Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse

Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse are Mickey Mouse's nephews. They first appeared in Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse Sunday comic strip continuity titled Mickey's Nephews (1932). Since then they have appeared in lots of comic strips and comic book stories starring Mickey Mouse and Pluto, but have rarely been seen in animation.

In pre-World War II Mickey children's books (not comics) produced by the Disney studio, the nephews were usually called Morty and Monty rather than Morty and Ferdie. Very early books contain three or more nephews with various names, including Maisie and Marmaduke. Morty's name, short for Mortimer, is possibly in reference to the originally planned name for Mickey, Mortimer Mouse and Ferdie (sometimes misspelled "Ferdy") is short for "Ferdinand."

The twins' first film appearance was the 1934 Mickey Mouse cartoon titled Mickey's Steamroller. Aside from a cameo in 1938's Boat Builders, they didn't appear in animation again until Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). Then they made a cameo appearance in a two part Mickey Mouse Works segment titled Around the World in Eighty Days, which was later reused for an episode of House of Mouse. Contrary to their profile in the book Disney Dossiers, they do not appear in Mickey's House of Villains, though it is possible they could be among the mouse orphans seen in Gulliver Mickey, Orphans' Benefit, and Orphans' Picnic.

Ferdie disappeared from the Mickey Mouse comic strip in 1943 because Gottfredson thought the nephews were too much alike. He had plans to bring Ferdie back later as a bespectacled, intellectual, bookworm mouse with an Eton hat and coat with the explanation that he had been away at school. However, Gottfredson never got around to bringing Ferdie back and Morty remained in the strip alone. Morty was occasionally depicted with his best friend named Alvin and a sweetheart named Millie. Both were anthropomorphic dogs. Ferdie never vanished from comic book stories, however.

In recent years, some of Morty and Ferdie's comic book appearances have portrayed them as football players on the team Riverside Rovers. Their mother is depicted as a supportive "Soccer Mom." Morty & Ferdie are also occasionally pitted against their antagonists Melody, Minnie Mouse's niece and Pete's twin hellion nephews, Pierino & Pieretto. Also, Morty is a playable character on the PlayStation 2 game Disney Golf.

Morty should not be confused with Micky Mouse's originally proposed name "Mortimer Mouse," or Mickey's ofttimes rival of the same name Mortimer Mouse, or Minnie's wealthy rancher Uncle Mortimer.