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- “Money talks, I listen!”
- ―Flintheart Glomgold[src]
Flintheart Glomgold is Scrooge McDuck's arch-nemesis and business rival, primarily because of their long-lasting feud concerning which of the them deserves the title of "World's Richest Duck". Glomgold is jealous of Scrooge's wealth and desperately wants to obtain the title, but is usually referred to as "World's Second Richest Duck". He was created by Disney Legend Carl Barks, and made his first appearance in Barks' 1956 comic The Second-Richest Duck (Uncle Scrooge #15).
Flintheart will attempt any possible underhanded deed in order to defeat Scrooge and occasionally hires such thugs as the Beagle Boys to do his dirty work.
Background
Selfish, dishonest, and incredibly greedy, his goal is to become the world's richest duck, but the thing that makes him such a cruel duck is the fact that he will cross every line to achieve this, even to the point where he might even try to murder Scrooge. He cares for no one other than himself, acting as a loner at some points.
In the comics, Glomgold wears an ascot, a black coat, and a Scottish bonnet. Many of Glomgold's appearances are centered around the fact that he is similar to Scrooge in so many ways (even having a Money Bin that is nearly identical to Scrooge's), both in appearance and personality. However, unlike Scrooge, who does not believe in obtaining money through dishonest methods, Flintheart makes immoral decisions, which often leads to his downfall.
In the comics, he owns a money bin that mirrors Scrooge's. However, it is situated in the Limpopo Valley in the middle of a South African jungle, as opposed to Scrooge's which is in the center of Duckburg.
In "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck", Glomgold first meets Scrooge while Scrooge is prospecting for gold in South Africa. Glomgold, however, is caught attempting to steal from a diamond miner's pit claim and runs off, thus showing his dishonest tendencies immediately. In his initial introduction, he says he's a Boer (a descendant of Dutch-speaking settlers in South Africa). He later steals everything from Scrooge's camp (including his campfire) and when Scrooge later confronts him, he declares Glomgold "made him mean".
Appearances
DuckTales
Glomgold as he appeared in DuckTales.
Glomgold serves as one of the main antagonists of the series, making recurring appearances. As in the comics, Glomgold tries his best to become the world's richest duck.
Under Carl Barks' authorship, Glomgold hailed from South Africa, where he made his fortune in diamond-mining. However, when he made his animated debut in the TV series DuckTales (1987-90), the U.S. government had tensions with the Republic of South Africa. Wishing to avoid controversy, as South Africa had been associated with apartheid and not with diamonds at that time, the Disney animators changed Glomgold's domicile from South Africa to Duckburg, and further accentuated his Scottish origins. Another departure from the comics was that Glomgold is also just as notoriously stingy as Scrooge, but even more so, whereas Scrooge will at least be generous with his money on occasion. The animated Glomgold was shown as a big spender. This may have been an amalgamation of another one of Scrooge's rivals, Rockerduck, who did not appear in DuckTales.
He makes his series debut in the second part of the pilot movie "Treasure of the Golden Suns", in which Scrooge and his nephews find a map to a sunken treasure. Glomgold teams up with a villain named El Capitan to stop Scrooge and gain the treasure for themselves.
He would go on to scheme and battle Scrooge in several episodes. Some of his evil deeds include framing Scrooge for theft and having him arrested, banishing Scrooge to a remote island through the power of a genie, and even having Scrooge's own employees work for him. He was also given John D. Rockerduck's habit of eating his hat when defeated by Scrooge.
Darkwing Duck
Glomgold makes a cameo appearance in the Darkwing Duck episode "In Like Blunt", along with the Beagle Boys and Magica DeSpell, among the bidders for the secret S.H.U.S.H. agent list.
DuckTales (2017)
Glomgold returns in the rebooted DuckTales as an antagonist and, once again, Scrooge's sworn enemy. He is aggressive and obsessive, even claiming to be more Scottish than Scrooge. This incarnation of Glomgold is also rather hefty in weight and has a fake beard. In a reference to the way the 1987 series changed his nationality from South African to Scottish, this incarnation of Glomgold outwardly appears Scottish, but is really South African, affecting the Scottish persona as way of outdoing Scrooge by being "more Scottish" than him.[5][6]
As revealed in a flashback in "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!", his birth name is Duke Baloney (a reference to the Duke of Baloni, a different "second richest duck" character that appeared in one of Barks' comics before Barks created Glomgold).[7] As a young duck in South Africa, Duke was a shoeshiner who shined Scrooge's spats. Impressed by the lad's drive, Scrooge attempted to replicate the lesson in self-reliance that he had learned as a boy by paying the young Duke a single dime for his services, but Duke didn't take the lesson well. Instead, he felt cheated and pickpocketed Scrooge's money clip, then used the cash to invent himself as "Flintheart Glomgold," beginning a lifelong quest to outdo Scrooge in every way, becoming richer, more successful, and even more Scottish.
He first appears in "Woo-oo!", where he seeks to become the world's richest duck by acquiring the Jewel of Atlantis. He inadvertently grabs a cursed gem and is dragged off by a giant squid. In "The Shadow War!", Glomgold grabs onto his rogue shadow, brought to life by Magica De Spell, and is pulled away from his office. His fate is revealed in "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!" having been thrown into the water and is later found by two fishermen, Fisher and Mann, suffering amnesia, and thus takes on the identity of Duke Baloney. At the climax of the episode, as Glomgold swims to save Webby Vanderquack and Louie Duck from a freak storm, he regains his memory. Immediately afterward, he retakes his company, he taunts Scrooge with his personalized money clip that he swiped from him back in South Africa and make a wager over whoever becomes richer than the other can seize the other's company.
Video games
DuckTales
Glomgold in DuckTales Remastered.
Glomgold made brief appearances in both of the NES DuckTales video games.
At the end of the first game, after Scrooge defeats Dracula Duck, Glomgold shows up, being airlifted by a vulture (presumably a transformed Magica De Spell), and Scrooge must climb a rope up to the five treasures in order to win the game. If Glomgold reaches the treasures first, the player loses a life and has to fight Dracula Duck again. The HD remake, DuckTales Remastered, appears to expand on Glomgold's role in the game, adding in a sub-boss fight against him midway through the Himalayas level. It's also later revealed that he is the main antagonist alongside Magica. He and Magica teamed up sometime prior to the events of the game and manipulate Scrooge into collecting the five treasures so Magica could use them to summon Dracula Duck.
In DuckTales 2, after Scrooge finds all of the treasures, Glomgold takes Webby hostage and holds her for ransom on the pirate ship in the Bermuda Triangle. Scrooge gives Glomgold the treasures, only to discover that this "Glomgold" is actually a shape-shifting robot called the D-1000, programmed to destroy him. After the D-1000 is defeated, the real Glomgold sinks the ship and tries to take Scrooge and the treasures with it.
Gallery
Trivia
- Brian George, Glomgold's voice actor in DuckTales Remastered, previously voiced another Scottish villain in a Disney show - Duff Killigan from Kim Possible.
- Glomgold made the Forbes Fictional 15 list of 2012 as #2 on the list although Scrooge did not make the list that year.
- Glomgold is one of five characters in the Disney company to make the Forbes Fictional 15 list, with the others being Scrooge, Oliver Warbucks, Cruella De Vil, and Tony Stark (who's now a Disney character after Disney bought and acquired Marvel).
- In DuckTales, Glomgold has a larger beard than in the original comic books.
References
- ↑ http://coa.inducks.org/character.php?c=Slackjaw+Snorehead
- ↑ https://coa.inducks.org/character.php?c=FLG%27s+mother
- ↑ https://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2012-059
- ↑ http://coa.inducks.org/character.php?c=Stoneheart+Glomgold
- ↑ "DuckTales exclusive: Meet the new faces of Duckburg!". Entertainment Weekly (June 8, 2017).
- ↑ Frank Angones on Tumblr
- ↑ Angones, Frank (November 5, 2018). "Where did you guys get the name Duke Baloney from?". Tumblr.
External links
