comic books. The episode "Dime Enough For Luck" even goes so far as to portray him in a fairly sympathetic light.
*** He's back to full Smug Snake form in the 2017 reboot. Said series also introduces Mark Beaks as a particularly over-the-top smarmy and obnoxious Smug Snake, and makes, of all characters, [[Adaptational Villainy|Gyro Gearloose]] an example of this trope as well.
* {{spoiler|Pong Krell}} from ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'', among other examples in that series.
* The Grinch of ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]''. See his entry on the Literature page.
* ''[[Shrek]]'' examples:
** Prince Charming, in ''Shrek the Third'', manipulates the other villains telling them that if they join him, they will all get their "happily ever afters" when all he really wanted was for them to help him get what he wanted, which was the throne for himself.
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* Prince Phobos and Cedric from ''[[WITCH (animation)|W.I.T.C.H.]]'' Though both are certified [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative bastards]], their egos and tendency to fail at their evil plans make them fall short of [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificence.]] Oh, and in Cedric's case, Smug Snake is meant [[Scaled Up|quite literally]].
* Eric Raymond from ''[[Jem and The Holograms]]''. If you could rate smugness on a scale from 1 to 10, Eric Raymond's smugness would test at 178.
* Mok Swagger from ''[[Rock and Rule]]'' certainly has the flourish and cunning of a [[Magnificent Bastard]], but his ''monumental'' ego (put on display in ''two'' of his songs: "Triumph" and "My Name Is Mok", both all about how great he is) and tendency to melt down in frantic, screaming temper tantrums when he's not getting his way lands him in this trope.
* Lavor, [[The Dragon]] to [[Big Bad]] Magmion, from ''[[Gormiti: The Lords of Nature Return]]''. Even his [[Image Song]] denounces him as a vain, overconfident scoundrel. He's also quite a [[Dirty Coward|coward]], and happily [[We Have Reserves|throws his men into battle with the heroes]] to get himself away from trouble and gauge his opponents' strength.
** And just to hammer the point home, the kids even got [[Genre Savvy]] about his smugness. One episode had Lucas, Nick and Jessica mess up his plan by simply pointing out how painfully obvious it was, which caused him to lose his head and attack.
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** Troy from ''Titan Maximum'' might also count. "T-R-O-Y! Why? Because I rock!"
* Lucius Heinous VII on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' fancies himself a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and feared [[Evil Overlord]], but more often than not he's outwitted by his employee [[Enfante Terrible|Heloise]]. He also treats everyone around him like garbage, including his [[Yes-Man]] Samy and his [[Dragon]] Molotov. But what do you expect from someone whose [[Satan]]?
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' examples:
** [[Evilly Affable|Mr. Burns]] sometimes takes Smug Snake to a ridiculous extreme. For example, one episode involved a plan on Burns' part to [[Kick the Dog|block sunlight from reaching Springfield]], and a town hall meeting was held about it. During the meeting, the town was being shown what Burns' oil drilling operation did to Bart's pet dog, who was shown needing to use wheels just to walk down the hallway. Burns walks in at EXACTLY this moment, and, with a big smirk on his face, says this:
{{quote|'''Burns:''' Oh, those wheels are squeaking a bit. Perhaps I could sell him a little oil.}}
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** Justin from the previous season also qualifies. He boasts about being a great, manipulative strategist but it turns out that he's [[The Brainless Beauty]] whose manipulations rely solely on his good looks. When his face gets damaged, he barely poses a threat.
*** [[Alpha Bitch|Courtney]] from that same season as well. As far as she got, try though she might, [[Tough Act to Follow|she was no Heather.]]
** The ''Total Drama'' series is quite abundant in these. Heather falls on the Smug Snake side of the spectrum often despite being a Magnificent Bitch at other times, sadistic host Chris Mclean himself has the attitude and overestimation in his own cleverness down pat, and there's also the likes of Scott, Mal (Mike's evil personality), Scarlet, and the Ice Dancers in other seasons, the latter being hit by this trope so hard that they fall into total irrelevance by the end of their season despite all the scheming they'd done.
* In ''[[ChalkZone]]'', Reggie Bullnerd is ''very'' clearly stupid, but thinks he's smarter than he is anyway.
* In ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'', Loki starts out as a [[Magnificent Bastard]] but as things begin to increasingly not go his way across the first season finale he undergoes a [[Villainous Breakdown]] and ends up a ranting, half-insane Smug Snake.