Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge McDuck, or Uncle Scrooge, is a Glaswegian duck created by Carl Barks. He is Donald Duck's rich uncle who first appeared in Four Color Comics #178, in the story Christmas on Bear Mountain, published by Dell Comics in December 1947. Over the decades, Scrooge has emerged from a supporting character in the comic world only, to one of the most recognizable Disney characters. Scrooge is currently voiced by famous celebrity Alan Young.

Comic History
Scrooge, maternal uncle of previously established character Donald Duck, made his first named appearance in Christmas on Bear Mountain in December 1947, a story written and drawn by artist Carl Barks. His appearance may have been based on a similar-looking, nameless Scottish character from the 1943 propaganda short The Spirit of '43.

In Christmas on Bear Mountain, Scrooge was a bearded, bespectacled, reasonably wealthy old duck, visibly leaning on his cane, and living in isolation in a "huge mansion". Scrooge's misanthropic thoughts in this first story are quite pronounced: "Here I sit in this big lonely dump, waiting for Christmas to pass! Bah! That silly season when everybody loves everybody else! A curse on it! Me—I'm different! Everybody hates me, and I hate everybody!"Barks later reflected, "Scrooge in 'Christmas on Bear Mountain' was only my first idea of a rich, old uncle. I had made him too old and too weak. I discovered later on that I had to make him more active. I could not make an old guy like that do the things I wanted him to do."

Wealth
Scrooge had worked his way up the financial ladder from humble immigrant roots. Born in Glasgow, Scotland he made a living shining boots, and was enraged when a ditchdigger paid him with a US dime. However, the coin inspired him to take a position as cabin boy on a Clyde cattle ship to the United States to make his fortune. Scrooge is now the richest duck in the world, rivalled only by Flintheart Glomgold, John D. Rockerduck and, less prominent, the maharaja of the fictional country Howdoyoustan (play on Hindustan).

He keeps a portion of his wealth, money he has personally earned himself, in a massive Money Bin overlooking the city of Duckburg. In the short Scrooge McDuck and Money, he remarks to his nephews that this money is "just petty cash". In the Dutch and Italian version he regularly forces Donald and his nephews to polish the coins one by one in order to pay off Donald's debts — Scrooge will not even pay them much for this lengthily, tedious, hand-breaking work. As far as he is concerned, even 5 cents an hour is too much expenditure.

A shrewd businessman and noted tightwad, his hobbies include diving into his money like a porpoise, burrowing through it like a gopher, and throwing coins into the air to feel them fall upon his skull. He is also the richest member of The Billionaires Club of Duckburg, a society which includes the most successful businessmen of the world and allows them to keep connections with each other. Glomgold and Rockerduck are also influential members of the Club. His most famous prized possession is his Number One Dime.The sum of Scrooge's wealth is disputed. According to Barks' The Second Richest Duck as noted by a TIME article, Scrooge is worth one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents. Don Rosa's the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck notes that Scrooge amounts to five multiplujillion, nine impossibidillion, seven fantasticatrillion dollars and sixteen cents. In 2007, Forbes listed his wealth at a much more modest $28.8 billion. Barks himself has said that the fortune is five billion quintiplitilion unptuplatillion multuplatillion impossibidillion fantasticatrillion dollars. Whatever the amount, Scrooge never considers it enough: he has to continue to earn money by any honest means possible..

DuckTales
In the DuckTales series, Scrooge has adopted the nephews, and as a result his rougher edges are smoothed out somewhat. While most of his traits remain from the comics, he is notably more jovial and less irritable in the cartoon. In an early episode, Scrooge credits his improved temperament to the nephews and Webby, saying that "for the first time since I left Scotland, I have a family." Though Scrooge is far from heartless in the comics, he is rarely so openly sentimental. While he still hunts for treasure in Ducktales, many episodes focus on him attempting to thwart villains. He remains, however, just as tightfisted with money as he has always been. Scrooge displays a strict code of honor, insisting that the only valid way to acquire wealth is to "earn it square", and he goes to great lengths to thwart those (sometimes even his own nephews) who gain money dishonestly. This code also prevents him from ever being dishonest himself, saying that "Scrooge McDuck's word is as good as gold." He also expresses great disgust at being viewed by others as a greedy liar and cheater. The show fleshed out his upbringing depicting his life as an individual who worked hard his entire life to earn his keep and fiercely defend it against those who were truly dishonest: a value he teaches his nephews.

Also it was shown that money is no longer the most important thing in his life. For one episode he was under a love spell, which caused him to lavish his time on a goddess, over everything else. The nephews find out that the only way to break the spell, is make the person realize that the object of their love will cost them something they truly love. The boys make it appear that Scrooge's love is allergic to money; however, he simply decides to give up his wealth so he can be with her. Later, when he realizes he'll have to give up his nephews to be with her, the spell is immediately broken, showing that family is the most important thing to him. On occasion he demonstrates physical fitness by single-handedly beating bigger guys.

In the comic book continuation of Darkwing Duck, Scrooge comes in at the end of the first arc to help re-organize the Quackwerks corporation, naming Launchpad as the CEO.

Scrooge McDuck and Money
The character of Scrooge has appeared in various media aside from comic books. Scrooge's first appearance in animated form (save for a brief cameo appearance on the Mickey Mouse Club television series) was in Disney's 1967 theatrical short Scrooge McDuck and Money, in which he teaches his nephews some basic financial tips.

Mickey's Christmas Carol
Scrooge stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in Mickey's Christmas Carol. Scrooge plays out the exact role as the original story. After he visits the Ghosts of Christmas Past (portrayed by Jiminy Cricket), Present (portrayed by Willie the Giant), and Future (portrayed by Pete the Cat), Scrooge changes his ways.

Sport Goofy in Soccermania
Scrooge appears as a main character in the television special Sport Goofy in Soccermania. In the special Scrooge accidentally give Huey, Dewey and Louie a valuable trophy. Huey, Dewey and Louie sold it to be a prize for a soccer game. Scrooge finds out and realize the only way to get back his trophy is to win the soccer game against the Beagle Boys. With the help of Goofy Scrooge wins and regains his trophy. In the special Scrooge was voiced by Will Ryan.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Scrooge appears in the animated film Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. Scrooge visits Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie for Christmas. Scrooge plays Christmas carols on his beloved piano.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
Scrooge reappears in the sequel. In the sequel Scrooge holds Christmas at his home instead and realizes Huey, Dewey and Louie has been naughty this year. Scrooge warns the boys Santa gives no presents to naughty kids. Scrooge's lesson gives the boys the idea to go to the north pole and write their names on the list. The boys instead write Scrooge's name. For their caring efforts both Scrooge and the boys gain their Christmas presents. Later when Pluto goes missing Scrooge buys a snow plow company to help find Pluto.

House of Mouse


Scrooge appears in certain episodes in the animated series House of Mouse. Scrooge's most notable episode in House of Scrooge where Scrooge buys the House of Mouse from Pete. Scrooge changes the entire show and even replaces Huey, Dewey and Louie with a radio. In the end, when he sees that his budget cuts have driven away the audience, Scrooge claims he cannot stand showbiz anymore and takes his money back from Pete in exchange for the club.

Scrooge also appears in two episodes of Mickey Mouse Works.

Kingdom Hearts series
Majority of information taken from Kingdom Hearts Wiki-Scrooge McDuck.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Scrooge McDuck appears in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep in Radiant Garden. He speaks to Ven after Ven saved him from the Unversed. Scrooge knows he is from another world, and tells Ven he had Merlin transport him here from his home world Disney Town to expand his business. He gives Ven three entry passes to Disney Town, two of which Ven passes on to Terra and Aqua. Later, Aqua meets Scrooge in person, and approaches him to ask for directions.

During the end credits, Scrooge sells two sticks of ice cream to Lea and Isa.

Kingdom Hearts II
Scrooge McDuck resides in Hollow Bastion during the events of Kingdom Hearts II, along with his three great nephews. He meets Sora, Donald and Goofy during their first visit to Hollow Bastion, Donald and Scrooge both surprised to see each other. He now owns part of the town and his house seems to be built above the synthesizing shop. Opposite of the shop is a large freezer where McDuck tries to recreate the original sea-salt ice cream flavor, but is having little success. Throughout the visits to Hollow Bastion, Scrooge becomes closer and closer to achieving his goal, eventually succeeding. Oddly, though, Scrooge's form of currency is not referred to as munny. If you want to play the Skateboard freestyle mini-game in Hollow Bastion, you have to talk to Scrooge. Scrooge does not have any vocal audio in Kingdom Hearts II, instead speaking in text bubbles.

In the end credits after Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas and return to Destiny Islands, Scrooge is seen with King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Queen Minnie, Daisy, Pluto, the nephews and Chip and Dale. This makes Scrooge one of the few neutral characters that can travel to different worlds. Also in the end credits, you can see Yuffie handing out Scrooge's ice cream to everybody.

Toontown Online
He made his appearance in Toontown Online when visiting his employee Gyro Gearloose. Inside Gyro's lab, Scrooge finds an inactive "Cog" with a sign saying "Do Not Touch!". As cheap as he can be, he still activated the "Cog" thinking it would be a big "help" to Toontown and to earn money. However, this started an endless-production of Cogs, from The Big Cheese to Pencil Pushers and Robber Barons. Scrooge regrets activating the "Cog". The "Cog" produced many Cogs, which made the machine malfunction and caused the production to speed up. Nervous Scrooge watched in horror, while the Cogs fly away from the "Cog's" orders. The "Cog" comes up to Scrooge, and the screen fades away.

Scrooge's current location is unknown.

Other video games
Outside of the Kingdom Hearts series, Scrooge's other video game appearances include the three DuckTales video games (DuckTales, DuckTales 2, and DuckTales: The Quest for Gold). He is also a secret playable character in the 2008 quiz game, Disney TH!NK Fast.

Disney Parks
Scrooge is a semi-common character in the Disney Parks. His appearances in the US parks were especially common during the original run of DuckTales and The Disney Afternoon. He is now mostly seen only at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, but he does show up at Walt Disney World very often during Christmastime, even taking part in the annual Christmas Day Parade.

A Little Tale of Christmas
In the Christmas show at Tokyo Disneyland, Scrooge is a miser who only cares about money while Mickey and Friends try to give him the spirit of Christmas.

Fantasmic!
Scrooge occasionally appears in the live nighttime spectacular Fantasmic! He can sometimes be seen at the end, riding either The Mark Twain Riverboat or Steamboat Willie.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Parade
Scrooge appears on his own float in the Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas parade.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Scrooge joins Mickey and many other Disney characters as they celebrate Christmas in a Magic Kingdom party.

Trivia

 * In 2002, Forbes magazine named Scrooge McDuck history's fourth richest fictional character at $8.2 billion but moved him down to sixth place in 2005. In 2006, Scrooge was moved back up to third place, with a worth of $10.9 billion, trailing only Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks and Charles Montgomery Burns. In 2007, the self-made Scottish businessman finally got on the top of the Forbes Fictional 15 with a net worth of $28.8 billion. In 2009 he landed in second place and eventually made it back to first place in 2011.
 * Also in 2007, Glasgow City Council added Scrooge to its list of "Famous Glaswegians", alongside the likes of Billy Connolly, Sir Alex Ferguson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
 * In 2008 The Weekly Standard parodied the bailout of the financial markets by publishing a memo where Scrooge applies to the TARP program.