Darkwing Duck - Television Tropes & Idioms

I am the terror that flaps in the night!

"Somewhere down there is this Darkwing Duck. I've watched him. I know his weakness. His posing, his flamboyance, the mask and cape! Ha, ha! That hat! It all indicates an ego the size of a small planet!"

— Taurus Bulba

Darkwing Duck was a superhero cartoon produced by Disney that ran from 1991 to 1995. It followed the adventures of a masked duck, who was somewhere between Batman, Sandman and The Shadow, parodying many superheroic tropes and characters along the way. Nevertheless, it was one of Disney's Darker And Edgier series, fondly remembered for things like total aversion of Never Say Die and an episode featuring Satan as the Monster Of The Week.

Armed with only a gas gun and a massive ego, Darkwing battled a Rogues Gallery of villains and defended the city of Saint Canard — all while providing his own narration.

Darkwing was comedically inept, hampered by his vainglory, short-sightedness, bad temper and general klutziness. He always came through in the end, usually after being brought to his senses, and uttering the phrase, "Let's get dangerous," after which he'd really show his true skills. His other catch phrase "I am the terror..." changed endings every time it was used. DW tried to make it fit his current situation, but it didn't always work.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night, I am the batteries that are not included. I am Darkwing Duck!"

DW was assisted by his sidekick Launchpad McQuack, his adopted daughter Gosalyn, and the youngest son of his next door neighbors, Honker Muddlefoot.

"I feel awful... stooping to such petty crimes. But you can't imagine how expensive thermonuclear warheads are these days."

— Negaduck

Darkwing faced a variety of villains, from the nefarious Negaduck to the comical-but-sort-of-deadly electropath Megavolt and plant/duck Bushroot through the smarmy salesman, Liquidator, to the competent Taurus Bulba and Steel Beak. Also, some evil mind-controlling aliens that looked like hats.

He ran into a number of other heroes, usually not starting off on the best foot. These included Gizmo-Duck from Duck Tales, who Darkwing did not work well with, Stegmutt, a large, dim dinosaur and Morgana MacCawber, a sorceress and former crook who reformed and became Darkwing's girlfriend.

This show provides examplse of:

Alliterative Name: Darkwing Duck himself.
- Averted for most of the rest of the cast, which is note worthy for Disney characters.
All Your Powers Combined: Negaduck once made a device that allowed him to siphon all of the various superpowers of Darkwing's Rogues Gallery into himself: liquid body, plant control, electrical powers, etc. Unfortunately, he also got Quackerjack's wackiness in the deal too, which was...less useful.
Alternate Universe: The Negaverse.
Amusing Injuries: "Hey, Stegmutt, let's play 'Let's Pretend'! Let's Pretend Darkwing is on fire!"
- "This is the second most painful moment of my entire life." "What was the first most painful?" "Put out the Darkwing, put out the Darkwing..." (Referring to the above where Stegmutt 'pretends' to put out pretend on-fire Darkwing)
Animated Shows
Animation Bump: Most noticeably in "Darkly Dawns The Duck".
Applied Phlebotinum
Arc Words: "Blathering blatherskites!" Overlaps with Catch Phrase, but since it causes whoever says it to transform into Gizmoduck there's a bit more to it.
Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering
Aside Glance: Used often.
Ax Crazy: Negaduck
Badass Boast: "I am the terror that flaps in the night..."
Badass Normal: Darkwing was a parody of the concept, but often proved himself able to save the day when heroes with actual powers couldn't.
- Well, unless you count his 'power' to seemingly teleport into his "trademark blue smoke."
Balancing Death's Books: "Dead Duck".
Better Than It Sounds
Bragging Theme Tune
Captain Crash: Launchpad, from Duck Tales. Darkwing even muses how Launchpad would've been proud of a helicopter wreck he caused. Darkwing himself is NOT this, as he never even claims to be able to operate aircraft.
Captain Ersatz: most of DW's Rogues Gallery were obvious villain archetypes, but Dr. Reginald Bushroot's name and powers both evoke Dr. Jason Woodrue, the "Flouronic Man" from The DCU.
Cartoon Crossovers: Gizmoduck from Duck Tales, F.O.W.L., and the planned but never really pulled-off crossover with Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers.
- Not to mention Launchpad, also originally a Duck Tales character.
- "In Like Blunt" features each and every recurring Duck Tales villain.
- The show itself was inspired by a Ducktales episode in which Scrooge temporarily becomes a superhero called The Masked Mallard. The writers decided to write a follow-up episode, but ended up thinking of so many plot ideas that they realized they needed a separate series to contain them all. Nearly all the Masked Mallard ideas had Launchpad tagging along with Scrooge as a sidekick, so he was imported over to Darkwing Duck.
- In the mid-1990s, there was a story arc within the comics pages of Disney Adventures that linked Darkwing Duck to the continuities of Tale Spin, Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, and (unsurprisingly) Duck Tales, all via a possessed medallion.
Catch Phrase: Start at the beginning...
- "I am the terror..."
- "Let's get dangerous!"
- "Suck GAS, evildoer!"
- "Hoookay-fine."
- "Keen gear!"
- "Yeeeeeeep, yep, yep."
Christmas Episode: "It's a Wonderful Leaf".
City Of Adventure: St. Canard.
Coat Hat Mask: Darkwing considers one of the basics for a superhero to be 'a clean cape'.
Commissioner Gordon: J Gander Hooter of SHUSH. The actual cops have decidedly mixed opinions.
Cool Bike: The Ratcatcher, complete with sidecar for sidekicks.
Cool Garage: Darkwing's base was on one tower of a suspension bridge.
Cool Plane: The Thunderquack.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Bud Fludd, aka the Liquidator, who maintained many CCE traits even after becoming a full time supervillain.
- And the two identical-looking managers Darkwing has had to deal with when they try to cancel/overuse his show.
The Cowl: He's a parody of this archetype.
Dating Catwoman: Morgana McCawber.
Deadpan Snarker: Gosalyn and Darkwing.
Death Course: two, ostensibly for training purposes. Darkwing had one of these as how he cooks breakfast in 'Darkly Dawns the Duck' (he always gets creamed; Gosalyn runs it once too). SHUSH seems to have one of these as well for its agents; the final exam seems to be designed to make sure agent recruiting stays low. The test? 'Survive'. As you're shot with increasingly inordinate ordnance.
Defied Trope: At the end of an Enemy Mine episode.
Disney Death: The pilot's climax and "Dead Duck", the latter of which was All Just A Dream.
Ear Worm: The theme song.
The Electric Slide: Megavolt uses this one.
Enemy Mine: DW has been forced to team up with one of his foes several times, including Bushroot ("Twin Beaks" and "Slime OK, You're OK"), Megavolt ("Negaduck" and "The Frequency Fiends"), Quackerjack ("The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain"), and the non-Negaduck members of the Fearsome Five ("Jail Bird").
Enemy Without: The original Negaduck, who was literally DW's evil side given form. Also, the episode "The Frequency Fiends" centered around Gosalyn's worst personality traits (her temper, her ego, and her irresponsibility) being given form as energy beings.
Establishing Character Moment
Evil Counterpart: Negaduck.
Evil Laugh
Evil Twin: The other Negaduck.
Expanded Universe: The comics in Disney Adventures had Darkwing up against memorable villains such as Fluffy, Mondo, and Solego, all of whom were never seen or mentioned on the show itself.
Expository Theme Tune
Fatal Flaw: Pride.
Fiery Redhead: Gosalyn.
Fish People: Neptunia.
Fluffy The Terrible: Literally; the comics featured a villainous super-intelligent kitten named Fluffy.
Foe Yay: Yes, mixing this trope with a Love Potion is a disturbing combination...
Follow In My Footsteps: reversed: Darkwing would prefer his daughter NOT do this. She disagrees.
Four Fingered Hands
Freaky Friday: "Trading Faces". In fact, while they are switched, Darkwing and Goslyn can be told apart physically by Tertiary Sexual Characteristics, while Launchpad and Honker had the size of their eyes switched around.
Fridge Logic: "When you're Drake Mallard, what kind of job do you have?" "Yeah, how do you pay your bills?"
- How about "How can you manage to hold down a (presumably) eight-hour-a-day job and a (presumably) eight-hour-a-night crimefighting gig while also getting (presumably) eight hours of sleep (at some point?) and raising a ten-year-old kid??"
- Seeing as how DW is routinely shown testing out gadgets and weapons supplied by SHUSH, it's likely he's "officially" listed as a professional gadget-tester, and paid accordingly.
From A Single Cell: Bushroot could come back from from being shredded into leaves and vines. This was, of course, exploited constantly.
Genre Savvy: The surprisingly aware Darkwing.
The Ghost: There was a repeated mention that the city's most wanted criminal was someone named Dr. Slug, but the only time we see him was right before the episode cut away to a narration about the human brain told by Darkwing directly to the audience.
GPS Evidence: The sand on Sharp's note in "In Like Blunt".
- Also the crumb in "Justice Ducks Part 1".
  - Of course, Negaduck knew he would ignore the giant Negaduck flag.
Grappling Hook Pistol
Green Skinned Space Babe: Tia in "U.F.Foe"
Green Thumb: Bushroot.
Half Dressed Cartoon Animal: Only Launchpad, Grizzlikov, Binkie, and Dr Bellum wear anything leg-covering, and the latter two rely on skirts. Gosalyn is a somewhat unusual female example here.
- Oddly enough, the villains were usually much better dressed. Quackerjack, Megavolt, Morgana, Ammonia Pine, Steelbeak, Jamabalaya Jake, Taurus Bulba and Splatter Phoenix were all fully clothed.
Hammerspace: The place around Darkwing's cape where he keeps his gadgets.
Happily Adopted: Gosalyn never has "you're not my real dad!" issues with Darkwing.
- Which may have had something to do with the fact she was already orphaned at the start of the series and living with her grandfather. Also, she was effectively a young female version of Darkwing/Drake, and he knows it.
Heel Face Turn: Morgana and Neptunia.
Hero With Bad Publicity: Even when the villains aren't trying to smear him.
Heterosexual Life Partners: DW and Launchpad.
Hey, It's That Voice!: Krusty the Clown as Megavolt (also Edna Krabappel as Taurus Bulba's secretary). Also, This Troper finds it funny that, aside from the fact that one is a hero and one's a villain, Darkwing has a personality very similar to that of a certain Air Pirate from another Disney series from the same era.
- Heck, just listen to half the voice actors on this show, and you'll hear several familiar ones.
  - So, is anyone gonna mention Tim Curry as Taurus Bulba?
Hilarious In Hindsight: A comic has a Mr. Fantastic Captain Ersatz attempt to enforce a Super Registration Act. The Darkwing Duck comic came first.
Hollywood Cyborg: Taurus Bulba.
Humiliation Conga: Negaduck's defeat at the end of "Just Us Justice Ducks" is one of the funniest examples this troper has ever seen.
Idea Bulb: Parodied with Megavolt.
In The Name Of The Moon: "I am the terror..."
Instrument Of Murder: The King's guitar.
Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: DW is a mild example — he may be vain, bad-tempered, and a gloryhog, but he's a hero to the core and deeply cares about his friends and family. Agent Grizzlikoff is another example. He hates Darkwing's showboating antics and tries to sabotage him whenever possible, but when the chips are down "Grizz" is an intensely loyal SHUSH agent.
Just Between You And Me: "Just Us Justice Ducks": Negaduck plans to put an end to the heroes in typical cartoon supervillain fashion as soon as he throws...''THE SWITCH!''.
Knight Of Cerebus: Although it's not a particularly extreme case, Taurus Bulba was not funny. At all. Although his episodes still had plenty of funny stuff in them, his involvement pretty much guaranteed that it would be darker in tone. Unlike Negaduck he wasn't over the top, and to a kid could actually be a bit scary.
Knight Templar: Dark Warrior Duck from "Time and Punishment"
Let's Get Dangerous: The Trope Namer.
Let's You And Him Fight
Limited Wardrobe: Launchpad's apparent lack of another outfit came up in passing more than once.
Little Miss Snarker: Gosalyn.
Love Potion: "My Valentine Ghoul".
Luckily My Shield Will Protect Me: DW's cape in the Nintendo game.
Malaproper: Grizzlikof
Mirror Universe
Missing Episode: "Hot Spells".
Mr Vice Guy
Multiple Choice Past: Darkwing was either from another planet, raised in a martial arts temple in China, bullied into a life of crime as a kid, or picked on in high school until he donned the mask.
Mythology Gag: The Donald Duck-style caps in "Water Way to Go".
Megavolt: I just can't get that song out of my head!
Names The Same: Negaduck and Negaduck.
- Interestingly enough there was a episode that didn't make it to television that would have featured Darkwing and the yellow suited Negaduck joining forces to combat the first Negaduck.
Narrator: Darkwing.
Negative Continuity: Word Of God says that continuity deliberately came second to Rule Of Funny, hence why there's not many episodes that reference each other and many that downright contradict each other. Hence why Darkwing Duck has multiple origin stories with completely different setups.
- Of course it was pretty easy to tell with 2 of the origin myths that said "origins" were merely DW making stuff up.
- Nevermind Negaduck's multiple origin stories.
Never Say Die: averted most of the time...and this is a Disney cartoon!
Nice Hat
The Notable Numeral: The Fearsome Five.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: Grizzlikoff.
Oh Wait This Is My Grocery List: "In Like Blunt".
Papa Wolf: Darkwing for Gosalyn.
Parental Bonus: Waaaaay too many to list. See Shout Out below for just a few examples.
Planet Of Hats: Comet Guy comes from a planet where everyone is a superhero. Then there's the Brainteasers who come from a literal planet of hats.
Power Creep Power Seep: Liquidator lost his powers to change water temperature and create "hard water" after his only solo episode. His regular water powers seemed to get downgraded too, and in one Fearsome Five episode, he was shown being restrained by being tied to the other bad guys with a rope.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Several of these, as fits the style of the show.
The Problem With Licensed Games: Subverted. The Darkwing Duck game for the NES was basically a short Megaman clone with a couple new mechanics added. It was actually quite popular - the player review average score on Gamefaqs is about 7.8 out of 10.
Projectile Toast
Psycho Electro: Megavolt.
Punny Name: Dr Sarah Bellum, Bud Flood (water salesman), Elmo Sputterspark (better known as the villain Megavolt), Morgana's family name as MacCawber (macabre).
Reasonable Authority Figure: J. Gander Hooter.
The Remnant
Rogues Gallery: Negaduck, Bushroot, Megavolt, the Liquidator, Taurus Bulba, Steel Beak, etc.
Running Gag
- The episode "Comic Book Capers" went so far as to feature a caricatured Native American named Little Running Gag.
Secret Identity Identity: There's no evidence that Darkwing had a secret identity before his decision to adopt Gosalyn. It's entirely possible he made up Drake Mallard just to facilitate the adoption; he certainly seems unfamiliar with normal, day-to-day life.
- And his attempt to hide it from Gosalyn didn't survive the pilot. He tried, but she figured it out rather quickly, in a subversion of Clark Kenting.
  - Would that be because when Drake, wearing heavy bandages, comes to adopt Gosalyn he intentionally slipped some of the bandages over his face like a mask.
  - He never intended to hide it from her; he passes the bandages off as running afoul of his Death Course/catering system.
Shout Out: The statue that opened the secret passage to his base was of Basil from Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. Also, DW's costume is a dead ringer for DC Comics's Crimson Avenger, one of the first costumed heroes, or perhaps to the (first) Sandman, another DC hero with a similar costume (at first) and a gas gun.
- The phrase "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it" appears in the pilot. It's a shout-out to a previous animated avian adventurer, Super Chicken.
- The episode "Aduckiphopia" (besides referencing the movie Arachnophobia) had DW grow four extra arms (something that once happened to Spider-Man) and had him take the new identity of 'Arachno-Duck' (wearing a variation of Spider-Woman's costume.)
- The episode "Planet of the Capes" was a shout-out to Normalman.
- "Going Nowhere Fast" (where DW gains Super Speed) features a pair of scientists named Dr. Allen and Dr. Garrick-the last names of the Silver Age and Golden Age Flashes
- There were also at least two references to The Far Side. "Beauty and the Beet" had Dr. Bushroot's fellow scientists Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson, while "Twin Beaks" featured a group of alien cows from the planet Larson. ("On the far side of the galaxy.")
- "Twin Beaks" was an episode-long Shout Out / Affectionate Parody of Twin Peaks.
- Let us not forget "The Dark Warrior Duck". Yes, a Shout Out to Frank Miller in a Disney Cartoon.
- Upon being knocked dazed and stupid from a nasty fall, Darkwing proceeds to sing Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson."
Show Within A Show: "Pelican's Island", among others.
Smug Super: GizmoDuck, although Darkwing imagines this to be worse than it is.
Species Surname: Nearly every character, a rather creative example is the civilian name of the main character: Drake Mallard. Obviously, it's the term for a male duck and a common breed, yet they're also real names. Still, most species surnames are variants: McQuack, Mallard, Macawbre, Waddlemeyer, Hooter, Bulba, Moliarty, Tuskernini, Grizzlikov).
Spiritual Successor: To Duck Tales.
Spotlight Stealing Squad: Marvel Comics published a Disney Afternoon comic book that ended up featuring lots of Darkwing and barely any of the other shows.
Super Hero
Superheroes Wear Capes
Super Hero Origin: Several different mutually-conflicting ones, actually, thanks to the Negative Continuity. Or just Unreliable Narrator.
Super Speed: "Going Nowhere Fast".
Talking To Himself: Jim Cummings.
Temporary Blindness: In the episode "Duck Blind".
Theme Naming: Launchpad McQuack.
Theme Tune Cameo: Megavolt in "The Frequency Fiends".
There Are No Therapists: At least, none that can be trusted.
Time Travel
Tomboy: Gosalyn.
Toothy Bird: Quackerjack is the most prominent example, though other characters have been seen with teeth now and then.
To The Batpole: As noted above, secret recliner entrance to his base.
Toy Ship: Some fans like to romantically pair off Gosalyn and Honker.
Transplant: Launchpad and Gizmoduck, from Duck Tales.
Triple Shifter
Trope Mobile: Thunderquack, Ratcatcher.
Tuxedo And Martini: Derek Blunt.
Unhand Them Villain: Happened to Gosalyn in the pilot.
Unreliable Narrator: Darkwing's self-provided narration is often at least slightly at odds with what he's actually doing as he says it. Then, of course, there's that one origin story of his...
We Can Rebuild Him: Taurus Bulba.
Welcome To The Real World: "Twitching Channels".
Well Intentioned Extremist: Neptunia before her Heel Face Turn.
What Measure Is A Non-Animal: Darkwing didn't know Bushroot could heal when he shredded him with a tractor in his first episode.
Write Who You Know: Gosalyn.
You Got Spunk: Gosalyn.
X Ray Sparks