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Bentina Beakley / Agent 22

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bentina_beakley_2017.png

"And one secretary for an old man who seems to have forgotten that I am not his secretary!"

Voiced By: Toks Olagundoye, Cony Wood (Latin American Spanish)

Scrooge McDuck's housekeeper, bodyguard, and most definitely not his secretary.

Adaptational Badass: In the previous series, Mrs. Beakley did have some action moments, but was still a Damsel in Distress most of the time. Here, she is given a Heroic Build, taught martial arts to her Action Girl granddaughter, and in her introductory short, she's shown to casually suck up a Bedsheet Ghost in her vacuum cleaner, an act that would cause the original Beakley to pass out in fear.
Adaptational Curves: In the original series, Mrs. Beakley had a stereotypical granny-like body. In this adaptation, she is given a Heroic Build.
Adaptational Nationality: In the 1987 series, she was American. Here, she is given a British accent.
Adaptation Personality Change: In the original, Beakley was the epitome of a Granny Classic. Here, while still grandmotherly, she's also more sarcastic and serious, and is given a backstory as a spy.
Advertised Extra: While she's still a major protagonist who plays an integral part in the overall story, with the opening and promotional material agreeing with this, her appearances are surprisingly scattered throughout the series, beating out even Donald for lowest amount total in the show. She does appear more in the second season (but appears even less in season 3 at only eight total episodes, being the only main character to have a single digit episode count in a season), though her final episode count is still fairly sparse.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: She found the Ghost of Christmas Future appealing for his dark cloak and grim appearance. She still feels this way in the present, as she gives Future a flirty look.
All Take and No Give: Present but played sympathetically; Mrs. Beakley expects Webby to be 100% honest with her, while keeping her granddaughter in the dark about certain Awful Truths for her own good.
Alliterative Name: Bentina Beakley.
Anger Born of Worry: The minute she finds Webby, Lena, and Huey after they went down to the abandoned subway tunnels in "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!", Mrs. Beakley chews them out for going into a dangerous place.
Apron Matron: Wears an apron and is the boss of McDuck manor after Scrooge.
Badass in Distress: She is an incredibly strong and tough duck, but even she cannot protect herself from a train car falling on her. Lena's magic is the only thing that saves her.
Badass Teacher: Webby mentioned Mrs. Beakley taught her about martial arts and to be Crazy-Prepared. Given Webby taking on both Gabby McStabberson in the pilot and Bigtime and Ma Beagle in "Daytrip of Doom!", and winning, Beakley was an excellent teacher.
Be Careful What You Wish For: She lampshades this in "Daytrip of Doom!". She had told Scrooge to spend more time with his family, but she didn't want them to move in and cause chaos immediately.
Berserk Button:
- Beakley does not appreciate when Scrooge treats her like a secretary.
- McDuck Manor may belong to Scrooge, but it's her house. Be prepared for her wrath if you mess with it.
Borrowed Catchphrase: It takes Beakley about ten seconds of trying to keep the houseboat together for her to unintentionally adopt Donald's catchphrases and mannerisms (i.e.: "What's the big idea?" and "Oh, phooey!")
Brief Accent Imitation: Beakley can imitate other people's accents. Being a former secret agent, she was likely trained to do this since her job did require her to go undercover from time to time.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Displays this during her time as Agent 22 and after.
Code Name: Agent 22.
The Comically Serious: Her voice actress for the series, Toks Olagundoye, described her as having absolutely no sense of humor — "but that's funny, trust me."
Composite Character:
- She's essentially a melding of the original show's Duckworth (British, comically serious, posh, proper, and sarcastic) and Mrs. Beakley (grandmotherly).
- She also used to share some traits with Gryzlikoff from Darkwing Duck, being a by-the-book agent of S.H.U.S.H.
The Conscience: Serves as a voice of caution and love for Scrooge on several occasions. Whether he listens or not of course depends on the day.
Cool Old Lady: A grandmother, is an expert martial artist, the Badass Teacher to her Badass Adorable granddaughter, and is The Dreaded.
Covert Pervert: The stoic grandmother flirts with the Ghost of Christmas Future and a fondly remembers a few of her missions in a romantic, dreamy kind of way.
Crazy-Prepared: A given trait since she trained her granddaughter to be prepared for anything.
Cultured Badass:
The Cynic: She believes that everyone is out to get something and you shouldn't trust anyone.
Dark and Troubled Past: Implied. She was an agent for S.H.U.S.H., which no doubt put her in dangerous situations but her heavy cynicism also indicates that she has had troubles with trusting people.
Deadpan Snarker: When you're the Only Sane Woman in a household full of kooky characters, it's expected.
Decomposite Character: Her nature as an Expy of Grandma Duck has been expunged, and it is even hinted that the latter may exist within this universe. In addition, despite many of her character traits being shared with the original show's Duckworth, it's shown in "McMystery at McDuck McManor!" that he does exist in this continuity.
Divergent Character Evolution: She is Scrooge's housekeeper who's been with him for a number of years. In the original, she was hired to be the triplets' nanny in addition to being the housekeeper.
Do Wrong, Right: In "McMystery at McDuck McManor!" she criticizes Webby for bringing a crossbow on their annual survivor skills trip. Webby then retrieves a set of bow and arrows, which Beakley approves of.
The Dreaded: When Ma Beagle expects Scrooge to rescue his kidnapped nephews and Webby, Mrs. Beakley's the one she prepares for, describing her as "McDuck's high-falutin' hooligan Beakley".
Establishing Character Moment:
- While her appearance in the pilot episode, "Woo-oo!", is scarce compared to the others, it's enough to get a look at her central character — her first major scene is opening up the door for the triplets after Scrooge closes the door on them and then quietly advising Scrooge to talk to his nephews; these scenes show she's Scrooge's hypercompetent housekeeper. Her second main scene shows her busting into Scrooge's office when it sounds like he's being attacked and when Scrooge treats her like his secretary, she proceeds to throw a pen straight into the wall hard enough to puncture said wall; this shows her impressive strength and skill. Afterwards, Webby mentions Beakley being a "bit overprotective" and during the second half of the pilot, she called her granddaughter 47 times to know where she is; this shows her protectiveness over her grandchild. And when she and Webby reunite, Beakley makes it known that she already knew Webby was lying about her whereabouts in a stern fashion before calmly telling Webby how much she trusts Scrooge and as long as Webby doesn't lie, she can go adventuring with him, and proceeds to pull her into a hug; this shows that she's not easily fooled, the deep trust she has in her boss, and that despite her serious, no-nonsense nature, she's still a caring grandmother.
- Before the series began Disney posted introduction videos. In Beakley's she vacuums up a ghost that was chasing the kids without breaking a sweat.
Everyone Has Standards:
- While she has every right to be angered by Scrooge's words and actions like with the others in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", she isn't spiteful enough to allow his family to leave him. Helps that she has already cooled off a few days afterwards and is mature enough to know better than to hold a grudge.
- As much as she disapproves of Della's lax parenting, she gets angry with Louie for his scathing declaration that his mother is just as responsible as him.
Exact Words: During "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" she tells Scrooge and Dewey to stop running inside the plane. So they walk slowly instead.
Mrs. Beakley: That is not what I meant and you know it.
Expository Hairstyle Change: In the present day, she wears a Prim and Proper Bun fitting for her job as a housekeeper. When she met Scrooge, she sported a bouffant, as a stylistic nod to the 1960s spy series The Avengers (1960s).
Fake American: In-Universe, she's capable of faking an American accent, such as when she pretends to be Roxanne Featherly when helping Scrooge with his interview.
Fatal Flaw: Perfectionism. As a S.H.U.S.H. agent she's a By-the-Book Cop who follows protocol and has memorized all mission data with her photographic memory. Outside of S.H.U.S.H missions, this translates to an overprotectiveness streak that she applies to the children in her care. She has ensured that her granddaughter has been trained in various forms of combat and espionage so that she could defend herself should danger ever find her, but still insists that she stays at McDuck Manor anyway, Webby's first adventure being when she snuck out in "Daytrip of Doom!" While she trusts Scrooge to look after the children when they go off on adventures, when she sees his lack of caution when handling a life or death situation in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" she openly questions him. She would later hold a critical eye over Della's hands-off parenting methods in "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!" and "Timephoon!", a fact that isn't necessarily wrong. This is eventually led to its apex in "Escape from the Impossibin!", where she puts Huey and Dewey through Training from Hell that accomplishes nothing but psychological trauma, using Webby as an accessory to this out of a paranoid fear for everyone's safety.
Foil: To Donald as an overprotective guardian. Donald is a worry-wort, while Mrs. Beakley trained Webby to be "ready for anything". Additionally while Donald doesn't like the idea of his nephews of going on adventures, Mrs. Beakley is perfectly fine with Webby going on adventures with Scrooge as long as she doesn't lie about it, because she knows she'll be safer with Scrooge than anybody else; Donald, on the other hand, does not trust his uncle (and with good reason). Inversely their parenting styles have different effects on their children; Donald may be a worrywart but Huey, Dewey, and Louie are well-adjusted, whereas Mrs. Beakley trained Webby to be "ready for anything" but never let her leave the mansion until the nephews came, meaning she has No Social Skills and has no idea on how to act in a normal setting.
Genius Bruiser: She's powerful with a muscular build to match, but also very intelligent and the most levelheaded of the main cast.
Good Is Not Soft: Beakley, Webby and Scrooge have no problem using lethal force against Black Heron.
Heroic Build: She's notably muscular in contrast to her more grandmotherly appearance in the original series, and the intro shows that she's strong enough to lift up all the triplets and Webby at once with one hand.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: She is the only one in Scrooge's extended staff and household (who is alive) who is genuinely capable and good at her job, without the personality disorders that Gyro, Quackfaster and Launchpad have. In their younger years, she used to be more conventionally competent than Scrooge as well, although this is implied to have faded as Scrooge became more experienced.
Inexplicably Awesome: As Donald points out, not many housekeepers know electrical engineering and Tae Kwon Do. She does jokingly suggest she's a spy, but Donald's understandably skeptical about how much of a joke that was. It is later on revealed to be true.
Interspecies Romance: She quite openly flirts with the Ghost of Christmas Future, a Grim Reaper-like supernatural being with a mammalian skeleton.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While she's definitely strict and somewhat uptight, no one can deny the good she does for others.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- An unwitting point, at least. While Mrs. Beakley's suspicions of Lena cause her to act towards the girl in a way which is not entirely admirable, Lena actually is a bit of a Toxic Friend Influence on Webby and the others and, unbeknownst to them, is in league with one of Scrooge's deadliest enemies in some scheme that doubtless has none of their best interests in mind. Lena doesn't really help her case when she encourages Webby and Huey to explore the abandoned subway tracks, which nearly gets everyone killed. It's also suggested that Mrs. Beakley's unwitting implication that Lena is not "a good kid with a bright future" touches a nerve with Lena because of this, since she knows full well that Beakley has more of a point than she realizes.
- Her separate teardowns of Scrooge and the triplets are hard but speak the truth. For Scrooge, he has once again let his pride get in the way of his family and the boys have let their hurt over Della's disappearance blind them to the fact that Scrooge lost a loved one too.
- Sour Supporter or not, Beakley was correct in how Della's lax parenting would ultimately be a detriment to raising her sons.
Jerkass Realization: She is very hard on Lena throughout "Terror of the Terra-firmians!" since she believes Lena's a bad influence on the kids until this exchange when she realizes that Lena doesn't seem to have anybody looking out for her.
Mrs. Beakley: They're good kids with bright futures!
Lena: So what does that make me?
Mrs. Beakley: [taken aback realizes the implications of what she just said] ... I don't know.
Kick Chick: The only Martial Art she's explicitly said to know (via Donald asking her a question), at this point, is the kick-heavy Tae Kwon Do.
Knight Templar Parent: Beakley is so obsessed with making sure the kids are prepared to deal with the threat of F.O.W.L. that she's willing to order Webby to attack an injured Huey and then attack Webby herself as part of their training.
Last-Name Basis: Except for Webby, the others simply refer to her as "Beakley". Donald, Della & Launchpad call her "Mrs. B".
Like an Old Married Couple: She and Scrooge get in a fair number of arguments, some quite animated, but they've been close friends for decades.
Mama Bear:
- She is one for the nephews and her Webby. In the theme song, she pulls them all up single-handedly to protect them from Scrooge's gallery.
- For all her contentions with Lena in "Terror of the Terra-firmians!", Mrs. Beakley protects her when Launchpad accidentally starts up the old subway car and endangers them.
- In "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", she's not happy at all when Scrooge lashes out at Webby and tells her she's not family.
Married to the Job: From what she tells Webby in "The Last Adventure!", she was so focused on her spy duties that she never spent any time with her family (to the point that she never even knew about Webby until her parents' death and only speaks of her father from a secondhand account). Even though Webby doesn't actually have parents in the traditional sense (and the people she claimed were Webby's parents might not actually exist), there's nothing to suggest that she was lying about her devotion to her job.
My Beloved Smother: Well, "My Beloved Grand-smother". Webby mentions that Mrs. Beakley can be a "bit overprotective" and while Mrs. Beakley taught Webby how to defend herself, she keeps her granddaughter at McDuck manor to keep her safe. It's downplayed a bit, however, since, at the end of "Woo-oo!", she happily allows Webby to go on adventures with Scrooge as long as Webby is honest about where she's going.
Mysterious Past:
- She casually tells Donald that she's a spy. She then laughs like this is a joke, but it seems to make Donald somewhat nervous. Given it turns out to be true, it raises a question or two about why she's working for Scrooge and has basically confined her granddaughter to the mansion her whole life, while giving her combat training to be "ready for anything". Ma Beagle also calls her a "high-falutin' hooligan"^note.
- There's also the fact on how she got to take care of Webby in the first place and where her children are ^note. If perhaps something happened to them, it would explain why Mrs. Beakley is a bit smothering with her granddaughter.
- Upon her return Della is surprised to see Beakley as the housekeeper. That season's Christmas Episode showed that Beakley had been employed by Scrooge at least a few decades beforehand and definitely knew Donald and Della prior to Della's disappearance. Della also refers to her as Agent 22, hinting that she was aware of Beakley's spy past while Donald wasn't. All of this makes it unclear when she left SHUSH and began working for Scrooge and exactly in what capacity^note.
- The series finale answers some of these questions: Her daughter and son-in-law are apparently dead, and she came to work for Scrooge after rescuing an infant Webby from the F.O.W.L. lab where she was created.
Never Mess with Granny: Highly competent in martial arts and, given how Ma Beagle prepares for her instead of Scrooge when Bigtime, Burger, and Bouncer kidnap the triplets and Webby, may very well be The Dreaded when it comes to all of Scrooge's enemies.
Noodle Incident: Beakley mentions in "The Shadow War Part II: The Day of the Ducks!" that she led an uprising in a country called "Eagleslavia".^note
Not So Above It All: After spending the day watching Darkwing Duck with Launchpad, she becomes just as obsessed with the show as he is. She even goes so far as to dress in the character's costume and make a fan film.
Not So Stoic: She is normally the most calm and steely person in the show, keeping a steady head when even Scrooge panics. That said there have also been some times when Beakley’s unflappable nature was compromised:
- Her temper exploded when Scrooge brought Webby on a spy mission and later when Scrooge lashes out at Webby. She loses her cool again after the Lost Harp of Harvana keeps pointing out she's fibbing to her granddaughter.
- When Donald takes charge in the first season finale, Beakley spends much of the episode in confused awe of his sudden bravery.
- She was completely flustered when Webby accidentally implied she doesn’t have many friends. Later in the same episode we see her getting just as childishly excited as Launchpad whilst watching Darkwing Duck.
- After seeing Della’s destructive attempts at cooking, all Beakley could do was stare in utter shock at the mess left behind.
- She gasps in shock with everyone else at Louie when he coldly points out Della was just as irresponsible as him, before becoming furious at the remark.
- She is just as horrified as the rest of the family when Quack Pack's stage audience reveal themselves to be humans.
Old Friend: She and Scrooge were SHUSH spies back in the day, now she's working as his housekeeper. As such she can get away with a lot of snarking.
Only Sane Woman:
- She's against Scrooge spending his days as a recluse, and suggested that he spent some time with his family. When that eventually results in said family members being moved in, she very quickly gets exasperated trying to keep the triplets and Webby in check, and how completely nonchalant Scrooge is about their destructive antics.
- She's also the only one of Scrooge's employees shown thus far to be genuinely competent (unlike Launchpad and Manny) AND have no extra quirks (unlike Large Ham Quackfaster, Mad Scientist Gyro, and Genius Ditz Fenton) AND not be actively undermining him (unlike the Board of Directors).
Outliving One's Offspring: When telling Webby about her parents in "The Last Adventure!", she speaks of both of them in the past tense. Then again, it's entirely possible that she never even had children to begin with given the fact that Webby isn't actually her biological granddaughter.
Parental Hypocrisy: Expects Webby to be fully honest with her but is still keeping unknown secrets from her granddaughter.
Parents as People: While she did a good job of teaching Webby survival skills and prepared her for any kind of danger, her parenting left the girl with no social skills whatsoever and a complete inability to deal with mundane, everyday situations.
Photographic Memory: Memorized the formula for Gummiberry Juice within a few seconds of reading it, and remembered it in perfect detail decades later. Black Heron insinuates the ability to do this is standard S.H.U.S.H. training.
Prim and Proper Bun: Wears her hair in a bun and is the McDuck mansion's Apron Matron.
Properly Paranoid: In "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!" she is very suspicious and untrusting of Lena, and just knows she's up to no good. She's not wrong; even without the Magica plot and Lena being The Mole, Lena does endanger Webby and the nephews with her actions.
Purple Is Powerful: True Mrs. Beakley has always been adorned in purple clothes, but here she's got the badassery to back it up.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- After the triplets learn what became of their mother, Mrs. Beakley decides to use her vacation skills after bluntly giving Scrooge, who lashed out at them and bluntly told Webby she's not family, a piece of her mind:
  Mrs. Beakley: Well, you've successfully pushed your family and everyone who ever cared about you away, again. I hope you're happy.
- She gives one to the nephews as well, in the following episode. Pointing out that no matter how hurt they were, Scrooge was hurt as well, and they shouldn't not forgive him at one point.
  Mrs. Beakley: Oh, I don't want to remind you of that horrid man who lost your mother all those years ago, even if it was an accident that tore him up for ten years, propelling him into a desperate search attempt that left him broken and nearly bankrupt. But I understand, you're upset because you lost one family member, which was terrible and painful, so you decided you should go ahead and lose another. Brilliant, makes perfect rational sense. Yes, distance yourself even further from his life and forsake family altogether. That will definitely fix it. Perhaps it's worth considering that the reason Scrooge closed himself off was because the loss of Della was the hardest thing he'd ever faced, harder than any adventure! It's not that he didn't care, it's that he cared about family more than anything in the world, and perhaps he still does. But I'm just the housekeeper, what do I know?
Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Mrs. Beakley is an overprotective grandparent. She tells Webby, however, that the latter is safe with Scrooge McDuck, and just not to lie to her about it.
- While Beakley (rightly) doesn't trust Lena and plans on putting the kibosh on her visiting Webby, she spends a lot of the time trying very hard to understand her, and even protects her in the subway when Launchpad gets the train moving out of control. Beakley eventually relents after Lena saves her life, and even lets her come to the mansion for pancakes.
Related Differently in the Adaptation: The series finale reveals that she is actually Webby's adoptive grandmother, as opposed to them being blood related.
Retired Badass: Used to be a spy, she's now Scrooge's housekeeper.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: She wants to keep Lena away from Webby and the nephews, stating that "these are good kids, with good futures." She's right that Lena is a threat to the McDuck family. But Beakley is concerned about Lena's generic rebellious nature, and knows nothing of Lena assisting Magica DeSpell with her plans against the McDuck family.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- She and Webby leave Scrooge for an extremely long vacation following his lashing out at them in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!". Subverted in that she calmed down after few days.
- She bails out on game night when her partner Launchpad mysteriously disappears (he got shrunk by accident), not wanting to put up with Scrooge's over-competitiveness.
Secret-Keeper: She's one of the few people who know what happened to Della, and an even smaller group that knows what Scrooge went through trying to find her.
- Knows Webby is actually not her granddaughter but a clone, because she's the one who liberated her from F.O.W.L.'s secret lab.
Seen It All: In Beakley's introductory short, her reaction to seeing a ghost menacing the children is to vacuum it up and go back to cleaning the house. When Donald asks Beakley how is she so capable, she states that she was a spy, albeit jokingly. Except she wasn't joking. She was literally a spy for SHUSH.
Servile Snarker: To Scrooge, as this one line from "Woo-oo!" shows.
"This is because some children made fun of you, isn't it?"
She Knows Too Much: Magica wants Lena to eliminate Beakley because she's suspicious of her origins, and poses a real threat to her agenda. Luckily, Lena doesn't go through with it.
Smart People Wear Glasses: An intelligent woman who wears square-shaped glasses.
Sour Supporter: When Della gets back to Earth, Mrs. Beakley is the only one not jubilant at her return believing she's too immature to be a mom and not a good influence on the kids. Scrooge points out that Della needs time to adjust, but even he's forced to admit that Della's still as reckless as she was ten years ago. "Timephoon!" greatly focuses on this, with Beakley warning Della not to be too easy on her kids or else they would not learn from their mistakes. Eventually, Della takes Beakley's advice to heart just in time to punish Louie for his shenanigans, which Beakley commends her for.
Strong and Skilled: A highly competent martial artist thanks to her years as an agent.
Taking the Bullet: In "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!" she gets knocked out protecting Lena from the impact of the subway crash. It's implied that Lena saves her for this reason.
Team Member in the Adaptation: Like Scrooge, Beakley never appeared on Darkwing Duck, but was made into a former member of that series's SHIELD-expy, S.H.U.S.H. here.
Tempting Fate: In the Season 1 finale, Donald tasks her with protecting his houseboat while he runs into the fray. Beakley remarks that it couldn't be that hard if Donald could keep it together. She's soon besieged by shadow demons and the boat burns down again.
This Is Gonna Suck: Has this reaction when Scrooge declares game night.
Top-Heavy Guy: A rare female example. She has a Heroic Build but her legs are still fairly short.
Underestimating Badassery: Downplayed as she typically means no ill-will, but Beakley has a habit underestimating Donald due to his typical disposition. Though she always ends up pleasantly surprised when Donald does rise to the occassion showcased in both the Season 1 Premiere and Finale.
The Un Twist: She really is a spy, to the surprise of nobody.
What the Hell, Hero?:
- She explodes at Scrooge for getting Webby involved in Heron's revenge mission.
- Calls Scrooge out big time for lashing out at Webby in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!".
- She calls the Ducks out for their attitude towards Scrooge in "The Shadow War!".
- She attempts to scold Louie for his remark at Della in "Timephoon!", but Della stops her, since she does see his point.
  Mrs. Beakley: See here, young man—!

Launchpad McQuack

"Aw, family truly is the greatest adventure of—OH NO THE GROUND!"

Voiced By: Beck Bennett, Moisés Palacios (Latin American Spanish)

Scrooge McDuck's driver of all things, usually crashes them at some point.

Ace Pilot: A terrible driver (though he will always get you to where you're going), but an excellent pilot. Still working on that landing though...
Achievement In Ignorance:
- His Universal Driver's License seems to be this, as he seems to think driving a submarine is the same as when he "sunk a helicopter in a wave pool once".
- He is rendered completely delirious by snake venom during "Woo-oo!" In this state, he defeats one of Glomgold's henchmen just by stumbling about blindly. He also apparently speaks approximate Swedish in this state.
- He takes the full brunt of a blast from Black Heron and Steelbeak's supercharged stupidity ray that would have wiped out everyone in Duckburg's intelligence. While his own intelligence was greatly boosted at the time, it is strongly implied that Launchpad was originally so stupid that taking a blast that big head on would merely return his intelligence to its "normal" level.
- While he's being given a refresher on flight training, much to Della's shock, when he highlights the "Point-o-Meter" (which is actually the air speed indicator), he brags that his "high score" is 5000. Della immediately realizes that means he somehow made the plane fly at five-thousand miles per hour (which is Mach 6.7). The plane should not be remotely capable of such air speeds.
Adaptational Comic Relief: He was funny in the original show too, but he loses a handful of IQ points in this series to be the source of even more comedy.
Adaptational Wimp: In the original show, Launchpad McQuack is one of the most dangerous members of the cast besides Scrooge himself. During the first season alone, he saves the triplets from hostile aliens, pulls off a supposedly impossible maneuver to rescue Scrooge during an aerial battle with the Beagle Boys, and successfully substitutes for a spy. The reboot version gets sidelined or becomes useless in a fight quite a bit more frequently, especially because he's also much ditzier.
All-Loving Hero: In his own words, he's everybody's friend.
Amazon Chaser: A lot of his past partners seem to fit this bill. At the end of season 2 he's immediately smitten by Penumbra and asks her out for coffee after complimenting her crash. He's also not at all deterred when she calmly states that she could easily crush him and he only asks if that means "yes".
Ambiguously Bi: When show runner Frank Angones discussed Launchpad's numerous past romances, he very specifically used gender-neutral words and pronouns. Becomes less ambiguous when Launchpad lists a clone of himself among his past paramours^note.invoked
Ambiguously Jewish: In "Last Christmas!" he's seen wearing a holiday sweater with a Menorah on it, but it's never established whether he's Jewish or simply acquired a sweater for the wrong holiday.
Amicable Exes: He parted on good terms with both Ziyi and Oceanica. Word of God suggests he's like this with all of his exes. Eventually, after some awkwardness following their bad first/only date, he becomes this with Penumbra as well.invoked
And You Thought It Was a Game: Thinks the events of "Double-O-Duck In You Only Crash Twice!" were all part of the augmented-reality spy video game he and Dewey were playing. He quickly realizes it's real after his intelligence is boosted, but seems to revert to thinking it was a game after returning to normal.
Apologetic Attacker: In “The Duck Knight Returns!” he’s very reluctant about fighting Drake Mallard and apologizes repeatedly.
Ascended Fanboy: After being a massive fan of the in-universe Darkwing Duck show, he eventually becomes the sidekick of the real Darkwing Duck when Drake Mallard picks up the mantle.
Audience Surrogate: For the adult viewers who grew up with the original Disney Afternoon shows. He gushes about the in-universe Darkwing Duck TV show with the same nostalgia as any real-life person of his age would about the real Darkwing Duck and DuckTales (1987).
- His driver's license also lists his date of birth as September 18, 1987, the day the original DuckTales (1987) premiered, making him 30 years at the time of of the current show's premiere, roughly in the same age bracket as its Periphery Demographic.
Bad "Bad Acting": In "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!" he does such a bad job of impersonating Donald even during the anger fit that it's surprising Scrooge's parents were actually fooled.
Barefoot Cartoon Animal: While he did wear shoes for most of the series, "The Missing Links of Moorshire!" is the only episode where he is barefoot with a suit.
Big Eater: There's a running gag in "The Mummies Of Toth-Ra!" that Launchpad never gets tired of eating burritos. It actually becomes a plot point later.
Bizarre Taste in Food: He likes sheep's bladder and buttermilk.
Blind Mistake: In "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!", with his goggles fogged up, Launchpad has no idea that he's slid down the mountain and is wandering through a hot spring spa, thinking all the time that he's suffering the effects of "Ice Fever".
Born Lucky: He crashes every vehicle he mans but somehow makes it out of every single crash unscathed and can fix most vehicle problems simply by hitting it.
Borrowed Catchphrase: In "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!" Launchpad says "Let's get dangerous!", Darkwing Duck’s famous catchphrase, during the climactic car chase.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's dumber than a sack of hammers, he Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality and has crashed every vehicle he's driven, but there have been no confirmed casualties caused by this (which to say is statistically unlikely would be putting it mildly), but he manages to rebuild and keep the plane in one piece with nothing but chewing gum, superglue and a hamster-wheel, he's a total Chick Magnet and he's managed to reach Mach 6.7 on a plane too old to be kept together in its original design (which should be impossible). The fact that a skin-flint like Scrooge keeps a guy who crashes his plane and limo as often as Launchpad around proves that he's doing something right.
Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: After seeing a horror movie about mole monsters, he does not realize that the film's plot is entirely fictional, and spends the entirety of "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!" worrying that one of his friends (namely Dewey) is a mole monster in disguise.
- On the other hand, considering what he would experience working for Scrooge McDuck it's somewhat understandable he would consider mole monsters to be reasonable.
Captain Crash: It wouldn't be Launchpad without a complete inability to land a plane. He can't even wrap his head around the concept of piloting something without crashing it.
"This is not the end of Launchpad McQuack! It will be by plane crash, or not at all!"
- Notably, his comical ability to crash without consequence is retained and the main thing separating him from Della Duck, who otherwise is a far superior pilot that can do crazy stunts and land fine, as well as properly repair the plane when needed. However, when they crash it's played with all seriousness of possible injury or death, not to mention damage to the plane. When Launchpad takes over, he manages to crash straight into a cave without damaging the aircraft or bodily injury to its passengers (much to Della's confusion), and they're able to just fly right out. On the other hand, Della crashing the Sunchaser in the finale shakes everyone up and the plane is wrecked, stranding them.
- Also separating him from Della: despite his crashes his crazy stunts have never made Scrooge sick.
- So far he's only managed to land without crashing exactly once: in Valhalla, of all places. Later in the episode, he actually uses "Captain Crash" for his wrestling moniker, despite it being the only episode where he doesn't crash.
Character Exaggeration: In the original series he was ditzy, but still all-together, brave and competent. Here he's... out there, to the point where Mrs. Beakley angrily calls him a "man child".
Chick Magnet: Just like his original character, Launchpad seems to be a hit with the ladies. He has two ex-lovers that we know of so far, and one of them is a mermaid. Word of God suggests he had many more significant others. "The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!" confirms this.invoked
Cloudcuckoolander: Par the course for a character like Launchpad. When Scrooge asks if he's good at piloting a submarine, Launchpad replies saying that he crashed a helicopter into a wading pool once.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: When rebuilding the Sunchaser/Cloudslayer, Della is aggravated to find Lauchpad uses chewing gum to repair an air filter (among other things) and redoes the repairs herself. It turns out the plane is so old that repairing it properly creates a lot of black smoke that hinders the pilot from flying. Lauchpad's repairs might not be pretty, but they keep everything working.
A Day in the Limelight: He's the character that gets the most focus in "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!"
Depending on the Writer: His ditziness and competence vary from episode to episode. In "Terror of the Terra Firmians!" he's so ditzy he's almost useless; in "House of the Lucky Gander!" and "The Depths of Cousin Fethry!" he's a Hero of Another Story who had his own badass adventure helping his ex-girlfriends offscreen.
Determinator: Always ready to show off his pilot skills and help out in any way he can, Launchpad never lets small things like rejection, total failure, or even blatant incompetence hinder him from getting the job done, and as stated above he refuses to die in anything other than a plane crash.
Didn't Think This Through: In "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!" he executes a half-baked scheme, as usual. This time, he's so proud of himself for getting a driver's license that he forwards it straight to Scrooge's mail. It's a miracle that Scrooge took it in stride that his chauffeur is allowed to drive by law only just now.
The Ditz: He seems more dumb than his version in the original show. Although the creator denies him being stupid and insists he's purely good.
Does Not Compute: The words "Not crash" leave Launchpad at a loss every time.
Driver Faces Passenger: He has a really bad habit of doing this while driving anything, which is part of the reason he's such a Captain Crash.
Drives Like Crazy: When he's in a car, watching the road and staying in his own lane are merely suggestions to him. That said, he does seem to have genuine talent at piloting lots of other vehicles.
Establishing Character Moment: His first scene includes him driving recklessly as Scrooge's driver while also making polite conversation.
Everyone Has Standards: During “The Duck Knight Returns”, he slowly starts to process how rude and selfish Jim Starling is during the filming of the movie. He goes as far as protecting the director of the movie when Starling goes on a rampage and aims a dangerous weapon at the director. He may be one of the guy’s biggest fans and he initially was willing to help sneak Starling onto the movie set, but he’s not letting his devotion blind him to what is obviously wrong.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: In "The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!" Scrooge's inspirational speech to the servants of Toth-Ra is interrupted by Launchpad eating a burrito. Launchpad explains that he "didn't want my belly to grumble and interrupt your big speech... like I am right now."
Extreme Omnisexual: Aside from girlfriends of various different species, his past paramours also include a clone of himself, a sapient cloud, and a were-duck whose concept artist described as being non-binary.invoked
Fainting: Faints numerous times when he meets Jim Starling in person. According to Dewey and Jim, he always does this.
Fan Boy: Of Darkwing Duck, which is now an in-universe TV show until "The Duck Knight Returns!".
Fearless Fool: The main reason why Scrooge keeps him on. Who else is as crazy and dangerous?
"Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: "Double-O-Duck In You Only Crash Twice!" sees him gain increased intelligence from Black Heron's ray. He loses it in the end, forced to take an intelligence-decreasing blast to prevent all of Duckburg from being engulfed in it. His intelligent self still exists, but only can communicate by talking in his sleep.
Future Badass: In "Timephoon!", he became one when he got sent into the future and came back rugged, claiming to have seen the end of the world.
Genius Ditz: He's not exactly the brightest of the bunch, but is an Ace Pilot and can even speak Swedish... after a fashion, anyway. He also demonstrates a detailed knowledge of Darkwing Duck, which Dewey observes is the one topic Launchpad knows a lot about.
Hero of Another Story: A Running Gag of sorts; in both "The House of the Lucky Gander!" and "The Depths of Cousin Ferthy!" he doesn't stay with the family, but instead goes to find his ex-girlfriend Ziyi in Macaw and Oceannica in the Pacific Ocean, respectively. By the end of the first episode, he returns in armor with many arrows sticking out of him, an Eye Patch Of Power and a panda cub clinging to his back, whereas in the second he is wearing what seems to be armor of an underwater civilization.
Hidden Depths:
- One of Webby's lies is that she's with a friend's relative that only speaks Swedish. In a venom-induced daze, Launchpad does speak Swedish. His pronunciation is so off that it's little better than gibberish, but it's possible for a native speaker listening very carefully to work out what he's saying.
- He then demonstrates that he's already the Hero of Another Story in "House of the Lucky Gander!" by doing something that results in him winding up with an eyepatch, wearing Armor covered in arrows, and carrying a small baby panda on his back. All we know is it was something to do with an ex-girlfriend, and casually explains it away as "tourist stuff." Ditto in "The Depths of Cousin Fethry!", except it was "Ocean stuff".
- "The Rumble for Ragnarok!" reveals he's a Professional Wrestling fan and knows all the plot and character conventions of the sport.
- He's a massive fan of the old Darkwing Duck TV show, to the point where it's stated "Launchpad knows a lot about this one thing" and he's so passionate that even Mrs. Beakley briefly gets caught up in it.
Idiot Houdini: He's been driving without a license for years, and has received no punishment.
Immortality: Louie wonders if he has this in the first episode of season 2, given how he always survives his crashes.
Incompatible Orientation: He's immediately smitten with Penumbra, who unfortunately turns out to not be interested in "Earth males." Word of God confirmed she meant she was a lesbian.invoked
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Word of God describes him as pure, which isn't hard to believe given how incredibly nice and innocent he is.invoked
Innocently Insensitive: He is worried he is this when he makes a disparaging comment about robots, thinking Fenton is actually a robot.
Intergenerational Friendship: With the triplets and Webby. He and Dewey seem to be pretty close in particular, as Launchpad refers to the latter as his best friend in "Terror of the Terra-firmians!" and the two hang out together without the other kids in "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!".
Interspecies Romance: With Oceanica, a mer-duck. He also dated a sapient cloud of energy at some point. And now he finds a new love interest in Penumbra, a Moonlander.
It's Like I Always Say: In "The Spear of Selene!":
Launchpad: I always say, better safe than… whatever the opposite of safe is. [Pause] Yeah, I do say that.
Scrooge: When have you ever said that?
Kindhearted Simpleton: He's not the brightest of the bunch, but at least he's the nicest.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: The bottom half of his duck-bill is shaped like a large, manly chin, and he is a heroic and strong, although quite dumb person.
Late to the Punchline: When Louie angrily points out that his time-travelling shenanigans are no different than Della stealing the Spear of Selene, it takes a few seconds longer for Launchpad to figure it out than everyone else.
Let's Get Dangerous!:
- In "The Shadow War!", as he prepares to fight the shadows, he presses his Darkwing Duck bobblehead to hear the "Let's get dangerous" catchphrase for motivation. Then when Magica's shadows immobilize his plane, he starts singing the Darkwing Duck theme song while getting out of the plane to punch them.
- He gets to say this line again in "The Duck Knight Returns!", only this time with the real Darkwing Duck i.e. Drake Mallard.
Lethal Chef: Webby and Launchpad try to make a special dinner for the boys and Donald, in an attempt to get them to reconcile with Scrooge. Their attempts are so bad that Beakley, a much better cook, steps in to help.
Lethal Klutz: Especially in Season 3, some of Launchpad's actions are considered rather dangerous that he shouldn't be left alone, especially with a child. For instance, he outright jumped out of a car he was driving in "They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!" with several passengers in there, and in "The Trickening!", he outright attempted to murder multiple children and monsters just because he thought Halloween was a curse.
Literal-Minded: Launchpad thinks a man-child is a kind of creature. He also confuses the sport cricket with the insect.
Mad Libs Catchphrase: Huh, never crashed a [insert any vehicle] before.
Made of Iron: While he was visibly hurt by being bitten by numerous snakes (venomous rattlesnakes at that), he manages to bounce back. In season 2, Louie even wonders if he has straight up Immortality.
Manchild: He's outright called one by Mrs. Beakley. Seeing as how Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby come off as more emotionally mature than he to the point that seeing a scary movie convinces him that the film's fictional plot could happen in real life, she's not all that wrong.
Morality Pet: To Louie in "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!". Upon finding out that Launchpad got conned into believing in a fictional disease and buying gear in order to prevent said disease, he declares "No one's allowed to scam my family, but me!" and cons the salesman into publicly admitting that the disease is fake.
My Significance Sense Is Tingling: In "Jaw$!", before the nephews even ask for his help, Launchpad bursts into the room, saying, "My best friend Dewey is in trouble! I can feel it..."
Negated Moment of Awesome: He attempts to fly his plane to a Magica-infested Scrooge McDuck's money bin, trying to crash into it, only for her shadows to slap it away multiple times. Downplayed in that he then fights them with his bare hands when they grab his plane.
Launchpad: Sorry to ''crash'' your party!
Never Got to Say Goodbye: Ziyi, Launchpad's old girlfriend in Macaw, apparently disappeared in the course of Launchpad's adventures. At the end of "The House of the Lucky Gander!", Launchpad mutters wistfully:
Launchpad: "Goodbye, Ziyi, wherever you are."
Nice Guy: He may be a danger on the road, but he wouldn't hurt a fly.
The One Who Wears Shoes: He wears shows most of the time(along with some of the cast), but goes Barefoot Cartoon Animal in "The Missing Links of Moorshire!".
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If his friends are in genuine danger and he's the only one who can do anything, Launchpad will set his mind to it. Notable examples are in "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!", "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", and "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!". In "The Duck Knight Returns!", he shields Boorswan from a maddened Jim Starling, despite the latter being his idol and thinking that the former is ruining Darkwing Duck.
Out of Focus: Falls under this during the second half of season 3 post-"Let's Get Dangerous!" where he only makes two appearances (in "How Santa Stole Christmas!" in a brief cameo ^note and the series finale).
Papa Wolf: He swears a Quint-style vengeance upon the shark in "Jaw$!", after learning that Dewey got eaten.
Paper-Thin Disguise: In "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!" Scrooge dresses up Launchpad as Donald Duck. Fergus and Downy are not buying it. Until he pretends to throw an anger fit at which point they become convinced he is the real Donald.
Promoted Fanboy: Inverted Trope; he went from Darkwing Duck's sidekick to a fan of the in-universe TV show. But then he teams up with the real Darkwing Duck in "The Duck Knight Returns!".
Really Gets Around: He's had a really active dating life. His past relationships included a mermaid, a ninja, a were-duck, a Viking shield-maiden, a sapient cloud of energy and a clone of himself.
- Even when trapped in the Quack Pack sitcom, one of the planned plots for Launchpad is him having three dates in one night.
Required Secondary Powers: A requirement of being able to crash anything and still continue, Launchpad is an expert mechanic, and can fix nearly anything he breaks.
Sanity Ball: Briefly grabs it in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", when the others are forgetting the perilous situation they are in due to their intense arguing. Launchpad is the only one who remembers that the plane's about to fall at any moment and tries to remind them, even showing anger when they ignore him.
Skewed Priorities: In "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" as the others try to talk Dewey out of climbing the wing of the plane, Launchpad just wants to know if he should put the Darkwing Duck VHS tape on pause until he gets back.
Smart People Speak the Queen's English: His smarter identity has an inexplicable British accent, presumably for this reason.
Suddenly Bilingual: In "Woo-oo!" when Webby lies that her friend's Swedish-speaking uncle just arrived to get Mrs. Beakley off the phone, Launchpad (high on snake venom) falls next to her, grabs the phone, and starts spouting Swedish dialog.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "The Shadow War!" he gives out one when he goes to check up on Scrooge. Launchpad being, well, Launchpad, it doesn't quite come out right and naturally Scrooge sees right through it.
Launchpad: Howdy Mr McDee! I'm not here to check on you on account of everyone moving out because the boys blame you for launching their mom to space and orphaning them. I'm here to take you out for ice cream! Mmmm! Sounds good right? Family crisis... I mean... Ice creaaaam!
Scrooge: Go away.
Thinking Out Loud: In "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!" he does this without realizing it, which causes him to believe Dewey is reading his mind.
This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Invoked when Launchpad tries to give a Rousing Speech when production of the Darkwing Duck film is interrupted by Jim Starling's attack, Scrooge musing that he's never seen Launchpad this eloquent about anything and Dewey observing that Launchpad knows a lot about Darkwing Duck.
Tomato in the Mirror: Parodied, when a paranoid Launchpad (who, after watching a creepy movie, believes anyone could be a mole monster) is told by Dewey that by his logic, he could be a mole monster. Launchpad agrees with this and decides to improve his "brethren's" reputation above ground. Hilariously? According to Word of God, he MIGHT still believe this.invoked
Top-Heavy Guy: Even more so than his original design.
Ultimate Job Security:
- Considering how cheap Scrooge is, and how catastrophically accident prone Launchpad is, it's a mystery as to why Scrooge keeps him around. In "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!", it's revealed that Scrooge keeps him on because he'll never find another driver "as crazy and dangerous" as himself.
- Della, meanwhile, is incensed at the idea that Scrooge "replaced" her with Launchpad during her time on the moon. She's also shown to be able to land the Sunchaser(/Cloudslayer) without crashing it (instead doing stunts that make Scrooge nauseous), suggesting Launchpad could be out of a job in the near future, or just restricted to driving.
Undying Loyalty: While it's not emphasized much, Launchpad is very loyal to Scrooge. After the fallout of "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!", he is the only one who doesn't abandon him. He even stops by the manor to check up on Scrooge in the following episode.
Universal Driver's License: Slightly more universal than his original incarnation insofar as he is now Scrooge's limo driver (a job which belonged to Duckworth in the original series) as well as jack-of-all-trades with regard to driving any vehicle Scrooge uses adventuring — though he'll insist that he's really a pilot. Ironically, he didn't even have a driver's license until "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y System!". He also doesn't have a pilot's license according to Word of God.invoked
What the Hell, Hero?: Although it's subtle, in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" you can catch Launchpad giving off this vibe a few times as he seems visibly angry at all the infighting happening when they're all on the verge of dying if and when the plane teeters off the rock formation.
"Where? Where?": After Beakley calls him a man-child, he thinks it's some kind of monster.

Characters / DuckTales 2017: Main Characters

Character-Specific Pages

Bentina Beakley / Agent 22

Launchpad McQuack

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Characters / DuckTales 2017: Main Characters

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Bentina Beakley / Agent 22

Launchpad McQuack

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