Chicken from Outer Space
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The Chicken from Outer Space is the first villain to appear in the Courage the Cowardly Dog cartoon series, making his debut in Courage's very first appearance, the Pilot episode, and because of this he is now famous amongst Courage fans, some believing him to be Courage's arch-nemesis, along with Katz and Le Quack. In appearance, he looks like an ordinary chicken, but with red eyes and holding a laser gun. He is in actuality an alien from another planet who seeks to take over the Earth. He reappeared once after the Pilot episode and had his story continued later in the series. Although he is the first villain to appear in the series, he is in fact not the first enemy Courage ever faced, as revealed in the episode 'Remembrance of Courage Past'.
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[edit] Character History
. Pilot Episode
In the Pilot episode, entitled 'The Chicken from Outer Space', the Chicken arrived via spaceship on the Bagge farm, where he apparentally killed all the ordinary chickens in the henhouse and laid some eggs. Muriel took the eggs to eat for breakfast, much to Courage's dismay. The eggs were in fact infected, and whoever would eat them would transform into an alien chicken, much like the Chicken himself, which presumably the Chicken planned to spread around the world and transform all humans into aliens like himself. Eustace eats the eggs before Muriel does, and is transformed, advancing on Muriel, either trying to kill her or transform her as well. Courage knows that the Chicken is behind all of it and challenges him. The Chicken and Courage go through a whole series of competitions, until the Chicken draws his laser gun and fires, only to have the blast deflected, frying him. Courage uses the laser gun to shoot the Chicken-Eustace as well, and everything returns to normal.
. Revenge of the Chicken from Outer Space
In the season 1 episode 'Revenge of the Chicken from Outer Space', it becomes clear that the Chicken survived the last encounter with Courage and obsessed with gaining revenge, as Courage has now given him the appearance of a fried, headless chicken. The Chicken was plotting to take Courage's head and use it as his own. The Chicken arrives on the farm like before and tries to force Courage into his head-removing machine. When this fails, the Chicken kidnaps Muriel and forces her into his machine, where he almost manages to remove her head. Fortunately she is rescued by Courage, and then Eustace arrives. The Chicken succeeds in kidnapping Eustace, removing his head and using it to replace his own. Now sporting Eustace's head, the Chicken chases Courage and Muriel around the farm, the chase ending with the Chicken pursuing them in his spaceship, until Courage manages to blow the spaceship apart with the Chicken inside, killing him.
. Other Appearances
The Chicken has made small cameo appearances in a few other episodes, despite his death and frying, such examples being 'Aqua-Farmer' and 'A Night at the Katz Motel'.
[edit] Family
In the season 4 episode 'Son of the Chicken from Outer Space' it is revealed that the Chicken had a wife and son. The Chicken's wife was furious at how Courage humiliated and killed her husband, so sends her three-headed son to Earth to avenge their father by killing Courage. The son's three heads all each had a different personality, and often ended up fighting one another. One the farm, the Chicken's son pursued Courage, but never managed to defeat him, and failed so often that all three heads broke down in tears, as their mother said that if they didn't succeed in killing Courage, they would not be allowed to return home. Courage helps them by making fake photos of his death, and the son thanks him and returns home. It is unknown what happened to the Chicken's family after that, but it is assumed that the Chicken's wife now believes Courage to be dead and that she allowed her son to return home.
[edit] Most Evil Enemy?
Because of the Chicken's supreme ruthlessness and lack of humanity, it could be said that he is the most evil out of all Courage's foes. He is never heard to speak or show any emotion as he does all his evil deeds. He is a cold-blooded killer, evidence of his evil behavior as follows:
. In the Pilot Episode, the Chicken is seen strangling all the ordinary chickens in the henhouse. In the next scene, all the chickens are absent, strongly implying that the Chicken killed them all.
. The possessed Chicken-Eustace apparentally intends to kill Muriel.
.The Chicken wants to transform people into evil aliens like himself.
. The Chicken tries to kill Courage by shooting him with his laser gun.
. The Chicken is revenge-obsessed; he plotted obsessively to kill Courage in a very gory way. No other villains have ever been so intent on gaining revenge(although a possible exception is the episode 'Ball of Revenge', but Eustace did summon Courage's enemies.)
. The Chicken plans to kill Courage and Muriel by yanking their heads off with a torture device. Off-screen, he succeeds in doing this to Eustace.
. The Chicken is trying to kill Courage and Muriel throughout the episode 'Revenge of the Chicken from Outer Space.'
[edit] Wife and Son- Evil?
The Chicken's wife, although briefly seen, can be gathered to be almost as evil as her husband. She too, is revenge-obsessed, and wants Courage dead, that as her primary goal. All other villains have a motive besides killing Courage(bar the villains in 'Ball of Revenge' and the Chicken.) She obviously does not care much for her son, as she says that if they fail they cannot return. She does show slightly more emotion than her husband in the fact that she speaks. The Chicken was never heard to speak, always performing his crimes mutely.
The Chicken's son, however, is not as evil as his mother or father. It appears rather than a goofy, bumbling fool who generally performs clumsy acts, only trying to kill Courage because if not, they would not be allowed to get back home, thanks to their mother. The son is portrayed as a sympathetic villain who ends up turning good and befriending Courage.
