History Characters / FuturamaMainRecurringCharacters

The RidiculouslyCuteCritter that the Planet Express crew encountered while [[TheArk saving two of every animal]] from a planet about to implode. He proved to have a [[BigEater voracious appetite]], but thankfully, he's SolidGoldPoop incarnate -- his species produces dark matter, which could be used as starship fuel.

* ADeathInTheLimelight: [[spoiler:His second death in ''Calculon 2.0''.]]

* KilledOffForReal:

** [[spoiler:He's resurrected a season later, only to be [[BackForTheDead killed off again]] -- and it looks like he's gone for good this time.]]

** He bears many similarities to Creator/WilliamShatner. WordOfGod says this was intentional, as he was pitched as "what if William Shatner was captain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Enterprise]] instead of James T. Kirk?"

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The only possible reason for how he retains a job.

* TheChewToy: In the comics, to some extent (though it doesn't make him any less likable of a character). See NiceJobBreakingItHero below.

* TheChewToy: In the comics, to some extent. See NiceJobBreakingItHero below.

* SmugSnake: He ''does'' know what noble means, but thinks that that automatically means he ''also'' knows that noble is as noble does. Which is why Kif is fully ''allowed'' to do noble things, but only for principle's sake, as convinces it himself that Kif's triumphs ultimately don't matter; after all, ''he'' himself is already living his best life of being a captain who doesn't need to worry about telling "noble" and some weird phrase apart enough to know that they aren't mutually exclusive and are inevitably going to lead to wakes of destruction bound to backfire on him before anyone else 50% of the time.

** In one episode, he accidentally causes his ship to go down, and he says that "the captain must go down with his ship." Kif comments on [[TemptingFate how noble that is of him]]; unfortunately, no prison can hold him, even it happens to be a Titanic-styled ship with countless amenities to enjoy and cherish before the inevitable happens, and [[DirtyCoward he immediately promotes Kif to captain before fleeing]] the ship in a one man pod.

* TheStoic: With the occasional expection, he's got an unflinchingly straight face. It's part of what makes him so BadassAdorable.

** He shows himself as one on this very first appearance: after he breaks down to Leela and admits he's just an idiot who never has any idea what he's doing, he uses her sympathy to get her to have sex with him, gloating over it for the rest of the series.

* HypocriticalHumor: In "War is the H-Word", Fry is demoted to Kif's assistant and Kif proves to be an even worse boss than Zapp, being openly hostile towards and constantly yelling at Fry, even calling him a "worm." Then again, working for Zapp definitely has led to some ''severely'' repressed anger on Kif's part, and Kif has more than enough decency to at least treat not find a way to endanger Fry's life like Zapp would, so it could always be much, much worse.

* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble]]: The Phlegmatic, being [[TheStoic stoic]], the least excitable out of the Planet Express crew (when he's not ObfuscatingStupidity, at least) and arguably the most passive, even though he usually just sticks to being a tag-along.

* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five Temperament Ensemble]]: Melancholic

** In one episode, he accidentally causes his ship to go down, and he says that "the captain must go down with his ship," Kif comments on [[TemptingFate how noble that is of him]]; unfortunately, no prison can hold him, even it happens to be a Titanic-styled ship with countless amenities to enjoy and cherish before the inevitable happens, and [[DirtyCoward he immediately promotes Kif to captain before fleeing]] the ship in a one man pod.

--> '''Zapp''': Brave-o! En-core!

* SmugSnake: He ''does'' know what noble means, but thinks that that automatically means he ''also'' knows that noble is as noble does. Which is why Kif is fully ''allowed'' to do noble things, but only for principle's sake, as convinces it himself that Kif's triumphs ultimately don't matter; after all, ''he's'' already living his best life of being a captain who doesn't need to worry about telling "noble" and some weird phrase apart enough to know that they aren't mutually exclusive and are inevitably going to lead to wakes of destruction bound to backfire on him before anyone else 50% of the time.

* HypocriticalHumor: In "War is the H-Word", Fry is demoted to Kif's assistant and Kif proves to be an even worse boss than Zapp, being openly hostile towards and constantly yelling at Fry. Then again, working for Zapp definitely has led to some ''severely'' repressed anger on Kif's part.
* IJustWantToBeBadass: A couple of times. He does pretty well, considering.
* InformedAttractiveness: Out of Zapp, Kif, and Fry, Kif is apparently supposed to be the best looking. At least, according to the Fem-Puter. The art style makes this pretty difficult to tell.

* NiceGuy: He's kind of [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] early on, but grows more into a shy, sensitive nice guy through his relationship with Amy.

* TeenyWeenie: It's implied his penis size is unimpressive in "Proposition Infinity", where his quarrel with Amy at the beginning of the episode has him respond to Amy calling him a jellyfish by stating that he's more closely related to the sea cucumber, with Amy retorting "Not where it counts".

** He was horrified that the network executives would put Bender on ''All My Circuits'' acting in such a horrible manner, pointing out how children watch the show and that Bender would be a terrible role model.

* DumbBlonde: Male example. He has blond hair [[(Dodgy Toupee which may or may not actually be a toupee)]] and is dumb as a rock.

* DumbBlonde: Male example. He has blond hair ([[Dodgy Toupee which may or may not actually be a toupee]]) and is dumb as a rock.

* JerkassToOne: While Zap Brannigan is callous and [[GeneralFailure a terrible leader]] on the best of days - sending all of his male soldiers to die needlessly and single-handedly having female officers banned from the Earth's military via sexual harassment--he is particularly abusive to his right-hand Kif. He insults him, has him do menial labor, takes advantage of what little hospitality Kif offers to give him, and has Kif dishonorably discharged along with him in "Brannigan, Begin Again" for a crime Kif had nothing to do with and sleeps with his grieving Fonfon Ru Amy. That last one bares mentioning since [[spoiler:Zap had Kif dislodge a missile they intended to fire, spamming the launch button while Kif was still stuck to it, leading to his death and eventually sleeping with Amy after the funeral]], implying that Zapp genuinely views Kif as a nuisance rather than just a quintessential put-upon lackey.

* DumbBlonde: Male example. He has blond hair and is dumb as a rock.

* HateSink: Zapp is a [[SmugSnake smug]], [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic]] KnowNothingKnowItAll who is completely out of shape and broadcasts his delusions of superiority with reckless and lethal abandon. With that being said, it can be hard to remember to hate him because he's [[ComedicSociopathy hilarious]]. If he were played with [[VileVillainSaccharineShow complete seriousness,]] he'd be one of the most unlikeable characters ever written.

* JerkassToOne: While Zap Brannigan is callous and [[GeneralFailure a terrible leader]] on the best of days - sending all of his male soldiers to die needlessly and single-handedly having female officers banned from the Earth's military via sexual harassment--he is particularly abusive to his right-hand Kif. He insults him, has him do menial labor, takes advantage of what little hospitality Kif offers to give him, and has Kif dishonorably discharged along with him in "Brannigan, Begin Again" for a crime Kif had nothing to do with and sleeps with his grieving Fonfon Ru Amy. That last one bares mentioning since [[spoiler:Zap had Kif dislodge a missile they intended to fire, spamming the launch button while Kif was still stuck to it, leading to his death and eventually sleeping with Amy after the funeral]], implying that Zap's contempt for Kif is based around legitimate hatred for his lieutenant and not just ego and lack of forethought.

** He shows himself as one on this very first appearance: after he breaks down to Leela and admits he's just an idiot who had no idea what he's doing, he uses her sympathy to get her to have sex with him then gloats over it for the rest of the series.
** In one episode, he accidentally causes his ship to go down, and he says that "the captain must go down with his ship" after Kif comments on how noble that is of him, he immediately promotes Kif to captain and then flees the ship in a one man pod.

** In "Zapp Dingbat," he does seem to have a genuine love and respect for Munda, but at the end orders her to lie to the Carcarons that they're signing a peace treaty when really the document is a declaration of war. She refuses and instantly dumps him.

* StrawMisogynist: His levels of sexism are as [[RefugeInAudacity complex]] as they are repulsive. Even after seeming to have gotten off happily with Munda, his backward "no battle of the sexes unless it's a final battle" mindset quickly comes into play, not viewing Munda as a slave, but trying rather forcefully to wear the pants in the relationship by making decisions that ''endanger other alien races'' for the sake of war and glamour (in this case, the Carcarons). And then there's his [[TerriblePickUpLines pickup routine]]... Whatever happened to that book wasn't enough for him to re-learn his approach.

* YankTheDogsChain: "Brannigan Begin Again" has him find a competent boss in Leela, and despite his irritating her with his tales of how awful Zapp is, he still enjoys the feeling of being free from Zapp's command. Then Zapp mutinies, and Kif is dragged back into being his assistant.

** He genuinely loves Munda when he hooks up with her in "Zapp Dingbat", never mistreats her at any point during their short-lived relationship and [[IgnoreTheFanservice turns down Leela]] when the latter tries to win him over.

* FauxAffablyEvil: He tries to act cheerful and amiable, but anyone who hangs around him for more than five seconds can see that he's really just a selfish idiot.

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:The Planet Express crew brings him back to life in the late series episode "Calculon 2.0", only for him to die again at the end of the episode.]].

* StupidEvil: Zapp is notable because he is both profoundly stupid and profoundly evil and destructive to a malicious extent. He often gets into deadly wars against alien species because they mildly irritated him and is so bad at military strategy he considers doing a ZergRush with thousands of his own men to be a stunning tactical victory.