Donny (Ted)

"You're mine, Ted!"

- Donny obsessed with Ted

Donny is the primary antagonist of ' and its 2015 sequel '. He is Robert's father who desperately wants Ted to give to his son. He is also Ted's biggest fan and arch-enemy.

He was portrayed by actor Giovanni Ribisi, who also portrayed Parker Selfridge in the 2009 epic gigantic blockbuster hit by James Cameron, Avatar and Tim Briggs in action film Contraband.

Beginnings
Donny came from a lower-class background. His mother had presumably left him with his father, who had one-night stands in front of him. When he saw Ted on TV one night, he immediately liked him and wanted one of his own. However, when he asked his father (who was making out with a woman on the couch) if he could have him, he refused since he had already given him a present: A rake. After his father tells him to go rake the leaves outside, Donny felt heartbroken and took one last glance at the TV screen of young Ted before reluctantly leaving.

When Robert was born, a grown-up Donny vowed to be the best father ever and let his son have anything he wants — including Ted (which may have contributed to Robert's nature).

In Ted
Donny is first introduced in a positive way. He approaches John and Ted in the park with his son Robert. Donny had remembered Ted from an interview he had years ago, where the host kept on saying prejudiced jokes because he thought Ted was ALF. He offers to buy Ted from John for Robert, but he refuses and he's a little insulted by Robert's actions towards Ted.

Later, Donny's true nature begins to take a darker form when he appears outside of the grocery store Ted works and asks Ted why he's alone. Ted pretends that he isn't alone and that Christ is with him. Sooner or later, Ted leaves with Tami-Lynn.

Finally, Donny and Robert kidnap Ted and take him to their old house, which is also their secret hideout. There, Donny's obsession with Ted comes into full circle. On the walls are hundreds of tapped magazine cut-outs of Ted as a kid and an adult. When Donny tells Ted he belongs to Robert now and that the former must do as the latter says, Ted rudely criticizes his getting away with kidnapping and says the "F" word when sarcastically complimenting this example, but Donny yells loudly at him for swearing, scaring Robert. Noticing this, Donny quickly apologizes to his son for this. Donny reveals that when he was young, he asked his dad for a talking teddy bear, but he said no; it was then that he swore that if he ever had a son, he'd never say no to his son again. He also showed Ted a basement full of destroyed teddy bears that he had used to fill Ted's place, only to realize eventually that none of them were real enough.

Donny sends Ted and Robert upstairs to play whilst he goes downstairs to dance in private. Before Robert violently rips Ted's ear off for swearing with Jesus' name and the "F" word between the last two parts of His name, he says that like his father, he needed to be punished, suggesting that his father abuses him. Ted tricks Robert into playing hide-and-seek with him and he sneaks downstairs to call John. He tells John who took him and that he thinks Donny and Robert may be lovers, but the phone is quickly disconnected by Donny.

Donny and Robert take Ted (whom they'd put in a big bag) into the trunk of the car to go somewhere. It is then that John and Lori smash into the back of Donny's car, breaking the back window and allowing Ted to escape, but during so, his stomach is ripped a bit. Ted runs into a nearby building and he's pursued by Donny. As Robert runs at John and Lori demanding "his" teddy bear back, John punches Robert in the nose and knocks him out (to Lori's shock), saying that he deserved it. Donny catches up with Ted into the building, which, in terms, is Fenway Park. Ted crawls up a stadium, but he's stopped by Donny who offers him love, rocking horses, and dancing, but of course, Ted refuses, telling Donny they're far apart from it. Donny quickly grabs him and throws him onto the field, ripping him in half by accident and draining the magic from him, killing him. Immediately, Donny runs away from a passing police car before Ted is brought back to life by Lori, wishing her life back.

In the end, reveals that Donny was arrested for kidnapping a plush toy, but the charges were dropped when he and the police realized how completely stupid that sounded.

In Ted 2
After having failed to capture Ted in the first film, Donny is now working as a janitor at the Hasbro Toy Company. He discovers that Ted's imminent court case is on the news, and decides to use this to his advantage by convincing the CEO to hire their best lawyer to ensure that Ted loses his case and retains his status as property. He also wants them to capture Ted and study him in the hopes of discovering the secret to creating more live teddy bears.

Later on, after Ted storms off to get away from John and Samantha, Donny stalks him and follows him into the New York City Comic-Con. He disguises himself as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and asks Ted for a picture, but when he reveals himself, Ted runs away. As Ted is contacting John and Samantha, Donny appears behind him and knocks him unconscious.

Just as Donny is about to cut Ted open with a kitchen knife, John and Samantha arrive at Comic-Con and knock Donny out cold. But Donny doesn't give up. As Ted, John and Samantha are leaving, Donny cuts the cables holding up a model of the Starship Enterprise, hoping the model will crush Ted. His plan fails utterly, however, when John winds up being hit by the model instead, which gets him sent to the hospital. When Donny hides from the security among the Ninja Turtle cosplayers, Ted exposes him by playing Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now", allowing security to apprehend him. With Ted now contributing to humanity and authorized as a person, Donny is charged with kidnapping and attempted murder, and was finally sent to jail. In case Donny escapes from jail or if they let him go after his prison sentence has finished again, it was presumed that his computer files were deleted on anything about Ted, preventing him from using any more ideas on his illegal experiments.

Appearance
Donny is a man, possibly in his 30s with short hair and a mustache. He wears a brown shirt with lines on it, blue jeans and brown formal shoes.

As a child, he had more hair and wore a T-Shirt with green and white stripes.

Personality
Donny is an obsessive, violent stalker. He can't accept when things don't go his way and he was apparently stuck in a child-like emotional state.

He dislikes profanity, usually responding with a scream or violence; at times, he'll simply say not to swear, though ironically, in the sequel, he says the F word (though just F itself).

Donny also likes to drink and dance to Tiffany's song, "I Think We're Alone Now."

When Robert was born, Donny promised himself to never say no to him and be the greatest father Robert could ever have.

His neglectful upbringing most likely contributed to his current mental state.

Since he had no wife (due to his wife either passing away years ago or leaving him due to his nature), Ted assumed that Robert might also be his lover (though this, of course, isn't true).

Similar Villains

 * Syndrome (The Incredibles)

Trivia

 * Giovanni Ribisi and Seth MacFarlane would go on to appear in A Million Ways to Die in the West two years later.
 * In the sequel, there is no mention of Donny's son, Robert.
 * Donny's actions are similar to Rooster Hannigan from Annie. They also look alike.