Dave (Penguins of Madagascar)

"(Kowalski: You're the monster!) Yes! I'm the monster. Everyone made that clear to me every day in my entire life. But now, let's see how much everyone loves you when you're the monsters!"

- Dave to the Penguins.

Dave (also known as Dr. Octavius Brine) is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 30th full-length animated feature film Penguins of Madagascar. He is an octopus, former performer, world award winning scientist and the Penguin's arch-nemesis.

He was voiced by John Malkovich, who also played Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom in Con Air, Pascal Sauvage in Johnny English, Colonel Grigio in Warm Bodies and Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire.

Origin
Dave was originally one of the top attractions of the Central Park Zoo, where he entertained visitors with his clever and funny tricks. However, when the Penguins arrived, they unknowingly stole all of the attention due to their cuteness. Dave was then kicked out and transferred to another zoo. The same thing happened again and again and again; penguins getting all the love while Dave was shunned and ignored.

As a result, Dave grew hateful towards penguins and plotted revenge against the entire species. He escaped captivity and disguised himself as a human professor called "Dr. Octavius Brine" in order to obtain the resources needed to build his criminal empire. He constructed a submarine lair, enlisted dozens of octopi as minions, and created a mutative chemical called the "Medusa Serum" which, when blasted in a ray, turns animals into physically and mentally disfigured monsters.

Present
He then captured Skipper and his comrades by somehow predicting their infiltration of Fort Knox and then entrapping them in a vending machine full of Cheesy Dibbles. He then escorted them to his submarine stationed in Venice and introduced himself, hoping that they would recognize him (which they did not). After explaining his past and his plan, he orders his minions to cage them again, but they escape with a vial of Medusa Serum. He had his minions chase them but they were thwarted by North Wind, an animal organization dedicated to saving the penguins and stopping his plans.

At North Wind HQ, Dave hacks their communications (having trouble with the sound and picture) and reveals that he has concocted even more Medusa Serum. He then began kidnapping penguins from every zoo he has ever been in. The Penguins manage to intercept him, as he goes after the Shanghai Zoo penguins, but he prevails in taking them along with Private.

In his lair, he shows off his Medusa Serum to every penguin he captured by testing it on a cricket. It was then he discovers Private among the captured and thus anticipates an attempt rescue. The Penguins and North Wind begrudgingly work together to bring him in, but are then captured. He then prepares to demonstrate the serum on Private in front of the other three, but he manages to escape, making Dave believe he had been vaporized.

Later, in his human disguise, he announces to the world that he had found the lost penguins and is bringing them to New York. He then uses the ray on them to transform into hideous mutants, causing everyone to hate them and call exterminators on them. Then, after a moment of self-reflection, he prepares to go after other cute animals. But Private manages to reconnect to his mutated comrades and prepares to reverse the mutation by using the ray with himself as the power source. Dave and his Octopi try to stop them, but the North Wind destroys his submarine and Skipper uses the last Cheesy Dibble to press the remote, turning every penguin back to normal (at the cost of Private growing moose antlers).

As everyone celebrates their victory, Dave returns, seemingly transformed into a giant Kraken, but then realizes he had been shrunk and stuck inside a snow globe. He continues to swear vengeance when a little girl takes interest in him, making him feel the joy of acceptance he had longed craved for again. But then it turns out the girl was more interested in the snow and begins shaking him violently.

What happens to him next is left unknown. One of his octopi might find him and return him to normal, he could have died from the little girl shaking too much, or the little girl could have stopped shaking the snow globe and Dave finally found the love and acceptance he wanted.

Personality
Dave was once a kind, happy, polite, childish, attentive, thoughtful, sympathetic, delighted, and friendly zoo animal. He performed tricks for children and made them laugh and cheer.

However, after penguins repeatedly stole his glory and got him shunned and forgotten, he snapped and transformed into a villainous, destructive, and psychotic mastermind with a bitter and jealous hatred for all penguins, especially towards the four who first stole his fame: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. He is very ruthless, selfish, greedy, bitter, cruel, sadistic, deceitful, manipulative, and vindictively vengeful, desiring to turn all penguins into monsters to get revenge. He has a funny and comical, though slightly malicious, sense of humor.

Despite this, Dave have a softer side; he gets along reasonably well with his henchmen and also showed sympathy towards a little girl (though it is possible that he changed his mind when she began shaking him). He also seemed to have a level of both self-appreciation and self-dislike, believing himself to be better than penguins, but at the same time outright admitting that he is a monster.

Quotes
"Naughty, naughty, pretty birds, belong in their cages."

- Dave's first line.

"Now that's just hurtful and i was so happy to see you again. Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and sweet little Private, Boop! (Skipper: Who are you?) The humans know me as Dr. Octavius Brine: renowned geneticist, cheese enthusiast, and frequent donor to NPR pledge drives. But you know me by a different, much older name. A name perhaps you'd hoped you'd never hear again. A phantom! A shadow of a former life! I... am... DAVE!!!"

- Dave introducing himself to the penguins.

"You seriously don't remember me?"

- Dave asking the penguins if they remember him.

"The only thing that has keep me going all these years is my burning thirst for REVENGE! And my souvenir snowglobe collection"

- Dave

"(Skipper: How's the wife?) I'VE NEVER BEEN MARRIED!"

- Dave.

"Let's shake up some old memories. New York City. The Central Park Zoo. Life was good. Roomy tank, great location, monkey house view and of course, my adoring leaching of fans. DAVE the Octopus of a Thousand Tricks. I was the total package, and then you arrived and took everything from me. Four adorable baby penguins, with you around, nobody wanted an old octopus anymore. OUT YOU GO DAVE. And so it went, over and over, at zoo after aquarium, adorable penguins stole the show, while i was shunned, forgotten, unwanted, alone."

- Dave telling the penguins about his tragic back story.

"URGH, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

- Dave to Rico after he swallowed his snow globe collection.

"Greetings, North Wind! I see you met my old Zoo Mates."

- Dave.

"WHAT? Are you KIDDING ME?! (Skipper: Dave. Oh-oh, look at you.) You think this is over?! I'm just getting started! I'm about to... (Kowalski: What do we do with him now?) (Little Girl: Aw!) Open this right now!"

- Dave's last words.

Trivia

 * Dave's design is similar to Stretch from Toy Story 3 and Roger from American Dad.
 * His minions all share the same first names as famous actors. Following their names, Dave would give them an order that would match the celebrities full name (ex. "Nicholas, cage them.").
 * Despite being octopi, Dave and his henchmen have only six visible tentacles.
 * He is shown to be bad with some technology, and he sometimes wears reading glasses.
 * Following the penguins' despair, Dave planned on taking vengeance on cats, dogs, rabbits, and pandas as well. It is possible he was embarrassed by them as well.
 * He is the only octopus in the movie who can speak. His henchmen, the Octopi, simply make a bubbling sound.
 * In fact, he is the only animal in the entire Madagascar series to be able to converse with humans.
 * He thinks killing penguins would be boring.
 * Despite being a villain, he seems to hate killing somebody as he is showed who is reluctant to kill penguins, curiously, he never kills somebody in the whole movie, but simply turned penguins into monsters.
 * In fact, Dave's final fate or status is unknown, but he could be alive if the little girl didn't continue to shake the snow globe too hard.