The character was created in Italy by Elisa Penna, Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi, and first appeared in the Italian comic series Topolino #706 (June 1969).

In the comics, Donald originally created Paperinik as a dark avenger alter-identity to secretly seek revenge upon relatives, before he soon found himself fighting other menaces as a vigilante.

Donald originally created Paperinik as a dark avenger alter-identity to secretly seek revenge upon relatives such as Scrooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander, but he soon found himself fighting other menaces as a superhero.

Visiting the villa with his nephews, he discovers the diary and an abandoned suit of Fantomius (Fantomallard), who was known as a notorious gentleman burglar and sometime vigilante active long ago.

Donald learns Fantomius's methods of maintaining a secret identity by acting as a harmless and rather incompetent gentleman during the day and during the night as a vindicator, taking revenge for his grievances against society.

Scrooge sometimes goes as far as to temporarily let out Donald's home to other tenants, or threaten to have it dismantled altogether, which puts Paperinik's secret hideout in danger of being revealed.

This series aimed to rewrite and revamp Paperinik/PK's origins by keeping some few core elements from PKNA: as a matter of fact, here Donald has never even been Paperinik and he gains his secret identity after being selected and hired by the AI U.N.O.

Starting from Topolino #3058, PK received new stories resuming the PKNA continuity, beginning with PK - Might and Power: a series of four episodes written by Francesco Artibani and drawn by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, in which the Raider and Odin Eidolon (Uno's future persona) persuade Donald after years to go back to his Duck Avenger identity, and prevent the Evronian empire from rising again.

These new issues, nicknamed by fans Paperinik New Era (shortened as PKNE) as they don't have a collective name, revolve around the same themes of the original magazine (albeit in a lighter manner, being now part of the Topolino comic book) evolving them from their original closing, bringing back old characters and introducing new ones, such as the ambiguous Keeper of the Omega Chamber (another AI designed by Ducklair) and Moldrock.

In the game, Donald Duck, security guard of the Ducklair Tower, is transported into the artificial intelligence secret area and tasked with saving the world from the Evronians.