I don't know how hot of a take this is, but...
I do not like how DT17 was planning on developing Steelbeak into becoming more like DWD91 Steelbeak. I feel like they had something going with his temper revolving around others' perception of his intelligence, but to have that end up in him just using the Intelli-Ray to make himself smarter instead him like, actually developing into becoming more intelligent felt like they wasted an opportunity for an interesting character development.
In fact, even though I like Steelbeak as his own character in '17, I don't really like how they wrote him as an adaptation of '91 Steelbeak. They are FAR too different to even be considered the same character outside of name & appearance, even if he was meant to 'grow into' becoming the OG Steelbeak. & it annoys me how the reason for this was to make Steelbeak a foil for Launchpad instead of just... using a character who was already closer to Launchpad in terms of parallels, or better yet, making an original character.
There are bits & pieces of aspects on Steelbeak that I feel could've potentially made for an interesting story if it had been used & developed differently, including some tidbits of background information on Steelbeak from an official writer's tumblr, (specifically the 'cockfighting' aspect. Looking into real cockfights gives a very sad :c yet very interesting opportunity to give Steelbeak the villain origin story that he sadly always lacked) so I wanted to try reimagining Steelbeak into my image, along with giving him a potential segway into becoming a/the Big Bad of a potential (although it's definitely not going to happen) season 4.
Although Steelbeak was stated to be in his late 20’s, I decided to age him down, so his abrasive personality aligned more with his age, rather than having him seem to be a pure manchild for the sake of being a manchild. Even though I understand what the writers were going for, having Steelbeak grow into his original counterpart, as well as making him a foil for Launchpad, I would rather it be done far differently, especially the former. Steelbeak is 24 years old by the season 3 finale, which is in 2019 in my version.
Before he was recruited to FOWL, Steelbeak was a figure very close to the criminal underworld, mainly the cockfighting rings. Trafficked & a trafficker, fighter & better, he knows about the art of fiendishness like the back of his hand. He was a rather popular fighter in the rings, often being bet on the most because of his build & aggression, which is exactly what caught Heron’s eye. Even though his looks alone showed how beat he was– especially his sensitive beak, which had to be muzzled constantly because he was known for biting his opponents & damaging it constantly– the way he always got back up like he wasn’t even injured was a testament to his durability, something that could be used, exploited.
Although he reigned in the criminal scene for basically his entire life, the law finally caught up to him & the other criminals when one cockfighting tournament in Saint Canard was raided by law enforcement, & those suspected of trafficking were taken to jail, awaiting trial so they could be sent to prison for a very long time. Steelbeak was one of them. However, luckily for him, he was broken out of jail by Black Heron & given an offer he couldn’t refuse, a chance at freedom, as long as he worked under the FOWL name, as a fighter.
Now, Steelbeak isn’t ‘stupid,’ although he constantly gets labeled as such by fellow FOWL agents. He’s like any other man in his 20’s who was raised in an environment radiating with toxic masculinity. He’s vain, headstrong, aggressive, impulsive, & violent with a ‘take-no-prisoners’ attitude. He’s usually treated more as an angry dog than an actual person– or rooster, & that just makes him even more of a naturally angry person.
Treated like an angry dog, he was punished like one as well. His beak was already heavily damaged from his time cockfighting, but other FOWL agents made it far worse, but then, noticing how damaging their goods would do more harm to their goal than necessary, Black Heron decided to grant Steelbeak an upgrade, by giving him his signature steel beak. Although this led to less physical altercations, this amplified the berating & insulting he would receive for his attitude. & having it ingrained into his subconscious fueled his anger further.
At first, this was seen as useful. The more angry Steelbeak became, the more he could take his anger out on FOWL’s enemies, ensuring their victory. Steelbeak bottled up his frustrations at first. Of course, it was either being insulted at a job where he got to crack skulls, or going to prison for possibly the rest of his life, & Black Heron would constantly remind him of this fact to keep him in line. But that didn’t last forever, as eventually, months of built-up anger & frustration would inevitably cause him to have a full on crashout, towards Black Heron specifically, as she was the main one to target him. This crashout led to her needing a prosthetic for her other arm, & to Steelbeak tasting heron for the first time.
At first, it was satisfying, but when only a few weeks later, the finale happened & all his allies were disposed of or gone in one way or another, he realized that this wasn’t working. He had nothing, & he couldn’t go back to prison after everything. So, he disappeared from the map, planning to rebuild FOWL from the ground-up.
Luckily, he started to pick up certain things from his missions against the Duck family. Thanks to his time cockfighting, he instinctively, internally backpocketed information he heard or learned about his opponent, in order to abuse that weakness to defeat them, & he learned a lot from the Duck family from their inspiring moral speeches alone. He returned to Saint Canard, & once back in the criminal underworld, he used the information he learned to move his way back up from Level Zero. Although, along the way, he kept getting arrested again & again for different crimes, & for being a wanted fugitive. Instead of just bruteing his way out & moving on, he thought about his mistakes, learned from them, & adapted as such. He also met some other criminals along the way. Veteran criminals, newbies, & runaways just like him. He used the information given from them to improve himself. Instead of threatening people, he would charm them, appeal to their weakest points, make them want to work with him, & appear more powerful– not just physically– than he really was.
This approach led to him practically becoming an unofficial, underground kingpin of the Saint Canard underworld & beyond as years went by. By the time the Duck kids were 16 (2023), Steelbeak had already become powerful enough to create the new & improved FOWL.
