Penumbra (voiced by Julie Bowen) is a supporting character in DuckTales .
She is a female Moonlander and a lieutenant of the hidden city of Tranquility on the Moon.
Biography[]
Penumbra was a lieutenant working under General Lunaris' command within the hidden city of Tranquility on the Moon. She is the first of the Moonlanders to have discovered Della within the "deserted" section of the moon during "What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!", and later fights alongside her and Lunaris against the Moon Mite. During the fight, Penumbra insists on sacrificing Della to kill the monster. Due to the destruction of Della's ship, Penumbra and Lunaris bring her to their hidden city, where Penumbra gloats that gold is a extremely common metal for them.
While Della's back is turned, Penumbra expresses her dissatisfaction with Lunaris for his decision to allow an Earth inhabitant to roam free around their city. But Lunaris counters her argument by stating how she was able to beat one of their biggest enemies as if it was nothing, leading him to believe that she could be useful. On her part, Penumbra suspects Della might become a danger.
During Della's stay within Tranquility in The Golden Spear, Penumbra has continued to grow suspicions of Della working on her mysterious project, believing her to be a liar with a hidden, darker motive. She further proceeds with her complaints to Lunaris, but this instead causes her to become roommates with Della until she finishes working on her rocket. As Della is nearing her completion of the rocket repairs, Penumbra shouts to her people in anger that if they love how much earth sounds, then they should just go there themselves.
She also notices many of her people are intrigued by her knowledge of Earth and even requesting that they visit, but still chooses to see her words as lies and attempts to belittle her because of it. Nevertheless, Della swears to find a way for everyone to come to earth, angering Penumbra to the point of splitting her own spear into two. Later as Penumbra continues to show her frustration with Lunaris, Della visits them and even returns Penumbra's spear which she fixed for her. Della even admits to Penumbra that no one could protect her people as well as she could, but still promises to do her best. This starts to change her attitude towards Della, but she still believes it isn't a good idea to send her people to Earth.
Instead, she decides to bring Della over to her ship and activate it to the point where the engine couldn't be shut off manually. Penumbra then wakes the unconscious Della and claims the ship is malfunctioning. This prompts Della to regretfully leave earlier than expected, believing it's her only chance to see her family again. But as Lunaris arrives, Della gives him the manual to build rocket ships, surprising Penumbra. As Della takes off, Penumbra is also surprised to notice that Lunaris had shot himself, only for her to realize he did so in order to manipulate the other Moonlanders into believing that Della had betrayed them, and decides to stage an invasion on planet Earth.
Penumbra questions Lunaris on his decision, with Lunaris only replying that he wanted to give their people a reason to fight. With Penumbra worrying about the sake of their citizens and believing he is only doing this for his own personal reasons, Lunaris shouts back by claiming he isn't going to be living in fear of the Earth like his father, and that he intends to ensure planet Earth fears him instead.
Later during "What Ever Happened to Donald Duck", after Della's brother Donald crashes on the moon and is captured, Penumbra is promoted to Captain by General Lunaris for having "captured the traitor's brother." Penumbra points out that it's a lie, but Lunaris merely dismisses it to the others while reminding Penumbra how much she's wanted the people's support again. At the Tranquility prison, Lunaris and Penumbra approach Donald's cell while Lunaris begins to update Penumbra about the status of the citizens' training for the invasion. Even so, Penumbra begins to question Lunaris whether their people are ready to go to war, believing they currently know next to nothing about combat or Earth apart from Della’s stories. Nevertheless, Lunaris shrugs it off by recalling their motivation chant, "we are the mighty, we are the moon."
Before Lunaris leaves, he orders Penumbra to take Donald down to the gold mines, hoping that hard day's labor would weaken his rebellious spirit. Once he leaves, Donald tries to escape the moment Penumbra opens the door but is continuously blocked by her. Penumbra then admits to Donald of her acquaintance with Della, and that neither of them want the invasion to proceed. She then believes Donald would know a weakness to the rocket ships if they took a look at the blueprints in Lunaris' private hangar, mainly because he is a part of the same family who created the rocket.
However, due to the caution of running into on-duty guards as they accidentally do with Gibbous and Zenith, Penumbra orders Donald to make his way towards the hangar through the small tunnel system. But as she nears the hangar, she notices Donald had unknowingly gotten himself in the soldier's barracks but is impressed that he was able to take them all on. They then enter Lunaris' hangar, but Penumbra warns Donald to not touch anything, stating that Lunaris would know if he did. This prompts Donald to lean on part of the wall out of frustration, only for Donald to fall through the wall and Penumbra to discover Lunaris' secret war room hidden by holographic technology.
As Penumbra activates the controls, they notice numerous screens appearing all around the room of locations and citizens among Earth. this leads Penumbra to believe Lunaris has been planning the invasion since before Della even arrived on the Moon, after scavenging through years worth of research for Earth. They then realize not only does Lunaris plan to target all the inhabitants of Earth he deems a threat to the mission first, but he had secretly been creating test rockets prior to meeting Della, which Penumbra assumes is why he truly wanted Della's rocket manual to begin with.
She then opens up another file, where she notices a live broadcast by news reporter Roxanne Featherly on the screen in front of them. This leads Penumbra to discover Lunaris' personal transmission device, created so he could know exactly what's happening on Earth through news reports anytime he likes. Realizing the device is their only chance, Penumbra orders Donald to send a message with the device to his family to warn them about the upcoming invasion. Suddenly, Penumbra is electrocuted and knocked unconscious by the captain badge Lunaris placed on her earlier, as Lunaris himself approaches her and Donald. Nevertheless, Donald is still able to send the warning, as he then escapes back to Earth using one of Lunaris' test rockets. Once Penumbra regains consciousness and knowing how unstable the test rockets are, she remarks Donald as "the bravest man on two worlds."
It is unknown what becomes of Penumbra immediately following the events of learning her leader's true intentions. Nonetheless, a couple of months later during "The Richest Duck in the World", Penumbra is able to make an emergency distress call to Della on Earth through her radio transmission. Penumbra announces that all of the Earth's defense satellites have somehow been disabled and that Lunaris is not only bringing a Moonlander army to attack Earth, but he's coming for Della's family.
Following the warning soon after in the season two finale of "Moonvasion" and after numerous hard-fought battles, many of Duckburg's citizens are able to stop Lunaris' plan of orbiting the Earth around the Moon with his mothership. However, when he announces his new plan to destroy the Earth entirely, this prompts Scrooge McDuck and his family to take an invasion ship up into space to stop him. Although they provide sufficient damage, Lunaris still manages to overpower them and traps the ship behind his rocket engine.
During this time, Penumbra reactivates the original Spear of Selene from when Donald crashed on the moon and flies towards the ongoing spaceship battle. Just as the family's invasion ship is about to be destroyed from Lunaris' rocket engine, Penumbra flies straight into the engine, causing it to explode with the Spear of Selene now in shambles. But luckily, Penumbra survives the explosion while flying straight into the windshield of the invasion ship Scrooge and his family is aboard. Among his family is Donald and Della, to which they both immediately recognize her. But before Della could introduce her to the rest of the family, Penumbra pleads to be let in before she slips away from the ship.
Back on Earth, Penumbra proceeds to make peace with the citizens of Duckburg, as she supervises her fellow Moonlanders in releasing the Duckburgians from their prior capture. At this point Launchpad McQuack immediately sparks an interest in Penumbra as he asks her out to coffee, with Penumbra replying how she can easily destroy him. Penumbra then joins the group shot with the rest of the Duckburgians who assisted with the defeat of Lunaris, unaware she and everyone else is being watched by a criminal organization hidden among Earth.
After the events of the Moon invasion, Della tries to encourage Penumbra to have at least have some Earth fun, but Penumbra wants to go back to the moon as she hasn't been enjoying her time. She also mentions she went out for coffee with Launchpad, but it unfortunately went all wrong. But when a fair is in Duckburg, Dewey and Webby convinces Penumbra to go with them. Unfortunately, things didn’t work at as planned as Penumbra didn’t some to enjoy too much.
Physical Appearance[]
Penumbra is a lavender-skinned humanoid alien with three purple dots on her arms. Her eyes are dark purple with white pupils, and her hair is white in a small pixie cut. Her golden armor consists of a helmet with a flat headpiece, a tunic with a green circle at the center, twin gauntlets, and twin boots.
Personality[]
Penumbra tends to show cold attitude and distrust towards outsiders as she showed little to no respect for Della when she discovered her while being attacked by a Moon Mite, and introducing her to their hidden city. Even when Della hugged her as a way of thanking them for leading her to fuel needed for her rocket ship, she resisted with all her might. She has explained that in the past she used many of her personal weapons including her childhood training spear to defend her home from unwanted pests, so it's assumed any other species she's met that isn't of her own kind is her way of considering them as threats.
Penumbra is a character who chooses her actions for the sake of her people and their safety. It is also why she continued to be keeping a close eye on Della during her time on the moon, believing she was going to put the other Moonlanders in danger. But she is also shown to be considerate towards others, as when Della had fixed her spear she broke and explained her true motivations for fixing the rocket, Penumbra began to warm up to her. This is proven further when as Della was about to leave, she gave one final hug to Penumbra as a farewell, and that time Penumbra didn't resist.
Penumbra's consideration for her people is also conflicted at times, as when Lunaris revealed his intent to use the rocket technology Della left behind to launch attacks on Earth, Penumbra was questionable about the idea, believing he could be putting their people in serious danger for such an action.
Quotes[]
"Watch your back, Earther."
"She's a liar, she's definitely up to something, AND SHE'S NEVER WASHED A DISH!"
"There goes the bravest man on two worlds."
"Hello General!" Penumbra destroying Lunaris' Ship.
"I could destroy you easily." Penumbra to Launchpad McQuack.
"We are not enemies I just do not wish to date an Earth… male.” Penumbra to Launchpad
Appearances[]
Season 2[]
- 7. What Ever Happened to Della Duck?!
- 11. The Golden Spear!
- 17. What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!
- 23. The Richest Duck in the World! (voice)
- 24. Moonvasion!
Season 3[]
- 9. They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!
- 15. New Gods on the Block! (mentioned)
- 22. The Last Adventure!
Gallery
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Trivia[]
- Penumbra's name comes from the term for part of a shadow between its darkest part, the umbra, and the light around the shadow.
- Penumbra alludes to her sexuality in "They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!", telling Launchpad that she is not interested in dating an Earth male. Storyboard artist and director Sam King later confirmed that Penumbra is a lesbian.[1]