If you grew up in the 90s, you’ll remember Darkwing Duck. I mean, who wouldn’t? The show had a catchy theme song, wacky bad guys and an unconventional hero. It had so many references to pop culture that really, you have to rewatch it as an adult to get all the jokes that they managed to cram into it.
There was a recent rumour that Darkwing Duck would return, but no, it was a false alarm. Still, it did dredge up all my memories of this beloved series, inspiring me to write an article about this Disney gem. I’ve tried to condense why I like Darkwing Duck so much into a coherent form, so here we go!
1)Sequel to DuckTales
Just as DuckTales was a sequel, in a loose sense, to Donald Duck’s adventures (he even appeared in their five-part premiere) (bet you don’t remember that DuckTales had a five-part premiere!), Darkwing Duck served as a successor to DuckTales. Launchpad was the chief DuckTales immigrant to the series, with Gizmoduck serving in occasional episodes.
But still, it meant that it all took place in the same wacky universe, and felt like we were getting extra (but different) DuckTales episodes. And since it was a tad more serious (though funny) than DuckTales, it felt like the grown up version of DuckTales, which coincided with us growing up as well.
2)Fearsome Five
Led by Darkwing Duck’s evil twin, Negaduck, the Fearsome Five were a supervillain team that made repeated appearances. Megavolt, Liquidator, Bushroot and Quackerjack were enlisted by Negaduck to conquer the city of St Canard, and in their first episode, they “took over the city in 5 minutes” by taking out SHUSH, the police and creating an impenetrable energy barrier around the city.
They actually accomplished more in one episode than regular supervillains would in an entire series of a superhero cartoon! It helped that they were colourful and had clearly defined powers and abilities. And of course, Negaduck’s gruff, rough voice to lead them (and his chainsaw).
3)Parodies of famous heroes and villains
Just as Negaduck had his Fearsome Five and their parodies of famous villains, so did Darkwing have his Justice Ducks, even if they only appeared together once. Gizmoduck was basically Iron Man, with his flamboyant personality given to his costumed alter ego, and Darkwing Duck was Batman. Neptunia was a female Namor (she was haughty, so she fit Namor than Aquaman better at the time), with Stegmutt as Hulk and Morgana as a female Dr Strange. The Justice Ducks were, of course, a parody of the Justice League. And if you noticed, they had two female superheroes, which was pretty radical for the time!
They even had an X-Men-themed episode, where mutants suddenly started appearing out of nowhere. Negaduck was very Bizzaro-inspired, with Megavolt (Electro), Liquidator (Hydro-Man), Bushroot (Poison Ivy) and Quackerjack (Joker) being clear references to their origins. There was even a SHIELD equivalent (SHUSH), and Grizlikof (Kuryakin from The Man from UNCLE).
4)Darkwing Duck was an alliterating egomaniac and not your regular hero
Darkwing Duck himself wasn’t the regular, clean cut superhero either. He was a glory hound with a tremendous ego, and was easily agitated, which made him fun to watch because he was just as flawed as we were, and didn’t always save the day for the right reasons.
His catchphrase, “I am the terror that flaps in the night,” followed by some silly annoying analogy like “I am the gum that sticks to your shoe” was lots of fun too. And he alliterated a lot when accusing villains of their dastardly deeds! I think that’s when I started learning to alliterate more, because it seemed like a lot more fun.
5)Banned episode
Then there’s “Hot Spells,” this infamous episode which seemed quite innocent back then, but what with today’s crazy focus on being so politically correct, became banned. The plot revolved around Gosalyn, Darkwing Duck’s adopted daughter, getting magical powers from a demon, which looked like Satan. It amounted to a Faustian pact, and then people alluded it to Gosalyn striking a deal with the devil, which got the episode banned.
That’s pretty groundbreaking for something from Disney! They don’t show the episode in reruns anymore, but YouTube has it, as you can see above.
Bonus! First cut of the opening theme
So apparently on the Interwebs, there lurks the original cut of the opening theme which features different footage and a different remix of the theme song. Here it is!
But even if Darkwing Duck isn’t getting a reboot, you know what is?
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