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| “ | Stupid dog! You make me look bad! | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Courage in the intro of the series and his most famous quote. |
| “ | What’s your offer? | „ |
| ~ Another one of Eustcae’s catchphrases |
| “ | What did I do? | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Muriel after getting hit in the head |
Eustace Bagge is the tritagonist of Courage the Cowardly Dog and a supporting character in the crossover direct-to-video film Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog. He is Muriel's cranky and cruel husband as well as one of Courage's two owners.
He was voiced by Howard Hoffman in the pilot, the late Lionel Wilson (who also voiced the Nightrider in the American dub of Mad Max and Mala-Khan in The Secret of Mulan) in the first and second seasons, the late Arthur Anderson in the third and fourth seasons, Wallace Shawn in The Fog of Courage, who also portrayed Vizzini in The Princess Bride, Bertram in Family Guy, Dr. Elliot Coleye in My Favorite Martian, and Taotie in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and by Jeff Bergman in Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Biography[]
Eustace was born on a formerly unknown date in a trailer park. He was not well-liked by his mother and he was shown to be a friendlier person than in his later years. He had a brother, Horst, who was bigger and much more muscular than Eustace, with Eustace's father, Ickett, having arrowhead-like eyebrows, a big bushy beard and even larger feet. It is implied that his family all wear glasses for unknown reasons (possibly a poor vision trait) and that he was bald since he was a child. Because of the abuse he received from his family, he became bitter and hateful.
Eustace married Muriel sometime in 1953.
Muriel found Courage as a puppy outside the veterinarian's office where his parents were launched into space by the vet for his secret experiment on sending dogs to space (which in the "Remembrance of Courage Past" episode, later failed as they were revealed to be alive, mauling him in the end). Later on, Eustace began to hate Courage as he received more attention from Muriel than Eustace himself.
At certain times, Eustace was subject to many weird and crazy injuries, such as being mummified or exploding and surviving (often saying "OW!" as the explosion happens or afterwards) leaving him as black as soot wearing glasses.
At times, he helped Courage save Muriel from various things (despite the fact that he at times gets hurt a lot and/or does not return and besides, who else was going to fix his meals?).
Villainous Acts[]
- "Courage Meets Bigfoot" - He refused to let Theodore the Bigfoot get reunited with his mother, Mildred, so he could get a reward of $25 and a lifetime membership at the museum, before getting chased by the Angry Mob.
- "Hothead" - He failed to listen to Courage's warning as he keeps on using a hair growth formula and destroys everything every time he rages over something and later on himself when his small hair went flat, but luckily, Eustace came back alive in one piece at the end.
- "Freaky Fred" - He locked Courage in the bathroom with Fred, Muriel's freaky nephew who's a barber, and lied to her about going to the hardware store to fix the door like he said he would and went to various other places (such as reading his newspaper on the roadway, the beach and the movies) during the rest of the episode to stay away from Fred. This was the only villainous act Eustace had gotten away with, though fortunately, at the end of the episode (albeit off-screen), Muriel punished Eustace for locking Courage to be shaven entirely except for his tail, to which even Fred said "Why now, that would be weird.", and lying to her about fixing the door, so she smashed Eustace's head with her trademark rolling pin for this cruel act.
- "King Ramses' Curse" - He endangered his own family for his own selfish gain and he got himself killed because of his greed for refusing to give King Ramses his slab back because it's worth one million dollars, but fortunately, Ramses got the slab back, even if it has to mean taking Eustace with him as a last resort.
- "The Hunchback of Nowhere" - Criticizing Courage and bullying him at the same time by scaring the dog and calling Hunchie the Hunchback ugly before getting told off by Muriel to eat his breakfast in the henhouse, but that doesn't stop the evil farmer as when Courage gave Hunchie Eustace's raincoat: Eustace selfishly came and took it and almost scared Courage so much that the poor dog almost fell off the roof, but thankfully, Hunchie came and saved the night and day by scaring Eustace with his own unique black-and-white mask that is modeled to be Eustace's face while calling Eustace "stupid dog", to which Eustace got scared even more badly that he fell off the roof.
- "The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Lovable Duckling" - This episode is where Eustace was at his second extreme worst. While Courage tried to protect Muriel, the farmer spent the rest of the day beating up Courage by kicking him out of the house and unfairly blames him for what the duckling did just so Courage can get in trouble. The duckling grabbed Courage and throws him in the bathtub loaded with wet cement and then Eustace stands at the bathroom door laughing like a thug smoking a cigar. At the end, however, Eustace and the duckling got sent to the moon as punishment for his own neglect and the duckling trying to send Muriel to the moon, only to be saved by Courage.
- "The Magic Tree of Nowhere" - Cuts down the magical tree out of jealously and spite while Courage was out, though as punishment, he got infected by the disease Bully-Bully, making his head extremely large and being in pain like he wished on Muriel earlier.
- "The Curse of Shirley" - Refuses to make the right choices by trying to prove curses don't exist as well as attacking everything and anyone he hallucinates as monsters due to losing his glasses, but did have a change of heart by seeing Courage turn into Eustace's child self crying because he doesn't have a hat, to which Eustace gave Courage his hat, freeing Eustace from the curse, which is an unfriendly rain cloud above his head, and the only way to punish the curse is to show and give generosity in his heart and self.
- "The Forbidden Hat of Gold" - Steals the Forbidden Hat of Gold and hides it in the lining of his hat (which surprisingly fits) and lies to the Leader Monk and his Monk subordinates after he, Courage and Muriel are imprisoned by them, only to have Muriel being taken away to be sacrificed by the Golem. Fortunately, Courage managed to break out by growing muscles to rip out the full door, before unzipping the muscle suit, and successfully ordered a lot of fancy white fur coats for the monks, and even bought a giant one for the Golem, while releasing and rescuing Muriel. However, the Golem is destroyed because the Leader Monk found out that he and his fellow monks are warned that vanity is their undoing as the sin of Pride destroys the magic of their secret society, causing them to all flee unscathed and the society in destroyed ruins, along with Courage and Muriel escaping. Eustace got out just fine, and wore the Forbidden Hat of Gold, to which he loves, only for the hat to turn him to stone and crumble to dust, which is his punishment for his pride and greed, to which Eustace says "Stupid hat!".
- "The Transplant" - Kidnaps Muriel causing a bunch of mayhem all over the world after being turned into a Kangaroo Monster, only to fight Courage (also a Kangaroo Monster) in France, with Courage rising victorious, and Eustace staying in France, being morbidly obese with the guard giving Eustace the French Legion of Honor medal for his appreciation of French desserts, much to Eustace's delight.
- "Campsite of Terror" - Kidnaps Hugo and Herman, the two misunderstood Raccoons, in order to turn them into the park ranger. Fortunately, Courage saved the two by scaring Eustace with a giant man-made monster raccoon cut out, with Hugo and Herman cruelly and vengefully beating and torturing Eustace in return as a thanks for Courage rescuing them, forcing Eustace to be their parent.
- "Curtain of Cruelty" - Hunted Courage down to kidnap him while Courage turned Professor Mean's Cruelty Curtain into the Compassion Curtain (and turning Professor Mean back to being his real nice self known as Floyd) before getting arrested and sent to rehabilitation jail to get educated about niceness and compassion (as well as Floyd being elected to Mayor), with the hamster bashing Eustace's head with a hammer.
- "Farmer-Hunter, Farmer-Hunted" - Shot two hunters, Courage and the Buck and his family in the forest and attempted to kill all five of them before getting blasted by other hunters and renaming himself "Useless the Deer" after blasting the bear's lollipop.
- "Last of the Starmakers" - Held the Star Maker and her Star Maker babies against their will and arrested Muriel, under General Horton's orders, before getting blasted into the sky by rocket fuel and getting blown up at the same time, since Horton revealed that the money he gave Eustace is actually a secretly experimental rocket fuel.
- "Ball of Revenge" - Teams up with Katz, Le Quack, Cajun Fox, Black Puddle Queen, Big Toe, and Weremole to kill Courage and win Muriel as his slave before getting defeated by Courage and hit in the head by Muriel with her rolling pin.
Personality[]
Eustace is a malicious, ill-tempered, waspish, egotistical, nasty and cruel old jerk farmer who is married to the kindhearted and gentle Muriel despite being her polar opposite.
Throughout the series, Eustace is very ornery, combative and antagonistic to Courage the Cowardly Dog, having a grudge against Courage, and is basically a cantankerous and argumentative bully who constantly calls Courage a stupid dog, mistreats him, and loves to scare him. Often, his cruelty earns him a bop on the head by Muriel, often followed by him asking "What did I do?". Eustace is also regularly maimed or tortured by the many ghosts, ghouls and other beings that used to haunt Courage.
Eustace's behavior towards Courage seems to stem from jealousy over the attention Courage receives from Muriel and his own mother (who dislikes him intensely, yet seems to be very fond of Courage, except when she's a threat). One of Eustace's favorite tricks is to wait until Courage is in relative peace before he utters his catchphrase of "Stupid dog!" and proceeding to pull out a hideous Voodoo-like mask and yelling, "Ooga booga booga!" to frighten Courage half to death.
Eustace is disgusted of his nephew by marriage, Freaky Fred, as he called him a "freak".
Although almost always an antagonist, Eustace has occasionally worked with Courage to try and overcome some particularly nasty villains. For example, in "Katz Kandy," when Muriel is kidnapped by Katz's Jam Monster and Courage is defeated by him in a staring contest and turned into candy for his loss, because of Eustace showing up, Eustace surprisingly protects Muriel, and also saves the day by holding off Katz and battling him while Courage pulled the lever, sending him into his own candy making machine (after Katz tries to do the same to him first).
Nevertheless, these alliances are usually temporary. More often than not, Eustace is a very stubborn and even devious individual. However, it's revealed that even Eustace knows there are certain boundaries that he shouldn't cross. When the Cruel Veterinarian made clear his intentions to send Courage to space in a rocket, Eustace fiercely disagrees with him, which means that Eustace may be cruel, but he has his kind moments.
As well as his bullying, Eustace has long been established as a very acquisitive and greedy individual who has brought disaster upon himself and others in his stubborn pursuit of riches, showing no sympathy and hesitation to those around him (that he often doesn't deserve). One of the more famous examples of this was Eustace's refusal to give up King Ramses's slab after Eustace finds out it is potentially worth a fortune; despite that Ramses continually demands they return the slab between unleashing horrible plagues in warning.
A disturbing fact about Eustace's early life, according to John R. Dilworth, is that back when Eustace and Muriel were young, Muriel was interested in another man, but through some formerly unknown dark deed, Eustace managed to win her love, but what exactly Eustace did to his love rival to get rid of him is beyond anyone's guess (making the farmer a psychopath). However, it is confirmed that Eustace murdered his love rival, which is the dark deed.
However, on a positive side, this means that deep inside his heart, Eustace really loves Muriel and, even during their youth, was willing to do whatever he needed to win her affection. Nevertheless, this doesn't prevent Eustace from risking Muriel's life sometimes, albeit formerly unknowingly, like when he reunited all six of Courage's worst enemies and didn't do anything when they tried to cook Muriel alive, making him even more of a sadistic sociopath who is willing to hurt, harm, attack, abuse and kill even his loved ones. As in Ball of Revenge, he willing kidnaps Muriel and lets his allies torture her in a giant cauldron of cooking green liquid and bleaching her laundry. However, Eustace cannot be a Karma Houdini forever, as Eustace and his crooks are beaten by Courage once again.
Appearance[]
Eustace is a tall and thin elderly man with enormous feet (though these pale in comparison to his father's) who walks in a crouch, compared to Muriel, who is short and overweight. He's bald and has squinted little eyes. His arms are spindly, but his hands are large. He has an enormous chin and false teeth, yet, they are actually his gums and Eustace can eat just fine even without teeth. He wears green overalls and a short-sleeved yellow shirt along with jam-jar glasses, a brown hat and black shoes. His usual facial expression is extremely grouchy.
Quotes[]
| “ | My foot! MY FOOT! | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Muriel and Courage about his fungus foot. |
| “ | Dang mattress gave her nightmares. Well, we can't sit here all night. (Courage: What do you mean "we"?) She likes you go see how she is. | „ |
| ~ Eustace worried about Muriel. |
| “ | You never liked me. | „ |
| ~ Eustace talking about how mean his mother was to him. |
| “ | No, Ma. You always looked good to me. | „ |
| ~ Eustace still loves his mother no matter how much she hates him. |
| “ | Hey! that's my chair! | „ |
| ~ Eustace vs Katz. |
| “ | I've never been able to grow anything not even weeds. But that stupid dog grows trees. | „ |
| ~ Eustace jealous of Courage. |
| “ | I'm going to the picture show. I'm not wanted around here anyway. | „ |
| ~ Eustace upset that Muriel and Courage ignoring him for being mean. |
| “ | Hat? Well that's not right. Every little boy should have a hat. | „ |
| ~ Eustace feeling bad for a younger version of himself. |
| “ | The freak's a barber, a freaky barber, with his own freaky barber shop, where freaky things happen, freaky barber things. | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Courage about Freaky Fred. |
| “ | COURAGE!!! Where are you, you stupid dog!? | „ |
| ~ Eustace's rare use of Courage's name in The Hunchback of Nowhere |
| “ | OW! What did I do? | „ |
Trivia[]
- It has been hinted that Eustace is very cruel and mean and cannot comprehend good. In the episode "Curtain of Cruelty", when Eustace was hit by the object of the same name, he remained mean and nasty and was even named mayor for his behavior. However, once the object was turned into the Curtain of Kindness, Eustace was hit by it but still remained his mean self.
- Another example of this is seen in the episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost", in which he is hit by one of Dr. Zalost's depression-inducing cannonballs, only for it to have no effect on him. This causes Zalost to exclaim that Eustace "must be immune to emotions".
- In a commercial for Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary, Eustace talks to Muscle Man and tells him about his wife and dog. Shockingly, he uses Courage's name rather than calling him "Stupid Dog" as usual.
- Eustace Bagge could be considered a tragic villain for a few reasons:
- It was seen in a flashback that he was kind as a child; sad, but nice.
- Eustace might have looked up to his parents during childhood, but they never paid attention to him.
- Eustace was nicknamed "Useless" by his brother Horst. Also, his mother nicknamed him "Stupid Boy", this likely being a major part of why he always refers to Courage as "Stupid Dog".
- After years of being rejected, particularly by his mother, Eustace may have been traumatized emotionally, and it is very possible that this was what ultimately led to his cold and bitter personality.
- According to an unknown source, Brian Doyle-Murray (who also voiced the Flying Dutchman and supposedly La Sombra) was contracted by Cartoon Network to voice Eustace in a potential CGI revival or reboot of Courage the Cowardly Dog. However, it remains unknown if a fifth season or a reboot of Courage will be made or not, though the episode, The Fog of Courage, is made, and Eustace is voiced by Wallace Shawn in this episode.
- In the episode "Ball of Revenge", Eustace makes his worst antagonistic act and officially defines himself as the main antagonist of the episode. He reunites Katz, Le Quack, the Weremole, The Queen of the Black Puddle, Cajun Fox and Big Toe to get their revenge against Courage. Also, he didn't seem to mind that the villains tried to cook Muriel alive with boiling water, ignoring the fact that she is his wife.
- Due to his abusive and mean-spirited nature, many fans consider Eustace as the worst and most hated character in the show. However, he is also the only villain fans hate and sympathize from time to time.
- Furthermore, the Cruel Veterinarian surpassed Eustace by being the most detestable character despite only appearing in a single episode, which also marks the rare moment that Eustace is against the Veterinarian's decision in sending Courage to the moon with the other dogs.
- In the episode "Angry Nasty People", a character named Mr. Nasty appears. He is basically a blue, sunglasses-wearing even crueler copy of Eustace made by Benton Tarantella. However, Eustace and Mr. Nasty are separate characters.
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 Villains
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