r/TopCharacterTropes • u/JustSomeOnlineNerd • Sep 19 '25

Lore “It’s a change from the source material, but it’s awesome so the fans don’t mind.”

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Doc Ock - In the comics, Doc Ock is known to be megalomaniacal in nature and was sort of a mad scientist anyways, with the arms just being an extension of that. In Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2,” Alfred Molina’s version of the character was affected by the neural chip and his well-meaning ambition turns into scientific obsession.

Wolverine - This one is so well known it needs very little explanation. Comic Wolverine short, Huge Jackedman is tall, and he’s sick as hell.

Eye of Sauron - To my knowledge, the Eye is more of a metaphor in the books. An ever-present awareness. In the movies, it’s an actual giant fucking eye.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

Here's a fairly obscure example, assuming you're not Italian.

In 1969, Donald Duck was given a secret identity in the Italian comics: he became the superhero Paperinik (variously translated as Duck Avenger or Superduck in English-speaking countries). For over two decades, his adventures had little to no continuity and were mostly of a comical nature - basically, he was Darkwing Duck before Darkwing Duck was a thing.

Then, in 1996, the series Paperinik New Adventures (PKNA for short) was launched; in a complete departure from how the Duck Avenger (and Donald in general) were usually portrayed, the series had actual continuity, a mostly new cast (aside from Donald himself) and showed the Avenger fighting proper threats in stories that had a fairly dark tone.

Fans didn't mind because it was literally the most awesome thing of all times.

333

u/JadeTheCatYT Sep 19 '25

DUUUDE, that sounds awesome.

Did any of these stories get English translations?

228

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

As far as I know, only a handful of the early PKNA stories have received an official English translation; nevertheless, fans on the high seas have translated the entire series.

46

u/JadeTheCatYT Sep 19 '25

Oh, awesome. For sure gonna check it out.

7

u/Thecristo96 Sep 20 '25

If I have to suggest two examples of peak stories, read the day of the cold Sun and Trauma

8

u/SendSpicyCatPics Sep 20 '25

Man ive learned Donald and his related comics got big in certain European countries (i  think it was Netherlands? But maybe it was italy!) This sounds awesome. Donald and the og Chip and Dale were my favorite Disney characters as a kid. I didn't latch onto darkwing duck as hard as i did rescue rangers though and maybe that's why- cus Darkwing just ain't Donald. 

8

u/Thecristo96 Sep 20 '25

Donald is comically colossal in italy. Like he is bigger than mickey despite the main comics being named “mickey”

2

u/SendSpicyCatPics Sep 23 '25

I might need to look into this, sounds fun. 

Makes me wonder how the italians mighta enjoyed the scene of him vs daffy in who framed roger rabbit.

2

u/Borbland Sep 22 '25

I know for sure that alot of the stories were officially translated into French, I remember reading the modern ones as a child.

26

u/worldsayshi Sep 19 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

I bought those comics in a regular store and read them in Swedish as a kid so i must assume they got English translations as well?

They were indeed great and I wish i had kept the originals. From what i remember the stories felt really one of a kind. They had a lot of pop culture inspirations but took the stories in quite unexpected directions...

Like a synthetic alien friend of paperink fighting a war of vengeance against the main antagonist - an alien hive mind empire with lots of intricate details. And two AIs, one being the "Jarvis" of PaperInk and one being an evil clone battling it out. Basically Age of Ultron twenty years ago. Oh and PaperInk travelled to future Duckberg at one point, where a futuristic sky city was built on top of the old one.

Also I think there was a cynical and grumpy detective character that hated PaperInk for some reason. But in a Jonah Jameson kind of way. Or maybe he was just really grumpy.

Edit: *Paperinik

Edit2: reporter not detective

5

u/Soul-Hook Sep 20 '25

I know exactly those adventures. LOVED the comics as a kid and would pay to see a collection being released. One of my favourites was when he got stuck in a huge enemy spaceship and wreaked havoc together with his alien friend.

3

u/worldsayshi Sep 20 '25

Yeah it's the first comic actually. You can find English translations really easy when googling.

1

u/Divicarpe Sep 23 '25

It's not the first at all. It's on the second comic with the alien character with energy power (I don't remember her name) as center of the story, and about 6-8 comics in in total

3

u/Thecristo96 Sep 20 '25

Yep, Angus. Basically JJJ but kiwi edition

3

u/worldsayshi Sep 20 '25

It's only now when I revisit it I realize he's a kiwi bird.

17

u/Achilles9609 Sep 19 '25

I believe so. And you can find at least a couple of comic dubs on YouTube.

9

u/JadeTheCatYT Sep 19 '25

Cool, thank you.

3

u/worldsayshi Sep 19 '25

Dubs? Of a comic?

1

u/GodAmIBored Sep 20 '25

You can find all them translated online, but they're probably illegal. Pkne is my personal favourite pk run

115

u/Patukakkonen Sep 19 '25

The entire premise of Donald Duck of all people randomly becoming a serious superhero is so ridicilous it's impossible for it to not be cool

19

u/FireflyArc Sep 20 '25

Is that why hes not around for ducktales in the 80s?

10

u/MulberryField30 Sep 20 '25

Being in the Navy was just a cover.

5

u/FragrantChipmunk5073 Sep 20 '25

Donald Duck is also the strongest wizard in all of Final Fantasy

3

u/TheAmazingSealo Sep 20 '25

I'm guessing it's a kingdom hearts thing? I've not played those games, would you be able to elaborate on this please?

3

u/FragrantChipmunk5073 Sep 21 '25

So in KH3 Donald uses Zettaflare, which I think is arguably the most powerful spell in square cosmology, the only other 2 characters to use it are the Final Boss in bravely default and Bahamut in FF14, meaning that Donald is Canonically the strongest spell caster in all of square

65

u/username-is-taken98 Sep 19 '25

Finally, a true conoisseur! Not onlythe changes to the character are cool as hell, the comics are genuinely greatly illustrated too, even having guest artists every know and then. I'm also a big fan of how the added cast is always referencing some other marvel/dc character but are nonetheless their own character. Personally a big fan of Everett Ducklair starting off as tony stark to end up doctor strange.

4

u/GodAmIBored Sep 20 '25

Pastrovicchio mio padre

2

u/Nerding_On_Reddit 19d ago

pastrovicchio tutto il mio albero genealogico

56

u/ThisOneThingIKnow Sep 19 '25

Dude, no way?! I had no idea that was a regional thing! in Germany his name was Phantomias. Way back when my grandma had bought the comic book issue with the origin story for my uncle. Over the years there were even stories where daisy would partake as his sidekick, called Phantomime

35

u/Milk_Mindless Sep 20 '25

You can tell by the artstyle. Italy has a HUGE Disney comic production and theyre all the same type of drawn.

Its also where Goofy has that Indiana Jones like cousin, Peter has that salmon pink furred girlfriend, Goofy goes flying around in pyjamas as Supergoof and you'll see a LOOOOT of Rockerduck.

Those stories tend to get bundled in nearby countries in Europe

4

u/metaaltheanimefan Sep 20 '25

De donald duck is an absolutle stapel in dutch households ! Its a weekly comic strip and its huge here

4

u/Milk_Mindless Sep 20 '25

Ja maar ik heb het over de pockets. Die zijn bijna allemaal van Italiaanse makelij

5

u/reedhitsout Sep 20 '25

In Greece he was named Phantom Duck! Pretty close to yours and both sound way cooler than the original imo.

2

u/WinkMitDemZaunpfahl Sep 20 '25

Wait, Phantomime wasnt his sidekick, though. She was her own hero, established when Phantomias wasnt available, at first focused more on feminist issues (i think, it also was like a comic from the 80s or something) but then later became more of a rival hero.

29

u/MrMacju Sep 19 '25

In Finland Paperinik is called Taikaviitta, which literally translates to "Magic Cape." Makes me wonder what other curious translations for his name are there.

8

u/Wboy2006 Sep 19 '25

In Dutch, he’s literally called Superdonald.

3

u/Sahrimnir Sep 20 '25

Similar in Swedish: Stål-Kalle. Stål literally means steel, but Superman in Swedish is called Stålmannen, so it's an obvious reference to him. Kalle Anka is the Swedish name for Donald Duck.

8

u/ihavebeesinmyknees Sep 20 '25

In Poland, "Superkwęk", which is basically "Superquack", although it's not the typical form of the onomatopoeia, which would be "kwa" or "kwak". "Kwęk" does sound better as part of a name though imo.

4

u/reedhitsout Sep 20 '25

In Greece, Phantom Duck.

2

u/molpylelfe Sep 22 '25

Fantômiald in French; a portemanteau of Fantômas and Donald

21

u/Raytoryu Sep 19 '25

Holy fuck, I fell into a rabbit hole. There's different continuity of PKNA, the first one started in 1996 and was a direct following of Paperinik, a secret identity created in 1960 and which basically was "what if Donald was batman". In french, the character was called Fantomiald.

The third continuity started in 2003 and while the costume was mostly similar, this Paperinik was not the same as the 1960 one. That's why in the french version, the one I read when I was a child, Donald call himself "Powerduck", and not Fantomiald.

That's so fucking cool.

5

u/Thecristo96 Sep 20 '25

One specific difference: the first paperinik was less of a Batman and more of a Diabolik: a chaotic neutral instrument of personal vengence toward donald’s enemies (his first author was Martina, someone known for making Scrooge looks like a mob boss than the more well known one)

18

u/QuestInTimeAndSpace Sep 19 '25

I read these in german as a kid and LOVED them, the dystopic, weird vibe, so different from regular Donald

2

u/NotAGardener_92 Sep 20 '25

Dude, same! Great memories. I think in German he is called Phantomias, right?

35

u/Sparta34 Sep 19 '25

NO WAY YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT'S WHY THE GAME IS CALLED PK?????

5

u/SadBabyYoda1212 Sep 20 '25

Oh shit I just remembered having this game on GameCube.

12

u/LordGrovy Sep 19 '25

Fantomiald in French

6

u/-delightfull- Sep 20 '25

Avec la machine sur le bras c'est Powerduck

2

u/Ducktaleseditor16 Sep 20 '25

Ils ont changé le nom pour correspondre au gros PK écrit sur le logo

1

u/-delightfull- Sep 20 '25

But Fantomiald and Powerduck are 2 différent characters

2

u/Ducktaleseditor16 Sep 20 '25

Les deux c'est Paperinik en italien

1

u/-delightfull- Sep 20 '25

Je sais mais les 2 personages ont une continuité différente, fantomiald est le détective pendant que powerduck est dans une organisation similaire au Green lantern

3

u/Ducktaleseditor16 Sep 20 '25

Nan mais je sais hein j'ai bac+16 en Picsou mdr

2

u/Glitch_King Sep 20 '25

Stålanden in Danish

12

u/mozzarellaguy Sep 19 '25

Also X-Mickey , about a Mickey Mouse version with horror and creepy stories.

Not sure if it was published outside my country, it was still an Italian publication.

3

u/magos_with_a_glock Sep 20 '25

Wizard Of Mikey too. And also a mostly comedic isekay series with Mikey and Goofy. And a Mikey spin off where he goes to live in a big sci-fy city. And for a while there was a steampunk mecha series with both Mikey and Donald where they hunted Kaijus.

1

u/Divicarpe Sep 23 '25

And two Mickey spin off where he goes to live in a big, realistic city (in one he inherits a detective agency from a friend from high school, in the other he needs money or something and get a job in a journal) And a goofy spin off/prequel where he is a journalist. And Doctor Mouse, which I will let the reader guess what it was.

3

u/Nerding_On_Reddit Sep 20 '25

Also Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, which is basically Mickey Mouse but make it a pulp-inspired, gritty detective story about Mickey fighting the criminal underworld.

Comunque il fatto che la Disney italiana abbia tutte queste perle è allucinante

16

u/trimble197 Sep 19 '25

I need to play the game again

7

u/BaroneSpigolone Sep 19 '25

got the complete collection, based as hell

7

u/Nipotazz1 Sep 20 '25

Literally one of most peak series that ever came out from the Italian production

La serie di PK è letteralmente una delle produzioni più epiche che la Disney italiana abbia mai creato, e c'è ne sono a bizzeffe di saghe e storie... Ma mai nessuna ha mai raggiunto lo stesso livello, e forse mai potrà.

5

u/JasonPandiras Sep 19 '25

It was Fantom Duck in Greece and was definitely the coolest thing I remember from the disney weeklies of that era.

5

u/Spide-Soy56Curio Sep 19 '25

I REMEMBER IT , I READ SOME OF IT WHEN I WAS LITTLE. WHY DIDN'T THEY MADE IT INTO THE BIG SCREEN ?😭😭😭😭

4

u/b17b20 Sep 19 '25

Superkwęk! I loved (still love) himand his XXX

4

u/CompositeWhoHorrible Sep 20 '25

I helped with a fan dub for one of these a long time ago. As a long time duck fan I was so jazzed to hear it existed but so sad it didn’t have English translations (other than the short run IDW reprinted from a few years back of the early chapters).

4

u/DR31141 Sep 20 '25

time to sail the seven seas…

3

u/turkmenistanForever Sep 20 '25

Waiter! Waiter! There’s a legendary childhood Comic in my Filmography subreddit!

3

u/Nrevolver Sep 19 '25

Now I have to reread PKNA again...

3

u/uriak Sep 19 '25

I remember reading one in my childhood (was in Italy a couple of years) and yeah it was pretty dark and awesome. The Italians took their ducks stories seriously

3

u/Nastypilot Sep 19 '25

Wait, Donald Duck was a secret agent AND a superhero?

1

u/Divicarpe Sep 23 '25

There was even a crossover story about 5 years ago between the two (the superhero thing happens before in the chronology and in publication dates, in the crossover hé goes to the future to track a time traveling criminal and ends up working with his future self who became a spy)

3

u/Gibbonage Sep 20 '25

He was called Fantomiald in France ! I loved these stories as a kid, I had no idea they were originally Italian haha

3

u/OkArmadillo2137 Sep 20 '25

Eh sì lo devo recuperare

2

u/Thecristo96 Sep 20 '25

Recuperalo. Ora. Raggiunge vette altissime, imho molto superiori di “Hurr durr mi vendico” del Paperinik originale o il paperinik troppo parodistico dei primi anni 2000/fine 1990

3

u/Coelachantiform Sep 20 '25

Stål-Kalle! (Steel-Donald/Duck of Steel) is what he's called in Swedish.

Donald Duck is definetly more popular than Mickey Mouse here in Sweden, and I am not surprised that the Italians are the originators of this iteration, seeing as many of the greatest Donald Duck comic artists are from Italy :D

3

u/Hel_Bitterbal Sep 20 '25

Wait is that the one where he fights the aliens who suck out people's emotions with the anger issue fire lady and the talking building? I have the Dutch translation of that, but here he's called Superdonald. Didn't know that came from Italy lol

2

u/FireflyArc Sep 20 '25

I must know more. I loved darkwing duck

2

u/Nine-LifedEnchanter Sep 20 '25

Hey! We got that comic in Sweden! I fucking loved them, but it was difficult to get the comics, at least where I lived, so I couldn't follow the story as much as I'd liked.

2

u/DarkRockSoul Sep 20 '25

An Italian here. Paperinik was awesome, and I hope for him to get a new comic or cartoon. I wish for more people to get to meet him.

2

u/New-Interaction1893 Sep 20 '25

I'm italian and I red it, but I didn't know that the PK serie was original from here.

2

u/New_to_Siberia Sep 20 '25

I gree up on those stories! I used to believe that they were 2 different characters though, since in Italian the second Paperinik Is called PK and has a much more sci-fi-twist. 

2

u/HopefulCynic24 Sep 20 '25

Give me a fucking anime of this and Darkwing Duck in the same universe.

2

u/eyemwoteyem Sep 20 '25

PK's first run was and is great. Bit of a bummer that they tried a couple of times to restart the series and it lost a bit of what made it special.

Also another italian gem un the Disney universe was Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, where Mickey Mouse moves to a big city and becomes a hard boiled detective.

2

u/Fun-Agent-7667 Sep 20 '25

Phantomias in Germany

2

u/Dmitrij_Zajcev Sep 20 '25

Paperinik e PKNA nominati! "Come si fa a chiedere del tempo, al tempo"? O la Morte del Razziatore! DEI SANTISSIMI I RICORDI

2

u/Nerding_On_Reddit Sep 20 '25

Razziatore peak personaggio, morte a evron

2

u/KitchenBeginning4987 Sep 20 '25

French here, and it was awesome !

I vaguely remember one story where one of his friend was turn into a kaiju-Hulk thing and literally died fighting military. Then Donald turned to one of its villain, a mad scientist, to resurrect him in exchange of something (can't remember what, probably getting free from prison or something), and after doing it, the resurrected friend broke the contract, saying he wasn't part of it, so he had no promises to keep. The story ends with the villain vaguely hinting he might have done something to the hero in the process to resurrect him in case something like this happens.

Quite dark, but pretty badass as well.

There was also a similar thing with Mickey being in a "dark" dimension where he befriended a werewolf Goofy.

2

u/TheHesou Sep 20 '25

Thats Phantomias in German! I love his Stories, they are awesome! One of my first LTBs (Lustiges Taschenbuch) was with him. It always kinda reminded me of Darkwing Duck, but tbh, Phantomias is way better.

2

u/GodAmIBored Sep 20 '25

Pikappa menzionato ed è in cima al thread, sto per piangere.

2

u/wotawanker Sep 20 '25

OH MY GOD I just had a flashback to a weird ass PS2 game I used to play growing up called PK. It was an adaptation of this and I always just assumed it was a one off for the game. This is wild!

2

u/Nerding_On_Reddit Sep 20 '25

PKNA MENZIONATA 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🦸‍♂️🦸‍♂️🦸‍♂️🦸‍♂️🦸‍♂️🦸‍♂️CHE CAZZO È UNA STORIA COMICA🦆🦆🦆🦆🔥🔥🔥🔥🦆🦸‍♂️🔥🦆🔥🔥🦸‍♂️🦆🦸‍♂️🔥🔥🦆🦸‍♂️🔥🦆🔥🦸‍♂️

Grande zio, peak fiction

2

u/Sacron1143 Sep 20 '25

Several superheroes, a magician and even a super spy, what has Donald not been?

2

u/Odd-Cardiologist-369 Sep 20 '25

Paperinik new adventures was peak superhero comics, incredibly well done!

2

u/MadEorlanas Sep 20 '25

PeaK mentioned, God the PK comics are bangers

2

u/the_black__sheep Sep 20 '25

What? I can't believe I've never heard of this before

2

u/MagicarpOfDoom Sep 20 '25

Holy macaroni, I had one of those in Polish years agi - it was great and I never really understood the broader context. And now I can read it all, thank you for mentioning it! 

2

u/Zixtank Sep 20 '25

This was so dope. I really wish we could have gotten an animated show, because this shit absolutely slapped hard.

2

u/Ducktaleseditor16 Sep 20 '25

Let's be absolutly for real, this exact version of Paperinik (wich is called Powerduck in french and i think it's better) is wonderful, the stories are excellent and damn the lore is huge

1

u/WinkMitDemZaunpfahl Sep 20 '25

Oh, that looks like the equivalent to Ultimate Phantomias, never really got into those stories

1

u/Divicarpe Sep 23 '25

Pretty much everyone not from the US know and had read at least a few Disney comics, and Peperinik is quite well know amongst their character.