Mortimer L. Marquand is a character featured in the Darkwing Duck revival comics. He is a classmate of Gosalyn's who is introduced in the story "Cat-tastrophe!" in Darkwing Duck #14. Although he is a rather meek student, his introduction features him as a armored supervillain called Cat-Tankerous.
Role in the comics[]
Prior to his introduction, Mortimer is an unpopular student at the school Gosalyn attends. He comes to admire her after she saves him from a pair of bullies who were mocking him for his comic book collecting. (In the original printed version of "Cat-tastrophe!", Mortimer was stated to have an unrequited crush on Gosalyn; this was retconned into platonic admiration in the reprint seen in Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition.) After seeing Gosalyn don the Gizmosuit during the events of "Crisis on Infinite Darkwings", Mortimer wants to be a superhero like her and tries to make his own Gizmosuit, but to no avail. He then receives an enormous suit of indestructible armor with a note saying he should "Show them who you really are." (In the original version, it said he should "be a better man.") However, wearing the suit drives Mortimer into a single-minded obsession towards destroying St. Canard and defeating Darkwing Duck. He is eventually beaten by Darkwing when Gosalyn, recognizing him, shows up and scolds him for having become a bully himself. He is subsequently arrested and forced to do 1,000 hours of community service.
Mortimer reappears in "Orange is the New Purple", the opening story arc of the continuation by Joe Books. He and the rest of Gosalyn's class are shown on a field trip to St. Canard's new maximum-security prison, and he mentions that he's just glad to be allowed on the field trip. When Negaduck takes over the prison and lets the inmates loose, Mortimer goes into hiding, eventually finding his way to the solitary confinement chambers, where he encounters Fluffy. After making a deal with Fluffy, Mortimer bluffs his way onto Negaduck's side. After Negaduck successfully captures Darkwing and Gosalyn, though, Mortimer helps them escape. At the end of the issue, however, it is shown that Mortimer also helped Fluffy sneak his way out of the prison, and the two of them now appear to be working together on some project of their own (which is likely to never be revealed due to the comic's cancellation).
Notes[]
- Cat-Tankerous is modeled after the Juggernaut from X-Men and Rhino from The Amazing Spider-Man.
- According to Aaron Sparrow, "Originally Ian's version of Cat-Tankerous was supposed to be an ordinary female housecat that became intelligent, but James felt it didn't work in the script he was given, so he and Chris Burns reworked it. I wonder if part of the reason was because it was too close to Fluffy's origin."
| This article does not have a picture. You can help the Disney Afternoon Wiki by adding one. |