Hopper

Hopper is the main antagonist of A Bug's Life.

Enemies

Lincoln Loud Flik

Hopper is a feared grasshopper who is blind in one eye due to a scratch caused by a previous encounter with a blue jay. He leads his gang of grasshoppers, including his brother named Molt and his violent and savage enforcer named Thumper, who keep full control over the ants. Hopper, unlike his gang, does not underestimate the ants' strength; he knows that while weaker than the grasshoppers as individuals, the ants outnumber his gang a hundred to one.

During Hopper's first visit to the colony, the gang finds the food supply ruined, so he throws the blame on the ants and demands them to gather double the amount he has initially requested by the next season. When he is dissatisfied with the amount of offering the ants give him after a second chance, he usurps Ant Island and plots to squash the Queen after enough food has been gathered. After hearing from Dot about Hopper's plot, Flik and the circus troupe return to the island to rescue the Queen by putting his plan into motion. The circus bugs present their act in front of the grasshoppers to distract Hopper, who initially orders his henchmen to squish them, but later decides that they can use a little entertainment. After Manny takes the Queen for a magic trick, Hopper interrogates him to tell where she has gone by strangling him, only to be cut off by a fake bird, that the ants have made earlier in the season, which comes down swooping toward him.

Hopper is initially terrified at the sight of the bird, due to his ornithophobia (fear of birds), but soon discovers the bird is fake when P.T. Flea sets it on fire. Hopper angrily takes Dot hostage again. Furious and embarrassed, he interrogates the ants, including Princess Atta, to find out who is responsible for the ruse. Flik defensively orders Hopper to leave Atta, Dot, and Dot's friends alone and then confesses that the bird was his idea. Hopper signals Thumper to beat up Flik. After five kicks, Hopper signals him to stop. He then signals Thumper to give Flik one last kick. Hopper then declares how dangerous ideas can be and that ants are mindless, soil-shoving losers, put on this earth to serve the grasshoppers. But then, a black-eyed Flik manages to stand up to his feet and revolt against Hopper, revealing that ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers and are strong in number. Angered by Flik's defiance, Hopper advances toward Flik and knocks him to the ground. Before Hopper can execute Flik, he is stopped by Atta.

Inspired by Flik's speech, the entire colony of ants stands up against the grasshoppers. As the colony charges towards Hopper's gang, they abandon their leader and flee, leaving Hopper to be seized by the ants and trapped in a circus cannon, right at the time when a thunderstorm starts. Hopper then sees his chance to escape and shoots himself out of the cannon towards Flik, whom he takes hostage as he flies away with him in revenge for being humiliated.

The circus bugs chase after them to try to save Flik, but they only succeed in pulling off one of Hopper's antennae. Atta intervenes and swipes Flik away from him. Hopper chases after the two across the stream. He corners Flik near a bird's nest, strangles him, and declares how so much time has been wasted by Flik's tricks and that he will rally more grasshoppers and return next season. A bird pops out from the nest, but Hopper, believing the bird to be another one of Flik's tricks, taunts the bird until it shrieks at him. Now realizing that this bird is the real one, Hopper screams and tries to flee, but the bird, however, turns out to be faster than him as it snatches him in its beak in one swift move and takes him to its nest, where he is eaten by the bird's chicks.

At the end of the movie, Tuck and Roll are shown jabbering on about their fight with Hopper while holding a piece of his antenna, which is all that is left of him.