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In Season 3: Episode 18 (How Santa Stole Christmas) of the rebooted Duck Tales, Webby joins McDuck to help Santa Claus deliver his gifts. When Scrooge is delivering the last gift, Webby says to Santa:

You and Scrooge are the perfect pair: two red‐coated mythical immortals traveling the world.

As far as I remember, Scrooge has never been mentioned as an immortal. I have no idea about the comics; I haven't read any of them.

So is this just some sot of a figure of speech? Or is Scrooge McDuck truly an immortal?

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    In this instance, it appears to be a figure of speech. Santa is a literal immortal whereas Scrooge is merely a 'larger-than-life' figure.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 9:15
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    We also talk about Queen Elizabeth II as immortal, with a mixture of respect and in jest.
    – pipe
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 20:02
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    @pipe - there's no proof so far she's not immortal
    – BruceWayne
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 6:13
  • @BruceWayne Same goes about Keanu Reeves, I think. He pretends he wants to witness the creation of Hamlet, when some believe he was the one who wrote it.
    – Clockwork
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 15:00
  • I don't remember which, but I'm pretty sure in one of the reboot episodes with Goldie, she and Scrooge tell each other why they're both immortal. Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 21:54

4 Answers 4

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According to Don Rosa, Scrooge ("$crooge") McDuck died in 1967, hence he cannot be an immortal.

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This is backed up in a "Duck Family Tree" that was released a couple of years later. Again, Scrooge's date of death is the same.

Now, I see my own message and I reminded myself to try to list the birth/death dates from my notes. I see that I did not mess around with the fringes of the tree yet -- therefore, I never made any notes concerning Fanny or Gus; there wasn't much going on in that branch, so the dates didn't matter much as long as I knew which generation they each belonged in. Of these other characters, the dates are sometimes partially given in "The Old Castle's Secret" as regarding the McDuck ancestors. Other dates are exact when there was a need to be, otherwise I didn't get fancy and I just used 5 year increments, 1920, 1925, 1930 and so on. (I wouldn't say 1921 if there was no specific reason to since I knew I might still change a date here or there someday for some reason. If a date ends in a blank, that means I figure the character lived well past 1967. If a date ends in a "19??", that means I don't know when the critter died, but they must surely be as cold as a carp by 1970!

DONALD DUCK 1920-
HUEY, DEWEY & LOUIE 1940-
$CROOGE McDUCK 1867-1967

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    I suspect the reports of Scrooge McDuck's death are greatly exaggerated, since he's still appearing in a TV series - and not one featuring zombies, either :-)
    – jamesqf
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 20:04
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    @jamesqf - In later shows he discovers the fountain of youth and a reverse time dimension that allows him to "un-age"
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 20:11
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    @jamesqf maybe he was spending a year dead for tax reasons
    – SJuan76
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 23:08
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    Don Rosa had an explanation of the illustration here (from p. 182 of this collection), it was done for a joke feature where various cartoonists were supposed to illustrate the line "Hey, Daisy! Whatever happened to Scrooge?", and his comics were set in the 1950s so he was imagining updating the characters to the present. But the family tree does suggest he incorporated this into his own "canon".
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 23:46
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    This chart is strangely gripping. It had somehow never clicked for me that since 'Uncle' Scrooge was a literal relation, Donald had parents kicking around someplace with names of their own, which I'd never heard.
    – brichins
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 0:46
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Short Answer:

Scrooge McDuck in Duck Tales 2017 is probably not immortal like Zeus, Storkules, or Selene, but has greatly extended his life by at least one supernatural method. Since Webby is only 10 or 12 years old, Scrooge who is about 10 to 15 times her age may seem like an immortal to her.

Long Answer:

I don't believe that a totally official death date of 1967 or any other year is given for Scrooge McDuck in the comic books, and thus writers of other comics might possibly depict him as alive in a fictional date after 1967. And for all I know there could be some comic books where Scrooge is active in a fictional year after 1967.

Scrooge's age is discussed in the Wikipedia article on him:

According to Carl Barks' 1955 one-pager "Watt an Occasion" (Uncle Scrooge #12), Scrooge is 75 years of age. According to Don Rosa, Scrooge was born in Scotland in 1867, and earned his Number One Dime (or First Coin) exactly ten years later. The DuckTales episodes (and many European comics) show a Scrooge who hailed from Scotland in the 19th century, yet was clearly familiar with all the technology and amenities of the 1980s. Despite this extremely advanced age, Scrooge does not appear to be on the verge of dotage, and is vigorous enough to keep up with his nephews in adventures. With rare exceptions, there appears to be no sign of him slowing down.

Barks responded to some fan letters asking about Scrooge's Adamic age, that in the story "That's No Fable!", when Scrooge drank water from a Fountain of Youth for several days, rather than making him young again (bodily contact with the water was required for that), ingesting the water rejuvenated his body and cured him of his rheumatia, which arguably allowed Scrooge to live beyond his expected years with no sign of slowdown or senility. Don Rosa's solution to the issue of Scrooge's age is that he set all of his stories in the 1950s or earlier, which was when he himself discovered and reveled in Barks' stories as a kid, and in his unofficial timelines, he had Scrooge die in 1967, at the age of 100 years.

In the 15th episode of the 2017 DuckTales reboot, "The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!", it is revealed that Scrooge was "stuck in a timeless demon dimension" called Demogorgana for an unknown amount of time, which is used to explain his young look. In the 21st episode, "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!", Webby Vanderquack's research on Scrooge reveals that he was born in 1867, as previously established by Rosa. This would make Scrooge 153 years old as of 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrooge_McDuck#Age[1]

Scrooge is depicted as extremely old in the Duck Tales 2017 television series, which clearly takes place during the 21st century.

In "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!" Aug. 4, 2018, a paper is found with the date April 15, 20__, the last 2 digits obscured from the view of the audience. That was the week that Huey, Dewey, and Louie were born, but since Della was at Castle McDuck then, and she was lost in space before they hatched, they must have hatched sometime between April 15 and April 22 of that year.

Since Della was lost "ten years" before the first season, I think it is more likely the boys were 9 in "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!" and turned 10 a few day later, instead of being 10 and turning 11. And Castle McDuck is only reachable for a short time every five years, putting "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!" 10 years after Della was lost in space.

So Huey, Dewey, and Louie were born sometime during the period of 2000 to 2099, and the first season of Duck Tales 2017 hapepns sometime during the period of 2009/10 to 2108/09.

According to this list of the proper viewing order and fictional date order:

"The Impossible Summitt of Mount Neverrest!" happens before "McMystery at McDuck McManor!" which happens before "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!". Since "The Impossible Summitt of Mount Neverrest!" happens during Christmas time, and "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!" happens in April of the next year, "McMystery at McDuck McManor!", where Scrooge has a birthday party, happens in between them in the early part of the next year.

In "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!", which happens after "the Secrets(s) of Castle McDuck!", Webby reads from a book (titled The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck) that Scrooge was born in 1867.

If "McMystery at McDuck McManor!" happens sometime during the period of 2010 to 2109, Scrooge's birthday in it should be his 143rd to his 242nd birthday.

"The First Adventure!", November 16, 2020, opens in the 1960s, where Mrs. Beakley, Bradford Buzzard, and Black Heron are already adults - Buzzard and Heron decide to found F.O.W.L. The rest of the episode happens decades later when Scrooge has to take care of young Donald and Della and they go on their first adventure together. Since Mrs. Beakley, Bradford Buzzard, and Black Heron are still rather agile in the 3rd season, for the sake of plausibility the episodes of Duck Tales 2017 shouldn't happen any later than the years they are broadcast in, and preferably earlier.

So Scrooge should turn 143 to 150 in "McMystery at McDuck McManor!".

In "the Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!", June 23, 2018, Scrooge returns to the Yukon and meets his old rival and love interest Goldie O'Gilt where they had tangled over a hundred years earlier. They each explain - truthfully or otherwise - how they managed to still be alive. I believe that Scrooge's explanation was that he spent a lot of time in a timeless demon dimension.

And possibly Scrooge also spent several decades at Castle McDuck, where he would not have aged. Maybe Scrooge thought living at Castle McDuck with his disapproving father Fergus was like being trapped in a horrible demon dimension!

I note that in "The First Adventure!" Donald and Della look like they were probably born around 1980 in the Duck Tales 2017 chronology, which means their mother Hortense McDuck should have been over a century old when they were born - unless Hortense and/or Donald and Della spent many decades in Castle McDuck without aging.

Scrooge's and Hortense's sister Matilda shows up a Castle McDuck in "The Fight For Castle McDuck!",November 23, 2020, which implies that other McDucks may have avoiding aging by staying at Castle McDuck and/or by living in a demon dimension.

I discuss the chronology of Duck Tales 2017 in threads like:

So Scrooge is not immortal in Duck Tales 2017 but has greatly extended his life by at least one supernatural method. Since Webby is much younger (I think she is about 11 in "How Santa Stole Christmas"), Scrooge who is about 10 to 15 times her age may seem like an immortal to her. Or she may mean Scrooge is someone with everlasting fame and thus figuratively immortal.

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  • I think that this answer would be improved if you discuss the nature of the supernatural life extension that Scrooge has, rather than just asserting that it exists. Valorum's comment mentions a couple of possibilities.
    – nick012000
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 3:31
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    @nick012000 I do briefly discuss possible life prolonging methods methods in my answer. Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 5:07
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I remember reading about this controversial topic in the French magazine bearing his name Picsou Magazine where he is dead the year his creator Carl Barks went into retirement which was 1967 and all of his adventures took place before that date. The death topic was also a little bit complicated in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck where Don Rosa had to deal with his parent's death so you see his dead father's feet covered on the bed and in next case he is watching over his son (alongside his mother) from the window.

As for the immortality part and the peculiar observation that he uses technology that wasn't available before 1967, it could be explained the same way Bart and Lisa are still kids since 1989, they didn't have cell phones and the Internet back then, now they do and they still haven't aged and so are his nephews, they are still kids since 1937, or how many comic book and non comic book characters transitioned from analog to digital, Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal used technology that wasn't supposed to exist in the time predating "Silence of The Lambs" which is when the series is supposed to take place, it's for the narrative and not to be taken in an absolute manner.

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  • In the Dan Rosa comic books chronology Huey, Dewy and Louie were born in 1940 and thus were not already kings in 1937. In the Duck Tales 2017 chronology they were born some time in the 21st century as is mentioned in my answer. Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 5:06
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The United States "Copyright Term Extension Act" extended the term of US copyright specifically to extend copyright for Disney products - mainly Mickey Mouse, but others also, with other hangers on benefiting.

We can expect a further extension.
Until this gerrymandering is stopped we can expect Scrooge to remain "conditionally immortal".

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    I might be wrong, but this sounds like it's more a legal answer than an in-universe answer as to why he is.
    – Clockwork
    Commented Mar 3, 2021 at 15:47
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    That act was not "specifically to extend copyright for Disney products". The source you cited points out that it was to prevent US copyrights from expiring earlier than the recently extended European copyrights, which would have encouraged moving major film production from the US to Europe. Disney benefited (and was certainly a lobbyist for it), but it wasn't just for them. The US was afraid of losing a large chunk of their film industry.
    – Kyle A
    Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 17:58
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    @KyleA I doubt that for film makers today it really matters whether their copyright expires 50 or 75 or 90 years from when they make the film (or from when they die). This argument is obviously just a pretense. Commented Mar 4, 2021 at 23:34
  • The corporations running the film industry care. Enough that they were hinting (if not out right threatening) that they would move movie production to Europe to take advantage of the longer copyrights. Is it stupid and greedy? Absolutely. But it wasn't just "to keep the copyright on Mickey Mouse" and Disney wasn't the only company pushing for it. Plus, Mickey Mouse and Scrooge McDuck are trademarked, which operates under very different rules. Disney is in zero danger of losing those trademarks.
    – Kyle A
    Commented Mar 6, 2021 at 19:13

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