Clue (film)/Characters

Clue (Cluedo outside of the United States and Canada) is a popular board game in which the players adopt the guise of one of six suspects moving around the board to find out who killed Dr Black (Mr Boddy in some versions), where and with which weapon. The six main characters are iconic and have been further characterised in various television series, computer games, novels, and films.

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Game version

Miss Scarlet

Characterised as a Femme Fatale, Miss Scarlet is often considered the leading lady of Cluedo lore. Sometimes has an extra "t" in her name.

• Lady in Red
• Scarlet Fever
• Small Name, Big Ego - According to the books, she buys two tickets whenever she flies - one for her, one for her ego.
• Love Dodecahedron - In the Game Show, Miss Scarlett is... a scarlet woman, as the Greeks might say. Col. Mustard and occasionally Professor Plum are after her when they're not after Mrs. Peacock, and she's usually sleeping with the victim too.
• Ms. Fanservice
• Race Lift - She's Caucasian in some versions and Asian in some of the VCR games and some versions of the game during the 80s and 90s.
• Sexophone
• Sympathetic Murderer - Whenever she is the murderer in the Sega Genesis/Super NES video game, it states, "She had been hurt enough".

Colonel Mustard

Big Game Hunter and military hero.

• Blood Knight - He kept challenging people to duels in the book series.
• The Ditz - In the movie.
• During the War
• Great White Hunter

Mrs. White

Characterised as Dr. Black's cook/maid.

• Apron Matron
• Black Widow - In The Movie
• Lethal Chef - In Season 4 of the Game show. "Well I thought if I put a lot of cheese on the rat poison nobody would notice."
  • Supreme Chef in the books, though.
• Crossdresser - The Simpsons version of the game has Smithers in the role of Mrs. White, dressing him in a maid's outfit.
  • In The Musical that nobody admits to seeing, Mrs. White is a drag role.

Rev. Green/Mr. Green

A Stock type Snake Oil salesman Vicar. He was changed to Mr. Green for the US version and made into a corrupt businessman of dubious legality; players of recent editions can spot the Rev. Green label on the game-piece though.

• Corrupt Corporate Executive - US Version
• The Don - Some versions imply that in addition to his substantial business dealings, he runs several mob-like organizations on the side.
• Faux Yay - in the movie. Intentional.
• Large Ham - His Motive Rant in season 4 of the UK Cluedo Game Show.
• Sinister Minister - UK Version, depending on game.
• Plucky Comic Relief - in The Movie Really Obfuscating Stupidity.
• The Vicar - UK version

Mrs. Peacock

Originally characterised as the stock type Grande Dame. Mrs Peacock has also been shown as the Lady of the Manor in the game show, serving as the central link between all the characters.

• Berserk Button: Anything she perceives as rudeness in the book series.
• Black Widow - "Mrs. Peacock, twice widowed" ("dating a French count", but definitely not for long) in the Game Show and 13 mysteriously deceased husbands in the VCR games.
• Large Ham - Joanna Lumley plays her in season 4 of the game show.
• Obfuscating Stupidity - One of the endings in The Movie.
• Screaming Woman - "Maybe he was poisoned!"

Prof. Plum

The Absent-Minded Professor stock type.

• Absent-Minded Professor
• Cloudcuckoolander - In the book series.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive - Season 1 of the Game Show
• Eagle Land - Yep, Season 1 too. Don't ask me; I just work here.
• Loveable Sex Maniac - In The Movie
• Mad Scientist - In the Cluedo Game Show
  • He shows signs of this in the stories as well. One in particular has him invent a poison that evaporates as soon as it's drunk, leaving no traces behind (this backfires spectacularly, as he has to sip it himself to remember what it is). Another story has him put a truth serum in the breakfast orange juice for pretty much no reason.

Dr. Black / Mr. Boddy

The poor sap stuck with the worst role to play in this particular murder mystery.

• Designated Victim - Black / Boddy is the official victim in the board game.
• Asshole Victim - In some incarnations, Dr. Black/Mr. Boddy arguably had it coming. In The Movie, he was blackmailing the other characters and sexually harassing his maid, while in the SNES video game it's implied that he had some rather dirty dealings with whomever killed him.
• He's Just Hiding - In the book series. The books always end with Mr. Boddy's murder, and then the next one always begins with Mr. Boddy explaining how he survived.
  • Meanwhile, in The Movie, the third ending reveals that he had switched places with his butler before the movie started, and since none of his blackmail victims had met him in person before...
• Horrible Judge of Character - The book series characters are (usually) not too malicious, but they've still (nearly) killed Mr. Boddy about a dozen times, and - as Boddy himself lampshades - he still hangs out with these people.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Inverted: In some versions he's called "Dr. Black".
• Punny Name: Mr. Boddy.

Movie version

Wadsworth

Portrayed by: Tim Curry

• Battle Butler
• Canon Foreigner
  • Except in the third ending, where he's the actual Mr. Boddy.
• The Chessmaster: In the third ending.
• Mr. Exposition
• The Woobie: His backstory. Except in the third ending, where it's bullshit.

Mrs. Peacock

Portrayed by: Eileen Brennan

• Bad Liar: Except in the second ending.
• Beware the Silly Ones: In the second ending.
• The Chessmaster: In the second ending.
• Large Ham
  • Chewing the Scenery
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In the second and, arguably, third endings.
• Screaming Woman: When it's suggested that the brandy she was drinking might be poisoned.

Miss Scarlet

Portrayed by: Lesley Ann Warren

• The Chessmaster: In the first ending.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Lady in Red: Surprisingly averted. She's dressed in green.
• Miss Kitty: Runs an illegal brothel in Washington, D.C. (in her words, a "specialized hotel and telephone service").

Mr. Green

Portrayed by: Michael Mckean

• Beware the Silly Ones: In the third ending.
• Catch Phrase: "I didn't do it!"
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Invisible to Gaydar

Mrs. White

Portrayed by: Madeline Kahn

• Bob Haircut
• Black Widow
• Ironic Nickname: A black widow, fully dressed in black, whose alias is Mrs. White.
• The Stoic
  • The Comically Serious

Professor Plum

Portrayed by: Christopher Lloyd

• Absent-Minded Professor
• Lovable Sex Maniac

Colonel Mustard

Portrayed by: Martin Mull

• The Ditz
• Red Herring: The movie likes to imply that he's the murderer. He's indeed responsible for one of the murders in the third ending.
• War for Fun and Profit

Mr. Boddy

Portrayed by: Lee Ving

• Asshole Victim
• Faking the Dead: Initially. Someone (varies with the ending) catches this and subsequently kills him off for real.
• Killed Off for Real: After an attempt of Faking the Dead. In the hall, with the candlestick, by either Yvette (on Miss Scarlet's behest), Mrs. Peacock or Professor Plum depending on the ending.
• Punny Name

Yvette

Portrayed by: Colleen Camp

• Canon Foreigner
• The Dragon: Miss Scarlet's Dragon, in the first ending.
• The Mistress: Used to have an affair with Mrs. White's husband. In the first two endings, Mrs. White doesn't seem to mind her very much. In the third ending, however, she hates Yvette so much that it flames on the side of her face, and therefore murders her.
• Ms. Fanservice
• French Maid
• High-Class Call Girl: Used to be one of Miss Scarlet's call girls.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The reason she's killed in the first ending.