Wile E. Coyote's Movie Quietly Vindicates A Different Looney Tunes Anti-Hero

Warning: Spoilers for Coyote vs. Acme

After decades of serving as one of the franchise’s biggest villains in stories starring both Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote found himself being painted as the underdog hero everyone can root for in Coyote vs. Acme. The movie highlighted his best qualities, including his undying determination and clear understanding of his priorities in life. Curiously, though, he wasn’t the only character to receive an unconventional role in the film.

Something similar can be said of a few other characters. Most notably, there was Foghorn Leghorn; the rooster undeniably instigated many of his conflicts with the Barnyard Dog in the classic Looney Tunes shorts, but Coyote vs. Acme went much further than that, placing him firmly in the role of the movie’s main villain, even ranking above John Cena’s Buddy Crane in terms of authority.

Another character treated differently than expected by Coyote vs Acme was Tweety Bird, who stood revealed as an informant of sorts for Acme. Apparently, he was working for the evil corporation in order to protect Granny, whose husband had gone rogue against the company and disappeared.

This allowed Coyote vs. Acme to outwardly portray Tweety as an antagonist, something few would expect from a Looney Tunes movie. However, his chosen side may not come as a surprise to one particular character, one who might deserve to be viewed from a new perspective now.

Tweety Bird’s Villain Role In Coyote vs. Acme Is A Reminder Of His Classic Sylvester Cartoons

While Tweety admittedly had a good reason for helping Acme, it’s worth noting that he seemed to do so with little – if any – resistance, including the scene where he fired a rocket at the movie’s heroes and also when he participated in Acme’s plot to capture Road Runner. If Tweety hated being a villain, it didn’t show in Coyote vs. Acme. And based on his behavior in classic Looney Tunes cartoons, that’s not incredibly hard to believe.

Although often depicted as the innocent, would-be victim of Sylvester, Tweety has – on occasion, demonstrated some sinister tendencies. It cannot be denied that Sylvester was typically utilized as the villain in their joint appearances, but there were several instances where Tweety would openly provoke the cat into chasing him, and would even put him in extremely perilous situations on purpose, possibly for no other reason than to see Sylvester suffer.

Of course, some of Tweety’s actions against Sylvester were quite understandably motivated by self-preservation. But others seemed deliberately cruel, such as the time Tweety intentionally – and successfully – managed to make Sylvester fail his attempts at giving up birds for good in the Academy Award-winning Looney Tunes short, Birds Anonymous. Plus, there were several cartoons where Tweety engineered an unnecessary fall for Sylvester.

Sylvester’s moments of terror were obviously played for laughs, but it happened consistently enough to give the impression that Tweety – in spite of his seemingly innocent demeanor – enjoyed tormenting the cat. And that notion is backed up by comments from the actor who gave him his voice for 47 years.

Even Mel Blanc Said That Sylvester Wasn’t Always The Villain Versus Tweety

Mel Blanc, the voice actor behind Tweety and so many other Looney Tunes icons, shared his thoughts on many of the characters he helped bring to life in his autobiography, That’s Not All Folks!, he spoke of his affection for the Sylvester character, and argued that Sylvester’s reputation as a villain was unearned. According to Blanc, Sylvester wasn’t up against the innocent little bird Tweety would try to come across as in the cartoons, which goes to show that there truly is something to the idea that Tweety does indeed have a dark side.

Rather humorously, Coyote vs. Acme actually embraced that interpretation of the character. Here, we see Tweety – regardless of his reasons – openly fighting on the side of the villains. Perhaps the only disappointment is that Sylvester’s very brief role movie never afforded him a chance to oppose Tweety as one of the heroes. Nonetheless, it may be worth looking at the misunderstood house cat in a more sympathetic light in the future.