Fearless Leader

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

Fearless Leader was a villain on the 1959-1964 animated television series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, both shows often collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle. Fearless Leader's true name was never given during the show's run.

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

As expected from his given position and name, Fearless Leader was a strict, ruthless character, and often harshly criticized the incompetence of his main minion Boris. Although Pottsylvania's chief spies were given ersatz Russian accents, Fearless Leader's accent seemed 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. The nicest thing Fearless Leader ever wrote about Boris Badenov was sending a picture of himself to Boris with the words "Drop DEAD Signed Fearless Leader'.

During the series' original run, Fearless Leader was usually a fairly minor character, but in the 2000 live-action/animated feature The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, he was played by Robert DeNiro and given a larger role than he had previously.

"Fearless Leader" also is sometimes used sarcastically for a person in a leadership or command position. For example, in the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Raphael often sarcastically calls Leonardo "Fearless Leader," and Marco often calls Jake by the same name in Animorphs.

The phrase may also be a takeoff on, or a parallel to, the expression "Peerless Leader", which was applied to people such as the early 20th century Baseball Hall of Famer Frank Chance.

[edit] Triva

Other examples of the German scarred face and or monacle "Fearless Leader" stereotype are Erich Von Stroheim; Otto Preminger;Colonel Klink and General Skarr.