| Donald Duck | |
|---|---|
 The logo used by Disney to promote the Donald Duck franchise | |
| Created by | Walt Disney Dick Lundy Carl Barks (expansion) |
| Original work | The Wise Little Hen (1934) |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Years | 1934–present |
| Print publications | |
| Comics | Donald Duck in comics |
| Comic strip(s) | Donald Duck in comic strips |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) |
|
| Short film(s) | Donald Duck film series (1934–1961) |
| Animated series |
|
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | List
|
| Miscellaneous | |
| Theme park attraction(s) | Donald's Boat (1993–present) |
| Related universe | Mickey Mouse universe |
Due to the vast filmography of Donald Duck and related characters, this infobox does not exhaustively cover all works in this franchise. | |
The Donald Duck universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting of stories involving Disney cartoon character Donald Duck, as well as Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Scrooge McDuck, and many other characters. Life in the Donald Duck universe centers on the city of Duckburg and is a part of the larger Mickey Mouse universe. In addition to the original comic book stories by Carl Barks, the Duckburg cast was featured in Little Golden Books, television series such as DuckTales (1987–1991), Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), and the DuckTales reboot (2017–2021), and video games such as DuckTales (1989), QuackShot (1991), Goin' Quackers (2000), and DuckTales: Remastered (2013).
"Donald Duck universe", sometimes called Duckverse or Scrooge McDuck universe, are unofficial terms used by Disney, but are sometimes used by fans. Disney comics artist/writer Don Rosa has also used the terms Barks Universe and Italian Duck Universe to describe different versions of history. According to Carl Barks, the comic book creator of Scrooge McDuck, Duckburg, and its original cast of characters and themes (who also developed Donald Duck and created Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey and Louie for the early Donald Duck cartoons) — "Now we're beginning to read about Batman's universe, the Spiderman universe. All of those guys had their own universe, and so the ducks have their own universe." Barks adds, "Whenever I wrote the script and it was drawn by some other artist ... it came out looking so different, it didn't look like it belonged in the duck universe .. .Didn't look as real, or I use the word, 'sincere'. You couldn't tell whether the guy who drew it was really interested in turning out a nice product or not."[1]
The core Duckverse family dates back to the golden age of American animation, generally introduced in Disney shorts, weekly newspaper comics, or comic books of the period as supporting characters for Donald Duck, who premiered in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen (but was mentioned as a friend of Mickey's as early as 1931). Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, debuted in 1937 in a comic strip adaptation of an in-production film, Donald's Nephews. Daisy Duck, Donald's on-again-off-again girlfriend premiered in 1940, in Mr. Duck Steps Out. Grandma Duck also appeared in 1940, as a character in the comic strip. Scrooge McDuck, the family's elderly uncle and "richest duck in the world", was created in 1947 by Carl Barks for the comic book story, Christmas on Bear Mountain.
- ^ Carl Barks: Conversations 2003, p.207; ed. Donald Ault