Nick Wilde

Nick Wilde is the deuteragonist of the 2016 Disney animated feature film Zootopia.

In the film.
On an average day, Nick and Finnick were in the midst of their latest scheme. He is first seen snooping about Savanna Central, and eventually entering Jumbeaux's Café, unknowingly being tailed by Officer Judy Hopps, a rookie of the Zootopia Police Department, as she believes Nick, being a fox, is up to no good. Inside the café, Nick is denied service due to his species, though Nick claims he means no harm, and is simply looking to buy a Jumbo-pop as a birthday present for his son (Finnick, disguised as a toddler). The shop owner, Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., refuses again, prompting Judy to intervene. She does so by threatening to shut down Jerry's establishment for health code violations, and out of fear, Jerry complies with Judy's demands by allowing Nick to buy the pop. With his luck running strongly, Nick furthers his scheme by claiming to have left his wallet at home, prompting Judy to pay out of sympathy. Nick then thanks Judy for her services, before he and Finnick leave the scene. They head to Sahara Square to further their plot, which is revealed to be an elaborate scheme in which he and Finnick melt down the Jumbo-pop to create dozens of miniature pops (pawpsicles), selling them to lemmings at less than the original price, and recycling the popsicles' sticks to sell to mice for construction in Little Rodentia. After the work for the day is complete, Nick and Finnick split the profits and part ways, just before Judy reveals to have witnessed their entire scheme unfold, feeling foolish for having fell for Nick's trickery.

Out of anger, Judy threatens to arrest Nick, but the fox retorts by claiming he's done nothing illegal, having all of the required permits and paperwork in check to allow such schemes to take place. He subsequently berates Judy on her failure as a police officer, and giving her the "reality check" that Zootopia is not a utopia where anyone can be anything, but a dystopia where you are what preconceptions say you are. These words strike Judy, and the following day, she becomes determined to prove herself, as her boss, Chief Bogo, also has negative feelings towards a bunny cop. She receives the opportunity when she volunteers to help solve the missing mammals case of Emmitt Otterton, though Bogo only allows her 48 hours to do so, or face resignation. After investigating, Judy finds that Nick had ties to Otterton, and labels him as a witness. She finds both Nick and Finnick in the midst of another scam, and asks information on Otterton's whereabouts, being that Nick sold him a pawpsicle shortly before his disappearance. When Nick refuses to help, Judy threatens to arrest the former for felony tax evasion, which she hustles him into admitting to have committed, using her carrot pen with a voice recording function to do so. With his luck run out, Nick unwillingly joins Judy's mission, hoping to retrieve and dispose of the carrot recorder once their job is complete.

He confesses that he only knows where Otterton went following their interaction, but sadistically neglects to inform Judy that the location was a naturist club, wanting to make her as uncomfortable as possible, as a means to exact revenge for her trickery. At the club, Judy, despite being distraught in response to the nude animals, manages to push through and gain information—the license plate of the car Otterton was last seen in—from the club's owner, Yax. However, being that she is not yet in the city's system, Judy uses Nick to run the plate, claiming she'll release his bind once her case is over in a matter of hours. Nick once again retaliates by taking Judy to the DMV run by sloths, where his friend Flash takes the majority of the rest of the day running the plate, according to plan.

They find the car to be in Tundratown, though the lot is closed for the day by that point. Nick comments that Judy must back down as she doesn't have a police warrant to enter the premises, meaning their partnership is over. However, Judy throws the recorder over the fence, making Nick rush to get it, thus violating trespassing laws. This legally allows Judy to enter under "probable cause", and she successfully retrieves the pen before Nick, thus leaving her in charge once more. As the two search through the car, Nick realizes that it belongs to Mr. Big, the most feared crime boss in Tundratown, who has a price on his head for a business transaction gone wrong. Nick attempts to escape, only to find himself and Judy captured by Mr. Big's henchmen. They are taken to the crime boss' mansion, where Judy interrogates the arctic shrew, accusing him of being a suspect in Mr. Otterton's disappearance. In response to this and Nick, Mr. Big orders to have the two frozen to death, only to have a change in heart when his daughter, Fru Fru, arrives and explains that Judy saved her life earlier. Mr. Big allows the two to live, and invites them to Fru Fru's wedding as honored guests. There, Mr. Big gives information on Otterton's disappearance, advising that Nick and Judy travel to the Rainforest District to question Mr. Manchas, the last person to have seen Otterton.

When they find Manchas, he is in a state of deep fear, feeling reluctant to allow Nick and Judy inside, though he reveals the events of Otterton's disappearance, explaining that he went savage and attacked him, exclaiming something incoherent regarding the "Night Howlers". Nick cleverly convinces Manchas to allow himself and Judy inside, which the latter commends, but before they can undergo further questioning, Manchas suddenly loses his sanity, turning savage, himself. Nick and Judy make a run for their lives, and are hotly pursued by Manchas. Judy manages to evade the jaguar, but Nick is left cornered near a drop off. Manchas lunges to kill Nick, but Judy chains the former's ankle to a supporter, saving Nick's life; much to his surprise. Chief Bogo and his police force arrive on the scene, only to find that Manchas is nowhere to be found. Bogo accuses Judy of failure, and requests her badge. Nick views the cruelty from behind and steps in to defend Judy, calling out Bogo's bigotry and noting that she still has ten hours left to solve the case, forcing Bogo to stand down and allow the opportunity. Nick and Judy take their leave on a gondola, where Judy thanks Nick for his compassion. Nick then takes to time to explain his rough childhood, his sympathy towards the oppressed, and the reasoning behind his conning lifestyle. He immediately regrets doing this, as he broke his vow to keep his vulnerability under wraps, and makes an attempt to change the subject.

Judy merely comforts him on the matter, thanking him for sharing his story. Nick doesn't acknowledge her words, as he suddenly gets the idea to uncover what happened to Manchas by using the city's camera systems, which are plugged into just about every area in each district, with Judy having the connections in City Hall that allows her to accomplish this. Later that morning, they visit Bellwether, the assistant to Mayor Lionheart, who grants them access to the city's traffic cams. They find that Manchas was captured by wolves (the "Night Howlers"), and Nick cunningly tracks their path through hidden roads to an abandoned hospital outside of town called Cliffside. Judy, impressed by Nick's actions, congratulates the fox, and notes that he has the potential of being a valuable addition to the ZPD, though he brushes this off. Once the two head out, they eventually find an asylum heavily guarded by wolves, and filled with imprisoned predators who have fallen under the "savage" infection.

The operation seems to be run by Mayor Lionheart, who Nick and Judy eavesdrop on, learning that he wants to keep the imprisoned predators a secret to prevent public panic, and by extension, protect his job. When discovered, Nick and Judy escape, and report their findings to Bogo, who arrives with his force and arrests Mayor Lionheart. Following these events, Judy is hailed a hero, and a press conference is held in regards to the situation. Nick advises a nervous Judy to remain calm, and moments before it's time for her to speak to the press, Judy offers Nick a position on the police force as her partner. Nick, touched that someone sees something beyond his species, takes it into consideration, and proudly looks on as she speaks about her latest victory. When asked why the predators have gone savage, however, Judy, at a loss for answers, suggests that it may have something to do with "biology", which is taken as a serious sign that predators are reverting back to their ruthlessly primitive and aggressive ways. Nick takes extreme offense by this, feeling Judy has done nothing but labeled all predators as "savages" which, in technicality, she did. While being confronted on the matter, Judy starts to feel threatened, and actually makes reach for her fox repellent, confirming that she, too, sees Nick as a potential savage, much like the rest of the world. A betrayed Nick then leaves the department, returning the application and declining Judy's offer to join the force. When Judy takes a look at the application, she finds that it was filled out entirely. Following these events, Nick returns to his normal life, reuniting with Finnick and finding himself lounging about in solitude in his spare time.

Suddenly, Judy returns and with a breakthrough in the case, needing Nick's help to solve it and save the city. Nick declines, which prompts Judy to confess how foolish she's been, and how regretful she is for causing so much trouble while, most importantly, hurting Nick in the process. Knowing her words are genuine, Nick forgives Judy, teasingly recording her confession on her carrot recorder, which he has held onto. The two then make their leave and track down Duke Weaselton for information. Duke had stolen flowers on Judy's second day in the city, and those flowers were linked to what causes animals to go savage. When Duke refuses to cooperate, the pair bring him before Mr. Big, who threatens to ice him unless he told them what they wanted to know. Duke reveals that the flowers were sold to a ram named Doug, who owns a lab hidden in the underground subway tunnels. Nick and Judy find Doug, and learn that the flowers have been used to create a serum that, when injected, will turn predators savage.

Judy hijacks the lab (which is on a still-functional train) and tries to take the evidence to Bogo. Doug and other rams attack, but though they are defeated, the train is derailed and destroyed. Nick, fortunately, reveals to have saved the evidence containing the dart gun and its night howler toxin ammo, and the two make way to Bogo through the history museum. There, they encounter Bellwether, who is revealed to be the true mastermind behind the villainous operation. She sends her minions to capture Nick and Judy, and though they make a break for it with the evidence in hand, Judy is injured in the process. Nick refuses to leave her, and tries to carry her to safety, only to be thrown into a pit-like exhibit by Bellwether's goons. There, Bellwether regains the dart gun and shoots Nick with the savage serum so that he would become feral and kill Judy. Bellwether subsequently calls Bogo to make it all look like another accident, but both Judy and Nick reveal to have gotten the best of Bellwether, as the bullet was actually just a blueberry, which they switched before Bellwether could regain the gun. With Bellwether's confession of criminal activity recorded on the carrot pen, Bogo and his force arrive and arrest her.

In the end, Judy is reinstated as a member of the Zootopia Police Department. Nick, with a change of heart towards his life, joins as well, becoming the first fox officer. At Nick's police graduation ceremony, Judy badges the former herself, exchanges salutes with him as an official welcoming into the force, and subsequently takes him on as her partner. The epilogue shows that Nick has become a welcomed member of the force, and even a liked companion of Chief Bogo, who gives both Nick and Judy the task of tracking down a street racer as their first assignment. While staking out, the relationship between Nick and Judy is shown to be stronger than ever, with Nick getting Judy to admit that she loves him; sentiments he returns with a warm smile. Eventually, their perp zooms by who, ironically, reveals himself to be Flash, much to Nick's surprise and amusement.

During the end credits, Nick joins Judy and several other Zootopia citizens in attending a concert starring pop star Gazelle.

Role in the Series.
Nick is still the wise-cracking wise-ass in the force as always. He even still hangs out with old friends, including Finnick. But soon, he'll find himself getting an oppertunity to meet even greater "friends in high places".