Daniel "Danny" Fenton a.k.a. Danny Phantom is protagonist and main character of Danny Phantom. One day in his parents' laboratory, Danny has an accident involving the newly built "Fenton Portal" and his molecular structure was fused with ectoplasm allowing him to transform from ghost to human at will (with a call of "I'm going ghost!"). As a human, Danny Fenton looks normal enough. He is a nervous, clumsy 14-year-old boy who tries to fit in with the crowd. But as a ghost, his hair turns white, his clothes turn gray and "Danny Phantom" gains a number of new supernatural powers. In either form, Danny (as well as all other humans) can see, hear, and talk to other paranormal beings, as well as battle them. The only exception is when Danny or another ghost turns themselves invisible, which they can do at will, but is not their normal form. To save his friends and family, Danny frequently battles with various ghosts. Danny has told nobody except his friends about being half ghost, and struggles to hide his ghost identity. There have been several hints throughout the series that he has romantic feelings for Sam (Samantha), one of his best friends. However, he also develops a close relationship with Valerie during Reign Storm.

Danny Phantom has gradually increased his power and abilities as his knowledge of the ghost world matures. He has both gained completely new abilities as well as increased the power of his current ones. Below is a complete list of his currently known abilities.

1. Transform – Allows Danny to switch between human and ghost forms. He can transform the ecto-skeleton of the Phantomech as well due to it's connection with his brain. He usually accompanies his tranformation with his transformation cry, "I'm going ghost!".
2. Ghost Sense – Danny can sense nearby ghosts. When he does, a wisp of blue smoke comes out of his mouth and he shivers, getting the appearance of standing at attention or an electrical pulse going down his spinal cord.
3. Intangibility & Invisibility – Danny has the ability to turn intangible and invisible at will. With the use of intangibility, Danny can pass through most objects (except, for example, Fenton Ghost Fisher's line), becoming untouchable; Danny can also make other people and objects intangible provided he is in physical contact with them. Danny's intangibility is in part connected to his teenage emotions, as he has been known to go intangible at some very inopportune and unwanted times. It is quite common for Danny to make only a part of his body intangible (either on purpose or otherwise). When invisible, he is unable to be seen by human (and some ghost's) eyes.
4. Flying/Floating/Hovering – While in ghost form, Danny has the ability to float/fly through the air, sometimes at considerable speeds and heights. He often uses this in combat, but occassionally will do it for fun and relaxation. He can also make other humans and objects hover but must keep in physical contact with them. While floating he also has the ability to turn his bottom half into a wisp, which he most often does when he wants to fly fast, but he usually leaves his legs and the rest of his body intact while floating or flying slowly.
5. Overshadowing/Possesion – With this power, first learned by Danny in What You Want, Danny can take possession of a human being from within by flying toward and entering the person's body. This allows him to completely control that person's actions. Danny has used this power on several people, including Tucker, Dash and even his dad, for various reasons. When overshadowed, the victim keeps his original form, but his eyes and voice change to Danny's. The victim has no memory of what they did while overshadowed, but usually feel a slight dizziness and disorientation.
6. Ghost Beam – An ectoplasmic blast that usually comes out of the palm of his hand, he blasts enemies using this attack. After learning it in What You Want, he could use this power at any time, and in Memory Blank, an inexperienced Danny Phantom shot a blast out of his buttocks.
7. Green Ectoplasmic Energy Barrier – Danny can use this ability to rebound attacks from enemies or just block hits. He is only able to use this power while in Ghost Mode.
8. Duplication – Duplication is an ability Danny has not yet mastered, though he finally uses it in the TV Movie Reign Storm against Ghost King Pariah Dark in the Ecto-Skeleton. Vlad Masters, the only other known half-human, half-ghost, is the only known being to have mastered this ability. Duplication is the ability to create multiple copies of oneself, each acting and thinking separately (but coordinated as one) and with all the powers of the original. The copies are merely phantoms, however, and any physical damage will cause them to disintegrate. It's unkown whether these phantoms can exist outside of the sight or general vicinity of the original. The closest Danny has come to using this ability is to split his head in two (creating two heads on one body). One exception is when he piloted the Ecto-Skeleton, which drastically improved his powers and allowed him to duplicate with ease. At any time, the duplicates can be brought back into the original.
9. Ghost Stinger – In Public Enemies, Danny uses a Ghost Stinger attack to free Wulf from Bullet's grip.
10. Body Half Seperation – Danny has on rare occasions been known to separate his upper & lower body halves for short periods of time. Also, when his middle section was slashed by a ghost's sword, all it did was temporalily vaporize his middle (although this is probably a use of his intangibility power).
11. Teleportation – Vlad Plasmius, who is the same "type" of ghost as Danny, is able to disappear and reappear elsewhere by wrapping his cape around himself. It should be assumed that Danny will gain a similar power eventually.