| “ | Stupid dog! You make me look bad! | „ |
| ~ Eustace to Courage in the intro of Courage the Cowardly Dog. |
| “ | OOGA BOOGA BOOGA | „ |
| ~ Eustace Scare Courage |
| “ | OW! What did I do? | „ |
| ~ Eustace, after Muriel whacks him with her rolling pin for mistreating Courage. |
Eustace Bagge is the tritagonist, but one of the recurring antagonists in Courage the Cowardly Dog. He is Muriel's cranky husband and one of Courage's two owners. He is also the latter's most hated enemy.
However, Eustace also has several antagonistic roles throughout the series, one of the most notable in the episode, "Ball of Revenge", where he gathers and meets up with the villains that Courage had previously encountered and either outwitted or defeated to get rid of him by challenging him to a game of dodgeball. That episode arguably cemented Eustace as the true primary antagonist of the show and a direct threat to Courage.
He was voiced by Howard Hoffman, the late Lionel Girard Wilson, the late Arthur Anderson, and the legendary actor, Wallace Shawn.
Biography
Beginnings
Eustace was born on an unknown date in a trailer park. He was not well liked by his mother and he was shown to be a more friendly person than in his later years. He had a brother and father who are implied to be bigger and more muscular than Eustace. 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.
Eustace married Muriel sometime in 1953.
In Courage the Cowardly Dog
Muriel found Courage as a puppy outside the veterinarian office where his parents were launched into space by the vet for his secret experiment on sending dogs to space.
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 string wearing glasses. At times he helped Courage save Muriel from various things (despite that he at times gets hurt or does not return and besides, who else was going to fix his meals?).
Personality
Eustace is a malicious, ill-tempered, selfish, and nasty old farmer who is married to the kindhearted Muriel despite being her polar opposite.
Throughout the series, he is very ornery, combative, and antagonistic to Courage the Cowardly Dog, 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 and ghouls that 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). 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.
Although almost always an antagonist, Eustace has occasionally worked with Courage to try and overcome some particularly nasty villains, but these alliances are temporary. More often than not, Eustace is a very stubborn, and even devious individual.
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 (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 its potentially worth a fortune; despite that Ramses continually demands they return the slab between unleashing horrible plagues in warning.
Appearance
Eustace is a tall elderly man with enormous feet (though these pale in comparison to his father's) who walks in a crouch. He's bald and has squinty little eyes. His arms are spindly, but his hands are large. He has an enormous underbite and false teeth. He wears green overall-like trousers and a short-sleeved yellow shirt along with jam-jar glasses, a brown hat and brown shoes. His usual facial expression is extremely grouchy.
Gallery
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.
- 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.
- Eustace Bagge could be considered Tragic for reasons:
- It was seen in a flashback that he was nice as a child; sad, but nice.
- Eustace might've 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", being the reason for which he always refers to Courage as "Stupid Dog".
- After years of being rejected, particularly by his mother, Eustace may have been traumatized emotionally, and that might've led to his cold personality to get attention.
- According to an unknown source, voice actor 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.
- Some people said that Eustace Bagge was based in real life late serial killer Ed Gein due many similar things: They were mistreated by their mothers, have physical similar appearances, they have the same truck and their houses had the same tapestry. It's completely unknown if this is true or that is only a coincidence.
- In the episode "Ball of Revenge", Eustace makes his worst antagonistic act and he officially defines himself as a main villain. He reunites Katz, the Weremole, The Queen of the Black Puddle, Cajun Fox, Le Quack and The Big Toe to get their revenge against Courage. Also, he didn't seem to mind that villains tried to cook Muriel alive with boiling water, ignoring the fact that she is his wife.
- Eustace carries similarities with other cartoon villains (or anti-heroes in their description):
- Squidward Tentacles (Spongebob Squarepants)
- Both a Bald and Skinny.
- Both are grumphy.
- Both have a hate for their small main characters (Eustace for Courage and Squidward for Spongebob).
- Both have been villain in where they were in their worst, (Eustace in Ball of Revenge and Squidward in Little Yellow Book).
- Also, both have a rival from their past that have been bullied them to become what they are today. (Squilliam Fancyson, Squidward´s rival who succeded in everything Squidward failed him and Eustace his brother Horst who teased him and called him useless.)
- Unlike Eustace, whose brother died, Squidward still has Squilliam who mocks Squidward´s failures.
- Squidward Tentacles (Spongebob Squarepants)