Professor Pericles

"I am The Smartest Criminal Parrot in the World, you didn't think I had a backup plan? Aha, ha, ha, ha! Until we meet again, Auf wiedersehen Mystery Incorporated."

- Pericles mocking the Mystery Incorporated.

Professor Pericles is the main antagonist of the animated series ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated''. He is a parrot who was the former leader and mascot of the original Mystery Incorporated. He and Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. are the reasons behind the original Mystery Incorporated's disappearance.

He was voiced by Udo Kier.

Personality
Professor Pericles is a genius; since his brain is no bigger than a cashew nut, this makes him, by comparison, uncannily intelligent and he prides himself as "The Smartest Criminal Parrot in the World". He is shown to be deranged and slightly insane, given his appearance and demeanor. A master escape artist, Professor Pericles was able to escape the Animal Asylum which he was confined in, despite the fact that his detention cell was a glass dome and that he had a strait-jacket on (and was even able to tie a tazer to his guard's hand and subsequently shock him into submission when he kept eye contact and remained entirely still the entire time). He appears to have a liking for sunflower seeds, like most parrots, and speaks with a distinct German accent. He also possibly suffered from an inferiority complex. When Danny Darrow attacked the new Mystery Inc, he referred to one of them as a "big, fat, insensitive know-it-all", which most likely means Pericles. This trait may have been originated from being the animal mascot despite being the smartest one of the group and also what allowed Mayor Jones to turn Pericles against his friends.

It is later revealed that all of his evil personality is a result of The Evil Entity's influence.

Appearance
Professor Pericles is an elderly parrot, who has a cataract and a big scar over his left eye as a permanent mark when Fred Jones, Sr. knocked him out years ago, caused a rock to cut his face as he was thrown to the ground. His eyes also have black eyerings from spending so many years locked inside the asylum, gives him a sinister appearance. Pericles has pink feathers in his tail, a sharp beak, a big head with white hair on the top, inside there is a brain which according to Officer Johnson is no bigger than a cashew nut, yet pound for pound is the smartest brain in the world, and two-toed feet. His skin in the light is dark purple, but is bluish-black when in the dark. He also wears a purple scarf on his neck.

When he was young, Pericles has white or light purple parts around his eyes, and he looks less creepy. In the new timeline, he simply looks like an older version of his younger self, without the creepy features like in the old timeline.

Past
Professor Pericles is once a friend of Abigail Gluck in 1930s. It is known that he first met her in Bavaria, though otherwise his early life prior to that meeting remained unknown. He took over her robot factory after her death and took control of her Kriegstaffebots.

When Ricky Owens was just a boy, Pericles met him when he accidentally crashes into a tree in Ricky's front yard, and is injured from it. Despite initial mistrust, Ricky was trusted and nursed Pericles back to health until he was healthy enough to fly again. Initially sad, Ricky was then pleasantly surprised to see Pericles flies back and the two became best friends ever since. Together, they founded the original Mystery Inc., alongside Cassidy Williams, Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves, and solved several mysteries, which inspired the new Mystery Incorporated years later. Pericles proved himself helpful in many situations such as when he was visiting the buried Darrow Mansion along with his gang, and helped investigating the old Spanish church where a monster had been sited, speculated that the monster might have led them there on purpose.

Pericles was very interested when the drawing of the Planispheric Disk was discovered, so he led the original Mystery Incorporated to a site where the first Planispheric Disk piece was found, but was corrupted by it, resulted him teaming up with Fred Jones, Sr. to betray the original Mystery Incorporated and find the Cursed Treasure of Crystal Cove. However, Jones eventually betrayed Pericles as well and threw the latter into a rock, caused the parrot's left eye to be injured due to being cut from the said rock, so Pericles was ultimately wrongly accused of a crime and sent to Crystal Cove's Animal Asylum, while his gang disappeared from the town as Fred Jones Sr. forced them to never return.

Season 1
In the present, the new Mystery Incorporated, following the orders of Ricky, who poses as Mr. E, released Pericles from his imprisonment during a chaos in the Animal Asylum.

Now freed, Pericles started to put his plans into motion. To do this, Pericles first secretly gave the criminal Aphrodite her love potion formula to influence the entire Crystal Cove, then helped with the antidote, so that he could get the help of Scooby-Doo to obtain things he needed to find the lost treasure. After the events was resolved, he ordered Ed Machine, a henchman of Mr. E, to send a message to the Mystery Gang through a tape, and told them the truth that he is behind the crime.

Pericles then haunted Mayor Jones in his home by taking over the latter's adoptive son Fred Jones Jr.'s traps under the disguise of the Shadowy Figure, and managed to steal the Mayor's piece of the Planispheric Disk, revealed to the Mystery Gang that the Mayor stole it from him years ago. He then flies away while telling the Gang that they would meet him again.

After watching the Mystery Gang using video monitors when the gang was attacked by the Obliteratrix, who is actually Alice May, a minion ordered by Mr. E to attack the Gang, Pericles thought about helping the Gang because he still needed them alive.

Towards the end of Season 1, the true mystery of what happened to Pericles along with the rest of the original Mystery Inc. in the past are finally revealed. Pericles first went to Ed Machine's house and told Ed that he wanted to deliver a message to Mr. E, but Pericles didn't want to use words and attacked Ed instead, presumably killed the latter. He later showed up again when the new Mystery Inc. was down in the Crystal Cove Caves, having used a tracker to see where the Mystery Machine was and said there was nothing to fear, but Mayor Jones, disguised as The Freak of Crystal Cove, suddenly appeared and swiped Pericles away, knocked the parrot to the ground. Despite this, he still managed to steal a piece of the Planispheric Disk from the Mystery Machine after Mayor Jones is unmasked and arrested, and mocked Scooby for failing to catch him before flying away once again, and the Season 1 finale ended with Scooby, in anger, vowed to stop Pericles at all cost.

Season 2
Pericles returns in Season 2, this time with a bigger plan as he plots alongside the rest of the original Mystery Inc. to achieve his ultimate goal.

With the mystery of him and his old gang now uncovered, Pericles summoned the former members of the original Mystery Inc. when the kids gathered the next two pieces tieing with his own amount. Mr. E then invited them into a partnership, though this may be more than a mere partnership as the old gang may miss each other's friendship. After setting up a plan to kills the new Mystery Inc., Pericles told the new gang that he lived for more than 80 years, as he recalled being a friend of Abigail Gluck in the 1930s, and took over her underwater robot factory after her death, used it to achieve what he needs. He then departed as the factory exploded, killed Cassidy Williams in the process.

Pericles eventually created a mutant cattle herd to destroy Crystal Cove and give the gang nowhere to hide the Planispheric Disk, though the Mystery Gang managed to defeat the herd, much to his anger. To force Mr. E to obey him, Pericles also implanted mutated cobra larvae in Mr. E's spinal column in his sleep to use as a death threat against him, and assumed effective control of the Destroido Corp.

After having recovered the Planispheric Disk after exchanging it from Fred to save Daphne, he returned to Destroido to find and free his master, an ancient evil Annunaki known simply as the Evil Entity. It's revealed that he knew about the cosmological event called Nibiru the entire time. Using slave labor from Crystal Cove, Pericles finally found the underground gate leading to the cursed treasure.

Following behind Mystery Inc., Pericles led his group through the elemental dimensions to the sarcophagus of the Evil Entity, where Pericles freed the Entity when Nibiru was at hand. Pericles offered himself up as the Evil Entity's vessel instead of Scooby-Doo; but instead of gaining the Entity's immense power as he'd hoped, the possession overwhelmed and killed him and transformed his body into the Evil Entity's monstrous vessel.

Post-Nibiru
After the Evil Entity was killed, in the new timeline that created when the Entity's destruction removed its influence from history, Professor Pericles is no longer evil. He is now happy and without a scar, and had become the mascot for a now-married Ricky Owens and Cassidy Williams at the Creationex Corp.

Quotes
"Well, Mystery Incorporated, it appears you made an enemy. Fortunately for you, I still require you alive."

- Pericles to the Mystery Incorporated.

"Is it, Velma? Or is it so brilliant you cannot begin to fathom its true genius?"

- Professor Pericles shows up in The Man in the Mirror.

"Hello, Ed Machine. (Ed: What are you doing here?) I'd like you to deliver a message to Ricky. Or should I call him Mr. E? (Ed: Say what you want to say Pericles, then get out of my house.) Dear Ed, you misunderstand. I don't want to say anything."

- Pericles attacks and presumably kills Ed Machine.

"Don't be afraid, Scooby. I've no reason to hurt you. I have what I came for."

- Pericles in the Season 1 finale.

"And make no mistake, Ricky, I will break any egg that gets in my way: Ed Machine, Cassidy Williams, or perhaps even you. My herd of skull cattle is perfect in every way. I have crossbred cows, piranhas, and bees to create ultimate monsters. And I'm their master. My precious creations exist for one purpose: to devour Crystal Cove. My herd of male drones shall level this city to the ground, leaving nowhere for the Mystery kinder to hide the Planispheric Disk."

- Pericles to Ricky.

"Soon Crystal Cove will cease to exist and the Planispheric Disk shall be mine. THEN no one will ever stand in my way AGAIN."

- Professor Pericles talks about his plans.

"Ah! Lovely. I see you have met what's left of Frau Glück. I met Frau Glück in Bavaria in the 1930s. She discovered the missionaries possessed the fifth and the sixth pieces of the Planispheric Disk. She built this lab and a host of robots to aid her search for the pieces. I finally found this lab and continued the Frau's work, building a legion of her Kriegstaffebots to retrieve the pieces for me. My holographic masquerade as Frau Glück bought my bots all the time they needed. And I would have gotten away with eliminating Cassidy if it weren't for you meddling kids. Now that I have everything I need, I can dispose of this place and all of you at the same time. Farewell, darling kinder. Farewell."

- Pericles about his past.

"Oh, Ricky, Ricky, my loyal Brad and Judy told me of your little mutiny. So, last night while you were asleep, I put mutated cobra larvae in your spine. Every time I press this button, a little venom is released. So, as you can see, or feel, I'm still very much in control. You do as I say. First, we steal the Planispheric Disk from the kinder, then we destroy them. WE DESTROY THEM!"

- Professor Pericles, to Mr. E.

Trivia

 * Pericles is the original Mystery Inc. equivalent of Scooby-Doo.
 * Pericles may be named for the renowned ancient Greek orator (c. 495 – 429 BC), as it fits his intricate schemes and erudite nature.
 * It is implied that, like Scooby, he is a descendant of the Annunaki, which would explain his superhuman strengh and intelligence.
 * Despite the title, Pericles never act like a Professor.
 * Pericles is most likely an African Grey parrot, due to his grey plumage and red tails, along with his sensitive nature.