[4] Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films, produced by Warner Bros.

"[17] Animation historian David Gerstein disputes that "Happy Rabbit" was ever used as an official name, arguing that the only usage of the term came from Mel Blanc himself in humorous and fanciful tales he told about the character's development in the 1970s and 1980s; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as August 1939, in the Motion Picture Herald, in a review for the short Hare-um Scare-um.

"[20] A Wild Hare was a huge success in theaters and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject.

[12] Immediately following on A Wild Hare, Bob Clampett's Patient Porky (1940) features a cameo appearance by Bugs, announcing to the audience that 750 rabbits have been born.

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941), directed by Friz Freleng, became the second Bugs Bunny cartoon to receive an Academy Award nomination.

(1944), in which Bugs demands a recount (claiming to be a victim of "sa-bo-TAH-gee") after losing the Oscar to James Cagney and presents a clip from Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt to prove his point.

The character was later reworked by Robert McKimson, then an animator in Clampett's unit, for Tortoise Wins by a Hare (1943), with more slanted eyes, longer teeth and a much larger mouth.

[24] Since Bugs' fifth appearance in A Wild Hare, he appeared in color Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies films (making him one of the few recurring characters created for the series in the Schlesinger era prior to the full conversion to color), alongside Egghead, Inki, Sniffles, and Elmer Fudd (who actually co-existed in 1937 along with Egghead as a separate character).

[23] Bugs' popularity soared during World War II because of his free and easy attitude, and he began receiving special star billing in his cartoons by 1943.

He also faces off against Hermann Göring and Hitler in Herr Meets Hare (1945), which introduced his well-known reference to Albuquerque as he mistakenly winds up in the Black Forest of 'Joimany' instead of Las Vegas, Nevada.

At the end of Super-Rabbit (1943), Bugs appears wearing a United States Marine Corps dress blue uniform.

Additionally, Bugs appeared on the nose of B-24J #42-110157, in both the 855th Bomb Squadron of the 491st Bombardment Group (Heavy) and later in the 786th BS of the 466th BG(H), both being part of the 8th Air Force operating out of England.

In 1944, Bugs Bunny made a cameo appearance in Jasper Goes Hunting, a Puppetoons film produced by rival studio Paramount Pictures.

It was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1992, becoming the first cartoon short to receive this honor.

Bugs later appeared in another animated production featuring numerous characters from rival studios: the 1990 drug prevention TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

Bugs also made guest appearances in the early 1990s television series Tiny Toon Adventures, as the principal of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Babs and Buster Bunny.

[43][44][45] Later that year, Bugs appeared in Yakety Yak, Take it Back, a live-action/animated all-star public service music video produced by Warner Bros.

This music video features various celebrities, including Pat Benatar, Natalie Cole, Charlie Daniels, Lita Ford, Quincy Jones, B.

King, Queen Latifah, Kenny Loggins, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Bette Midler, Randy Newman, Tone Lōc, Ozzy Osbourne, Brenda Russell, Al B.

[46] In 1996, Bugs and the other Looney Tunes characters appeared in the live-action/animated film, Space Jam, directed by Joe Pytka and starring NBA superstar Michael Jordan.

[49] The success of Space Jam led to the development of another live-action/animated film, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, released in 2003 and directed by Joe Dante.

At the same time, Bugs is more vocally exasperated by Daffy's antics in the series (sometimes to the point of anger), compared to his usual level-headed personality from the original cartoons.

Bugs also dates Lola Bunny in the show despite the fact that he finds her to be "crazy" and a bit too talkative at first (he later learns to accept her personality quirks, similar to his tolerance for Daffy).

Unlike the original cartoons, Bugs lives in a regular home which he shares with Daffy, Taz (whom he treats as a pet dog) and Speedy Gonzales, in the middle of a cul-de-sac with their neighbors Yosemite Sam, Granny, and Witch Hazel.

His personality is a combination of Freleng's trickery, Clampett's defiance, and Jones’ resilience, while also maintaining his confident, insolent, smooth-talking demeanor.

Bugs Bunny's fast-talking speech pattern was inspired to a degree by the character of Oscar Shapely in the 1934 film It Happened One Night.

[65] Referring to the same film, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett all claimed that Bugs' nonchalant carrot-chewing style came from a scene where Gable's character eats a carrot while talking.

[20][68] Another catchphrase associated with the character's tendency to play the trickster is "Ain't I a stinker", an acknowledgement that he engages in unfair tactics.

Creators on those series included Chase Craig, Helen Houghton,[165] Eleanor Packer,[166] Lloyd Turner,[167] Michael Maltese, John Liggera,[168] Tony Strobl, Veve Risto, Cecil Beard, Pete Alvorado, Carl Fallberg, Cal Howard, Vic Lockman, Lynn Karp, Pete Llanuza, Pete Hansen, Jack Carey, Del Connell, Kellog Adams, Jack Manning, Mark Evanier, Tom McKimson, Joe Messerli, Carlos Garzon, Donald F. Glut, Sealtiel Alatriste, Sandro Costa, and Massimo Fechi.

[182][a] However, this will only apply (at first) to the character's depiction as Happy Rabbit in Porky's Hare Hunt which was published in 1938 (which will enter the US public domain in 2033).