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| “ | 🎵He's Gonna Catch em All Cause He's Danny Phantom He's Gonna Catch Em All Cause He's Danny Phantom Gonna Catch Em All Cause He's Danny Phantom!🎵 | „ |
| ~ Lyrics From Danny Phantom's Theme Song |
| “ | I'm going ghost! | „ |
| ~ Danny's catchphrase |
| “ | I don't have to win... I just have to make sure YOU LOSE! | „ |
| ~ Danny to Pariah Dark |
| “ | It doesn't matter if I go back in time or not; I WILL NEVER TURN INTO YOU, NEVER!!! | „ |
| ~ Danny to Dark Danny |
| “ | Say goodnight, punk! | „ |
| ~ Danny to Technus |
Daniel "Danny" Fenton/Danny Phantom is the titular main protagonist of the Nickelodeon animated series of the same name. He is a 14-year-old 9th grade student at Casper High School. His parents research ghosts, and had built a ghost portal which didn't work. Danny entered the non-functioning ghost portal and accidentally activated it, fusing his molecular structure with ectoplasm. He became half-ghost, gaining ghost powers such as intangibility, invisibility, and flight. He took on the alias Danny Phantom and now uses his ghost powers to protect his hometown of Amity Park.
He is voiced by David Kaufman, who also voices Jimmy Olsen in the DC animated universe. His singing voice is done by Jason Marsden, who did the voice Danger Duck.
History
Living with ghost-obsessed parents since birth, Danny had to put up with his parents' "unique" personalities, which often traumatized him. Danny wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up and, unlike his parents, had no interest in hunting ghosts. However, this did not stop his curiosity that one day changed his life forever. While exploring his parents' laboratory with his two best friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, Danny (at Sam's suggestion to check it out) accidentally activated the newly-built Fenton Ghost Portal from the inside, causing his molecular structure to become infused with ectoplasm. This causes Danny to become half-human and half-ghost and gain an array of ghostly superpowers. Since the ghosts were a serious threat, Danny decided to take on the role of a superhero to protect Amity Park. Danny soon met Vlad Masters, his parents' friend from college, now a billionaire bachelor. Danny found out that twenty years ago, Vlad became a half-ghost just like Danny, and now had all the same powers Danny had and more, but with twenty years more experience. Vlad soon became Danny's arch-nemesis. At first, Danny Phantom was not a particularly well-known or well-liked ghost. His debut to Amity Park was ruined when Walker staged a Ghost invasion on the city and framed Danny for it and later when Freakshow took control of Danny's mind and forced him to perpetrate a series of ghostly crimes for him. Events such as these caused the people of Amity Park to hate Danny Phantom (then known to them as "Inviso-Bill"), despite his intentions to protect them. Danny's only supporters were his two friends Sam and Tucker and, unbeknownst to him, his sister Jazz. Throughout his adventures, Danny made a number of allies, including his half-ghost female clone and cousin, Dani Phantom, a Yeti-like ghost named Frostbite, the Master of Time by the name of Clockwork, a werewolf ghost named Wulf, and Pandora, the owner of Pandora's Box.
In Phantom Planet, Vlad created a new team of teenage ghost hunters, the Masters' Blasters, to upstage Danny. They were inexplicably able to hunt ghosts much better than Danny could, embarrassing Danny to the point where he began to seriously question his status as the superhero the people wanted. He was so depressed that, despite his friends' protests, he used the Fenton Portal to remove all his ghost powers, becoming fully human again. At the same time, however, a much bigger threat - the Disasteroid - was headed straight for Earth, timed to collide in just one week and destroy the entire planet; because Earth and the Ghost Zone are flip sides of each other, if Earth were to be destroyed, the Ghost Zone would be destroyed as well. With renewed determination, Danny returned to the Ghost Zone to seek help. His enemies in the Ghost Zone, however, were all too glad to see him in his powerless human state and took great pleasure in blasting him over and over. This inexplicably caused Danny to regain his half-ghost status and all his former powers. Gaining help from his allies and enemies from the Ghost Zone, humans and ghosts worked side-by-side and successfully saved the Earth from the Disasteroid. When the crisis was finally over, Danny revealed his secret identity to all of Earth and was hailed as Earth's hero.
Ghost Powers
After the portal accident, Danny has an asternal of ghost powers. He has the basic ghost powers (intangibility, invisibility, flight, telekinesis, teleportation, overshadowing, and Spectral Body Manipulation) with standard ghost attributes (superhuman strength, durability, healing factor, speed, and agility). Danny often creates a ghost tail with his spectral body manipulation and his overshadowing allow him to go into people's dreams, expel other ghost out of a person, add himself to a video game, or fuse with another ghost to become a new ghost. Being half ghost Danny can use some of his ghost powers in human form but when he transforms in to his ghost form he can use all of his powers. In addition Danny can breathe underwater or in space (though he wore a helmet in space), fire powerful ectoplasmic beams called Ghost Rays, absorb other ghost rays to increase his physical strength or redirect back at his opponents, manipulate his energy beams into Pyrokinesis, Photokinesis, Electrokinesis/Ghost Stinger, Thermokinesis, and later on in Season 3 Cryokinesis. He can also duplicate himself into 4 copies to fight along side with him (he didn't master it until season 3) and create energy shields to block or withstand attacks, or somehow allow him to receive another ghost powers (like what happen with Vortex). He can also sense nearby ghost, which causes a blue mist to be expelled from his mouth (it later revealed it was manifestation of his un-tapped potential of Cryokinesis). After an encounter with his Ultimate Enemy, Danny developed the Ghostly Wail which allows him to produce a sonic scream of untold devastation, but it causes him to revert back to human form with just one use. By the time of Season 3 Danny has two powers that his archenemy Vlad doesn't seem to have like Cryokinesis and the Ghostly Wail. After getting his powers restored in the season final, Danny became stronger to use his Ghostly Wail twice with no ill effects.
Danny's powers seem to be strongly connected to his feelings, especially those that are "negative" such as fear or rage. It was the feeling of fear that triggered his ghost ray when Desiree approached him, and the feeling of rage that gave him his Ghostly Wail in "The Ultimate Enemy", when all his enemies were haunting him for what he did. This could explain the power of his ghost ray and how it gets stronger and turns completely white while using it when he is angry in the episode "My Brother's Keeper". This could explain why Dan was so strong since he was all evil and driven by rage and hate. This could also explain how Danny's emotions were connected to the weather when he temporarily obtained weather-based powers in "Torrent of Terror".
However, despite being powerful Danny (like all ghost) is vulnerable to Anti-ghost gadgets created by Fenton Works (his parents company and home), Vladco (his archenemy Vlad's company), and the government Guys in White gadgets. He is also vulnerable to red flowers called Blood Blossoms which causes him to feel a great agony when he is in it presence and green space elements called Ecto-ranium which was part of the Disasteroid. He seems to be immune to these effect while in human form. Furthermore he can be seen while being invisible in infrared, as he still radiates heat.
Besides his powers Danny's human physiology combine with his ghost physiology allows him to learn new tricks/powers by just looking at them, have a strong will, be an expert combat and swordsmanship, and a skilled strategist. He also on several occasions been a great leader and speaks Esperanto from Tucker, in case he meets with Wulf again. In his human form he is immune to all the weakness of a ghost but only in human form.
Personality
At the beginning of the series, Danny is an average, awkward, nervous, and friendly teenager. Like most teenagers, he has crushes on girls, occasional desires to be popular, a dislike of bullies, and embarrassment about his parents. Unlike them, though, he is afraid of anyone discovering his hard-to-control ghost powers, making him go from being a "geek" to a "freak". Not even sure about how to use his powers, Danny simply longs to be normal and unnoticed by anyone. But after he fights the Lunch Lady Ghost, he realizes he can use his powers to save others from ghost attacks and dedicates his free time to catching troublesome ghosts. This new-found sense of purpose begins to change Danny into a heroic, brave young man.
Over time, Danny gains confidence in himself and his abilities. He isn't scared of fighting ghosts, usually taunting them and putting all of his energy into fighting them off. He also gradually finds Dash more annoying and troublesome. As he faces more villains and bigger threats, Danny accepts that it's his responsibility to save those in need of help, sometimes endangering himself to do so. By Public Enemies, although many people think he's a bad guy, Danny is still determined to keep protecting Amity Park from ghosts, his dedication paying off when people begin to accept him as their heroin Reign Storm.
On the downside, he can sometimes become overconfident and impulsive, assuming he can defeat anyone easily or do whatever he wants without any consequences. This might lead him to use his ghost powers to take revenge on bullies, cheat on a test, or even just ignore an impending situation so that he can enjoy something. When someone like Sam tries to warn him about his actions, Danny can be ignorant and disagreeable, only to find out he was wrong later. Despite these issues, once Danny figures out what he has caused, he works hard to set things right, whether it be apologizing or saving the day.
When he's not worried about ghosts, Danny is naturally kind, easy-going, and helpful. On the other hand, he can be grumpy, frustrated, stressed, and mean, often making sarcastic remarks or his eyes glowing green from anger. Danny rarely gets extremely mad or emotional, only taking important matters personally like Vlad and Dan. His ghost hunting often cuts into his schoolwork time, but he does work hard after he puts his mind on the task at hand - except when he's lazy or distracted. Danny isn't the smartest person around, but he is clever at devising plans, having good ideas and using resources, like his powers, Fenton equipment, and friends with different talents. He loves making puns and exchanging witty banter during his fights, and while there are moments when he under-appreciated his friends, he is thankful to have them.
Appearance
Danny Fenton has black hair and blue eyes. He wears a white T-shirt with a thin red collar, red cuffs, and a red circle in the middle, light blue jeans, and red-and-white sneakers. When he transforms into Danny Phantom, his hair becomes snow-white, his eyes become glowing green, and his skin changes from light to tanned. Danny Phantom wears a black jumpsuit with white boots, collar, belt, and forearm-length gloves. After "Memory Blank," he wears his logo, a white "D" with the negative space inside it forming a "P," on his chest. However, in the origin of Danny Phantom, the jumpsuit's colors were reversed, which is a white jumpsuit with black boots, collar, belt, and forearm-length gloves.
Trivia
- It unknown why only Danny's head reverted back to human form in the Ultimate Enemy. There are a few fan speculations:
- This may have been because he had the Time Medallion inside of him.
- This may have been possible due to being in the Ghost Zone, which increased power--which is definitely a possibility as seen in Phantom Planet he used it twice without losing energy.
- This might of been because it was his first time using it, so it was not as powerful and didn't drain him as much, therefore causing him to only partially revert back.
- Danny has some similarities to both Superman and Spider-Man.
- He is also similar to Jake Long, Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Osmosis Jones, Steven Universe, Ben Tennyson, and El Tigre
- In addition a lot of the fans think Danny, Randy from Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja and Jake from American Dragon: Jake Long are alike and have many things in common like dark, spiky hair, only their friends and some family knowing about their alter ego, fighting evil, and usually NOT being the popular kids in school. Because of this, a lot of fans wrote fanfictions and drew fanart that included all three of them and called them the "Secret Trio".
External Links
- Danny Phantom - Danny Phantom Wiki
- Danny Phantom - 5 Years Later Wiki
