The important characters were:

* Darkwing Duck (Jim Cummings) – Drake Mallard, average citizen by day and St. Canard’s occupant superhero by night.
* Gosalyn Mallard (Christine Cavanaugh) – Drake “Darkwing Duck” Mallard’s 9-year-old took daughter. Occasional crime fighter as “Crimson Quackette” and later for “Quiverwing Quack”.

* Launchpad McQuack (Terry McGovern) – Darkwing Duck’s sidekick, in the beginning from DuckTales. He refers to Darkwing as “DW” and Darkwing frequently calls him “LP”.
* Honker Muddlefoot (Katie Leigh) – The Mallards’ in the adjacent house neighbour and Gosalyn’s most dependable friend.     Although the show only premiered in 1991, Darkwing Duck was shown in the Disney Afternoon title sequence in 1990.

The character of Darkwing Duck appeared occasionally in the series Bonkers, and earlier Gosalyn appeared in the series Raw Toonage. In an episode of the Aladdin TV series, Genie changes his form from a French waiter into Darkwing Duck.

Darkwing Duck and Ducktales are directly connected by two characters crossing over into the world of Darkwing Duck. The first is Launchpad, Darkwing’s sidekick, who is a longtime staple of DuckTales, and GizmoDuck, an armored hero who became a popular part of the DuckTales cast during the series’ run. Also, in the episode “In Like Blunt”, DuckTales villains Flintheart Glomgold, Magica De Spell, and The Beagle Boys make non-speaking cameo appearances.

The show was later referenced in a Pluto cartoon on Mickey Mouse Works as “Darkwing Dog”. (The same treatment was given to Doug (called “Brand Spanking New Dog”) and Mouse Works itself (”Pluto’s Dog Works”)).