There's no great shortage of cartoon villains and Disney's are no exception. From Peg Leg Pete to Maleficent to Gaston, Disney movies and TV shows are full of compelling, charismatic villains. Even when they're not smart, they're still very entertaining.
Case in point: longtime Scrooge McDuck foes the Beagle Boys. Created by legendary Disney comics cartoonist Carl Barks in 1951, the band of brothers -- dressed identically save for their prison numbers, the only way they ever referred to each other -- were recurring foes of Scrooge McDuck, striving to capture his fortune so they could live the good life. The gang was not only popular in Barks comics, but proved so popular among Disney comics creators and fans, they even had their own comic book from Gold Key for over a decade!
Naturally, when Disney decided to gamble on TV animation (having first produced the short-lived The Wozzles) with DuckTales, and tapped Scrooge to star, naturally, the Beagle Boys were just one of the many classic comics villains brought over to TV. It was there that, after decades of only being referred to by prison numbers outside of the clan's founder, Blackheart Beagle, the nasty crooks were finally given individual names.
Specifically, the core seven became known as Bigtime (Frank Welker), Burger (Chuck McCann), Bouncer (McCann), Baggy (Welker), Bankjob (Peter Cullen), Bugle/Bebop -- it changed depending on the episode -- (Brian Cummings) and Babyface Beagle (Terry McGovern).
But that wasn't all. Rather than just having the Boys work for themselves, they were the subordinates of Ma Beagle (June Foray), based on real-life criminal icon, Ma Parker. This was most likely to give Scrooge another definitive villain (this was the 1980s where heroes and villains in animation were as clear-cut as possible).
As the '87 DuckTales' first season was 65 episodes airing every weekday, the Beagles quickly became old hat and Bankjob, Babyface and Bugle/Bebop's roles were greatly reduced in the second season. Other Beagles were brought in, including the notorious Megabyte Beagle (who was able to hack Gizmoduck), and they remained reliable antagonists for the rest of the original series.
Naturally, they were prime candidates to be included in the 2017 reboot. But, as they've done with all other aspects of the original, reboot creators Matt Youngberg & Francisco Angones tweaked things a bit. Ma Beagle (now voiced by Margo Martindale) was still in charge but now there are only three main Beagle Boys: Bigtime, Burger and Bouncer (all voiced by Eric Bauza).
As the episode "The Beagle Birthday Massacre!" revealed, all Beagles tend to operate in themed trio gangs. The main three are known as "The Original Classics," with various other gangs being "The Deja Vus," "The Glam Yankees" and "The Longboard Taquitos."
Thus far, the Beagles haven't truly attempted to steal Scrooge's fortune yet in the reboot. But one thing's for sure: they'll always be there to make sure the Duck family can never really rest easy.