Duke Nukem (Captain Planet)
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- This page is about the Captain Planet and the Planeteers character. For other meanings, see Duke Nukem.
Duke Nukem is a supervillain from the Captain Planet and the Planeteers cartoon series. He wears a Hawaiian shirt along with shorts and sandals, over his irradiated body, which resembles dried nuclear waste. Nukem troubles the earth by spreading radioactivity. He first appeared in a season one episode entitled "Deadly Ransom". Though his origins are never fully revealed in the show, it is stated that he was a scientist and that his condition was a result of his own experiments (whether intentional or accidental is never clarified). He is once referred to by Kwame as "Doctor Duke Nukem".
Nukem is effectively a "living battery". He absorbs radiation to replenish his powers, and can fire beams of radioactive energy from his hands. He becomes weakened when his power reserve runs low. Nukem also likely has severe mutations to his internal organs, as he is capable of ingesting battery acid and toxic waste, which he consumes as food. Despite his nuclear abilities, Nukem can control his outputs, effectively shutting them off completely, allowing others to be near him without a radiation suit.
He is also rather strong, physically, with a thick skin and better resilience to injury than a normal human. He has taken severe injury without any damage--often resulting in Captain Planet being a lot tougher on him in fights than he would be with the other Eco-Villains, mainly out of necessity just to subdue Nukem.
Duke Nukem is accompanied by Leadsuit, a meek man who serves as his loyal assistant. While he is actually slender and wears glasses, Leadsuit's namesake lead suit is bulky and he looks rather large while wearing it. Nukem is impolite to him and usually calls him "Lead head". However, Leadsuit is effectively weak, often taking Nukem's verbal abuse and insults with little protest. Being called by his proper name by Nukem does give him great joy, however. His suit is also prone to being stolen by Captain Planet himself when he needs it to fight Nukem (leaving Leadsuit to complain about his suit being "stretched out"). He enters and leaves the suit through a door in the back. His real name is unknown. The multiplayer character of Envirosuit in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect appears to be a parody of Leadsuit.
In 'The Meltdown Syndrome' episode of the first season, after Nukem found out about a new nuclear powerplant which was already leaking radiation, he took over the plant and tried to cause a nuclear meltdown like the Chernobyl disaster. Captain Planet, however was able to stop the meltdown by throwing the contaminated pieces of the powerplant at the sun before they exploded.
While depicted as vastly intelligent in the DiC episodes, the Hanna Barbera episodes depicted him as increasingly stupid, possibly a sign of his condition degenerating.
He was voiced by Dean Stockwell in the DiC series and by Maurice LaMarche in the Hanna Barbera episodes. Jeff Goldblum voiced him occasionally. Leadsuit was voiced by Frank Welker.
His skin is a rocky yellow substance much like that of The Thing, and his hands and feet are shaped like those of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His powers are nearly identical to those of Batman villain Dr. Phosphorus. Additionally, his first name and his Hawaiian shirt may be an homage to the Raoul Duke character created by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
[edit] Toys
Duke Nukem received a toy in the Captain Planet toy line released by Tiger Toys. He was made of glow-in-the-dark plastic. He was also one of only two figures in the line to have ball-jointed hips. Duke Nukem's only playset accessory was the Exploding Reactor, a multi-piece reactor toy that would "explode" when wound up and allowed to run down.
Duke Nukem also saw a second toy, an entirely new sculpt that used his Hawaiian clothing instead of the blue jumpsuit. Lights ran through the right hand and eyes, with a tiny speaker in the chest to emit an "electrical charge" sound. It ran on 2 AAA batteries. This toy was a European exclusive, though a US release may have been planned- co-sells for the Exploding Reactor featured this toy.
