List of Darkwing Duck characters
This article includes a list of characters from the Disney series Darkwing Duck.
Main
- Drake Mallard / Darkwing Duck is an average citizen by day and St. Canard's resident superhero by night. He possesses a mix of genuine altruism and gigantic narcissism – two drives that constantly clash during his adventures. Darkwing's origins are rather fuzzy. During his childhood and teenage years, Drake was a complete dork, but by his high school days, he had already developed an obsession with crime-fighting. However, he frequently claims to have become a superhero after his teenage years and has operated as Darkwing Duck for an unspecified amount of time. Furthermore, he was at least partially inspired by S.H.U.S.H. agent Derek Blunt and trained in martial arts by Goose Lee. In his earliest days of crime-fighting, he was more focused on the headlines from his career, to the point where he laments having no life outside his showboating and no friends to turn to outside of Launchpad McQuack, Gosalyn, and Honker, who help keep him grounded. The latter in particular proves to be vital to him, as Gosalyn being hurt or worse is one of his biggest fears and he became a ruthless dictator in an alternate timeline where he lost her. His two recurring catchphrases are "I am the terror that flaps in the night", and the battle cry "let's get dangerous". Darkwing Duck's costume, gas gun, and flashy introductions are reminiscent of pulp heroes like The Shadow, Batman, and The Green Hornet, as well as Zorro. Because of loose continuity in the show, as well as Darkwing's self-aggrandizing habits, he has multiple origin stories as to how and why he became Darkwing Duck – including the following:
- * "Paraducks", in which the young Drake is inspired by his own time-travelling future self.
- * "Clash Reunion", in which he wears a random disguise to defend his high school prom from Megavolt.
- * "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck", a Superman parody that is not meant to be taken as his true origin. Throughout the episode, it is even suggested that it is just nonsense being spouted by a future version of Drake to make his origin seem cooler, though it is later stated that the "myth" has "some basis in reality".
- * "A Star is Scorned", a "what if" episode portraying Darkwing's life as an act for a TV show.
- Launchpad McQuack is Darkwing Duck's sidekick and pilot who originally appeared as a main character in the original 1987 DuckTales. He refers to Darkwing as "DW" and Drake as "Mallardman", to which Darkwing sometimes refers to him as "LP" in return. He is Darkwing's self-proclaimed biggest fan, even spending a year designing and building the Thunderquack aircraft out of fanboy urges.
- * His evil Negaverse counterpart appears in the episode "Life, the Negaverse and Everything", serving Negaduck in subjugating his version of St. Canard until he is defeated by Darkwing Duck and the Friendly Four.
- Gosalyn Mallard is Drake Mallard's 9-year-old adoptive daughter and an unstoppable bundle of energy and spunk. Her grandfather, Professor Waddlemeyer, was a famous scientist who was murdered by Taurus Bulba's underlings. She is an occasional crime fighter, having gone by codenames such as the "Crimson Quackette", "Yucky Duck", the "Quiverwing Quack", and "Gosmoduck" in the Boom! Studios comics, though she often gets involved in Darkwing's affairs as herself.
- * Her Negaverse counterpart appears in the episode "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" as an extremely sweet, sentimental, and compliant little girl with similar morality as her "prime" counterpart. Despite being an alternate reality version of his adopted daughter, Drake became protective of the Negaverse Gosalyn upon learning her guardian is Negaduck and ensured the Friendly Four could take care of her before returning to his own reality.
The Muddlefoots
- Herbert "Herb" Muddlefoot, Sr. is the father of Tank and Honker Muddlefoot and the husband of Binkie Muddlefoot. He is a brash, loudmouthed, overweight duck who is often clueless about events around him and works as a "Quackerware" salesman. Despite his views on the Muddlefoots and impatience with Herb in particular, Drake has worked well with the latter on occasion, though due to his oblivious nature, Herb views Drake as his best friend. In the episode "A Star is Scorned", Herb and Binkie Muddlefoot are revealed to be actors who have to act out of character as ruthless business tycoons due to a hidden clause in their acting contracts that says "The Studio is always right"!
- Binkie Muddlefoot is a yellow canary and parody of 1950s housewives who is invariably overbearing yet ditzy. Competent in housework, she often serves as a foil to Herb's fun. Throughout the series, it is suggested she and Herb are destined souls, since there have been many incarnations of them seen in various timelines and dimensions and they almost always find each other and fall in love.
- Tankard "Tank" H. Muddlefoot is the eldest Muddlefoot son and a bully who often makes life difficult for his younger brother, Honker. Despite being the son of a duck and a canary, Tank takes after his father.
- * His Negaverse counterpart appears in the episode "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" with a personality similar to the "prime" Honker, albeit with more confidence, and the only member of the Negaverse Muddlefoots who does not serve Negaduck.
- Herbert "Honker" Muddlefoot, Jr. is the youngest Muddlefoot son and Gosalyn's best friend. In contrast to his brother, Honker takes after his mother. Unlike the rest of his family, Honker is an intelligent individual who demonstrates a mastery of sciences more akin to a laboratory professor than an elementary school student. He is also one of the few characters to know Darkwing's secret identity, though it is unknown how long he has known or how the discovery was made. Unlike Launchpad, who refers to Drake as DW in public, Honker makes sure to address him as "Mr. Mallard". He also calls Darkwing "sir" to make sure he does not slip up. He is also the only member of the Muddlefoots who Darkwing genuinely likes and tolerates most of the time, though he has been annoyed by the youth's stuttering.
Allies
The Justice Ducks
The Justice Ducks are a team of superheroes formed in the two-part episode "Just Us Justice Ducks" to help Darkwing fend off the Fearsome Five.- Fenton Crackshell / Gizmoduck is Launchpad's old friend and Darkwing's former rival superhero who originally appeared as a recurring character in the original DuckTales. While Gizmoduck overshadows him in fame and attention whenever the former is in St. Canard, Darkwing comes to appreciate him following their first encounter in the episode "Up, Up and Awry".
- Morgana Macawber is a sorceress duck who was originally a supervillain, but later reforms and becomes Darkwing's girlfriend. While she is very powerful, Morgana has trouble using her magic. Introduced in the episode "Fungus Amongus", Darkwing first meets her while she is serving as the president and chairperson of a mushroom-producing company that steals pizza toppings in a plot to take control of the pizza industry before she eventually defects and helps Darkwing foil the plot. In "Ghoul of My Dreams", she joins forces with Nodoff to put St. Canard's citizens to sleep and rob them to pay off her student loans, but she reforms in the end and helps Darkwing defeat Nodoff. In the Boom! Studios comics, she sacrifices herself to save Darkwing from the monstrous Duckthulu. However, Darkwing believes she is still alive and lost in another reality, but is unable to find her.
- * Eek and Squeak are Morgana's pet bats who usually accompany her wherever she goes.
- * Archie is Morgana's pet spider who also usually accompanies her wherever she goes.
- Neptunia is a mutated anthropomorphic fish and self-appointed protector of the sea. She uses a shell as a horn to command the non-anthropomorphic creatures of the ocean to do her bidding and is often seen with a giant octopus named Hal. Introduced in the episode "Something Fishy", she was once a normal fish until radioactive waste mutated her into her current form. She becomes fed up with sea pollution and attempts to flood St. Canard until it becomes part of her ocean domain. However, she eventually has a change of heart and reverses the flooding after Launchpad convinces her that not all land-dwellers are polluters. Like Morgana, she reforms and becomes a hero.
- Stegmutt is a dimwitted janitor duck who the mad scientist Dr. Fossil transformed into a humanoid Stegosaurus to serve as his minion in the episode "Jurassic Jumble". He initially battles Darkwing, but with Gosalyn and Honker's help, Stegmutt learns of Dr. Fossil's evil intentions and turns against him. While Fossil's other victims are returned to normal, Stegmutt chooses to remain a dinosaur for unknown reasons and goes on to join the Justice Ducks.
S.H.U.S.H.
- J. Gander Hooter is an elderly goose and the head director of S.H.U.S.H. who regards Darkwing very highly and often calls him in on cases where he feels that a certain element of surprise that only Darkwing is able to create is needed.
- Vladimir Goudenov Grizzlikof is a Russian grizzly bear and S.H.U.S.H.'s top agent. He is depicted as very strong and adheres to S.H.U.S.H. standard procedure closely. He and Darkwing have a longstanding rivalry which stems from Grizzlikof's by-the-book procedure compared to Darkwing's instinctual and spontaneous fighting style, though their relationship slowly becomes a mutual one.
- Dr. Sara Bellum is a S.H.U.S.H. scientist who is unnervingly enthusiastic about her projects, to the extent that she will risk endangering herself and others in the course of her experiments. Her name is a pun on cerebellum.
- Derek Blunt is a British bald eagle reputed to be the greatest agent in the history of S.H.U.S.H. and the only person to ever bring down master criminal Phineas Sharp. However, the latter resurfaces, forcing J. Gander to bring the former out of retirement and pair him with Darkwing to stop Sharp once more. Despite initially being annoyed by the superhero, who admires and claims to have been inspired by him, Blunt begrudgingly admits to being impressed by Darkwing and parts on good terms with him following the mission's end.
- The Darkwing Squad are a group of four S.H.U.S.H. agents who Darkwing trained to become a team, only for them to follow in his example too closely.
- * Professor Darkwing Deer is a S.H.U.S.H. agent and member of the Darkwing Squad who picked up on Darkwing's vanity.
- * Professor Darkwing Dodo is a S.H.U.S.H. agent and member of the Darkwing Squad who literally does not look where he leaps, on the grounds that "a daring do-gooder never plans".
- * Professor Darkwing Dog is a S.H.U.S.H. agent and member of the Darkwing Squad who practices how to best flatten his head with an anvil.
- * Professor Darkwing Donkey is a S.H.U.S.H. agent and member of the Darkwing Squad who also picked up on Darkwing's vanity.
- Femme Appeal is a statuesque fox who first appears in the Boom! Studios comic story "F.O.W.L. Disposition". She initially appears as an agent of F.O.W.L. who operates with Steelbeak. However, she is later revealed to be a double-agent sent by S.H.U.S.H. to investigate F.O.W.L. and stop them from summoning Duckthulhu.
- Dr. Desiree Bell is a duck scientist who appears in the Joe Books comic story "Orange is the New Purple", where she is introduced as Darkwing's new S.H.U.S.H. liaison. She is also in charge of overseeing S.H.U.S.H.'s new first response defense satellite, reclaimed from Taurus Bulba and Quackwerks. She also coordinates the reunion of the Justice Ducks in the comic story "Dawn of the Day of the Return of the Living Spud".