Lucky Luke/Characters

The characters featured in the comic book series Lucky Luke.

Lucky Luke
"Played by: Terence Hill in Lucky Luke (1991), Til Schweiger in Les Dalton (2004) and Jean Dujardin in Lucky Luke (2009)

Voiced by: Marcel Bozzuffi in Daisy Town (French), Daniel Ceccaldi in La Ballade des Dalton (French), Peter Wanngren (Swedish)"

The title character, a lonesome cowboy far from home, drifting around the West. Being slow on words, but quick on reflexes, he's known to shoot faster than his own shadow.

Tropes:
"Crazy Wolf: Ooooh, Crazy Wolf finally gave up smoking!
 * The Ace
 * Badass
 * Deadpan Snarker: Being one of the few with a sound mind, he's sure to do this from time to time.
 * The Drifter
 * Guile Hero
 * Halfbreed: In the 2009 movie, it's revealed that his mother was Native American, allowing the Politically Incorrect Villain to get in a few racist digs at him. The subject hasn't come up in the comics, though.
 * The Gunslinger
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Possibly the best-known example in Franco Belgian Comics.
 * Meaningful Name: He's possibly Born Lucky.
 * Nice Hat
 * Smoking Is Cool: Until he replaced it with a wheatstalk. This has been Lampshaded and made fun of in both comics and adaptations.
 * In the 2007 movie, Go West: A Lucky Luke Adventure there's a brief scene where he bonds with Native American Chief Crazy Wolf over the hardships of giving up smoking:

Lucky Luke: Yep, me too!

Crazy Wolf: Did you suffer from many cravings?

Lucky Luke: Yep -- I had to chew on a piece of straw for a long time."


 * In the 2009 live-action movie, there's a short scene playing during the closing credits, where Lucky Luke is sitting with his back to the camera, smoking a cigarette. Then he realizes the camera is on him, does a double take, throws away the cigarette and replaces it with the familiar piece of straw before turning back to the audience and saying, somewhat sheepishly: "Hello! My name is Lucky Luke. I quit smoking back in '83. I feel much better now."
 * Super Reflexes: Combined with Improbable Aiming Skills, it makes him the deadliest shooter the Old West has ever known. As time went on, he became faster and prefered Blasting It Out of Their Hands over plain killing.

Jolly Jumper
"Voiced by: Gunnar Ernblad (Swedish)"

Lucky Luke's wisecracking horse and only partner to remain at the his side at all times.

Tropes:

 * Animal Talk: Can converse freely with any other animal in the series, and talks to himself (and by extension, the reader) a lot. Humans can't understand him, though Lucky Luke is hinted to at least get the general gist of it for the most part. In the 2009 movie, he's upgraded to Talking Animal.
 * Badass: By horse standards, definitely.
 * Cool Horse
 * Deadpan Snarker: You won't find a horse with a sharper tongue anywhere.
 * The Drag Along: While he'll always do what Lucky expects of him, that doesn't mean he'll do it quietly.

Rantanplan/Rin Tin Can
"Voiced by: Peter Sjöquist (Swedish)"

A dog known for being among the best prison guard dogs in the West -- a reputation that unfortunately is very exaggerated.

Tropes:

 * Animal Talk: Talks mostly to himself, since no humans can understand what he says (then again, he has problems understanding what humans say as well).
 * Big Eater
 * Breakout Character: Very popular with the readers; he's starred in his own comics, both short gag stories and album-length adventures. In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon he has a larger role than in the comics, and tends to show up even in episodes based on albums where he didn't appear at all. In 2006 he even got his own animated series.
 * The Ditz: The only character in the comic stupider than Averell Dalton; he can't seem to get anything right.
 * Dogs Are Dumb: Just like Lucky Luke is faster than his own shadow, Rantanplan is stupider than his own shadow.
 * Dub Name Change: He's called Rin Tin Can in several English translations, and Rintindumb in others; and in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, he's named Bushwack. In Scandinavia he's called Ratata.

Tropes

 * Action Girl
 * Badass: not as much as Luke, but she gets close.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: a rare female example.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Happily Married: at least until her husband was killed.
 * Platonic Life Partners: tends to have become this with Luke.
 * Sir Swearsalot: and how.
 * Tomboy

The Daltons
Lucky Luke's most featured adversaries and the most iconic outlaws of the series. They are, in fact, not the "real" Daltons (Bob, Grat, Bill and Emmet, who appeared in one early story and were killed off at the end of it), but their identical, if more incompetent cousins.

Tropes:

 * Badass Mustache
 * Breakout Characters
 * Character Exaggeration: In their first story, they came across as a little different; Joe as the hard-boiled leader, William as a Trigger Happy Gun Slinger, William as a Master of Disguise, and Averell as a strong and athletic -- if dense and food-obsessed -- Brute. In subsequent stories, Joe remained mostly the same (though his Hair Trigger Temper was enhanced quite a bit), Jack and William pretty much lost their individual traits and became full-time Co Dragons to Joe, while Averell lost his strength and whatever competence he had and became more like a Minion With an F In Evil.
 * Continuity Snarl: Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, William and Jack swap names. It happens first in their debut story (for the first half, William is the shorter and Jack the taller; then it switches in the second half, making William taller and Jack shorter), and in some stories afterwards. In the 2006 movie and the 2010 animated series, the two brothers' names are likewise swapped.
 * The Dreaded
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains
 * Nice Hat
 * Not So Harmless
 * Scooby Stack
 * Siblings in Crime
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitutes: For the original Daltons. Morris regretted killing off the original Daltons, and Rene Goscinny had liked the original Dalton Gang story so much that when he took over the writing for the comic, he introduced another quartet of Daltons and billed them as the cousins of the original Daltons.
 * Villain Protagonists: In several stories the focus in more on their attempts to outwit Lucky Luke than it is on Luke himself. They've also appeared solo in several stories, and like Rantanplan, have starred in their own animated series in 2010.

Joe Dalton
"Voiced by: Johan Hedenberg (Swedish)"

The oldest, but shortest, of the brothers and the mastermind of their various schemes and prison breaks.

Tropes:

 * Arch Enemy: What the Joker is to Batman, Joe is to Lucky Luke.
 * Berserk Button: When he hears Lucky Luke's name.
 * Big Bad
 * Cosmic Plaything
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * The Evil Genius
 * Hair Trigger Temper
 * Jerkass
 * Jerkass Has a Point: When he explains to the indians the effect the people of Daisy Town will have on them.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Has his moments, like when he convinces the indians to attack Daisy Town.
 * The Napoleon: Jack even compares the two at one point.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He often insists on killing Luke himself.
 * The Resenter
 * Shorter Means Smarter
 * Trigger Happy
 * The Unfavorite

William Dalton
"Voiced by: Peter Sjöquist (Swedish)"

The second oldest Dalton brother. In a number of stories and adaptations mistakenly named "Jack."

Tropes:

 * The Dragon
 * Co Dragons: With Jack.
 * Genre Savvy: Sometimes points out obvious details that goes over Joe's head.
 * The Heart: Another role he shares with Jack. As such, they constantly need to keep Joe off Averell's throat.
 * Trigger Happy

Jack Dalton
"Voiced by: Tommy Nilsson (Swedish)"

The second youngest Dalton brother. In a number of stories and adaptations accidentally named "William."

Tropes:

 * The Dragon
 * Co Dragons: With William.
 * The Heart: Another role he shares with William. As such, they constantly need to keep Joe off Averell's throat
 * Master of Disguise
 * Wicked Cultured: He's the most knowledgeable about things like history and different cultures, sometimes acting as Mr. Exposition to his brothers.

Averell Dalton
"Voiced by: Mattias Knave (Swedish)"

The youngest, tallest and dumbest of the Dalton brothers.

Tropes:
"Averell: *crunch* I really like foreign cooking! What's this delicious crust around the frijoles?
 * Big Eater
 * Butt Monkey
 * The Ditz
 * Extreme Omnivore:

Emilio Espuelas: That's called a terracotta bowl, amigo."


 * Genius Ditz
 * Minion With an F In Evil
 * Mommas Boy: He has always been Ma Dalton's favourite son.
 * Pet the Dog: Literally; he has a soft spot for Rantanplan and is, on the whole, quite kind to him.

Ma Dalton
Aged mother of Joe, Jack, William and Averell.

Tropes

 * Anti Villain
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: She really loves Sweetie, her cat.
 * Miniature Senior Citizens
 * Never Mess With Granny: Possibly the best well-known example in Franco Belgian Comics.