10 Things You May Now Know About Wreck-It Ralph

1. Who’s the Real Star Here Anyway?

Even though Ralph ended up being the title character in Wreck-It Ralph, that wasn’t always the plan. In early versions of the story, Fix-It Felix Jr. was intended to be the main character, with Ralph merely in a supporting role. Fortunately, the film’s writers soon realized that Ralph’s character arc, that of trying to become a better person, was a much more compelling story, so the two roles were switched.

2. We Know Ralph Can Be Scary, But Come On!

Not only was Ralph not the main character in early drafts of the film; he wasn’t even a human! Early concepts of Ralph portrayed him as a monster-like creature. He even went through several variations; at one point he was a red furry monster, much like Sulley from Monsters, Inc. Speaking of Monsters, Inc., another idea was for Ralph to be an abominable snowman.

3. Retro Ralph

But some of Ralph’s early designs had a nostalgic touch. For a brief moment, consideration was given to portraying him in the style of a classic of 1930’s Disney cartoon villain, most notably Pete from the Mickey Mouse shorts. Eventually though, it was decided that Ralph should be human in order to be more relatable, and further, his styling should harken back the 8-bit video game style of the 1980s.

4. What Size Shoes Does He Wear? Oh, Never Mind…

However, just because he was human, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t be huge. Even though he’s only a couple of inches tall at best when seen by video game players, in the arcade world his height soars to an equivalent of nine feet tall. Although he’s quite the sharp dresser (no one can rock a red-and-orange plaid shirt quite like Ralph!), he curiously doesn’t wear any shoes!

5. He Could Have Been a Star

Originally, Ralph was intended to have a song of his own to sing, specifically an “I want to be…” type of song in the style of Ariel’s “Part of Your World” and Tiana’s “Almost There.” For better or worse, that idea was eventually dropped, though it did evolve into a running gag in which Ralph is never able to finish a song because he’s always interrupted by something or someone.

6. …Or Royalty!

We know that Vanellope von Schweetz made for a unique sort of princess, but would Wreck-It Ralph make a good prince, or better yet a king? Don’t laugh! During the D23 Expo back in 2013, Frozen writer Jennifer Lee jokingly suggesting that Elsa and Wreck-It Ralph would make a good couple. How good? Well, players of the Disney INFINITY video game got a chance to find out. If Ralph and Elsa were introduced to each other, Ralph will tell Elsa that she was “really pretty”, and Elsa would reply “And you have a warm heart.” Hmmm…

7. That Makes Much More Sense

The prospect of Ralph being royalty may be a bit of a stretch, but how about being a Beast? When actor Dan Stevens was doing character research in order to prepare for his role as the Beast in the 2017 live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, Wreck-It Ralph was one of the characters that he studied.

8. Cameos

Sharp-eyed viewers could spot Ralph in some of the promotional material for the Disney animated feature Big Hero 6. He could be seen in several of the promotional scenes that took place in the film’s primary location, San Fransokyo. In the final film, you can find an action figure of him on top of Hiro Hamada’s computer. He can also be spotted as a taffy-covered figurine (a reference to Sugar Rush) in Fred’s bedroom.

9. He’s Everywhere!

Want more cameos? How about these! You’ll find a rhinoceros version of Ralph (named “Wreck-It Rhino”) on the cover of Duke Weaselton’s bootleg copy of Wreck-It Ralph in Zootopia, and in Moana he can be seen as a drawing in a tapestry during the credits.

10. Shake and Bake!

Ralph was voiced by John C. Reilly, who also had a brief appearance in the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy as Rhomann Dey, a corpsman in the Nova Corps, the Nova Empire’s military and police force. Reilly also appeared with his Wreck-It Ralph costar, Jack McBrayer (Fix-It Felix Jr.) in the 2006 live-action comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.