Marmaduke "Moose" Mason (often referred to as Big Moose) is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

in the

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Riverdale High School where he is typically depicted as the best

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

but the poorest student. His difficulties with school were later attributed to

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

. Mason is a Russian-American. The live action version of Moose is portrayed by

Cody Kearsley Cody Kearsley is a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Moose Mason in the The CW, CW series ''Riverdale (2017 TV series), Riverdale'' and Turbo Pokaski in the Netflix series ''Daybreak (2019 TV series), Daybreak''. Career Kearsley ...

in '' Riverdale''.

Character's background

Moose is blessed with great strength. In one sequence, he slides under a car and, from his supine position, lifts it off the ground. As a result, people often have high expectations of him regarding athletics. He has helped Riverdale High School win many matches in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

, and various other sports, though he seems to have a preference for football. Moose was originally created to serve as the personification and

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

of the jock—all brawn and no brains. In earlier days, whenever Moose talked he would start off with a "D-uh", decades before it became a colloquialism indicating something so obvious that everybody should know it. When Moose says it, however, he is not being sarcastic. In the Spanish version of the comic, Moose is called Gorilón ("Big Gorilla"). Moose's given real name is Marmaduke Mason. Other names given for Moose through the early years were Francis "Moose" McGonagal, Merton Matowski and Moose McGee in his very first appearance. His various tendencies may be inherited from one of his first ancestors to immigrate to the United States. In one story, a Russian named Laslo Kharandashikov befriends Archie Andrews's

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

forefather Andy Andrews when they meet on the same ship immigrating to the US. Laslo protects Andy from another man who wants to thrash Andy. Andy shows gratitude by finding Laslo's immigration money for him after Laslo nearly loses it. Laslo's difficulty in speaking English leads him to give his name as "Mason" to the immigration officials who let him into the country. In the Archie I stories, where the gang are depicted as prehistoric cave-dwellers, the character is referred to as the Big Fella or the Big Guy. In such depictions, his hair is long and flowing, he wears a fur loincloth and sometimes carries a club. In earlier stories, there was a similar character called Lunk who had a reddish crew cut and a slightly leaner build. In some stories one of the gang, usually Archie, asks for Moose's help with a problem that can only be solved by means of the big guy's strength or intimidating presence. In "Guardian Devil," Archie and Betty meet a runaway child whose hospitalized mother left the boy in her brother's care, but the uncle locked the boy in his room and had wild parties in the house—until Archie brought Moose over to straighten things out; after manhandling the uncle, the intimidating Moose sends the partygoers running with the simple exclamation "Scat!". In another story, Archie had tracked down two thugs who robbed the Chok'lit Shoppe, using a description given by Jughead, whom the cops had found in the store and initially accused. The thugs had just started beating Archie when Moose showed up; he picked the thugs up effortlessly and took them to the police station. While Moose is easily angered and will threaten to hurt those who upset him, he is very kind, loyal, and compassionate. He is always willing to help somebody in need, and he constantly protects his friends from bullies (often without using punches). He also cares for the well being of animals and small children. In one story, two young children vandalize a classroom in Riverdale High School but Moose takes the blame for them. Moose is friends with Archie Andrews who is his teammate in sports and very loyal to him, Jughead Jones, Dilton Doiley and Betty Cooper.

Family

Moose is the son of Jerry and Marilyn Mason. Like most characters, Moose has a sibling who is only featured a few times. Marsha Mason, Moose's freshman sister, is featured in ''Betty and Veronica Double Digest'' #20 in "Moose's Sister" (Parts 1 & 2). Marsha starts school at Riverdale High School, and Reggie Mantle began dating her. After two weeks of dating, Moose finds out and beats up Reggie for dating his sister. Marsha has been seen before as a cameo in comics. In the New Riverdale era, Moose has 5 siblings that appeared in Reggie and Me miniseries and Big Moose one shot comic. In one story, Moose's great-grandfather is revealed as ''Lazlo Kharandashikov''. At Ellis Island, afraid of being turned away because of his long name, he gives it as Lazlo Mannson, after a passing ice cream wagon. The official changes this further to Leslie Mason. He departs Ellis Island for Chicago. In one story Moose is shown to have two large, shaggy hounds as pets.

Relationships

Moose is extremely possessive of Midge Klump, his steady girlfriend, and has time and again flattened anybody ( Reggie Mantle is his most frequent victim) who seeks her affection. This possessiveness is at times taken to extremes. He's wary of any male even speaking to her, and has at times assaulted even his best friends, inflicting injuries that should, by all rights, be life-altering. There are times when Midge cannot stand Moose's jealousy and ends up scolding him, but every time he just wants to give Midge some space, she decides that she prefers the old Moose. He has threatened Archie before for various things, but since he knows that Archie is not anywhere near interested in Midge as a

girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

, this allows Moose to be more tolerant of Archie. At one time, a computer matched Archie and Midge, to Moose's fury, but Archie and Midge both stated that they weren't interested in each other, except as friends, which allowed Moose to cool off. At one point, Archie outright asks permission to date Midge, and Moose declined the request, but it showed, that at least Archie has the courtesy to ask him, whereas Reggie will stoop to dating her on the sly-which often results in Moose pounding up Reggie-as a running gag. Archie was once able to use Moose's devotion and genuine concern for Midge to help him defeat a gang of robbers who were stealing office electronics from the school. The robbers managed to bind and gag Archie and Jughead and appeared to be getting away, until Archie spotted Moose playing handball on the school grounds through a window. Archie managed to slip a note out the window to Moose saying Midge was the one being held. An angry Moose quickly subdued the gang and freed Archie and Jughead. Rather than being angry over the deception, Moose showed relief that Midge was not in any danger and joked that stopping the crooks was more exciting than playing handball was. Moose has a mean streak in many comics, and spends a lot of time hiding behind park benches inhabited by his girlfriend, Midge. He does this so that whenever somebody comes along to talk to her, he can jump out and beat him up. Often, these are false alarms; someone just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, in earlier days, whenever Moose talked he would start off with a "D-uh", decades before it became a synonym for something so obvious that everyone should know it. When Moose says it, he is not being sarcastic.

Intelligence

It is often said that he consistently scores straight F's (which, at one point, he thought meant Fantastic). Moose's learning difficulties were later revealed to be

, which made it harder for him to understand what his teachers, such as Miss Grundy, were writing on the

chalkboard A blackboard (also known as a chalkboard) is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Blackboards were originally made of ...

. However, Moose's friends never want to see him fail and are always willing to help him study. Moose has done better at school when he needs to, and is able to understand complex subjects like

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

if people explain them to him enough—something which nearly drove Reggie Mantle crazy when he acted as Moose's math

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in co ...

. A theme used in many stories is based on the Riverdale High rules that failing students are not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities. At such times, Moose has to pass a makeup test, and proves to have difficulty studying. Coach Kleats and Moose's teammates depend on Moose to help them win most of their games. Moose can always depend on a friend to tutor him, and he almost always passes the makeup test. However, sometimes their efforts backfire, and they do not win the game even if he did pass. In today's Archie world, Moose isn't as dumb as he appears. He was offered a full football scholarship to a university. When he found out that they wanted to place him into "joke classes" so he would get good grades, he turned down the offer. When asked about it, he replied "I may be dumb, but there's no reason for me to stay dumb." He also briefly dropped out of high school, but returned upon realizing he would need a

college education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

to get the jobs he would like to try. Despite his limited intelligence, Moose has a deeply sensitive side, which many people do not see. The first person he opens up to is Dilton Doiley. Moose has a deep admiration of Dilton because of his intelligence; Moose calls him his "little buddy" and will go to any length to help the diminutive genius. When Moose feels discouraged by other people's opinions of him, Dilton is the first to stick up for him. In one story, walking through the snow, the two discuss Moose's thoughts and feelings. At this point, Dilton finds that despite what people think of him, Moose has a poetic and philosophical view of certain things.

Appearance

Moose is a large fellow with a muscular build and blond hair. In early stories, he wears his hair in a crew cut. The more modern version of him sports a shaggier hairstyle

Alternate versions

In '' Afterlife with Archie'', Moose attends the Halloween school dance when the zombie apocalypse starts. When a zombified Jughead attacks the school dance, he and the others escape to Veronica Lodge's home. They decide to go swimming to take their mind off of things. In private, Midge confides in Moose that she got a cut on her hand during the confusion at the school dance, although she doesn't know from whom. Moose tries to convince her to tell the others but she disinfects the wound and reassures him that she won't turn by saying it would've already happened by now. She curls up with Moose and tells him that she loves him. When next they are seen, Midge and Moose have both turned into zombies and attack their friends who are in the pool. Smithers activates the aluminum pool cover, trapping the two zombified lovers in there.

In other media

Television

Animated

* Moose appeared in '' The Archie Show'', a 1968 cartoon series produced by

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

. He also appeared in the various spin-offs '' Archie's TV Funnies'', ''

The U.S. of Archie ''U.S. of Archie'' is a Saturday morning cartoon show on CBS from September 7 to December 21, 1974. A spin-off (media), spin-off of the popular Archie Comics, Archie comic books and The Archie Show, television show. It ran for a total of sixteen ...

'' and '' The New Archie and Sabrina Hour'' produced in the same format. He was voiced by Howard Morris. * Moose appeared in '' The New Archies'', a 1987 re-imagining of Archie and the gang. Moose was portrayed as a pre-teen in junior high. He was voiced by Victor Erdos. * Moose appeared in '' Archie's Weird Mysteries'', voiced by Jerry Longe.

Live-action

* Moose appears in the TV movie '' Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again'', portrayed by Jeff Hochendoner. He and Midge are married with a son and a successful chiropractic business. * Moose appears in '' Riverdale'', a drama series for

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, portrayed by Cody Kearsley. In this series, Moose is a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

teenager who has a sexual relationship with Kevin Keller and later dates Midge Klump who is supportive of Moose's sexuality.

Cameos

Moose has appeared briefly in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' episode "

Sideshow Bob Roberts "Sideshow Bob Roberts" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 9, 1994. Kelsey Grammer returns in his fourth major ...

", along with Archie, Reggie and Jughead, where they drive up to the Simpsons' house and dump

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

unceremoniously onto the front lawn. Moose then warns Homer to "Stay out of Riverdale!" Later, Homer, while reading an Archie comic, calls them all "stuck-up Riverdale punks." Moose shows up in ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writers, ...

'' in an Archie spoof of '' Final Destination'', where he fails to save Miss Grundy from a falling car and is tried for and put to death for her alleged murder.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Moose Archie Comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1949 Fictional characters with dyslexia Fictional players of American football Fictional baseball players Fictional basketball players Fictional LGBT characters in television Fictional male sportspeople Animated human characters Male characters in animation Male characters in comics Male characters in television Teenage characters in comics Teenage characters in television Characters created by Bob Montana