Characters / Spirou And Fantasio Antagonists

Main Character IndexThe Main Duo | Allies | Antagonists | Champignac Citizens

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Antagonists

Zantafio

Voiced by: Jean-Pierre Denuit (2006 series]

Fantasio's cousin, they were in rivalry for their uncle 's inheritance in Les héritiers. Ever since, Zantafio showed up as an Arch-Enemy, usually scheming to satisfy his Greed. It led him to become a dictator twice, and commit various thieveries (of Nicolas Flamel's grimoire, fountain of youth's water, the Marsupilami himself, or Lenin's mummy, to demand a ransom). Zantafio is not above murder's attempts against his own family's members, either.

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• Adapted Out: Zantafio didn't appear in the first Animated Adaptation. Justified as that series adapted mostly Tome and Janry's era, and the album where they used Zantafio (Spirou and Fantasio in Moscou) was not adapted.
• Arch-Enemy: Zantafio is the most regular adversary Spirou and Fantasio face. Things also get personal for Fantasio as Zantafio is his cousin.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Not only Zantafio kidnapped and sold the Marsupilami, then ensuring everyone forgot him, but he once tried to kill Spip after calling him "a rat".
• Beard of Evil: In the 2006 series (as he bear a mustache otherwise), coupled with glasses.
• Chronic Villainy: A minor case, but Zantafio actually gave up on his uncle's legacy at the end of Spirou et les Héritiers, and left Spirou and Fantasio on good terms, having decided to make his own life in Palombia. Comes Le Dictateur et le Champignon, it turns out he ended up becoming a ruthless dictator in Palombia about to cause a War for Fun and Profit, putting him into a villainous role again. Since then, all his following appearances have depicted him as one of the vilest antagonists in the whole franchise.
• Clashing Cousins: Zantafio being's Fantasio first cousin was justified in Les héritiers, as they were in competition for their uncle's inheritance.
• Evil Is Petty: Having lost once again against Spirou and Fantasio, Zantafio uses the Zorglwave to make the two forget about the Marsupilami. Not only that, Zantafio has the pair sell the Marsupilami to a rich collector of exotic animals.
• Evil Twin: He's actually Fantasio's cousin, but acts as his mirror image, being ill-intentioned, even having an inverted physique.
• The Generalissimo: As general Zantas, when he took power in Palombie.
• The Ghost: In the movie, Zantafio is alluded to a couple of times but never seen. It's likely that he would have been featured as the villain of an eventual sequel. He's apparently a TV anchorman, and seems in general to have made Fantasio's life a misery. In the end, an article in a journal report that Zantafio has been fired.
• A God Am I: One of his main flaws is his pride, pushing him into becoming a dictator in one occasion, a guru in another, and pretending to be a prince in third.
• Greed: His other major flaw, albeit it can be explained by the fact he had debts, initially. As a dictator, Zantafio decided to invade the neighboring Guaracha to take its resources. He also stole Nicolas Flamel's grimoire and tried to make the philosophical stone, also stole the Lenin mummy in order to ask for a ransom, and tried to sell water from a Fountain of Youth (which was tainted of blood because of him, then lost all its properties). Zantafio even tried to sell the Marsupilami, then envisioned stealing rare seeds to Palombie's autochthons and sell them to Predatory Big Pharma.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: A variant as others do not reject Zantafio if he makes amends; it's just that he tried a Heel–Face Turn only once, then came back spontaneously to villainy and never stopped since. In the end of Les héritiers, he saved Spirou and Fantasio from Chahutas autochthons, apologized to them for cheating during the challenge, and renounced to the inheritance; before staying in Palombie. Unfortunately, whatever happened there next, it had a bad influence on Zantafio. When Spirou and Fantasio encounter him again, he becomes The Generalissimo, and since is not above cheating, maneuvering, or even murder attempts (including when the targets are his family members).
• I Have Many Names: Zantafio uses many names:
  • General Zantas while being the dictator of Palombie.
  • Papa Pop while working for the Triangle.
  • Tanaziof, while working with The Mafiya.
  • Mr. Foizanat while hiding in Canada from The Mafiya.
• Knight of Cerebus: Things get significantly darker when Zantafio enters the picture.
• Putting on the Reich: As general Zantas, his dictatorship in Le dictateur et le champignon. In Aux sources du Z, Spirou even lampshades it, by wondering why “farcical tyrants feel always compelled to copy the nazis apparel.”
• Smug Snake: He's arrogant, and thus often over confident, leading to his demise.
• A Villain Named "Z__rg": A coincidence as his name is just an anagram of Fantasio. The Z that replaces the S is justified to help pronunciation.
• Villainous Crush: Not in the comics, as Zantafio only interaction with Seccotine was the minute where he menaced her with a gun in Le dictateur et le champignon. But adaptations are another deal. In the second Animated Adaptation, Zantafio once disguised himself as Fantasio, helped by Strong Family Resemblance. However, Zantafio start to hit on Seccotine, instead of arguing with her as the actual Fantasio would do, leading Spirou to suspect something is wrong. In the Live-Action Adaptation, Fantasio thinks Zantafio and Seccotine dated, despite the latter swearing they did not. It's probable that Zantafio tried his luck with Seccotine, but his attraction was unrequited. Still, he noticed Fantasio's feelings for her (despite still denied at the time). Likely, Zantafio lied and pretended that he actually had his way with her, especially to torment Fantasio. Had Zantafio been featured as the Big Bad in an eventual sequel, certainly, discovering that Fantasio and Seccotine became an Official Couple since their last encounter would fuel the conflict with his cousin.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Downplayed as in La colère du Marsupilami, Zantafio does not suffer from a fatal disease, but at least a long-term one, as he must inject himself with a fortifier, regularly. He described the illness as something "you never really recover from".

Zorglub

Voiced by: Philippe Résimont (2006 series)

Played by: Ramzy Bedia (Les Aventures de Spirou et Fantasio, 2018)

Zorglub was a fellow student of the Count of Champignac in college, and was expelled from there following his dangerous works. It turned out, in his first album Z comme Zorglub, that he studied laser beams that can either paralyse, or totally hypnotize a person, both called zorlgwaves. Since, Zorglub is, according to his trainee Zedrik in the second volume of his spin-off: "The inventor of discoveries as brilliant as they are unuseful, the recurring antagonist, the megalomaniac scientist", before adding "I'm Your Biggest Fan". Or to quote his daughter in the same spin-off: "A James Bond's villain caricature."

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• Adapted Out: Zorglub was not in the first Animated Adaptation, as the only Tome and Janry album he (and his Identical Grandson) was in, L'horloger de la comète, was not adapted.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Champignac and Zorglub used to be co-workers in the comics, but he is described as the Count's student in the 2006 TV show and as his assistant in the 2018 movie. It matches Zorglub's younger appearance. For this reason, they were not friends, and show no closeness in the present. In the movie, their hostility is justified as the Count is stated to be the one that expelled Zorglub from college.
• Adaptational Villainy: Well, he is a villain, but of the Friendly Enemy kind, easily remorseful. It was due to an editorial exigence, as the executives feared the presence of an equivalent of a super villain in this story, and did not like SF stories either. That's why Franquin had to make Zorglub do a Heel–Face Turn, and did not use him as often he wished to, notably finally doing QRN sur Bretzelburg without him. And it's safer for the heroes, as Zorglub's capacities are actually quite dangerous. He, after all, invented devices that can freeze or make anyone obey. It's not very surprising that authors who came after Franquin, or adaptations' writers, decided to make Zorglub more vile in order to be a true Big Bad, and a real menace, for the story.
  • In L'horloger de la comète, Tome and Janry avoided to use Zorglub himself (who made just a cameo) and created instead his Identical Grandson, who is a by the book dictator and created a Bad Future. It's likely that Tome and Janry wished they could use Zorglub as the Big Bad, but did not go against the previous editorial veto. Finally, if they went on with their run after 1998, their unfinished album set in Cuba would effectively feature Zorglub as the antagonist, not funny at all, and in a dangerous version, as the series would have stay Darker and Edgier after Machine qui rêve. In a 2011 interview, Tome stated that he wished to follow Alfred Hitchcock's adage: " The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture ". Despite only 8 pages being completed, it's true, from what we can see of Zorglub in them. He planned to jail people 's minds in a virtual prison in this story. Plus he's seen walking on a little girl's toy car without looking back (and unceremoniously throw a can on the floor in addition), while previous versions of Zorglub won't doing this on purpose.
  • It's likely that Yoann and Vehlmann, too, wanted to use Zorglub in a dangerous version. He provoked damages unwillingly in Alerte aux Zorkons and The dark face of the Z. But in the end of the latter story, Zorglub finally lost it. He zorglwaves minions' minds, then uses the paralyzing version of his zorglwaves on his guests, despite promising to stop doing it. He also perform an Evil Costume Switch, then announces he will make basements again, but in space.
  • In the second Animated Adaptation, he was one of the recurring antagonists, endangering Earth regularly while trying to save it, paradoxically. The anti-villain aspect did not lie in his remorses and reconciliations with the Count, but rather in being a Well-Intentioned Extremist, with a nice daughter.
  • In the Live-Action Adaptation, among all the Rogues Gallery, Zorglub was chosen to be the antagonist of the first movie adaptation. "The more successful the villain" adage was followed there as well. The dangerousness of his usual capacities there were taken up to eleven. Instead of brainwash one person at once in a 40 feet range, zorglwaves can hypnotize all humans on Earth at the same time. In comics, Zorglub has never killed or tortured anyone, and kept attached to the Count of Champignac despite their disagreements. Plus Zorglub has mostly a For Science! motivation, despite debatable methods. In the movie, he kills several people in a few minutes in his introduction scene alone. It includes a henchman who mispronounces his name, a part of his scientist team who failed him, and a (reluctant) Red Shirt, sacrificed to malfunctioning zorglwaves. And all die of a Cruel and Unusual Death, falling in a Lava Pit, except the Red Shirt who explode-showing how this version of Zorglub has little credit for human life. He shows no respect for the one of the Count as well, first by trying of torture him to make him talk. Then Zorglub tries to kill him without second thoughts along with Seccotine, once they're Brainwashed, by ordering them to walk into the Lava Pit. Zorglub's main goal there is apparently satisfying his ego and Take Over the World, given he intended to induce a Mass Hypnosis on the whole planet, except for him. He also won't redeem in the end.
  • The tie-in comics, Le triomphe de Zorglub, reveal that the actor (and producer) who plays Zorglub and resembles him so much in the aforementioned movie was the real Zorglub all along, and he stay more vile than usual just like in the film. The movie itself was part of an Evil Plan. People who watch it end up zorglwaved at the 6th minute, reproducing in the real world the Mass Hypnosis described in it. That's not all, if Zorglub could ruin his ennemies's reputation at the same time, why not. It explains why the movie describe Spirou as a pickpocket, Fantasio more clumsy than ever, and objectify Seccotine. Or at least it would if her actress did not put her veto. ^note Ironically, the first two aspects were kept in the actual movie, without any explanation, as the producer was not a super villain, as far as we know.
• Age Lift: Zorglub looks inexplicably 20 years younger than his former college mate Champignac. For this reason, the second animated series and the film did take 20 years off Zorglub, who became the Count 's student for this reason.
• Anti-Villain: Zorglub already redeemed in the end of his introduction album after Champignac (that he calls a friend no matter what) reasoned with him. He often appears as misguided, genuinely thinking that his zorglwaves can end wars and misunderstandings. He was regularly tricked into doing wrong things by more evil characters (like Zantafio). The second Animated Adaptation evacuated these aspects, in order he'll stay a Big Bad, but Zorglub has other redeeming traits. He's an Eco-Terrorist, and still has noble intentions. He avoids brainwashing humans there as he uses robots for minions. It's not rare that Spirou, Fantasio and Zorglub are caught in Enemy Mine situations. Also, his teenage daughter and his Freudian Excuse humanize him a lot. According to Munuera, who made his spin-off, Zorglub can have troubles seeing the frontier between good and bad.
• Arch-Enemy: Zorglub is a weird mix of this and Friendly Enemy with Champignac, at least until he pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
• Beard of Evil: A chin strap beard version.
• Birds of a Feather: Like Champignac, not much is known about Zorglub 's deceased wife in the 2006 animated series. The only women we see him flirting with, had a lot in common with him. One (still in the TV show) was Eléonore Brightness, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who actually betrayed him, but was his equal in villainy. Another was once again Miss Flanner. Not only was she a talented scientist too, but she shared with Zorglub the megalomania and lack of moral code. In the volume Lady Z of Zorglub, when Zandra comments that her father shall find a girlfriend, the latter retort that he's afraid he could only fall in love with himself. This is to take literally: Zorglub later creates his Opposite-Sex Clone, the titular Lady Z (who turns out to be a genius of her own), then accepts a date with her. Birds of a feather, indeed.
• Breakout Villain : Like the Marsupilami, Zorglub obtained his own franchise (despite, in his case, the publication stopped suddenly by the third volume). In it, he gained notably a Robot Girl daughter, a robot butler, and multiple clones including a female version. Zorglub is also confronted to villains even worse than he is, including a kid wannabe supervillain.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Zorglub put his initial just everywhere, from the zorglmen uniforms to his zorglmobiles.
• Bumbling Dad: In the second Animated Adaptation, and the spin-off Zorglub, he's the father of a teenage daughter, named Zaoki in the first case and Zandra in the second. Both have the characteristic to be good, and disapprove of their father's villainy. In fact, Zorglub admits himself that Zandra is more altruist, honest and mature than him.
• Bungling Inventor: His zorglwaves and vehicles are quite effective, but you can't tell the same for his Death Ray, for instance. And that's for the best for Zorglub as he ends Brainwashed by it instead of being killed. Also, as Zorglub did not double check the instructions given to his zorglmen, the autonomous space rocket launched by them write an inverted commercial message on the moon, as it is written in zorglanguage. In his spin-off, Zandra once stated how it is easy for her to find her father, given the trail of disasters he left behind him. Zandra considers herself as one of Zorglub's failed inventions, as he meant to make a gynoid with the same temper as him. While actually, she is his opposite in every ways.
• Chronic Villainy: Subverted in the comic; Zorglub turned back to evil once after his initial appearance, but was rather quick to turn good again, and after that his Heel–Face Turn sticked until The dark face of the Z.
• Coat Cape: Zorglub always wears a short fur-lined leather coat this way.
• Eco-Terrorist: In the second Animated Adaptation, Zorglub often makes Evil Plan destined to repair damages caused to Earth by humanity. The problem is that it often backfires and makes the situation even worse.
• Egocentric Team Naming: Zorglub name everything he invents after himself: zorglwaves, zorglanguage, zorglmen, zorglumobiles, etc.
• Emotional Regression: A spectacular one in Panade à Champignac. Franquin wanted to use Zorglub but had to keep him harmless at the same time. Finally, Zorglub is victim of his own Death Ray in the end of L'ombre du Z. He survives the experience, but is reduced to a vegetative state. Champignac managed to bring him back to health, but with the mind of an 8-months old. It leads to a bizarre situation where Pacôme has to take care of a 50-something Zorglub who acts like a baby. In the end, when he was paralyzed by his zorglwave, then reanimated by an electric discharge, Zorglub is back to his normal mental age.
• Flying Car: His different models of zorglumobiles are variants of this.
• Foil: To the Count of Champignac, as Zorglub has many things in common with him. They're both loaded geniuses, fluent in many fields, and talented in engineering, despite it does not always work. However, the Count is humble, wise, collected and a philanthropist. Zorglub is arrogant, immature, irascible and selfish.
• For Science!: Zorglub decides to deprive people of their motricity and free will, just because he can. However, his ultimate goal was to help the (then) spatial conquest. His lunar base did have scientific ambitions, but Zorglub's megalomania catch him again when Count of Champignac is not impressed by all of this, and Zorglub decide to re-use the method of the spatial base for a Take Over the World goal.
• Friendly Enemy: Zorglub, to Champignac. He never meant any harm to the latter, and is happy to help him in his research, in his good days. The fact that they used to be friends during their college years certainly count.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • In his own series, Zorglub revealed that he was mocked during his early life and led a lonely existence. So turned he to science and villainy to gain respect.
  • In the second Animated Adaptation, Zorglub has lost his wife during an ecological disaster. As a result, he decides to avenge her death and prevent any other disaster by becoming an Eco-Terrorist.
• Gadgeteer Genius: His gadgets include waves that can control minds or paralyze, and various flying engines such as Flying Car or space rockets. But Zorglub is also clever with robotics, in the 2006 series and his spin-off, he made zorglbots that serve essentially as Mecha-Mooks. But still in Zorglub, a more evolved zorglbot, Fredorg, is his butler, with enough personality to be a Servile Snarker. His masterpiece, though, is Zandra, as she is such a perfect gynoid that nobody (including herself) suspects she is not human. Plus she develop emotions and an independent personality.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: To the point it's been lampshaded. In the movie, Champignac states that Zorglub is too hot-headed to be an effective scientist. In Le triomphe de Zorglub, the Count remarks that Zorglub's bad temper and mood swings always played tricks on him. Zorglub answers by yelling...that he does not have mood swings.
• Harmless Villain: Zorglub is often laughable, either by clumsiness or because his inventions do not work how he expected. In Alerte aux zorkons, the disaster in the surroundings of the village of Champignac happened because Zorglub knocked over a test tube of ultra fast mold in the Count's laboratory. In Zorglub, Zandra and Fredorg directly call him a specialist in stupid ideas, and his apprentice Zedrik states that you learn from your mistakes. So he's sure to learn a lot during an internship with Zorglub. On the backcovers of his spin-off, he's described as the most evil, the most megalomaniac, and the most clumsy of Spirou & Fantasio 's antagonists.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: In the end of his introduction album, Zorglub makes a first Heel–Face Turn, helped by a drug made by Champignac, that makes him depressive. He’s back to his megalomaniac self as soon as he's normal again. Then Zorglub is Brainwashed and goes through a period of Emotional Regression. In the end of the latter, he makes a second Heel–Face Turn that actually lasts for long. In later albums but also in one-shots, he's often seen around Champignac (sometimes with other scientists) being helpful...Or actually putting the world under a menace, either by clumsiness or because Zorglub was manipulated. Until The dark face of the Z where Champignac criticized the moon base of Zorglub. The latter, offended, dons a costume that he calls of "absolute triumph", with a Badass Cape and Shoulders of Doom. He admonest Pacôme to have belittled him, despite the efforts made by Zorglub to please him. He also use his two kind of zorglwaves, then decide to go on building spatial bases, due that he felt like the shadow of his former self until this moment. Those swings between good and evil were so frequent that Fantasio once lampshaded it in Paris sous Seine, admitting that he keeps on forgetting if Zorglub is currently on the good side or not. Fantasio also commented that, even when Zorglub was on the right side of the law, seeing the latter make his blood run cold in L'horloger de la comète.
• Knight Templar Parent: Just don't mess with Zorglub's daughters. In the animated series, the best way to get him is threatening Zaoki. In Zorglub, he kidnaps Zandra with his new flying saucer just because she just kissed (in a consensual way) her boyfriend for the first time. Zorglub promise to stop to intervene later, but still spy on the young couple on dates, thanks to cameras that he equipped the whole town with.
• Mad Scientist: Duh.Enslaving innocent persons by hypnotizing them, then building a secret empire, was not a problem for Zorglub. At least not before Champignac pointed it out to him.
• Mind-Control Device: The second kind of zorglwaves. Just a laser beam in direction of anybody, and the latter will be deprived of any free will, blindly obeying orders. In addition of speaking backwards, or not being able anymore to recognize regular food as edible (Zorglub feed zorglmen with Food Pills only). Zorglub also made a variant that does not affect the victims's will, but their perception. Zorglub, without any disguise, could pass off as a publisher or a plumber right under the nose of Champignac, Spirou and Fantasio.
• Named by the Adaptation: Zorglub is usually only known as such, without precision if it is a first or last name. In the live-action version, his mooks call him: "Zorglubanovitchoskinovakoff", so it may be just his Overly Long Name, or Zorglub is his first name and Banovitchoskinovakoff his last name.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: As long as he is in his Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain persona, Zorglub stays hilarious. But as soon as his inventions work as he intended, pray for your souls. Just think that he could easily brainwash and enslave every person on Earth, and thus Take Over the World.
• Older Than They Look: As they were fellow students, Zorglub and Champignac are of the same generation. Still, Zorglub looks 20 years younger for some reason.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Zorglub is an expert in neurology given how easily he can hypnotize or immobilize others. He's skilled too in aeronautics as he constructed sky rockets and flying vehicles. Also, in robotics, as he has Mecha-Mooks ( and a sophisticated robot daughter) in the second TV show and his spin-off. In the latest series, he makes instant clones that are Ambiguous Robots as they are advanced enough to look made of flesh, and originate from DNA. Zorglub also co-discovered two ways of Time Travel, one through a spatio-temporal loophole, and the second with a Ray Gun.
• The Paralyzer: His first kind of zorglwaves. The victims are frozen in place like statues (sometimes their skin becomes blue) and stays conscious. With a slight dose, the effects wear off by themselves quickly. With a high dose, only a special electrocution can put them back in motion. In the film, there is a variant: it acts as a taser, and the victims fall unconscious. The effects automatically wear off by themselves, and they do quicker if the victim is slapped back to consciousness.
• Putting on the Reich: There are the all identical looking zorglmen (because of their shaved heads and their uniforms), the white "Z" in a middle of a black circle (even worse on the red zorglumobile), the fact that zorglmen greet Zorglub by raising their hands and saying "Hail"...It's especially obvious on some official◊ illustrations◊. Not to mention his grandson, who'll make a future actual dictatorship with all these elements). Or in the movie, the fact that people working for Zorglub wear black uniforms and are not hypnotized ( yet), but indoctrinated.
• Race Lift: Zorglub is a white European in the comics. In the Live-Action Adaptation, he's played by Ramzy Bedia who's of Algerian Kabyle descent. In the tie-in comics Le triomphe de Zorglub, on a par with this, Zorglub was depicted Ambiguously Brown.
• Rich Genius: Zorglub used his Mind-Control Device to steal lucrative other persons's inventions, first, and later used it in the advertisement area, pulling people into repetitive (and useless) purchase of products of his dummy company. He stopped after Champignac pointed out how bad it was. But Zorglub still could design and sell powerful weapons. He did it twice for Zantafio in the main series, then for nations at war or the army in his spin-off. It notably pays for the Big Fancy House he lives in there (it even includes a roller coaster to access to his laboratory).
• Sdrawkcab Speech: The principle of his zorglanguage, the order of words is identical, but the letters order is reversed. Thus Zorglub and the zorlgmen can discuss without being understood by bystanders, but the readers still can. Later, in the 50th album, it turned out to be a Tragic Keepsake habit, as his lost love Miss Flanner and him invented this language to discuss without being understood by their common friend, Pacôme. It's difficult to understand the language without a written support, and in the second animated series, it was just a Mythology Gag. The zorglbots would sometimes speak like this, but it was a malfunction, resolved by Zorglub with Percussive Maintenance. In the movie, Zorglub would sometimes speak this way as a kind of bizarre Verbal Tic when he's nervous. It's a sign that someone has been zorglwaved, as the tic is transmitted to them (and they must be subtitled).
• Sinister Schnoz: Of the long and pointy variant.
• Theme Mobile: Whatever Zorglub invents is invariably named as Zorg-something, which gives us the zorglumobile and the zorgcopter.
• They Called Me Mad!: Zorglub was expelled from college, but the actual reason why was never stated in story. At first, people laughed at his theories in school. Still, Zorglub finally sounded like a Mad Scientist to college authorities, who kicked him out. So he decided to create an army of mind-controlled soldiers.
• A Villain Named "Z__rg": Spoofed. Zorglub's name is a portmanteau of this and "Arglub", which is a standard Written Sound Effect for accidental strangling or drowning in Franco-Belgian comics (or in Franquin's comics, at least).
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the second animated series, where Zorglub is an Eco-Terrorist. While he has good intentions, this is how he reaches his goals. His idea to repair the ozone layer? Changing (unwilling) humans into trees.
• We Used to Be Friends: With the Count of Champignac. There are vestiges of this in the present, as when he manages to develop his hypnotizing zorglwave, Zorglub makes first a proposition of We Can Rule Together to the Count. And when Zorglub's mind regresses to the one of an 8 months old, the Count takes good care of him despite the difficulty of the task.
• Wolverine Publicity: Due to Zorglub's Breakout Character status, two covers could confuse the readers into thinking Zorglub would be a major character in these stories, except not. One was ''Le réveil du Z'' (''Z 's awakening'')◊, the other is the 50th album ''Aux sources du Z'' (''At the roots of Z'')◊. Both covers featured heavily Zorglub or his shadows and symbols (and his initial is in the title), leading to think he is these albums 's antagonist. Also, you would deduce from the titles that the first volume depict Zorglub's Face–Heel Turn and rising as a dictator, and that the second will be his origin story. None of this is true in those books. Zorglub appear on the two last pages only of Le réveil du Z , and in shorts passages of the very beginning of Aux sources du Z , while giving to Spirou the mission to Time Travel (and for a moment in the past, where Zorglub appears younger). The actual villain in Le réveil du Z is Zorglub's Identical Grandson, who will be a dictator by 2062. Aux sources du Z have No Antagonist, and is focused on Spirou as it is a milestone celebration. The latter revives various moments of his story as he travel in the past by successive leaps.

Vito Cortizone

Don Vito Cortizone

Voiced by: Mario Santini (1992 series)

Vito Cortizone is The Don of the Italo-American mafia in New York. His dummy company is a frozen pizzas's business, called Lucky's Pizza. It suggests that Vito once used to be lucky, but cursed by his rivals of the Chinese mafia, he became since quite luckless. It's initially to find a cure for this curse that Vito dealt with Spirou and Fantasio first in Spirou et Fantasio à New York. He then came back in three more albums of Tome and Janry (who invented him). He reappeared (albeit in a short role) in Le Groom de Sniper Alley by authors Yoann and Vehlmann, cementing Vito's status as a recurring antagonist.

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• Adapted Out: Vito Cortizone was not featured in the second Animated Adaptation, while one of the main antagonists of the first. And despite his daughter appearing in it.
• Born Unlucky: Not exactly as Vito was actually cursed by the Chinese mafia into being unlucky. Before that, Vito was maybe fortunate as his pizza enterprise is named "Lucky's Pizza" and its logo is a four leaf clover. However, the curse stayed on and since, it's like Vito was effectively born this way.
• Bad Boss: His pilot, Von Schnabbel, see his request for an increase met with Vito crushing his cigar on Von Schnabbel's hand, then by a Groin Attack. Which ejects Von Schnabbel from his plane, actually, despite he survives the experience.
• Butt-Monkey: His bad luck reaches abysmal levels. Justified by the fact that he's been cursed by his Chinese mafia rival.
• Cement Shoes: Vito 's favorite way of finishing enemies. He's a mafia godfather, so it is not very surprising.
  • In Vito la déveine, Vito tries to get rid of Spirou and Fantasio while on their boat. He makes them go into their inflatable boat, with rope and two crates. Vito planned to tie their hands, then attach them each to a crate, and toss them into the sea. However, before he can complete the task, a Chinese mafia's boat arrives, and they are after Vito. The latter panics, and finally beg the two heroes to help him against the Triad instead.
  • In the end of Le Groom de Sniper Alley (Sniper Alley's Bellboy), Vito Cortizone nearly tossed Spirou, Fantasio and Spip chained to concrete blocks into the Hudson River, as Vito is not happy with a Worthless Treasure Twist after he send them into a treasure hunt. However, Spirou and Fantasio have time to explain that the parchment they came back with led to about thirty treasures' hideouts, and Vito finally let them go.
• Character Catchphrase: "Maledizione!", which means "Curse!"
• Cigar Chomper: Vito is rarely seen without a Cuban cigar in his mouth. When he ended up marooned on a deserted island, Vito tried to make his cigar last as long as possible, and he still has it after months.
• The Don: Well he is the godfather of the New York Italian mafia after all.
• Easily Forgiven: In Le rayon noir, Spirou seems happy to see Vito when they are in the same prison cell, despite at their least encounter, Vito tried to get rid of him as told in the first Cement Shoes entry. It can be justified, though, as Spirou currently resembles a man of African descent and no one recognizes him. So he's maybe relieved to cross the path of someone he knows, in order to be identified.
• The Family for the Whole Family: Let's say that Vito Cortizone is not surrounded by the sharpest knives in the drawer.
• Friendly Enemy: In a way: Vito is often happy to see Spirou and Fantasio, call them "friends", and even expose his plan in Le Groom de Sniper Alley in a Villain Over for Dinner scene (albeit it's lunch, in that case). All while trying to kill them, or blackmail them several times, explaining that on their side, Spirou and Fantasio are not that delighted to see him. Except Spirou once, in the above entry.
• Funetik Aksent: Vito sometimes marks some words with a thick italian accent, while peppering his speeches with Gratuitous Italian.
• Genre Savvy: Given the aforementioned second Cement Shoes entry, Vito seems very aware that he must use chains to tie up Spirou and Fantasio, then capture and bound Spip as well. Otherwise, if ropes are used and Spip is neglected, there are high chances that the squirrel frees the duo by gnawing their bonds.
• Knight Templar Parent: Vito literally doesn't see his daughter Luna growing up. She's already 20, but Vito calls her his "little one". He finally grounded her, and told her they will discuss again at her legal age... that he set at 50.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's the perfect look alike of Marlon Brandon in The Godfather, and his name is even a Pun on the name of said godfather, Vito Corleone. Also, the name of his pizzeria, Lucky's Pizza, is maybe based on the Italo American gangster "Lucky" Luciano, who was based in New York.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Once again, it's logical as Vito is a godfather. In Le Groom de Sniper Alley, Vito asks Spirou and Fantasio to go on a treasure hunt for him. When they refuse, Vito reveal they have a debt of honor towards him. In the previous volume Dans les griffes de la vipère, Spirou had to escape the evil corporation who "bought" him, and needed a false ID. Seccotine asked Vito for it. So now, either Seccotine honors her own debt, or Spirou and Fantasio do, due to the fact that the initial service was for one of them. To not put Seccotine in a difficult situation, the duo have no choice but to say yes.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Vito is racist as in Le rayon noir, he calls Spirou, who is living a Black Like Me experience, a "savage", and even uses the N word spontaneously.
• Ungrateful Bastard: If it wasn't for Spirou and Fantasio, Vito would end marooned on a desert island in Vito la déveine. They rescued him, and did not try to get rid of Vito after they recognized him. Then Fantasio spent days bringing back to the surface his drowned merchandise. And still, Vito, for a start, tried to kill Spirou, then injected him with soporifics for days, in order to make it look like an illness. Then, he tried to get rid of the duo via the Cement Shoes method.

John Helena

Voiced by: Philippe Peythieu (1992 series)

John Helena used to be, at first glance, simply the captain of an ordinary boat, Le discret, in Le repaire de la murène. But John was actually a drugs dealer, and fakes his death in order to give himself to the illegal traffic full time. Once caught, John escapes from prison and comes back in Spirou et les hommes-bulles, this time in order to steal gold that stayed in his ship wreck. Caught once again, John redeems when he goes out of jail in Virus, and is this time Unwitting Instigator of Doom. He escape from the laboratory he worked in, and becomes the Typhoid Mary of the story, infected by a rare virus.

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• Animal Motifs: John compares himself to a moray eel, who's not aggressive as long as nobody bothers it in its lair. "Moray eel" has stayed John's nickname since.
• The Captain: John's grade before his disappearance. In general, he has a good knowledge of everything related to the sea. He is a skilled diver and managed to make regular trips into a wrecked boat immersed by 700 feet under the sea, using a small submarine.
• Death by Materialism: Downplayed as John did not die, but greed provoked his downfall. Despite being hunted by the police, he returned to the wrecked ship he used for his drug traffic, in order to extract golden bars hidden there by his former boss. Needless to say, the nearby port is under surveillance, and John is finally caught.
• Faking the Dead: John faked him drowning with his ship. Actually, he needed to disappear in order to do drug traffic incognito.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Virus. John already decided to redeem after he got out of jail, in the very beginning, and fell ill in an unexpected way at his new job. After he recovers, he stays in South pole, and is now a guide for tourists and journalists who want to see the destroyed pharmaceutics installations. Apparently, John gave up crime since.
• Hypochondria: John may suffer this, as in Le repaire de la murène, he believes Spirou's lies about the fact that he risks being paralyzed if he uses his compressed air bottle. Spirou pretends that without an antidote, John will be affected, and the proof is, he will become blue (actually a harmless side effect). John panics so much when his skin turns blue that he gives back his diving suit to Spirou and follows him to get the "antidote" from Count of Champignac, even if it means being arrested by the police (which happens). In Virus, he totally panics when everyone in his South pole station is contaminated by an unknown virus, and immediately runs away to find a cure, despite security rules that forbid anyone to leave the station in that case.
• Just Got Out of Jail: At the beginning of Virus, and legally this time, as he escaped last time.
• Living MacGuffin: Poor John, during Virus. As he's seriously ill (he even suffers outbreaks of insanity) and could contaminate others in case of interaction, he's just dragged to the South pole. There, until a vaccine is made, he just waits, without being able to react.
• Prison Escape Artist: John has just escaped prison at the beginning of Spirou et les hommes-bulles, and runs away by using successively a car, a diving suit, and a plane. Crazy-Prepared indeed.
• Reformed, but Rejected: As he Just Got Out of Jail in the beginning of Virus, he had troubles finding a job, and had to accept to work in the most isolated laboratory in the world, in the South pole.
• Reformed Criminal: John is no longer in crime from Virus on.
• Two First Names: Helena, his surname, is a given female first name.
• Typhoid Mary: In Virus, a test tube in the laboratory where John works is broken, and the virus it contains contaminate everyone. John ran away to find a cure to Champignac. The problem is, on the cargo ship that took him back to Europe, John became contagious for everyone on board.

Miss Flanner

Miss Flanner used to be a classmate of the Count of Champignac and Zorglub in college, but she was massively irradiated there due to a failed experience. The Count even thought she was dead, until she reappeared years later in Paris-sous-Seine, slowly dying from the irradiation. She kidnaps the Count and flows Paris as a last stand. In the album Aux sources du Z, Miss Flanner is in her death throes, and on Zorglub's insistence, Spirou turns back time in order to save her. Since the next album, Alerte aux zorkons, it seems that Miss Flanner did die during her college years and been mostly forgotten by the main characters.

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• Baldness Means Sickness: Miss Flanner is bald under her wigs. It’s a sign that she suffers a serious condition, and indeed, she turns out to have cancer caused by irradiation.
• Deadpan Snarker: Her sharp tongue spares nobody. She for instance has the force to call Spirou a « boy scout » and to tell him to "go back playing to the adventurer", while agonizing.
• Eco-Terrorist: In Miss Flanner's point of view, flooding Paris will resolve unemployment problems (as a lot of labor will be needed to reconstruct it), and it allows the city to be quiet, emptied of its vehicles and tourists, for once. But at the cost of irreversible damages and homeless inhabitants.
• Femme Fatale: The Mad Scientist version. Her weaponry and capacity to flow cities make her utterly dangerous, all while looking seductive at an advanced age and being a Dude Magnet.
• For the Evulz: Miss Flanner pretends to help Champignac to meet glory when she floods Paris and knows he can stop this with one of his inventions, but in the end, she seems to act like this, just because she can. The proof is, in the last scene of Paris-sous-Seine, she envisions flooding New York too, and there is no actual reason for that.
• Glory Hound: She thinks that the Count of Champignac 's inventions, made only for love of science (and kept in the shadows to not let them fall in wrong hands) and those of Zorglub, to Take Over the World, are pure waste. To Miss Flanner, scientific genius is here to make one famous, but she has too little time left to reach this for herself. By proxy, she tries to push the Count to use his latest invention to save Paris and make a noticed demonstration.
• I Regret Nothing : She tells it verbatim while she informs Spirou that she is the villain of this story, while making him a Villainous Face Hold and calling him "nice one". Understandably, the latter loses it and punches her.
• Karma Houdini: On the insistence of the Count, Miss Flanner will not be arrested nor denounced for Paris floodings, and go scot-free to the United States; where she envision to flood cities again.
• Last-Name Basis: Nobody ever addressed her by her first name, not even her close friends Zorglub and Pacôme.
• Love Triangle: Both the Count and Zorglub consider that Flanner is their One True Love, but the latter never told them if she reciprocated the feeling to one of them, or none. Even on her deathbed, she won’t answer this question.
• Mad Scientist: Miss Flanner has flooded Paris first to make civilians evacuate, then she plots to drown the army if they intervene. All while being supported by her giant, aggressive robots.
• Older Than They Look: You could not tell, from Miss Flanner’s appearance, that she is as old as Champignac, and terminally ill in addition to that. This is not natural though, as Miss Flanner mentions that she uses an expensive method for that, without precise if it is through medicines or Magic Plastic Surgery.
• Retgone: In the album that came after Aux sources du Z, Alerte aux Zorkons, the story restart normally with the new duo of authors, without any consequences (while Spirou was supposed to be a younger Temporal Duplication since, he remained in fact the same). No explanation is given except that when Fantasio mentions Miss Flanner, Spirou does not remember her and Fantasio admits it was in "another space-time". However, readers can deduce from context that Fantasio finally did not resign to the new situation at the end of Aux sources du Z. Instead, he did what he announced he would do while discovering the Alternate Timeline. Fantasio did again use the time gun, and a piece of clothing of the younger Spirou, to come back to the day Miss Flanner was irradiated. There, Fantasio acted in a way that prevented Spirou to save her, but also those who shall save her initially. So she died young in the college fire, and a back to the future Fantasio discovered a present where Spirou was still the one he had all those adventures with. And where the events of Paris-sous-Seine and Aux sources du Z did not happened, only Fantasio remember them through Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory.
• Save the Villain: Aux sources du Z plot is quicked by Zorglub's will to save Miss Flanner to die from cancer, by preventing in the past the irradiation that caused it.
• Ship Tease: With the Count in Paris-sous-Seine. While he's asleep, Miss Flanner puts her hand on his. It wakes him up, and they look in each other eyes for a while. Before realizing what's going on, and quickly letting go. Later on, Miss Flanner set a quiet breakfast for them on the roof of the opera. She also recalls the days when Pacôme used to nickname her "his little sister", and it got on her nerves. In Aux sources du Z , Pacôme calls "affection" his feelings for her, but Zorglub corrects him by assuring she is the love of his life. In the same album, there is ship tease with Zorglub as well. When they were younger, he and Miss Flanner created a Sdrawkcab Speech they used to discuss with each other, without being understood by Pacôme.
• The Smurfette Principle: Apart from Cyanure, Miss Flanner is the only female element in Spirou and Fantasio Rogues Gallery. Spirou did not expect a woman to be behind the Paris flood for this reason. The first time he spots Miss Flanner, he asks her if she had seen the "guy" who provoked all this. Miss Flanner snorted at the assumption, told Spirou he didn't know much about women, then retorted that far from being fragile little things, women can be More Deadly Than the Male. She takes special pride in being this, before announcing that she is the villain of this story.
• Too Dumb to Live: In Aux sources du Z, Miss Flanner and Zorglub stole plutonium to charge their time travel guns. Zorglub told her to wait for him before starting. Not only Miss Flanner didn't and charged the plutonium alone, but she didn't even bother to wear a radiation suit. Chain reaction ensued, and she was fatally irradiated.
• The Unapologetic: Miss Flanner will never make amends to Parisians, for flooding their city, to the Count, for kidnapping him, or to Spirou, after apparently provoking the death of his beloved pet (nor she'll excuse herself to Spip, in fact). On the contrary, she assures: "I Regret Nothing".
• Two Guys and a Girl: Miss Flanner used to form such a Power Trio with Champignac and Zorglub.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Her extensor of water and her giant robots must have cost a fortune. Her treatment to look young is expensive as well, according to Miss Flanner. Where she found the funds for all of this is not stated. But certainly the same way she used to do when she was a student: she stole the supplies she needed.
• Your Days Are Numbered: She's already terminally ill when she floods Paris and kidnaps the Count. Miss Flanner knew then she would not live long enough to face the consequences of her acts, so she decided to meet Pacôme again, and use her extensor of water at its full power. It explains her hedonism, to the point she steals all museums' content and burns a millions worth picture, just because she dislikes it.

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