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Basil Blackspot, better known as the Phantom Blot, is an anthropomorphic dog.
Description[]
The Phantom Blot is a calculating and extremely clever criminal and one of Mickey Mouse's archnemeses. Always clad in an ink-black shroud (which gives him his name), the Blot has dabbled in all the kinds of illegal activity, all for the sake of accomplishing his main goals (becoming the richest man in the world, taking over the world and getting revenge on Mickey). Mickey is one of the few who are able to outwit him, and his plans often got frighteningly close to succeeding.
Despite his many evil deeds, the Blot does have a soft side to him, little though he shows it: he is "too sensitive" to watch someone die in front of him (which is hardly a comfort to his enemies however, as this only means he'll put them in timed execution device and leave before they set off instead of just shooting them), and he actually has a young daughter, the Phantom Brat. The Blot is aware of the shock it would be for her to discover her father's real occupation and he always twists the truth when talking to her, calling himself a "white knight" and Mickey Mouse an "evil rat" so that he is the hero.
She is not the Blot's only offspring, as he also has an older, seemingly-illegitimate daughter, Countess Leïla, who, upon learning of her birth in 2006, briefly tried to embrace a career in supervillainy like her father. Little is known about the circumstances of the Countess's birth and why she was not raised by the Blot as his other daughter was.
Gallery[]
Behind the scenes[]
The Phantom Blot first appeared in 1939 in Merril De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey outwits the Phantom Blot.
The Phantom Blot is one of Disney Comics' darkest villains and also one of the most dangerous ones, due to his high intellect. He rose in importance from a one-shot to an archnemesis because the Mickey Mouse writers soon felt that a smart and no-nonsense antagonist would make for more interesting stories than Mickey's usual stupid and bumbling nemesis Peg-Leg Pete. The Phantom Blot's popularity was such that he even had his own comic title in the 60's. He also appeared in DuckTales and House of Mouse. The series Darkenblot by Casty and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio updated the skirmish between Mickey and the Blot by giving the villain access to modern techonology (most notably an intimidating exo-skeleton) and placing the two in a more modern setting.
Different interpretations and backgrounds[]
Although the Blot is unmasked at the end of his first appearances, later US and Egmont stories have decided to not show his face anymore, thus making him more mysterious and menacing. This has led to problems such as Italian stories (where the face is regularly shown, and the character often does not wear a cloak at all) not being printed at all in the Egmont-coordinated pocketbooks, or the art by Giorgio Cavazzano altered by completely re-inking every appearance of the unmasked Blot. The character has also two different names in German and French because of this confusion.
Voice Actors[]
- Frank Welker (DuckTales)
- John O'Hurley (Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot, Mickey and the Color Caper, House of Crime)
- Giancarlo Esposito (DuckTales 2017, actually an alternate version of the character)