The Venture Bros.: Difference between revisions

** Brock Samson as well -- the posterboy for the [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]], as long as the solution is killing something.

** The super-intelligent, incredibly-handsome, fabulously-wealthy, and outwardly-perfect Dr. Jonas Venture. Jonas Jr. skirts this trope but keeps from falling in by being a dwarf who spent several decades being mistaken for a tumor.

* [[Added Alliterative Appeal]]:

** Go-Fish's specialties: Aquatic Annihilations, Moist Murders, Sea Slayings, Liquid Lynchings.

* [[Anticlimax]]: {{spoiler|The Orb}}

** Pretty common on this show. Notable examples include Home Insecurity, where The Monarch and Underbeit trade lasers and daggers, and get ready to fight, but peter out because they were just grandstanding. Also, Bright Lights Dean City, where The Revenge Society, made of newcomers, and old faces, have spent the entire B-plot trying to kill Dr. Venture, and they finally have him surrounded, until one guy trips and [[It Makes Sense in Context|sends Dr. Venture to another dimension]].

* [[Anything That Moves]]:

** In a DVD commentary for season two, Col. Gentleman was stated to be above sexuality. "Of course I'm having sex with Kiki, what would you do with him? Look at 'im, he's beautiful! That doesn't make me gay, that makes me smart!"

** Otto Aquarius aka [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]]/[[Sub-Mariner|Prince Namor]]

** Brown Widow, an actual [[Spider Man]] living in New York, who shoots webbing out of the spinnerets located on his lower back.

** Molotov Cocktease is based off Marvel's Black Widow.

** This is [[Lampshaded]] with Dr. Entman/Humongoloid. Brock says that Entman reminds him of an unnamed [[Marvel Comics]] [[Ant Man|character]].

* [[Creator Cameo]]: [[Doc Hammer]] [http://i43.tinypic.com/ao5q9i.png apparently went to high school with Dermott.]

* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: Implied to be the bane of Jefferson Twilight, [[Blaxploitation|Blacula]] hunter, since he exclusively hunts black vampires. [[Subverted|Later countered]] when it's revealed that he is a former army vet and has a ton of practical skills such as the ability to drive a tank. That said, abandoned, fueled-up, ready-to-drive tanks that can actually be driven by one guy are probably ''much less'' common than Blaculas.

* [[Cryptic Background Reference]]: Many characters and elements started as offhand references. Baron Ünderbheit, Monstroso, Sgt. Hatred, Truckules and Captain Sunshine were all briefly alluded to as part of the show's world-building before they became important parts of the story.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Though ''any'' scene where Brock puts a beatdown on the Monarch's henchman is an example, nowhere is this more noticeable than in the first episode where he runs them over with his car. He had to turn his windshield wipers on to clear the blood away so he could find more to run over.

* [[Freudian Slip]]: When the Monarch is handing out orders on who each of his henchmen is to "find and subdue," Dr. Mrs. the Monarch accidentally says "find and ''seduce'' Brock Samson."

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: Sergeant Hatred. "I'm going to make his life wonderful! And you can't do squat about it!"

* [[Gambit Pileup]]: "Operation P.R.O.M." is this trope

* [[Genius Bonus]]: After hired killer [[Le Tueur]] is killed by Brock with his own sword, Brock asks the boys to call the cleaner and tell them "they have a Damian Hurst" on their hands. Damian Hurst is a well known conceptual artist who frequently uses large amounts of splattered animal blood on his art pieces.

** And to {{spoiler|[[Edgar Allan Poe]] in the fake preview for "Escape to the House of Mummies part 3" }}

* [[Never Found the Body]]: {{spoiler|Henchman 1/Scott Hall.}} After two seasons of being presumed dead, {{spoiler|he appears in season four as "Zero."}}

** The Trailer for ''The Better Man'' focused on a [[Department of Redundancy Department|"Hell Beast From Hell,"]] who was even in the [[Cold Open]] and wasn't even from Hell. Despite physical appearances, it was ''not'' on the level of Cthulhu. The rest of the trailer talked about Triana entering a "portal to the Second World." Except it's ''not'' a portal to the Second World. Orpheus doesn't ''have'' a portal to the Second World. Half the episode ''centered'' on Orpheus not having a portal to the Second World.

** None of the season four trailers can be trusted: AT.ALL!

* [[Noodle Incident]]: The reason the Monarch hates Dr. Venture.

** Dr. Venture is understandably concerned when he loses a kidney in the first episode, because he had already lost the other one before the series.

* [[Not Me This Time]]: When Rusty and Brock are {{spoiler|knocked out and kidnapped by a flying coffin}}, Hank and Dean immediately call the [[Big Bad|Monarch]] and demand he return them. He responds that it wasn't him this time, but "I have something planned for Thursday."

** Rusty proclaims this in "Pomp and Circuitry" when the new wing of State University blows up -- tacitly admitting responsibility for the lab accident that cost Baron Underbheit his jaw {{spoiler|even though it was actually the Monarch.}}

* [[Perky Goth]]: Triana Orpheus, with the twist that her single father is a [[Nice Guy]] [[Large Ham]] Necromancer.

* [[Pineal Weirdness]]: Dr. Venture's [[Lotus Eater Machine]] "The Joy Can" operates by creating a direct link to the subject's pineal gland.

* [[Pinky Swear]]: Between the Monarch and Dr.Girlfriend.

* [[A Pirate 400 Years Too Late]]: The episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso".

* [[Power Perversion Potential]]: Orpheus's Master is a shape-shifter and [[Genre Savvy|well aware]] of the benefits. First demonstrated when he takes the form of Cerebus and lets one of his three heads continuously lick his genitals, which he admits to loving (but can also taste, which is maddening). Then later when he takes the form of Catherine the Great's horse (a scene that was mostly cut), and finally [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when he takes the form of Orpheus's surprisingly ''still'' hot ex-wife and claims he's going to jump rope naked in front of a mirror, in her body, after Orpheus leaves. "I mean would you look at these breasts? You could ''bounce a penis'' off these!"

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Dean launches one at the end of Operation P.R.O.M.

* [[Product Placement]]: Brock: "Ever heard a ''Real Doll''? It's a type of sex doll that you can make look like anyone. You can even put a uhhh.."

* [[Psychic Nosebleed]]: Happens to Dr. Orpheus when he tries to probe Dr. Henry Killinger's mind.

* [[Shotacon]]: Sgt. Hatred. Probably Captain Sunshine, though his obsession with Wonderboy ''may'' be non-sexual.

** Word of God from Jackson Publick's blog says this is not the case for Captain Sunshine

* [[Shown Their Work]]: The stolen Rembrandt painting that Phantom Limb tries to sell to a Mafioso is a real painting that is currently missing.

* [[Silence, You Fool]]: The Council of Thirteen in the season three opener. Lampshaded when the first council member to shout it out has to explain himself to one of his confused comrades ("I was just trying to sound intimidating."), then subverted when another member attempts it and repeatedly screws up the timing ("Ok, you need to do that when SHE'S talking.").

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: The Murderous Moppets.

* [[Those Two Guys]]: Pete White and Billy Quizboy, #21 and #24, Watch and Ward

* [[Thrown From the Zeppelin]]: Literally in "ORB."

* [[Time Travel]]: "Escape To The House Of Mummies Part II" with Grover Cleveland's Presidential Time Machine.

{{quote| '''Doctor Orpheus''': How fast are the spikes?<br />

'''Doctor Venture''': Uh, slower than "haunted house" spiked walls but not quite as slow as "mad scientist" spiked walls. }}

{{quote| '''Hank:''' Again! Again!}}

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Captain Sunshine's powers don't work at night.

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: We never really find out exactly what Doctor Girlfriend said to Monarch at the end of season two.

** This happens a ''lot.'' A lot of subplots are resolved just by virtue of the episode ending: Doc getting stuck in a wall, Doc and Sgt. Hatred being busted by the police while Hank runs away, Phantom Limb's fate at the end of "The Revenge Society," and the entire B-plot of "Return to the House of Mummies Part 2" ([[Don't Explain the Joke|of course, that was the point.]]) Usually helped out by [[Rule of Funny]], as many of these resolutions are either boring or [[Noodle Incident|funnier in the audience's imagination]].

** The Impossibles (save Dr. I) fall into this category and [[Blessed With Suck]]: Sally's skin is invisible (making her a walking anatomy model) and her power is to make it ''opaque'', Ned's entire body is severely callused (though not invulnerable, so he's in constant pain), and Cody is instantly combustible with oxygen (he ''also'' is physically sensitive to his own power, though he seems to immediately heal when extinguished).

** Also, lampshaded by The Order of the Triad, which includes a sorcerer and an alchemist with great magical powers... and Jefferson Twilight, whose power is to track and hunt [[Blaxploitation|Blackulas]] (and [[Crippling Overspecialization|only Blackulas]]). He is also, however, an accomplished martial artist and military veteran, and {{spoiler|lives between two worlds.}}

** There's also the amateur supervillain Fat Chance, a morbidly obese guy who has the power to grab items from a link to another dimension in his belly button. What comes out is entirely random, which leads to other supervillains to just start pulling stuff out of him in an attempt to find something even remotely useful or deadly to kill Dr. Venture with. {{spoiler|The power also works the other way}}

*** And Fat Chance was actually the ''best'' candidate of the [[Terrible Interviewees Montage]] from the Revenge Society's hiring process. One had the power of Polygamy and another the power to grow by ''barely an inch'', Phantom Limb had to squint to even notice the difference.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Dr. Thaddeus Venture is a supposed good guy, and yet a lot of the things he does disturbs and disgusts the people around him. He has:

** Created the Joy Can, a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] [[Powered By a Forsaken Child]]. Dr. Orpheus is suitably disgusted with this information.

** Using Sally's (Richard Impossible's then wife) love for him to get a crucial machine part for him. Once again Brock calls him out for this.

* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: Brock's usual solution to a problem is to kill the one responsible. Downplayed in later seasons, however.

** Double subverted when the original Team Venture does it.

** They ''all'' do it with two fingers raised in a "V," but only the two Venture-brothers do it by touching their V'ed fingers together in a victory celebration ''after'' the adventure; meanwhile only the original Team Venture simply raises their fingers when they're about to join together in a battle.

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Dean and Triana. {{spoiler|They won't. Probably.}} Brock and Molotov. {{spoiler|Being that Molotov fell off a cliff in a vehicle that exploded, probably won't.}}

* [[Wimp Fight]]: ''Any'' time that Hank or Dean gets into a fistfight.

* [[Batman Gambit]] / [[Xanatos Roulette]]: "The Lepidopterists": {{spoiler|The Monarch, by arching Jonas Jr. and riling him into serious retaliation, trick everyone into thinking J.J. nearly destroyed him. Long story short, he and his men were fine and the Monarch was granted the right by Guild law to get revenge upon J.J. by attacking his family, finally making it possible for him to assault Rusty Venture without incurring the wrath of the Guild.}}

** Hunter Gatherer's scheme to get Brock Samson to quit the Venture family and return to Gatherer's side borders is a bigger example of this: {{spoiler|Hunter quit OSI and had a sex change operation in order to join an all-girl assassination group run by Brock's arch enemy. While doing so, he arranges for assassins to go after Brock, in order to eliminate them so as to remove the competition for his new allies and their newly formed assassination squad. The plan works ''and'' turns Brock against OSI as far as tricking him into thinking OSI was behind the hit. Brock resigns even after OSI disavow being behind the hit attempts, leaving the Venture family as he resigns as their bodyguard. However, he arranges for his fellow cohorts at OSI to help him reform SPHINX, a former terror group turned militia designed to neutralize non-Guild aligned super-villains and ultimately abandons Molotov when Brock goes after her. Leading to Brock to be in an isolated and weakened state, ripe for recruiting.}}

{{quote| "The Village People called, and they want you to ''GO FUCKING KILL YOURSELF YOU PRANCING BASTARD!''" }}

* [[You Bastard]]: Tiger Shark to Brock and {{spoiler|Scott Hall}} to Henchman 21.

{{quote| '''Hank:''' Is it me, or does like every Nazi want to clone Hitler? It's like the only thing they think of! }}

* [[You Got Murder]]: Lampshaded. One afternoon, Rusty is going through some old mail when he opens a large box containing a death threat from the Monarch, involving a cobra jumping out of the box to bite him... [[Forgot to Feed The Monster|Except not really]].

{{quote| '''Jefferson Twilight''': [To Dr. Orpheus, regarding why Orpheus doesn't want him and the Alchemist to see his master. Note that Jefferson is black.] Yeah, tell the truth. You're embarrassed of us, aren't you? It's 'cause The Alchemist's gay, isn't it?<br />

'''Doctor Orpheus''': No, it's because you soiled yourself... ''and'' he's gay. }}