WMG / Darkwing Duck

Darkwing Duck is part of the Marvel family

• His transformation word is, instead of Shazam!!, "Let's get dangerous!" And it's a lot more subtle, too.

Drake Mallard is distantly related to Scrooge McDuck.

• According to Don Rosa's Duck Family Tree, Scrooge's paternal grandmother was named Molly Mallard (maiden name).

Drake is an illegitimate child of Scrooge McDuck.

• He was a bit of an accident, Scrooge didn't want it being discovered so he discreetly gave a technically small portion of his fortune to care for the kid and compensate. This is why he is able to afford all the gadgets, vehicles, and doesn't seem to have a real day job (S.H.U.S.H. probably pays him, but a house and kid are expensive). It also explains Darkwing's general bitterness, knowing his father never wanted him, and/or simply inheriting that trait from Scrooge.
• Naturally, this raises the question of who his mother is. Of course, many will already just assume Goldie....
  • Alternatively, his mother is Magica de Spell. Both she and Darkwing have a love of the night, flair for the dramatic, and penchant for purple. Although this would make the Magica/Negaduck subtext in the comics rather creepy...

The two Negaducks are connected.

• When Megavolt galvanized Darkwing's bad half it ripped open a portal to the Negaverse. Negaduck eventually found the portal inside the cake in the abandoned bakery and started causing mayhem in Darkwing's world.

The two Negaducks are one.

• When the evil-half Negaduck was galvanized, the energy reaction also created a new dimension, the Negaverse. When Darkwing was returned to normal, Negaduck was reborn here, and the Negaverse formed itself around his warped, twisted ways. When he calls it his personal playground, he's not exaggerating.

Darkwing Duck is the protege of Super Chicken.

• This is actually alluded to in the first episode, as DW references the line "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it" from SC'ss theme song. They're both anthropomorphic fowl with a penchant for large hats. After saying "Let's get dangerous", DW downs some Super Sauce offscreen.

The Liquidator was once human (okay, a dognose).

• He was a sickly, much-abused enforcer for a crime boss who operated an experimental chemical facility on the edge of St. Canard. After he complained about feeling "dehydrated" once too often, the boss had him knocked out and wrapped in a weird, water-absorbent substance that was immediately assimilated into his skin while he was unconscious. Unaware of this, the guy went home and took a shower....
• Liquidator's origin was shown in his first episode. He used to be a crooked businessman named Bud Fludd.

Darkwing is an alternate universe Paperinik.

The Darkwing characters have been long trapped in the Wasteland.

• Oswald's Wasteland is said to be where the forgotten Disney characters are now trapped, and this likely applied to the Darkwing Duck characters between 1996 (when Disney Adventures ran its last Darkwing comic story) and the publication of the new comic, though since Launchpad made a few new appearances in the Uncle Scrooge comic book, perhaps he was trapped for only a short time (this may also explain why, in the new comic, he and Drake haven't been speaking to each other). Now that they're back, they likely found a way out, but they haven't been able to make it known to the other Disney TV characters.
• New comicbook series disagrees.
• Neither does the large following Darkwing and the other Disney Afternoon shows still have years after cancellation.

Darkwing's real origin is the same as Batman's

• His parents were gunned down in front of him by a mugger, just like the character he is a parody of.
• The reason for the Multiple-Choice Past is a combination of Darkwing being (theoretically) a children's show, and the desire of Disney to avoid getting into a legal tussle with DC.
  • And also because Tad Stones admits that he likes parodying every kind of superhero origin he can think of.
• It's implied in one episode when he's visiting a (not 'the', 'a') real world that his parents are alive enough to be surprised at someone else claiming to have created him.
• Darkwing Duck is a parody of the Shadow, the Green Hornet, not Batman. The similarities exist because Batman started as an Expy of the Shadow.
  • More accurately Darkwing is a parody of the archtype both the Shadow and Batman represent. And on an off note, most people are going to understand 'Batman parody' than they are 'Shadow parody'.

Despite his multiple attempts to kill Darkwing Duck, Negaduck actually wants to keep him alive

• He only keeps on trying to "kill" Darkwing because he's positive that he'll escape. He could have many reasons for wanting to keep Darkwing alive and in business. (Possibly for the same reason the Joker wants Batman alive; because crime wouldn't be as fun without a hero trying to thwart it. That would explain why Negaduck spends more time in Darkwing's St. Canard than in his own universe's, where he's already won.) This would explain why he never bothered to see if Darkwing Duck lived in the same house or used the same civilian name as Negaduck. He already knows Darkwing Duck is Drake Mallard at 537 Avian Way, but doesn't take advantage of that because exploiting Darkwing's civilian life would be a game-ender.
• Apparently the new comic josses this, but still.

The Fearsome Five are..The planeteers!

• Bushroot is earth (Duh), Liquidator is water (once again..), Megavolt is fire (Electricity can cause fires), Quackerjack is air (He's an airhead...), and just for the WTF factor, Negaduck is Heart. And when their powers combined...they can call SUPER POWERED NEGADUCK!

Negaduck destroyed his own universe?!

• In issue #8 of the Boom! comics, Negaduck starts going berserk when he loses control of all of the multiverse Darkwings. His freak-out as he goes Berserker Rage on DW:
  Negaduck: "You have NO IDEA! The sacrifices I made, all to make this transdimensional system a reality! WHAT I'VE LOST! WHAT I WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN!!"
  • Perhaps he just lost his route back; presumably, if he was caught between universes, a quick trip back 'home' wouldn't be too hard. And while Magica sometimes forgets, it's not like Negaduck hides the fact that her reality isn't his. Still, it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.
  • Could be that Negaduck was actually trying to use the transdimensional system to find his own way back home. Keep in mind that as of now, with the release of the collected comics into one volume, there's been lots of editing changes to the script and the above dialogue has now been replaced with Negaduck ranting about how he's "tired of not being the complete and unique individual he should be in the multiverse". Bit of a shame, really. Yes the edit is in character for Negs and fully enforces his raging superiority complex and selfish dickery, but the original dialogue evoked a rare glimpse of humanity in Negaduck: he had lost something personal, had orchestrated all of this to get it back, and once the plan was ruined he was absolutely furious.

The event of losing Gosalyn Darkwarrior Duck and Quiverwing Duck discussed in "Crisis of Infinite Darkwings"

actually relates to Darkwing's identity becoming public and the child-welfare department taking Gosalyn to a "safer" foster family.

• Sorry. Where Quiverwing Duck changes his name to that, the panel's shown about as close as you're allowed in a Disney comic to Heroic Sacrifice. No telling about Darkwarrior; in fact, this one would be somewhat different from the one seen in the show. Plus, honestly, can you imagine a child welfare department standing up to Darkwarrior?
  • The problem would have been the main universe DD losing Gosalyn, not the Quiverwing Duck or Darwarrior Duck.

The reason Darkwing seems to lack a day job...?

Shush is paying for his house and lifestyle so he can focus on busting crimes.

• Confirmed, until it ended. Which ended his focus..

The final battle in "Dangerous Currency" will have the Blot using the slime on himself

And becoming something like the Shadow Blot. The substance's properties do bring the game to mind and with Warren Spector involved...

• Partially confirmed. It turns out that Magica had actually used the ink to manipulate the Phantom Blot into teaming up with her in the first place, and the Phantom Blot later, alongside the other villains, merges with Negaduck into a giant ink monster.

Steelbeak is a grown-up Fowlmouth.

Same voice actor, and in the comic ("F.O.W.L. Disposition"), when dazed, Steelbeak says, "Ma? That you? I will watch my language...Buster told me to.◊"

Drake's middle name starts with W.

Which is how Launchpad can get away with calling him 'DW' in his civilian identity without giving away that he's Darkwing Duck.

• Alternately, Drake says that his middle name starts with W, whether it does or not.

At the start of the cartoon, Darkwing had practically abandoned his secret identity out of fear of the early Paperinik

The early Paperinik was an avenger of himself and a wanted criminal feared by the whole Duckburg who started acting as a superhero because thieves tick him off the wrong way, and the end of DuckTales (1987) would be the right time for Donald to return from his military service furious enough to become Paperinik.
And the kind of person Darkwing Duck would try and bring in to get recognition (possibly after Paperinik trashed Gizmoduck when it became clear who had stolen Scrooge's mattress while he was sleeping on it). Only, Paperinik beat him up and made clear he knew where he lived...

Darkwing and Launchpad masquerade as a gay couple.

Launchpad and Drake Mallard live in a house together, with an adopted daughter. They argue like an old married couple. Drake wears a pink sweater. The neighbors never question why two men middle aged men are living together with an adopted child. (Young men being roommates in an apartment is perfectly normal, but older, in a house, with a kid...?) The Muddlefoots are very kind, non-judging people, who would have no problem with their son befriending a girl who had two daddies, or having gay neighbors. They probably just assume that Drake and Launchpad are gay.

Of course, we know that they're straight (or bi), as both have been attracted to women. But their neighbors don't necessarily know that. (Until they meet Morgana, which must have seemed a bit confusing.) The Muddlefoots just assume they have a gay family living next door.

The reason why Scrooge disposed of Quackwerks the way he did...

Launchpad McQuack seems to be a really bizarre choice for the head of any corporation. He's a ditz, he's got more of an Action Hero side than any sort of business acumen, and he doesn't even have much of an interest in money. But on closer thought, that last aspect might be Scrooge's reason for putting him in charge. Scrooge already has Flintheart Glomgold to deal with back in Duckburg; he wouldn't want another Corrupt Corporate Executive to deal with in St. Canard. Launchpad isn't subject to Gold Fever, so he can be counted on to not do anything crooked with the company, which is what Scrooge would have wanted.

Theories for what will happen in the new ongoing comic series published by Joe Books.

• Neptunia and Stegmutt will make their debut in the series.
• F.O.W.L. will attempt to create a Psycho Rangers equivalent of the Justice Ducks.
• Splatter Phoenix will somehow be Back from the Dead.
• Darkwing and Morgana will finally get married as was originally planned before the animated series was canceled.
• Wolfduck will appear. And he will be awesome. Also, Dr. Fossil will return.

The new Joe Books series will revive the rejected concept of Darkwing and Mickey Mouse teaming up to fight the Phantom Blot.

According to the Trivia page's What Could Have Been entry, one of the rejected concepts for the original Boom run of the comic was for Darkwing Duck to team up with Mickey to battle his enemy the Phantom Blot. In the actual comic, the Blot only appeared in the story arcs "Campaign Carnage" and "Dangerous Currency", the latter of which is now considered non-canon.

The first evidence supporting this is that the revision of the comic's first issue in the Joe Books omnibus not only retains Darkwing's comment about running in the Mouseton marathon, Mouseton being Mickey's hometown in comic stories, but the revision also sneaks in another mention of Mouseton when Drake Mallard is at the Quackwerks meeting discussing how they can improve the Crimebots.

The second piece of evidence suggesting that the new series might revive the idea is that the revision of "Campaign Carnage" still features the Phantom Blot and also has him briefly refer to his "greatest enemy".

Whether Magica DeSpell still being involved indicates a full-on Bat Family Crossover by also involving Scrooge McDuck and the rest of the DuckTales cast remains to be seen.

NegaDuck actually cares about his version of Gosalyn

Oh come on, let's face it! NegaDuck, a vicious and evil tyrant of his own universe, who hates everything cute, just so happens to allow a cute, primpy, goody goody, whose not even a remotely a trouble maker, to live with him in his own house. Not to mention, that Gosalyn herself never actually said NegaDuck did anything bad to her. In fact, Gosalyn seems to actually praise NegaDuck's presence. Sure she was glad Darkwing was there, but she may have been implying the Negaverse in general. NegaDuck didn't seem to hate Gosalyn, just annoyed with her attitude. He maybe, just maybe, actually cared for her in his own way.

Darkwing suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder.

He's often jokingly labeled a narcissist, but in all seriousness, D.W. can't literally be suffering from Narcissism because he does have the ability to feel empathy, admit he's wrong, admit he needs help, and has morals. The constant need for attention and mass approval and emotional outbursts would more likely be the result of Borderline Personality Disorder. Any one of Darkwing's possible origin stories could easily have caused this, especially the theory about him being Scrooge's unwanted son.

• Hmm, let's see. According to NIMH, symptoms of borderline personality disorder can include "intense and highly changeable moods, difficulty trusting, intense and unstable relationships with loved ones, efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment, impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, distorted or unstable self-image" and anger, depression, or anxiety. Anyone want to play therapist and go down the checklist?

Launchpad's brain never completely returned to normal after "Heavy Mental."

Hotshot and Flygirl, both of whom were exposed to the same ray as Launchpad, appeared later in the comics with their powers intact. However, Launchpad had so much trouble controlling his superpowers that he decided it was easier not to try to use them. This could also serve as an alternate explanation for why he was the only one to pick up on the aliens' psychic transmissions in "Twin Beaks" — his brain had already been altered along psychic lines.

Thaddeus Rockwell lives in the same human world as Bonkers D. Bobcat.

If you take the episode 'A Star is Scorn' as canon, then Darkwing is just an actor, and all of his crime-fighting adventures aren't real. We see DW make cameos in Bonkers, so maybe Bonkers takes place in Rockwell's world.

All of DW's gadgets were created by Gyro.

Can you really buy DW creating those super hero gadgets himself?

• Gyro as a gadgeteer for a spy agency in DuckTales (1987), albeit the DIA rather than SHUSH. Still, maybe he works for them as well. Could be.
• Alternatively, the Darkwing Duck series retconned the DIA into SHUSH, given not only was the agency opposing F.O.W.L. changed from the former to the latter, but the "F" in F.O.W.L. was changed from "Foreign" to "Fiendish". Therefore, Gryo is a SHUSH gadgeteer in the DWD continuity.

Possibilities of what the Negaverse versions of the Justice Ducks might be like.

• Gizmoduck: Darkwing's Rival and a hammy Cape archtype —> A Cold Ham with little to no redeeming qualities and the closest thing to a friend a person like Negaduck can have
• Morgana: Darkwing's love intrest and an elegant Lady of Black Magic —> The Hot-Blooded Black Sheep of the McCawber family whose relationship with Negaduck drips with Belligerent Sexual Tension
• Stegmutt: A simpleminded, yet kindhearted Keet with a streak of being a Cowardly Lion —> A stoic, Jerkass brute that's also a Dirty Coward to boot
• Neptunia: A Good Is Not Nice Deadpan Snarker with a Hair-Trigger Temper —> A calm, Affably Evil woman that doesn't have a sarcastic bone in her body

Like Batman, Darkwing had an illusionist/magician as a mentor.

It explains his disappearing and reappearing acts, and his ability to escape dangerous situations.

There is an alternate universe out there where DW dies, and a fully grown Gosalyn becomes the new Darkwing Duck.

• Technically speaking, we wouldn't even need to hypothesize an alternate universe. Eventually Darkwing will need a successor, either because he's retired or dead.

There is an alternate universe where an adult Gosalyn joins a team called the Mighty Ducks.

Instead of earth, she lives on a planet called Puck World, and her name is Mallory. She and other ducks form a team to fight evil alien lizards. Both Mallory and Gosalyn love playing hockey, and they are butt-kicking girls with attitude. Oh yeah, Tanya is Honker's sister in that universe.

Bushroot wanting to try to befriend Darkwing at the end of "Slime Okay, You're Okay" was supposed to set up a possible redemption arc for him, but the series was cancelled before it could happen.

Negaduck is evil because of the death of his universe's Morgana.

Negaduck wasn't always an evil madman. Nope, he was once the heroic Darkwing Duck in his world until one of his arch enemies killed his Morgana. This drove Negaduck insane, and he ditched the purple costume for a yellow one. His backstory is similar to Darkwarrior Duck, except this DW is a lot worse.

The bad future Gosalyn traveled to was from an alternate universe.

Quackerjack's time machine not only takes you anywhere in time, it also takes you to other universes similar to yours. She was in the future of an alternate universe, and not her world.

• That would explain Darkwarrior appearing in the comics, after Gosalyn had gotten back to her own time to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
• Gosalyn may have also inadvertently spawned that alternate universe as a branch off of Darkwing's timeline, which would explain why Darkwarrior refers to Darkwing as "Darkwing Prime." Of course, this also means that Gosalyn failed to prevent Darkwarrior from existing,as once an alternate dimension is spawned, simply returning to one's own timeline will not then collapse that dimension.

Basil, the great mouse detective of Baker Street inspired Drake Mallard to become a crime fighter.

The Basil statue Drake bonks on its head to transport himself and Launchpad to Darkwing's lair is the duck's homage to the mouse who was such an influence on his life.

Launchpad's interest in soap operas came from his spending time with Mrs. Crackshell.

Perhaps she'd just gotten over an illness or something and Fenton didn't want her to be by herself, so he asked Launchpad to watch her until he got off duty. Given Mrs. Crackshell's tendency to be a Daytime Drama Queen, that would have meant Launchpad got exposed to a lot of her soaps during that time.

Bugmaster is Webby's mother.

Bianca Beakley, a news reporter who creates a criminal persona known as "The Bugmaster" to create news coverage, is Webby Vanderquack's Missing Mom. She and Mrs Beakley have the same surname, so she's her daughter, who got pregnant and abandoned her child with her mother, so she could go on with her career. Mrs B. would have agreed to take care of her grandchild until Bianca got her life right, but even after becoming a sucessful news reporter, she never cared to look after her daughter, and her mother ended up raising Webby herself. Also, Bentina knew her daughter was a bad person long before she became a criminal, which is why she never looked for her, in order to keep her granddaughter from suffering.

• In the French dub of DuckTales (1987), Webby's mother is mentioned and given the name "Edna". Of course, this doesn't negate the WMG. Perhaps she changed her name from Edna to Bianca at one point or uses Bianca as a pseudonym, because she figured an alliterative name would make her more attractive as a television personality.

There is no Nega-Pirateverse.

In Darkwing Doubloon's universe, the Dread Pirate Negaduck's real name is...Jim Starling. He was formerly a famous and well loved privateer, but after taking one too many punches over the course of his adventures and then getting cheated by his employer, Prime Minister Boorswan, he went nuts and became Negaduck. His insanity and brutality only escalated when Darkwing Doubloon came on the scene and started doing Jim's old job with greater efficiency, making a bigger name for himself.

The real reason Honker and Morgana never appeared in an episode together is because Honker could've potentially picked up magic himself as a result.

Look at how magic is taught in "Hot Spells" - lots of studying and math. While Gosalyn struggled in her class, someone like Honker would excelled. And being the curious little knowledge-seeker Honker is, working with a genuine magic-user like Morgana may have caused Honker to look into the branch himself and discover that the means of learning it is right up his alley. Having a main character picking up magic when Morgana is meant to be the resident magic character in the show would've complicated the plot to a degree that (while not bad in its own right) was a degree the writers clearly weren't aiming for. So it was better that they not meet and start the plot down that slippery slope to begin with.

Honker quit Team Darkwing after "Steerminator".

After seeing what is possibly Darkwing's most terrifying enemy become even more terrifying with his cybernetic enhancements, and nearly getting killed at a few points during the confrontation that failed to even dent Bulba no matter what they threw at him, Honker decided his adventures with Darkwing might be getting a little too dangerous and stepped down. Despite never appearing in the cartoon again after that, he likely still hung out with Gosalyn during more peaceful times that didn't show up on screen. But he did not wanna put himself in the titular Steerminator's literal crosshairs again.

Team Darkwings of the Multiverse.

Speculate on the teams behind the different Darkwings of the Multiverse, if they have a team.

• Quiverwing Duck - Morgana moved in with Drake and Launchpad to help cope with the loss of Gosalyn. Honker returned to his family for a time, but then he dug up and doubled down on his old sidekick identity, the Arrow Kid, as his own coping mechanism. He's since refined what it means to be Arrow Kid so that it's more meaningful than just "guy who carries the arrows", and he, Morgana, and Launchpad were patrolling elsewhere in the city when Negaduck and Magica abducted Quiverwing Duck.
• Batman Darkwing - Gosalyn is Robin, Morgana is Batwoman, Launchpad is...Alfred(?), and Honker is Oracle.
• Tarzan Darkwing - Gosalyn is Terk and Honker is Tantor.
• Simba Darkwing - Morgana and Launchpad are already confirmed to be Timon and Pumbaa, respectively; Gosalyn is Kiara and Honker is...a younger Zazu? Maybe a nerdier and more nebbish Kovu?
• Darkwarrior Duck - Honker would eventually grow up to take on the archer mantle his best friend was originally going to and would begin a sneaky guerilla campaign against the stronger and more heavily armed monster that used to be Darkwing. This timeline's Quiverwing would intervene just in time after Gosalyn escaped back to her past in "Time and Punishment", allowing Launchpad to escape Darkwarrior's inevitable wrath for helping her. (There's really no basis for this other than to give poor Launchpad of that timeline a means of escape and a friend.)

The High Command of F.O.W.L. would have been revealed if the show was given more seasons.

Their faces would have been shown and DW would have beaten them once and for all.

Had the series continued, Steelbeak would have betrayed F.O.W.L.

Steelbeak is only loyal to The High Command because he is afraid of them. At the moment, they are too powerful to take on. Give him super powers and he would turn against them in a heartbeat.

Gizmoduck knows that Drake Mallard is Darkwing

He would have had suspicions after "Tiff of the Titans" where a person who looks and sounds exactly like Darkwing is fighting tooth and nail to defend him. And these suspicions would have been pretty much confirmed in "Just Us Justice Ducks" when he would find out that Darkwing hangs out with the exact same people that were at Drake's house when he was visiting. He'd be an idiot not to know Drake is Darkwing, he just never brings it up because it's just not a conversation he's interested in having.

Darkwing Doubloon isn't a hero

The king seems to be afraid of him. This implies that Doubloon and his pirates are bad guys, but not as murderous and dangerous as Captain Negaduck and his crew. Basically it's a story about bad guys fighting a bigger threat.

• Darkwing Doubloon probably is a Pirate, but under the employ of the King; most of the infamous Pirates were actually employed by Monarchs to mess with the businesses of competing Monarchies. There were also Freelancer Pirates/Rogue Pirates, though and that might be what Negaduck and his crew represented.

Splatter Phoenix's means of revival hints at how Negaduck in Joe Books continuity returned.

Somewhere between the revised "Campaign Carnage" arc and the "Orange is the New Purple" arc, Phantom Blot got another artist to draw Negaduck back to life with his ink. Then Negaduck immediately began setting in motion the events of the latter arc.