Magica De Spell

"Sheesh! She gets so carried away!"

- Big Time Beagle

Magica De Spell is a villain from the Scrooge McDuck comics. Her main goal is to get Scrooge's Number One Dime. She sometimes antagonizes Donald Duck, his nephews and Daisy Duck when they are not with Scrooge.

Biography
Magica lives on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, next to Naples, Italy. Her primary motivation is to steal Uncle Scrooge's Number One Dime and melt it in the fires of the volcano to turn it into a powerful magical amulet, capable of granting the Midas Touch.

She sometimes teams up with the Beagle Boys or her best friend and sometimes housemate Madam Mim. She also has a raven named Ratface in the comics. Other characters closer to Magica include her grandmother, Granny De Spell, who, although claiming be one of the most powerful of witches, has been no more successful in obtaining the Number One Dime. There is also her niece, Witch Child, a mischievous little girl witch who can be a playmate and a thorn in the side of Huey, Dewey and Louie, depending on the story. Magica even has an apprentice, Samson Hex, a bungling no-hoper. There's also Rosalio, a dim-witted goose, who claims to be her fiancé. He is supported in this by Granny DeSpell, but always rejected by Magica. Magica has an odd relationship with Scrooge, sometimes even manifesting itself in mutual attraction.

Powers and abilities
Magica is a very powerful witch and has a number of magical powers, such as: The abilities to teleport herself over far distances, flight, the power to conjure and transmute matter on a sub-molecular level, and the ability to turn herself in to any animal that she wants. She is is also fond of using smoke bombs a trait she has had since her first debut in the comics, she uses a hypnotic versions of them to trick The Phantom Blot in the Darkwing Duck/DuckTales Comic crossover.

Beliefs
Unlike other people who think the Number One Dime to be a lucky charm, Magica doesn't believe it to be the source of Scrooge's wealth, but Scrooge's wealth to be the source of the dime's powers, as she only tries to steal it because it's the first coin ever earned by the richest duck (or man) on Earth. It can be noticed when she steals the dime, but gives it back when she realized she somehow caused the dime to lose such status. Examples of such stories are "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies", when she travels back in time and ends up in Glasgow to steal the dime. She finds Burt the ditchdigger, the man who originally paid Scrooge the dime for shining his boots, and offers to buy the dime from Burt for ten pence. Burt, realizing American money is unspendable in his native Scotland, easily agrees to Magica's trade (he is also unaware of her sinister nature as she is in disguise), but suddenly comes to the conclusion that if Burt pays Scrooge's shoeshine bill of five pence, one of those shilling would become his #1 coin instead of the dime. Another realization about the dime was "A Little Something Special", when she teams up with Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys in a plan made by Blackheart Beagle. She gives the dime back after realizing Scrooge wouldn't be the richest man on Earth after the Beagle Boys steal his money. In Carl Barks's "Ten-Cent Valentine", it's revealed she believes the dime must stay in one piece until she finally melts it or the spell won't work.

DuckTales
Magica was also a major antagonist on DuckTales, where she was voiced by June Foray (using a similar Eastern European accent to that of Natasha Fatale from Rocky & Bullwinkle). Magica appears mostly in first season episodes of the show. Her only appearance in the second season is in the episode "The Unbreakable Bin". Although she appears as one of the series' major villains, she is frequently a source of comic relief: In Magica's final scene in the series for example, she attempts to send Scrooge's "tin man back to OZ", but is herself sent elsewhere in a whirlwind when a Quackenyeeken Yeeker bird yeeks in fear, causing her jar of magic dust to break open and carry her away. Scrooge exclaims, "One thing about Magica--she always knew how to make an exit." On more than one occasion her plan to obtain Scrooge's dime backfires so spectacularly that she is forced to work with Scrooge to prevent greater disaster. According to the show, her brother is Poe De Spell, who was transformed into a raven and serves as her magical familiar — this is an obvious reference to Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven." Poe replaces Ratface from the comics. A similar reference had already been established in the German versions of Magica comics, where her raven is called "Nimmermehr" ("Nevermore"), referring to the most recognizable keyword from Poe's poem.

Darkwing Duck
Magica makes a cameo appearance in the Darkwing Duck episode "In Like Blunt", along with the Beagle Boys and Flintheart Glomgold, among the bidders for the secret S.H.U.S.H. agent list.

Darkwing Duck comics


In the Darkwing Duck comics, she was a major villain. She broke Negaduck out of Quackwerks after his failed attempt to attack Drake Mallard (whom he figured out was Darkwing Duck). About a year later, in "Crisis on Infinite Darkwings", she sent alternate Darkwing Ducks to the normal St. Canard. Magica planned to force Launchpad to lead her to Scrooge's dime. Magica later had a sorceress dual with Morgana McCawber. Magica fled from the battle after the sudden arrival of Paddywhack.

However, at the end of "Campaign Carnage", it is later revealed that she didn't leave St. Canard. She, along with the Phantom Blot, are shown to be the real masterminds behind the new villains as Suff-rage was just a pawn.

Magica is one of the three main villains of the "Dangerous Currency" arc, along with the Phantom Blot and Negaduck. At some point, Magica had earlier kidnapped Fenton Crackshell (the original Gizmoduck) and planned to use his suit for her own purposes. Magica then used the slime created from the tronsplitter hitting Negaduck to take control of St. Canard. She then formed her own group called "The League Of Eve-ill" (consisting of Ammonia Pine, Camille Chameleon and Cinnamon Teal).

After Darkwing, Scrooge, Launchpad, Gyro, Gizmoduck, Webby, Gosalyn and Fenton's mother fled to Gyro's lab, Magica and the Phantom Blot followed them with the slime in order to steal Scrooges dime (as it won't be a real victory without it). Magica ordered the Fearsome Four to attack Darkwing while she was going to see an "old friend". Magica then used the slime to take control of Scrooge's money bin.

After Negaduck returned, she along with The League of Eve-ill, the Phantom Blot, the Beagle Boys and the rest of the gang got trapped in a prison-like body of Negaduck. It is also revealed that Magica used a smoke bomb with the slime in it to make the Phantom Blot do as she said. When Donald managed to tell all of Duckburg to release their "inner Donald", the Phantom Blot convinced Magica to team up with him and Negaduck. She, along with the Beagle Boys, teleported to the money bin. Magica then had another battle with Morgana (who was taken hostage by Negaduck after the Duckthulu incident). When Darkwing tricked Negaduck into activating a spell Morgana secretly placed on him, Magica and the other villains ended up getting sucked into the wasteland along with Negaduck.

Video games
Magica's first appearance in a video game was as the boss of the Transylvania level in the DuckTales NES game. She was next featured as the main villain in The Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck and later appeared as a boss in Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers!.

Magica was later included as the second secret playable character in the 2008 trivia game Disney TH!NK Fast.

Her most recent video game appearance is in DuckTales Remastered, the remake of the first video game she appeared in. In the game, her role was expanded to be the main antagonist, where she manipulates Scrooge into acquiring the five treasures for her, so she could summon Count Dracula Duck.

Family
A lot of Magica's relatives appear in Italian stories.
 * Poe De Spell, her brother (DuckTales only)
 * Nanny Calandrina (Nonna Calandrina), Magica's grandmother (Granny De Spell in English versions)
 * Rosolio, Magica's cousin
 * Minima and Streghella, her nieces
 * Matilda, Magica's teenager cousin
 * Adelia, Magica's fairy cousin