Nick Wilde

Nick Wilde is a charming, small-time, con artist fox with a big mouth and a lot of opinions. But when a rabbit cop outsmarts him, he finds himself actually helping her solve a mystery.

## **BIO**

Nick came from a poor backtge disney univ

## Appearances

### Appears in

Zootopia

erse. round living with his mother, Mrs. Wilde (his father is never mentioned or seen, except in the original version of the film). As a child, Nick had a dream to join the local Junior Ranger Scouts, for the goal of receiving genuine acceptance. When he was 8 or 9 years old, his mother scraped up enough money to buy a brand new scout uniform, allowing him the opportunity to join the division.

Though he was the only predator there, the only fox, Nick attended his initiation with confidence and zeal, unknowingly walking right into a trap. The "initiation" turned out to be a cruel prank and Nick was ridiculed, brutally beaten, and muzzled by the other scouts for being a fox (as foxes are considered among the most vile and untrustworthy species of mammals in Zootopia). After running outside to escape his tormentors, Nick tore off the muzzle and broke down in tears, developing a triggering fear of muzzles and dislike towards prey, and bigoted mammals. From that moment forward, Nick vowed to never expose his true vulnerability to others, resulting in the fox presenting himself as stoic and unreachable.

This unjust treatment continued well throughout his lifetime, apparent during his adulthood shown in the film, which would only heighten Nick's cynicism. Some of these instances include Nick's interaction with the prejudiced Jerry Jumbeaux, Jr., who specifically states that he has the right to refuse service to anyone, and abuses this power against Nick, openly due to the former's distrust towards foxes. Chief Bogo also displayed this behavior when Officer Judy Hopps, at one point, called Nick forth as a key witness for her case; Bogo unabashedly scoffed at the idea of a fox being trustworthy enough to have its voice heard, thus refusing to listen to his testimony.

As a result of this treatment, Nick declared that if the world viewed foxes as nothing more than sly, vile and untrustworthy scoundrels, he should not only accept it, but embrace it, subsequently doing so by becoming a successful con artist.

At some point during his status as a con artist, Nick fell in with Mr. Big, a feared arctic shrew crime boss, developing a stable partnership with him. Mr. Big liked and trusted the fox, welcoming him into his home and even introducing him to his grandmother, who made him a cannoli. However, Nick later took advantage of Big's trust by selling him a very expensive wool rug secretly made from the fur of a skunk's rear end. Feeling betrayed and disrespected, Mr. Big turned Nick away, threatening to kill him if they ever met again.

By the start of the film, Nick appears to be well-off, claiming to have made $200 on a daily basis since the age of twelve (though the accuracy of these claims is questionable). He often works and splits the day's earnings with his quick-tempered partner and fellow fox, Finnick.

## **Physical appearance**

Nick is a fox with a slim build. He's covered in red fur with a cream underbelly up to his muzzle. He has dark auburn fur on his feet, his hands, the tips of his ears, and at the tip of his tail. He has green eyes and a dark purple nose.

Nick's wardrobe consists of a light green Hawaiian shirt, a dark indigo necktie with red-and-blue stripes, and a pair of grayish-tan pants. He also has a yellow variant of his Hawaiian shirt. While helping Judy during her investigation, he wears a junior ZPD badge sticker over the pocket of his shirt, originally a gift from Judy for Finnick before the latter humorously passed it onto Nick. The sticker is removed after Judy's press conference when Nick feels hurt by her.

After Nick graduated into a police officer, his fox-size uniform is navy blue with sleeves, a peaked cap, a high collar and pants with a gold aiguillette and the ZPD insignia on his shoulders, along with having a black tie and a utility belt filled with various paraphernalia. He's also shown wearing police sunglasses.

## **Personality**

Nick Wilde is shifty, sly, and cunning, traits supposedly common to all foxes. He is easygoing and slick, easily conning and tricking others through his charm and friendly demeanor. He nearly always has a sly smile on his face and seems unfazed throughout most of the film, as he later reveals that because of the numerous years of suffering from prejudice and stereotypes that came with being a fox, he decided on two things: He would never let anyone know they got to him and if the world only ever saw foxes as sly scoundrels then he would be that. This led him to be cynical and pessimistic of the world, and he came believe that animals can only be what they are, not what they want to be. He is very street smart and intelligent, and is also good at telling what kind of person someone is, as he was able to correctly guess upon simply meeting Judy that she was from a family of carrot farmers and graduated top of her class with high dreams of making it big and living in a place like Zootopia where it seemed like everything was great because people could live equally before displaying his pessimistic side and stating she would never make it and would return home.

Because he is a con artist, he is tricky and knows how to get out of sticky situations using his words and knows how to get around the city easily managing to evade Judy and tricking her into stepping into wet cement. Despite being a con artist (or perhaps because of it), he has numerous friends and connections (most of whom are shady characters to begin with). He also got in trouble with at least one mob boss, notably Mr. Big (though by the end of the film they seem to have put the matter under the skunk butt rug). He enjoys being sarcastic and poking fun at others particularly Judy, since she was much more serious than him and was a bunny, on occasion citing stereotypes such as carrot farmer and dumb bunny toward her.

It is implied throughout the film and stated outright by Judy that his obvious enjoyment in poking at others' failures comes from the suffering he endured and seeing another's pain makes his views about his own frustrating life feel better. However, when Judy saw more to him than that, he grew hopeful as he believed someone finally saw him for who he really was, implying that deep down that was all he ever wanted. However, when she unintentionally said bigoted comments about the animals going savage being predators and that their affliction was caused by their "biology" and something in their genes causing them to revert, he felt betrayed as he (a predator) was once more being labeled as dangerous simply because of his species. Despite this, he is quite forgiving, as he did quickly forgive Judy when she realized her mistake and broke down crying. He is also not a glory hound and seems to prefer remaining in the shadows, letting Judy take all the credit for finding the 14 missing mammals, claiming it was because he was not a cop and so didn't need or deserve the credit. He also proved to be resourceful and intelligent, quickly figuring out that the cameras around the city could help them find where Mr. Otterton was and understanding how to avoid being caught on camera doing illegal things by using Maintenance Tunnel 6B and keeping evidence of Bellwether's treachery in case their attempt at hijacking the train where she and her minions grew Night howlers went awry, which it did and also coming up with the plan (alongside Judy) to switch the serum in the dart gun with blueberries in case one of Bellwether's minions caught them and to keep the serum as evidence.

Prejudice remains a big deal for him, as he hates it when others misjudged him, but at the same time does his best to hide this anger under an easygoing facade and sarcastic comments, and easily creating a comeback to retaliate. The only time he ever breaks his easy going facade are when he is scared for his life, or when someone close to him betrays him. This also shows he is loyal and caring to his friends. His friendship with Judy evolves to the point where he risks his life to help and protect her throughout the film. He even shows a softer warmer side to himself, comforting her over her mistakes and giving her advice. The two times Judy asked Nick to leave her behind, he refused.