Unlike the original, the 2017 Continuum's Darkwing Duck was originally a fictional character played by Jim Starling until the identity was taken up in real life by Drake Mallard. A real being, identical to the fictional version portrayed by Starling, also exists in the DW Continuum.
Description[]
Darkwing Duck, a caped superhero of the night defeating supervillains throughout St. Canard, known primarily for his large wealth of catchphrases (the most famous being “Let's get dangerous”), started out as the fictional protagonist of a 1980's TV series where he was portrayed by actor Jim Starling. A gender-flipped version of the character was also played by Bentina Beakley in a fan-produced attempt to give the series a proper finale following its early cancellation.
In 2019, following Starling's descent into madness that ended with him taking on the identity of Negaduck, the president of his fanclub, noble-hearted Drake Mallard, who was meant to star in a live-action reboot of the Darkwing Duck franchise, was convinced by Launchpad McQuack to actually become a real-life Darkwing Duck, with Launchpad as his sidekick.
Scrooge McDuck briefly disguised himself as Darkwing Duck to evade the notice of the Moonlander army during General Lunaris's invasion of Earth. At some point, the Headless Man-Horse also briefly adopted the identity, taking on the name of “Darkhead Horse”.
Quotes[]
Catchphrases:
- Let's get dangerous!
Other (Jim Starling):
- I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the lone roller skate at the base of villainy's staircase! I am Darkwing Duck!
- I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the pebble in the penny loafer of depravity! I am--
- Suck gas, you perfidiously possessed plantain!
Other (Drake Mallard):
- I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the overstuffed burrito that spills onto the lap of crime! I am Darkwing Duck!
- I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the scream you can hear in space!
Other (Scrooge McDuck):
- I am sharper than the sharpies! I am tougher than the toughies! I am Scrooge McDuck!
Behind the scenes[]
The fictional Darkwing debuted in the 2018 DuckTales 2017 episode Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System; Drake Mallard debuted, and took up the mantle, in the 2019 episode The Duck Knight Returns.
Voice Actors[]
- Jim Cummings (DuckTales 2017; Jim Starling incarnation)
- Toks Olagundoye (DuckTales 2017; Bentina Beakley incarnation)
- Chris Diamantopoulos (DuckTales 2017; Drake Mallard incarnation)
- David Tennant (DuckTales 2017; Scrooge McDuck incarnation)