The Scooby-Doo franchise is one of the longest-running animated franchises of all time. Not only has the Mystery Incorporated Gang seen 13 television shows, but also nearly fifty films released in the last half-century. Scooby and Shaggy often take center stage in individual plotlines through these adventures, but Daphne Blake has accumulated her own massive fan base as well.
While Daphne has seen many forms and has been played by many actresses since her original appearances in the late 60s, there are some versions and subplots for Daphne that have worked better than others.
7 Buffy Daphne (Scooby-Doo 2002)
The list of best versions of Daphne has to include Sarah Michelle Gellar. The 2002 Scooby-Doo film is one of the few truly great examples of live-action casting for an animated property. The entire Scooby-Doo gang was brought to the screen flawlessly, and Daphne was no exception as Gellar took the role and made it her own.
The traditional view of Daphne as a damsel in distress was completely blown away by Gellar’s take, which saw the character learn karate and kick some ass in her own right. This Buffy-style take on the character was an ingenious way to bring the role into the 21st century.
6 Reporter Daphne (Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island)
One of the early Scooby-Doo films saw Daphne in another role that made a lot of sense. When the gang went to a mysterious island that turned out to be infested with zombies, it was with Daphne running and hosting a successful TV show and looking for a fresh scoop from the strange inhabitants.
This Daphne had her own drive and was even the one to lead the gang into this adventure. It was excellent to see her taking charge and seeking out the mystery. She was even Fred’s boss, as he was working on her show as a cameraman, giving her an element of control in the group that she had often lacked up to that point.
5 Pilot Daphne (Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness)
Daphne’s journey in Moon Monster Madness is a little different, but the development of the character and the journey she goes through are both important and hilarious. At the beginning of the film, Daphne fails a driving test and laments her attempts to finally gain independence.
But after Scooby and Shaggy win a trip to space, Daphne learns how to do many surprising new things as an astronaut and gets into a conflict with Velma, who expects herself to be the better astronaut. All this ends with Daphne and Velma’s relationship being affirmed even better, and with Daphne figuring out how to pass her driving test.
4 Leader Daphne (The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo)
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doowas a strange show. All of a sudden Velma and Fred had been abandoned, and later retconned to be working during that summer, while Daphne’s plane fell off-course and ended up with her, Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy in the Himalayas.
The gang was shifted around a lot in this show, and Daphne most of all as she suddenly embodied the roles of herself, Fred, and somewhat of Velma to boot. It was a huge leadership role for her and an impressive character arc, which would be revisited in Scooby-Doo And The Curse Of The 13th Ghost with Fred and Velma along for the ride this time.
3 Clown Daphne (Big Top Scooby-Doo!)
Big Top Scooby-Doo was the eventual film where the gang took on a werewolf at long last. This happened while they went undercover as part of a circus, trying to figure out the identity of the werewolf who was trying to scare everyone off. As such, the gang all learned circus acts and Daphne started training as a clown.
Daphne, a character always obsessed with her looks, becoming a clown and learning to operate under a completely different set of circumstances wasn’t having the easiest time. She also had to break down the hardened, jaded other clowns in the circus and ended up befriending them. It was a completely different moment in Daphne’s history from the norm.
2 Daphne & Fred At Last (Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright)
The will they/won’t they relationship between Daphne and Fred has long been a source of interest for Scooby-Doo viewers. Sometimes the two are together, sometimes they are teasing getting together, but often they don’t appear to be with each other at all even though it makes a lot of sense.
Scooby-Doo Stage Fright is a rare occasion when the audience is treated to them finally getting together after so much time spent waiting. The duo is part of a talent show where they’ll be singing together, and the gang is simultaneously trying to draw out a phantom. Throughout the whole film, both are second-guessing themselves as they try to figure out how to ask the other out, with them finally ending up together in the climax of the film.
1 Existential Crisis Daphne (Scooby-Doo And The Cyber Chase)
One of the best versions of Daphne is when she had the opportunity to confront the former, original version of herself. In Scooby-Doo And The Cyber Chase, the gang meets their former selves in cyberspace and gets the opportunity to interact with the versions of themselves that began the original TV show, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Daphne’s simple version versus the more fleshed-out and modernized character was great to see. It showed the past, the original against the modern, and was a great film. It was also one of the early direct-to-video films that gave a more mature version of Daphne as a character.