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* {{Expy}}: [[spoiler: the tie-in comics reveal that he was a hypercompetent and good-hearted man who was known as the greatest soldier that DOOP ever recruited before an experiment to clone him caused him to make a 180, becoming a vain, arrogant, pompous jerk. Basically, he is the reverse of CharactersCaptainAmericaTitleCharacter. In the same issue, President Nixon even assigned him to a team of superheroes called the Marveleers, complete with expies of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye]].
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* DelusionsOfLocalGrandeur: {{Subverted}} because his superiority complex doesn't come from being one anchor of "Entertainment and Earth Invasion Tonite" but from the fact that he's a {{Fantastic Racis|m}}t alien who sees humans as puny, inferior, and deserving of annihilation.
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* CaptainErsatz: His appearance, attitude, position, and mannerisms are very similar to those of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries James T. Kirk]]. In fact, he was originally pitched as "What if Creator/WilliamShatner was captain of the Enterprise?"

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* CaptainErsatz: His appearance, attitude, position, and mannerisms are very similar to those of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries James T. Kirk]]. In fact, he was originally pitched as "What if Creator/WilliamShatner was captain of the Enterprise?"''Enterprise''?"



** He bears many similarities to Creator/WilliamShatner. [[invoked]]WordOfGod says this was intentional, as he was pitched as "What if William Shatner was captain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]] instead of James T. Kirk?" The episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" even features him doing a [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken word]] cover of a pop song, as Shatner is rather infamous for doing.

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** He bears many similarities to Creator/WilliamShatner. [[invoked]]WordOfGod says this was intentional, as he was pitched as "What if William Shatner was captain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]] ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]]'' instead of James T. Kirk?" The episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" even features him doing a [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken word]] cover of a pop song, as Shatner is rather infamous for doing.
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* BenevolentAbomination: He's part of a race of aliens older than the universe and capable of eating creatures bigger than him, but he and his race are devoted to protecting the universe.


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* EarlyBirdCameo: His shadow appears for a brief second in the pilot episode when Fry falls into the freezer, foreshadowing his important role in the series.
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** [[spoiler: A tie-in comic book reveals that following the botched experiment that turned him into an incompetent and arrogant man, Zapp blackmailed President Nixon into granting him the title of "Captain for Life" in exchange for keeping quiet about the botched cloning experiment, coined by Nixon as "Zappgate."]]
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* TheDogBitesBack: In "The Beast With a Billion Backs", where he [[spoiler:punches Brannigan in the stomach for [[RageBreakingPoint sleeping with Amy]]]]. It was a ''long'' time coming.

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* TheDogBitesBack: In "The Beast With a Billion Backs", where he [[spoiler:punches Brannigan in the stomach for [[RageBreakingPoint sleeping with Amy]]]]. It was a ''long'' time coming. Played straight in the episode ''Zapp gets Cancelled" where he reached his breaking point after Zapp use him for as a towel/loofah during his shower, and squirting his alien blood like a hose at an alien enemy. Kif filed a formal complaint against Zapp, who was stripped of his leadership and force to go to sensitivity camp.
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* CuteClumsyCreature: In his first (official) appearance, Nibbler is just an UglyCute critter among other animals on his planet that the crew tries to rescue. When he's left alone in the hold with the other creatures, he immediately eats them.

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* CuteClumsyCreature: In his first (official) appearance, Nibbler is just an UglyCute a weirdly cute critter among other animals on his planet that the crew tries to rescue. When he's left alone in the hold with the other creatures, he immediately eats them.
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* NewJobsAsThePlotDemands: A minor example; it's a RunningGag that Zapp has a different, invariably silly-sounding rank whenever it's introduced. This has included "25-star General", "General Major Webelo", "Rear Brigadier", and "Platform/Commodore64."

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* NewJobsAsThePlotDemands: A minor example; it's a RunningGag that Zapp has a different, invariably silly-sounding rank whenever it's introduced. This has included "25-star General", "General Major Webelo", Webelos"[[note]] "Webelos" is a rank in the Boy Scouts[[/note]], "Rear Brigadier", and "Platform/Commodore64."



* PantsFree: Not only does he not wear pants, he doesn't wear underwear, either.

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* PantsFree: Not only does he not wear pants, he doesn't wear underwear, either.underwear either. Kif finds this out the hard way when climbing up a ladder after him.
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** He bears many similarities to Creator/WilliamShatner. [[invoked]]WordOfGod says this was intentional, as he was pitched as "what if William Shatner was captain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]] instead of James T. Kirk?"

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** He bears many similarities to Creator/WilliamShatner. [[invoked]]WordOfGod says this was intentional, as he was pitched as "what "What if William Shatner was captain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]] instead of James T. Kirk?" The episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" even features him doing a [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken word]] cover of a pop song, as Shatner is rather infamous for doing.
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* NewJobsAsThePlotDemands: A minor example; it's a RunningGag that Zapp has a different, invariably silly-sounding rank whenever it's introduced. This has included "25-star General", "General Major Webelo", "Rear Brigadier", and "UsefulNotes/Commodore64."

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* NewJobsAsThePlotDemands: A minor example; it's a RunningGag that Zapp has a different, invariably silly-sounding rank whenever it's introduced. This has included "25-star General", "General Major Webelo", "Rear Brigadier", and "UsefulNotes/Commodore64."Platform/Commodore64."
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Spelling/grammar fix(es)


[[caption-width-right:244:''"Thanks Morbo."'']]

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[[caption-width-right:244:''"Thanks [[caption-width-right:244:''"Thanks, Morbo."'']]
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* BigBeautifulWoman: Bender's opinion of her when they start dating.
-->'''Bender:''' In order for me to get busy at maximum efficiency, I need a woman with a big, 300-ton booty.


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* EasySexChange: In "Love and Rocket", Ship goes from being male (voiced by Maurice [=LaMarche=]) to female (voiced by Sigourney Weaver) simply via the Professor adjusting a dial.
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* SuddenNameChange: The Professor randomly names the ship Bessie in "2-D Blacktop" and sticks with it in "Leela and the Genestalk."
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[[quoteright:966:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/45rx8bvrr2a61.jpg]]

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** He does have one genuine moment, which is providing assistance during Kif's pregnancy. But even then, he didn't really ''care'' about the situation so much as he was just going along with what everyone else was doing.

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** He does have one genuine moment, which is He's uncharacteristically sincere while providing assistance for Kif during Kif's pregnancy. But even then, he didn't really ''care'' about his pregnancy in "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch", helping him and the situation so much as Planet Express crew make the way to the birthing site on his massively swampy home planet, and congratulates him when his children are born safely. Much later in "Children of a Lesser Bog", Zapp offers to be "[[HonoraryUncle Captain Uncle]]" to Kif and Amy's now-maturing kids, and he was just going along sheds TearsOfJoy with what everyone else was doing. when Kif and Amy reunite with them at the end of the episode.



** He has a half-one in "Where the Buggalo Roam" when he compliments Kif on a brave act by calling it "Brannigan-worthy". It's half a moment since it's a surprisingly sincere compliment, but also shows that he can't even give those without ''also'' finding a way [[ItsAllAboutMe to sing his own praises at the same time.]]
** He genuinely loves Munda when he hooks up with her in "Zapp Dingbat", never mistreats her at any point during their short-lived relationship and [[IgnoreTheFanservice turns down Leela]] when the latter tries to win him over to try and prove he's an objectifying sleazebag with poor impulse control.
** A minor one, but when Fry asks to have his meal wrapped so he can finish it when the the crew is thrown in prison, Zapp lets him.
** In "Children of a Lesser Bog", Zapp offers to be "[[HonoraryUncle Captain Uncle]]" to Kif and Amy's kids, and he sheds TearsOfJoy with everyone else when Kif and Amy reunite with their kids at the end of the episode.

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** He has a half-one in "Where the Buggalo Roam" when he compliments Kif on a brave act by calling it "Brannigan-worthy". It's half a moment since it's a surprisingly sincere compliment, but also shows that he can't even give those without ''also'' finding a way [[ItsAllAboutMe to sing his own praises at the same time.]]
"Brannigan-worthy".
** He genuinely loves Munda when he hooks up with her in "Zapp Dingbat", never mistreats her at any point during their short-lived relationship relationship, and [[IgnoreTheFanservice turns down Leela]] when the latter tries to win him over to try and prove he's an objectifying sleazebag with poor impulse control.
** A minor one, but when Fry asks to have his meal wrapped so he can finish it when the the crew is thrown in prison, Zapp lets him.
** In "Children of a Lesser Bog", Zapp offers to be "[[HonoraryUncle Captain Uncle]]" to Kif and Amy's kids, and he sheds TearsOfJoy with everyone else when Kif and Amy reunite with their kids at the end of the episode.
control.
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[[folder:The Planet Express Ship]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MauriceLaMarche, Creator/SigourneyWeaver ("Love and Rocket")

The main (and only) vessel Planet Express use for their deliveries, built by Professor Farnsworth and equipped with a special engine that allows it to move reality around itself.
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* ADayInTheLimelight: "Love and Rocket" is the only time the ship's explicitly given a personality.
* AppliedPhlebotinum: It is reliant entirely on the all important L-unit, without which lightspeed "is but the fevered dream of a madman". To viewers, the L-unit looks like a featureless block of metal shaped like an uppercase L (not lower - lowercase doesn't count!)
* CorruptedCharacterCopy: "Love and Rocket" turns into a parody of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', with Ship in the role of HAL. Only where he turned due to a logical inconsistency, she turns because she got dumped.
* CutenessProximity: Much to Bender's tedium, when they date she likes going to zoos and cooing over baby tapirs.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Whether it's a case of TheAllegedCar or WhatAPieceOfJunk will alternate depending on which is funnier or more dramatic. Several episodes have intimated it's a piece of crap barely held together with tape and wishful thinking, while others have it holding its own in military engagements.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Another person who fell in love with Bender and got burned. Unfortunately for Bender, Planet Express Ship wasn't willing to let him go that easily.
* MadeOfIron: The ship can take a pounding. Several times it's shrugged off being blasted, smashed, crashed or crushed completely flat. It's even survived going to the bottom of the ocean, over a thousand times the amount of pressure it was designed to withstand.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Bender was offended when he saw Ship had been lying about her age.
* TookALevelInKindness: Thanks to some upgrades from the Professor, Ship goes from a stuffy jerk to a more mellow personality.
* {{Yandere}}: Thanks to some brutally callous dumping from Bender, Ship decides she'll make him one with her again, one way or another, either by flying into a quasar or merging personalities with him.

[[/folder]]
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* HateSink: Zapp is a [[SmugSnake smug]], [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic]] KnowNothingKnowItAll who is completely out of shape and broadcasts his delusions of superiority with reckless and lethal abandon. With that being said, it can be hard to remember to hate him because he's [[ComedicSociopathy hilarious]]. If he were played with [[VileVillainSaccharineShow complete seriousness,]] he'd likely be among the top three most unlikeable characters in adult animation.
** He is a ChickMagnet who is [[StrawMisogynist so repugnant and regressive in his views on women]] that the moment they see anything other than his fame and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity positive reputation]] they drop their admiration like a heartbeat. In-turn, he has trouble taking the hint and acts as an AbhorrentAdmirer, continuing to act like a chauvinist pig with no sign of self-awareness. Even when he opens up and hints that [[HiddenDepths all of his bluster is a way of masking his insecurity]], it is usually done as a ploy so that women would have sex with him out of pity.
** As a general, he is a DirtyCoward who acts in two-defaults when the military calls for his leadership: either surrender immediately without a fight and leave Earth at the hands of whatever tyrannical invader or [[EldritchAbomination eldritch horror]] comes by or takes the LeeroyJenkins approach and sends all of his men into battle with absolutely no hope of surviving it. Half the time he starts wars against peaceful alien races with no real reason other than his own [[InsaneTrollLogic lack of impulse control]] and [[KarmaHoudini is lucky to (almost) never be punished for any of it]].
** In turn, his BadBoss behavior is murder for morale for the people he governs, his entire crew not humoring his leadership choices. He is a JerkassToOne to his right-hand man Kif, often forcing him to do everything for him while abusing him, demeaning him and taking all of his privileges for himself. In the years under his service, Zapp had Kif fired for his own incompetence, denied Kif various privileges and decency his position should afford him, killed in the line of duty and had slept with his grieving widow Amy right after.
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* AmbiguouslyBi: He has flirted with and slept with Leela and Amy and enjoyed getting Snu-Snu from several Amazonian women, yet he apparently went on a date with Richard Nixon's Head in "The Thief Of Baghead". He is also not ashamed to show nudity in front of other men such as Kif. Zapp does not even cover himself in front of other men whenever he is naked and some of the orders he gives out to Kif have some HoYay in them. He was however surprised when Leela pulled a SweetPollyOliver that he felt lust for a man but rolled with it.

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* AmbiguouslyBi: He has flirted with and slept with Leela and Amy and enjoyed getting Snu-Snu from several Amazonian women, yet he apparently went on a date with Richard Nixon's Head in "The Thief Of Baghead". He is also not ashamed to show nudity in front of other men such as Kif. Zapp does not even cover himself in front of other men whenever he is naked and some of the orders he gives out to Kif have some HoYay HomoeroticSubtext in them.them. When Kif finally files a formal complaint in "Zapp Gets Cancelled," many of his anecdotes are forms of sexual harassment, including performing an erotic fan dance in front of Kif and using him as a loofah on his genitals. He was however surprised when Leela pulled a SweetPollyOliver that he felt lust for a man but rolled with it.
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** He's clearly very disturbed with [[PsychopathicManchild Dr. Kind]]'s actions and is sympathetic the two other captains that have to work under him. He even avoids making [[CasanovaWannabe off-handed comments]] to the female captain while they're under Kind's thumb, only making a crack about her starting a food fight out of nowhere when they were still there.

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** He's clearly very disturbed with [[PsychopathicManchild Dr. Kind]]'s actions and is sympathetic to the two other captains that have to work under him. He even avoids making [[CasanovaWannabe off-handed comments]] to the female captain while they're under Kind's thumb, only making a crack about her starting a food fight out of nowhere when they were still there.
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** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Children of a Lesser Bog". When trace DNA is detected in Kif's children[[note]]ince at that point only Leela was believed to have impregnated Kif due to [[BizarreAlienBiology the circumstances]][[/note]] and the others look at him, he simply says "Scruffy's stuff [[ReallyGetsAround gets around]]."

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** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Children of a Lesser Bog". When trace DNA is detected in Kif's children[[note]]ince children[[note]]since at that point only Leela was believed to have impregnated Kif due to [[BizarreAlienBiology the circumstances]][[/note]] and the others look at him, he simply says "Scruffy's stuff [[ReallyGetsAround gets around]]."

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* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine.

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* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Leukine. He's aberrant both [[LovableSexManiac sexually]] and [[SecretKeeper professionally]], but doesn't thrive on it any more than he might simply relish in it.


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** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Children of a Lesser Bog". When trace DNA is detected in Kif's children[[note]]ince at that point only Leela was believed to have impregnated Kif due to [[BizarreAlienBiology the circumstances]][[/note]] and the others look at him, he simply says "Scruffy's stuff [[ReallyGetsAround gets around]]."

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** Even Zapp is uncomfortable watching Kif and Amy's offspring get EatenAlive before they have a chance to get on solid ground for the first time. And he sheds a tear of joy along with everyone else when Amy is announced as the true mother of Kif's children

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** Even Zapp is uncomfortable watching Kif and Amy's offspring get EatenAlive before they have a chance to get on solid ground for the first time. And he sheds a tear of joy along with everyone else when Amy is announced as the true mother of Kif's children children.
** He's clearly very disturbed with [[PsychopathicManchild Dr. Kind]]'s actions and is sympathetic the two other captains that have to work under him. He even avoids making [[CasanovaWannabe off-handed comments]] to the female captain while they're under Kind's thumb, only making a crack about her starting a food fight out of nowhere when they were still there.



* InsufferableImbecile: A sexist, arrogant jerk with no redeeming qualities but manages to be funny because of his idiocy.

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* InsufferableImbecile: A sexist, arrogant jerk with next to no redeeming qualities but manages to be funny because of his idiocy.


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* SociopathicSoldier: {{Inverted|Trope}}. [[spoiler:He started his career as a hyper-competent and genuinely empathetic soldier before managing to get promoted to captain not too long after, but DOOP's attempt to clone him went awry and turned his brain into mush. ''Now'', he's a sociopathic "soldier" [[FakeUltimateHero in name only]]]].
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Getting rid of Chained Sinkhole.


* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: [[spoiler:He used to be a legitimately amazing soldier and thoroughly decent person, as per the tie-in comic series. However, this all changed when DOOP attempted to replace their standing army with clones of Zapp and the experiments damaged his DNA, twisting him into [[GeneralFailure what]] [[TheSociopath he]] [[CasanovaWannabe is]] in the series.]]

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* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: [[spoiler:He used to be a legitimately amazing soldier and thoroughly decent person, as per the tie-in comic series. However, this all changed when DOOP attempted to replace their standing army with clones of Zapp and the experiments damaged his DNA, twisting him into the [[GeneralFailure what]] [[TheSociopath he]] [[CasanovaWannabe is]] wildly]] incompetent, low-key {{sociopath}}ic and all around grossly impulsive CasanovaWannabe he is in the series.]]
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Additional Character Information

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* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: [[spoiler:He used to be a legitimately amazing soldier and thoroughly decent person, as per the tie-in comic series. However, this all changed when DOOP attempted to replace their standing army with clones of Zapp and the experiments damaged his DNA, twisting him into [[GeneralFailure what]] [[TheSociopath he]] [[CasanovaWannabe is]] in the series.]]

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