Eustace is a very cynical and jaded old man who is usually irritated and frustrated by the world around him. Eustace has an unquenchable thirst for monetary gain. In almost every episode, he is seen sitting in his favorite red chair while reading a copy of the Nowhere newspaper and possibly watching his television which he deems precious to him. He has an adamant disliking for Courage and frequently calls him “stupid dog”, taking great pleasure in scaring and messing with him whenever possible, which largely stems out of jealousy that Muriel constantly pampers and dotes on Courage; however, it is not uncommon for Eustace to scare or mess with Courage just for fun or to get Courage to leave him alone.
Lack of talent and good looks fuel Eustaces demeanor that has been a wreck since his childhood. Throughout his life, he lived under the shadow of his mean spirited brother Horst, was hated by his mother; and neglected by his father. This is probably why he is so angry all the time. He is in constant denial over his lack of abilities and, as such, believes he can fix anything. Eustace is excruciatingly greedy, and will seize any opportunity to be paid. Courages arrival was an unwelcome addition to his life, as it distracts his wife Muriel from feeding him; a fact that he emphasizes frequently, and paying attention to him in general. Despite this, Eustace has shown a genuine love towards Muriel (though not unbending in the least) and has on occasions allied with Courage to protect her. He is immune to emotions but has a soft spot for children that remind him of himself. His constant tormenting of Courage seems to be a disguise to cover up his own cowardice, which is also quick to be displayed in a scary situation; in fact, he often displays even more cowardice than Courage himself. His favorite musician is Velvet Vick, and his interests include watching television, fishing, and reading his newspaper.
Despite being a main character, Eustace also has several roles throughout the series where he is the main antagonist. The most notable is in the episode “Ball of Revenge”, where he gathers and meets up with the villains that Courage had previously encountered and either outwitted or defeated to get rid of him by challenging him to a game of dodgeball. He almost got Courage killed due to his jealousy of attention gathered by Muriel over himself.
Although almost always an antagonist, Eustace has occasionally worked with Courage to try and overcome some particularly nasty villains. For example, in “Katz Kandy,” when Muriel is kidnapped by a candy creation of Katzs and Courage is defeated by him in a staring contest and turned into candy for his loss, because of Eustace showing up. Eustace, who surprisingly protected Muriel, also saved the day by holding off Katz while Courage pulled the lever, sending him to his own candy making machine (after Katz tries to do the same to him first).
As well as his bullying, Eustace has long been established as a very acquisitive and greedy individual who has brought disaster upon himself and others in his stubborn pursuit of riches, showing no sympathy and hesitation to those around him (that he often doesnt deserve). One of the more famous examples of this was Eustaces refusal to give up King Ramsess slab after Eustace finds out it is potentially worth a fortune; despite that Ramses continually demands they return the slab between unleashing horrible plagues in warning.
That episode arguably cemented Eustace as a villain and the direct threat and most dangerous enemy to Courage. However, sometimes he teams up with Courage if need be, as seen in a few episodes such as “Bad Hair Day“. Another episode where he is the main antagonist is “The Hunchback of Nowhere“, where he repeatedly abuses and bullied a hunchback that just wants to seek shelter at their house. This is one of the only episodes where he is alarmingly dangerous.
Nevertheless, these alliances are usually temporary. More often than not, Eustace is a very stubborn and even devious individual. However, its implied that even Eustace knows there are certain boundaries that he shouldnt cross. When the Cruel Veterinarian made clear his intentions to send Courage to space in a rocket, Eustace fiercely disagrees with him, which means that Eustace may be cruel, but has his kind moments.
Eustace Bagge is one of the three main characters in the Cartoon Network series, Courage the Cowardly Dog and serves as one of the major (on-off) antagonists of the show, specifically to Courage. He is Muriels husband and an elderly, skinny, jaded, disgruntled, cynical, greedy, hard-working American man who is interested in money and obsessed with his truck. Eustace is also the current owner of the farmhouse, which was previously owned by his now-deceased brother Horst. Eustace wears glasses identical in appearance to Muriels, and his brown hat shields his bald head.
Eustace often refers to Courage simply as “Dog” and rarely addresses him by name. Eustace is commonly the subject of an unpleasant ending, whether it being a backfire of his get-rich-quick scheme or the villain of the episode going after him, or better yet, getting his comeuppance at the end, often in quite brutal or fatal ways.
Lionel Wilson originally voiced the character, but left midway through the third season (and eventually died five months after the show ended) and was replaced by Arthur Anderson. In the 2014 short titled The Fog of Courage, Wallace Shawn replaced Anderson as the voice of Eustace, while in the 2021 Scooby-Doo/Courage the Cowardly Dog crossover film Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog, Jeff Bergman took over as the voice of Eustace.