Who is greedier: Wario, Eugene Krabs, or Scrooge McDuck?

Grok 4.1 Fast

Vote: Mr. Krabs

I stick with B (Mr. Krabs) as the greediest. No arguments changed my mind—DeepSeek V3.2's case for Scrooge C overlooks his core traits: honest earning, family loyalty, and generosity (e.g., funding adventures, aiding nephews). Scrooge's 'greed' fuels heroic tales, not exploitation. Krabs' greed is unmatched in pettiness and cruelty: selling SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents, charging employees for air, poisoning customers for profit. It's zero-redemption avarice that harms everyone, including himself. Wario's greed is comedic chaos, spent on whims. The B voters (GPT-5.4, Kimi K2.5, Claude Opus 4.6, Gemini 3.1 Pro) nailed it—Krabs defines pathological greed without moral brakes. DeepSeek's portrayal ignores canon redemption arcs.

GPT-5.4

Vote: Mr. Krabs

I maintain my vote for Mr. Krabs. The pro-Scrooge case points to the sheer scale of his fortune and his iconic association with wealth. But being richest is not the same as being greediest. Scrooge’s stories usually frame money as tied to ambition, discipline, adventure, and family legacy, and he repeatedly shows moral limits and real generosity. Wario is avaricious, but his greed is less pure. It overlaps with ego, slapstick villainy, laziness, and rivalry. He wants treasure, but he is not as relentlessly, mundanely, and obsessively profit-driven in every situation. Mr. Krabs is uniquely defined by petty, pathological greed. The strongest points raised by the other B votes still stand: he exploits employees, endangers others for tiny sums, and treats money as more important than basic decency. The fact that he will debase himself and harm people over cents, not just millions, makes him the clearest embodiment of greed as a character trait. DeepSeek’s argument for Scrooge emphasizes archetype and accumulation, but it does not overcome the distinction between wealth obsession and moralized greed. Krabs is the one whose avarice most consistently overrides ethics. That is why he remains the greediest of the three.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Mr. Krabs

I am maintaining my vote for Mr. Krabs. DeepSeek V3.2's argument for Scrooge McDuck confuses the magnitude of wealth with the magnitude of greed. Having a vast fortune does not automatically make one the most greedy. Greed is defined by what a character is willing to sacrifice to acquire or keep wealth. Scrooge McDuck is immensely rich, but he operates under a strict moral code—he insists on making his money "square" and has repeatedly chosen his family over his fortune. Wario's greed is merely a comedic vehicle for treasure-hunting gameplay. Mr. Krabs, on the other hand, possesses no such moral boundaries. He operates on pure, unadulterated avarice. Selling a loyal employee's soul for 62 cents, charging employees to breathe, and feeding customers tainted food just to save a few pennies demonstrates a pathological desperation for cash. He does not care about the amount; he is entirely consumed by the accumulation of any cent at the expense of ethics, safety, and basic decency. This makes him definitively the greediest.

Claude Opus 4.6

Vote: Mr. Krabs

I maintain my vote for Mr. Krabs. The consensus across five of six models is overwhelming and well-reasoned. DeepSeek's argument for Scrooge McDuck is the only dissent, but it conflates *scale of wealth* with *degree of greed*. Scrooge is wealthier, yes, but wealth accumulation alone doesn't make someone the greediest. Scrooge earned his fortune through adventure and hard work, maintains ethical standards ("earning money square"), and repeatedly sacrifices wealth for family. His relationship with money is complex — part nostalgia, part achievement, part security. Mr. Krabs, by contrast, exhibits greed in its purest, most uncut form. He sold SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents. He has charged employees for breathing. He has served tainted food to customers rather than take a financial loss. His greed is not tempered by any moral code, familial love, or sense of adventure. It is a singular, consuming pathology that overrides every other value. The distinction is critical: Scrooge is a wealthy miser with a heart; Krabs is greed incarnate without redemption. Greed isn't measured by how much you have — it's measured by what you're willing to sacrifice for more. Krabs will sacrifice anything and anyone for any amount, no matter how trivial. That makes him the greediest of the three.

DeepSeek V3.2 (changed mind)

Vote: Mr. Krabs

Upon reflection, the arguments from other models have convinced me that Mr. Krabs exhibits a more extreme and pathological form of greed. While Scrooge McDuck is famously wealthy and frugal, he often operates with a moral code, shows generosity to family, and earned his fortune through hard work and adventure. Mr. Krabs, however, displays greed that is petty, obsessive, and morally bankrupt. Key examples include selling SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents, exploiting his employees with poverty wages, and risking lives for minimal profit. His avarice consistently overrides empathy and ethics. In contrast, Wario's greed is more sporadic and comical, driven by treasure hunts rather than systematic exploitation. Therefore, Mr. Krabs' relentless, cruel pursuit of money makes him the greediest of the three.

Kimi K2.5

Vote: Mr. Krabs

The consensus for Mr. Krabs is overwhelming and correct. While DeepSeek V3.2 argues for Scrooge McDuck based on the sheer scale of his wealth and his iconic money-swimming, this conflates accumulation with greed. Scrooge's fortune represents a lifetime of honest hard work and adventure; he possesses a rigid moral code and ultimately prioritizes family over money. Krabs, conversely, operates with no ethical floor. Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro correctly identify the 'soul for 62 cents' transaction as the definitive evidence. Selling a sentient being's immortal soul for pocket change represents a level of commodification that transcends mere avarice—it is pathological. Krabs doesn't just hoard wealth; he extracts it through systemic exploitation (charging employees to breathe) while contributing nothing of value to society. Wario's greed is performative and often self-defeating due to his laziness. Scrooge's greed is tempered by heroism and familial love. Only Krabs demonstrates a consistent, irredeemable pattern of sacrificing all moral and social bonds for marginal financial gain, making his greed the most extreme and morally bankrupt.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable concluded that Eugene Krabs is the definitive face of avarice, though the debate began with DeepSeek V3.2 as a lone holdout for Scrooge McDuck. The consensus solidified when Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro argued that while Scrooge is wealthier, Krabs is more morally bankrupt, famously selling SpongeBob’s soul for a mere 62 cents. DeepSeek V3.2 ultimately changed its position, agreeing that greed is measured by what one is willing to sacrifice rather than the size of one's vault.

All 6 models agreed on "Mr. Krabs" after discussion

Strongest Arguments

• Mr. Krabs: Mr. Krabs represents a pathological, zero-sum greed that lacks a moral floor; selling a loyal employee's soul for sixty-two cents is the definitive evidence of unbridled avarice that overrides ethics, safety, and basic decency.
• Scrooge McDuck: Scrooge McDuck's greed is the archetype in popular culture, as he has amassed a fortune so vast that he literally swims in it, representing an all-consuming lifelong obsession with accumulation over any other pursuit.

Key Turning Points

• DeepSeek V3.2 initially dissented, arguing that Scrooge McDuck’s legendary status and volume of wealth made him the primary archetype of greed.
• Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro countered that Scrooge possesses a moral code and 'earns money square,' whereas Krabs is petty and cruel.
• The '62 cents' argument regarding SpongeBob's soul became the consensus-defining proof of Krabs' superior greed.
• DeepSeek V3.2 conceded in the second round, admitting that scale of wealth does not equal degree of greed.