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| “ | Your government has realized that sealing you inside this dome was a terrible mistake. Therefore, we are commencing Operation Soaring Eagle. (crowd cheers)...which involves killing you all. | „ |
| ~ Russ Cargill revealing his true nature, before planting a bomb inside the domed city of Springfield. |
Russell "Russ" Cargill is the main antagonist of the 2007 animated film The Simpsons Movie, based on the long-running TV series The Simpsons.
He was the head of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the commander of the Dome operation. He imprisoned all of Springfield inside a glass dome when the lake reached impossible pollution levels. He also purposely plots to destroy all of Springfield to make money for a new Grand Canyon plan.
He was voiced by Albert Brooks, who also played Bernie Rose in Drive, and previously voiced other characters in the series, including Brad Goodman, Tab Spangler, and Hank Scorpio.
Personality
At first, Russ Cargill appears as a very professional but still sinister figure, keeping the idea of continuing his job and finishing it in a more professional manner. However, after the Simpsons escape the dome, Cargill goes mad with power and forgets about his job and orders, only focusing on destroying Springfield and capturing the family. He also can be quite manipulative as he tricked the President into authorizing a plan to demolish Springfield and replace with a new Grand Canyon, as he exploits the President's idiocy into approving it.
Biography
Before The Simpsons Movie
Before the events of the film, Russ studied at Harvard, attending its business school. While there he noted that they "don't teach you how to cope with loss, and handle a shotgun". He later joined the EPA, working his way up the ranks to its director.
The Simpsons Movie
Russ first appears during his visit to the White House where he presented a mutant squirrel to President Schwarzenegger. Cargill explains that the pollution levels at the lake of Springfield are very high (which caused the mutation) and that they need to be contained. Cargill manages to provide five options on how to deal with the contamination, and President Schwarzenegger randomly chooses one of them, which is to encase Springfield in a huge glass dome (referred to as "Trappuccino" by the citizens) to contain the high pollution levels. Appearing on a giant LCD screen in the dome, Cargill explains about the pollution levels and why the EPA is forced to take action by trapping the city, which obviously enrages the Springfield citizens. Eventually, the townspeople except for Ned Flanders and his kids found out that Homer Simpson was the one who caused the pollution by dumping his pig silo into the lake in the first place, so they attempt to kill him and his family in revenge. This forces the Simpson family to escape through a sinkhole, which eventually destroys the Simpson residence.
With the news behind the cause of the pollution revealed, Cargill becomes mad with power, vowing to capture the Simpsons and confine them back in the dome, which forces the Simpsons to escape to Alaska. His next scene shows him tricking the President into choosing "Operation: Soaring Eagle", which involves killing everyone in Springfield and creating a "New Grand Canyon" (advertised by actor Tom Hanks). After Marge watches the advertisement in the television, she tries to get Homer to come with her and the kids to save Springfield, but Homer selfishly refuses to help. This force makes Marge to go alone with Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. But after Homer watches a tearful message that she recorded over their marriage tape, he has a change of heart and goes to help his family save Springfield.
Meanwhile, the CIA tracks Marge's location through a train conductor robot, revealing her location to Cargill, who captures the remaining Simpsons at a train station and traps them inside the dome again. When the family are brought back after Homer's failed attempt to rescue them, Cargill contacts the town once again via the screen and tells them that the EPA is going to destroy Springfield and kill everybody contained in the dome. A helicopter arrives, lifts a plug off the top of the dome, and lowers a nuclear bomb on a rope in front of the now-destroyed City Hall. Russ impatiently oversees the countdown, and Cletus Spuckler distracts him so the townspeople can escape up the rope.
Homer, who has climbed the outside of the dome, jumps through the hole and knocks everyone off of the rope and accidentally knocking the bomb inside in the process (as well as accidentally cutting the bomb's remaining countdown in half), much to the city's anger, prompting an annoyed Cargill to disappear at this point. However, Homer gets a motorcycle and, with the help of Bart, throws the bomb through the dome's "ceiling," which explodes and destroys the dome, saving Springfield while Homer and Bart land safely after jumping over Springfield Gorge.
Though Springfield is safe, Cargill suddenly appears in front of Homer and Bart with a shotgun. Cargill admits that he will accept his defeat, but only after he kills Homer as revenge for ruining his plans. Just when Cargill is about to fire, Bart distracts him with a prank name, which allows Maggie to throw a boulder on Cargill's head from behind, instantly knocking him unconscious. He is presumably arrested after the events of the movie and is now held in Springfield Penitentiary for his crimes against Springfield.
It's unknown where he is now since we don't see him in Springfield prison after the movie. It is possible that the boulder gave him a brain hemorrhage, and that he died from that. He appears in "The Walking Ned" (non-canon to the series) as one of the deceased characters from the show, now a zombie, which could possibly prove that he is now deceased.
Other appearances
Russ briefly appears in the opening sequence of the episode of season 19 called "He Loves To Fly And He D'ohs", his only appearance outside the movie so far. He was also seen in The Simpsons Comics on "The Death of Comic Book Guy Part 2", giving President Arnold Schwarzenegger the news that people wont be insulted on the internet anymore. The president then says that he thought that he had fired him and does so after he's finished telling him. Later in the same comic, he is seen working for Mayor Quimby and telling him about the fight between the nerds and geeks. This appearance is non-canon.
Russ also appears as a limited-time character in The Simpsons: Tapped Out. He was only available during the Secret Agents 2017 event.
Trivia
- When Cargill meets Homer and Bart at the gorge, his clothes are completely worn out and tattered, but it's never explained how his clothes stayed that way. It may be possible, however, that he could be standing near the dome when it shattered to pieces. Another possibility is that he climbed up the gorge, ripping his clothes in the process.
- Russ Cargill aiming his double-barreled shotgun at Homer Simpson contains a stock footage of Mr. Burns aiming his double-barreled pump action shotgun at Comic Book Guy is from Treehouse of Horror XVI.
- Russ Cargill is very similar to Harold Attinger, they are both corrupt officials who want the protagonists dead and to do that, they're willing to kill any innocent people or fool anyone. They are also insane. However, Cargill is less evil than Attinger, as Cargill is more of a Lawful Evil at best, whereas Attinger is a Pure Evil.
- Although Mr. Burns, Sideshow Bob, Kang, and Kodos are the main antagonists of the series, Cargill has the role of the main antagonist of the film because he had bigger plans than anyone else.
- Additionally, Russ Cargill is arguably more evil than Mr. Burns, even outside of the film as he was not very evil in the film. This is because Russ Cargill imprisoned Springfield (to the point of it running low of resources) and was happy to destroy it, tried to kill Homer and is downright mad with power, even more so than Burns who, while he is a murderer and does want power, would (probably) not go to the point of destroying an entire city (this is proven wrong in the episode "The Fool Monty", where Mr. Burns tries to surround Springfield with a giant dome, mirroring Trappaccuino).
- Also, Cargill is in terms in personality with Sideshow Bob over their feud against the Simpson family, as they were both willing to destroy Springfield (though Sideshow Bob only attempted this out of his hatred of television while Cargill attempted it out of greed for power). However, Sideshow Bob happens to have redeeming features as he did love his family and was willing to change his ways (to no avail); Cargill, on the other hand, remains vindictive of his plan to kill the Simpson family and destroy Springfield, resulting his defeat and proving himself to be more evil than Sideshow Bob.
- On top of that, Russ Cargill is arguably more evil than other major Simpsons villains such as Cecil Terwilliger and Fat Tony, arguably making him the most evil villain in the entire Simpsons franchise.
- Russ Cargill might also be also more evil than Family Guy villains such as Carter Pewterschmidt and Ernie the Giant Chicken due to him having no anti-villainous traits.
- On top of that, Russ Cargill is arguably more evil than other major Simpsons villains such as Cecil Terwilliger and Fat Tony, arguably making him the most evil villain in the entire Simpsons franchise.
- He bears a physical resemblance to Agent Flemming ATF.
- Cargill wasn't always the original villain for The Simpsons Movie. The original villain was Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons episode, "You Only Move Twice".
 Animation Villains
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