Scrooge McDuck, maternal uncle of previously established character Donald Duck, made his first named appearance in the story Christmas on Bear Mountain; it was published in Dell's Four Color Comics #178 on October 22, 1947, and written and drawn by artist Carl Barks.

[9] In Christmas on Bear Mountain,[10] Scrooge was a bearded, bespectacled, reasonably wealthy old duck, visibly leaning on his cane and living in isolation in a "huge mansion".

[14] The event was set in 1879 by Carl Barks, but it would later be retconned by Don Rosa to 1909 to better fit with Scrooge's later-established personal history in The Empire-Builder from Calisota.

Barks and Rosa depicted Scrooge as being fluent in Arabic, Dutch, German, Mongolian, Spanish, Mayan, Bengali, Finnish, and a number of Chinese dialects.

He also encountered several historical figures during his lifetime, such as U.S. President Roosevelt (The Buckaroo of the Badlands, The Invader of Fort Duckburg, and The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut), Apache leader Geronimo (The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff), Czar Nicholas II of Russia (The Empire-Builder from Calisota), and philologist Elias Lönnrot (The Quest for Kalevala).

However, there have been rare instances where Donald proved invaluable to Scrooge, such as when the group traveled back in time to Ancient Egypt to retrieve a pharaoh's papyrus.

Another major development was the arrival of writer and artist Don Rosa in 1986, with his story "The Son of the Sun"; it released by Gladstone Publishing and nominated for a Harvey Award, one of the comics industry's highest honors.

Other notable Disney artists who have worked with the Scrooge character include Michael Peraza, Marco Rota, William Van Horn, and Tony Strobl.

His characteristics are believed to be strongly influenced by the life of a real, incredibly wealthy Scottish-American business magnate, Andrew Carnegie, as well as Ebenezer Scrooge, the rich miser from Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol, McDuck's namesake.

A pivotal moment comes in 1877 when a ditch-digger pays him with an 1875 US dime, which is useless as currency in 19th century Glasgow; he only notices what sort of coin he has been given after the man has left, as his boots were so caked with dirt, Scrooge fainted from exhaustion after finishing his work.

After some dramatic events, where he faces both the Beagle Boys and President Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders at the same time, he tears down the rest of the old Fort Duckburg and builds his famous Money Bin at the site.

When Scrooge finally returns to Duckburg, he is the richest duck in the world, rivaled only by Flintheart Glomgold, John D. Rockerduck, and less prominently, the maharaja of the fictional country Howdoyoustan (play on Hindustan).

[21] According to Barks' The Second Richest Duck as noted by a Time article, Scrooge is worth "one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents".

[22] The DuckTales episode "Liquid Assets", Fenton Crackshell (Scrooge's accountant) notes that McDuck's money bin contains "607 tillion 386 zillion 947 trillion 522 billion dollars and 36 cents".

Often Scrooge decides to search for the possible truth behind old legends, or discovers obscure references to the activities of ancient conquerors, explorers, and military leaders that he considers interesting enough to begin a new expedition.

Scrooge is also an accomplished linguist and entrepreneur, having learned to speak several different languages during his business trips around the world, selling refrigerators to Eskimos, wind to windmill manufacturers in the Netherlands, etc.

Several fans of the character have come to consider these depictions as adding to the depth of his personality, because based on the decisions he takes Scrooge can be both the hero and the villain of his stories.

[29]In the DuckTales series, Scrooge has care of the nephews (as Donald has joined the US Navy and is away on his tour of duty), and, as a result, his darker personality traits are downplayed.

Scrooge displays a strict code of honor, insisting that the only valid way to acquire wealth is to "earn it square," and he goes to great lengths to thwart those (sometimes even his own nephews) who gain money dishonestly.

He's morphed into this role in an incredible way.Many of the European comics based on the Disney Universe have created their own version of Scrooge McDuck, usually involving him in slapstick adventures.

Another running joke is Scrooge reminiscing about his adventures while gold prospecting in the Klondike much to Donald and the nephews' chagrin at hearing the never-ending and tiresome stories.

", it is revealed that Scrooge was trapped in ice for five years and "stuck in a timeless demon dimension" called Demogorgana for an unknown amount of time, which is used to explain his longevity.

[citation needed] In 2014, composer Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish released a conceptual album based on the book, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.

Carl Barks created an earlier film prototype of Scrooge while working as the lead story man (writer/designer) of the early Donald Duck cartoons.

Barks supplied the studios with a detailed 9-page script, telling the story of the happy-go-lucky Donald Duck working for the troubled Scrooge who tries to save his money from a hungry rat.

In this series, premiered over two-hours on September 18, 1987, while the regular episodes began three days later, Scrooge becomes the legal guardian of Huey, Dewey and Louie when Donald joins the United States Navy.

Scrooge's DuckTales persona is considerably mellow compared to most previous appearances; his aggression is played down and his often duplicitous personality is reduced in many episodes to that of a curmudgeonly but well-meaning old uncle.

He first appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a minor non-playable character in Hollow Bastion, where he is trying to recreate his favorite ice cream flavor – sea-salt.

Later he would also play a key role on the final story arc "Dangerous Currency", where he teams up with Darkwing Duck in order to stop the Phantom Blot and Magica De Spell from taking over St. Canard and Duckburg.

In the 2016 Mickey Mouse Christmas special, "Duck the Halls", after Young's death, John Kassir took over voicing Scrooge McDuck, however he later tweeted that he won't be reprising his role in the reboot.