Slick Joe McWolf, better known as simply the Wolf, is a major character created by cartoonist Tex Avery. His portrayal varies from being one of Droopy's main enemies to being the latter's best friend.
With exceptions, the Wolf has never officially been named. However, Red has called him Wolfie in her songs, and he was referred to as Joe for a brief moment in Swing Shift Cinderella, by the younger version of Red. In The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, he is known as Slick Wolf and in Tom and Jerry Kids and in Droopy Master Detective, he is known as Slick McWolf. In the both series, he serves as the main antagonist in all of the Droopy segments.
The Wolf first made his first pairing with his best friend and partner Droopy in their first cartoon Dumb-Hounded in 1943. In the story, the Wolf, who is a killer, escapes from prison and keeps running into Droopy no matter where he goes, scaring him. In the end he is captured and Droopy gets a lot of money for his capture.
Since Droopy gained a new antagonist in the cartoon Wags to Riches in 1949, The Wolf has temporarily been used as an antagonist for Droopy. Butch Dog came in to mind taking another role, and has interestingly proven to be a far more cruel and effective villain than The Wolf has ever been by comparison; Butch stooping to the lengths and lines The Wolf would never go and become close to succeeding in a few cartoons.
Red Hot Riding Hood[]
The Wolf is most famous, however, in the short Red Hot Riding Hood, which is the first in the trilogy mentioned above. In the short, Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma, and the Big Bad Wolf get fed up with how the story was never changed and the narrator, annoyed, complies. He changes the setting so that Grandma lives in a penthouse, Little Red Riding Hood is a gorgeous dancer/singer at a nightclub, and the Wolf is a womanizer heading towards the nightclub.
He soon sees Red dancing and singing and he falls madly in love with her and goes really nuts, to the point making his famous cartoonish reactions. He asks her out, but she refuses and goes to visit her Grandma. The wolf heads to Grandma first and to his horror, Grandma instantly falls in love with him and chases him all throughout her home. The Wolf ends up falling out the window; he says he's through with chasing women, and would kill himself before he looked at another girl. Red shows up and he kills himself by blowing out his brains, but his ghost falls in love with Red and goes nuts.
The Shooting of Dan McGoo[]
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Swing Shift Cinderella[]
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Wild and Woolfy[]
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Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse[]
The Wolf is also used as one of Prince John's guards in Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and his Merry Mouse.
Villainous Acts[]
Cartoon Shorts[]
In numerous episodes, he goes crazy over Red and attempted steal her. Each time (except in "Red Hot Riding Hood" and "Swing Shift Cinderella"), he's thwarted by Droopy.
Shortly before being interrupted by Red appearing on stage in The Shooting of Dan McGoo, the Wolf attempted to kill Droopy by pulling a knife on him.
In said cartoon, as the Wolf was in the middle of kidnapping Red, he murdered a few people with a revolver pistol as he was on his way out.
In "Blitz Wolf", he's portrayed as a mixture of The Big Bad Wolf and a dictator named "Adolf Wolf" (an obvious parody of Adolf Hitler) who goes to war against the Three Little Pigs and defies the contract he signed with the first 2 pigs. In the end, he gets blown to Hell.
In "Homesteader Droopy", he tried numerous schemes to destroy the house Droopy built for his family. When they all fail, the Wolf starts a gun fight against Droopy. In the end, Droopy's infant son beats him up and is forced to provide milk from the cow.
In "Deputy Droopy", a pair of outlaws who look like him and Butch Dog attempt to steal gold from the Sheriff's safe. Even though they gagged Droopy, he keeps trying to make noise for the Sheriff to hear before they finally give up after being blown up with dynamite and put themselves in jail.
In "Dumb-Hounded" and "Northwest Hounded Police", he is an escaped criminal who gets hounded by Droopy throughout both episodes, resulting in some outrageous wild takes.
In "One Ham's Family", he is portrayed as The Big Bad Wolf who tricks Junior Pig into making him think he is Santa as an attempt to eat him.
Appears as "The Big Bad Dog Catcher" to catch Droopy, Snoopy, and Loopy to the City Dog Pound and blow their houses down in "The Three Little Pups".
Attempts to eat Droopy's sheep friends that he is supposed to guard in "Sheep Wrecked"
Pokes fun of Droopy's career while refusing to owe him a generous tip for his latte in the Cartoon Network Shortie "Thanks a Latte".
Appears as a recurring antagonist for Droopy and Dripple in Tom and Jerry Kids and Droopy Master Detective.
Antagonizes Droopy in The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (sometimes teaming up with Spike the Bulldog).
Movies[]
Appears as a guard for Prince John in "Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse."
Comics[]
Attempts to steal treasure from Droopy's ship and steal Red over in the Droopy comic "Pirates Ho!".
Trivia[]
The laid-back version of the Wolf in the mid-1950s is considered an early incarnation to one of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon heroes, Huckleberry Hound, due to the fact that the Wolf had a sweet, well-intentioned personality and once got bitten by a dog in The Three Little Pups.
However, Huckleberry's trademark differs from the Wolf's; the Wolf whistles the tune of "The Year of Jubilo", while Huck sings "Oh My Darling, Clementine" in off-key.
Both the Wolf and Huckleberry were voiced by the late Daws Butler, who assumed the voice roles in Southern accent.
