| “ | Surprise! And here, I thought you'd be difficult to catch. Silly me. There you go, all buckled up for the trip. And look, I even got you a little snack. | „ |
| ~ Gantu upon capturing Lilo and Stitch. |
| “ | You didn't open the cell. I did. | „ |
| ~ Gantu redeeming himself. |
Captain Gantu, also simply known as Gantu, is the secondary antagonist of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise.
He was formerly the right-hand enforcer of Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel who was tasked to capture every single illegal experiment of Dr. Jumba Jookiba, in hopes of achieving intergalactic domination. Deep down underneath his rough exterior, however, actually lies a good heart that ultimately gets him to redeem himself.
He is also the owner of Reuben, as well as the former arch-nemesis of the titular duo, Jumba and Pleakley.
He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also voiced the Shredder in the 1987 and 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover and Tombstone in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- While he wasn't a villain at the time (he was in charge of the Galactic Federation Armada, in fact, who preserve order throughout the galaxy), it is shown that he did have a problem with ethics.
- He decides to judge Stitch before getting to know him. Fortunately, the Grand Councilwoman decides to give Stitch a chance to prove that he isn’t all evil, though he throws it out the window.
- After recapturing Stitch and accidentally kidnapping Lilo, he decides to leave Lilo at Stitch’s mercy believing he’s going to eat her. This action also made the Grand Councilwoman realize that he is out of control and she decides to fire him.
- He decides to work with Dr. Hamsterviel, knowing that he is evil.
- He kidnaps Jumba and agrees to help Dr. Hamsterviel torture him, though the torture attempts fail miserably. Jumba did insult him, but it’s likely that he would have kidnapped him anyways.
- When Lilo angers him by tossing the experiment pods Dr. Hamsterviel had obtained out the airlock (and calls him a big dummy), he decides to sell her to a zoo in retaliation. While this would not kill her, this is still a violation of her human rights and cruel mercy at best.
- He uses Angel to undo some of the experiments' redemptions and turns them evil again, before having them attack Stitch.
- He tries to drown Stitch in “Hunkahunka”, most likely knowing how afraid of water he is, though it quickly becomes comedic when the titular alien bird pecks him.
- He endangers Victoria by using her as bait to draw out Snooty after realizing that the creature was drawn to her.
- He attempts in Snafu to undo the redemption of the cousins scattered throughout Hawaii by using a recording of Angel played backwards, but it comedically backfires thanks to the titular experiment switching out the tape with a recording of him singing karaoke.
- He breaks Hamsterviel out of prison, which gives him free reign to do what he wants.
- He helps Dr. Hamsterviel force Jumba to create Experiment 628, Leroy. Implictly, he also helps Hamsterviel force them into Pleakley's rented van so they will be sent into a black hole.
- He agrees to help Dr. Hamsterviel capture the cousins so that he can destroy them all.
- He initially agrees to imprison Reuben as well as Lilo.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- While corrupting Jumba’s experiments and being willing to let Lilo be eaten by Stitch alllows him to pass the baseline, he fails the heinous standards of Lilo & Stitch to his boss Dr. Hamsterviel who had Stitch temporarily turned evil again and by extension turned against his family while making him go back to destroying everything he touched and tried to kill all of the experiments with a canon, as well as to Jumba who created hundreds of dangerous experiments in the first place. While Gantu is the one who dispersed the experiment pods towards Kauai, starting the main conflict of the series, he did it by accident and he had no intention of that happening.
- He wasn't wrong to want to take action against Stitch during the first movie, as his instinct was to destroy everything that he touched and he could be still be destructive and mischievous even after his redemption.
- He cares for other people:
- He was loyal to the Grand Councilwoman, accepting a second chance from her to recapture Stitch when Jumba and Pleakley are seemingly not up for the task.
- He did show some care for his men when he warned them that Stitch was endangering them. It could be argued that he did so because they were useful but as this list proves, he has shown loyalty to other people, so it was likely genuine.
- He gradually becomes friends with Reuben over time, though they don't always get along.
- He was loyal to his boss Dr. Hamsterviel, at least before he realized that he doesn't care about his feelings and that he is better off with Reuben instead. Additionally, he busted him out of prison as one giant apology for failing him so many times.
- It is shown in "Dupe" that part of the reason he is evil because he had a really bad childhood, making him tragic. While Reuben does note that he is being overly whiny, the episode still portrays it sympathetically as something that genuinely affected him.
- He is less evil in Lilo & Stitch: The Series as it makes a good effort to humanize him.
- While he’s initially taken very seriously, he becomes played for laughs very often in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, with lots of comedic moments where he’s not taken seriously. Even when he is taken a tad more seriously in Leroy and Stitch because he busts out Dr. Hamsterviel, he still doesn’t subvert this and even mistakes Hamsterviel for the warden's gerbil.
- Even before his redemption, he was On and Off as he agreed to help the Grand Councilwoman recapture Dr. Hamsterviel, though he accidentally kidnapped Mertle in the process, and also teamed up with his enemies to defend themselves from Splodyhead, making Stitch realize that there is goodness in him despite what he thought before.
- He does show some honor when he decides to return Stitch to Lilo in exchange for Yaarp (he does not show this same kind of honor when making a deal involving Slugger, though this can be understandable due to how many experiments he has already lost) and he also decides to give Woops to Lilo and Stitch when he realizes that Hamsterviel does not want him, rather than banish him to a faraway place or destroy him. He also called off the hunt for Slick in exchange for a piece of chocolate bar from Lilo, so he can be cured from his cold.
- He redeems himself in Leroy and Stitch, freeing Lilo and Reuben and allying with the heroes to stop Hämsterviel. At the end of the movie he regains his position as captain, now with more ethics, and decides to have Reuben be his galley officer.
External Links[]
- Captain Gantu on the Villains Wiki
- Captain Gantu on the Heroes Wiki
- Captain Gantu on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
- Captain Gantu on the Disney Wiki
- Captain Gantu on the Lilo and Stitch Wiki
[]
 Villainous Benchmarks
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