Mickey Mouse Comic Universe/Characters

A list of characters found in Disney's Mickey Mouse Comic Universe.

See also the Disney Ducks Comic Universe character list for the Ducks comics equivalent.

Keep in mind that since the characters and series have been around for so long, whether a character displays certain traits or not in any given story largely depends on the artist, the writer, or the time period.

Mickey Mouse


"Minnie: For gracious sakes... relax! And stop that incessant mooning! Mickey: Mooning! Say... a trip to the moon... if only y' could! Minnie: Oh, my goodness! Now, the whole world isn't big enough for you! When will you ever settle down and behave yourself? You can't go adventuring all your life!"

- Mickey Mouse, "The Bellhop Detective (1940)"

First Appearance: 1930
The protagonist of most of the comics, Mickey often goes on adventures and solves mysterious crimes. He has a hard time settling into a normal lifestyle since The Call decided to be a Regular Caller. He's ready to jump In Harm's Way whenever the need arises - and in the chance that he isn't, it turns out that he doesn't have much choice in the matter anyway.

But in the time from the comic's start in 1930 to where it is today, Mickey's become less of an active adventure-seeker and more of a Plot Magnet - a really, really potent one. Even though he enjoys traveling and solving the mysteries life throws at him, he's always happy to return to his home and friends afterward. The Call doesn't seem to give him a break, though, so his life is constantly insane, whether he wants it to be or not.

In the end, though, whether he's adventurous, a Plot Magnet, or both depends on the creators of the comics. When a series is a Print Long Runner, it's really quite inevitable. Most people tend to like his more adventurous, youthful side better than most other incarnations, though - it makes for a more interesting character.


 * Ace Pilot - We get to see him become one in The Mail Pilot (1933).
 * Action Survivor
 * Amateur Sleuth
 * Artistic Age - Types 3 and 4, check! Trying to figure an age of any kind from evidence from the comics is confusing and impossible. He and the other characters just don't age, even though they're aware of passing time. And that means they don't have ages either. Man, oh man, is this confusing...
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Dare to Be Badass - Often the reason he sets off on ridiculously dangerous missions to start with. Generally, he gets himself into something way bigger than he first thought it to be.
 * Determinator: Too stubborn to quit, whatever the odds.
 * Dude in Distress - If Mickey got a penny for every time he's been taken captive by a criminal somehow...
 * Expecting Someone Taller - To be fair, he is quite a little fellow...
 * Flanderization - Unlike his original animated counterpart, this Mickey's actually retained a good chunk of his Badassery throughout the years and still goes on all sorts of adventures. How much he's got in any given story Depends On The Writer, but it's never really gone as far as it has for the animated Mickey.
 * Good Is Not Dumb
 * He Knows Too Much
 * Heroes Gone Fishing: Together with Goofy.
 * Heroic Bystander
 * Horrible Judge of Character
 * Humble Hero
 * In Harm's Way
 * Jumped At the Call - Especially in earlier comics.
 * Kid Hero - He's got elements of it, but there's really not much in the way of proving whether he's a kid or not. Sometimes he's more adult-like, sometimes he seems younger; this easily Depends On The Writer and artist.
 * Married to the Job - Never mind that he doesn't really have a job. He's just got adventure on the brain and can't stay put, something that Minnie really gets sick of at times.
 * Monster Roommate - Eega Beeva, a little guy from the future, is one of Mickey's best friends and often comes back through time just to visit him.
 * Nice Guy
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse - He's been known to tangle with Pete, who's at least four times his size. Okay, he's not victorious a lot of the time in plain fist fights... but hey, he's not a total pushover!
 * Plot Magnet - Because being just one of types isn't enough, oh no. The Call's really got it in for him.
 * Coincidence Magnet
 * Designated Victim
 * Mystery Magnet
 * Weirdness Magnet
 * Shorter Means Smarter - Can be used with Goofy... or Pete.
 * The Team Normal - He gets this in the Disney's Hero Squad: Ultraheroes Miniseries. The most important thing the rest of the super-powered team considers him good for is going out to get pizza.
 * Underestimating Badassery - And it's what usually gives him an advantage, too! If Pete's working with someone new, he often tries to warn them about it... but they don't listen, of course.
 * Unfazed Everyman
 * Unlikely Hero
 * Vague Age - In the comic strips, he was sometimes depicted as more adult-like, sometimes as kid-like, sometimes somewhere in between... it seems to Depend On The Artist And Writers. He's always an adult in European comic books, though.
 * In a 1942 Gottfredson story, an embarrassed Mickey finds he's too young to join the armed forces. This means he's under 18 at that time, at least in his most famous author's conception of him.
 * Weak but Skilled
 * What Exactly Is His Job? - No, really... what is it? Does he even have one? It appears that he doesn't, except for when he gets plunked into a New Job Episode...
 * A very few stories show him being called over to act in movies at the Disney Studio, which is shown as his regular job and depicted as a lower-tier live action movie studio located in Mouseton. But we only see this in a handful of stories from 1938 to the present.
 * And some comic stories take his Amateur Sleuth tendencies to the next level and present him as a liscenced private eye who's often called in to aid the police in difficult cases.
 * Some stories say he is a freelance journalist, Goofy generally acting as his photographer, and a long run of them in the 90s had him and Goofy run a transport firm, usually driving a lorry, sometimes flying a freight plane.

Minnie Mouse


""Mickey, I've been awfully worried about you lately. Why don't you settle down and study some kind of profession?""

- Minnie Mouse, "The Mail Pilot" (1933)

First Appearance: "Lost on a Desert Island", 1930
Mickey's long-time love interest. Minnie wishes that Mickey would settle down instead of constantly going on adventures, and it drives her mad that he can't seem to stay put. Oftentimes, when she can't persuade Mickey to stay home, she instead insists on accompanying Mickey on his travels, whether he wants her to or not. Although she gets kidnapped on various occasions, she's pretty spunky in her own right and has saved Mickey's hide more than a few times in a tough spot.


 * The Chick
 * Damsel Fight-and-Flight Response
 * Damsel in Distress
 * The Ingenue
 * Shallow Love Interest
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics - Skirt, eyelashes, and high heels. Oh, and her hat. In earlier comics, she wore a hat with a flower in it over the bow which is so commonplace in modern depictions. Sometimes she's shown with lipstick, but only in some later examples.
 * You Got Spunk

Goofy


"Goofy: It's no use, Mickey! They wouldn't none of 'em take me, nuther! Mickey: For gosh sakes! Why not? Goofy: Aw, they beefed me about muh IQ bein' too low! But thet wuz just a phony...! They were takin' plenty o' guys shorter 'n me!"

- "The Black Crow Mystery" (1942)

Debut: "Enter... Dippy Dog!", 1933
Mickey's close friend and occasional Sidekick, the lovable oaf often unwittingly makes things harder for everyone else. At the same time, though, he's obliviously (or intentionally, albeit eccentrically) saved the day more than once.

In fact, he himself has a superhero alter ego in the form of "Super Goof." He eats 'super goobers' to become Super Goof, which is pretty much a spoof of Superman.


 * Book Dumb
 * Cartoon Creature - What most people take him as, since no one can seem to agree on what species he is.
 * His former name, Dippy Dawg, might be a tip-off to those who doubt...
 * Cloudcuckoolander - It's not necessarily that he lacks logic, it's more that his brand of logic tends to make sense only to him.
 * The Ditz - Though in several stories bordering on Genius Ditz, as he often displays vast knowledge about many things—just not the sort of things you'd ever think would be useful. (They often turn out to be surprisingly helpful, though.)
 * Dumb Is Good - While not conventionally intelligent, there is no doubting that he's one of the sweetest, most good-natured people around.
 * Eureka Moment - It's not like he has them that often, but he almost infallibly invokes them in Mickey - something he says will clue Mickey on to the solution to a problem, especially when Mickey acts as a sleuth.
 * Flat Earth Atheist: A series of Italian comic stories has Goofy hanging out with Witch Hazel (the Disney Witch Hazel, from such stories as Trick or Treat, not the Looney Tunes character) and completely failing to believe that she is a real witch—no matter how many spectacular magical tricks she pulls off to convince him, Goofy will have his own "logical" explanation for the phenomena and utterly refuse to believe in magic, or that Hazel is a witch. Interestingly enough, at least two of these stories have ended with Goofy acknowledging the existence of magic—though in neither one did he believe that Hazel was a witch. In one story he concluded that she was a fairy godmother (a huge insult to a witch!) and in the other he became convinced that Mickey was doing magic and had somehow become a wizard.
 * Goofy's reasoning in the tale mentioned isn't unreasonable. Mickey got a tax refund. Which Goofy considers unusual in itself. Mickey then booked tables for three at a restaurant... with a single phone call. While Goofy noted that most tables at said restaurant are booked months in advance. Mickey found an available parking space. In a city area known for the near-impossibility of said task. Goofy is convinced that magic is involved.
 * The Fool
 * Funetik Aksent: He's the one character who's retained most of his accent in later years—in the early Floyd Gottfredson strips everybody spoke with a Funetik Aksent, but this was later on toned town until it vanished entirely for everyone but Goofy.
 * I Have Many Names - His early name - "Dippy Dawg" - being replaced with "Goofy" is generally considered an improvement.
 * Inspector Oblivious
 * The Klutz
 * Man Child: On occassion depicted as this. Concerning both his intellectual maturity and his emotional sensitivity. Though with no clear parental figure.
 * The Millstone: In some stories he can become this, but this is just as often Subverted—though not a hero in the classical sense, he can be surprisingly useful to have along.
 * Nice Guy
 * Plucky Comic Relief: In the more serious "detective" stories, Goofy is usually the main source of comedy, as Mickey's inept sidekick.
 * Spanner in the Works
 * Superpowers for A Day - apart from Super Goof, writers have occasionally given Goofy odd inherited gadgets or (usually completely unexplained) powers that will somehow figure in solving the case. He's been seen levitating, as well as using telekinesis and psychometry.
 * Sidekick - To Mickey, of course.
 * Too Dumb to Fool
 * The Watson - In the detective stories, he'll often end up playing this role to Mickey's Holmes.
 * Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?? - He is!
 * Actually, in the best stories, Goofy's more gullible and eccentric than truly dumb. He's got great intuition -— you just have to pull him out of his alternate world to access it.

First appearance: "Pluto the Pup", 1931
Mickey's ever-faithful canine pal. Mickey's often described Pluto as his best friend, and the bond the two share is nothing short of strong.


 * A Boy and His X - Erm, a Mouse And His Dog?
 * Big Friendly Dog
 * Canine Companion
 * Furry Confusion - A prime example. Especially noticeable when he appears with Goofy—they're both dogs, but one of them walks on four legs and lives in a doghouse, while the other walks on two and wears pants.
 * The Speechless - On occasion he might be given thought bubbles that are visible only to the reader, and sometimes captions will appear to inform the reader of Pluto's thoughts and reasonings, but otherwise he doesn't have any means of clear communication.
 * Suddenly Voiced - In a couple of stories, he temporarily gains the ability to talk. It never sticks.
 * Played with in one comic, where Pluto was given the opportunity to talk to Mickey through a translation machine—and after a long pause his only message was that he couldn't think of anything to say.
 * Team Pet - He'll sometimes play this role.

Clarabelle Cow


""Have I got something to tell... but, of course, I wouldn't breathe it to a soul!""

- Clarabelle Cow, "Love Trouble" (1941)

First appearance: "Death Valley", 1930
A neighbor of Mickey and Minnie in earlier comics. She acts like an aunt towards them, when she's not busy manipulating Horace Horsecollar and/or flirting with other available males.


 * Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?
 * Demoted to Extra - not quite, but only rarely a star character after the 1930s.
 * Everything's Better with Cows
 * Gossip Girl
 * Intrepid Reporter: Featured as this in a series of European stories with Clarabelle as the main star.
 * Pity the Kidnapper - She tends to invoke this quite a lot...
 * Too Clever by Half - Clarabelle is smarter than Horace and can outdo him at a lot. But she often presumes that means she's equal to any task; uh-oh.
 * Zany Scheme - Clarabelle + Minnie || Lucy + Ethel.

Horace Horsecollar


""This is all very well as far as it goes, only it needs the Horsecollar Touch! I'll show you how to make this gadget really handy!""

- Horace Horsecollar, "Dr. Oofgay's Secret Serum" (1934)

First appearance: "Death Valley", 1930
He's another of Mickey's old neighbors, and is often seen with Clarabelle when he's not adventuring with Mickey (or competing with him, or ineptly trying to advise him). Horace and Clarabelle have interest in each other but are usually too stubborn to admit it to each other.


 * Attention Whore
 * Demoted to Extra – In the USA. But remains so popular in parts of Europe that foreign Disney comics producers continue to use him heavily, running a close third behind Goofy in terms of major roles in modern Mickey comics.
 * Does Not Understand Sarcasm
 * Jerkass – depending on the writer, Horace can be Flanderized until his character flaws are completely dominating and oppressive.
 * Know-Nothing Know-It-All
 * Lethal Chef
 * Life of the Party – "...and the guy with the lampshade on his head is Horace," Mickey says of some vacation photos in Indy Mickey and the City of Zoom (2001).
 * Mr. Fixit
 * Mr. Vice Guy
 * The Munchausen
 * The Prankster – Horace thinks he's elevated practical joking to an art form. Mickey (who fights back in kind) isn't convinced.
 * Small Name, Big Ego

First appearance: "Mickey's Nephews", 1932
Mickey's nephews. Sons of his sister Amelia Fieldmouse, who first came to stay with him in Floyd Gottfredson's comic strip and since then have sporadically been portrayed as living with him.

"Ferdie: Why do I always keep following you into these situations? Morty: Well, we are twins."
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Definitely in their first appearances. They seem to have mellowed through the years.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome - Ferdie disappeared from the comic strip and was intended to be written back in (with the explanation that he'd been away at school), but it never really happened...
 * However, this is exclusive to the comic strip. In the comic books, Morty and Ferdie remain a double act to this day.
 * Mythology Gag: Mickey Mouse was originally going to be called Mortimer.
 * Parental Abandonment: More often than not, Mickey and/or Minnie are seen as their legal guardians. Without explanation.
 * Subverted in later years, as their mother Amelia has made several appearances and is depicted as a very supportive "soccer mom."
 * Single-Minded Twins: Would have been subverted in the comic strip, if Gottfredson had gotten around to re-introduce Ferdie—he was planning on making him more of a bookworm/nerd type. Since it never happened, they play the trope straight.
 * In one Italian comic, they Lampshaded it, when Morty was sneaking out of the house and a more reluctant Ferdie followed him, even to his own surprise:

First Apprearance: Dell Four Color #562, 1954


Goofy has a rather large extended family, but few of them are more prominent than his nephew Gilbert, a Child Prodigy TV Genius who is by far the smartest member of the Goofy clan. Gilbert sometimes stays with his "lovable...though dumb...uncle Goofy," though he often gets frustrated with Goofy's childishness and clumsiness. He is, however, the only person who knows Goofy's secret identity as Super Goof, and occasionally even joins him in his superhero adventures as Super Gilly.


 * Child Prodigy: To the extreme.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Seems to have vanished from modern comics, perhaps because Max (who doesn't appear in the comics) has become so prominent in the animated world of Disney.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Like Ellsworth Bheezer, he often has some quite biting comments about his uncle—who never seems to catch on.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Sometimes takes on this role, especially in Super Goof stories.
 * The Smart Guy: Even more so than Huey, Dewey and Louie.
 * The Stoic: In many stories; in others he'll reveal himself to be Not So Stoic.
 * TV Genius: A junior version. He has advanced knowledge of science, history and literature, sometimes even becoming The Professor, but he's not very socially or emotionally intelligent, and has trouble with the simplest basic education. For example, he was unable to complete the nursery rhyme "Hickory, Dickory, Dock, the mouse ran up the --"

First appearance: "The Lost Temple", 1988
One of Goofy's many cousins; an Adventurer Archaeologist and severe adrenaline junkie who is never really happy unless he's out exploring some ancient ruins, discovering lost civilizations, or just fighting for his life through thick jungles or climbing glaciers. He hates sleeping indoors, so when visiting Mickey or Goofy he always ends up camping out in their back yards—and if he absolutely has to go inside, he'll at least enter the house through the window and not the door.


 * Action Hero: A parody.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist: Taken Up to Eleven.
 * Affectionate Parody: Of Indiana Jones, of course—but also of other Adventurer Archaeologists from comics and films.
 * The Alleged Car: He has an old jeep which he affectionally calls "Gippippa," and which, similarly to Donald Duck's 313, swings between being a Cool Car and The Alleged Car, depending on the story.
 * Ditzy Genius: He's a highly skilled and competent archaeologist, but he's aso a borderline Cloudcuckoolander with some really strange ideas on how to behave.
 * Jumped At the Call: Repeatedly.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Licorice candy. He is, in fact, borderline obsessed with licorice candy, preferably of a particular brand which everyone else finds completely inedible.
 * Uncanny Family Resemblance: Like most of Goofy's relatives, he looks almost exactly like Goofy, just with different clothes and some added Perma-Stubble. A few stories have put this to good use, when the two cousins were forced to impersonate one another.

First appearance: "Mickey's Rival", 1936
Mickey's rival for Minnie's affections. Not to be confused with Mortimer "Morty" Fieldmouse, who is Mickey's nephew.


 * Dirty Coward
 * I Have Many Names
 * Jerkass - and how.
 * Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor - Mortimer being the rich one, and Mickey being... well, you know.
 * The Prankster - And much more mean-spirited about it than Horace.
 * Miles Gloriosus - He'll be bragging up a storm about his own strength and courage, but as soon as things don't go his way, he'll be the first to turn tail and run.

First appearance: "Mickey Outwits the Phantom Blot", 1939
Chief of the Mouseton PD, he's friends with Mickey Mouse and the two sometimes ask each other for help.


 * Da Chief
 * Friend on the Force
 * Officer O'Hara - Do we really need to explain this one?
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * You Have 48 Hours - He's given this to Mickey when he needs to prove his innocence.

First appearance: "The Plumber's Helper", 1938
An incompetent detective of the Mouseton PD that's often shown up by Mickey.


 * Butt Monkey - He has traces of this.
 * Clueless Detective
 * Inspector Javert - Some stories have him in this role. If Mickey or one of his friends are framed or wrongfully accused of a crime, Detective Casey is always the one most gung-ho about bringing them in.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold - He's grouchy, impatient and much too quick to jump to conclusions, but he is, when it comes down to it, an honest cop who genuinely wants to uphold law and justice.
 * Miles Gloriosus - Occasionally, Depending on the Writer
 * Small Name, Big Ego - Again, occasionally.

First appearance: "The Man of Tomorrow", 1947
A strange little man revealed to be from the future. He's got a pet Thnuckle-booh named Pflip. Nowadays he's one of Mickey's best friends and it's not uncommon for him to travel back to the present day to spend time with him.


 * Bizarre Alien Biology - he likes to sleep on top of bedknobs, thinks mothballs are delicious and gets sick from the smell of money, for instance. Exact features are Depending on the Writer, though.
 * Evil Detecting Thnuckle-Booh - In one incarnation, Pflip turns red whenever something evil or malicious is nearby.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water - At first. He got used to it as the stories progressed, and eventually it got to the point where Eega will comfortably travel from the future to Mickey's time and back without incident.
 * Funetik Aksent - He ptalks plike pthis. Puts a 'p' in pfront of pmost pwords.
 * In more modern comics, this trait may or may not be present, Depending on the Writer.
 * Seems to be just a hiccup left over from the Gemstone-Boom transition; Eega lost his accent in the switchover but has regained it now, and he's never been without it at any other time.
 * Monster Roommate - He hangs out with Mickey a lot of the time, and uses Mickey's house as a general go-to place when he arrives from the future.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: He is sometimes given supernatural abilities such as being able to look in the future, being able to detect lies etc.
 * Time Travel

First appearance: "His Horse Tanglefoot", 1933


Mickey's horse, sold to him by two con men who presented him as a champion race horse (they'd actually bought him from the glue factory). Sweet and good-natured, but not terribly bright, and for the most part not terribly fast—unless he gets scared of something, then he turns into a speed demon.


 * Furry Confusion - Tanglefoot is to Horace as Pluto the Pup is to Goofy, though unlike Goofy, Horace started out every bit as non anthropomorphic.
 * Horsing Around - Happens at times. For the most part, though, Mickey and Tanglefoot get along pretty well.
 * Stalker with a Crush - Probably not in a romantic way, but Tanglefoot adores Pluto and will follow him around if given half a chance. Pluto, needless to say, does not appreciate this.
 * What Could Have Been: Carl Barks, when working as a scriptwriter and storyboarder at the Disney studio, worked on a Mickey Mouse cartoon which was to feature Tanglefoot—it would have had Mickey as a riding policeman chasing Pete on horseback through the wilderness, with Mickey as the hero and Tanglefoot as the comedy relief. However, the cartoon never went beyond the storyboarding stage, and Tanglefoot remains a comics-only character to this day.

First appearance: Mickey Mouse Sunday strips, 1949


Originally introduced as Goofy's pet mynah bird (who soon proved himself notably smarter and more sophisticated than his alledged owner), Ellsworth soon became more anthropomorphic, switching between Talking Animal and full-fledged Funny Animal to the point where he can communicate effortlessly with both animals and humans. Originally appeared only in the Sunday newspaper strips by Bill Walsh and Manuel Gonzales, but was later used in a few longer stories by Romano Scarpa and other Italian writers.


 * Commuting on a Bus: Ellsworth tends to fly off and stay away, doing his own thing for a long time before returning home to Goofy. After he vanished from the newspaper comic, he was brought back by Romano Scarpa in 1962, with the explanation that he'd been off trying out several shady businesses. From thereon, he appeared in a number of Italian stories until 1966, after which his appearances got rarer and he'd only appear in a story once every couple of years. Then in 1975, he was brought back again, now with the explanation that he'd joined the Foreign Legion.
 * Deadpan Snarker: His sarcasms are biting, though Goofy never seems to catch on.
 * Furry Confusion: Hoo boy. He was bought by Goofy at a pet store, sometimes has to flee from hungry cats, and flies like a real mynah bird—yet he wears a shirt and occasionally a hat, has studied at Yale, has taken several jobs and even gone to prison a couple of times. This is never so much as Lampshaded but just presented as completely normal.
 * Honest John's Dealership: He sometimes starts businesses that have traces of this.
 * Polly Wants a Microphone: This trope is probably the entire reason for the extreme Furry Confusion.

First appearance: "Mickey Mouse and the Son of Ellsworth", 1975


Ellsworth's adopted son; originally an orphan who was rescued by Ellsworth during his time at the Foreign Legion and later adopted. In his appearances he is often seen staying with Mickey or Goofy, even acting as Mickey's sidekick on some adventures. He is basically a toned-down version of his father, with similar if less extreme character traits.

""Ellsworth is too strong a character to play as a sidekick. He's got to be the star. Bruto is duller, and highlights Mickey's role.""
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Sometimes lapses into this, when he's not being a Cheerful Child.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Not to the lenghts Ellsworth takes it, but he definitely has his moments.
 * Furry Confusion: More seldom, and to a lesser degree than Ellsworth, as he's generally presented as more anthropomorphic, but it's still there. His most notable "animal" trait is that he can fly, something that the other human stand-in birds of the comics (like for example Donald Duck) can't do, and he has on occasion disguised himself as a normal bird in order to spy on the bad guys.
 * Generation Xerox: Despite not being biologically related to Ellsworth, he looks and even acts an awful lot like him—he is a little smaller, has a slightly smaller beak and generally wears pants, but otherwise the two are so similar that many fans have thought they were the same character—especially since they very rarely appear in the same story together.
 * Sidekick: Occasionally to Mickey.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Ellsworth—Romano Scarpa even admitted that he'd introduced Bruto as a toned-down replacement for Ellsworth, who wouldn't overshadow Mickey:

First appearance: "The Mail Pilot", 1933


Captain Doberman is the guy in charge of the air mail force. When Mickey became one of his top pilots, they became good friends, and the mouse took up of the most urgent or dangerous missions that most of the other pilots refused to partake in.


 * Informed Breed/Species: He looks nothing like a Doberman Pinscher, in fact, he looks like a slim bear than like any dog.
 * Only Sane Man: Sometimes comes across as this.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Straight Man: He's mostly there to deliver the set-up for Mickey's punchlines or feats of daring-do.

First appearance: "The Mail Pilot", 1933


Mickey's friend who's a mechanic who works with Captain Doberman. He's the one who personally taught Mickey to fly an airplane. He tried to persuade Mickey to take the less-dangerous job of a mechanic, but ultimately failed. He himself refuses to be a pilot because of the risks associated with the job.


 * Deadpan Snarker: With extra accent on the "deadpan."
 * The Determinator: In his own low-energy, deadpan way... he's going to complain and make horrible predictions about what's going to happen, but he's not going to let it stop him either.
 * The Eeyore: Well, his name is "Gloomy" ... and boy, does he ever live up to it.
 * Trickster Mentor: He tries to be this to Mickey a couple of times, with varied success.

First appearance: "Mickey Mouse Sails for Treasure Island", 1932
A sea captain that was thought dead for decades until Mickey found him half-crazy while stranded on a desert island. After a bump to the head by a coconut, Captain Churchmouse regained his sanity and has since enlisted Mickey's help when searching for exotic hidden treasure.

First appearance: "Death Valley", 1930
Minnie's old uncle. Not to be confused with Mortimer Mouse, who's occasionally Mickey's rival for Minnie's affections, nor with Mortimer "Morty" Fieldmouse, who is one of Mickey's nephews.

First appearance: "Plastic Mickey!", 1995
An inventor and a friend of Mickey's.


 * Agent Scully: One story shows that he does not believe in Santa Claus. He is, of course, shown the error of his ways.
 * Expy: In most stories he appears in he is rather transparently the Mouse Comic equivalent to Gyro Gearloose in the Duck Comics. Crossovers have shown the two of them having a friendly rivalry and the Mythos Island story arc ended with them working together.
 * Mr. Fixit
 * The Professor

Peg-Leg Pete


""What I am is fed up with you dogging my every move! No matter what I do, you're always gettin' in my way!""

- Pete to Mickey, "Fatal Distraction" (2003)

First appearance: "Death Valley", 1930
Mickey's Arch Enemy for over 80 years of comic history. There's no question about it; It's Personal.


 * Ambiguous Looking Cat
 * Arch Enemy
 * Big Bad: If he appears, he's either this or The Dragon.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: Sometimes forms this with other villains, most notably the Phantom Blot—though in some stories, the Blot is the true Big Bad and Pete is The Dragon.
 * In stories where his common-law wife Trudy appears, they generally form a Big Bad Duumvirate.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity
 * Bring Him to Me: With Mickey, generally. Or any scientist/genius he needs to kidnap for their knowledge of making some Doomsday Device work or to build stuff for him... or bring her to me with Minnie - that's mostly in older stories, though.
 * Cats Are Mean
 * Civilian Villain
 * Consummate Liar
 * Depending on the Writer: he's been depicted as anything from criminal mastermind to moronic thug depending on what the story requires.
 * Devil in Plain Sight
 * Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat
 * Did You Actually Believe?
 * The Dragon: When he's not the Big Bad, anyways.
 * Entitled Bastard: Well, mostly just because Mickey is just too darned nice for his own good.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Depending on the Writer; often he's genuinely Affably Evil, but even more often he's this.
 * The Farmer and the Viper: Mickey being the farmer and Pete being the viper...
 * Fat Bastard
 * Friendly Enemy: To an extent, anyways. It's not like he has any problems with smacking Mickey around when the opportunity arises—and the feeling's mutual.
 * Handicapped Badass: It's why he was called "Peg-leg Pete" from the start. Unfortunately the artists could never remember just which leg was supposed to be the peg-leg, so in the end they gave him two normal legs. One Floyd Gottfredson comic explained this by having Pete explain to Mickey that his foot hadn't grown back, he'd just gotten a much better, more natural-looking prosthetic.
 * Happily Married: It varies a little whether Trudy (when she appears in a story) is portrayed his wife or just his roommate/girlfriend, but their relationship is actually a happy one—and interestingly enough, one of complete equals.
 * Heel Face Mole
 * I Have Many Names: Peg-leg Pete, Black Pete, and Big Bad Pete are a few. And that's not counting the other fake identities he's used over the years.
 * I Lied
 * I Surrender, Suckers
 * It's Personal: Really, really personal...
 * I Want Them Alive: Since It's Personal, Pete wants to destroy Mickey in the most excruciatingly horrible and painful way possible. After all, Mickey has been foiling his plots since what, 1930?
 * Jerkass
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Varies with the writer, but there are many stories which have Pete saving lives instead of threatening them. Including those of Mickey and Minnie.
 * Jerk Justifications - In the form of It's What I Do.
 * Joker Immunity
 * Just Between You and Me
 * Kick the Dog
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: To who? Just guess.
 * Large and In Charge
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Master of Disguise: Oftentimes a reader can pick out whether it's him or not, but that's usually just from being Genre Savvy—and sometimes it isn't so obvious.
 * Meaningful Name: C'mon, just guess.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: At times, he uses this to become a Devil in Plain Sight.
 * Outlaw
 * Revenge
 * So Long, Suckers!
 * Surrounded by Idiots: Common problem for many masterminds and would-be masterminds in these stories. Their hired help often consists of morons.
 * Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Sometimes Mickey rescues him from death only to be put into an even worse predicament by Pete himself.
 * Villain Decay: A real case of Depending on the Writer, and unavoidable given how long he's been in business, but nowadays most of the time he's a Harmless Villain, with occasional lapses into Not So Harmless and the obfuscation mentioned above.
 * Villain Protagonist: Nowadays stars in his own stories, mostly Italian ones. They either deal with his everyday life and relationship with his mate Trudy, with his everyday life in prison, or with his interactions with other villains. Including some depicted as complete monsters.

The Phantom Blot
"Mickey: I still say y' won't get away with this! The police are with me -- Blot: The police? Ha-ha-ha! You mean the coroner! Sorry to have to do this, but "dead men tell no tales!" Mickey: Yeh? Well I'm still plenty alive! Blot: Oh, that's just a temporary condition -- it won't last long!"

- "Mickey Outwits the Phantom Blot" (1939)

First appearance: "Mickey Outwits the Phantom Blot", 1939
A master criminal who dresses in a black sheet. He's more dangerous than one might be led to believe, given his strange tendencies. He's Mickey's other Arch Enemy.

""Curses! Ten thousand curses!" "Caesar's ghost! "Curse the luck!" "Thousand names of a devil!" "Great Caesar!""
 * Arch Enemy
 * Big Bad: Even moreso than Pete.
 * Biting the Hand Humor / Take That: Under the mask, he resembles Walt Disney himself.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer - Sure, look at his debut appearance at a glance and all he did was steal cameras, but the fact that he was so good at it is what makes him so dangerous in the eyes of the police. What could they possibly do if he suddenly decided to go after something more valuable?
 * Calling Card - An ink blot on a white piece of paper was common.
 * Curse of the Ancients - He seems to enjoy using "Curses!" or using "thousand" to describe things - and mentioning Caesar, if his debut story is anything to go by.


 * Diabolical Mastermind
 * Death Trap - He loves these, and he's actually got a reason to use them (Mostly in earlier stories, he couldn't bear to watch people die). He's damn good at making them too. Mickey only survives them out of sheer luck for the most part.
 * Depending on the Writer
 * Evil Genius
 * The Faceless - Averted or played straight depending on the author (see the page).
 * False Reassurance
 * Impossible Thief
 * Knight of Cerebus: Comics featuring the Phantom Blot tend to be a lot darker than most other stories.
 * Large Ham
 * The Man Behind the Man
 * Manipulative Bastard - And how!
 * One recent history has him pull of a scheme of sinister threats towards Goofy, so he can blackmail Mickey into present evidence that the Blot will be at a certain place at a certain time to the police, to throw them off his tracks. Mickey heroically stops the threat to Goofy and is able to reveal the truth to the police... who are now certain the Blot will not be at that time in that place.
 * Master of Disguise - Several stories have him using multiple identities with Mickey not suspecting a thing.
 * Especially in stories drawn by Paul Murry, he has been shown using Latex Perfection masks on top of his hood. (In those stories and many others, his hood is never removed and he remains The Faceless, that's why they pull that strange stunt.)
 * Phantom Thief - Was his name, by chance, a giveaway?
 * Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts - Most of his Death Traps are of this sort.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
 * Surrounded by Idiots - Common problem for many masterminds and would-be masterminds in these stories. Their hired help often consists of morons.
 * Terms of Endangerment
 * Wicked Cultured
 * You Have No Chance to Survive

First appearance: "Mickey Mouse and the Chirikawa Necklace", 1960
Pete's girlfriend, partner-in-crime and roomate, and in some stories even depicted as his common-law wife. First created and used by Romano Scarpa, but became a popular character with many Italian comic writers. Definitely not to be confused with Peg from Goof Troop; she is just as villainous as Pete, but doesn't boss him around like Peg does.


 * Acrofatic: Don't be fooled by her vast bulk—she may be fat, but boy can she move!
 * Battle Couple: With Pete, of course.
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Unashamedly at that. Like Pete, she seems to be comfortable in her own body.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: Again, with Pete.
 * Dark Action Girl: She's Pete's equal in just about every way, including ruthlessness, and is not afraid to get her hands dirty.
 * The Vamp: She's occasionally tried to be one of these, but isn't pretty or sexy enough to pull it off.
 * Outlaw Couple: Yes, with Pete.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: In her first appearance, she was merely a childhood acquaintance of Pete. Later on, she became his girlfriend, and later still was depicted as living together with him, some stories even referring to her as his wife (even though no on-screen marriage ever took place).
 * Unholy Matrimony: She's just as unscrupulous and hard-boiled as Pete is, but their relationship is a solid and even happy one.

First appearance: "Death Valley", 1930
Shyster is Mickey's second oldest recurring villain and one of the few Disney comic-characters that were actually created by Walt Disney. Shyster is an evil lawyer who often works in cahoots with Peg-leg Pete.


 * Amoral Attorney
 * Brains and Brawn: He is the brains, Pete provides the brawn. In fact, he's probably the only character Pete will regularly be a subordinate to.
 * Cartoon Creature
 * Put on a Bus: Disappeared after the 1934 story The Sacred Jewel and didn't show up again in the daily strip until seven years later. Has been used infrequently by other writers/artists ever since.
 * The Bus Came Back: Three times, in fact. He made a comeback in 1942, and then again in various Italian stories in The Sixties. In more recent times, he's returned again as a semi-recourring villain in European comics.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Pete.

First appearance: "Bobo the Elephant", 1934
A villainous, miserly businessman and Grumpy Old Man who spends a lot of time penny-pinching and trying to make more money through a lot of shady (and sometimes downright illegal) businesses. Like Sylvester Shyster, he has on several occasions teamed up with Pete to attain some common goal.


 * Grumpy Old Man: Of the villainous sort.
 * Jerkass
 * Put on a Bus: Like Shyster, he vanished from the comic after a while and has been used infrequently since then, largely because Pete got other supporting characters who let him boss them around (see Scuttle/Weasel below).
 * The Scrooge: Some stories treat him like this, although it varies whether he's actually all that rich.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Pete.

First appearance: "The Legend of Loon Lake", 1957
Possibly two different characters, or possibly the same character with two different names; readers are still debating this and even Word of God is deliberately vague about it. Occasional partner/lackey of Peg-Leg Pete, but can occasionally be found working for other villains. He's almost always found in a subordinate role and is usually happy to be someone's right-hand man rather than working for himself.


 * Dirty Coward: At least when he's Weasel, not so much when he's Scuttle—this is one argument for the two being different people.
 * I Have Many Names: Aside from "Scuttle" and "Weasel," he's been known as "Catfoot," "Saltspray," "Swifty," "Slowdraw" and "Yardarm," among others. Whether these are aliases or just inconsistencies on the writers' side is uncertain.
 * In fact, "Yardarm" was the name he got when he appeared in the DuckTales (1987) episode The Pearl of Wisdom.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: If Scuttle and Weasel are not the same person, but just two very similar characters, Weasel is this for Scuttle.
 * Scuttle is also, in a way, a substitute for Sylvester Shyster and Eli Squinch, replacing them as Pete's partner and confidant, though he fills a notably different role as the loyal, obedient right-hand man, leaving Pete as the sole "boss," something that neither Shyster nor Squinch would have accepted.

First appearance: "Blaggard Castle", 1933
A trio of evil monkey scientists.


 * Hypno Ray: They spent their first appearance perfecting one.
 * Mad Scientist: All three of 'em.
 * Terrible Trio: Triplex being the domineering one with Ecks and Doublex as the henchmen.
 * What Could Have Been: Ecks was the original villain of the short Runaway Brain until confused studio executives lead to the creation of a new character.

First appearance: "The Treasure of Oomba Loomba", 1966
A pair of criminals.


 * Brains and Brawn: Dangerous Dan is the brawn and Idgit the brains.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: If you encounter one, the other is generally not too far away. You're slightly more likely to see Idgit in a solo appearance, but these occasions are rare.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Don't underestimate Idgit; despite his small size, he's tough as nails.
 * Shorter Means Smarter: Dangerous Dan isn't actually portrayed as stupid, but it's clear that Idgit is the smarter and more ambitious of the two, and the one who calls the shots.
 * Those Two Bad Guys

First appearance: "The Atombrella and the Rhyming Man", 1948
A criminal and master spy (from an unnamed foreign power) who always speaks in rhymes.


 * Dirty Communist - in his earliest appearances. He was never specifically said to be from Russia, or a Communist, but he did invoke a few Red Scare moments, especially with his long rhyming speeches about the glories of his own country, which was a foreign superpower with vastly superior technology.
 * Master of Disguise - Long as he doesn't speak (his rhyming tends to give him away), he's quite good at becoming unrecognizable.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname
 * Rhymes on a Dime - Hey, he is the "Rhyming Man."
 * Totally Not a Spy - He's tried this on occasion, and it's worked surprisingly often, considering he's the only character in the comic who speaks only in rhymes.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness - The Rhyming Man gave two of his comrades a Neck Snap after he was done with them in his original appearance.

First appearance(in this 'Verse): "The Case of the Dazzling Hoo-Doo", 1968
An evil inventor that's commonly the foe of Goofy's superhero alter ego, Super Goof. He's also been the opponent of Mickey Mouse in some stories, and but more often he's found in the Disney Ducks Comic Universe as a rival of Gyro Gearloose. An example of a shared Modular Franchise villain at its finest!