2017's DuckTales rebooted a Disney treasure. Steeped in Disney lore, from Carl Barks to TaleSpin, David Tenet's Scrooge McDuck led his family around the world in adventures that rivaled Doctor Who's. The charismatic cast brought its heroes to life, from Launchpad McQuack to Della Duck, even as Scrooge's treasure hunting also brought them into contact with genuinely menacing villains.
It's a hilarious show, but when it's time for its villains to take the spotlight, viewers could count on real threats. Cartoons or not, the heroes felt mortal and fully realized, and the villains played a big role in this. The best of the worst, they deserve a lot of credit for the timeless series' success.
10 Mark Beaks Was The Tech Bro Who Wanted It All
A parody of empty suit CEOs and influencers, tech poser Mark Beaks seemed more like an annoyance than a threat in his early appearances. His social media savvy didn't put him in the top tier of any rogues galleries. However, his greed for tech savant Gyro Gearloose's inventions pushed him into a supervillain rampage when he stole a version of the Gizmoduck armor.
This parody of Iron Man's Extremis storyline illustrated the fact that Beaks was more than just a manchild, and by constantly stealing Gyro's broken tech he endangered Duckburg repeatedly.
9 Zeus Couldn't Get Over Being Beat By A Mortal
King of the Greek Gods, Zeus faced a few thousand years of decline before he met Scrooge McDuck. True to his petty roots, Zeus dealt poorly with the fact that Scrooge McDuck could do everything better than him. He was willing to use his son Storkules' friendship with Donald against the McDuck family and ignored the will of the other gods.
He not only tried to use his son to kill a bunch of children just to spite his perceived enemy but turned his back on Earth during the Lunar Invasion when his pantheon could have literally saved the world, probably netting a bunch of worshippers in the process.
8 General Lunaris Brought The Moon's Armies To Earth
The Moon's General Lunaris looked better on paper than he did when he was invading Duckburg. The over-serious character commanded an alien army, extreme combat skills, and an excellent master plan, but he felt like an outsider on the show, never in on any of the jokes. This worked thematically, but not practically.
This villain was at his best when he was scheming with Penumbra behind Della Duck's back. He met a fitting-but-rushed end when Penumbra's code of honor won out and he was consigned to an eternal low-Earth orbit by Selene, Goddess of the Moon.
7 Ma Beagle Led A Small Army In A War On Scrooge
The leader of Carl Barks' classic McDuck villains, The Beagle Boys, Ma Beagle demonstrated a canny eye for criminal opportunity throughout the series. While she occasionally attempted ridiculous schemes and disguises, her essential toughness made its mark on the show.
Based in Duckburg's junkyard, her familial army seized every opportunity for chaos and plunder. The fact that she clearly didn't care if she was menacing kids or adults also made her a fearsome foe for the McDuck clan, and Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webbigail in particular.
6 Flintheart Glomgold Isn't As Dumb As He Looks
Scrooge's knockoff/rival, Scottish billionaire Flintheart Glomgold is an idiot. His obsessive schemes often dissolved into chaos, or simply lost their own plots. However, he was capable of playing a long game. Buried in his convoluted laser-shark traps was a genuine understanding of human (avian?) nature. He almost drove Scrooge mad by stealing $0.87 from the Money Bin, and he knew that the only way to challenge Scrooge's clan was to build a criminal family of his own.
He also knew how to make allies and foes alike underestimate him. His Rube Goldberg connivances sometimes existed only to conceal the fact that he was robbing his allies blind, a gambit Don Karnage, Ma Beagle, and Mark Beaks fell for. His ongoing winner-take-all bet with Scrooge also made him a perpetual threat for the heroes for 2 entire seasons.
5 Goldie O'Gilt Charmed The McDuck Family Out Of Millions
Another veteran of the early McDuck comics, this conwoman was an eternal love interest and antagonist for Scrooge. Goldie wasn't all bad, and she sometimes worked to rescue Scrooge and the boys, but she's also one of the few criminals who regularly got away with her loot.
Irene Adler to Scrooge's Sherlock Holmes, she could turn on a dime, never intending to kill McDuck, but relying on the fact he was unkillable far too often. She even entered into a partnership with Scrooge's nephew Louie to con Doofus Drake out of a few hundred million in birthday money. The two morally ambiguous characters saved each other's lives, but Goldie got away with the loot, teaching the Green Nephew a lesson in the art of betrayal.
4 Toad Liu Hai Almost Imprisoned Donald For Eternity
This one-off villain left a considerable impression. In "The House of the Lucky Gander," the malevolent luck god entrapped Donald's Cousin Gladstone in a magical casino, where he could drink the lucky goose's supernatural good fortune like a bottomless smoothy.
In a typically selfish move, Gladstone involved his heroic family without their consent, trapping them in his casino-prison with him. The final bet pitted Donald's incredible determination and terrible luck against Gladstone's lazy happenstance. When Donald won, Toad Liu Hai was forced to subsist off of Donald's unfailing bad luck, starving the godlike being in mere seconds.
3 Louie Duck Went All-In On Betraying His Family
The Third Nephew, Llewellyn Duck, was identified as the "evil triplet" in the series' first episode. A member of the family, he was an unwilling participant in many of their adventures. Louie had the power to "see the angles," and execute complex plans effortlessly, but his greed and selfishness made him a wild card. When he told Glomgold how to beat Scrooge, he saved his family's lives. However, he also robbed everyone blind in the process, and he didn't return his great-uncle's billions right away.
Louie's the only character who ever did substantial damage to Scrooge's fortune. His turn at the head of McDuck Enterprises was disastrous. He cut "magical defense" funding on day one, unleashing the unstoppable Bombie, and destroyed Scrooge's defensive satellite network in the process. As a result, the Moon's invasion became an ambush. Louie learned a lesson about humility, but he almost sacrificed the Earth in the process.
2 The Phantom Blot Went From Mickey Mouse Villain To Global Threat
A classic Mickey Mouse villain created in May of 1939, The Phantom Blot predates Superman's first supervillain and is a persuasive candidate for the first supervillain in comics. As Micky Mouse's nemesis, he was a dark presence who relied on his ability to disappear into any shadow. To stand out on DuckTales, though, he needed an upgrade.
He received a big boost to his powers and his backstory, practically becoming the Disney universe's Thanos. DuckTales's Phantom Blot was the only survivor from a village destroyed by Magica De Spell. An anti-magical fanatic, he created magic-destroying devices as well as sinister weapons with unparalleled genius, and even Magica was scared of him. An irrepressible foe, The Blot seemed capable of springing back from any defeat.
1 Magica De Spell Was A Witch With Unlimited Power & Cruelty
The first season's Big Bad, Magica, was another classic Carl Barks villain. Her return from the Shadow Realm Scrooge banished her to was inevitable from her "niece," Lena Sabrewing's, first appearance. Magica provided the heroes with a creepy, secretive foe with potentially unlimited power early on. As her power increased so did her malice. In one possible future, Lena saw her aunt straight-up murder the preadolescent Webbigail and joke about it.
When Magica won her freedom, she instantly trapped Scrooge in his magical First Dime and succeeded in turning Duckburg's shadows against its citizens. DuckTales's darkest villain, she was still funny, and even after she lost her powers she was a vicious foe. Magica could pose a challenge for The Avengers, and as a DuckTales villain, she certainly takes the prize.