Professor Rupert Marmalade is a character of The Bad Guys as well as the hidden character. He is a recurring character in the book series. He is voiced by Richard Ayoade.
Personality[]
He does have a sense of humor, seeing as how he likes to toy around with The Good Guys Club. He appears to be surprised when Mr. Shark eats Mr. Snake. His real name is Rupert. Ever since he met the Bad Guys, he was named Marmalade, but in episode 6, Marmalade's real name was revealed to be. but Marmalade was first seen in episode 2 where he was found by the Bad Guys. He was thought to be a harmless and innocent guinea pig, but, he was revealed to be actually evil. Since he met the Bad Guys, he wanted revenge on them because they messed with the wrong guinea pig. He appears in every episode except the first episode. He was a guinea Pig in the first five books of the Bad Guys franchise. In episode 6, however, he was revealed to be an alien.
Trivia[]
Although his real name in the books is Kdjfloerhgcoinweruc-gleirwfheklwjfhxalhw, most of the characters (including himself) still referred to him as Marmalade.
Unlike most antagonists in the books, who were either minor characters or only appeared in one episode, Marmalade is a recurring character, and he is one of two antagonists in the Bad Guys series to appear in more than one book or episode (following The Splaarghon). He might in fact be the most recurring and prominent antagonist of the series because he appears the most out of all antagonists of the Bad Guys book series.
As he disguises as a grandma to deceive Mr. Wolf, this might be a reference to the popular story, The Little Red Riding Hood, except that the antagonist is the grandma and the protagonist is the wolf.
During the audition of the film, Andy Serkis was originally voiced Marmalade.
Despite Marmalade having knowledge of what it takes to be a good guy, he didn't realize that one extra thing it takes to be a truly good person was friendship and heart. Because he was self-centered, he failed to realize that because The Bad Guys were friends, his betrayal of Snake is made worse by the fact that he didn't see how Snake was a foil to his plan. Also, Marmalade was even foolish enough to believe friendship makes people weak like most true villains think, which led him to ultimately get outsmarted by the reformed villains.
Marmalade serves as a dark counterpart to both The Bad Guys (specifically Mr. Wolf) and Diane Foxington / The Crimson Paw. Despite the fact that that they were villains too, they were never heartless nor self-centered, unlike Marmalade, who used his good-guy image as a cover-up for his true self and had no friends. Also, The Bad Guys and Foxington never intended to harm anyone for their crimes, while Marmalade was willing to kill anyone who got in his way. However, he serves as what The Bad Guys and Diane could've become if they haven't realized what it feels to be good.
There are several easy-to-miss signs foreshadowing his true colors:
For someone who claims to do good deeds just for the sake of being good, he heavily enjoys receiving praise and adulation for his actions.
When disguised as the old lady during The Bad Guys' first attempt to steal the Golden Dolphin, he carries a purse with valuables completely visible, indicating that he tried to bait Mr. Wolf into stealing it so he can implant the thought of being a good guy in his head.
His vernacular whenever he says something inspirational can be seen getting played up to an exaggerated extent, suggesting that this was his attempt to cover up who he really is.
In his speech after the Golden Dolphin is stolen, he talks about the tingle he gets from doing good, and specifically mentions wagging his tail. The problem is that guinea pigs don't have tails, meaning the comment was just to catch Mr. Wolf's attention.
When giving his pitch to rehabilitate the Bad Guys, he calls Mr. Wolf, "a savage beast" and "walking garbage". He immediately tries to justify it by saying he's "making a point", but that seems a very flimsy excuse, especially from someone who presents himself as so benevolent. And his face when he says "walking garbage" just screams smugness.
He displays a short temper when Piranha keeps referring to the meteorite statue as a "butt rock". This is also a homage to how the alien form of his book counterpart has many butts.
His "heist for good" for The Bad Guys has them attempting to rescue guinea pigs from a research lab, suggesting he wanted them to be free so he could later use them for his army and pull off his big plan.
Throughout the film, cool colors like blue or black are often associated with characters acting good, while hot colors like white or gold are often associated with characters being bad. During the first heist, The Bad Guys wear brightly colored outfits to showcase their bad deeds, while Marmalade wears a blue suit to showcase his good accomplishments. Later, during the second heist, The Bad Guys wear blue suits to show that they have gone good (although merely a cover, Wolf willingly went good), while Marmalade wears a bright red suit to foreshadow his big reveal about stealing the meteorite in an effort to frame The Bad Guys. Also, the jumpsuit Marmalade wears during his big plan is gold, which further cements the fact that he's evil.
Because of all these clues, it's actually rather easy to assume that he's the main antagonist right from the start just like a lot of animated villains these days. JP Sans even admitted that it was rather intentionally obvious.
