Of all the Disney franchises my favorite has to be Duck Tales. Many people think that Duck Tales was merely an 80s TV show and never went further than Saturday morning but in reality it has a very rich history going back decades and if you think that it spoofs Indiana Jones you'd be wrong because it's actually the other way around.<br /><br />Darkwing Duck was a spin-off of Duck Tales, taking place in the same universe but transplanting the action from Duckburg to St. Canard. The only regular returning character was bumbling pilot Launchpad McQuack but he was my favorite, though Gizmoduck does make a couple of appearances.<br /><br />Darkwing himself, ordinary Drake Mallard by day, is a sort of cross between Batman, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Shadow. He's a crime-fighter with absolutely no abilities other than his determination to beat the bad guys though his is utterly confident in himself and craves media attention. With Launchpad as his sidekick and the occasional help from his daughter Goslyn he tackles a variety of strange villains, winning usually by chance.<br /><br />I've often thought that a hero can only be measured by his nemesis and unfortunately none of the Darkwing Duck bad guys are up to much, but that's fine since Darkwing himself is sort of incompetent. Episodes set during the daytime contradict the noirish nature of the show and the best episodes are the ones set in the shadows and dark alleyways. I know that this is a kids show and is not necessarily in the same league as the Batman animated series but it does seem to be selling itself short in this regard. Duck Tales frequently had very dynamic and imaginative stories while Darkwing Duck is sort of hit-and-miss. That's my only complaint though.<br /><br />Darkwing Duck still has loads going for it, including a brilliant theme song and his memorable signature catchphrase 'Let's get dangerous' (or 'It's gonna get scary big-time' as they say in France). There still life in this bird yet and with the Scrooge McDuck universe still popular to this day then we might just see him return some time.