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Sam Hill is a news writer at Polygon covering gaming and entertainment. He's a Portland, Oregon–based journalist known for covering gaming, the outdoors, national parks, tech, food, and internet culture. He has written for a range of publications including Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vice, the Seattle Times and Digital Trends.
Drake Mallard returns
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Disney is apparently still rummaging around in its animation vault, and this time it’s pulled out a duck who has spent the last 35 years waiting for another chance to fight a bunch of extremely ridiculous villains. Darkwing Duck is officially returning in a brand-new series for Disney Plus, Disney has confirmed.
The new show will bring back Drake Mallard as the crime-fighting Darkwing, with classic villains including Negaduck and Megavolt returning for more trouble. He’ll also reunite with familiar allies Launchpad, Gosalyn, and Morgana, although this time there’s a whole universe at stake.
The series has a suitably strange setup. Here's the official synopsis, from Disney:
For the last 35 years, Darkwing Duck has been trapped in his worst nightmare: an alternate world that’s never heard of his superhero exploits. Now a rebellious teen named Duckie who knows all about his heroic past shows up to pull this ego-fueled vigilante back into battle. Together, this unlikely duo will get dangerous to fight old enemies like Negaduck and Megavolt and reunite with allies Launchpad, Gosalyn and Morgana to save the entire universe.
The voice cast is headlined by Mark Hamill as Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck, with Seth Rogen as Launchpad McQuack, Lizzy Caplan as Gosalyn Mallard, and Lilimar as Duckie. Dan Stevens, Tiffany Shepis, Kathryn Newton, Teo Briones, Tyler Dean Flores, Katie Rich, and Nat Faxon round out the cast. Darkwing Duck creator Tad Stones consulted on the new series, Disney said in a news release. “Like every other fan of the original show, I’m excited to see Darkwing getting dangerous again in a whole new series," said Stones.
The announcement is the latest in Disney's ongoing habit of digging through its animated back catalog for things it can bring back. Darkwing already made a return in Disney's 2017 DuckTales reboot, and now he's getting another shot at carrying a series of his own.
The original Darkwing Duck premiered in 1991 and ran for 91 episodes across Disney Channel, ABC, and syndication. The character also starred in NES and Game Boy games and later appeared in Disney comics. Jim Cummings originally voiced Darkwing Duck with Chris Diamantopoulos taking over the role in 2017. The original series is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
Disney hasn't announced a release date for the new series yet. For now, we'll just have to wait for Darkwing to emerge from his customary cloud of blue smoke and announce that he's ready to get dangerous again.