Characters / OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: Professor Venomous

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WARNING: This character is a massive Walking Spoiler, and as such all spoilers on this page are unmarked.

^{Shadowy Figure} 

^Laserblast 

Voiced by: Steven Ogg

Professor Venomous is an evil bioengineer and recurring villain. Originally one of Boxman’s investors, he becomes his partner (in both the business sense and the romantic sense) in "Boxman Crashes".

While he was originally nothing more than this, season 3 eventually reveals two huge things about him: that he was originally Laserblast (a member of P.O.I.N.T that was presumed dead in the "Sandwich Incident", Carol's ex-boyfriend, and the father of K.O.) and that fellow recurring villain Shadowy Figure is his Split Personality, unwittingly created in an attempt to get his powers back.

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This character has demonstrated the following tropes:

Shared across all his identities

• Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is purple as Venomous and grey as Shadowy Figure. Averted as Laserblast.
• Ambition Is Evil: His desire to become more powerful is the main drive behind most of his actions in the series.
• Arch-Enemy: He's K.O.'s most personal enemy.
• Archnemesis Dad: He's K.O.'s dad and most personal foe.
• Big Bad: Originally part of a Big Bad Duumvirate with Boxman, he eventually steps up to become the main villain of the final season.
• Brought Down to Badass: He may not have his powers anymore, but he's one of the most successful villains in the world and hasn't lost any of his fighting prowess.
  Venomous: You don’t need powers to have power!
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Inverted; initially getting into bioengineering to find a way to improve/restore his powers, he quickly discovered that his research could make him big bucks in the villain business and eventually acquired a fortune, which he mostly uses to fund his villainous activities.
• De-power: Lost his original powers in the Sandwich Incident. His attempts to get them back would lead to the creation of Shadowy Figure.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: He has half-lidded eyes of the Deadpan Snarker variety. He has a serious demeanor, and generally speaks in a Cold Ham manner. His half-lidded eyes also make his eye makeup visible, emphasizing his deliberately attractive appearance.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Originally appeared in the short "Boxmore Infomercial". He officially appeared in "I Am Dendy" in the form of a Pow Card in Dendy's collection.
• Evil Pays Better: His main reason for becoming a villain. Not only did he get the emotional support and confidence he lacked as a hero, he got filthy rich to boot.
• Evil Sounds Deep: One of the setting's central villains, with a deep voice to match, courtesy of Steven Ogg.
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Wears shiny purple eyeshadow and Guyliner. His eye makeup is a more muted purple as Shadowy Figure.
• Expy: It becomes clear that he's one to Dr. Jekyll after "Let's Get Shadowy". He is a formerly well respected and loved promoter of law and societal welfare who also happens to be a skilled scientist. He struggled with deep rooted anxieties and self-hatred that he suppressed in order to keep up his reputation. He then tried to rid himself of his anxieties through morally dubious alchemical experiments using himself as a guinea pig. One of the experiments backfired, giving him serious physical and mental repercussions in the shape of a Superpowered Evil Side Split Personality complete with a Split-Personality Makeover. The aforementioned Split Personality uses him as a cover so that he can perform evil acts without having to take responsibility? Having gotten a taste of being evil, he slowly succumbs to how good it makes him feel to not have to live up to his society's standards and turns to villainy. Even when committing evil acts he is generally calm and soft-spoken.
• Fallen Hero: From a brave hero to the Big Bad of the entire series.
• Fatal Flaw: Insecurity. His insecurities and inferiority complex gave him an obsession with obtaining power, which is shown to be his undoing numerous times throughout the series. As Laserblast, his experiments to give himself more/better powers eventually led to him losing the ones he already had. When he did more experiments on himself to try to regain them, it ended up creating a more evil Split Personality in Shadowy Figure, who, having been born from this power lust, sought to make himself the strongest being in the universe no matter what. When Venomous found out about Shadowy, he was at first horrified, but succumbed to his desire for power again and agreed to a "beautiful compromise" with Shadowy that amounts to Shadowy taking over the body permanently. "Shadowy Venomous" then proceeds to alienate just about everyone Venomous cares about, and once Venomous returns to being himself again, he watches Fink die protecting him from a mess of his own making before being killed himself (though they both get better). That makes this flaw literally fatal for Venomous.
• Formerly Fit: Venomous is still in good shape, but used to be a lot more muscular.
• Jekyll & Hyde: He's an expy of the trope namers.
• Like Father, Like Son: Developed a Split Personality Superpowered Evil Side, just like his son K.O., though unlike the latter, Venomous was not aware of Shadowy Figure's existence until Fink told him.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He’s K.O.'s father, which he reveals in a similar manner to the Trope Namer.
• Luke, You Are My Father: Word of God confirms that Professor Venomous didn't know about K.O.'s existence or his status as Venomous' biological son before "We're Captured". Venomous only looked into it after the incident.
• Mr. Fanservice: In all of his identities. Laserblast is a more traditional hunk with a Heroic Build, Venomous is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy who is frequently drawn in sultry poses, many of which accentuate his long legs, and Shadowy Figure can basically be described as "Venomous, but feral".
• Perma-Stubble: Has this in all identities.
• Professor Guinea Pig: After he lost his powers, he tested various chemicals on himself in an attempt to get them back. The results were purple skin and a Superpowered Evil Side.
• Purple Is Powerful: The color of his initial powers was purple, and he later gained purple skin.
  You don’t need powers. You have power!
• The Reveal: "Big Reveal" revealed he was formerly Laserblast and K.O.’s dad; "Let's Get Shadowy" revealed he was also Shadowy Figure.
• Significant Double Casting: Steven Ogg voices him in all identities.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Tall, dark-haired, and smokin’ hot in all identities.
• Tragic Villain: The root of his turn to villainy lies in some massive self-esteem issues.
• Two Aliases, One Character: Venomous, Laserblast, and Shadowy Figure are all the same person.
• Walking Spoiler: The biggest one in the series.

As Professor Venomous

• Affably Evil: He's often soft-spoken and reasonable, and he is an indulgent and warm parental figure to his minion Fink. He is originally characterized as more of a business executive who happened to make money financing evil than as a serious threat.
• Animal Motifs: Snakes. Snakes are venomous, his experiments gave him several snakelike features, his lab and office have a snake motif, and his Vanity License Plate reads "SNKB1T3". When he's really angry, he sports a rattlesnake tail and hisses.
• Animorphism: Downplayed, but the experiments he performed on himself gave him some snakelike characteristics.
• Boring, but Practical: Deconstructed. He does a very bureaucracy-heavy style of weapon development and villainy that has made him fabulously wealthy, but it is shown to be vastly unfulfilling, especially compared to Boxman's Evil Is Petty lifestyle. His bond with Boxman stems from Boxman's shenanigans reminding him why he went into villainy in the first place. He eventually pays a lot of his own money to restore Boxman to power because he finds the way Boxman does things much more enjoyable.
  After joining in on an attack on the plaza and being blown up by Fink's new bike when it was defeated: "I loved. Every moment of that."
• Card-Carrying Villain: He takes joy in "vanquishing heroes", and admires Boxman's passionate hatred of the protagonists. He's actually quite depressed over the strict and orderly way the Investors handle villainy, feeling that he's basically in a miserable office job rather than being a real villain.
• Cold Ham: He commands a very powerful and expressive presence despite rarely raising his voice.
• The Comically Serious: He's a very straight-laced and serious fellow, but the show gets a lot of humor from his attempts to keep a straight face in reaction to whatever insanity Boxman, Fink, or KO happen to be getting into in his presence.
• Defrosting Ice King: He is introduced to the series as a stoic and apathetic Deadpan Snarker but grows more and more hammy and charismatic as the show progresses, thanks to the influence of his more exuberant love interest, Boxman. He also goes from not caring about the Plaza and its residents at all to actively antagonizing them for laughs, eventually becoming a major villain and genuine threat in the show's last season.
• Disneyland Dad: The end of "K.O. vs. Fink" implies Venomous spoils Fink because he's trying to make up for when he doesn't have time for her. The reveal about him being K.O.'s father throws another spin his treatment of her, as it may be from regret over not being able to be by K.O.'s side as he grew up.
  • Ian JQ thinks that it's likely Professor Venomous doesn't actually know how to handle her tantrums, so he just bribes her with gifts.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • He has a very caring, fatherly relationship with Fink. Once he merges with Boxmore, this extends to Boxman's robot children as well.
  • He's clearly in love with Boxman, demonstrated best by their body language in "All In The Villainy": Venomous is shown throughout the episode touching and looking tenderly at Boxman.
  • After he's revealed to be K.O.'s father, Venomous expresses interest in having a good relationship with his son. Sure, it all ends horribly, but points for trying.
• Evil Genius: He's a bioengineer and takes joy in "vanquishing heroes".
• Evil Is Hammy: True, he's not quite as exuberant as other characters in the show, but it's clear that Steven Ogg is having a lot of fun with the role.
• Face Death with Dignity: After T.K.O. defeats Shadowy Venomous and purges him, this leaves Venomous at his mercy. Venomous actually doesn't fight back and seems to accept T.K.O. going to end him. Given the tone, it's implied he feels he had it coming since he's shouldering the blame for what Shadowy did.
• Family Versus Career: The end of "K.O. vs Fink" implies that while his partnership with Boxman has made his career more fulfilling, it's also severely cut into the time and attention he can give to Fink.
• Fangs Are Evil: He's usually just drawn with a pair of fangs, but will randomly be drawn with a mouth full of sharp teeth.
• Fat and Skinny: The skinny one with Boxman.
• Fatherly Scientist: Though Venomous doesn't refer to Fink as his child like Boxman does to his robots, just calling her a "minion", he treats her more like a daughter than anything else. On the other hand, Venomous treats K.O. much more callously, even making clones of him and his friends for the express purpose of making him watch them die.
• Foil: Venomous contrasts with Boxman in many ways, though this doesn't stop them from eventually becoming more than friends. Boxman is a roboticist, while Venomous is a geneticist. Boxman is loud and melodramatic, Venomous is a Soft-Spoken Sadist. While Lord Boxman refers to his robots as his children but treats them more like slaves, Venomous refers to Fink as a minion while treating her more like his child. Finally, Venomous is incredibly more successful than Boxman financially but feels little satisfaction because he doesn't take time for the small things like Boxman does.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: His specialty is bio-engineering, which is shown to include Bio-Augmentation, Organic Technology, artificial diseases, and cloning.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a gifted scientist and a talented fighter.
• Hates Being Touched: Played straight at first, then subverted. In his introductory episode, Venomous is uncomfortable with Boxman hugging him. By the end of the episode and in later ones, he's perfectly fine with Boxman's more affectionate gestures, gladly returning his hugs and holding his hand.
• Hidden Depths: "Boxman Crashes" reveals that he's deeply bored and depressed with the businesslike villainy the other Investors engage in. He decides to buy out Boxmore and unite with Lord Boxman when he realizes that he enjoys battling heroes and scheming far more than his current job.
• In Love with Your Carnage:
  • Decides to continue his business relationship with Boxman when he sees him fighting Rad, Enid and K.O. He even sees him in the same bish-o-vision that Boxman saw him in earlier.
  • Upon hearing Boxman's rant over why he really went to the meeting with the villains, he was impressed by his sheer determination. In exchange for Boxman's info on a certain project, he gives a biochip to Boxman, implied to be the one he uses to make Boxman Jr with.
  • In season 2, he forms a permanent alliance with Lord Boxman expressly because he sees Boxman's card-carrying attitude as far more enjoyable than the businesslike approach of Cosma and the other big-name villains.
• Kick the Dog: His actions in "The K.O. Trap", in which he trapped K.O., Rad, and Enid each in separate rooms with clones of each other (who had souls, to boot) that he then murdered to study their reactions, and then tricked K.O. with a second set of clones that he also murdered, were really beyond the pale, prompting K.O. to actually start hating him and all of the heroes to take him more seriously. Even worse once you find out that Venomous was fully aware when he did this that K.O. is his son.
• Labcoat of Science: Wears a labcoat and is a bioengineer.
• Leg Focus: Venomous is often drawn in poses which show off his long legs, starting with his Feet-First Introduction in "We're Captured".
• Little Bit Beastly: He has purple skin and when he's really angry, he shows he has a rattlesnake's tail under his coat, as well as a snakelike tongue and teeth.
• Meaningful Name: Professor Venomous is a Snake Person, as revealed in "Boxman Crashes".
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Though mostly fighting through technology, traps, and minions, Venomous puts up a decent fight against Rad, K.O., and Enid in person and unarmed. It makes sense, considering he was once a superhero who did a lot of physical fighting.
• Morality Pet: Oddly enough, he ends up being one to Boxman; his influence makes Boxman start treating his henchmen marginally better. Ironic, as Venomous eventually shows himself to be even more sadistic and monstrous than Boxman.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: He has a, shall we say, venomous name.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: He greatly dislikes the dispassionate business way of villainy despite it being more successful. The possibility of failure is actually one of the things he missed when fighting heroes, which is why he forms a permanent alliance with Boxman due to his more hands-on approach.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: His alliance with Boxman seems to bring out his sillier traits, making him more difficult to take seriously... but then he puts the heroes into a series of enclosed experiments surrounded by goo clones, making them think their friends are dying right in front of them. And he explicitly notes that the clones have all the memories and soul of the original. And still callously murders them anyway. The Plaza heroes resolve to take him much more seriously as a result.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In total contrast to Boxman's abusive treatment of his robots, Venomous is a loving parent towards Fink.
  • Despite finding Boxman incompetent and annoying at first, he just can't seem to say "no" to him.
  • In spite of practically abusing K.O. and not caring one bit that he's his son, he invites him to tag along in his villainous activities and is even willing to re-schedule it, implying that he might have warmed up to him.
  • When T.K.O. prepares to finish him off in revenge for all he's done to him, he gracefully accepts it and tells him to do his worst, showing that he might be acknowledging his fault in allowing Shadowy to manipulate K.O. and taking responsibility for it.
• Plague Master: Once released a Synthetic Plague on the Bodega via gas cloud, though it was relatively minor — K.O. and Enid recovered after a day, and while Radicles suffered much worse symptoms, it seemed to just be because he kept exerting himself.
• Pushover Parent: His one weakness? He can't stand to see Fink upset, and frequently lets her run all over him or bribes her into behaving with presents.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Venomous is more soft-spoken and level-headed than the loud, boisterous Boxman.
• Self-Made Man: Venomous made a fortune off the fruits of his independent research. He also fits the darker version where his new wealth is his main source of self-validation.
• Snake Person: Occasionally shows snake-like traits when he's angry or moving around.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He's a Card-Carrying Villain just as much as Boxman, but far more subdued.
• Tranquil Fury: Despite the trouble Boxman has put him through, he still maintains his calm demeanor when he gets mad at him.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Male example — he's a very handsome man who got married to the odd-looking Lord Boxman.
• Unholy Matrimony: He and Boxman become partners, in both the business sense and the romantic sense, at the end of "Boxman Crashes". They're seen wearing wedding bands in the finale, showing that they got married offscreen.
• Vanity License Plate: SNKB1T3.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Professor Venomous is a fairly calm, competent villain while Fink, his minion and bodyguard, is a hyperactive brat.
• Villain of Another Story: He's a villain, but since he doesn't target the residents of Lakewood Plaza Turbo, his plot-relevance is as Boxman's client... until he decides to do a merger with Boxmore and begins helping him attack the plaza.
• Villainous BSoD:
  • Completely freaks out in "Let's Get Shadowy" when it's revealed that Shadowy Figure is his Turbo Form and has been keeping him hostage against his knowledge. This immediately results in Shadowy Figure usurping control of their body and attacking Fink and K.O.
  • He suffers a brief one at the end of “Let's Fight To The End” when Fink shields him from T.K.O.'s blast and dies. He just stares dumbstruck for a moment before uttering a Big "NO!" and getting blasted himself.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Has a notable widow's peak and is a villain.
• Villain Team-Up: Allies with Boxman in "Villain's Night Out". Later, he decides to buy out Boxmore and form a permanent alliance with him.
• Wanting Is Better Than Having: Villainy gave him the emotional security he secretly always wanted, but it ultimately hit the point that his life lacked any challenge at all, boring him to tears. It isn't until he strikes up a friendship with Boxman that he starts moving out of the apathy that has consumed his life.

As Laserblast

• Bad Powers, Good People: Energy Absorption is a power rarely seen associated with heroes. He was always self-conscious about being a hero whose powers relied upon stealing the energy from others. Ironically, he didn't become a villain until well after he lost these powers and became desperate to regain them.
• Batman Parody: He has more than a little in common with the Dark Knight; both are superheroes with severe personal issues but are nevertheless highly-regarded among their teammates; they're both scientific geniuses with physical strength and fighting skill to match; and they both have deep voices and all-black costumes. In point of fact, Laserblast's helmet even looks almost exactly like Batman's cowl.
• Betty and Veronica: He plays the "Veronica" (Tall, Dark, and Handsome, future villain) to Mr. Gar/El-Bow's "Betty" (initially a shy nervous wreck who Cannot Spit It Out) for Silver-Spark/Carol's "Archie".
• Broken Ace: A highly-regarded member of the most prestigious hero team around who had the respect of everyone around him, gifted with brains and brawn...and none of that mattered to him since he hated how his Energy Absorption powers meant he essentially always depended on the strength of others to be a hero. He developed an inferiority complex towards his teammates, especially his girlfriend Carol since she had incredible natural power. His obsession with gaining new powers would ultimately lead to him losing the ones he already had, and over the course of trying to fix this, he'd fall into villainy.
• Cool Helmet: His helmet has bat ear-like projections and comes with a red One-Way Visor.
• Death of the Hypotenuse: Though it took years for Mr. Gar to act on it, Laserblast's disappearance gave Mr. Gar another chance at wooing Carol.
• Energy Absorption: Laserblast's true powers depended on draining the power of his foes.
• Expy: Appearance-wise he seems to resemble a mix of Batman and Cyclops from X-Men. Unlike the latter, his Eye Beams are not a natural power of his. More seriously, he also carries the self-doubt and desperate desire for emotional security that characterized the the majority of Cyclops' mistakes.
• Eye Beams: He can shoot powerful lasers through his visor.
• Face–Heel Turn: Did one after the Sandwich Incident, eventually becoming Professor Venomous.
• First Love: He was this in the backstory for Carol/Silver Spark. In the present, she eventually starts dating Mr. Gar (previously their teammate El-Bow).
• Genius Bruiser: He's much more scientifically-knowledgeable than one would assume. For one he built his laser-shooting visor, along with the orbs Dr. Greyman discovered, and he made a considerable amount of money selling technology to villains as Professor Venomous.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: His mission to raid the "unknown villain"'s lab, and insistence on doing so by himself and leaving Silver Spark and El-Bow outside, resulted in an explosion in the donut shop, following by the building getting "shrunk, or teleported, or whatever", and presumably him along with it. This is even more the case with what really happened. Laserblast himself owned that lab, and was using his research there to try to become more powerful. But then Greyman found the lab and the orbs therein and accidentally lost his powers from them, and Laserblast tried to use the "raid" as a chance to cover up his connection to it. Instead, in his haste, he dropped some of the orbs, causing the explosion himself and losing his powers in addition to the above-mentioned destruction of the lab.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed, but it's revealed that he was envious and resentful of the natural powers that all of his teammates had, feeling that his ability to drain his enemies' energy was inferior in comparison. Tragically, everyone else knew that his abilities were just as valid and helpful to the team as the rest of P.O.I.N.T.'s, but he couldn't see that and developed an inferiority complex. He didn't truly appreciate what he had in his powers until he lost them and desperately tried to get them back, to no success.
• Heroic Build: Straddles the border between a bodybuilder physique and a Top-Heavy Guy — his arms are thicker than his legs, but the difference isn't exaggerated nearly as much as with Mr. Gar or Rad.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation:Despite Laserblast's powers saving his team members countless times and Carol telling him that his powers were good enough, Laserblast was always plagued by dissatisfaction over them and would overcompensate by rushing into battle without thinking. This only got worse after the Sandwich Incident; he lost his powers thanks to his own weapon and overheard Carol claiming that he wasn't strong enough to survive the explosion, leading him to abandon her and his old team out of shame. His desperate attempts to regain his powers later only led to him falling into villainy.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Turns out he himself was the one who created the weapons that later permanently de-powered him (and Dr. Greyman too).
• Irony: A pretty dark example. He started to experiment in secret to give himself more powers and become an even stronger hero. What he created from them ended up backfiring on him and instead took away the powers he already had in the first place. And then even further experiments just gave him a Superpowered Evil Side.
• Leeroy Jenkins: In order to compensate for his supposed inadequacies, he had a tendency to rush headfirst into battle without thinking things through beforehand.
• Never Found the Body: During his mission to disarm the weapons in an unknown villain's lab, the building he's in explodes and teleports away. It was eventually revealed what actually happened to him, but at the time he was presumed dead.
• One-Way Visor: Wore a red cyclops visor that can shoot powerful lasers.
• Oral Fixation: Always has a lollipop in his mouth.
• Posthumous Character: Seemingly died prior to the series. Except he didn't.
• Power Misidentification: Most people assume his Eye Beams are his power. It's actually just a weapon, which he uses his actual Energy Absorption ability to power.
• Tempting Fate: He's done this twice. The first time in "Glory Days" when he said the whole team will always be together, and the second time in "Let's Take a Moment", when he assures Carol that he's not going to die on his mission (he didn't, but everyone thought he did).
• Trademark Favorite Food: Red lollipops.
• Uncertain Doom: Something bad clearly happened to him, but we're given little idea what until "Let's Take a Moment". During a mission to disarm weapons in an unknown villain's lab under a donut shop, he went inside to disarm them while Carol and Gar stood watch outside the shop. Something went wrong in the lab and the shop exploded, floated in the air, shrank, and teleported somewhere else. But it was unknown what precisely happened in the lab and if he survived it... until “Big Reveal”, that is.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His disappearance was the catalyst for the past version of P.O.I.N.T. disbanding, the animosity between its former members in the present, as well as Gar's and Carol's strained relationship until "Let's Take A Moment", even if he never meant to cause any of this.

As Shadowy Figure

• Affectionate Parody: Of the Knight of Cerebus concept. His seriousness is written in a primarily tongue-in-cheek manner, and often jars with how strange the other cast members are, but it doesn't stop the episodes he appears in from being much more story and character-based.
• Ambiguous Situation: In "Carl", he claims that he and Professor Venomous reached an "agreement" and did a Split-Personality Merge, but his Boss Subtitles as Shadowy Venomous seem to imply that something else entirely is going on. Since Shadowy Venomous's appearance, characteristics, and behavior are pretty much the same as Shadowy Figure's, it's heavily suggested that this "agreement" entailed Venomous willingly giving up control of their body to Shadowy because it would make them more powerful. Or he lied; Shadowy Figure does not adhere to Villains Never Lie and threatened to destroy Venomous forever, after all, and pulling a Split-Personality Takeover would certainly fulfill that promise.
• Art Shift: He's usually drawn in the same style as the other characters, but will occasionally shift into a more Animesque art style.
• Badass Longcoat: Wears one of these combined with a Scarf of Asskicking.
• Big Bad Wannabe: For all his talk of being more powerful as Shadowy Venomous, the characters and plot clearly regards T.K.O. as the bigger threat between them, and once T.K.O. absorbs every ounce of power from the Glorb Tree, he's far and away the most powerful person in the world, even moreso than Shadowy. Naturally, Shadowy is incapable of keeping T.K.O. in line when he decides to back sass him, and is effortlessly taken down in one shot.
• Black Cloak: Wears a light black trench coat.
• Boss Subtitles:
  • Unlike many other characters in the series who get these for their first significant appearance, Shadowy Figure doesn't receive his until "Let's Get Shadowy" (his fifth episode appearance), when K.O. and the audience finally see his full face (with the hood off) for the first time.
  • He also gets some very long ones when he finally gains complete control of the body he shares with Venomous:
    SHADOWY VENOMOUS: Perfect Venomous | Venomous is Gone Now | Shadowy Figure has Overtaken Venomous
• Brains and Brawn: His dynamic with T.K.O., with Shadowy obviously being the brains of their plan, acting akin to the devil on his shoulder. Unfortunately, this partnership ends the only way it can when the brain starts pushing its luck with someone stronger than them.
• Bullying a Dragon: Shadowy Venomous pushes his luck when he starts manhandling T.K.O. (who was saturated with glorbs by this point) for backtalking him. T.K.O. doesn't take the abuse well and dispatches him with one blow.
• Casting a Shadow: When he merges with Venomous, he obtains a distinct purple-black aura that vastly powers up his attacks and can manifest as Fog Feet that gives him flight.
• The Comically Serious: He always acts serious, but some of his behavior is still quite silly, like sneaking around the Plaza at night, asking K.O. with a completely straight face if he needs to "potty", or dramatically standing on a roof, even as someone asks him what he's doing.
• Don't Tell Mama: Shadowy actively kept Venomous from finding out they were one and the same, and blackmailed Fink into keeping silent, lest he take over for good.
• Dramatic Unmask: He's finally shown without his hood on (Boss Subtitles included) in "Let's Get Shadowy". An interesting variation in that the audience and characters already know who he is at this point (the Turbo alter-ego of Venomous), but it's still a genuinely dramatic and frightening moment since, by his own desire, we've never seen what he looks like, and the fact that Shadowy kept his hood off after transforming this time is indicative of his rage at being exposed.
• Eviler than Thou: For Boxman and even Venomous. Whereas Boxman is more of a classic back-and-forth type villain, Shadowy Figure would rather wipe his enemies off the map completely. Boxman even labels Shadowy as more of a monster than a villain. Meanwhile, Venomous, despite his past issues, was able to find a fulfilling life as a villain, but Shadowy is his desire for power incarnate, to the point that he aims to de-power everyone else so he's the only one with power.
• Evil Mentor: He pretended to be K.O.'s friend in order to fill him with anger.
• Exact Words: He technically wasn't lying when he told K.O. that he needed to access the Lakewood Tree to acquire Glorbs, as Season 3 reveals he was Foxtail's Glorb dealer. Of course, his true agenda was to make T.K.O. stronger for his endgame.
• Fangs Are Evil: Has a mouth full of sharp teeth.
• Fatal Flaw: Shadowy's wrath always ends up being his undoing. Whenever he slips up and acts out of anger, K.O. or T.K.O. manage to get the better of him. It flat out gets him killed when he slips in his façade about caring for T.K.O.
• Greater-Scope Villain: For the entire series. Of all the major villains, Shadowy Figure appears the least often but his actions have the longest-lasting consequences. Every episode involving T.K.O. is a result of Shadowy's work, and he was also working behind the scenes as a Glorb dealer for Season 2's villain, Foxtail.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: He wants to unleash K.O.'s inner power, but his motivation for this is unknown until the end of the series, let alone why he knows so much about K.O.'s inner power in the first place. Lampshaded in "T.K.O.'s House", when T.K.O. questions Shadowy Figure on why he was created, he said he needed him to infiltrate the area under the plaza to obtain the glorbs. T.K.O. doesn't buy it because then he questions why does he know so much about K.O. and why does he always look satisfied when K.O. is winning their fights. Shadowy Figure drops his smug attitude and remains silent, and when T.K.O. temporary loses control of K.O.'s body, Shadowy Figure leaves the area without saying a word.
  • Once we find out in Season 3 that Laserblast is K.O.'s father, Venomous is Laserblast, and Shadowy Figure is Venomous's alter-ego, the interest is all but outright stated to be because he knew that K.O. was his son. Word of God is that Venomous looked into K.O. and found out about their relation shortly after "We're Captured"; Shadowy thus likely found this out too at the same time, and his first appearance in the series was after this episode. Shadowy likely wanted to bring out K.O.'s turbo form, sway T.K.O. to his side, and use him for his own plans.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": "Shadowy Figure" is treated as an actual name, even appearing on his Pow Card.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He spends the whole series trying to get K.O. to unleash T.K.O. to become more powerful (since he wants to use him for his own agenda). He succeeds, multiple times. And then in "Let's Fight to the End", T.K.O. learns Shadowy Venomous was using him and turns on him...and has become so much more powerful thanks to Shadowy's own efforts that he easily defeats and kills him.
• Hyde Plays Jekyll: It's heavily implied in “Carl” that he made good on his threats in “Let's Get Shadowy” and completely suppressed Professor Venomous; faking defeat and playing the part of his alter-ego to be able to keep manipulating K.O without drawing suspicion to himself.
• Informed Ability: Shadowy Venomous is said to be more powerful than ever... but he never actually shows it, as he would rather leave all the fighting to T.K.O.. Shadowy's calls for being the most powerful fall flat when a glorb-charged T.K.O. takes him out in one shot.
• In the Hood: He wears a black hooded scarf, the hood's shadow obscuring his eyes.
• It's All About Me: "Let's Fight to the End" reveals he never cared for T.K.O. at all, and merely saw him as a pawn to de-power everyone else, and leave him as the most powerful being on the planet.
• Karmic Death: Spends the entire series manipulating K.O. and making him feel weak to get him to bring out T.K.O., whom Shadowy Figure wanted to use for his own plans to become more powerful. T.K.O., who is stronger than Shadowy due to Shadowy's own plans, promptly destroys him for good upon finding this out.
• Killed Off for Real: After he gets a little too aggressive with T.K.O., he's expunged from Venomous' body, reducing him to a dark blob that T.K.O. easily squashes under his foot.
• Knight of Cerebus: He tricks K.O. into being a bigger threat to the plaza than even Lord Boxman. While K.O. wins against his anger in the end, Shadowy's appearance at the end of the episode suggests that he's not done with K.O. just yet. He becomes this even more in "Let's Have a Stakeout" when he easily mops the floor with K.O. in their first fight (only losing in the end because K.O. outmaneuvered him during his Villainous Breakdown). From then on, in future episodes, K.O. is visibly uncomfortable and unhappy when talking or thinking about him.
• Manipulative Bastard: He prefers to manipulate K.O. as opposed to actually battling him, only fighting when K.O. initiates it. He proves to be pretty good at it:
  • In his debut in "T.K.O.", he serves as K.O.'s Evil Mentor by pretending to be a hero who just wants to help him get stronger after overhearing his frustrations. His advice to K.O. to Teach Him Anger and get him to utilize The Power of Hate is what first gives T.K.O. physical form.
  • In "Let's Have a Stakeout", he tricks K.O. into opening the door to the glorb tree room for him by purposely letting K.O. see him and follow him, and then hiding so K.O. thinks he went through the door and breaks it open.
  • In "K.O. vs Fink", K.O. mistakes Shadowy Figure's voice as being his "inner monologue", and Shadowy just rolls with it and "advises" K.O. to defeat his bully (Fink) by unleashing his anger to beat her up (and also comically tries to get him to bring him some glorbs). K.O somehow fails to realize that his "inner monologue" is really Shadowy.
  • One of his best examples of this happens in "Carl". Shadowy Figure has been T.K.O.'s Berserk Button throughout the series for creating him and tricking him repeatedly, and T.K.O. confronts him (pretending to be Venomous) raring to fight. But after revealing that he's overtaken Venomous and become Shadowy Venomous, Shadowy invokes We Can Rule Together and successfully manages to persuade T.K.O. to partner up with him, despite Shadowy just planning to use him and not really caring about him.
• Non-Action Big Bad: He becomes this as Shadowy Venomous, letting T.K.O. do all the work, which is ironic when he was much more active in his weaker Shadowy Figure form.
• Not So Above It All: He shows a much sillier side in "T.K.O.'s House", offhandedly doing absurd things like eating a banana mid-fight or catching the glorbs with a butterfly net.
• Obviously Evil: He's a tall man in a black robe originally obscured by shadow that wants to take K.O. somewhere. The only reason K.O. trusted him was because his Pow Card said he was level 8 (which was actually a glitch, as it's really -8).
• Seriously Scruffy: Unlike Venomous, his hair is seriously unkempt under his hood.
• Shadow Archetype: He's this to T.K.O. Both are the dark, powerful alter-egos of K.O. and Venomous, and represent their negative traits. While Venomous was able to find satisfaction in villainy, Shadowy Figure is his insecurity and lust for power given life, much like how T.K.O. is K.O.'s negative emotions and helplessness given physical form. As Shadowy Venomous, he actually invokes this, using the trope name word-for-word, to convince T.K.O. to side with him.
• Small Name, Big Ego: After he becomes Shadowy Venomous and sways T.K.O. to his side, he starts thinking of himself as the soon-to-be most powerful person in the world, since he plans to use T.K.O. to become this. But T.K.O. is shown to be the one with the actual power who's doing most of the work in their partnership, and when he points this out, Shadowy Venomous furiously manhandles him, makes it clear he never really cared about him, and boasts about how he'll use him to become the most powerful being in the universe himself...when T.K.O., who was probably already stronger than him anyway, has become even more so thanks to being powered up by glorbs. Since Shadowy doesn't have the power to back up his words, T.K.O. easily beats him in one shot and kills him.
• Smug Snake: Putting aside the fact he's the alter ego of Venomous, who exhibits snake-like traits, Shadowy thinks way too highly of his own abilities. He somehow believed himself to be the most powerful being on the planet, even more so than T.K.O. Even if T.K.O. wasn't on his level, he most certainly surpassed him when he absorbed all the glob energy of the Lakewood tree.
• The Sociopath: He is Professor Venomous' helplessness, resentment, and most of all, his thirst for power above all else, given physical form. As a result, he doesn't care about anyone but himself (not even T.K.O., whom he was just using the whole time and only pretending to care about to manipulate him). That includes the people that Venomous himself does care for, like Fink, Boxman, the Boxmore bots, and K.O. Shadowy just wants to essentially kill everyone in the entire world by draining their powers, just so he can become the most powerful being in the universe.
• So Proud of You: For some reason, he appears satisfied whenever K.O. beats him, to the point it goes beyond Graceful Loser. T.K.O. even takes note of this and asks why Shadowy Figure feels this way, but doesn't get an answer. It’s because he knows that K.O. is his son, and wants him/T.K.O. to get stronger so he can eventually use him for his plans.
• Split Personality: Revealed in "Let's Get Shadowy" to be Professor Venomous's alter-ego, created when he was experimenting on himself to try to get his powers back. Unlike K.O. and T.K.O., though, Venomous genuinely had no idea Shadowy existed, and is pretty disturbed when he finds out.
• Split-Personality Merge: Ends up merging with and overtaking Professor Venomous to create "Shadowy Venomous" (who is, for all intents and purposes, just a more powerful version of Shadowy himself).
• Split-Personality Takeover: Threatened to do this to Venomous if Fink ever told him about his existence, and seems to have made good on that promise as of "Carl" (though the fact that he claims that he and Venomous had an "agreement" implies that the latter willingly allowed it).
• Superpowered Evil Side: In this case, Superpowered Eviler side. Him being one villain point higher than Professor Venomous isn't just for show, as he's got shadow powers and doesn't care about anyone but himself or T.K.O. (and even then, only cares about being able to use T.K.O. for his own agenda).
• Villain Ball: When T.K.O. talks back to him in "Let's Fight to the End" and points out that he's the one who actually has all the power, Shadowy Venomous is furious and starts getting rough with him, then begins some Evil Gloating in which he pretty much outright states that he was only ever using T.K.O. for his power the whole time to accomplish his own goal of de-powering everyone else in the world and making himself the most powerful. Unsurprisingly, T.K.O. is pissed, and since Shadowy Venomous doesn't have nearly as much power as T.K.O., the former easily defeats him, knocks him out of Venomous' body, and destroys him for good.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • When K.O. stops himself from becoming T.K.O. again in "Let's Have a Stakeout", and declares his intention to make the situation he'd made worse better, Shadowy Figure loses his cool and tries to attack K.O. there and then, and gets knocked off a ledge for his troubles. He does compliment K.O. for managing to best him afterward, though.
  • Happens for pretty much all of the short amount of screentime he has in "Let's Get Shadowy". In all his previous episodes, Shadowy Figure only beat up or got physical with K.O. when the latter started fighting him, but otherwise didn't harm him because he planned to use him in the future. Here, though, he's so pissed that Fink and (unwittingly) K.O. outed him as Professor Venomous's alter ego — something Shadowy wanted to remain unknown to the point that he threatened Fink into keeping it secret — that he viciously attacks and tries to beat the crap out of them both, though they managed to beat him in the end.
  • Also gets one in "Let's Fight to the End" as Shadowy Venomous, causing him to completely grab the Villain Ball.
• We Can Rule Together: Everything he's done in the series was ultimately for the purpose of making this offer to T.K.O. Shadowy asks him to join him in making the world their own personal playground. T.K.O. accepts.

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