Fearless Leader

From left to right, Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, and Fearless Leader.

Fearless Leader is a fictional character and the principal antagonist in the 1959–1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, both shows often collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is voiced by Bill Scott.

Character overview

Fearless Leader is the dictator of the fictional nation of Pottsylvania, and the employer of the inept spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. He could always be found in his underground hideout, "Central Control." However, it seems evident that he did answer to one man himself: the diminutive Mr. Big. Mr. Big appears in two storylines of the series, "Upsidaisium" and "Metal Munching Moon Mice."

As expected from his given position and name, Fearless Leader is a strict, ruthless character, and often harshly criticizes the incompetence of his main minion Boris. He is usually shown with a long scar on his cheek. He is distrustful of his own government employees, and is known to carry the Pottsylvania treasury with him wherever he goes. Although Pottsylvania's chief spies are given ersatz Russian accents, Fearless Leader's accent seems more in keeping with the German stereotype. In fact, his sharply-angled features were taken directly from an anti-Nazi propaganda poster that had circulated during World War II. He uses some German such as "Achtung" and "Schweinhund."

In other media

• Fearless Leader appears in two live-action films: he is portrayed by Christopher Neame in Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992) and by Robert De Niro in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000).
• Fearless Leader was also the background picture seen hanging on the wall in the old newspaper cartoon, "Grin and Bear It" by Lichty, whenever the Kremlin or politburo was being lampooned.
• Fearless Leader wears a uniform that is vaguely similar to the field uniforms that were worn by the Waffen SS, with a skull and crossbones on his cap. However, their double-breasted cut with piping is closer to the style of uniforms worn by officers of Prussian dragoon regiments in World War I.
• In Jamie Gilson's book 4B Goes Wild, the strict, no-nonsense headmistress of the elementary school is called that behind her back. When the protagonist, Hobie Hanson, wins a lunch date with the headmistress in a raffle, his friends tease him as to "When are you going to eat with Fearless Leader?"