Mr. Big is a minor antagonist turned antihero of the 2016 film, Zootopia and one of the protagonists of Zootopia+.
He is the crime boss of the Tundratown mafia and Fru Fru's father.
Early History
Mr. Big's entire backstory was revealed in Zootopia+. When Mr. Big was a young shrew, he lived in the Old Country with his family. One day, during 19??, young Mr. Big left his home with his Grandmama to visit Zootopia, longing for a strong community for their people in the city of many possibilities. The two shrews got on a boat and bid their family farewell, with Mr. Big promising to bring them to their new home as well. It was a scary journey for the small shrews who were only a few meters away from the animal city, and the moment Mr. Big saw it, he became overjoyed and pointed to his Grandmama to look at the magnificent view.
Ashore, young Mr. Big walked around Zootopia with his Grandmama, filled with so much hope, believing that such a big city would have big things to offer. However, his hopes were dashed when they discovered that small mammals like shrews and mice struggled with their daily lives, facing many challenges and difficulties as a result of Zootopia being mostly designed for average-sized mammals. This revelation made Mr. Big doubt if Zootopia was a place for all kinds of animals, but it didn’t stop him from giving it a chance with Grandmama‘s encouragement and a shoe box that they stumbled upon in a road and redesigned as their new home.
Once the renovations finished, Grandmama decided to open a bakery business called "Grandmama’s Bakery" and Mr. Big gladly learned from his grandmother‘s experience in baking and enjoyed her fantastical creations. To help his Grandmama‘s business grow, young Mr. Big became her delivery shrew, much to the elderly shrew‘s joy, who advised her grandson to be careful on the way while handing his first delivery box with her baked goods, something which he needed to be due to his small size and how other mammals could barely notice him. This made Mr. Big‘s delivery very intense especially at crosswalks avoiding cars, bicycles, and pedestrians walking. He did make it safely much to his relief, although covered in dirt along with the delivery box. In a nearby neighborhood on the sidewalks, Mr. Big saw for the first time the ugly side of Zootopia, once he encountered a rhino crime boss and his criminal gang of a snow wolf and a weasel mugging a rabbit, much to the young shrew‘s horror. When the rhino boss turned to him, Mr. Big became scared and ran away as fast as he could to avoid a confrontation, but he tripped over and dropped the box which got crushed by a pedestrian covering a shocked Mr. Big‘s face in cream.
An ashamed Mr. Big returned to his home with tears in his eyes, feeling very sorry that he failed his Grandmama in his first delivery. But the kindhearted shrew comforted her grandson, not being mad at all and praising little Mr. Big for his big heart, and showed him a delivery bicycle much to Mr. Big‘s surprise and joy. The bicycle made Mr. Big‘s delivery way easier, no longer being as terrifying as before, with the young shrew handling crosswalks baldly and easily. He succeeded in making his first delivery to a mice couple with the wife wishing for the young shrew to send her best to his Grandmama, handing the shrew a coin, which Mr. Big hid in his hat and happily waved goodbye. All the coins Mr. Big gathered were saved in a big jar, which only got filled more and more with the business growing and Mr. Big finally feeling a sense of belonging in Zootopia with each delivery he made to the small mice, some being the one sleeping in a traffic light and many living in cardboard boxes. Soon the coin jar was filled, and the business expanded to big mammals as well.
One day, Mr. Big carried 3 big boxes of baked goods in a red wagon and went to the customers with a little push from his Grandmama, who wished her grandson to have fun. Once he made it, Mr.Big happily watched the three beavers enjoying their baked goods, with one throwing a coin to the little shrew. Before he went back to his deliveries, Mr. Big noticed some polar bears in a laneway suffering from extreme heat, which made the young shrew feel sympathy for them, and wished to do something to help them. Noticing an ice cream maker next to him, Mr. Big bought an ice cream cone with his coin and approached the polar bears, and tried to hand over the ice cream cone to an exhausted polar bear cub, who gladly accepted the gift, and with that out of the way, the young shrew went back to his deliveries with the happy polar bear cub waving goodbye.
During a delivery to a tiger, the doorbell was too high up for Mr. Big. Feeling lost as to what to do, Mr. Big was lifted by the polar bear cub from before, much to his surprise and joy. With the doorbell now within reach, Mr. Big rang it with the polar bear cub handing the goody box over to the tiger customer who gratefully paid the cub for the delivery. Mr. Big then made friends with the polar bear cub, Koslov, who helped the shrew in his deliveries as thanks for his kindhearted generosity. Soon Mr. Big made many new friends, who also started raising their businesses, inspired by Grandmama‘s Bakery's small, but very successful business.
But one day, while Mr. Big was heading for another delivery, his path was blocked by the Rhino Crime Boss who made him fall from his bike and made him drop his delivery box and the money which was stolen from the snow wolf thug, and the little shrew watched in horror as the thugs destroyed his friends‘ grocery stands and the Rhino crushed the bicycle his Grandmama gifted him, much to the shrew‘s sorrow. When Koslov defended him but got threatened by the cruel Rhino, it made Mr. Big very scared to see his friend in danger and his Grandmama‘s savings getting stolen from the criminal gang. All ran away and hid, and Mr. Big looked at his grandmother hiding behind a garbage bin whispering for his grandson to hide as well. But seeing his friend Koslov in danger, made Mr. Big very angry and refused to leave him behind. It was at this moment that the little shrew decided to stop getting pushed around by the big mammals and went to the laneway where the Rhino was holding Koslov. Mr. Big ordered the crime boss to put his friend down and ordered him one more time to put the bear down when the Rhino became confused. But the Rhino crime boss angrily lashed out at the small shrew, much to Mr. Big‘s fright, and hid in a small hole just as the Rhino was about to crush him with his foot. Once he got out of the hole, Mr. Big laughed at realizing the advantage of his small size and climbed inside the Rhino‘s clothes which tickled the big mammal, who let go of the bear cub. As Mr. Big reached the Rhino’s head, he tipped his hat down to blindfold him and ran away with Koslov, but his path was blocked with nowhere to run.
Seeing the Rhino charging towards him, Mr. Big whistled to his friends and told them to „ice ‘em“. Mr. Big‘s friends threw a trash bin at the furious Rhino‘s head, making him crash to a ladder, Koslov pulled a rope to make him trip and Grandmama threw her rolling pin to make the crime boss slip, where he crashed through the fence fell to an ice factory where he got iced and got pulled out frozen in an ice cube. Mr. Big became happy along with his friends and family that the Rhino crime boss was no longer a problem to their community, and shared a look with his friend Koslov.
After that, Mr. Big was reunited with his whole family, who made it to Zootopia thanks to Koslov‘s help in carrying the boat there safely from the Old Country. Eventually, Grandmama‘s bakery grew bigger, to the point that it welcomed mammals of all sizes. Mr. Big and Koslov also helped the polar bears who were still suffering from extreme heat by making it snow for them, by shredding ice cubes, making it cold enough for the polar bears to relax.
Fed up getting pushed around and looked down upon, Mr. Big became the new crime boss of the weasel and the snow wolf thugs that served the Rhino with Koslov becoming his righthand bear, which was only the beginning of his career as a crime lord. To show their allegiance to him, Mr. Big demanded the Rhino’s former thugs kiss his tiny ring, which they did nervously. With his new friends, subordinates, and polar bears‘ help, Mr. Big started building a place where the tiny mammals could live in peace with no worries. Thus he became the founder of Little Rodentia. A community where little mammals wouldn’t go threw the same strife he went through. He cuts the red ribbon with a scissor to make its opening official and waves at the cheering crowd while being carried in Koslov‘s right paw, who is carrying Grandmama in his left paw, and brings the two shrews together. When Grandmama expresses how proud she is of her grandson, her praise touches Mr. Big, who is happy that in the end, Zootopia became what he hoped it would be.
Throughout the Franchise
Zootopia
Zootopia+
Personality
Mr. Big is a crime boss from Tundratown and an old associate of Nick's. However, when Nick dishonored Mr. Big's grandmother by selling him a rug that was made from the fur of a skunk's butt. Since then, Mr. Big held a grudge against Nick and threatened to kill him if Nick ever showed his face again. He became a proud father of the shrew, Fru Fru, who was saved by Judy Hopps earlier.
Trivia
- Mr. Big is a parody of Vito Corleone from The Godfather franchise.
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