This is a list of characters from the American animated television series Courage the Cowardly Dog, created by John R. Dilworth which aired from 1999 to 2002 on Cartoon Network.
Courage is the protagonist of the show, and an overly frightened dog who lives in Nowhere, Kansas. He was abandoned as a puppy after his parents were sent into outer space,[2] but was adopted by Muriel Bagge. Her husband, Eustace, regularly mistreats him. Ironically, given his name, Courage is a genuine coward, but still goes to great lengths to protect his owners; to the end, he often gets injured, sometimes quite brutally or almost killed and only surviving through his determination and/or pure luck. Aiding him at saving the day is a self-aware, sarcastic, and seemingly omniscient Computer that he keeps in the attic with which he could consult for information in how to remedy any predicament he faces (though it never fails to badmouth him in one way or another). He got his name when Muriel found him as a puppy alone in an alley and remarked that he must be quite brave to be there by himself.[2]
Though capable of speaking fluent English, Courage mostly does so to the viewers and other non-human characters, largely tending to speak in unintelligible gibberish to most human characters (except for Dr. Vindaloo, who is the only human who can completely understand Courage's communication, despite being a doctor for humans). This was likely done to better show what the human hears as opposed to actual speech. Therefore, though impossible in real life, Courage sometimes transforms into other beings, or simply objects, and may include effects such as turning invisible, to convey his messages. However, this does not seem to be much more comprehensible to the humans. Often after being hurt by one of his many assailants he will do a dazed laugh. He often says, "The things I do for love," when he is about to do something brave, "I just know something bad is going to happen," when there is something afoot, and "I know I shouldn't, but I gotta," when he is about to enter a villain's hideout. He tends to whisper "Oh no" to himself, when something bad is going on. He also sometimes states, "Something fishy is going on, or my name is [absurd, goofy name]... And it’s not." Other variations include "I'm telling you there's someone here" and "Something smells fishy". Courage also has a big hole in his back tooth but at certain times he had a gold tooth and a wrench for a tooth in "The Curse of Shirley" and "Swindlin' Wind".[3][4]
During the development of the series, Dilworth had resembled Courage as Hamilton in the animated short "Smart Talk with Raisin" which had physically and emotionally, and one of the closest ancestor of the series.[5]
Muriel Bagge
Muriel Bagge is a kind, elderly, and overweight Scottish woman who took Courage in when he was a puppy.[2] She is the damsel in distress. She is also Eustace's wife. She often carries a rolling pin that she hits Eustace with when he harasses Courage. She likes tea, and usually tends her garden. She has a great fondness for cooking - however, her recipes tend to include an excessive amount of vinegar (which she swears by), much to the distaste of Courage and Eustace. She also likes to relax by either playing the sitar, or watching television. She is frequently kidnapped by the villain of the week, is quite gullible, and is easily tricked by the villains no matter how bizarre or pathetic their disguises are. Muriel loves Eustace, but is not at all fond of Eustace's mother. Muriel always tries to get Eustace to do the right thing.
Eustace Bagge
Eustace Bagge, Muriel's husband, is a mean, selfish and cruel old farmer obsessed with money and his truck. He has a very negative and uptight personality; he frequently abuses Courage and calls him a "stupid dog". Eustace is known for his trademark glasses, identical in appearance to Muriel's, and his brown hat which shields his bald head. In the event that a villain (or anyone else in general) would call Courage a "stupid dog," Eustace instantly remarks "That's what I tell him all the time. You stupid dog, you stupid dog". Eustace often refers to Courage simply as "Dog", and rarely (in only 2 episodes) addresses him by name. He regularly mistreats or neglects Muriel as well; in one episode, Muriel develops amnesia and Eustace convinces her that she is a "slave woman".[6] In many episodes, whenever Muriel is in danger, Eustace will often be preoccupied with something else and not even notice or he will just choose to not even acknowledge the fact that his wife is in danger, which often leads Courage to save Muriel on his own. Eustace is also commonly the subject of a rather unpleasant ending whether it being a backfire of his get-rich-quick scheme or the villain of the episode going after him at the end.
Eustace takes great pleasure in scaring and physically harming Courage, which primarily stems from jealousy of the fact that Muriel pays more attention to Courage than to him; however, he has also been known to scare Courage just to laugh at his expense or simply to get Courage to stop bothering him. The most common of these scare tactics against Courage is Eustace pulling out a large painted mask with a crazed look in its eyes and shouting, "Oooga-booga-booga!". Although Eustace primarily uses the mask, he has substituted it with other things that scare Courage such as creepily popping out his eyes. His cruelty towards Courage often results in Muriel bashing him over the head with a rolling pin or whatever else may be handy at the time, usually causing him to respond with "Ow! What did I do?". Lionel G. Wilson originally voiced the character, but left midway through the third season due to illness (and eventual death a year after the show ended[7]) and was replaced by Arthur Anderson.
Katz is a red, lanky anthropomorphic cat, complete with his own background music whenever he appears. He is Courage's arch-nemesis and the show's most recurring antagonist. He specializes in scam businesses such as a vacation resort, a candy shop, a motel, and a submarine cruise line. He is extremely sadistic, and many of his businesses involve torturing or outright killing his customers; for example, in "Night at the Katz Motel," he fed his motel residents to flesh-eating spiders,[8] and in "Klub Katz," he transformed the vacationers into anthropomorphic machines to fight for him gladiator-style.[9] He always cons Muriel and Eustace (who never seem to have any memory of him) into trying whatever service he is providing, but Courage never falls for his schemes. All of his businesses enforce a strict "No Dogs Allowed" policy, forcing Courage to sneak in. He always enjoys a "little sport", as all of his battles with Courage are games such as a staring contest[10] which he always seems to win, though he is always thwarted in the end. His catchphrase (typically uttered whenever he gets injured) is "I wish you hadn't done that", or "Sad, isn't it" whenever he explains a personal background story, or "A bit of sport before dying, Dear Boy?" when battling Courage.[8] Most of his scams start with "Welcome to Katz (scam). I'm Katz".[8][9][10][11]
Le Quack is a French con artist duck and he is the show's second most recurring villain, only to Katz. Le Quack first appears early in the show's first season, in which he has a fake amnesia-specialist license; he comes to the Bagge's house when Muriel suffers from amnesia.[6] Since then, he frequently returns and manages to dupe the Bagges into helping him commit crime sprees.[6] He is always stopped by Courage and sent to prison, but manages to escape, often shown leaving a scene of destruction with the declaration of "You have not seen(or sometimes 'heard') the last of Le Quack."[6]
Shirley is a short, green chihuahua dressed like a gypsy, who makes a living by providing fortune-telling and advice to Courage, and also by selling junk to people. She has magical powers, such as putting curses on people who wrong her, calling spirits in the afterlife, and even summoning a giant monster. Shirley has nothing against Courage, but she has a strong dislike of Eustace (due to his ignorance, often referring to him as "the stupid one"). Whenever Eustace angers Shirley, she puts curses or spells on him.[3] The only way to lift them is by learning her moral, even though Courage is usually the one who has to fix it. Shirley is also one of the very few characters who understand what Courage is trying to say, probably because she's a dog like him. When giving Courage advice, she normally plays a saxophone between sentences, sometimes with an extended solo at the end, and she also uses this to cast spells.
Di Lung is a young Chinese inventor who goes to Courage to either play with him or test his inventions on him. He made his debut appearance in the episode "Hothead". He is very inconsiderate and rude, and usually gets caught in the middle of the chaos happening in Nowhere, prompting him to shout his catchphrase of "Watch where you're going you fool!"[12]. Di Lung has two aunts: one good and one bad, who are both the Empresses of China.[13] He is also the inventor of Mecha Courage.[14] Most of his appearances feature him wearing female sandals but in "Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog" and "Aqua Farmer", he sometimes wears green sneakers. Di Lung can also be seen wearing sunglasses. Di Lung speaks with a stereotypical Chinese accent, and his laugh also has this accent, but it is much more exaggerated than his speaking accent, almost making a clucking sound. His voice actor is Tim Chi Ly, who also serves as one of the show's animators.
Benton Tarentella (a pun of Quentin Tarantino) and Erroll Van Volkheim (a pun of Erich Von Stroheim) are a duo of murderers / snuff film directors. They would pose as ordinary movie producers to lure unsuspecting victims to their fates, killing them in the process. Eventually, they were jailed for their crimes,[15] though Van Volkheim was released from jail for good behavior, while Tarantella died in prison. However, Van Volkheim eventually died as well and was buried in a cemetery that the Bagge farmhouse was built over. Later, Benton had risen from his grave as a zombie, and he first appears at the Bagges' house claiming he wants them to be in a movie he's making. However, he tricks them into filming a fake movie only to resurrect Van Volkheim so they can both devour Muriel (who happens to be cast in the film as a human sacrifice). Their weakness was that they follow the script to the "movie", even after Courage modified it. The frustrated partners decided to give up their plan and end their partnership.[15] Tarantella later returns on his own and casts the Bagges and Courage in a reality TV show called Angry Nasty People.[16] In this show, Eustace's mistreatment of Courage and Muriel are exploited for laughs, and the show becomes very popular. Tarantella and Eustace enjoy the high ratings and money respectively, at the expense of Courage and Muriel. Eventually, Tarantella creates a being based on Eustace named Mr. Nasty, who co-stars with Eustace as they both mistreat Courage and Muriel. Tired of the humiliation, Courage decides to drive Mr. Nasty out of the farmhouse. Courage then trips Tarantella, causing him to fall into a pit of quicksand (thus defeating him and resulting in Angry Nasty People getting canceled).[16]
The Cajun Fox is a fox obsessed with cooking. He kidnaps Muriel in order to make a stew, using her as the final ingredient, but he ends up falling into the pot of stew himself when Courage falls on top of him and Muriel just as he is about to throw Muriel into the pot, making a "Cajun fox stew" instead.[17] He wears oval-shaped sunglasses that hide his big, bulging eyes.
Freaky Fred is Muriel's creepy nephew who was sent to the "home for freaky barbers", due to his obsession with cutting hair in an absurd manner. While visiting Muriel, he gets locked in the bathroom with Courage because of Eustace, and continuously shaves off all of Courage's fur, (except from the tail and a part where he left "With love Fred") pausing to reminisce about similar incidents involving his pet gerbil, his girlfriend Barbara, and a customer at his barber shop.[18] Aside from his obsession with cutting hair, he has no other psychotic tendencies, and does seem to have a sense of what he thinks is weird, because he chooses not to shave Courage's tail on the grounds that it "would be weird". He is perhaps one of the few non-violent antagonists in the series.[18] Most of his dialogue is rendered to himself in prose, in which he inserts the word "naughty" at every fourth line, or alternatively "in a certain mood" or "you know".[18]
The Clutching Foot is a strange foot fungus that Eustace had gotten, and somehow engulfed him completely and mutated into a self-aware being. It resembles a giant purple left foot, with heads for toes, and acts as if it were a stereotypical criminal mob, with the big toe as the kingpin, and the smaller toes as his goons. The big toe's speech mannerisms mimic that of Edward G. Robinson, particularly by ending most sentences with, "See?" After they take over Eustace's body, they tackle Muriel and threaten to crush her; they use this threat to force Courage to help them commit crimes, such as bank robberies and train crashes.[19] Later, Courage defeats the Clutching Foot by licking it, causing it to disappear and freeing Eustace and Muriel.[19] However, Courage later gets a similar talking fungus on his tongue.[19]
Dr. Gerbil is a gerbil who speaks with a Southern accent, who has gone crazy due to being experimented on and feeling trapped by his previous owners. He is now a mad scientist, who performs strange experiments on humans with homemade cosmetic products, because he believes that he needs to exact revenge on humans for what they do to animals.[20]
Dr. Zalost is "the greatest unhappy scientist who ever lived," who lives in a giant, moving tower. He lives with his assistant, Rat, whom he constantly asks for a hug. The tower has a giant number of cannons, which are charged with "special" cannonballs that causes a state of sadness in people hit by them.[21] Eustace is initially immune to them since he is already unhappy, but when he is hit with one later, he turns to stone.[21] Eventually Muriel is hit by one of them, and Courage had to enter the tower to save his owner. But a cannonball rolling down a slide made Rat much more terrible and strong than before.[21] Courage ends up feeding him, Zalost and the tower's core with Muriel's Happy Plums and as a result Dr. Zalost finally found happiness (and his tower was destroyed). Rat also became a baby, who would look up to Zalost. "Zalost" means sorrow in several Slavic languages.[22] Zalost was one of the villains to call Courage a "stupid dog."[21]
The Goose God came down from the heavens to search for the woman of his dreams, and ended up falling in love with Muriel, whom he competed for with Eustace to make his wife and queen (even though Eustace is completely unaware this is happening). He later falls for Eustace's truck after hearing it honk.[24] He has made cameos in various other episodes (usually lying on top of the truck[25]).
Jeeves "Evil" Weevil is a giant, polite, blood-sucking weevil who wears a blue tuxedo and hat. When the Bagges accidentally run him over with their truck and injure him, he is accepted into their home.[26] While a seeming gentleman, he begins to suck the life out of the ever-oblivious Muriel and Eustace. He does not suck out dogs' lives, so Courage is unharmed. He succeeds at sucking out Eustace's life.[26] Jeeves enjoys broccoli very much (as is evident in the contest in which he defeats Courage by eating progressively nastier broccoli). But Courage ultimately stops him by tricking him into sucking his own blood.[26] He becomes a tiny weevil, angrily saying in a high pitched voice, "Stupid dog!", kicks Courage in the kneecap, and angrily leaves, leaving his clothes behind.[26] Muriel gets back to normal, while Eustace returns as a flower.[26]
The King of Flan is the proprietor of a company that makes flan. He produces a TV commercial which uses hypnotism to attract customers, all of whom become morbidly obese after eating too much flan.[27] The company is located in 1 Flan Drive Flansville, Kansas.[27] Muriel and Eustace were put under the King of Flan's hypnotic spell, and Courage was partially put under the spell as well; but he was not too obsessed with flan in order to be able to save his family. Courage sneaks into the King of Flan's headquarters to foil his plot.[27] The King of Flan was defeated by being hypnotized by his own commercial, resulting in him being obsessed with flan as well.[27] Courage then decides to broadcast his own hypnotic spell on TV, thus ending Muriel and Eustace's obsession with flan. At the end of the episode, both the King of Flan and Courage become obese from eating so much flan.[27]
King Ramses is the ghost of a pharaoh from ancient Egypt. Two grave robbers steal a slab from his tomb and flee to Nowhere, but Ramses appears and demands the return of his slab.[28] They refuse, so Ramses summons a swarm of locusts.[28] The slab ends up in the Bagges' yard, where Courage finds it and shows it to Eustace.[28] Eustace is uninterested in the slab at first; but then he learns of its worth and plans to sell it for lots of money. But again, Ramses appears to demand his slab back, warning, "Return the slab or suffer my curse."[28] Eustace keeps refusing, so Ramses places three curses on the Bagges' home: a flood, a terrible song on a record player, and another swarm of locusts.[28] Even as the Bagges suffer each of these curses, Eustace is far too greedy and persistent to let go of the slab; leaving it to Courage to solve this problem.[28] Courage manages to take the slab and return it to Ramses' tomb, so that the pharaoh stops bothering Courage and Muriel.[28] However, King Ramses has one more curse: he traps Eustace in an engraving on his tomb.[28]
The Mummy, who appeared in the episode "Courage Meets The Mummy", is the reanimated corpse of the royal baker of an ancient Mayan princess. The baker was framed by the princess' royal poobah for stealing cookies that he baked for the princess. At the orders of the princess, the baker had "his mouth sown shut, his eyebrows plucked, and his body mummified". The Mummy descends on Courage's home to seek revenge on Eustace and Muriel, who are the reincarnations of the royal poobah and the Mayan princess, respectively. After hearing the news from Professor Frith, who was mauled by the Mummy, Courage hypnotizes his owners into believing they are their ancient alter-egos. The Mummy limps into their farm house as they are reenacting the incident which lead to his mummification, who is promptly accused by Eustace of stealing the royal cookies. Muriel initially believes Eustace, until Courage, as the royal servant, convinces her that Eustace is the real thief. Muriel then exonerates the Mummy of his accused crime, and he returns to his tomb.
Mad Dog is the fierce leader of an evil dog gang who began dating Bunny, who at some point, for an unknown reason, moved in with him, but was jealous of her friendship with Kitty. When he discovered that Kitty was trying to get Bunny to leave him, he threatened her, causing her to run away. This prompted Bunny to stay with him against her will, and her mind was constantly on Kitty. One night, he and his gang foiled Bunny's attempt to escape and put her in a large flower pot. However, Courage freed Bunny and defeated his henchmen. As he chased them, Courage tells Bunny to run and managed to get inside Mad Dog's car as he chased Bunny. He took Mad Dog's wheel and steered the car onto the railroad and right towards a train. Courage got out but Mad Dog ended up injured with his car destroyed. Bunny then reunited with Kitty.
Mecha Courage is a robotic version of Courage that was created by Di Lung in an attempt to prove that he has created a dog that is superior to Courage in every way.[14] Mecha Courage resembles a mini-dome, colored pink and purple underside and tail, on wheels, with a red, blinking light for a nose. It should be interesting to note that Muriel and Eustace can't tell the difference (despite Mecha Courage doing things that are impossible for a dog to do: i.e. set the table, fix plumbing, etc.). He is destroyed by overheating as a result of him ruthlessly beating Courage.[14] Eustace liked Mecha Courage and, at the end of the episode, he tells Muriel that they should get a mechanical dog to replace Courage.[14] Obviously, Muriel refuses politely.[14]
Mr. Nasty is a being created by Benton Tarantella from Eustace's true evil essence.[16] He is similar to Eustace (both in identity and personality), only with sunglasses in place of his eyeglasses, blue skin, and a deeper voice. After Mr. Nasty is brought into existence, he co-stars in Tarantella's reality TV show Angry Nasty People alongside Eustace, in which they both mistreat Courage and Muriel. However, Courage manages to drive Mr. Nasty out of the farmhouse, and then trips Tarantella into a pit of quicksand (defeating him and resulting in Angry Nasty People getting canceled).[16] In the end, Eustace and Mr. Nasty star in their own talk show (titled Mr. Nasty and the Farmer).[16] Mr. Nasty is shown taking most of the money, much to Eustace's dismay.[16]
Mustafa al Bacterius is an alien who appears in "Mission to the Sun". When Courage and the Bagges are sent on a mission to prevent the Sun from burning out, Bacterius attempts to sabotage their mission by firstly infecting and controlling Muriel's mind, and then using her to destroy their spaceship. Eventually, he is sucked out of the ship through the toilet and infects Eustace at the end of the episode.
The Queen of the Black Puddle is a water demon who appears after a rainstorm, in which she emerges out of a strange, black puddle. With the ability to appear from any source of water, she hypnotizes and seduces Eustace so that she can take him to her puddle. There she transforms into a hideous monster, and tries to eat Eustace. However, Eustace is soon rescued by Courage.
The Giant Ape is an ape that appears in "1,000 Years of Courage". When Courage and his owners are sent to a future Earth inhabited by talking banana people, the Big Ape poses as the Banana God in order to devour the banana people, while his nephew disguises himself as a benevolent sovereign. Courage exposes the monkey's and ape's scheme, inciting the wrath of the banana people, who swiftly exact their revenge. With the ape and monkey defeated by Courage and his owners, the banana people crowned the three as their new rulers. Right after that, Courage, Eustace and Muriel are sent back to the past.
The Chicken from Outer Space is the show's first villain, introduced by the pilot episode of the same name. In his first appearance he tries to take over the farm, and ends up being shot by his own laser gun, turning into a headless roast chicken.[29] Although the pilot shows him shooting himself,[29] in the sequel ("The Revenge of the Chicken from Outer Space") he shows Courage a slideshow that depicts Courage as the one that pulled the trigger, which Courage doesn't remember doing.[30] He appears in the sequel searching the globe in his spaceship for a replacement head, abducts Muriel and attempts to steal her head. He gains Eustace's head instead, but is later shot into space, killing him for good.[30]
The Cruel Vet is a veterinarian responsible for separating Courage from his parents as a puppy.[2] He captured them, put them in a rocket ship, and sent them to the moon, believing they would turn into super-dogs. However Courage escaped from this fate and was adopted by Muriel.[2] The vet later tries to do the same thing to Eustace, Muriel, and Courage years later but is sent to the moon himself, where he finds that all the dogs survived, including Courage's parents. Out of pure anger, the dogs proceed to viciously maul him (off-screen).[2]
The Empress is the aunt of Di Lung, and she appeared in "Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog", where her source of power (a magic silkworm) is dying and needs the bones of someone truly innocent to recharge it.[13] She tries to steal Muriel's bones, but is stopped by Courage and the Empress' twin sister (who is good and is the true Empress).[13]
The Great Fusilli is an alligator devoted to theater arts who turns people into marionettes so that they cannot leave his show. He is defeated when he mistakes Courage for a ghost and falls off the balcony and becomes a marionette himself, but not before changing Eustace and Muriel.[31] How they ever returned to their original states is a mystery.
The Snowman is a talking snowman believed to be the last of his kind due to global warming. In his first appearance, he tries to steal Eustace and Muriel's anti-melting gene. He manages to get Eustace's but Courage causes him to drop it. Courage manages to save Muriel from having hers removed. He is defeated when Courage causes him to fall into a frozen lake, making him the first "frozen snowman." But without his anti-melting gene, Eustace melts, but Courage absorbs him with a sponge, and places him in a pitcher.[32] After returning to make the "West Pole" in Nowhere, Kansas, Courage sews up the hole in the ozone and his ice land returns, along with his friends.[33] He is last seen enjoying snow cones with his friends. His main catchphrase is Blast!, and is one of the villains who called Courage a "stupid dog."
The Weremole is a legendary mole similar to a werewolf but much smaller, yet just as mean. It has a taste for rabbits and people and if one is bitten by the weremole, they become one themselves. The weremole bites Muriel on the hand and when the moon is full she transforms into a weremole.[34] Courage and Eustace team up realizing that they are in more trouble than they thought. Courage and Eustace defeat the weremole when Courage drops one of the original weremole's hairs in Muriel's mouth, and Muriel returns to normal.[34]
Bushwick (though he prefers just "Shwick") is a shady beetle who comes from a New York City neighborhood of the same name. He appears in the episode "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City" and invites Muriel, along with Courage and Eustace, backstage at Radio City Music Hall so that Muriel can rehearse for a sitar concert which was a prize that she won in a contest.[35] Bushwick sends Courage away to retrieve an "evil package", threatening to sentence Muriel to be a victim of what is behind a door in a hole in the wall if he doesn't receive the package before curtain time.[35]
The Evil Eggplants are a group of talking eggplants that live under the Bagge's farm and are led by a large, deep purple eggplant and his dumb sidekick. They spy on the farm through a periscope placed in an eggplant Muriel grows. They decide to attack the farm because they are not getting enough water and because Muriel harvests the eggplant with the periscope, angering them because they believe it is unjust to eat an eggplant. The eggplants take Muriel captive for her treatment of the eggplant, but Courage eventually saves her and floods the chasing army of eggplants, causing them to take root and leave the farm alone. This episode is the only time the eggplants make an appearance.
Eliza and Elisa Stitch is a pair of conjoined twin sisters who attempt to be immortal by sewing other women's souls into a quilt. Muriel almost becomes their next victim when she tries to join their "quilt club", but they are stopped by Courage when he sews them into a piece of fabric and Eustace blows his nose on them.
Mona Lisa is a woman painted by Leonardo da Vinci and is a work of art long adored by Muriel. After the Bagges are inadvertently locked inside the Louvre, an eerie alignment of the planets occur and the exhibits come to life including Mona Lisa and The Thinker who are apparently lovers. After switching places with the Bagge couple, they find a new place to spend eternity. Courage smashes a portrait of Muriel over her and The Thinker to bring Muriel out. She only appears in the episode "So In Louvre Are We Two".
The Thinker is the masterpiece of Auguste Rodin who is in love with Mona Lisa. He also went with her to find a place to spend eternity. He is returned to the portrait after being hit by Muriel's portrait along with Mona Lisa used by Courage and Muriel steps out. The final scene after the planets are no longer aligned shows them sharing a kiss. He also only appears in the episode "So In Louvre Are We Two".
Conway the Contaminationist is an elderly man claiming to be 193 years old, and who also claims that a filthy environment is "better" and "healthier" than a clean one ("Out with the good air, in with the bad"). He only appears in the episode of the same name, in which he contaminates the Bagge farm and convinces Muriel and Eustace to be filthy as well. Eventually, Courage has to literally clean up Conway's act and sends him away in a balloon full of the filth that was brought into the house.
Courage's computer that speaks with an English accent and gives him advice on how to deal with crazy situations. He is very sarcastic towards Courage (frequently ending sentences with "You twit!") and has a habit of regularly cracking jokes in any situation. In one episode, the Computer was struck by lightning and gained the ability to possess human bodies, which he used to take over Muriel to try to live a life as a daredevil; but soon got stuck in a bad situation, was saved by Courage, and went back to being a computer, calling people "boring".[36] The computer is seemingly omniscient, and always seems to know exactly what kind of villain or creature Courage is dealing with.
Dr. Vindaloo is an Indian doctor with a thick accent, whom Eustace and Muriel see when something is wrong. He is one of the very few characters in the series who can perfectly understand what Courage is trying to say. He diagnoses his patients as not having serious problems or that there is nothing that he can do but has, on occasion, been a great help, as in "Invisible Muriel", where he managed to discover how to return Muriel to normal. Whenever we see Dr. Vindaloo, sitar music plays.The sign on his office door reads, "Dr. Vindaloo, M.D. Quack". If a catch phrase can be attributed to the doctor it would be, "What is up with that?", or simply repeating the final part of his sentences, the occurence of which is slightly more common than the former. Also, due to his extremely bushy eyebrows, his eyes are never seen, except when surprised or scared.
Ma Bagge is the mother of Eustace and Horst, who shares a love-hate relationship with the farmer. Like Eustace she is actually bald but wears a wig and looks almost identical to her son, but much shorter. Like Eustace, Ma is insecure due to being bald, but she does have her teeth. She frequently dotes on Courage, much to Eustace's dismay. She later becomes the CEO of Growth Industries, a company that manufactures wigs and performs experiments on hair, which leads to her developing an antagonistic role in some later episodes. In these episodes, Ma starts to hate Courage (but not as much as Eustace), due to Courage foiling her greedy schemes.
General and the Lieutenant are two military officers in Nowhere, who deal with various (paranormal) problems, usually involved in cover-ups of those issues. They take pleasure in fighting each other (i.e. by firing artillery or dropping sixteen-ton weights), and are usually doing so while trying to solve an important problem. No apparent damage is ever done to their relationships or bodies despite absorption of such abuse. It should be noted that the General is a recurring (background) character with no actual name, who sometimes appears in other episodes with different occupations (such as an archaeologist or police officer).
Nowhere Newsman is a local TV news reporter. The Nowhere Newsman introduces every episode stating, "We interrupt this program to bring you the Courage the Cowardly Dog show."[37] He is also seen in some episodes when the television is on, conveying news about the antagonist.
Horst Bagge is Eustace's deceased older brother, who at times drives the plot in certain episodes. It is stated that the two never got along, and a flashback in the episode "Farmer Hunter, Farmer Hunted" depicts a young Eustace being brutally bullied and taunted by Horst. Eustace retains these negative memories of Horst (which may explain his mean attitude today).
Charlie Mouse is a delivery mouse, and a personal friend of Courage's. He usually helps Courage out which would usually lead to the dialogue between one another. He is usually referred to as Mr. Mouse, but his first name is revealed as Charlie in the episode "The Mask".
The Three Government Ninjas are three ninjas that work for the United States government who wear the numbers 1, 2, and 3 respectively on their shirts. They are seen in a few episodes such as "Invisible Muriel" and "The Last of the Starmakers", assisting the General and the Lieutenant in cover-ups of paranormal affairs.
Space Dino is a dinosaur-like space alien that sits on an asteroid outside Earth's atmosphere, and is always seen with a tennis racket, which he uses to hit celestial objects. In the episode "1,000 Years of Courage", the Space Dino hits a meteor, which strikes Earth and causes time to progress 1,000 years into the future (taking Courage, Eustace, and Muriel into a new civilization of talking bananas), and later causes another meteor to strike the Earth (sending Courage and his owners back to the past). In another episode, a female space critter (who looks like the alien sports player) is seen force-feeding a mutated Eustace space food much to his dismay.
Courage's Parents are parents of Courage that they were sent into space by The Cruel Vet.[2] Not much is known about his parents or even their names, as they were seen only in "Remembrance of Courage Past" centering on flashbacks to his parents in the veterinarian's office, where Courage last saw his parents.[2] They were launched into space by the veterinarian, and Courage avoided a similar fate by escaping through a garbage chute, where he was found by Muriel. The veterinarian was trapped in the rocket, and transported to the planet where Courage's parents and other dogs resided.[2]
Kitty and Bunny are a cat and a rabbit who were best friends. After Bunny fell in love with a gangster named Mad Dog, Kitty tried to make her leave him, but failed, when being threatened by Mad Dog once he found out. At some point afterwards, Kitty came to the farmhouse and beat Courage whenever possible, believing all dogs to be bad. Courage later rescued Bunny from and defeated Mad Dog and his gang and Bunny reunited with Kitty, while telling her that Courage saved her life. Kitty then admitted that she had been wrong about dogs and helped Bunny onto a train she was on. The two thanked Courage and rode off together.
Icket Bagge is Eustace's and Horst's father and Ma Bagge's husband. He is mentioned in the episode "The Sand Whale Strikes". He has an appearance very close to Eustace's, except he has a beard. He apparently was very brave and big; as his Ma quotes, "You [Eustace] couldn't fill his shoes!". This is no exaggeration, as his shoes were rather giant, compared to his son. He was presumably deceased since Muriel stated "I'm sorry, Mr. Whale, but Icket Bagge is no longer with us".
The Duck Brothers are three brother ducks from outer space. Their names are Donnie, Clyde and Payne. One of them is always laying eggs even though he is male. They appear in one episode, in which two of them abduct Muriel and place a mind-control device on her for their own purposes. Courage tries to rescue Muriel, only to find that the duck brothers were planning a rescue mission of their own (to save the other duck brother, who has been captured by the US government and is about to be made into dinner). Courage volunteers to be mind-controlled instead, and they save the third brother. The three duck brothers reunite and leave. Two of them made cameo appearances in "Ball of Revenge", in which they provide a brief halftime show concert during the middle of a deadly dodgeball match between Courage and some returning villains (singing the song "Halftime Show").
The Hunchback of Nowhere is a strange and enigmatic character who has made only one appearance in the first season, in an episode of the same name. In appearance he is a short, facially-deformed little man who is hunchbacked, carrying with him a series of bells. Traveling across Nowhere in the middle of a rainy season, the Hunchback tried to find sanctuary among the locals only to be turned away by them based on his disfigured appearance. Arriving at the Bagge's home, he was immediately turned away by Eustace, though gained sympathy from Courage. Secretly spending the night in the Bagge's barn, the Hunchback became good friends with Courage, as well as Muriel who felt that "any friend of Courage is welcome here". Grateful for all he had received, the Hunchback paid back Courage's kindness by defending him from Eustace in one of their later confrontations. In the end, with the rains finally clear, the Hunchback left the Bagge's farm to continue on his journey, hoping to find more people of the same kindness. Before leaving, he gives Courage one of his bells.
The Star Maker is a female space squid who landed on Earth with her unhatched offspring. Her mate had recently died saving them from a space whale. Eustace called the US government, who contained the squid in a mobile laboratory, but Courage manages to hatch her offspring, who flew up into space to make new stars. Afterwards, she died peacefully and her body became a garden of large flowers and bushes.
The Magic Tree is a magical plant that Courage grows, capable of making ideas and dreams come true. However, Eustace grows jealous of it. Soon Muriel gets sick, and Eustace blames Courage and the tree. Eustace eventually overcomes Courage's efforts to preserve the tree, and he cuts it down. The tree gives Courage the remedy to cure Muriel; and as retribution for cutting the tree down, Eustace is afflicted with the same illness Muriel previously suffered. He appears only in the episode "The Magic Tree of Nowhere".
Carmen the Serpent is a one-eyed sea serpent who lives in the Evil River, who is "evil" according to a sea captain. The sea captain fools the Bagges under the false promise of a luxury cruise, only to reveal that he actually shanghaied them to sail through the Evil River to find and hunt down Carmen. The sea serpent kidnaps Muriel and takes her to her cave and starts singing opera to her. Courage comes to Muriel's rescue, only to realize that Carmen wasn't trying to harm Muriel. Courage helps Carmen to dodge and defeat the evil captain.
Twin Raccoons are two raccoons, and soon after the twins are revealed as bandits, they attack Courage and kidnap Muriel because they wanted her as a parent. Muriel feels pity on them and accepts them like her own adopted children.[38] At the end of the episode, Muriel's place has been taken over by Eustace as a new parent.[38] They appear again in "Farmer Hunter, Farmer Hunted" as audiences in the Hunt for Knowledge game show, however their names are "Hugo & Herman".[38]
Duncan is the storm goddess's pet dog who looks similar to Courage who gets lost.[39] The storm goddess mistakes Courage for Duncan and tries to take him, but Muriel argues with her (as such, the storm goddess angrily destroys the farmhouse with a storm). Mr. (Charlie) Mouse tells Courage where Duncan is.[39] Courage looks for Duncan and finally finds him in a sewer licking the God Bone, a bone that no dog can ever stop licking once licked.[39]Courage convinces Duncan to return to his owner by making him jealous of all the affection the storm goddess gives him.[39]