- This article may need to be rewritten due to being overly detailed.
| “ | Nothing can stop Della Duck! | ” |
–Della | ||
Della Duck is the twin sister of Donald Duck, the niece of Scrooge McDuck, the mother of Huey Duck, Dewey Duck, and Louie Duck, and is one of the nine main characters in the 2017 television reboot of DuckTales since Season 3.
Background
The character was created by Carl Barks. Although she went through changes over the years with her name and relations to Donald, she officially was established as Della Duck, twin sister to Donald by Don Rosa.
Personality
Despite the fact that Della was missing in action, she is known as an adventurous high-spirited, daring, and headstrong woman, who loves going on adventures with her family.
In many early adventures, she has been shown to be smart, kind, and compassionate to help her family and others out of trouble, making everyone around better. Although she is good-natured, Della is also mischievous and impulsive. She is referred to as a prankster in "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!", as it's shown she had a dark sense of humor.
However, it has been implied that her thrill-seeking attitude can blind her to the dangers and consequences of her actions. This apparent selfish impulsiveness is what led to her becoming lost in space, although in "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!", Scrooge reveals that Della did, in fact, have the ability to read a situation and perceive all the possible outcomes, and in "Last Christmas!", she was also shown to be far more family-oriented and less impulsive than previously implied. What young Donald perceived as thoughtless and reckless behavior on Della's part was actually a well thought out plan to bond with him while simultaneously attempting to get Scrooge the best Christmas gift ever.
In the episode, "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", it was shown that Della shares the traits of being as temperamental and impatient as her brother up to a point where she quotes his catchphrase: "Aw, phooey.", but in contrast to Donald, Della speaks more clearly. Also, after returning to Earth, when she first meets Launchpad and learns that he is a pilot as well, she displays a small act of hostility towards him; naively thinking Scrooge had replaced her with Launchpad after her disappearance. She also demonstrates a similar musical inclination, a sense of humor, love for adventure, and childish impulsiveness to Dewey, an enthusiasm for the Junior Woodchucks and a nerdy love of video games like Huey, and Louie's ability to read situations, perceive all possible outcomes and unintentionally cause trouble without understanding the consequences of their actions or the people they would hurt. Nonetheless, after witnessing how off-the-rails her children's antics could get, she works up the courage to show tough love in "Timephoon!" by grounding Louie after one of his schemes gets too crazy and nearly costs him his family.
History
- Main article: Della Duck/Biography
Physical Appearance
Della Duck is a white anthropomorphic duck with shoulder-length hair and swoop-bangs. She has a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. She is known to wear a brown flight jacket, tan shorts, a brown flight helmet, black goggles, and a light blue scarf.
When she appears in the present day, her hair is long and part of her jacket and shorts had been torn, leaving her right arm bare save for bandages around her forearm. She has a bionic left leg, after her original leg was crushed by the wreckage from the Spear of Selene's crash, and was forced to amputate it to avoid being crushed by collapsing debris.
After returning home to Earth, she got new, clean clothing and cut her hair closer to its original style, though only slightly longer than shoulder-length. She also replaces her brown flight helmet with a gray headband whenever she isn't adventuring as seen in episodes such as Timephoon!, The Richest Duck in the World!, and the beginning of Moonvasion!.
Abilities
- Skilled hand-to-hand combat: Della has shown to be a competent hand-to-hand combatant. Her expertise in combat is demonstrated in "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!".
- Survival skills: Della gained experience in surviving alone in uninhabitable areas such as the moon when she was lost for over a decade, as seen in the episode "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!".
- Genius-level intellect: Additionally, Della is pretty good at building machinery, as she built her own bionic leg and rebuilt the Spear of Selene. Also, Scrooge has stated in "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" that Della was very good at figuring out shortcuts and calculating plans in their adventures. However, it's also shown that she isn't always the sharpest as she thought she could jump back to Earth from the Moon. Also, after returning to Earth, when she first met Launchpad and learned that he was a pilot as well, she naively thought that Scrooge had replaced her with Launchpad after her disappearance and displayed slight hostility towards him before leaving to confront her uncle. In "GlomTales!" she made a hard security system to keep Louie in his room during his punishment.
- Swordsmanship: Della has also proven to be skilled in a fight, as she has shown to be handy with a sword and other tools.
- Piloting: Della also has skills as a pilot, as it was shown that she flew planes and somewhat flew a rocket-like an astronaut.
- Engineering:
- Video games: In "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!", she proved to be as agile and skilled a player as in real life.
- Junior Woodchuck Knowledge: Like her eldest son, Huey, Della was a Junior Woodchuck herself, even bringing the guidebook to space. Later, in Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!, she is shown supporting Huey in her Junior Woodchuck outfit before getting thrust into an adventure with her uncle, Scrooge.
Relationships
Family
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge is Della and Donald's uncle through their mother, Hortense's side. They adventured together even in hardships, with her piloting skills acting
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Scrooge McDuck (2017)
like a big help in their adventures, Scrooge praised his niece more than his nephew, Donald, as they bonded more over their mutual love of adventure and discovery. When Della had the idea of exploring outer space, Scrooge decided to make the idea a reality and built the rocket Della had been designing - the Spear of Selene.
Scrooge originally intended for the rocket-ship to be a gift to Della in celebration of her triplets' births, but he realized too late that she discovered it earlier than expected and took the rocket for herself for a test run. Scrooge tried to navigate her through a sudden cosmic storm as she was entering orbit, but his attempts, unfortunately, ended in failure and his communications with Della and the rocket were cut off. Desperate to get Della back from the depths of space, Scrooge spent an enormous amount of his hard-earned fortune on search and rescue parties throughout space to find her. Despite his efforts, none were proven successful, and eventually, his Board of Directors shut down the program over worries that his desperate attempts to find Della would lead him and his companies to bankruptcy. Della's disappearance and his unsuccessful attempts at saving her took a toll on Scrooge and his involvement in Della's disappearance into space caused Donald to leave and not contact him for 10 years. Della's failed "test run" of the ship not only caused Scrooge to lose her, but it also caused him to lose his spirit of adventure itself. After Della's return home, Scrooge is the first to welcome her home. However, Scrooge doesn't approve of Della's stubborn, thrill-seeking attitude since it can still blind her to the dangers and consequences of her actions as shown during her first adventure with one of her sons, Dewey.
Donald Duck
Donald is Della's twin brother, years prior to the main series, they had been very close
and were always together on adventures with their Uncle Scrooge, with Donald being a transportation method for boats and Della for planes. In "Last Christmas!", in their pre-teens, Donald decided he would rather spend Christmas alone in his room playing his guitar, leaving Della upset, but eventually, he apologized to her and they spent Christmas together for the rest of the night, showing just how much they love, care, and treasure each other. It is also revealed that Donald was the one who gifted Della a blue scarf for her on Christmas, something which Della still wears to this day.
Later on, Della began designing plans of a rocket-ship for exploring outer space after realizing they had explored everywhere there was to on Earth. However, this put a spark in Donald who protested that the idea was too risky, especially with her eggs about to hatch. Despite this, Della disregarded Donald's warnings and flew a rocket-ship Scrooge made for her (originally planning to be a surprise) for a test run in orbit, but unfortunately, it crashed on the Moon. This event left to hold on Donald and Della's close relationship for 11 years, but Della still holds onto a photo of her and Donald with their Uncle Scrooge and her newborn eggs. Later, in "The Golden Spear!", Donald is the first of the family to realize that Della is still alive when he spots the Spear of Selene landing on Earth for the first time in ages. He falls steps short of reuniting with her when his bad luck reactivates the Spear of Selene and he flies away in her place.
Nevertheless, after reuniting in "Moonvasion!," even though they were mad at each other for their current situation, they quickly make up after realizing that they both missed each other.
Della's Kids
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Huey, Dewey, and Louie are Della's children whom she did not meet for 11 years. The first time she saw them was on the TV while she was stranded on the Moon within the Spear of Selene wreckage. Even when it seemed hopeless, her love and devotion to her kids kept her going.
They eventually meet for the first time in "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!", when Della first saw her children face-to-face, she couldn't have been more proud of this moment than she already was.
Huey Duck
Huey is Della's oldest son. After finally meeting in "Nothing Can
Stop Della Duck!", Huey came to her after he was impressed by his mother's responses to his questions using her Junior Woodchuck knowledge.
In "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!" Della and Huey bond through playing the computer game Legends of Legend Quest Dereznaroth. Della, wearing a science-fiction uniform in the game, wanted to get Huey to adventure with her.
Della's relationship with Huey grew to a defensive state as seen in "Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!", when she was sure Launchpad rigged the trial, even though Huey honestly admitted he lost fair and square.
Dewey Duck
Dewey is Della's middle child. Since he didn't know much about her growing up, it caused him to become obsessed with solving the mystery of her disappearance.
Dewey and Della singing, "Stand Out!"
Della's childish, reckless actions have affected Dewey in some ways. By making him feel abandoned it caused Dewey to act out, becoming attention-seeking in many ways through several adventures. When discovering more about his mother's amazing adventurous talents it caused him to behave similarly, resulting in dangerous consequences. Even his obsession in learning what happened to Della lead him to seek her out, even in dangerous situations such as what occurred in "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!".
When meeting in "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!", Dewey first mistook her for a cyborg. Dewey, having waited for this moment his whole life for a long time, rushed to hug his mother without hesitation.
In "Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!", Della and Dewey went on their first adventure together and she began to grow more proud of her son when she learned that he shared a similar love for adventure and musical inclination like herself. Eventually, Della believed Dewey could do anything despite unexpected outcomes as a result of such beliefs as the latter tried to prove himself to his mother and earn the love he wanted so desperately. However, when Dewey finally got stuck in a situation he couldn't get himself out of until his mother saved him, Dewey was sad as he tried to apologize to his mother for letting her down and not being the adventurer she hoped he would be. Nevertheless, being the kind and caring person she is, Della simply reassured her son that she will always believe he can do anything without him ever having to prove anything to her as the two hugged each other in joy and happiness.
Louie Duck
Louie is Della's youngest son. After finding out about her disappearance Louie, along with his brothers were deeply heartbroken. It even got Louie to become afraid of adventures
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as shown in "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" When Louie first met his mother he initially had doubts about her before accepting that his encounter with his mother was real and tearfully embraced her alongside his brothers. During her first day back on Earth, Huey and Dewey continued to admire her talents while Louie still remained somewhat skeptical about her since he wasn't quite used to having a mother, despite being happy to have her back. Della overhears this and is deeply upset and tries to show her effort for them, during the battle with the Gilded Man, when Della was willing to sacrifice herself to save him from getting crushed to death. Louie was tearfully touched by his mother's efforts to keep him safe and finally learned to give her the love, gratitude, approval, and respect she deserved in the end.
In "Timephoon!", when Della finds out about Louie's Time Tub plans to get rich are causing disruptions in the space-time continuum, Della grills her youngest son for putting innocent lives in danger and grounds him, though Louie pointed out how she'd done almost the same thing in taking a contraption without thinking of the consequences that it had on her family.
In "GlomTales!", Della grounds Louie and prevents him from going adventuring. She even pointed out that his schemes only cause trouble for his family, making him more upset with her. When Louie schemes the villains out of their fortunes, Della accepts her son for who he is as it was shown to be helpful for his family in many situations.
Friends
Webby Vanderquack
Webby is a great Friend of Della. An example of this is in "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!", where Webby praises her skills as an adventurer and thinks of Della as a professional even when she was younger than her and Della tells Webby that she is just as impressive and amazing in her own way.
Bentina Beakley
Della and Bentina Beakley are good friends. Della knows her as "Agent 22" and was surprised to find out that she's the new housekeeper. Della doesn't listen to Bentina at first in "Timephoon!."
Launchpad McQuack
At first Della thought that Launchpad was replacing as a pilot. However, they become close friends. In "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!" Della teaches Launchpad how to fly her plane the Sunchaser.
Penumbra
For much of Della's time on the Moon, she got along with Penumbra who distrusted her at first out of fear that she would bring danger to the Moonlanders. At a point in Della's quest to repair her rocket, Penumbra reluctantly allowed her to stay at her home even though she "playfully" tried to assassinate the duck during her stay. When Penumbra realized that family was more important to Della, she solemnly gave her a hug before they parted ways for a period of time.
Appearances
Comics
- Old Monteplumage Had a Chicken!
- A Viking at My Door!
- Cheating Like Nostradogmus!
- Beware of the Phenomenal Pumpkin People!
- The Twisted Tale of the Two-Headed Horse! (Mentioned)
Season 1
- 1. Woo-oo! (mentioned and pictured)
- 3. The Great Dime Chase (pictured and mentioned)
- 10. The Spear of Selene! (mentioned and depicted in magically recorded images)
- 21. The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck! (mentioned and depicted in magically recorded images)
- 22. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser! (mentioned and seen in flashbacks)
- 23. The Shadow War!
Season 2
- 1. The Most Dangerous Game...Night! (mentioned)
- 6. Last Christmas! (present-day and younger incarnations)
- 7. What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!
- 11. The Golden Spear!
- 12. Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!
- 13. Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!
- 17. What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?! (mentioned; pictured on one of Lunaris' Monitors)
- 18. Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!
- 20. The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!
- 21. Timephoon!
- 22. GlomTales!
- 23. The Richest Duck in the World!
- 24. Moonvasion!
Season 3
- 1. Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!
- 2. Quack Pack!
- 4. The Lost Harp of Mervana!
- 7. The Rumble for Ragnarok! (mentioned)
Quotes
The Great Dime Chase!
| “ | Scrooge, I've taken the Spear of Selene. I'm sorry. Della | ” |
-Della's note to Scrooge.
The Shadow War!
| “ | Boys? | ” |
-first line.
Last Christmas!
| “ | Merry Christmas, you guys. See you soon. | ” |
-Della wishing her family a merry Christmas on the Moon.
Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!
| “ | 'Sup, party people! I'm back in the hizou- Oh, no. Knew it was wrong as soon as I said it. Sorry, that was terrible. Can I get a do-over? Hi Uncle Scrooge | ” |
-Della introducing herself to her family for the first time.
Timephoon!
| “ | Your little scheme to bypass the present almost cost us our future. This all stops now. You are grounded! No schemes, no treasures, and Louie Incorporated is done! Understand? | ” |
-Della grounding Louie for putting her and the rest of the family in danger with his TimeTub scheme.
Moonvasion!
| “ | You met Penny on the moon? Is she okay? I miss constantly trying to impale me. | ” |
-Della learn from Donald about his time on the moon and asking if Penumbra is alright because she missed her so much.
| “ | What?!? (laughing holistically) You must be deleterious from hunger! Here have some delicious Oxey... Chew... Oh no. No, no, no. This is the moon all over again! | ” |
-Della briefly loses her mind then regains it when she realizes she is in the same predicament when she was on the moon.
| “ | I don't know, but what it is we'll do it together. | ” |
-Della promising Louie they'll do more adventures together.
Quack Pack!
| “ | On the moon. | ” |
-Della's catchphrase
| “ | Send us home right now buddy! | ” |
-Della ordering Gene to return back their real home.
| “ | Have some self-respect! | ” |
-Della fighting off on Launchpad's false girlfriends.
| “ | Wait, Goofy was really here this whole time? | ” |
-Della and her family discovers that Goofy was real through the whole adventure.
The Lost Harp of Mervana!
| “ | Time to send this fish back to school! I did it! I touched a gross fish! | ” |
-Della getting over her fear of fish to save her family
Video
Behind The Scenes
Promo
Other
Gallery
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Trivia
- Della was occasionally referred to as Dumbella Duck, before Don Rosa's "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" established Della Duck as her one official name. However, in the episode "Last Christmas!", when she and Donald were young, it was revealed that the name Dumbella was just a name Donald used to tease her. She is also occasionally referred to as Thelma Duck, however, this alternate name has not been acknowledged in the series.
- Della is the second known character in the series to have a physical disability due to the loss of her left leg, with the first being Black Heron having lost her right arm.
- Della may be an ambidextrous, as she is shown to be left-handed in Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!, and also shown to be right-handed in The Lost Harp of Mervana!.
- Della and her brother Donald are the first descendants of three major families; the Duck Family, Clan McDuck, and the Coot Family.
- Della and Donald's confirmed birthday is June 9.
- It is shown in "The Spear of Selene!" that her face and bill were much wider than Scrooge's or Donald's.
- Della's Lullaby was written to the tune of the Moon Stage Theme.
- Della’s husband (if she has one) never appeared or was even mentioned in the series. Since he was never around in his sons’ lives, Donald had to raise them in Della’s ten-year absence.
- In The Lost Harp of Mervana!, it is revealed that Della is scared and disgusted by fish, to the point of barfing when she says something related to fish or fish anatomy.