- “The life of one individual ant does not matter. What matters is the colony. And each soldier knows that he's willing to live for the colony...to fight for the colony... to die for the colony.”
- ―Mandible giving a speech to his soldiers.[src]
General Mandible is the main antagonist in the DreamWorks film, Antz. He was the self-righteous supreme commander of the ant military, and was allowed by the Queen Ant to make the decisions of the colony. He also was Cutter's former boss and Bala's ex-fiancé.
Background
Personality
Mandible openly despises any form of individualism and the idea that the life of one ant can pose any significance. He understands the colony as being something of a greater importance than that of the individual and claims to have dedicated his life to "the good of the colony". As the social chain of the colony tended to favor soldiers as opposed to workers, Mandible's hopes of making the colony stronger were built on eliminating the "weak element" and thus beginning the social evolution he proclaims. For all of his claims that no single ant mattered, Mandible possessed a high sense of self-importance and his last words were "I am the colony!", before attacking his second-in-command, proving to all that his notions of sacrifice and duty is simply a façade to hide the power-hungry hypocrite he truly is.
Physical Appearance
Stanley Mandible is a slender, muscular and handsome red ant who wore a green satch with a brown patch on it around his body, and purple eyes. He is a parody/homage of Adolf Hitler, and he stands totally upright and poised.
Role in the film
General Mandible is an ant who serves as the leader of the Queen's army alongside with his subordinate, Colonel Cutter. He is a war-mongering insect with little regard for any ant he deems inferior or who stands in his way (as evidenced by his inciting war against the Termites) He eventually betrays the entire colony, including the Queen but excluding his own followers, by flooding the anthill in a attempt to "wash away the past".
He intends to marry Princess Bala, making her his new queen and the mother of thousands of larval children, but she calls off the wedding and rejects him after becoming suspicious of his plans.
After successfully flooding the anthill, the would-be-dictator's scheme is foiled when Z, Princess Bala and the others from a ladder with their own bodies to escape from the rising waters. Mandible attempts to kill Z, but Cutter, finally having enough of Mandible's evil ways, seeing that he’s a monster with foolish opinions and goals, turns against him, and instead tries to help Z, stating that is what's truly "for the good of the colony". Mandible, enraged, snaps and screams "YOU USELESS, UNGRATEFUL MAGGOT! I AM THE COLONY!" And he charges at Cutter but Z pushes Cutter out of the way, and he and Mandible fall into the flooded anthill. While Cutter rescues Z, Mandible ends up smashing into an upturned root, killing him on impact.
Quotes
- "Sacrifice. To some, it is just a word. To others, it is a code."
- "Damn! Good. Damn good."
Gallery
Trivia
- General Mandible is somewhat similar to Hopper from A Bug's Life, another computer-animated film about ants that both came out in 1998. Both are brutal insect leaders who took advantage of other insects.
- General Mandible is also similar to Adolf Hitler due to a desire to commit genocide in the name of a perfect "society" run by a superior kind of individual (for Hitler the Ubermensch, for Mandible the Soldier Ant).
- General Mandible is considered one of the fifteen DreamWorks Animation villains to be pure evil, along with Tzekel-Kan, Ke-Pa, Drago Bludvist, Queen Usurna, Commander Sendak, D-Stroy, Bloodwolf, General Morando, White Bone Demon, Grimmel the Grisly, Dr. Emilia, Horde Prime, Catra, and "Big" Jack Horner.
- In the original script for Antz, Mandible was originally going to be a major (with an ant named Formica serving as General and Bala's fiancé) and the one who brought Bala back to the colony.
- General Mandible is the first DreamWorks Animation animal character to be an antagonist, followed by Don Lino from Shark Tale.
- He is the first DreamWorks Animation villain.
- He is the first DreamWorks Animation villain to be pure evil.
- His plan is very stupid and short-sighted to begin with since without the worker ants, the colony cannot be built and maintain effectively since soldier ants are meant to defend the colony and are totally not effective to do the jobs of the worker ants.
- J.K. Simmons, Robert De Niro, Ron Perlman, Tim Curry, Nicholas Campbell, the late John Hurt, Jonathan Freeman, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, John Goodman, Christopher Lloyd, the late Alan Rickman, Lance Henriksen, Tim Roth, Tommy Lee Jones, the late Dennis Hopper, Alec Baldwin, Kelsey Grammer, Stephen Lang and Willem Dafoe were all considered for the role of General Mandible before Gene Hackman was cast.
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