|
|
Constance A. Dention is a politician of little name who got the chance to become one of the strongest supervillains in all of St. Canard and unsurprisingly came to the conclusion that morals are overrated. Adopting the moniker Suff-Rage, she at first used her ability to generate piercing illusions to pretend that the supervillain and the politician were different people as part of an ambitious plan to boost both careers. Suff-Rage overplayed her hand and lost everything, but remains proud of her accomplishments. Unreasonable this is not, because as the only known person able to control the ink, she is something out of the ordinary.
Character[]
Background[]
Dention used to be a councilwoman of St. Canard who was doing everything but making waves. Reserved and uncertain of how to present herself so that she would be heard, the best that could be said was that she held a job. The resentment she felt over this is likely what drew the Phantom Blot, in the guise of Bob, and the ink her way. But Dention proved to be unique among the ink-users in that she did not became a vessel to the ink's will. Better than that, she could control the ink as well as the minds of people in contact with the ink. Rather than let her run her course like the others, the Phantom Blot stuck with her and provided her with a hideout in one of Audubon Bay Bridge's towers, equipment, and plenty more ink to make the most of what she could do. When some months later the mayor gives up his title and Dention establishes herself as candidate for the position, the Phantom Blot became her campaign manager.
It appears that well before becoming a supervillain, Dention already had an interest in the world of high crime and costume justice. Her knowledge on Darkwing Duck is thorough enough that she can roughly predict what he's going to come up with for his second opening line. She considers herself a fan of his "Campaign Carnage, Part 4" and essentially is what she accuses him of creating: a villain inspired by the news's focus on him and his rogues gallery. Dention's platform relied on anti-vigilante "Campaign Carnage, Part 2" and anti-mutant sentiments while Suff-Rage set herself up as future ruler of St. Canard as a city owned by super-powered individuals. Utilizing other ink-users, smear campaigns, mind control, and illusions, Dention came close to defeating Darkwing in both roles. Were it not for mere children — that is, Gosalyn, Honker, and Doofus — she did not keep track on as she did Darkwing and Launchpad McQuack, she would've won. They brought the fight Suff-Rage thought to be at a safe distance to her lair and disconnected her from the ink. When her secret identity was unveiled, the police force handled the rest. "Campaign Carnage, Part 4"
The power Dention received from the ink is that of illusions. Suff-Rage is capable of placing realities in people's heads they cannot reason their way out of and that have physical effects insofar as the targets respond to the experience. Suff-Rage can handle multiple people under her spell at once, although the exact extent of her power becomes vague here. If it are only illusions she works with, then any time illusion-selves appear on television her powers would affect everyone watching and the appearances would not be caught on tapes. If they are, as Honker calls them, projections, these limitations don't exist. However, at no point is it said that Suff-Rage would have light-based powers nor does she appear to own hologram equipment. Furthermore, neither illusion nor projection would have mass, but for instance, when illusion-Dention disappears from the stake, she leaves behind loosely fitted rope. "Campaign Carnage, Part 4" As a master of the ink, Suff-Rage has a secondary power in that she can directly control the actions of anyone who has ink on them, just like the ink does on its own. "Campaign Carnage, Part 3"
Personality[]
Prior to her life-changing encounter, Dention was as shy as one can be while still having the attitude to make the decision to get into politics. It appears her shyness came with a propensity to apologize, as she shows flashes of this during her Suff-Rage days. This weakness was not to her liking, which the ink played into. Along with superpowers came insight into what to do and say to build or destroy reputations, a talent she mercilessly puts to use for her civilian identity to rise in power. Her villain identity is something she has different plans for. "Campaign Carnage, Part 3" Being already powerful as Suff-Rage, that identity is one she seeks entertainment and validation from. As a fan of Darkwing Duck, she's got a good grasp on what thrills the flashy supervillain life offers and seeks this for herself, but as a coward, she does this only at a safe distance from the real action. In fact, the few times she's ever gotten involved physically, she was taking on children. Suff-Rage is keenly aware of her dual nature and has no lack of imagination in having her two selves act out a debate. "Campaign Carnage, Part 4"
Appearance[]
Constance Dention is a tall and white-feathered duck with green eyes, black hair done up, and glasses. Her outfits are simple but classy, which makes for a sharp contrast with her alien-like villain getup. It consists of a formfitting purple bodysuit with matching lightbulb-shaped helmet that shows no face, a high pink collar and equally pink arm-capes, and sparse golden accents. Despite being illusion-reliant, the villain outfit is a real costume Suff-Rage has made and wears.
Fiction[]
Boom! Studios comics[]
As the shyest member of the city council, Dention's political career is not moving forward. This changes when she comes in contact with "Bob". He tests the ink on her and they find that, unlike several others, she does not lose her mind to it but instead obtains both power and gains control of the ink. Intrigued by this potential link between Fase 1 and Fase 2 of his larger plan, Bob keeps an eye on her "Campaign Carnage, Part 3" and helps set up a hideout for her new villain identity in one of the towers of Audubon Bay Bridge. They have it equipped with an elaborate surveillance system and a device containing a large amount of ink that Suff-Rage can hook herself up to. "Campaign Carnage, Part 4" Several months later, the mayor of St. Canard resigns and Dention becomes a candidate during the elections for a replacement. Bob becomes her campaign manager. "Campaign Carnage, Part 3" When Cat-Tankerous rampages through the city, Dention appears on Webra Walters's news program to discuss Darkwing Duck's candidacy. Dention leaves no chance to make him look bad unused, suggesting that it is the attention he is given by the media that causes St. Canard to produce so many criminals and lying that doubt about Darkwing's competency these days is widespread. After the interview, Constance retreats to her hideout to watch the outcome of Darkwing's fight against Cat-Tankerous on the news. "Campaign Carnage, Part 2" Even after Launchpad McQuack joins the ballot as the most popular candidate, Dention keeps aiming her mud at Darkwing, aware that Launchpad's simpleness will catch up with his public favor anyway. She has other things to pay attention to, like how far her powers go. As a test, she creates an illusion of Spike and saves Darkwing from Eagle Eye with it. Bob, meanwhile, does his share by claiming to be a communications expert and handing both Darkwing and Launchpad his ink-covered business cards. Under the ink's negative influence, the two launch smear campaigns against each other they don't remember afterwards but do experience the results of. Thanks to Honker Muddlefoot's follow-up research, they become conscious of the ink's existence and immediately suspect Dention to be behind it because she's the one person who'd benefit from them ruining each other's reputation. They confront her during the mayoral debate that evening, but Dention is ahead of them. She creates illusions of both her civilian self and her supervillain self to save her civilian reputation. Illusion-Suff-Rage summons the League of Barely-Remembered Villains, which consists of illusions of Moliarty, the Bugmaster, Tuskerninni, Jambalaya Jake, Gumbo, and Lilliput, for Darkwing and Launchpad to fight. Only after the duo has emerged victorious does she reveal that the villains were mere illusions and that she has something better for the three would-be mayors to deal with: mind-controlled civilians. Obviously, she keeps it to herself that the civilians are influenced by the ink, which they got on them from the pamphlets illusion-Dention had handed out. "Campaign Carnage, Part 3" Illusion-Suff-Rage has the crowd tie the candidates up to be burned at the stake. She and illusion-Dention get into a pro-superpowers vs. anti-superpowers argument while Darkwing works on an escape. At Darkwing Tower, Honker, Gosalyn, and Doofus are watching the live broadcast when activity in Suff-Rage's tower draws their vigilance. They discover Suff-Rage hooked up to the ink machine and talking to herself in front of multiple screens. Suff-Rage herself is too preoccupied to spot Gosalyn sneaking over and setting her right foot on fire. Illusion-Suff-Rage and illusion-Dention promptly disappear, while the crowd awakens from its ink-daze. Furious, Suff-Rage attacks the children but captures them only after they've already contacted Darkwing and Launchpad. Suff-Rage is about to douse them with ink, but Darkwing's entrance distracts her. She turns her powers on him to make him live through his worst fears, which Launchpad uses to free the children unnoticed. Gosalyn unplugs Suff-Rage, ending her illusions, and Launchpad unmasks her, revealing once and for all that she and Dention are the same person. Powerless and exposed, Suff-Rage surrenders prideful of nearly double-beating Darkwing. Weary, the heroes hand her over to the authorities and continue the election between them. Bob is disappointed by her loss, but all the same Suff-Rage never was more than an extra to his plans. "Campaign Carnage, Part 4"
Joe Books comics[]
"Campaign Carnage, Part 2" "Campaign Carnage, Part 3" "Campaign Carnage, Part 4" Suff-Rage becomes incarcerated in the new maximum security jail in St. Canard. Along with all other inmates, she is freed from her cell by Negaduck to hunt down a locked-in Darkwing. "Orange Is the New Purple, Part 1" When she manages to capture Darkwing, she reveals that she is now going by the name Misteressterious."Orange Is the New Purple, Part 2"
Notes[]
- Suff-Rage's concept started as Anne E.B. Else, who would be powered by the slime but be an exception by not becoming evil.[1]
- Suff-Rage's design is inspired by both Mysterio from The Amazing Spider-Man and Morgana Macawber. Until the reveal in "Campaign Carnage, Part 4", some red herrings were placed that she actually was Morgana back from the events of "F.O.W.L. Disposition, Part 4", such as her calling Darkwing "Dark" in Part 2. Her resemblance to Mysterio is made more apparent by her name change in the Joe Books comic.