Despite making the ultimate sacrifice in Space Jam: A New Legacy, Bugs Bunny returned in one piece in the movie’s final scene. Bugs Bunny’s resurrection didn’t actually come as a big surprise, especially since there was no expectation that a Space Jam movie would kill off a beloved cartoon icon.
The events that led to Bugs Bunny’s death were set up at the beginning of Space Jam 2 when Dom (Cedric Joe) was explaining to LeBron James that the latter’s “in-and-out-cross-over-step-back” move creates a glitch in his video game design. According to him, this glitch always results in the deletion of his character. This flaw was brought up just prior to the game’s final play, when a miracle was needed to win. Knowing that the only way to stop Al-G-Rhythm (Don Cheadle) from cheating was to recreate the glitch, they planned for LeBron James to do the move on the assumption that since he’s not a cartoon character, he wouldn’t die. But Bugs Bunny went against the plan and performed the move himself. The glitch appeared to kill him, with his spirit descending up to the sky after the play was over.
When Bugs Bunny was revealed to be alive in Space Jam 2’s ending, he only briefly addressed his survival. He told James that because he’s a Tune, he can come back from anything. While that may not seem like a satisfactory explanation on the surface, it works in the context of the Looney Tunes and their universe. One of the ideas that both Space Jam movies are built on is this notion that the Looney Tunes do not bend to the rules of the reality. Being “loony” and accomplishing things that don’t make any logical sense is in their very nature, like when Wile E. Coyote lays a trap that should work, but blows up in his face anyway.
It’s this concept that keeps the Looney Tunes alive and allows them to succeed. Explosions, long falls, laser beams, and stampedes may seem lethal to anyone else, but are just temporary setbacks to the Tunes. Even death itself obviously isn’t permanent in the Looney Tunes world. There are some characters who really have died in the classic shorts. Both Yosemite Sam and Sylvester the Cat had experiences where they went to Hell and met the Devil, who gave them chances to win back their lives. Though both failed, they turned up alive again in future cartoons, with no explanation being necessary.
Looking at how death and life-threatening events have been handled in several decades of Looney Tunes history, it’s certainly not a problem that Bugs Bunny died and returned in Space Jam: A New Legacy. Just as Bugs reminded LeBron James in the movie, death can’t stop a Tune.
