Dale is Flash Gordon's constant companion in his adventures, as well as his one true love. The emperor Ming the Merciless is immediately attracted to her and the early strips were essentially based on Flash’s heroic efforts to rescue Dale from Ming's many attempts to marry her. Filmation’s Flash Gordon’s Bible portrayed Dale Arden as follows:
Dale Arden is introduced in the first Flash Gordon story, July 7, 1934, as simply "a passenger" on the plane Flash is flying on. After the plane is hit by a meteor, Flash saves Dale by parachuting to the ground. The two are then abducted by Dr. Zarkov, who takes them on his rocket to the planet Mongo. In the 1930s comic strips, Dale often comes into conflict with other female characters who desire Flash romantically.
Comic books
In the 2011 Dynamite ComicsFlash Gordon: Zeitgeist, Dale Arden is a cartographer and researcher for the State Department in 1934. As in Raymond's original story, she and Flash are abducted by Zarkov and brought to Mongo. In the later Dynamite Comics Flash Gordon series, Dale Arden is a modern-day science journalist with a special interest in the space program, as well as a feminist. She travels with Zarkov and Flash on the former's Z-Plane to Mongo.
Irene Champlin took the role for the 1954 Flash Gordon television series. Champlin was praised for transforming Arden from the typical damsel in distress of the serials into a trained scientist and a "quick thinker who often saved from perishing".
Meltem Mete portrayed in Dale in the 1967 Turkish filmFlash Gordon's Battle in Space. Here Dale is depicted as a spy who helps Flash.
Diane Pershing provided the voice for the character in the 1979 Filmation series. Filmation's version of the character was a newspaper reporter.
During the course of the 1980s Marvel animated seriesDefenders of the Earth, Dale is captured and killed by Ming, but her consciousness is left trapped inside a crystal Flash uses to power the Defenders' base on Earth, Monitor. Dale is reborn as the heart of the base, Dynak.
Lexa Doig voiced Dale in the 1996 animated series Flash Gordon.
Gina Holden portrayed Dale in the 2007 Flash Gordon television series.
Parodies
In the 1974 adult film spoof Flesh Gordon, the character is renamed Dale Ardor and is portrayed by Cindy Hopkins, aka Suzanne Fields.
