The Crusher (Looney Tunes)

The Crusher is a Looney Tunes character.

History

The Crusher first appears as a brutish boxer called "The Champ" in 1948's Rabbit Punch. The Champ duels with Bugs after he heckles his beatdown on a previous challenger. At first, Bugs, having no experience, is punched back to his corner by The Champ. After this happens three times, Bugs begins using strategy to win. Afterward, the two begin cheating and the match changes from boxing to wrestling. The match ends at round 110 when The Champ ties Bugs to a railroad and tries to run him over with a train. The film breaks right as Bugs is about to be run over.

The Crusher later appeared as a professional wrestler in 1951's Bunny Hugged (directed by Chuck Jones). After he defeats Ravishing Ronald, the Crusher faces off against Bugs Bunny as the Masked Terror. When the Crusher gets Bugs in a leg-scissors move, Bugs resorts to some strategy where he makes the Crusher think he ripped his trunks. Posing as a tailor named Stychen Time, Bugs jabs a needle in the Crusher's backside causing him to fly screaming through the audience. The Crusher then comes charging back, but Bugs opens a safe door letting Crusher run through it and bounce off the ring ropes before being slung back into the now closed door. A now disoriented Crusher is able to be pinned (literally, as Bugs put a coat on Crusher, gets him to lie down and pins the coat's shoulders to the mat). When the match ends and Bugs is declared the new champion, Crusher snaps out of it. He offers his hand to shake Bugs', despite the crowd's objections causing the Crusher to merely growl them into silence). Bugs relents and when Crusher tries to bite Bugs' arm he's instead biting through a stick of dynamite, which blows up in his face.

Later appearances

Crusher also appeared in a Tiny Toon Adventures episode featuring two songs by They Might Be Giants: Particle Man (as a wrestler) and Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (as a henchman).

Crusher also had a cameo role in Carrotblanca as a doorman.

Crusher appeared in an episode in The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.

He also appeared in two episodes of Duck Dodgers, voiced by John DiMaggio. In "Surf the Stars," Crusher appeared as a rogue surfer that challenges Duck Dodgers to a surfing contest. In "Till Doom Do Us Part," Crusher appears as a member of Agent Roboto's Legion of Duck Doom where he sports a different outfit.

Crusher appeared on the web show "Fast Feud" on looneytunes.com.

In 2003's film Looney Tunes Back in Action, The Crusher makes a cameo as one of the judges on DJ's stunt performance.

Crusher was a boss character in the Super NES video game "Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage."

Crusher appears in some episodes of The Looney Tunes Show, but mostly makes grunt sounds. He first appears in "The Jailbird and Jailbunny" as an inmate at the prison that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are imprisoned in after they committed contempt of court. He nearly punched Bugs Bunny for insulting him by calling him a "Neanderthal-shaped head man" only to call off his near-attack when the prison guards appeared. During work in the rock pile, Daffy tries not to insult Crusher which leads to Daffy dragging Bugs into escaping him and prison. When Bugs and Daffy's prison time is up, Daffy says goodbye to Crusher. The same episode also featured the "Merrie Melodies" song "Blow My Stack" where Crusher is part of Yosemite Sam's anger management group. In "Fish and Visitors," Crusher is seen on a wrestling program that Yosemite Sam is watching. In "To Bowl of Not to Bowl," the "Merrie Melodies" song "Yellow Bird features Crusher as a beachgoer whose relaxing keeps getting disturbed by Sylvester's attempts to catch Tweety. He is shown to care for a young girl that he knows as seen when Sylvester accidentally destroyed her sand castle.