| Villain Overview |
| “ | Careful, I'm contagious. | „ |
| ~ Thrax's most famous quote, as well as his introduction. |
| “ | Ebola? Let me tell you something about Ebola, baby. Ebola is a case of DANDRUFF compared to me! | „ |
| ~ Thrax expressing his strong dislike when Scabies compares him to the Ebola virus. |
| “ | Ya see this? This here little DNA bead comes from a little girl in Riverside, California. Didn't like to wash her hands. Took me three whole weeks. And this one. Nice lady in Detroit, Motown; Six days flat. Then there's this old guy in Philly. I killed him in seventy-two hours. Yeah, I'm getting better as I go along, baby, but the problem is I never set a record! Until my man Frank, that is. I'm gonna take him down in forty-eight hours! Get my own chapter in the medical books! | „ |
| ~ Thrax talking to a group of germ thugs, explaining his wicked evil plan to break his record by killing Frank DeTorre in two days. |
Thrax is the main antagonist of the 2001 Warner Bros. hybrid film Osmosis Jones.
He is an extremely virulent and contagious virus, as well as a disturbingly vicious murderer, who strives to be remembered as the deadliest virus known to man. However, his plan was foiled by Osmosis Jones and Drix.
He was voiced by Laurence Fishburne, who also played Jimmy Jump in New Jack City, Omar in Ride Along, Sade in Standoff and Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Biography[]
Before the events of the film, Thrax killed three victims which was a little girl who didn't like to wash her hands in 3 weeks, then killed a nice lady in 6 days and then an old man in 72 hours.
By the beginning of the film, Thrax enters the body of Frank DeTorre, a zookeeper without the slightest regard for hygiene and health, when the latter eats an egg that was just spat by a chimp onto the ground. By doing so, he infiltrates the City of Frank, a huge metropolis inside Frank's body in which each of his body cells is living a life identical to that of humans, with white blood cells as cops and germs as criminals.
Thrax casually murders the two witnesses of his arrival, uses their boat to go down Frank's throat which he also causes a throat inflammation and goes to the germs' headquarters in Frank's armpit. There, he quickly takes control of the germs' gang by killing their leader Scabies; and plans to take advantage of Frank's poor health condition to operate undetected.
The titular primary protagonist is Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, one of Frank's white blood cells who was demoted from the police after he activated the emergency evacuation (i.e., throwing up), to get rid of germs from polluted oysters, which was seen as "unnecessary force" gets reluctantly teamed up with a rule-abiding cold pill named Drix (Drixenol) to investigate the throat inflammation (in fact Thrax's doing) with the latter unknowingly covering up the evidence of Thrax's arrival, and they discover that something far more dangerous is going on. Ozzy and Drix investigate the nose dam where Thrax and his gang destroy the dam to make it look like a common cold. Before making his escape, Ozzy sees Thrax before rescuing Drix from the mucus overflow of the nose. Even after Jones reveals that he saw Thrax as the cause, the incompetent and election-obsessed Mayor Phlegmming (who is to blame for Frank's disastrous lifestyle) dismisses his warnings and states it to be nothing more than a "common cold". However, Drix sticks with Ozzy and they learn from flu vaccine informant, Chill, that Thrax is at a zit nightclub where there is a meeting being held there.
Jones uses his body-altering abilities to pass as a germ and infiltrates a meeting of Thrax and his thugs inside the zit to get in on what is going on. There, he discovers that Thrax is a deadly virus and serial killer whose purpose is to kill each person he contaminates faster than the last and is now planning to murder Frank within 48 hours (which is faster than any virus has killed) so that he will be a famous killer and get his own chapter in the medical books. When Ozzy is caught, Drix barges in just as Thrax was about to incinerate him. After a brief battle, the zit is destroyed in the explosion of a medicine grenade, killing most of Thrax's gang and seemingly Thrax himself as well.
Yet, the virus has survived and is hiding in a toenail with Joe Cramp and Bruiser left. As Thrax prepares to get back on schedule, Bruiser suggests they incubate for a while as they are a few in numbers (which would mean Thrax won't be able to break his record). Very angered, desperate and disillusioned, Thrax kills both Cramp and Bruiser in an explosion, heading off to finish things as a lone wolf.
Phlegmming fires both Ozzy and Drix with the latter being forced to leave due to the fact that he's only but a hyped-up cold medicine for 'temporary relief'. Despite being fired, Ozzy believes that things will be normal. However, Thrax infiltrates the brain and attacks Frank's hypothalamus where he steals a DNA bead from it, causing his body temperature to skyrocket. This makes Ozzy realize that Thrax is alive and manages to convince Drix to stay. Meanwhile, Leah Estrogen, the mayor's assistant and Ozzy's love interest, starts suspecting that something is amiss, but even when he can no longer ignore the situation, Phlegmming keeps underestimating it. Leah starts her own investigation in the brain and discovers what is going on and alerts the security by activating the alarm. Thrax manages to avoid security by hiding in the memory room but gets disturbed by Frank's memories and manages to escape the room. Leah stumbles upon Thrax, who takes her hostage. Meanwhile, the entire city is devastated in a fire under Phlegmming's disbelieving and remorseful eyes.
Frank is rushed to the hospital in critical condition where the doctors and nurses try everything to cool him down but don't seem to know what the problem is. Ozzy and Drix catch up to Thrax and Leah, rescuing her, but not before Drix manages to shoot Thrax's claw with a freezing blast, preventing him from using it.
Thrax triggers a sneeze to exit Frank's body, followed by Ozzy who used Drix's cannon to propel himself after his foe, landing in Frank's daughter Shane's eye.
Ozzy and Thrax engage in a fistfight, with Ozzy altering his body structure to better fight his foe, fighting him evenly. Unfortunately, the ice around Thrax's claw is shattered, and he manages to catch Ozzy before proceeding to strangle him with the DNA chain. However, he and Osmosis are sent flying by one of Shane's tears. Thrax attempts to stab Jones with his claw, madly gloating that he will break his record with Shane (whom he calls "Frank's pretty little girl") as soon as Frank dies, but Ozzy reveals that he trapped him on the girl's fake eyelash that is about to fall.
Ozzy clings to Shane's real eyelash, with the DNA chain still around his neck, while Thrax falls into a bottle of rubbing alcohol, dissolving himself in a painful death. Just as Frank reaches 108 degrees and goes into cardiac arrest, Ozzy uses Shane's teardrop to re-enter Frank's body and return the stolen DNA bead, saving Frank's life in extremis. Ozzy and Drix are then declared heroes for saving Frank with Ozzy getting his old job back and Drix being allowed to stay in Frank's body.
Appearance[]
Thrax is a one-of-a-kind virus, characterized as a very tall and strong humanoid clad in black, with a long black coat that enables him to glide in the air, and a pair of dark shades he often wears. He has red skin, purple tentacle-like dreadlocks, yellow eyes, fangs, and clawed fingers, with a long claw on his left index finger that can burn any cell it touches, be it living or material. His way of killing people is comparable to an extremely intense fever, raising the body heat until it can no longer bear it.
Personality[]
At first glance, Thrax appears to be collected, sophisticated, charismatic, and polite, but he is actually a cruel, heartless, sadistic, and psychotic villain.
Thrax is notable for being a very dark and threatening villain in an otherwise lighthearted comedy. As a serial killer, he lives for breaking the record of causing death in the shortest time possible, which he regards as a challenge. He wants the doctors to give him his own chapter in the medical books. He is sadistic, greatly delighting in causing death and suffering to people and cells alike, and he is also intensely proud of his killing spree, often bragging about his many victims, among other displays of macabre and dark humor. Thrax has a tendency to be sarcastic, making dry comments about the somewhat poor quality of Frank's criminal underworld, calling it "scums".
He always keeps a chain made of the DNA of all of his victims as a creepy and scary keepsake and often singsongs Peggy Lee's "Fever" song when spreading his disease as a twisted sense of irony. He had a brief comedic moment when he discovered Frank's memories, remarking that he was sick even before he entered Frank's body.
He is also shown to have an extremely temperamental and volatile temper despite his often charming and respectful ways and often flies into short yet fiery rages at the prospect of obstacles. He hates being compared to the Ebola virus, comparing it to dandruff. He prides himself in having never been spotted by his victims' organism before (until he entered Frank and Osmosis found out about him), and opposition only makes him more reckless, psychopathic, and unhinged. This is shown when he decides to kill his remaining recruits just because they suggested incubating so they can recruit reinforcements.
Despite his violent tendencies, Thrax is meticulous, intelligent, and knowledgeable about human anatomy; knowing how to blend among common viruses, how to cover his tracks, and where to strike as efficiently as possible. Yet, his obsession with keeping his perfect record at all costs would lead to his downfall.
Quotes[]
| “ | Think I'll turn up the heat in here. | „ |
| ~ Thrax setting the boat on fire. |
| “ | So, this is where the scum of Frank comes to fester. | „ |
| ~ Thrax upon meeting his soon-to-be minions. |
| “ | Sounds like a gas, baby. Bring it on. | „ |
| ~ Thrax to Scabies. |
| “ | Joe Cramp: What sickness do you have in mind, boss? Thrax: Deadly. |
„ |
| ~ Thrax reveals that his disease is lethal. |
| “ | Joe Cramp: Do you want me to take care of them? Thrax: No. Hit all the pressure valves! They're about to blow the scene. |
„ |
| ~ Thrax ordering his minions to break the snot dam. |
| “ | Joe Cramp: Hey boss, looks like your plan worked. Thrax: That's right. I got the city exactly where I want it. Joe Cramp: So what about the cop and the pill? Thrax: Well, let's just say if they give us a problem: ♪Fire!♪ |
„ |
| ~ Thrax to his minions about Osmosis Jones and Drix. |
| “ | My plan is simple, three teams will move through the cranial artery and one through the nasal passages. We are going to the brain, baby. And we are stealing one of these. This sucker comes from a place called the hypothalamus gland. Hypothalamus. Hypothalamus. Controls the temperature for the body. We are going to march in and take the prize. Then my name Frank's gonna heat up like a sidewalk on a summer day. | „ |
| ~ Thrax talking to a group of germ thugs, explaining his main goal; to kill off Frank by stealing a piece of a bead from the hypothalamus gland. |
| “ | Now all of this is coming down tonight, so I want everyone to be prepared. | „ |
| ~ Thrax is about to announce his plan. |
| “ | Well, what do we have here? An officer of Frank's finest. Somebody lay down a towel. This is gonna be messy!! | „ |
| ~ Thrax making an attempt to kill Osmosis Jones. |
| “ | They're making this too easy! *laughs* You know, in all the bodies I've been in, no-one has ever gotten wise to me, and now for the first time, an immunity cell has figured out everything, and they don't believe him! *chuckles* Can you taste the irony in that? | „ |
| ~ Thrax finding the fact that the first person who ever learned of his plans is ignored amusing. |
| “ | YOU incubate! I said forty-eight hours, I'm gonna MAKE my deadline. Medical books aren't written about LOSERS! | „ |
| ~ Thrax killing the rest of his gang when they suggest laying low. |
| “ | Whew. This cat was sick before I even got here. | „ |
| ~ Thrax after escaping the room full of Frank's memories. |
| “ | Thrax: Hi baby. Leah: What are you waiting for? Shoot him! Thrax: If you follow me, she dies! |
„ |
| ~ Thrax to Leah as he takes her hostage. |
| “ | Enjoy the funeral, boys! | „ |
| ~ Thrax escaping Frank's body. |
| “ | Just don't know when to quit, do ya Jones? | „ |
| ~ Thrax about to battle Osmosis Jones in Shane's eye. |
| “ | You know what, Jones? You want this chain so bad? Big Daddy Thrax is gonna let you have it! Looks good on ya, Jones! You wear it well! It's a shame you had to come this far from home just to die. | „ |
| ~ Thrax strangling Osmosis Jones with the DNA chain. |
| “ | Thrax: Can you feel the heat, Jones? (laugh) Too bad you won't be here to see me break my record when I take down Frank's pretty little girl. Ozzy: She ain't going down! Thrax: Huh? Ozzy: YOU are! Thrax: WHAT?! NO! |
„ |
| ~ Thrax's last words upon listening to Ozzy's response before falling into the fluid and dissolving to his death. |
Trivia[]
- Although he did not know it, Thrax getting his own chapter in the medical books would have also been his undoing if not for Ozzy and Drix, since the doctors would eventually discover how to cure him. However, how long this would take is unknown, meaning that Thrax may have been able to kill more victims, as well as Frank. Thus, he had the potential to cause a pandemic, if able to travel around the world fast enough.
- Furthermore, should Thrax succeed in killing Frank, he would have killed Shane at a faster time.
- When asked what the story is with Frank, one of the doctors replies, "I don't know. I don't know what it is," which means that Thrax could be a new virus that developed or a biological weapon. Also, Thrax doesn't really do what a virus usually does because he's a serial killer more interested in killing rather than multiplying and staying alive.
- Thrax's name comes from the real-life disease "anthrax", though Thrax cannot be likened to any real-life virus. However, the symptoms resemble an exceptionally violent version of Scarlet Fever or hyperpyrexia.
- Thrax is described as La Muerte Roja (Red Death), in reference to the Edgar Allen Poe story Masque of the Red Death. However, the symptoms of the disease in the story bear little resemblance to the symptoms caused by Thrax.
- The song that Thrax hums throughout the film is called "Fever".
- Despite the film's failure for critical viewers, Thrax has been praised, mostly due to the criticism for the film's live-action portions while the animated scenes were praised.
- Thrax's design was inspired by Morpheus from The Matrix franchise, who was also portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. In an additional reference to The Matrix, while Jones and Thrax were fighting, the camera angles mirror that of The Matrix.
- During his fight with Ozzy when he goes into his low-sweep kick, anyone can see an animation goof in Thrax's turtleneck where it is not filled in the chest region.
- Thrax is the first animated movie character to be voiced by Laurence Fishburne.
- Thrax collecting some DNA from the hypothalamus as a trophy is accurate to real viruses that pick up samples of their host DNA and carry it with them.
- He is shown to be left-handed, as he always slashes with his left hand.
External Links[]
- Thrax on the Pure Evil Wiki
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 Villains
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Osmosis Jones Ozzy and Drix | ||