Sour Bill

"They call you Sour Bill for a reason!"

- Ralph, after tasting Sour Bill

Sour Bill is the secondary antagonist in Disney's 2012 animated film, Wreck-It Ralph. He is a gloomy sour ball that served as King Candy's most trusted henchman during the latter's reign over Sugar Rush.

Background
In the kart-racing game of Sugar Rush, Sour Bill was programmed to serve as the assistant to Princess Vanellope von Schweetz. Shortly after the cabinet was first plugged in, however, Sugar Rush was hijacked by a deranged racer named Turbo, who sought to rule the game as a means to remain the most popular racer in the arcade. Sour Bill somehow became involved in Turbo's scheme and assisted him in entering the game's code room, where he tried to delete Vanellope's code, turning her into a glitch during his attempt. Turbo then locked away the memories of the game's inhabitants, including Sour Bill's, and manipulated the citizens into believing Vanellope was actually a glitch and a threat to their game because of it. Following these events, Sour Bill served Turbo under his new identity—King Candy. Candy's motives and true identity remained confidential from Sour Bill, but the latter was aware of the fact that Vanellope wasn't a glitch, and diligently worked alongside King Candy to prevent her from regaining her status as a real racer, while also hiding the truth from everyone in Sugar Rush.

Official Description

 * As King Candy's diminutive henchman, Sour Bill is often left to handle the stickier situations — but this long-faced little ball isn't exactly happy about his depressing duties.

Personality
Juxtaposing with the energetic and bombastic nature of King Candy, Sour Bill—as his name implies—is not exactly a ball of sunshine. He is gloomy, reserved and speaks in a monotone. Though loyal to King Candy, he hates his job and carries out his orders with a scowl. Sour Bill is expressive during intense moments, however. For example, he has a crippling fear of being eaten (being a piece of candy) and the threat, alone, is enough to drive him into a panic.

Sour Bill's state of morality is highly questionable. He was the only individual in Sugar Rush to know Vanellope was a real racer and diligently worked alongside King Candy to keep her from resetting the game. Described as a "tiny little ball of unsweetness", he was remorseless to those who posed a threat to Candy's plot—he voiced frustration in not imprisoning Wreck-It Ralph when they had the chance, and imprisoned Fix-It Felix Jr. to prevent further interferences. When Ralph demands to know the truth about Vanellope, Sour Bill is initially steadfast in keeping King Candy's secrets, only caving when his life was put on the line. Sour Bill has demonstrated some level of rectitude, however; he apparently agrees with the consensus that "messing with the program" is a wrongful act, evidenced by his apprehension when aiding King Candy in tampering with Sugar Rush 's codes.

Sour Bill's exact motives are unknown. As he was quick to (unenthusiastically) praise Vanellope as sovereign once King Candy was killed and his memories were restored, it appears that Sour Bill will simply condone acts of villainy or heroism, in relation to whom he serves.

Physical appearance
Sour Bill is a small, green candy ball that resembles a jawbreaker. He has large, round, green eyes characterized by their heavy lids and dark, baggy circles; this gives him a perpetually tired and worn look. His mouth is small and usually frowning. Bill has small, jellybean-like arms and legs that are detached and seem to float independently from his body.

Wreck-It Ralph
In the video game kingdom of Sugar Rush, Sour Bill is first introduced attending the daily Random Roster Race to cordially introduce King Candy, the host of the race's opening ceremony. After the racers deposited their coins, Sour Bill is asked by the king to identify a mysterious hooded figure depositing a coin. The figure is revealed to be Vanellope, who is forbidden from racing. The king furiously orders his guards to capture her, but a taffy monster disrupts the ceremony, distracting the guards and allowing Vanellope to escape. Once apprehended by the guards, the monster is taken to King Candy's castle. Sour Bill de-taffys the monster, who is revealed to be the bad-guy from the game Fix-It Felix Jr.—Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph explains that the coin Vanellope deposited was actually a medal he earned from the war game Hero's Duty and that he needs it back. The king refuses, however, as the medal was now in the game's codes, making it impossible to retrieve. The king orders Ralph to leave Sugar Rush at once, as he sets out to find Vanellope. As he does, Sour Bill silently departs, as well.

After learning Vanellope has built a kart with Ralph's assistance, King Candy and his goons try to arrest her and Ralph, but the duo manages to escape. The king orders Wynnchel and Duncan to find her, and returns to the castle. There, Candy nervously paces about in the throne room as Sour Bill attempts to ease his nerves by fanning him with a lollipop. Eventually, the donuts return and announce their failure. Knowing this could mean nothing but trouble, Sour Bill silently expresses his grief, before following the king into a hidden elevator behind the throne. The elevator takes the duo to a hidden chamber that contains the game's codes. Inside, Candy is able to retrieve Ralph's medal and journeys out to find him. In his absence, Sour Bill is left in command. While in charge, Sour Bill is visited by Fix-It Felix Jr., himself, and is asked if he has seen any sign of Ralph. Realizing the two obviously have some sort of association, Sour Bill imprisons the handyman in order to prevent further trouble from outsiders.

Later on, Sour Bill is sent out to clean up the shattered remains of Vanellope's kart. He is confronted by Ralph, who demands to know why Vanellope was on the game's cabinet despite the supposed fact that she's a glitch. When he refuses to cooperate, Ralph begins to lick Sour Bill, who commented that Ralph's tongue felt like sandpaper. Despite Ralph threatened to it again until he reach Sour Bill's center, he miserably vowed to take the truth to his grave, so Ralph stuffed him in his mouth. Once he was pulled out, Sour Bill finally confesses the truth and reveals that Vanellope was once a racer until King Candy tried to delete her code. When Ralph asks about the king's motives, Sour Bill is unable to answer, due to his memory loss. Nevertheless, he informs Ralph of Vanellope's whereabouts and the key to saving her, claiming it's all he knows. As Sour Bill tearfully begs for mercy, Ralph sticks him onto a giant lollipop tree.

Afterward, Vanellope is freed from her prison, King Candy is defeated, and the former glitch crosses the finish line of the Random Roster Race, thus resetting the game and restoring the memories of all the inhabitants. Sour Bill then returns (having somehow escaped the lollipop tree, though it's still stuck to his backside) and rushes to Vanellope's side upon to declare her sovereign of the land; resuming his position as her adviser.

Ralph Breaks the Internet


Sour Bill returns in the sequel, but with a much smaller role. After Sugar Rush breaks, Mr. Litwak is forced to unplug it. This renders the game's inhabitants homeless. While most of the citizens fall into panic, Sour Bill treats the situation as more of a mild inconvenience. He is later taken in by Gene, who refers to him as an olive.

By the end of the film, Sour Bill returns to Sugar Rush thanks to Ralph's efforts to save the game. However, he accompanies Gene, Ralph, Felix and other arcade characters, for various social activities during the weekend. In the final scene at Game Central Station, Sour Bill is seen being held by Gene as they walk pass Ralph and Felix.

Other appearances
Sour Bill makes an appearance in the Disney Animated application that was released in 2013. Users are able to experiment with the animated process of "squash-and-stretch". Another template is available to turn Sour Bill into a simple beige-colored circle.

Disney Cruise Line
Aboard the Disney Dream, Sour Bill is featured as an audio-animatronic in the candy shop cabana, Vanellope's Sweets and Treats. He can be found popping out of the center gumball gas tanks, where he resides and sleeps, giving comments and factoids in a dry, depressed, or aggravated tone. He also has a dessert named after him called "Sour Bill Sweet n' Sour Green Apple".

Trivia

 * Sour Bill's voice actor, Rich Moore, was also the director of the film, and the voice of Zangief at Bad-Anon.
 * Originally, Sour Bill was meant to have a large black, biker-like hat and gloves.
 * His name is a play on sour ball.
 * With the film showing no signs of Sour Bill being a bumbler, Sour Bill proves to be one of the very few competent Disney villain henchmen.
 * It is unknown how Sour Bill was aware of King Candy's crime of locking away the memories of the inhabitants, being that his memories were locked away as well. However, it is possible that King Candy had told him to prevent anyone else from becoming suspicious.
 * As seen in The Art of Wreck-It Ralph book, Sour Bill was originally meant to have limbs. Also, in some concept art, he was seen as a red candy ball as opposed to the green ball he is today.
 * When Sour Bill has the lollipop tree branch stuck to his head when Vanellope turns into a princess, he looks as if he's wearing a headdress worn by royal servants during the Renaissance (shown briefly in Aladdin).
 * The fact that his arms and feet are not attached to his main body and just float around him could be a reference to Rayman.
 * When Ralph interrogates Sour Bill by trying to eat him, he tells him "How many licks does it take to get to your center?" This is a reference to the infamous Tootsie Roll Pops commercials featuring its owl mascot Mr. Owl.
 * Ralph also asks him, "What's going on with that candy-coated heart of darkness?", a reference to the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness.
 * After the scene in which King Candy enters the codes to retrieve Ralph's medal, he leaves Sour Bill in charge of the castle, proving that Sour Bill is the most powerful figure in Sugar Rush next to the ruler.
 * The green Uni Uni from Sonic Lost World looks similar to Sour Bill, albeit without feet or hands.
 * In the German version of the movie, Sour Bill's name is "Sauerer Drops", which can be translated as "Sour Fruit Drops". Fruit Drops are small balls of candy with fruit flavoring. Based on this, Sour Bill is most likely a lime-flavored sweet (limes are sour, hence his sour personality).