Donald Duck made his first appearance in "The Wise Little Hen," a Silly Symphony cartoon, on June 9, 1934. He made an encore performance in the Mickey Mouse cartoon, "The Orphan's Benefit," on August 11, 1934. Donald was an immediate hit with audiences who loved his fiery temper, and over the next decade he became so popular that he even surpassed Mickey Mouse in the number of cartoons in which he appeared.

The original voice of Donald Duck was provided by Clarence "Ducky" Nash. The distinctive semi-intelligible speech that he created helped promote both Nash and Donald to stardom. Nash went on to voice Donald Duck in over 120 shorts and films over the next 50 years before eventually giving way to Disney artist Tony Anselmo.

Donald Duck's full name, Donald Fauntleroy Duck, was revealed in the 1942 cartoon "Donald Gets Drafted."

Gladstone Gander is Donald Duck's cousin. He is also renowned for his incredible good fortune and proudly holds the title of "Luckiest Duck in the World."

Disney illustrator Carl Barks was predominantly responsible for developing the comic book version of Donald Duck beginning in 1943. He created such memorable supporting characters as Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, and Gyro Gearloose, as well as the fictional city of Duckburg. His Donald Duck scripts and artwork became so popular that they eventually earned him the nick name "The Duck Man."

Donald Duck's parents are Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck. Donald's sister is Della Thelma Duck, and his nephews are Huey, Dewey, and Louie. According to some sources, Donald and Della are twins.

Donald Duck's name in his Italian comic strips is Paolino Paperino. The first Italian comic book featuring Donald was published on December 30, 1937, and depicted him as a space traveller visiting Mars.

From 1942 to 1944, Walt Disney released six short films depicting Donald Duck's life in the U.S. Army. This series of films came to be known as the Army shorts. Cartoons included in the series include "Donald Gets Drafted" (1942), "The Vanishing Private" (1942), "Sky Trooper" (1942), "Fall Out Fall In" (1943), "The Old Army Game" (1943), and "Commando Duck" (1944)..

In The Three Caballeros, Donald Duck co-stars with a South American parrot named Jose Carioca and Panchito, a Mexican charro rooster.

On occasion, Donald Duck has been known to fight crime as the costumed superhero Super Duck (a.k.a. "The Masked Mallard" or "Super Donald"). Super Duck first appeared in the Italian version of Donald's comic book in 1969. Super Duck doesn't have any super powers, but rather uses his brains along with various gadgets and electronic gizmos to defeat criminals such as the Beagle Boys.