Boll Weevil is a minor antagonist from the TV series DuckTales. He is an evil, ruthless, anthropomorphic dog and a greedy oat tycoon and farmer. He is the main villain of the episode "Horse Scents."
Role in the Series[]
Boll Weevil first appears after Mr. Merriweather's camera breaks in an untimely accident, and he is immediately revealed as the man from whom he buys oats for his horse, Milady. Unfortunately, Merriweather is five months behind on oat payments, and because he cannot make his back payments due to the destruction of his camera, Weevil decides to take Milady in lieu of money, intending to put her to work in his oat fields for the rest of her life. Angered, Webby, who has quickly grown close to Milady, attempts to unlock the back of his truck to let her out, but Weevil quickly foils her attempt, picking her up and throwing her into a pile of hay. This angers Milady into breaking out of the truck herself, and when Weevil sees her standing with Webby in his rearview mirror, he immediately turns around and gives chase to them both. Milady, with Webby on her back, easily outruns Weevil, causing him to crash into a mud pit.
Later, Webby, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Mrs. Beakley realize that a horse with Milady's speed could enter the Kenducky Derby, where she could win the race. Then, Mr. Merriweather could buy her back from Weevil and possibly get her a bigger pasture. Unfortunately, the day of the race, Weevil tracks down Milady at Scrooge's stall, where she is being kept by Webby before the race, and attempts to take her back. Huey, Dewey, Mrs. Beakley, and Mr. Merriweather all attempt to stall him long enough for Webby and Louie to hide Milady in the loft of the stall, but the plan is unsuccessful, as Weevil spots them immediately and attempts to kidnap Webby and capture Milady. However, the loft breaks, and the two come crashing down onto the oat tycoon, injuring and temporarily dazing him. Not to be deterred, Weevil vows to catch Webby and Milady . . . after he gets out of the hospital.
Weevil reappears later on at the racetrack, where he has learned off-screen that Webby has taken Milady to enter the race. Huey, Dewey, and Louie hide their identities from him with Groucho Marx-like disguises at first, but when Mrs. Beakley loses a bugle that she intends to use to motivate Milady to run, Dewey comes up with another idea. He reveals himself and calls for Weevil, saying that he knows where Milady is, hoping it spurns him into chasing him and his brothers, which it does. The three boys lead him on a chase into the announcer's booth, and when he reaches them, he chides them for leading him on "a wild goose chase" and threatens to harm them. Unbeknownst to him, however, Dewey's plan was for him to unleash his voice over the loudspeaker so that Milady would hear it, as she was frightened of him. Indeed, hearing Weevil's voice scares Milady into running even faster, and before long, she and Webby are leading the pack.
Upon learning that Milady is on the verge of winning the race, Weevil happily grabs Huey, Dewey, and Louie by their shoulders and declares how rich he will be, which reminds the boys of one terrible thing: that technically, with Milady now owned by Weevil, he will get the money if she wins the race, not Mr. Merriweather. But upon hearing that the race is about to come down to "a photo finish," Milady, who is used to getting her picture taken as part of Merriweather's business, stops just a few feet from the finish line to have her picture taken, allowing a horse bet on by Scrooge to win the race instead.
Furious at Milady for losing the race so trivially, Weevil abdicates ownership of her and unceremoniously gives her back to Mr. Merriweather before stomping off, claiming that he never wants to see her again. In the end, the heroes get the last laugh when Scrooge, due to placing the winning bet of the race, offers to pay off Merriweather's debt, enabling him to keep Milady this time.
Appearance and Personality[]
In terms of his appearance, Weevil is depicted like the typical Southern tycoon. He has a very apparent, prominent Southern accent and even dresses like an old-time plantation owner. He has a very commanding presence and carries himself with an air that would tell anyone to show him decent respect. Judging only by his appearance, one would think that all of this would make him come off like a refined Southern gentleman.
However, immediately upon his introduction, this is clearly shown not to be the case. In terms of his personality, Weevil is portrayed as an evil Southern tycoon rather than a gentle one. He is very brash and ill-tempered when interacting with people, as shown by his bullying nature toward Mr. Merriweather and borderline abusive nature in manhandling Webby and Milady. It can also be presumed that he has an evil streak a mile wide, given his plans to work Milady practically to death in his oat fields, something that also shows his disrespect toward most animals. It is also shown that he can be downright terrifying, as even the sound of his voice (particularly when it takes on a more threatening tone) can scare Milady. The only modicum of respect that he starts to show her is when he thinks that she is about to make him rich with a victory at the Kenducky Derby, which she herself destroys by blowing the race just to have her picture taken at the last second.
What truly cements Weevil's evil nature, however, is his willingness to physically hurt others. While he is not shown doing any such thing throughout the episode, he does nearly harm Webby when he first meets her (to the point that he angers Milady), and he attempts to harm her and Milady when he chases them in his truck early in the episode. In addition, after chasing down Huey, Dewey, and Louie at the racetrack, he threatens their lives, as well, indicating that he has every intention of harming them for making him chase them for nothing.
Ironically, despite only appearing in one episode and not physically harming any of the heroes, Weevil still ended up being one of the McDuck family's most fearsome, threatening adversaries just by virtue of his very strong presence. Specifically, he was one of Webby's most determined enemies with only one appearance.
Trivia[]
- Weevil is almost fittingly named after the tiny, black, cotton-eating Mexican insect of the same name. Just as the actual boll weevil is considered evil for its part in eating farmers' cotton, Weevil himself is considered evil for taking Milady from Merriweather.
