The Bad Guys (book series)

The Bad Guys

Author	Aaron Blabey
Illustrator	Aaron Blabey
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature Comedy Crime fiction
Publisher	Scholastic
Published	July 1, 2015 – October 1, 2024 (Australia) December 27, 2016 – November 12, 2024 (USA)
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
No. of books	20

The Bad Guys is an illustrated children's graphic novel series written by Australian author Aaron Blabey. It revolves around a gang of anthropomorphic animals known as the "Bad Guys", who attempt to perform good deeds to change society's perception of them as criminals.

DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to the series to make an animated feature film adaptation, which was released in the United States on April 22, 2022. A second film is set to be released in 2025.^[1]

• Mr. Moe Wolf – A gray wolf who is the leader of the Good Guys Club/Shadow Squad G. Tired of being constantly seen as the villain, he recruits his friends to do good deeds and clear their reputations. Despite his good intentions, his enthusiasm gets in the way and prevents their missions from being successful.
• Mr. Cedric Snake – An Eastern brown snake, who works on stealth tactics of the team. He is self-centered and often diverts from the Good Guys Club's goals. During the book's second arc, he is possessed by an otherworldly entity and becomes the antagonist known as "The Dark Lord of Serpents".
• Mr. Pepe Piranha – A Bolivian red-bellied piranha, who works on being the team's muscle, has a bad temper contrasting his small size. His family forms a mafia-like operation in which his father is the leader.
• Mr. Lou Shark – A great white shark, who works as a master-of-disguise. Despite his large size and intimidating appearance, he is usually the most serene of the group. At first, he did not like Mr. Tarantula due to his arachnophobia, but eventually, he got over it.
• Mr. Stevie/Ms. Tarantula – A sharp-tongued expert hacking redknee tarantula also known as "Legs". Often speaking in jive, he prefers not to wear clothing, which confuses the rest of the team. In the film, the sex of his character was changed to a female known as "Webs".

• Doctor Rupert Marmalade/Professor Rupert Marmalade IV – A guinea pig mad scientist who wants to take over the world and hates being called cute. In the book series, the Bad Guys find him after they rob his chicken farm. He is later revealed to be an alien. In the film, he is a guinea pig and famous genius who supposedly "stops wars, feeds the hungry, and saves countless pandas". He is in charge of reforming the Bad Guys as a philanthropist, but secretly uses them as a cover-up to his criminal plot: mind-controlling other guinea pigs into stealing his charity donations.
• Dread Overlord Splaarghön – The primary antagonist of the latter books. He is an evil centipede-shaped demon who seeks to conquer the multiverse. Splaarghön's main methods involve granting evil powers to characters to act as his underlords.
• The Underlords – The minions of Dread Overlord Splaarghön. They would later be purified in "The Serpent and the Beast". Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Agent Hogwild, Agent Kitty Kat, and Agent Fox were briefly part of the Underlords.
  • Underlord Shaård/Dickie – A chainsaw monster and one of Splaarghön's minions who rules a universe full of sharp blades and broken glass. Later, it is revealed that he is a baby spoon named Dickie, who sought help from Splaarghön, thus giving him power like other Underlords.
  • Underlord Onsàáy – A large bee and member of the Underlord. Her full name is Queen Bee Onsàáy. She rules a universe that looks like a beehive full of giant bees. It is later revealed that Onsàáy's true form is a tiny bee.
  • Underlord Doctor David Drilllaärgh – A member of the Underlord. He is a psychotic and unlicensed jackal dentist who rules a dental clinic universe. It is larger revealed that Drillaärgh's true form is a normal jackal.
    • Nursie – A large anthropomorphic rotten molar tooth that works as Drilllaärgh's dental assistant.
  • Underlord Esmeralda Ghaāstly — A member of the Underlord with a scorpion-shaped head. She rules a universe that looks like a forest. Ghaāstly is also said to bring bad luck, bad weather, bad moods, and bad hair. It is later revealed that her true form is an anthropomorphic deer.
  • Eaar of Splaarghön — An multi-eared sphere-shaped monster who is presumably the last member of the Underlords and "master of ceremonies". He rules over an arena dimension populated with demonic worm-like creatures. It is later revealed that the Eaar of Splaarghön's true form is a human boy.

• Agent Ellen Fox/Diane Foxington – A fox who was hunted and hated for her species at a young age, a member of the International League of Heroes, and Mr. Wolf's love interest. In books 3-7, she helps the Good Guys club stop Professor Marmalade from turning every cute animal in the world into zombies. In the movie, she is a red fox governor named Diane Foxington, later revealed to be a former thief known as The Crimson Paw.
• Tiffany Fluffit/Delores Gristlewurst — An anchorwoman who reports about The Bad Guys' behavior. While she is a cat in the books, she is a human in the movie. Later in the books, it was revealed that her real name was Delores Gristlewurst.
• Granny Gumbo — An alligator who helped Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Tarantula, and Agent Fox in "The Attack Of The Zittens" to turn the Zittens back into normal kittens. In the second arc, she is revealed to be a part of an intergalactic team called The Others.
• Agent Pam Kitty Kat – A black cat and member of the International League of Heroes. In the film, she is a snow leopard.
• Agent Emmylou Hogwild/Pigtail – A pig and member of the International League of Heroes who has a crush on Piranha. In the film, she is a wild boar.
• Agent Joy Doom – A raven, member of the International League of Heroes, and Mr. Snake's love interest.
• Agent Rhonda/Agent Rhonda Shortfuse/The One – A small Tasmanian devil, and a member of the International League of Heroes. Later on, it is revealed that she is actually a spirit known as "The One", who was created at the beginning of the universe with the intention of fending off Dread Overlord Splaarghön. She is also a light, only disguising herself as a Tasmanian devil.
• The Others – An inter-dimensional team of heroes who are claimed to be fragments of "The One".
  • Milton – A Velociraptor from the Cretaceous period who is accidentally sent to the present and given high intelligence. In the second arc, he is revealed to be a member of The Others.
  • Abe – A bat who is a member of The Others. He never lies.
  • Zee — A lizard who is a member of The Others.
• Papa Piranha – The father of Mr. Piranha.
• Buck Thunders – A bull who helps the B Team (Agent Doom, Mr. Tarantula, Milton, Papa Piranha, Nathan) to find The Others. Later, it is revealed that Buck Thunders is a spy of Dread Overlord Splaarghön.
• Mr. Vincent (Vinnie) Wolf — Father of Moe Wolf (Mr. Wolf). It was Vincent's mistreatment of him that drove Moe to a life of crime.
• Misty Luggins – The strong chief of police who always tries to arrest the Bad Guys in the film and the short Maraschino Ruby. She never appeared in the books.

1. The Bad Guys: Episode 1 (2015)
2. The Bad Guys: Episode 2: Mission Unpluckable (2015)
3. The Bad Guys: Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back (2016)
4. The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens (2016)
5. The Bad Guys: Episode 5: Intergalactic Gas (2017)
6. The Bad Guys: Episode 6: Alien vs. Bad Guys (2017)
7. The Bad Guys: Episode 7: Do-You-Think-He-Saurus? (2018)
8. The Bad Guys: Episode 8: Superbad (2018)
9. The Bad Guys: Episode 9: The Big Bad Wolf (2019)
10. The Bad Guys: Episode 10: The Baddest Day Ever (2019)
11. The Bad Guys: Episode 11: Dawn of the Underlord (2020)
12. The Bad Guys: Episode 12: The One?! (2020)
13. The Bad Guys: Episode 13: Cut to the Chase (2021)
14. The Bad Guys: Episode 14: They're Bee-hind You! (2021)
15. The Bad Guys: Episode 15: Open Wide and Say Arrrgh! (2022)
16. The Bad Guys: Episode 16: The Others?! (2022)
17. The Bad Guys: Episode 17: Let The Games Begin! (2023)
18. The Bad Guys: Episode 18: Look Who's Talking! (2023)
19. The Bad Guys: Episode 19: The Serpent And The Beast (2024)
20. The Bad Guys: Episode 20: One Last Thing (2024)

On July 22, 2017, Australia's The Daily Telegraph reported that several studios had expressed interest in adapting the series into a film.^[2] In March 2018, Variety reported that DreamWorks Animation would develop a film based on the book series, with Etan Cohen writing the screenplay.^[3][4][5] The following year, in October, it was reported that the film would be directed by Pierre Perifel in his feature directorial debut.^[6] The film was described as having "a similar twist on the heist genre that Shrek did on fairy tales, and what Kung Fu Panda did for the kung fu genre".^[6] The crew worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[7]

On July 28, 2021, the cast was announced with Etan Cohen, Patrick Hughes, and author Aaron Blabey set to serve as executive producers for the film.^[8]

On October 7, 2019, it was reported that the film would be theatrically released on September 17, 2021, taking over the release date of Spooky Jack.^[6] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was delayed with The Boss Baby: Family Business taking its original slot in December 2020, though it was confirmed that it would get a new date "within the coming weeks".^[9] In March 2021, the release date was scheduled to April 15, 2022.^[10] In October 2021, it was pushed back again by one week to April 22.^[11] The film was slated to stream in the United States on the Peacock streaming service 45 days after its theatrical release,^[12] followed by its Netflix debut after Peacock's 4-month exclusive window.^[13] On March 1, 2022, Universal pulled the release in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[14]

In March 2022, a month before the film was released, Perifel said that he would love to do a sequel.^[15] Two years later, DreamWorks Animation officially confirmed a sequel with a release date set for August 1, 2025. Perifel will return to direct and JP Sans, who served as head of character animation on the previous film, will co-direct, with the cast reprising their roles.^[16]

A follow-up short based on the film, The Bad Guys in Maraschino Ruby, was announced in the Blu-ray and Digital release with a story made and directed by head of the story Nelson Yokota, and produced by Angie Howard while executive produced by Pierre Perifel, Damon Ross, Rebecca Huntley, and Michael Vollman.

Another short film, The Bad Guys: Little Lies and Alibis, would be produced by DreamWorks in 2025, ahead of the release of The Bad Guys 2, and would see a release in theaters alongside the DWA film Dog Man upon its release on January 31 of that year.

A holiday special, titled The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday, inspired by the characters from the film was being produced by DreamWorks Animation Television and was directed by Bret Haaland from Fast & Furious Spy Racers and executive produced by Haaland and Katherina Nolfi from Abominable and the Invisible City and Spirit Riding Free. The holiday special premiered on November 30, 2023, on Netflix,^[17] albeit none of the film's principal voice cast would be reprising their respective roles for the special.

A Halloween special, titled The Bad Guys: Haunted Heist, was announced in August 2024.^[18] The Halloween special premiered on Netflix on October 3.^[18]