Dick Dastardly

""DRAT! DRAT! DOUBLE DRAT!!""

- Dick Dastardly's famous quote Richard "Dick" Dastardly (also simply known as Dick Dastardly) is a recurring villain from many Hanna-Barbera television productions.

Wacky Races
His first appearance, Dastardly appears as one of the many racers in a cross-country rally. Along with his dog partner and sidekick Muttley, he piloted the Mean Machine, which was equipped with all sorts of traps and hazards that he uses in his many attempts to cheat in the race. Dick, however, never won a single race, because his plans always fail because of both his and Muttley's incompetence, the other racers already being prepared somehow for his traps, or simply by his own horribly rotten bad luck. His plans generally backfire on him anyway, making him finish last in most races, if he does end the race at all. Sometimes, he does have the opportunity to win the race without cheating, but fails to do so because of little details noticed at the last second (to the point that it is shown he could have won, had he not cheated in the first place).

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
His second major appearance as a villain, Dick and Muttley are joined by two new henchmen named Zilly and Klunk, piloting the planes of the Vulture Squadron. His goal was to catch the pigeon Yankee Doodle Bird for his unseen employer the Chief, who carried messages for the opposing armies. Just like in Wacky Races, all of his plans fail miserably due to the incompetence of not only himself, but his subordinates as well, and the pigeon always escapes unscathed while Vulture Squadron is forced to retreat and lick their wounds like a pack of wild animals. It was also a running

Wacky Races Forever
He is hired by Mr. Vice Roy to win the race so Roy can take over Perfect Industries, and of course he fails.

Yogi's Treasure Hunt
Just like any other series, this is similar to the Indiana Jones series. Where Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley races to take the treasure from Yogi Bear's gang for evil deeds. Dastardly always ends up losing when he races for the treasure against Yogi's gang.

Personality
Being an infamous card-carrying villain, Dick Dastardly enjoys causing problems of any kind, and becomes infuriated when his plots end in failure. He attempts to build all kinds of complicated machinery, contraptions and whatnot to trip up his opponents, although they mostly end up doing him and his comrades much more harm than good. Although incompetent in his own personal right, he remains persistent in his attempts to spread villainy. And what's worse, he is dishonest, intelligent, cranky, kinky, determined, arrogant, sneaky, treacherous, abusive, rowdy, destructive, loud-mouthed, sinister, devilish, ill-tempered, cocky, kooky, deceitful, attentive, self-absorbed, temperamental, alert, ruthless, daring, lion-hearted and mischievous.

Trivia

 * Dick Dastardly has become a kind of go-to villain for various Hanna-Barbera specials and series, owing to his easy recognizability.
 * His voice actor used much the same voice as he used for the even more iconic villain Gargamel from The Smurfs.
 * When the Hanna-Barbera crossover cartoon Laff-A-Lympics was made in the 1970's, it ran into several legal problems with characters they intended to use. Hanna-Barbera's version of Jeannie (I Dream Of Jeannie) was not owned by them, nor were Josie And The Pussycats. Dick Dastardly and Muttley were also victims of this, though it was a mistake. Believing that the two were owned or co-owned by another company (they weren't), substitutes were made in the form of the Dread Baron and Mumbly. Mumbly had once been a heroic dog detective who talked in Muttley-speak, and in a comic based on Laff-A-Lympics, the Baron was revealed to be Dick's identical twin brother.
 * Dick Dastardly bears a striking resemblance to Waluigi from the Mario series as their personalities are similar and their signature color is purple and his personality is very similar to the Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons, Dishonest John from Beanie and Cecil and Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties.