The Venture Bros./Characters: Difference between revisions

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: He had {{spoiler|begun his clone farm}} since the boys were still in infancy. Say what you will about the man, but he had foresight.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]

* [[Fan Yay]]: In Universe example. ''The Rusty Venture Show'' was apparently VERY popular in the gay community, to the point where Rusty is something of a gay icon. {{spoiler|With an ambiguous sex act named after him.}}

* [[Fetus Terrible]]: {{spoiler|He ate his twin brother in the womb}}.

** Exactly once with the Orb. Testing cosmetics on the family dog? Stuffing reanimated corpses with explosives? Training an orangutan to box? [[Only in It For The Money|All For Money]].

*** Don't forget building a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] with [[Powered By a Forsaken Child|orphan body parts as a power core]], also for profit!

* [[Mad Scientist]]/[[Mad Doctor]]

* [[Morality Pet]]: Dean in season four, but Doc keeps up his [[Jerkass]] quotient by being even meaner to Hank.

* [[Multiple Choice Past]]: According to [[Word of God]], he has trouble remembering what his actual experiences were and what were embellishments for the ''Rusty Venture'' cartoon.

* [[Only in It For The Money]]: His main motivation is to get rich, often through utterly [[Powered By a Forsaken Child|abominable means]].

* [[Punny Name]]: Doctor Venture's full name is Thaddeus Venture. Thad Venture. [[Rule of Three|thAd venture.]]

* [[Show Within a Show]]: He starred in a cartoon named after him; the writers have invoked the [[Noodle Incident]] in regard to its overall contents, contending that it is best left to the audience's imagination, as long as they know that it was the most awesome show ever.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: To some degree.

{{quote| "Really? You went with this cliche??"<br />

"All you Nazis ever want is to clone Hitler!" }}

The following tropes apply to both of the twins:

* [[The All American Boy]]: At least initially.

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Hank gradually dropped this, while Dean clings to it. {{spoiler|Dean became decidedly less shy about cursing at the very end of "Operation: P.R.O.M."}}

* [[Locked Out of the Loop]]: {{spoiler|They are unaware of being clones;}} when they eventually did see them, Dr. Venture told them the {{spoiler|clones}} were going to be Christmas presents.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: {{spoiler|Quite literally. Dr. Venture made clones of the boys as they wound up getting killed a lot (14 times to be exact). In fact, they died at the end of the first season, replace with new (but virtually identical) clones. Since then, the current incarnations have been able to stay alive.}}

* [[Shout Out]]

* [[Sleep Learning]]

 

* [[Berserker Tears]]: When he [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|kicked Dermott's ass]].

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]

{{quote| "I say follow your dreams, even if they're about a spider with your dad's face and he keeps trying to steal your penis."}}

** Then again, he could be referring to 24's dreams (who also seems to have intense daddy issues). One that is certainly one is while first talking to Triana, he eventually brings up that he goes to school in his bed "It gets very hot in the box... that my pop made."

* [[Future Loser]]: According to Orpheus' Master, this is Dean's fate if he ends up with Triana.

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Absolutely refuses to swear. Even "double dammit" is too vulgar for him. {{spoiler|Eventually subverted. The final line of the entire fourth season, was him telling the Outrider "Fuck you!"}}

* [[Hopeless Suitor]]: Apparently, to Triana.

** Especially after she gets a boyfriend.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: Defied in season three, when he starts to wear a Venture Blue speedsuit.

* [[The Load]]: It is debatable whether he or Hank is the most useless member of the main cast.

* [[Ping Pong Naivete]]: Mostly about sex.

* [[Shout Out]]: Dean's resemblance to [[Spider Man|Peter Parker]].

** And he dresses like [[Buddy Holly (Music)|Buddy Holly]].

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]:

{{quote| "It's like he's channeling dead crazy people!"}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Along with the jacket, Hank seems to have inherited this from Brock.

* [[Emo Teen]]: Hank starts going through a rebellious phase in season four.

* [[The Load]]

* [[Number One Dime]]: Brock's Jacket.

{{quote| '''Hank:''' "Hello-ski! I am, how you say? Russian Guyovitch!"}}

** He tries it three times - it works on Sgt. Hatred and Brock, amazingly.

* [[Shout Out]]: His outfit is identical to Fred's from ''[[Scooby Doo]].''

* [[Talking to Himself]]: Literally, at one point, when he makes a quick recording on his watch to describe his first time, before getting his memory wiped. Turns out he knows himself exceedingly well.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Even aside from this being {{spoiler|literally true}}, Hank is far too willing to leap into danger despite his pathetic fighting skills. The creators even specifically note that as the series progressed they developed Hank into an idiot with no sense of danger.

* [[Jerkass]]: Stupid, obnoxious, and arrogant.

** [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]: While he's all of the above, he often shows some signs of affection.

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: He takes off his shirt for Shallow Gravy's performance in "Operation P.R.O.M."

* [[Sixth Ranger]]: Hangs around with the boys (mostly Hank) a lot and even does a "Go Team Venture" with them in the season four finale. {{spoiler|He's also their half-brother, but none of the three of them know that.}}

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: With Hank.

* [[X Meets Y]]: [[Napoleon Dynamite]] with a dose of unadulterated [[Jerkass]].

** He's even removed his tattoos (except the D, due to the sensitivity of the area) and added a V tattoo on his face for "Venture". Hilariously enough, it now spells out "VD".

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Tries to kill himself when Princess Tinyfeet leaves him.

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: He wants to make Dr. Venture's life ''wonderful'' to piss off The Monarch.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Oddly enough, he barely changes in personality. (He wasn't necessarily evil or good to begin with, and was something of a [[Punch Clock Villain]].)

* [[Henpecked Husband]]: According to [[All There in the Manual|creator commentary]], and the same source said that it was going to be his main character quirk in season three. [[Aborted Arc|That didn't really happen.]]

{{quote| "I tried to blow my head off with a damn shrink ray and now I got a little baby tongue!"}}

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Carried it a lot after his [[Heel Face Turn]], less so over time.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], or at least Affability. He's more cunning than he lets on at first, but he's also a bit of a clear-cut buffoon.

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Inverted in season three, when he insists that Rusty be the one to kill him when he's [[Driven to Suicide]].

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: His aforementioned attraction to young boys, even having molested the Venture Bros. at one point before his introduction.

* [[Replacement Scrappy]]: Dr. Venture thinks of him as one for The Monarch, and later {{spoiler|Hank and Doc consider him one to Brock}}.

* [[Shotacon]]: As he constantly reminds us. He seems to be getting better with time, though.

* [[Talking to Himself]]: Jackson Publick voices Hatred, Hank, the Monarch, and Pete White, so he does it a ''lot'' while playing this role.

* [[Hero of Another Story|Villain Of Another Story]]: Prior to his debut, he was a catch-all reference for a villain that 21 and 24 raided for equipment.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: For both his own daughter and the Venture Brothers

* [[Powered By a Forsaken Child]]: Didn't have anything to do with the incident, but [[Trope Namer|named the trope.]]

{{quote| "Get me... my BLUE WINDBREAKER!!!"}}

 

Tropes associated with Jefferson:

* [[Badass Normal]]: Originally the only non-mystical member of the Triad. Later on he's revealed to be between worlds, which while impressive is also an incredibly specific ability.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Of Blade the Vampire Hunter.

* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: He often complains about the fact that there are no Blaculas for him to fight, and even implies that he'd be lost if he came up against a non-black vampire. However, he does make up for it with useful things like military training.

* [[The Hunter]]

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: He hunts "Blaculas." ''Not'' African-American vampires, because there is not a sizable African-American population in ''Britain''.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Foil]]: To Orpheus. Even more apparent when they move in together.

* [[Leitmotif]]: Okay, so it may have only been in one episode ("What Goes Down Must Come Up"), but when the triad are performing magic, it's implied that The Alchemist has one too. When Orpheus does some magic, his leitmotif plays and when The Alchemist does some magic immediately afterward, a little trumpet piece plays. And immediately after that, when it's Jefferson's turn and it's revealed that he has no magic to do, it's completely silent.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Frequently the voice of reason for the Order of the Triad.

* [[Straight Gay]]: Mostly.

** [[Camp Gay]]: When he wants to be.

 

=== Orpheus's Master ===

* [[Cynical Mentor]]

* [[The Faceless]]: We've never seen his ''true'' form, if he even has one.

** Also Carl, Chris's boss at the convenience store in [[Family Guy]].

** Or [[Archer|Sterling Archer]].

** She's now studying magic herself, but her personality remains the same.

* {{spoiler|[[Put On a Bus]]}}

 

 

* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]: How he started out, even taking on Captain Sunshine while still an unlicensed rookie villain. As of season four, he's reversed that position to be a big fish in a small pond.

* [[Camp Straight]]

* [[Companion Cube]]: The Butter-Glider. He even took it on a picnic. [[Cargo Ship|He had it in bed with him. And defended it from his wife.]]

** Before that it was revealed that he talks to his dead stuffed cat, Mister Mostly Mittens.

* [[Large Ham]]: He loves classic-style villain speeches.

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: When the Guild prevented him from arching Dr. Venture, {{spoiler|he signed up to arch Jonas Venture, Jr. and after a clever [[Xanatos Gambit]], earned the right to terrorize JJ's immediate relatives.}}

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Gets into rivalries with Baron Underbheit and Sgt. Hatred over who gets to be Rusty's [[Arch Enemy]].

* [[Raised By Wolves]]: Claims to have been raised by monarch butterflies after his parents died in a plane crash when he was a preteen. The money for his college education and villainy were provided for by a trust fund.

* [[Skewed Priorities]]: Everything takes backseat to tormenting Dr. Venture, except for [[Pet the Dog|his relationship with Dr. Girlfriend.]]

* [[Talking to Himself]]: Voiced by Jackson Publick, and frequently interacts with Hank, 24, and Sgt. Hatred.

* [[Trigger Happy]]: Approach him cautiously; he tends to shoot a lethal dosage of darts into the mouth of anybody who startles him.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: He is the story's protagonist as often as the antagonist.

----

Tropes associated with Dr. Girlfriend:

* [[Cross Dressing Voices]]: voiced by Doc Hammer, who uses the most masculine voice that he can manage.

* [[Dark Action Girl]]

** Incidentally, her first name is Sheila.

* [[Morality Pet]]: Her main purpose is to make the Monarch more relatable.

* [[Nice Hat]] - based on that of Jackie Kennedy Onassis (along with her entire look for the first couple of seasons). Ironically, she has no idea who that is. It's implied that the guild came up with the persona for her when she wanted a 'competent female counterpart of a great leader' motif and rejected their more [[Stripperiffic]] ideas.

** Nowadays she typically dresses as like a female version of the Monarch, complete with [[Nice Hat|Nice Crown]].

* [[Nominal Importance]]: A Deconstruction of this trope.

* [[Red Shirt]]: Again, Deconstructed.

* [[You Bastard]]: Gives this to {{spoiler|#21}}

 

=== Brock Samson ===

[[File:Brock_Samson_9786.jpg|frame]]

 

Brock Samson is the man's man of secret agents. Disdaining guns in favor of his ever-present Bowie knife, he has a license to kill and the overpowering desire to use it. Fiercely loyal to Dr. Venture and the boys, Brock will let nothing stand in the way of their safety, be it ninja, super-villain or Chupacabra.

* [[The Ace]]: A very over-the-top and violent variation.

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: His peers in the secret agent world see him as one, saying that he's a top-caliber operative wasting his time playing babysitter to a washout of a super-scientist.

* [[Badass]]

* [[Berserk Button]]

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]

* [[He's Back]]: Well, technically, he was close by all along.

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Dr. Venture never has to worry about villains; Brock will handle them.

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: lawnmowers, Bibles, sharks, jawbones, anything that is not a gun.

* [[Knife Nut]]: When given an assortment of [[James Bond|Q]]-style gadgets to use, Brock pulls out his knife and insists that it is the only weapon he will ever need.

* [[Made of Iron]]: and with the power to turn anyone opposing him into [[Made of Plasticine|Plasticine]].

* [[Only Sane Employee]]: The boys' nanny ''and'' the only thing protecting Dr. Venture from death by supervillain. For a long time he seemed to be the only competent member of the team.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Towards the Venture brothers themselves.

* [[The Fundamentalist]]: Not really.

* [[A Good Name for A Rock Band|A Good Name For A Superhero]]: According to [[Word of God|Doc Hammer]], he was created just because Doc desperately wanted to use the name "Holy Diver" for a character.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Shore Leave is deadly accurate with his pistols, being able to shoot specific targets on 21's costume from a large distance. One handed.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: "Holy Diver" is a sailor with an anchor/cross tattoo on his chest; he was specifically created around this idea. Sky Pilot has a matching up arrow/cross tattoo, but it's not as punny.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: 21 in particular loves to hang them, such as commenting on their [[Plot Armor]].

* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Subverted with 24.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: 24 is voiced as an imitation of Ray Romano. Out of costume, 21 and 24 look like [[Kevin Smith]] without a beard and Jerry Seinfeld with a unibrow, respectively.

* [[Plot Armor]]: They start bragging about it in season three. Not a good idea, as it costs 24 his life.

* [[Punch Clock Villain]]

* [[Talking to The Dead]]: In season four, 21 starts talking to 24's skull.

** {{spoiler|In "Operation P.R.O.M.", when Dr. Orpheus helps 21 realizes that one of 24's ghost friends isn't actually dead yet, 24 vanishes, and Gary breaks down in tears. This indicates that 24 was a figment of 21's imagination the entire time. This is seemingly contradicted by 24 communicating with one of Monstroso's dead henchmen when 21 isn't exactly present onscreen, but this could simply have been an extension of 21's hallucination.}}

** When incessantly asked about it, Jackson Publick confirmed that {{spoiler|they ''intended'' for 24 to not really be a ghost, but ultimately, it's open to interpretation (although the "24 really was a ghost" theory only works under very specific and unlikely circumstances }}

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Among The Monarch's henchmen.

** However in the same episode this badassery asserts itself he fails to find 24's killer, flubbed his attempt at Chinese Water Torture, realized that his friend's death could've been avoided if he hadn't been such a lazy coward, and accidentally gives his boss horrendous food poisoning, causing the Monarch to lose out on his chance at appearing in a high-profile supervillain magazine.

* [[Took a Level In Jerkass]]: In "The Lepidopterists".

* [[Ascended Extra]]

{{quote| '''Doc Hammer:''' We took silhouettes and gave them an episode.}}

* [[Multiple Head Case]]: They had to spend some time adjusting and coordinating to this arrangement. Dragoon insists that he will eventually take over the whole body.

* [[Retired Badass]]: Guild masterminds, and Dragoon still had some fight in him before losing his body.

* [[Stout Strength]]/[[Acrofatic]]: Dragoon, prior to their merging.

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Not like they have much of a choice.

* [[Manly Gay]]

* [[Prison Rape]]: He tried to rape The Monarch once, but he couldn't get it up because Monarch looked too much like a girl from behind. He even brought him back to his cell, but still felt nothing.

 

=== Monstroso ===

* [[Amoral Attorney]]: He's a ''supervillain lawyer.''

* [[The Brute]]: Subverted. He's a [[Man of Wealth and Taste]] [[Amoral Attorney]] who happens to be a ten-foot-tall wrestler.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]

* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]

* [[Eyepatch of Power]]

* [[A Father to His Men]]

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: He knows of secrets even ''[[Hunter S Thompson|Hunter]]'' is unaware of, all while acting like a rather naive fellow.

** He upgrades this to [[Obfuscating Insanity]] when {{spoiler|he pretends that he truly believes himself to turn into the [[Incredible Hulk]]. This is a ploy to flush out the two O.S.I. moles Cardholder and Doe who are gaslighting him to turn him insane and take over the O.S.I.}}

Tropes associated with the Captain:

* [[Combining Mecha]]: "[[Voltron|I form the right arm!]]"

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: He was never all that evil, but he's not that good of a good guy, either. He gets annoyed when JJ dredges up his "bad guy" past.

* [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]

* [[Big Bad]]: Mutual enemy to Dr. Venture and The Monarch in season two.

** And thanks to set up in season four, is sure to be one for season five.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: After getting kicked out of the Guild, he gets a little...[[Sanity Slippage|batty]].

* [[Companion Cube]]: In the fourth season, he now has a new Guild consisting of a toaster, a mug and one of Dr. Girlfriend's shoes. Turns out they're not so harmless, as he manipulates them with his detached invisible limbs to use in combat.

* [[Touch of Death]]: Though it's been shown in "Bright Lights, Dean City" he can control it to merely knock out his foe if necessary.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: By season four has gone completely off his rocker. See [[Companion Cube]].

* [[Wicked Cultured]]

* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway]]: Subverted. In his first appearance, his only [[Incredibly Lame Pun|visible]] power is having invisible limbs. Turns out he's got more.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: Well, he was always a dick, but he's dropped the pretense now.

* [[Harmless Villain]]: Mostly as a supervillain, he hasn't quite got the hang of it.

* [[I Have No Son]]: He was incredibly cold to his own infant son, Rocket, and didn't seem to miss him at all.

** Because he says Cody isn't really his son.

** {{spoiler|Actually, Kano just broke the ORB, but had orders to kill him.}}

** {{spoiler|Incorrect; it was Rusty's ''grandfather'' who was spared by his bodyguard, Sandow. Kano may well have killed Jonas after all, which is made especially ironic by the fact that Sandow had already rendered the so-important ORB useless.}}

* [[Posthumous Character]]

* [[Spirit Advisor]]: But only while Rusty is off his drugs.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Somewhat subverted in that he acted as one to Rusty, and by "Acted" we mean sneaking out whenever his son tried talking about his issues and calling him ungrateful for [[I Just Want to Be Normal|not enjoying the life of a boy adventurer]].

 

=== Col. Gentleman ===

{{quote| '''Jackson Publick (in character during episode commentary):''' "Of course I have sex with Kiki! He's ''beautiful!'' That doesn't make me gay, it makes me smart!" }}

** He's also the first person Shore-Leave goes to for info on a Rusty Venture.

* [[Manly Gay]]: Although it's somewhat clear he strongly prefers men as a rule; his autobiography is titled ''Gentleman Prefer Gentlemen'', after all.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: He is essentially what you would get if William S. Burroughs were played by [[Sean Connery]].

* [[Incredible Shrinking Man]]: With a [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock]] at tiny size.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: When he was a giant he bore a striking resemblance to [[Andre the Giant]].

 

[[File:otto_aquarius_9957.jpg|frame]]

* [[Atlantis]]

* [[Fish Person]]

 

=== Swifty ===

----

Tropes associated with Jo(h)nny:

* [[Wangst]]: Deliberately invoked in as dramatic a way as possible.

* [[Writing Around Trademarks]]: The writers are no longer allowed to call him "Jonny Quest" so that he doesn't do too much damage to the brand name.

* [[Nice Guy]]

* [[Nice Hat]]

* [[Shadow Archetype]]: To Orpheus. Both are necromancers, both are incredibly powerful, but while Orpheus is more skilled due to all of his training, the Outrider had to get there through shortcuts, and while Orpheus speaks in a grandiose manner and is so immersed in his work he and his wife drifted apart. The Outrider is fairly personable, has no trouble interacting with people, and is now married to Orpheus's ex-wife.

 

* [[Goth]]

* [[Take That]]: He's [[Stealth Pun|lame]] and looks like ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'''s male lead.

 

=== Col. Bud Manstrong ===

Tropes associated with Manstrong:

* [[Chaste Hero]]

 

=== Lt. Anna Baldavich ===

* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: The Monarch killed his first Wonderboy, leaving him terrified that it'll happen again.

* [[Legacy Character]]: {{spoiler|He's the second Captain Sunshine. His butler Desmond was the first, and has the same power-set.}}

* [[Manly Gay]]

* [[Mistaken for Pedophile]]: [[Word of God|According to Jackson]], {{spoiler|he's not a pedophile, just REALLY emotionally scarred}}.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: [[Michael Jackson|Lives in a Neverland Ranch-style mansion, and has a slightly creepy devotion to his young sidekick.]]

** It's notable to point out that the episode in which Captain Sunshine made his first appearance was written ''before'' [[Too Soon|Michael Jackson's death]].

* [[The Power of the Sun]]

* [[Replacement Goldfish]]: Desperately tries to make Hank into his new Wonderboy, as a way of coping with the previous Wonderboy's death at the hands of the Monarch.