F.O.W.L., short for Fiendish Organization for World Larceny, is a global criminal syndicate and terrorist organization bend on domination and profit. The organization is the biggest headache of SHUSH and Darkwing Duck has several of its agents in his rogue gallery. F.O.W.L.'s leadership lies in the hands of the shadowy High Command, a trinity whose identities are carefully kept secret. They run the organization mercilessly in regards to any victims of their schemes as well as their own agents if their boasts and paycheck outdo their deeds. F.O.W.L. has expertise and resources in many areas, from robotics to the occult, and has few hesitations on utilizing any in their schemes.
Organization[]
- The High Command - High Command are the three head agents of F.O.W.L, who provide orders to the rest of the ranks from F.O.W.L. HQ. They always make sure to be hidden in shadows during videochats and act unanimously in front of the troops. Their names are equally a mystery. The ones that usually talk are the one with a big head and fangs and the one with a hunched back. The one wearing the oversized hat never talks.
- Steelbeak - Steelbeak is a top agent of F.O.W.L.'s. He gets his name from the metal beak he received from F.O.W.L. to replace his original one. This trademark beak also serves as a weapon because it can bite through almost anything. Steelbeak acts like a 1920s gangster, and is the agent most often commanding eggmen.
- Ammonia Pine - A former cleaning lady who worked at a research lab, Ammonia accidentally inhaled the fumes of an experimental bathroom disinfectant, which had a strange effect on her and turned her into a cleaning-obsessed villain. She and her sister, Ample Grime, were recruited by F.O.W.L.. Ammonia usually works alone, but she occasionally teams up with either Stealbeak or Ample.
- Ample Grime - Ample is Ammonia's messy, dirt-loving sister and fellow F.O.W.L. agent. She hates and fears cleanliness as much as Ammonia hates dirt, which proves to be a problem when the two are required to team up, although their relationship is good.
- Major Synapse - Synapse used to be a high-ranking agent until he sent a military unit into an active volcano. Since, he has been placed as head of F.O.W.L.'s unpromising division. Coincidentally, SHUSH had similar and more successful designs. Synapse stole the norma ray and used it first on his two underlings and later on himself. He turned into a giant brain with major telepathic abilities, but was killed by Darkwing Duck, Launchpad, and Gosalyn.
- Hotshot - One of Major Synapse's former underlings changed by the norma ray. He controls both fire and ice. He is the other half of Flygirl and the two are rarely apart. Their powers were crucial in summoning Duckthulhu.
- Flygirl - One of Major Synapse's former underlings changed by the norma ray. She can move things with her mind and can also fly. She is the other half of hot Shot and the two are rarely apart. Their powers were crucial in summoning Duckthulhu.
- Mister Wonderful - A supervillain with an elastic body. Mister Wonderful is his technical and faux-superhero name, but within the organization he is better known as Agent W. In addition to his superpower, Mister Wonderful is also an excellent undercover agent.
- Razor Quill - An agent with his own sub-unit of three underlings all dressed in the same uniform.
- Morris Beagleman - A F.O.W.L. accountant whose calculator was zapped with an experimental ray and since then had the ability to alter reality. F.O.W.L. wanted to use the device to quickly make more troops, but Beagleman objected and left the organization, seeking and receiving protection with SHUSH.
- Eggmen: F.O.W.L. foot-soldiers, instantly recognizable by their white, egg-shaped helmets. They usually are under command of Steelbeak.
DuckTales[]
F.O.W.L. has its origin in DuckTales, namely in the episode that primarily inspired the creation of Darkwing Duck: "Double-O-Duck". DuckTales explains the name as the Foreign Organization for World Larceny instead and none of its agents returned in Darkwing Duck. The Boom! Studios comics show Feathers with Steelbeak and High Command in "F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 1" and therefore implies that the two organizations are the same, but the text explicitly talks about "everyone in the spy game". What with the open end of "Double-O-Duck", it is impossible to draw conclusions, but for completion's sake, the following are members of F.O.W.L. as per DuckTales fiction.
- Dr. NoGood - The founder and head of F.O.W.L. His last scheme involved destroying all the money in Swiss banks to increase the value of his gold supply. He was stopped and killed by the combined efforts of Launchpad McQuack and Feathers Galore.
- Flower - Dr. NoGood's cat. Flower accompanied its master during most of their escape route until an explosion separated them shortly before NoGood's demise.
- Odd-Duck - The right-hand man of Dr. NoGood. Whether he was arrested when the D.I.A. stormed the base or escaped is unknown.
- Bruno Von Beak - A high-ranking F.O.W.L. agent and boyfriend of Feathers Galore. He is nearly identical-looking to Launchpad, which inspired the D.I.A. to send out Launchpad as undercover agent after they arrested Bruno. He remained incarcerated during the entire operation that took down F.O.W.L., which Feathers helped with after nearly being executed. She meant to reunite with Bruno, but the episode doesn't cover how that went.
- Feathers Galore - A high-ranking F.O.W.L. agent and girlfriend of Bruno Von Beak. She was set to be executed after she failed to eliminate Launchpad, but teamed up with him to save her hide and get revenge. She killed NoGood and for her help was not arrested by the D.I.A.. She meant to reunite with Bruno, but the episode doesn't cover how that went.
Fiction[]
Cartoon[]
"Dirty Money" "Water Way to Go" "Trading Faces" "Bearskin Thug" "Cleanliness Is Next to Badliness" "Smarter Than a Speeding Bullet" "Heavy Mental" "In Like Blunt" "The Darkwing Squad" "Dirtysomething" "Tiff of the Titans" "Bad Tidings" "Steerminator"
Books[]
"The Darkest Night" "Clean Money"
Disney Adventures comics[]
"Let's Get Fiscal!" "Turnabout Is F.O.W.L. Play" "Super Union Blues" "Watts the Problem!" "Gosalyn Alone"
Boom! Studios comics[]
"F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 1" "F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 2" "F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 3" "F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 4"
Video games[]
"Darkwing Duck"/"Darkwing Duck" "Darkwing Duck"
Notes[]
- F.O.W.L. is another in a long fiction tradition of secret organizations with names that are acronyms designed for the word that the letters form rather than acronyms that form naturally. Specific inspiration sources for F.O.W.L. may have been SPECTRE and KAOS.
- In the book The Darkest Night, it states that Taurus Bulba is the leader of F.O.W.L.. This is the only instance of fiction in which this is true, although F.O.W.L. did try to recruit him in "Steerminator".
- The Darkwing Duck video game released both on the NES and the Game Boy features F.O.W.L. as the organization behind the trouble Darkwing is sent out to stop. It explicitly lists several villains who in no other fiction whatsoever are members of F.O.W.L. with the line "The Liquidator, Quackerjack, Wolfduck and other F.O.W.L. agents have been looting various parts of the city.". Those "other F.O.W.L. agents" would be Bushroot, Megavolt, and Moliarty. Wolfduck is a video game-exclusive character and therefore could very well be an actual F.O.W.L. agent, given there's no fiction to deny it, but due to his comparison to Quackerjack and the Liquidator, it's put in the doubt basket.