The Duck Knight Returns!

"The Duck Knight Returns!" is the fortieth episode of DuckTales. It premiered on May 17, 2019 and is the sixteenth episode in the second season.

Synopsis
When Scrooge and Dewey make a gritty Darkwing Duck movie, Launchpad teams up with the original Darkwing to stop it.

Plot
Launchpad and Dewey are visiting the grand opening of a brand new furniture outlet, where Jim Starling, former Darkwing Duck actor, is cutting the ribbon. Jim offers autographs, but the few patrons that are present are unimpressed. An over-eager fan tries to ask Jim something, but being disgruntled over not having any major gigs, Jim passes him over and only begrudgingly signs his poster. Spotting Dewey, he believes that kids still love him, only to recognize Launchpad as someone who's fainted in front of him before. As Dewey tries to post a photo of Launchpad and Jim, he sees that Darkwing Duck is a trending topic worldwide because a Darkwing Duck movie is in production.

Launchpad drives Dewey and Jim (albeit fainting every few seconds from being starstruck) to the studio. Dewey questions why the studio wouldn't send a car for Jim or even inform him the movie exists. Launchpad believes that the movie couldn't be made without him, as Jim is Darkwing. Jim agrees. Eventually, the three arrive at the studio producing the movie; McDuck Studios.

The director of the film, Alistair Borswan, tries to convince Scrooge to give him more money so he can finish the project. However, being over budget (and generally being behind the times on film-making trends), Scrooge demands to be consulted on all decisions. Launchpad, Dewey, and Jim arrive at the meeting where Alistair shows them the trailer.

The trailer shows the film to be a dark and gritty reboot of the series, featuring Darkwing as more of a dark Anti-hero "Battling Darkness with more darkness". Jim approves, but Launchpad doesn't think it's truly Darkwing and Dewey hates it, finding it confusing. Scrooge sees that if it doesn't appeal to Dewey, the target demographic, it won't make money. Scrooge puts Dewey in charge, angering Alistair.

Jim pulls Alistair aside and asks him when they can start. Alistair reveals that the film is almost finished, so Jim believes that the Darkwing scenes are being shot last, or at least be put in with CGI. Alistair tells Jim that he isn't playing Darkwing, revealing that the fan from earlier is playing Darkwing in the new movie. Enraged, Jim attacks the fan and is thrown out of the studio.

Launchpad meets up with Jim outside. Jim plans to have Launchpad lock up the new actor in his trailer while Jim sneaks onto the set and finish the movie so people will see him as superior. Launchpad questions the plan, but Jim convinces him it's the right thing to do.

Jim distracts the guard while Launchpad makes his way to the trailer. He falls in and seems locked in, when the new Darkwing comes in and rescues him. Continuing the plan, Launchpad locks the door again. The new Darkwing attacks Launchpad, questioning the "heroism" of locking him in his trailer. The two fight, but soon bond over their shared experience of Darkwing Duck making an impact on their childhoods. The actor reveals that Darkwing inspired him to always get up even when things are tough, and wants to do the same thing for a new generation of fans. Realizing that he and Jim were wrong, Launchpad vows to get him back to the movie.

Jim hides away from some guards by hiding in a Darkwing Dance crew that Dewey hired. Jim knocks out the guards and tries to hide them in a large crate. The actor comes to Jim and offers him to work on the movie and make the best Darkwing possible. Jim, having obviously snapped, grabs the actor, violently closes the crate and laughs maniacally.

Alistair arrives on the set to see Dewey's changes, including a musical number and chainsaw jugglers that Dewey brought in. He tells Darkwing (not realizing it's Jim in the costume) to ignore the changes and that he will fight Megavolt and take a knee. Jim objects. Launchpad finds Jim and Jim tells him that the fan said he couldn't finish the movie. Launchpad gets suspicious.

Once filming begins, Jim goes off script and attacks the actor playing Megavolt. Doing so, he knocks over a lightning tower and the set catches on fire. Alistair tries to stop him, but Jim attacks him with a lightning ray, threatening that he'll finish filming the finale, even if it kills him and everyone else.

The actor arrives, introducing himself as Darkwing Duck, ready to save the day. Outraged, Jim fires the lightning ray at him. Darkwing distracts Jim while Launchpad goes to turn on the sprinklers. Jim tries to stop Darkwing, setting off explosives, dropping a piano, but Darkwing shows how strong and resilient he is, even resisting direct shots of lightning. The ray explodes, and the two Darkwings face off. Jim knocks down the other Darkwing as Launchpad activates the rainmaker, putting out the fire. Jim grabs a chainsaw to finish off Darkwing as Launchpad falls to the ground.

Launchpad gives an inspirational speech, trying to convince Jim to stop. The water from the sprinklers begins to affect the other lightning tower. For a moment, Jim seems to realize the error of his ways, staring at a reflection of himself in the chainsaw. Darkwing goes to save Launchpad, but Jim pushes them out of the way, wanting to be the one who saves him. The set then collapses on top of Jim, seemingly killing him.

Alistair filmed the whole thing and believes it would be the perfect end to the movie. Upon viewing it, he sees that it was filmed over by Dewey dancing in front of a green screen. Scrooge shuts down the production. Darkwing, disillusioned by what has transpired, wonders what he's going to do now. Launchpad convinces him to do what Darkwing always does; get back up. He say that he could do the superhero thing for real. Darkwing agrees, doing it in honor of Jim. Launchpad gets Darkwing to sign his poster, revealing the actor's real name; Drake Mallard.

A strange purple liquid flows into the sewers beneath the set. Jim is revealed to have survived the explosion. He rambles to himself, claiming that Drake put Launchpad in danger so he could save him and steal the glory and humilate Jim. Saying that if people want grim and gritty, he is happy to play the part. Coming into the light, it is revealed that his clothes have changed to a red, yellow, and black color scheme, his voice is angrier and deeper, and his teeth are sharp. Jim has become this continuity's version of Darkwing's greatest enemy... Negaduck.

Cast

 * David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
 * Ben Schwartz as Dewey Duck
 * Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
 * Jim Cummings as Jim Starling/Darkwing Duck/Negaduck
 * Edgar Wright as Alistair Boorswan
 * Tad Stones as Tad
 * Chris Diamantopoulos as Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck
 * Keith Ferguson as Commissioner Haggard, Megavolt, Citizen
 * Gabe Kunda as Narrator
 * April Winchell as Darkwing Dancers

Trivia

 * The theme song is just cut short to the title card, which is painted purple to resemble Darkwing.
 * The episode has the same title of the Darkwing Duck four-issue comic book of the same name.
 * The title is also a reference to the 1986 four-issue Batman mini-series, The Dark Knight Returns.
 * Upon learning of the Darkwing Duck movie, Launchpad says: "Oh Wow! A big budget reboot of a thing I loved as a kid! Those are always great!" The line serves as a joke nodding to how DuckTales is a reboot of the 1987 TV series of the same name, as well as Walt Disney Pictures' recent live-action remakes of animated films.
 * The overall aesthetic of the movie specifically resembles Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, in which the character of Batman is given a darker and grittier appearance. The character of Alistair Boorswan somewhat resembles Nolan while the movie Megavolt resembles Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane.
 * The producer for the original Darkwing Duck animated series Tad Stones provides a voice role as a similar character named Tad.
 * While trying to infiltrate McDuck Pictures, Jim tries to explain the Darkwing Duck TV series, only to be compared to Gizmoduck, which angers Jim. Additionally, when Launchpad convices Drake Mallard to become a real hero, he points out that Gizmoduck does it, to which Mallard states: "I'm better than Gizmoduck". Both scenes are references to the Darkwing Duck/Gizmoduck rivarly shown in Darkwing Duck.
 * The McDuck Studios logo is highly reminiscent of the one for Walt Disney Animation Studios, featuring a similar typeface and Scrooge posing like Mickey Mouse.