Rattlesnake Jake

Villain Overview

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“	Hello, "brother". Thirsty?	„
	~ Jake to Rango, offering his "brother" a shot glass full of his own venom before throwing it away.

“	Listen close, you pathetic fraud. This is my town now. If I ever see you again, I will take your soul straight down to Hell!	„
	~ Rattlesnake Jake driving Rango out of Dirt for his lies.

Rattlesnake Jake is the secondary antagonist of Nickelodeon's 23rd full-length animated feature film Rango.

He is, as his name implies, a dangerous Western diamondback rattlesnake who never leaves the town of Dirt without taking at least a single soul, according to Bad Bill. It later turns out that Rattlesnake Jake is secretly working with Tortoise John, Dirt's mayor, who wants the citizens to move so he can build a new, modern city.

He was voiced by Bill Nighy, who also played Viktor in the Underworld film series, Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Whitey in Flushed Away, General Fallon in Jack the Giant Slayer, The Network in The World's End, Prince Naberius in I, Frankenstein, Leo Argyll in Ordeal of Innocence and Howard Clifford in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. In the video game, he was voiced by the late David Anthony Pizzuto.

Appearance[]

Rattlesnake Jake is a western diamondback rattlesnake. He wears a black cowboy hat, shedded skin as a vest, and has a Gatling gun in place of his rattle on the tip of his tail. He is also shown to have small black scales on his upper lip that greatly resembles a mustache.

Personality[]

“	Jake: Sign the damn paper, woman! Beans: Go to Hell. Jake: Where do you think I come from? Look into my eyes. I wanna see you die.	„
	~ Jake about to kill Beans when she refuses to sign the paper.

Rattlesnake Jake is characterized as extremely cruel, vicious, and destructive. While incredibly experienced in battle, he also seems to be very familiar with utilizing fear, humiliation, and power-plays to get inside his enemies' heads. This was shown in the film, as he openly shamed Rango in front of all the people in Dirt and managed to keep everyone paralyzed with fear using only words and his frightening presence. This suggests that he can be quite cunning and manipulative.

Jake is also shown to be incredibly sagacious and perceptive, considering the fact that when the hill folks disguised themselves as a hawk in an attempt to scare him, he quickly discovered that it was a trick just by noting a very minor mistake they made.

The combination of manipulation and perceptiveness suggests an intelligence far beyond that of a simple thug. Jake is a living legend among the people of the desert and is known as a Grim Reaper-like figure, even saying himself that he comes from Hell and that he never leaves town without taking someone's soul. The only creature that Rattlesnake Jake fears is the Hawk, which everyone else in Dirt also fears.

However, Jake is shown to have a code of honor, as he will side with others if they have a common enemy or he legitimately respects or admires someone. He also detests liars, as he calls out Rango for lying to the people of dirt and later kills John for betraying him.

Biography[]

09392c64b21e472e5f8a5ceb15bc28c4--gagne-bullets — Jake's evil stare.

Early in the film, Rango claims that Rattlesnake Jake is his brother when he is first brought up by the townspeople while making up his overblown heroic persona; thus, when Jake attacks the town, he uses this bald-faced lie to expose Rango as a phony in front of everyone and drive him out of town.

It is then revealed that Jake is working for the evil Mayor Tortoise John and, in a later scene, he is seen forcing Beans to sign away the deed of her father's ranch to the mayor and almost strangles her to death before Rango shows up again outside.

With help from the Rodent Clan, Rango defeats Rattlesnake Jake and aims his gun at him. Jake taunts him but sees that Rango has the killing intent in him, which he previously lacked. Just as he is about to shoot him, however, the Mayor stops him by threatening Beans' life, forcing Rango to surrender to the Mayor.

During the final confrontation, the Mayor betrays Rattlesnake Jake by pointing Rango's gun at him, declaring him no different from Rango and another relic of the Old West that will soon be destroyed and forgotten along with the rest of the town. When the Mayor tries to shoot, it turns out that the last bullet was taken by Rango, who then uses it to break open the giant water bottle that he and Beans were drowning in and flush everyone out of the town hall into the streets, where Rango finally manages to subdue the Mayor.

Rango then turns the defeated Mayor over to Rattlesnake Jake, who then nods his hat to Rango for saving his life, acknowledging him as another great desert legend that will thrive.

Rattlesnake Jake then turns his rage towards the Mayor by using the Mayor's words against him, "Pretty soon no one will believe you even existed", in a show of cruel irony to him. Jake then snatches the Mayor up in his tail and carries the screaming tortoise out into the desert to punish him for his betrayal, thus taking a soul, as Bad Bill said.

So far it is not known what became of Rattlesnake Jake afer he took revenge on the mayor, possibly redeemed himself, or simply left the property for good.

Quotes[]

“	All these good folks here believe your little stories, don't they? Why, they think you're just a stone killer, don't they? It seems these folks trust you. They think you're going to save their little town. They think you're going to save their little souls. But we know better, don't we?	„
	~ Jake confronting Rango.

“	So why don't you show your friends here what you're made of? Show them who you REALLY are? Why don't you just pull your gun and shoot me?	„
	~ Jake messing with Rango.

“	Go ahead, hero. Pull the trigger. You got killer in your eyes, son? I don't see it.	„
	~ Jake messing with Rango.

“	Decisions, decisions.	„
	~ Jake

“	Do what he says, or by all the fires of the black pit I'll squeeze them pretty brown eyes out of your skull!	„
	~ Jake threatening Beans.

“	Let me do my job! You brought me in, now we're gonna play this thing out to the end!	„
	~ Jake when the Mayor tries to stop him from killing Beans.

“	This day just got a little more interesting.	„
	~ Jake seeing Rango return.

“	Rango: Put her down. Jake: Or what, little man? Are you gonna kill me? Rango: That's just about the size of it.	„
	~ Jake and Rango's confrontation before their duel.

“	Alright, Sheriff, make your move!	„
	~ Jake instigating the duel.

“	I'm going to blow so many holes in you, your guts will be leaking lead!	„
	~ Jake threatening Rango.

“	Ain't no hawk! It ain't nothing but bats!	„
	~ Jake realizing he's been tricked.

“	Rango: [pointing his gun at Jake] It only takes one bullet. Jake: You ain't got the nerve! Rango: Try me.	„
	~ Jake's near-defeat at the hands of Rango.

“	One bullet. I tip my hat to you, one legend to another.	„
	~ Jake reconciling with Rango.

“	What was that you said? "Pretty soon, no one will believe you even existed".	„
	~ Jake to Tortoise John before he drags him into the desert to presumably kill him for his betrayal.

Trivia[]

Rattlesnake Jake was based on Angel Eyes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, the last film in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy), played by the late Lee Van Cleef, as they have similar personalities, traits, dialects, black hat, antagonistic relationship with the hero, and (most importantly) their mustache. However, unlike Angel Eyes, Rattlesnake Jake had a much more on the honorable side underneath his heinous acts, and upon being betrayed by the Mayor, he lets Rango free while setting his sights on the Mayor, intent on killing him as revenge for his betrayal. Also, it should be noted that Angel Eyes seems to work much more on an intelligence level than on a brute force level (which he works on simply to kill people at the end of his jobs).
In Latin American Spanish, Jake was voiced by Joaquín Cosío, who also played General Medrano in Quantum of Solace, Scorpion in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Mateo Suarez in The Suicide Squad. In Iberian Spanish, he was voiced by Domenech Farell, who has played a multitude of villains, such as Koba in the Planet of the Apes franchise.
Despite being a secondary character of the film, Rattlesnake Jake is a fan favorite, and more dangerous than Tortoise John, though the Mayor was much eviler than Jake since he betrayed him and is a liar.
The reason Jake exposed Rango instead of killing him was that if he killed Rango physically, Rango would die looking like a hero.
It's unknown why Jake has a gun as his tail, leaving unclear if he lost that part of his tail at some point, if someone put it on him or if his tail at all is complete and the gun is detachable.

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Villains

Animated Television
Ren Höek | Stimpy | Ren Höek (Adult Party Cartoon) | Stimpy (Adult Party Cartoon)

Villains

Villains

Town of Dirt
Mayor Tortoise John | Rattlesnake Jake | Bad Bill

Rodent Clan
Balthazar Douglas Peterson | Maybelle

Other
Hawk

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