History WesternAnimation / DarkwingDuck

* LetsGetDangerous: The TropeNamer. Darkwing is actually staggeringly competent as a superhero, it's just that his ego and inability to play well with others hold him back. Once he conquers those (however temporarily), he almost always resolves whatever issue is facing him. Usually within mere moments. In the episode ‘Time and Punishment’ D.W. shows just how dangerous he can get when his mind snaps and he goes into this mode permanently, successfully eliminating all of St Canards villains in short order and taking over St Canard.

* LetsGetDangerous: The TropeNamer. Darkwing is actually staggeringly competent as a superhero, it's just that his ego and inability to play well with others hold him back. Once he conquers those (however temporarily), he almost always resolves whatever issue is facing him. Usually within mere moments.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Battle of the Brain Teasers", Launchpad initially doesn't believe Gosalyn that hats have taken over Drake and Honker's bodies. He spots them, with the hats on their heads and talking in different voices, and doesn't see anything odd... Until Drake transforms into Darkwing. "You're right, DW would never wear a hat that clashes with his outfit."

* DarkerAndEdgier: Not on its own at all, but compared to ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' and ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'', yeah, pretty much.

** Darkwing for Gosalyn. Generally, putting her in danger is an easy way to prompt him to show just how competent he really is.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darkwing_9773.jpg]]

Darkwing was on the voting roster to be in VideoGame/DisneyInfinity. He was neck-and-neck with [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Mabel]], but both lost to [[Disney/{{Frozen}} Olaf]], and with Disney's cancellation of the game and departure from the gaming business, only his gas gun and the Ratcatcher managed to make it into the game, as Power Discs.

* CompanyCrossReferences: The statue that Drake Mallard pounds on to activate the chairs and send him and his allies to Darkwing Tower is of Basil from ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective''.

** E. Thaddeus Rockwell and his assistant bear some resemblance to Gaston and [=LeFou=] from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''.

** One episode has Launchpad feeding some doggie treats to a chihuahua. He mentions the brand name as Canine Crunchies, which are from a commercial shown in ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''.

* FatalFlaw: {{Pride}}. For both Darkwing Duck and Negaduck. While they are actually skilled, they consinstently over-estimate their abilities and act as if being invincible. Right before someone or something reminds them of their limits in painful ways.

** Negaduck does this in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''. An interesting example in that he doesn't directly face the screen, but that doesn't prevent the black screen around his eyes from being just as intimidating as the other examples.

''Darkwing Duck'' was a superhero cartoon produced by Creator/{{Disney}} that ran from 1991 to 1995. It followed the adventures of a masked duck, who was somewhere between Franchise/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/{{Sandman|MysteryTheatre}}, Radio/TheGreenHornet and Radio/TheShadow, parodying many superheroic tropes and characters along the way. Nevertheless, it was one of Disney's DarkerAndEdgier series (not as much as ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', but it did go places that most of Disney's works wouldn't dream of going), fondly remembered for things like total aversion of NeverSayDie and an episode featuring ''{{Satan}}'' (albeit a comical version) as the MonsterOfTheWeek (though that episode ended up getting banned from syndication).

While the show was on TV, several complementary comic stories and illustrated books were released. Some of these were written by the show's script writers and many feature villains not in the show. This all came to an end in 1996 and the license sat dormant until 2010, when Disney revived the franchise with the announcement of a brand-new ongoing monthly comic series, starting with an arc entitled "[[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns The Duck Knight Returns]]", which began in June 2010. The comic ended in November 2011, with a [[BatFamilyCrossover Bat Family]] CrisisCrossover with the ''ComicBook/DuckTales'' comic where Scrooge [=McDuck=] and Darkwing join forces against the combined might of their rogues gallery as well as search for the long-missing Gizmoduck. The license then went back into a slumber until February 2015, when all 2010-2011 comics but the de-canonized crossover were reprinted as a trade by Joe Books Inc., rewritten by original editor Aaron Sparrow to better fit the show's tone and featuring a new epilogue. The comic series, continuing from the epilogue, has since properly started in 2016 with a monthly schedule.

In January 2018, Darkwing Duck was added as a hero in ''VideoGame/DisneyHeroesBattleMode''.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: In "Bad Luck Duck", both Gosalyn and Negaduck think that Darkwing's fan club looks more like a fundraiser for the Save the Geeks foundation.

* RoleReprisal:
** As Launchpad went from ''Duck Tales'' to ''Darkwing Duck'', so did his voice actor Terence [=McGovern=].
** And when Fenton Crackshell AKA Gizmoduck became a recurring character, Hamilton Camp returned to reprise his role of the character as well.
*** Inverted for the Ducktales revival; neither VA came back (one for obvious reasons), [[spoiler:but Darkwing's did]].

* YellowPurpleContrast: Usually whenever Negaduck is involved. The high {{pride}} of D.W., fitting the multiple shades of purple in his outfit, versus the yellow jacket (and {{red and black|and evil all over}} accessories}} of the power-hungry Negaduck.

* YellowPurpleContrast: Usually whenever Negaduck is involved. The AwesomeEgo of D.W., fitting the multiple shades of purple in his outfit, versus the yellow jacket (and {{red and black|and evil all over}} accessories}} of the power-hungry Negaduck.

** Gosalyn gets really pissed off
** Morgana Macawbre, of course!

* LimitedAnimation: There's a brief moment in "Tiff of the Titans" where it suddenly looks like there are only key frames and no in-betweens. Also, for some reason, the corners of the picture are darkly lit. It really stands out, especially since it was an episode done by Walt Disney Australia, who usually does high quality work.

* UnexplainedRecovery: Banana Boy survives having his body ejected from his skin like a banana.