Hopper

**Hopper** is the main antagonist of the Pixar's second animated feature *A Bug's Life*. He is the deceiving and brutal leader of The Grasshoppers and is Thumper and Molt's former boss as well as Flik and Atta's archenemy.

He is voiced by Kevin Spacey.

## History

Hopper is a ruthless and deceiving grasshopper warlord who leads his own massive gang and expects the ant colony to trade food with him, so that he has enough food for the winter and beyond that. The ants keep the food in a safe place, but Flik accidentally destroys the food piles which the ants have prepared for The Grasshopers. Hopper later arrives and scolds at the ant colony and it's leaders for not having food all prepared for him. He even goes as far as blaming Atta for the incident since she is the heir to the throne, which disturbes Hopper because he wants to take full control of the ant colony. Molt however interrupts and reminds Hopper of the time he almost got eaten by a bird. Hopper smashes him against the wall and out of envy he tells his brother that if their mother wouldn't have told him not to kill Molt then he would've done so without hesitating. Hopper out of greed for power and food however strategically tells the ants that he's a compassionate insect and that he could give them a second chance to rectify these mistakes. He tells them that they are forgetting their place and gives them until the end of the winter to bring him the promised food. He flies off with the other grasshoppers, and with hopes to take over the ant colony as they shall either prove their loyalty to him or be killed.

At the grasshoper's palace, Hopper and Molt discuss issues and Molt suggests him to leave the ants alone, since they've had enough food to survive the winter. Hopper however out of desire to take control of the colony attempts to kill Molt for this suggestion, but he pins the blame on Axel and Loco after Molt tells him that none of this was his idea anyway. He pours the wheat onto a pit which he throws Axel and Loco into, and he is seen burying them alive, and thus killing them both. He explains to his grasshopper army that it was never about food but it was all about power and keeping the ants in line. He and his minions fly back to the colony.

Hopper temporarily takes over the colony completely with hopes to assassinate Atta and The Queen. Spot eventually reunites with Filk and tells him about Hopper's evil plans. Filk and the circus gang plot to scare Hopper away with a fake bird. They come together making the shadow of a bird infront of Hopper and the latter, however, P.T Flea later ruins their plans by mistakenly putting the equipment on fire. An enraged, power-mad Hopper orders Thumper to kill Flik. Filk however makes a heartfelt speech about how the ants all united together are strong enough to defeat Hopper's forces. The ants stand up to Hopper, and as a result, the barbarian grasshopper leader steps on Flik and tries to squash him to death. Atta intervenes and saves Flik's life. A massive battle begins, and the grasshopper gang eventually fly back home in defeat. Hopper is ditched into a cannon, however, as it starts raining, the ants run back to the colony, and Hopper uses that chance to have his revenge on Flik. He shoots himself out of the cannon and grabs Flik, thus flying with him to a safe area. The circus bugs try and save Flik from Hopper, but they fail. The circus bugs attack him, and while that distracts him from his revenge plans, Atta rescues Flik. However, Hopper stops them from escaping as he lands right infront of them. He attempts to kill the two, promising to take over the colony with more grasshopper minions during the next summer. However, the mother bird arrives. Hopper at first thinks it's another trick, but as soon as the bird screams, Hopper realizes that it's a real bird. A scared Hopper runs away and tries to escape, but the mother bird takes him and feeds him to her children.

## Personality

Hopper is a megalomaniacal, decieving, greedy, manipulative and power hungry warlord and monarch. He intends to take over the ant colony and usurp the throne at all costs. Despite this, he does have some manners, and he respects his mother to a certain degree, as shown when he tries not to kill Molt despite their disagreements. He sees himself as the most powerful creature in the field and this makes him overconfident and egoistical.