10 Best Villains On Disney’s Darkwing Duck

Disney had quite a few amazing animated series in the 90s, but none grabbed comic book fans’ hearts quite like Darkwing Duck, which was a spin-off of the recently concluded DuckTales series. The new generation has seen DW appear on the rebooted DuckTales, but 90s fans still fondly remember the original version of the character.

His city of St. Canard was full of great characters that we’ve been rediscovering thanks to the series return to Disney+, so today we’ll be taking a look at a few of the best villains that ever came across Darkwing and his “Team Duck” members Gosalyn and Launchpad McQuack.

10 EXTRAORDINARY GUY

While he only had one small appearance, Extraordinary Guy was unique in a lot of ways. This was largely because he began as one of us, an Ordinary Guy. However, he was ordinary on a planet full of superpowered heroes like Comet Guy, who constantly placed him in jeopardy so they had someone to save.

Darkwing was brought to Comet Guy’s planet to replace Ordinary Guy, who had gone missing due to his treatment by the heroes. He soon returned as the villainous Not-So-Ordinary-Guy before he stole their powers to become Extraordinary Guy. He was finally taken down by an equally powered-up Darkwing Duck during an epic cosmic battle.

9 TAURUS BULBA

One of the first villains Darkwing ever faced and the star of the introductory two-parter that kicked off the series was Taurus Bulba, a crime boss with a bumbling yet loveable team of flunkies. Bulba’s schemes were instrumental in bringing DW’s adopted daughter Gosalyn into his life.

Bulba would apparently die in his debut episode, though he would be brought be an evil organization as the Steerminator… only for him to betray them and follow his own plans for revenge against Darkwing Duck. Bulba is set to return in the DuckTales reboot’s third season, though not as the Steerminator despite the amazing name.

8 AMMONIA PINE

Darkwing Duck was both a superhero and a secret agent for the organization known as S.H.U.S.H., which was an obvious reference to S.H.I.E.L.D. and other similar organizations. This is just one of many pop culture parodies found on Darkwing Duck.

Anyways, Ammonia Pine was an agent of the evil counterpart organization known as F.O.W.L., and her entire “cleaning lady” theme came complete with a giant mop pail deathtrap and cleaning-based weaponry that she used in her demented quest to remove dirt while serving the High Command of F.O.W.L.

7 THE LIQUIDATOR

Darkwing’s villains were inspired by a number of different pop culture sources such as pulp novels and comic books, though a lot of times the parody might have gone over the heads of some of the younger viewers. The Liquidator was obviously inspired by Spider-Man’s Hydro-Man, yet he had a fantastic and unique twist that made his name pure gold.

Not only did he have a liquid-based body, but Liquidator was a marketing mastermind and had an affinity for sales and salespeople. It should be noted that he was unscrupulous and had little moral integrity for a salesman. Liquidator didn’t appear much on his own, but he was always an enjoyable part of the Fearsome Five team that would form over the series.

6 PADDYWHACK

It might be hard to believe that a children’s cartoon could effectively bring a Stephen King character homage to life, but Darkwing Duck managed to do just that with the character of Paddywhack, an other-dimensional being who feeds off dark emotions and plays deadly pranks on his victims.

We could have easily been describing IT‘s Pennywise the Dancing Clown, though Paddywhack managed to keep it more zany than horrifying for the most part. Still, watching Paddywhack drool while staring at Darkwing and his team never fails to creep us out. Paddywhack also appeared on DuckTales during an in-episode episode of Darkwing Duck.

5 STEELBEAK

While S.H.U.S.H.’s meaning was never revealed, F.O.W.L. actually stood for the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny and employed a few villainous operatives like Ammonia Pine that faced off against Darkwing Duck fairly frequently. F.O.W.L.’s best agent and one of Darkwing’s best villains was the mechanically-enhanced Steelbeak.

Steelbeak was an obvious parody of the James Bond villain Jaws, though he took on the mastermind role instead of the hench as he had his own team of Eggmen to do his bidding on the series. The smooth-talking character has also recently reappeared in the DuckTales reboot alongside F.O.W.L., who will feature in the upcoming third season.

4 BUSHROOT

The character of Bushroot is an interesting villain for Darkwing and one who pops up more frequently than most of his other villains. This is likely due to the sympathetic nature of Bushroot and his love of plants, though it’s at odds with the fact that he was also initially one of the more murderous characters in Darkwing’s rogues’ gallery.

Bushroot’s main goal throughout the series was to create friends and family for him out of plants after an experiment transformed him into a duck/plant hybrid, and he wasn’t initially that villainous, not counting the murdered bullies following his transformation. Unfortunately, his time with the Fearsome Five didn’t help steer him towards the side of the angels.

3 QUACKERJACK

Quackerjack is another of Darkwing’s murderous villains, though he’s also one of the more comical characters on the series. While Quackerjack could most easily be compared to DC Comics’ the Joker or the Toyman, his love of elaborate pranks and the mocking torture of his victims draw comparisons to horror’s Jigsaw killer as well, though he predates the character by a few years.

Quackerjack was also quite insane, which was hinted at when Paddywhack possessed Quackerjack’s toy Mr. Banana-Brain, and he only remarked that he was speaking in a different voice than usual. Quackerjack would eventually join with the Fearsome Five as well, though he would first form an interesting partnership with the next villain on our list.

2 MEGAVOLT

It makes sense Quackerjack would partner up with the electrically-powered rat known as Megavolt as they are both insane. However, Megavolt’s eccentricities coupled with his extreme level of power elevate him up the list, even though most of his crimes made very little sense to anybody but him.

One of Megavolt’s main goals initially is to liberate electrical appliances and light bulbs, who he began to believe were living creatures after he gained his abilities. He also suffers from extreme memory loss due to his abilities, resulting in him forgetting Darkwing Duck’s secret identity at one point.

1 NEGADUCK

Darkwing Duck’s greatest enemy Negaduck is also the leader of the Fearsome Five and quickly became one of the most popular villains on the Disney series. Negaduck was an alternate-reality version of Darkwing Duck that hailed from the Negaverse, which he ruled as Overlord.

His reverse-nature made him a cruel homicidal murdering version of Darkwing Duck, and his hatred of his positive doppelganger drove most of his crimes. Negaduck often hilariously posed as Darkwing, though he was easily called out due to his inability to resist his own violent nature. Negaduck has also reappeared along with DW in the DuckTales reboot.

About The Author

Scoot Allan
(193 Articles Published)

Entertainment reporter, writer, and all-around geek, Scoot Allan has written for print and online media sources like Geek Magazine, GeekExchange, GrizzlyBomb, WhatCulture, RoguePlanet.tv and the Urban 30 before joining CBR, ScreenRant, GameRant and The Gamer as a staff writer. He enjoys salad but prefers french fries.

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