John Wayne may have starred in over 150 movies of various genres throughout his storied career, but two things he was never known for were animation and science-fiction. That’s why it’s such a surprise that one of the most brilliantly hilarious animated sci-fi characters of modern times takes his name from a John Wayne movie. The 1975 film Brannigan is a workaday action thriller starring Wayne in the тιтle role. It isn’t remembered as one of the Duke’s best movies. In fact, it’s scarcely remembered at all, except by the writers of animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama, apparently.
When it came to naming one of Futurama’s most beloved (and hateable) characters, space captain Zapp Brannigan, prior to his first appearance in the show in 1999, the writers obviously felt they needed an over-the-top moniker for this self-styled action hero. So, they went back through the archives of the action genre, and evidently stumbled upon one flick, which formed part of John Wayne’s late-stage career alongside classics like The Cowboys, that’s so utterly exaggerated and stylistically inauthentic that they had to borrow its name.
John Wayne’s Brannigan Is Likely The Inspiration Behind Futurama’s Captain Zap Brannigan
The Name Brannigan Doesn’t Appear Anywhere Else In 20th Century Movies Or TV Shows
The name Brannigan doesn’t appear anywhere in popular movies and TV of the 20th century but John Wayne’s 1975 film of the same name. What’s more, there are no famous Hollywood names which carry the surname. Therefore, it’s only logical to deduce that Matt Groening, David X. Cohen and Brian Kelley, who came up with the Futurama character Zapp Brannigan, got the character’s name from the movie Brannigan.
It certainly helps that the name “Brannigan” is ᴀssonant with the word “zapp”, an onomatopoeic term for the sound laser guns tend to make in sci-fi media. In this way, the name Zapp Brannigan trips off the tongue nicely, as all good action hero names should.
What’s more, in Futurama Zapp Brannigan is known to state his own name in the hyperbolic style of a TV announcer, as the character’s voice actor Billy West has described it in interviews. This style is exactly how the original trailer for the movie Brannigan says the тιтle character’s name, which is also stylized as an exclamation on the film’s poster.
Lt. Jim Brannigan And Captain Zapp Brannigan Actually Have Little In Common
One Is A Hard-Headed Police Detective While The Other Is A Cowardly Fraud
Aside from sharing the same name, however, John Wayne’s character Lt. Jim Brannigan and Futurama’s Captain Zapp Brannigan really have little in common. Jim Brannigan is a battle-hardened police lieutenant sent to sort out violent mobsters, who thrives on a shootout. Zapp Brannigan is responsible for some of the worst things any character does in Futurama, as a vainglorious and idiotic spaceship captain whose heroic reputation is a charade of his own making. Far from being a hero, his character is actually defined by cowardice and sleaze.
Futurama’s Zapp Brannigan is a complete fraud, who couldn’t be more different from the hardened heroes John Wayne typically played.
This stark contrast between the Duke’s Jim Brannigan and Captain Zapp Brannigan actually makes the choice of name by Futurama’s writers even funnier. Zapp Brannigan is supposed to be a tough guy hero, not unlike the тιтle character in the movie Brannigan. Indeed, Futurama protagonist Leela believes that’s what he is prior to meeting him, having heard famous stories about his daring intergalactic escapades. As it turns out, Futurama’s Zapp Brannigan is a complete fraud, who couldn’t be more different from the hardened heroes John Wayne typically played, which only serves to underscore the show’s wicked sense of irony.
