Characters / The Venture Bros. — Team Venture

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Characters from The Venture Bros.. This page is for the current and former "Team Ventures".

Due to the sheer number of Walking and Late Arrival Spoilers (including some characters' placement and, in a few cases, their very name), Spoilers Are Off for these pages. You have been warned.

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The Current Team Venture

The Family in General

• Big, Screwed-Up Family:
  • All of them have crippling psychological issues in one form or another, including honorary members Brock and Hatred. Dermott, while an asshole, seems to be the sole exception despite having a rather disturbing backstory, though he doesn't know the full details.
  • Both The Monarch and Blue Morpho fit into this as well, with The Monarch being a slightly altered Rusty clone given to the Fitzcarraldos when they couldn't conceive, then growing up without any parents... and the Blue Morpho being his legal father, who suffered such a titanic amount of abuse at the hands of Jonas Sr. that he may very well rival if not beat Rusty himself.
• Dysfunction Junction: Rusty is a jaded, Conditioned to Accept Horror cynic full of Freudian Excuses. Brock is a deconstructed One-Man Army whose lifetime of killing and witnessing bizarre things causes him to have a breakdown and quit for a time. Hank is reckless, ADD addled, has a complex about being The Un-Favorite to Rusty, and was genuinely hurt when Brock left. Dean is meek, cowardly, and naive, desperately wanting to get away from the "boy adventurer" lifestyle Rusty impresses upon him. Hatred is a recovering pedophile, former supervillain, and divorcee who is treated by the Ventures as a lousy replacement for Brock and, just when he finally earns their respect, gets demoted upon Brock's return.
• Fantastically Indifferent: Given everything they've seen as part of being a Science Hero family in a world with "super-science" and real magic, very little can actually shock them. Monsters, ghosts, superpowered villains... just another week for the Venture family.
• Magnetic Hero: Downplayed as the family tends to inspire loyalty, or at least a willingness to work together, with just about anyone who has to work with them. They've Enemy Mined with most of the series major villains at one point or another, draw in those who would normally be adverse to their riskier activities (like Pete and Billy), rally the original Team Venture when needed, and even get 21 to help out a few times while he's living on the compound.
• Meaningful Name: "Venture" pulls double duty, having similar meaning to "quest" (with the family originally being a Dark Parody of Jonny Quest) and they also tend to "venture" into dangerous situations.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The creators of the show claim that before the season three finale changed everything, Team Venture did go on a multitude of more traditional pulp sci-fi adventures reminiscent of their source material with "Escape to the House of Mummies Pt. 2" being a peek into their usual routine when they aren't gruesomely screwing up on-screen.
• Pinball Protagonist: They tend to be on the fringe of major events in the series, only drawn in by their associations with the Monarch (like the "Showdown at Cremation Creek" two-parter), the O.S.I. (like the "Family that Slays Together..." two-parter), or Jonas Jr. (like "All This and Garganuta-2"). The final two seasons Downplay this a bit, with Rusty becoming a "level ten" arch target and the family moving to New York City, but many of the major storylines still happen around them.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A failing pill-popping super-scientist, an awkward neurotic teenager, an equally awkward more "gung ho" teenager, a murderous man mountain, a decayed robot, and (later) a former pedophile... yet this crew is involved with (and typically successful in dealing with) numerous major events in the worlds of super-science and supervillainy.
• Rags to Riches: The family goes through this in season six, with J.J. leaving his billion-dollar tech company and assets to Rusty in his will. Rusty and the boys immediately start blowing the money while the company stock prices tank with Rusty firing everyone and moving back toward Awesome, but Impractical "super-science" R&D.
• Weirdness Magnet: Being the first family of "super-science" attracts all manner of weirdness. Between what we see in the series and numerous Noodle Incident mentions, they've been attacked by ghosts, aliens, giant spiders, interdimensional travelers, every manner of supervillain, shapeshifters, zombies, mutants, deformed clones... It's all in a day's work.

Rusty Venture

Dr. Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture

Voiced by: James Urbaniak

"What I went through today was 'like a nightmare'. What happened when I was sixteen: that is my life."

The "super-scientist" son of the legendary Jonas Venture Sr., he spent his childhood following his father on adventures and suffering no small amount of horrific abuses along the way. Now, he's seen as a washed-up burnout and spends most of his time dreaming up ways to make money with his inventions and coming up with get-rich-quick schemes. Cynical, sarcastic, and selfish, he pays very little attention to his sons and depends heavily on his O.S.I. assigned bodyguards... at first. Following some character development and a few key events that force a change in lifestyle during the course of the series, Rusty (while still abrasive and cynical) learns to care more about his family and friends, while starting to work past his many Freudian issues.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. Rusty, rotten as he is at romance, completely misread her Honey Trap ploy in "Midlife Chrysalis" as genuine interest and has been creeping on her ever since. Ironically, on the rare occasions where he stops coming onto her, they actually get along pretty well.
• Abusive Parent: Towards both boys in the first few seasons. He seemed to barely even care about their safety whenever they were in danger and at one point even forgot Dean's name. This is somewhat justified (but not excused) by the fact that he can clone them whenever they die, making them expendable in his eyes. He starts to Downplay this once the cloning program was shut down for good and Rusty had to get his act together and be a genuine parent for the first time. By the later seasons, he's still somewhat distant and misguided, but usually a well-meaning father to the boys who is at least trying to be better than his own father. He is particularly caring towards Dean and while he squabbles with Hank, it's less out of genuine abuse and more fed up with his rebellious, wild nature.
• Actually, That's My Assistant: Several times, Brock is mistaken for Dr. Venture since he looks more impressive, as one would expect the offspring of the great Jonas Venture Sr. to be. Rusty quickly corrects them.
• The Alcoholic: Subverted. Doc loves the idea of drinking but clearly doesn't enjoy the taste of alcohol. The drinks we see him order (Suffering Bastard, Rob Roy, etc.) and the various "Doc-tails" he shares the recipes for are predominantly made of sweet, low-proof liqueurs and sugary mixers (most of which do not go well together).
  Rusty: "Like you could have too much grenadine..."
• AM/FM Characterization: "Perchance To Dean" reveals that Rusty loves progressive rock and has a collection of vinyl records he considers to be his muse, including bands like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes, Rush, and Asia.
• Anti-Hero: Selfish to a fault and primarily motivated by money/fame, he is far from the classic Science Heroes and action-adventurers that formed his (and more directly, his father's) basis, to the point where he often borders on Nominal Hero or even Villain Protagonist levels. When he does have to "save the day", it's usually done in a cowardly and/or pragmatic fashion.
• Anti-Villain: Oscillates between being a Nominal Hero and a Type 2. He's a narcissist who rarely cares about the people around him, but he's developed these personality traits as a result of constant emotional abuse and endangerment by his father. He gets better with some Character Development over the course of the series, becoming less outright villainous (if still selfish and abrasive).
• Attention Whore: He has trouble accepting that he is washed-up and barely anyone has cared about him since the days he had his own cartoon show. It makes sense; he still has to deal with crazy super-villains who hate him yet the public at large barely cares who he is.
  • When a large number of super-villains show up to audition to arch for the Order of the Triad, Dr. Venture cannot tolerate that they are not paying attention to him so he tempts them by loudly and publicly showing off his new walking eye (unusually for this show, this plan works perfectly).
  • When a rash of sidekick kidnappings appears in the news, he thought the common thread was the victims were boy adventurers, and then he assumed that the kidnappers would be coming for him.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
  • He complains a lot about how J.J. is better than him and feels he's flaunting his wealth and status in Rusty's face. But in "The Doctor is Sin", when he realizes that Dr. Killinger is setting him up to become a (surprisingly effective) supervillain and arch J.J., Rusty ultimately refuses to sign the arching papers, realizing that for as much as he resents his brother, he doesn't hate him, and does not want to become as much of an asshole as their father turned out to be. Later in the series, when J.J. reveals he's dying from cancer, he's rendered speechless and genuinely consoles his brother. Likewise, when J.J. performs his Heroic Sacrifice aboard the Gargantua-2, he gives the "Go Team Venture" sign in salute.
  • A downplayed example with his father. Rusty has no reason to still love his dad and every reason in the world to hate and resent him, and his feelings toward the man are complicated to say the least. But despite all the trauma and abuse he suffered at Jonas's hands Rusty is surprisingly good at separating his personal feelings for his dad apart from an unbiased look at the man, maintaining respect for his positive qualities and clinical awareness of his faults. When finally finding the Orb, Rusty was actually able to acknowledge his father's skill as a scientist and make a rational, measured response to such a massive discovery by asking what his dad would do in such a situation. When his Dad almost destroyed Ventech Towers he was able to get him to calm down by appealing to Jonas's ability to think logically and remind him that he isn't a building. Likewise, when negotiating the Treaty Of Tolerance, Rusty accurately surmises his father's faults as a person and as a parent, the effect it had on everyone involved in the treaty, and moves forward with a more positive viewpoint that benefits everyone. In a group therapy session Rusty outright said that while he resented his father he never wanted to murder him, despite honestly having every reason to do so.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Many of his inventions technically work, and some even qualify as "awesome", but his For Science! and Only in It for the Money attitudes render them impractical. (Ex. The "Joy Can" is Powered by a Forsaken Child, the "Boom-Broom" leaks radiation, etc.) When he takes over J.J.'s company in season six, we get to see his vision for the future revealed — super-science flourishes and actually changes the world like he and his forefathers always wanted. It's also a largely impractical and unattainable vision as not even Jonas was able to make it happen.
• Bad Boss:
  • He inherited Venture Industries when his father died and apparently ran it into the ground very quickly. Most of the workers he still had were revealed in "The Doctor is Sin" to be on strike, and when he finds Hector and Swifty still working, he fires them immediately.
  • In "What Color is Your Cleansuit?", he gets sub-contracted by J.J.'s company to build ray shields for Gargantua-2. He "pissed away" the advance payment he received months prior without even starting the job, forcing him to hire a bunch of unpaid interns from State University to build it for free. Rusty fails to follow proper safety procedures and they become horribly mutated on the project, plotting to spread the mutation to take over the rest of the world. When he was told what his mutated employees were planning, all he takes away from it is that they finished the shields.
  • When he takes over VenTech in season six, his first order is to fire all his employees. It also tanks his company's stock price. Later, he moves on from the many Boring, but Practical technologies (communications, personal computing, etc.) that J.J. was making tons of money with to refocus on Awesome, but Impractical "super-science" R&D... further reducing stock prices.
• Been There, Shaped History: In-universe. It's fair to say that the tenants of supervillainy were formed in reaction to the extreme abuse he suffered. Many of the Guild's bylaws about the ethical treatment of adventurers and arches that we see in the series were directly formed with Rusty in mind - examples including "Rusty's Law," which states captured boy adventurers will be treated by their captors with a measure of regard for their health and safety, and requiring their temporary release for the treatment of certain medical emergencies. Considering that it's an addendum to the "Unusual Torture Act" and that there are many other laws that his father (who moderated treaty negotiations between the Guild and the O.S.I.) signed presumably in response to terrible things happening to his son, this has certain... implications. There's also the fact that the "Equally Matched Aggression" (or EMA) levels were coined after he watched the Action Man pistol-whip a Harmless Villain to near-death and then execute him. This all had the unfortunate effect of making the Venture name so prominent in the world of super-science that every "Tom, Dick, and Skeletor" to this day tries to make their name though him.
• Being Good Sucks: His time as a Kid Hero traumatized the hell out of him. He was forced to kill as young as age 10, was badly injured (and, as revealed late in the series, killed outright) many times, and psychologically traumatized by the actions of his father and father's associates to the point where he is Conditioned to Accept Horror. Perhaps the most glaring traumatic moment (out of those we see in the series, at least) being when the old Team Venture impaled him with a gag grenade when he tried to save his dog from what he thought was an actual explosive.
• Big Good: Really, really, really stretches the definition of "good", but in comparison to some of the villains, he is practically a saint. Especially when compared to his father who was just a straight up sociopath. Whereas the Monarch kills his henchmen needlessly, Rusty will just fire those who work for him or accidentally mutate them. Whereas Ünderbheit will torture his victims to death, Rusty will make them into Frankenstein's monster or try and mind control them. Whereas Phantom Limb will hunt and kill associates of the Monarch just to make a point, Rusty just wants to be left alone. In any other universe, Rusty would be the villain. Here, even as a Nominal Hero, he's still the most prominent "good guy" in the series, even if he isn't exactly a Greater-Scope Paragon.
• Break the Cutie: His entire childhood was a series of horrific traumas, either at the hands of his father, his father's friends, or his father's enemies, leading him to become the traumatized mess he is today. Standout examples include killing a man with a house key, Action Man waking him up at night by firing an unloaded gun pressed against his head, his father's friends "pantsing" him and shrinking his genitals at his birthday party, and many more. While he was an Adorably Precocious Child in his youngest flashbacks, by his college years he had become a strung-out, bitter wretch.
• Brilliant, but Lazy:
  • Let's put it like this: Rusty is actually quite intelligent and very capable in his own right, possibly even to the point of surpassing his father's work, but thanks to a small novel's worth of Freudian Excuses and a childhood Trauma Conga Line long enough to wrap around the Venture compound twice at minimum, he's too jaded and self-absorbed to do any more than the bare minimum with his work unless profit is involved, and even then he might still try to half-ass it. He has shown himself capable of converting H.E.L.P.eR to a dialysis machine, removing the boys' kidneys, creating a robot, making Venturestein, and maintaining a clone farm, not to mention being seemingly the only person in the world able to make working Deflector Shields^*Granted, it was actually the small army of interns he hired who built the shields, after said interns were mutated by radiation into a superhuman, caste-based society, but he was the one who mutated them in the first place, albeit unintentionally., but these are very rare flashes of competence. In fact, many of the times his inventions backfire are because he managed to get them working, but then half-assed or completely neglected the final third or so of development, which inevitably ends up biting him in the ass when the invention works part of the way, then breaks down or malfunctions due to the aforementioned shortcut.
  • The movie shows he was able to not just cure Bobbi of her invisibility his father caused, he was even able to transfer the power to Debra with her being able to fully control it in exchange for her genetic material to make Hank and Dean. Properly motivated, Rusty was able to not just fix his father's mistakes, but surpass him by creating one of the most powerful villains in the series.
• Broken Pedestal: His mixed feelings for his father ultimately untangle into pure contempt when season seven provides Rusty a showcase of some of Jonas' most deplorable behavior (blackmailing the Blue Morpho, bringing him back from the dead as a cyborg, trying to upload his brain into said cyborg while he clones himself a new body), so much so that he's glad that Jonas is dead again.
• Bungling Inventor: Downplayed. He's actually a very good scientist when properly motivated (usually by his life being in danger or by the prospect of a huge payday), capable of building complex inventions such as the "Joy Can", a matter transporter, and modifying many of his father's leftover inventions like the cloning technology, but his Brilliant, but Lazy tendencies tend to lead to failure more often than not. Ultimately, it's less that he actually bungles what he does, and more that he doesn't bother to think (nor does he really care all that much) about the negative effects, like his Vacuum Boom-Broom leaking radiation.
• Cain and Abel:
  • With Jonas Jr. with the added twist that both see each other as "the Cain". J.J. sees Rusty as the Cain for consuming him in the womb whereas Rusty sees J.J. as being a little bit too much like their father. They eventually get past this, even if their relationship remains somewhat frosty.
  • He and the Monarch, to a more extreme degree. The Monarch finds a picture in season five of the two playing together as children which shakes him to his core. Flashbacks in season six and seven strongly imply that Jonas Sr. may have impregnated the Monarch's mother when she and her husband were unable to conceive, suggesting that Rusty and the Monarch may be half brothers. The season seven finale confirms that they are blood related, which the Finale Movie takes even further to reveal that the Monarch is actually a slightly altered Rusty clone that Jonas apparently gave to the Fitzcarraldos. Being "brothers" with a dash of Clone Angst certainly adds another element to their arch-rivalry.
• Captain Oblivious: Rusty is painfully unaware of what goes on around the Venture compound. For example, he's unaware that there is a manufacturing wing, or that his old travelling companions Hector and Swifty were living there. He was also unaware of the society of orphans living in the sewers. A running gag throughout the third season involved him discovering some forgotten part of the compound and Hilarity Ensues. Also, he is oblivious to the fact that S.P.H.I.N.X. had set up shop in the building next to him, but the boys discovered it every other week. He's so out of the loop that he never even picked up that villains had begun storing their gear at the compound - Henchman 21 remarked that he was storing a canister of nerve gas in a tree.
• Casanova Wannabe: Rusty's ego leads him to believing that he is a ladies man, despite his appalling lack of actual success throughout the series. The few women that have been attracted to him have all been pretty crazy. He didn't lose his virginity until he was 24 and a line from "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" implies that Rusty hadn't had sex in nearly twenty years. Ironically, when he drops the creepiness he believes to be "charm" and the smarmy pickup lines, he typically has better luck.
• Character Development: Over the course of the series, he slowly but surely overcomes many of his "daddy issues". Hand in hand with this is him becoming less callous toward his sons (if more openly abrasive). His Heel Realization in season three's "The Doctor is Sin" is a major turning point in this development.
• Characterization Marches On: The first episode plays him as something of a Flat-Earth Atheist who dismisses the chupacabra and religion as "total crap." Though Rusty kept some Know-Nothing Know-It-All traits throughout the series, that particular one fell by the wayside apart from his disdain for things described as "magic." If anything, the writers decided that Rusty's Seen It All background meant that he was, if anything, Super Gullible, to the point of being entirely deceived by the auto-recorded messages on a Teddy Ruxpin doll.
• Clarke's Third Law: He believes this with regards to magic, claiming that it's not functionally all that different from science (or at least the fantastical "super-science" he works in), if not outright the same thing under different terminology. The show implies at several points that he might be right.
• Comically Missing the Point: Due to his Captain Oblivious and Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance ways, this happens more often than one would expect from someone who has Seen It All and is Conditioned to Accept Horror. For instance, when he is informed that his "ray shield" has mutated his interns and that they now plan to mutate the entire world, he only takes from it that they've "finished the ray shield". Similarly, when he is told about a Black Widow known for seducing and murdering rich men, he immediately jumps at the chance to meet her specifically for a chance at sex and doesn't even seem to process the whole "murder" aspect.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Rusty's lifetime of adventuring with mind-blowing weirdness and trauma causes him to react with far less fear than a normal person would, despite his otherwise rather cowardly ways. As such, he's more dependable in a crisis than one would first assume and it usually takes a lot for him to lose his cool. This is best summed up when Rusty proclaims "people have been trying to kill me since I could pee standing up". When Sgt. Hatred first becomes his official arch, the two meet for Hatred to review Rusty's fear of certain things on a 1-10 scale. Nothing, not even Giant Spiders, rates above a 4.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: When it comes to alcoholic drinks. A Running Gag has him proudly announce his self made cocktails with bizarre ingredients like ketchup and odd combinations like Kaluha and Kool-Aid. He absolutely loves them, but more often than not his offers to make them for others are turned down.
• Corrupted Character Copy:
  • In his youth as a Kid Hero, he is one to Jonny Quest, both globe-trotting "boy adventurers" traveling with their Science Hero/adventurer fathers, thrust into dangerous situations and pursued by supervillains. Unlike Jonny, Rusty was repeatedly kidnapped, tortured, injured, and even outright killed (before his father would bring him back as a clone), turning him into a horribly traumatized adult.
  • As an adult, he is one to Jonny's father, Dr. Benton Quest. He is now the "super-scientist" father while bringing his own boys on dangerous adventures. While Benton was fiercely defensive of Jonny and Hadji, Rusty is a rather neglectful father, to the point where he doesn't seem to care that much if they die since he can just bring them back as clones.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: According to the Action Man, he obsessed over the boys' (alleged) mother, Bobbi St. Simone, until she stopped taking his calls, changed her name, and skipped town.
• Crazy-Prepared: He had begun his clone farm while the boys were still in infancy. Some have claimed that this gave him an excuse to not protect his sons while maintaining his emotional distance, though to his credit, some of the things that killed them were so utterly bizarre and contrived that it's hard to blame him. Say what you will about the man, but he has foresight.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Based on the plethora of flashbacks and Noodle Incident anecdotes, Rusty had a massively abusive and traumatizing childhood. His father was emotionally abusive and outright indifferent at best, while his cadre of associates and bodyguards delighted in tormenting Rusty with public humiliation and chilling death threats. Heck, he was kidnapped so many times that his father eventually implanted a GPS tracker in his tooth to save time. Further, the sheer volume of abuse he suffered resulted in actual Guild rules (one even outright called "Rusty's Law") that limit the extent of what a supervillain could do to a potential victim. He witnessed at least as much death and drug abuse and far more sex than his own sons, and unlike them, there was no attempt from his guardians to sugarcoat it or shield him from these sights. He was kidnapped and tortured more times than he can recall, and was even forced to kill in his childhood, at least once, though possibly more if the cartoon of his life was at all accurate on that point. Even The Monarch admits that Rusty had it rough.
  Rusty: "My father made me kill a man, kill a man with a house key! I was ten".
• Deadpan Snarker: He often reacts to the melodrama of his villains and the overzealousness of his sons with a deadpan remark. Crosses into Hypocritical Humor, since he himself gets caught up in insane drama regularly.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of "boy adventurers". The collective trauma of that dangerous lifestyle, including being kidnapped, tortured, injured, and even killed outright before being brought back as a clone, along with (slightly) more mundane issues like not socializing with other kids and a father who put him in these situations, has turned him into a pulp version of a Former Child Star - bitter, cynical, jaded, and with a plethora of Freudian Excuses while making him a crappy father to his own kids.
• Distressed Dude:
  • Rusty became this so often in his youth while "adventuring" with his father that the Guild enacted a bylaw for the treatment of hostages known as "Rusty's Law", forcing villains to release hostages who have untreated medical issues.
  • This continues even as an adult, frequently being captured and/or tortured by his "arches". He has to be rescued by his bodyguard and sometimes even the boys.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Deconstructed. In adulthood, Rusty expects to be the good guy and believes he's the lesser of two evils by both default and birthright. While Rusty has indeed gone through enough trauma in life to require years of therapy, everyone else pretty much tells him that he's a complete jerk. In The Doctor is Sin, Killinger almost convinces him to arch his brother and Rusty tries to deny the notion that he's a villain but to no avail. After rejecting Killinger's offer, a distraught Rusty asks Brock if he's a good person, but Brock neither confirms nor denies and the answer leaves Rusty shaken by the idea that he's not as good as a person as he thinks he is. This Heel Realization leads to some Character Development that helps him get over some of his worse tendencies in the rest of the series.
• Double Standard: His treatment of Hank as The Unfavorite is even more messed up when you consider that he suffers from a massive Inferiority Complex towards his own brother, and suffers a major case of "Well Done, Son" Guy toward his abusive father. Him putting Hank through the same kinds of things while clearly favoring Dean puts him into this territory.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Subverted in "Bot Seeks Bot". Due to some bad timing by Brock, Shore Leave, and The Monarch (it was meant as a distraction so Brock could rescue him and Billy and escape from the villain club. They moved on when the Monarch showed up), a massive disco ball falls onto him just as he's released, seemingly crushing him. In the next episode, its revealed that he's alive, though injured, and is being held hostage by the Monarch.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Rusty, especially in the early seasons, toes dangerously close to the line between a Nominal Hero and Villain Protagonist. He has no compunction against creating a Lotus-Eater Machine Powered by a Forsaken Child, bringing the dead back to life to sell to the military as zombie suicide bombers, or repeatedly cloning his children whenever they die. However, he refuses to become an outright supervillain himself in season three's "The Doctor is Sin", with the mere notion that he could have been serving as a Heel Realization. As an example of how he changed, during the season four premiere "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel", he refuses to use his cloning technology to bring back Hitler for a bunch of Neo-Nazis despite needing the money they offer.
• Evil Power Vacuum: At the start of season three, both of his "sanctioned" nemeses, the Monarch (who is forced to give up arching rights to Rusty as part of a deal with the Guild for illegally arching him in the past) and Baron Ünderbheit (who was overthrown and exiled), lose their arching privileges with him. Now, every low-level villain (or as Rusty calls them, "Tom, Dick, and Skeletor") is trying to arch him. Despite his status as a has-been hack scientist, his pedigree as a Venture still comes with a lot of prestige. This results in a number of ill-timed and inept assaults on the Venture compound with Rusty going so far as to try and get a new archenemy in The Doctor is Sin to at least mitigate the flow of costumed malcontents with a Guild-approved antagonist.
• Fan Disservice: Rusty isn't hideous, but he's far from catwalk material, to say the least; he's short, scrawny, pale and out of shape, all at once. Appropriately enough, anytime he gets naked is met with shock and disgust from others.
• Fetus Terrible: He ate his twin brother in the womb and carried him inside of his body for over 40 years.
• Fatal Attractor: Nearly all of the women he has hooked up with have been crazy in one way or another.
  • Myra is a Clingy Jealous Girl with a Bodyguard Crush who came to believe that she was the boys' real mother.
  • Nikki was Rusty's "fan club president" and lied about her age to sleep with him, resulting in Child By (Statutory) Rape, Dermott. Later, she hooks up with Hank, who is half her age and her son's half-brother.
  • Tara Quymn and Sally Impossible are Downplayed examples, not being quite as "fatal" but each still having their share of mental instability.
• Former Child Star:
  • The "boy adventurer"/super-scientist equivalent. After a traumatic childhood and then seeing all of his dreams fail to materialize, he has become a bitter, jaded, cynical adult with an ego much bigger than his actual reputation.
  • He was especially popular in the gay community, where he was considered "a ginger Cher". Rusty learns later that there's a raunchy sex act named after him.^note Masturbating til your penis is red and sore.
• For Science!: Comes with being a "super-scientist". Salvaging a wrecked spacecraft left untouched as a memorial for the dead? Testing cosmetics on the family dog after removing all of its skin? Stuffing reanimated corpses with explosives? Training an orangutan to box? Building a Lotus-Eater Machine that is Powered by a Forsaken Child? All for the money! The only time when he displayed any sort of discretion was when searching for the ORB, a mysterious device of unknown purpose and power.
• Freudian Excuse: The things he's seen in his childhood and abuse from his father (and father's associates) would make any sane person perform a lot of questionable actions without a second thought. Rusty has been Conditioned to Accept Horror and doesn't even realize it when he's crossing the line from Nominal Hero into full-on Villain Protagonist.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He calls himself on this, interestingly enough. After witnessing the murder of his therapist, he and the other boy adventurers in his therapy group go to fight the culprit. They turn up at Dr. Z's house and accuse him so they can beat him up for trying to kill them. Instead, Dr. Z calms them down and tells them he had nothing to do with the therapist's death and they can only help themselves by letting go of their traumatic past. Rusty realizes that he doesn't need therapy because he got over his problems in his own way and he's the least damaged in the group. He never took hard drugs to cope (like Action Johnny), never developed a disorder as a coping mechanism (like Wonderboy), never resorted to murdering his abuser (like the Hale brothers, allegedly), and he is the only one who ran his own business and started a family.
• Functional Addict: For a given definition of each. He is still a massive failure as a "super-scientist", but "functional" enough to make a living. And while it doesn't come up as much, he relies (or relied, as he seems to drop this trait early on) on massive amounts of illegally obtained prescription pills (he refers to as "diet pills") to deal with his childhood trauma. Either it did not affect his personal or professional life, or those were already too destroyed for the drugs to have any effect.
• Gadgeteer Genius: It's buried underneath habitual laziness and a laundry list of Freudian Excuses, but Rusty has proven on several occasions to be a genius-level scientist, with a knack for whipping up complex devices and even genetic engineering, as shown in Operation: P.R.O.M..
• Generation Xerox:
  • Deconstructed between he and his father. He does follow in his father's footsteps, but the results are nowhere close to the same. To note:
    • He became a super-scientist like his father before him, although of dubious quality. While Jonas Sr. is seen, by heroes and villains alike, as perhaps the greatest Science Hero in history, Rusty is seen as a wash-up, has-been who failed to live up to his potential. One element they do share is laziness. Jonas Sr. showed little interest in completing projects, and frequently abandoned them to move onto the next big thing. For example, he sealed away astronauts in a bio-dome to help them with isolation but ultimately forgot about them. Like his father, Rusty's laboratory is filled with half-done experiments that he never bothered to finish or repair, like the shrink ray.
    • His relationship with his children similarly mirrors that of his father with himself - he's neglectful towards them, only showing care, affection, or enthusiasm when it involves them fulfilling his needs and the roles he has set for them (such as his desire to have Dean become a super-scientist). Thankfully this actually gets better over the course of the series.
  • Toward his own boys, he was also killed and brought back as a clone at least once, possibly several times, with each time being treated as if he never died. However, with him this is more pronounced with him seemingly being roughly 6-10 from 1966 to 1976, whereas Hank and Dean are reset back to 16 over a span of three years.
• Genre Savvy: His "boy adventurer" childhood meant that he had already seen every cliche in the book before he was even an adult. Very little truly surprises him and he knows a good deal about how to survive (even if certain aspects are rather cowardly and/or pragmatic) in hostile situations. For example, when explaining to Dean how to deal with costumed villains, he talks about zig-zagging while running because a guy wearing a ridiculous mask doesn't have good peripheral vision and can't turn his head very fast.
• Go Through Me: For all his cowardice and parental neglect, "Ice Station Impossible" shows that he would take a bullet for Hank if it came down to the wire.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Downplayed, because he does use mild swears like "dammit" and "dick", but he avoids really strong language. Sometimes under stress, he noticeably pauses where you'd expect an f-bomb, and sometimes he uses more creative expletives, such as "LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO!" and "HOLY DAMMIT CHRISTMAS!" Dr. Mrs. The Monarch draws attention to this in one episode where Rusty tries to explain the joke behind a "BEAVER INSPECTOR" t-shirt and resorts to sheepishly whispering the technical term rather than using any of the euphemisms most people would use.
  Dr. Venture: "Beavers? Please. That shirt means you want to inspect a... you know... vagina."
  Dr. Mrs. The Monarch: "Did you just say 'vagina'?"
• Heel Realization: When Dr. Killinger tried to make him into a villain in "The Doctor is Sin", he was quite horrified that he's just that evil (which Brock himself is unable to fully disagree with). It leads to some subtle but significant Character Development headed forward that makes him a better friend and father, if still rather selfish and abrasive.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Became genuine friends with Brock (even if Brock would be loathe to admit) during his time serving as the family bodyguard (covering most of the boys' lives to that point). After Brock leaves, despite some initial reluctance on Rusty's part, he and Hatred become very close friends as well.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: His dad started taking him on missions when he was three. Three. From then on he was subjected to a constant stream of horrors including being kidnapped enough times to warrant having a GPS transmitter implanted in his tooth, being tortured countless times (enough where the Guild enacted bylaws named after him regarding the treatment of hostages), and forced to kill several people, once with a house key, and watching countless people die in front of him (a few in especially graphic ways). It got so bad his dad invented cloning because he was actually KILLED on at least one of their adventures. Even when he wasn't on missions his dad refused to let him either attend a normal school or have friends his own age, and forced him to take part in his experiments. To say nothing sheer volume of abuse his associates would throw on him. Whether it be the Action Man dry firing a gun into his ear^note "Not today, Rusty...not today." or his father hiring prostitutes for his sixteenth birthday and then exposing and painfully shrinking his genitals in front of them. Emotional, physical, and even (indirect) sexual abuse was an almost daily occurrence. The result left him "With terrors that to this day wake him up in a cold sweat." In keeping with the show's theme, most of the horrific things he was put through as a child are Played for Laughs right up until they aren't. Finally, whenever he complained, his dad used his position, as his therapist, to browbeat him into compliance.
• Hidden Depths: He's still very good at solving mysteries and puzzles when he puts his mind to it, as seen in "ORB". It's probably why he's as successful as he is at "super-science" despite his lack of formal schooling. It also likely saves him from being killed by Brock in that same episode, who had orders to kill Rusty if he tries to active the ORB. In a rare aversion to For Science!, Rusty decides to proceed with caution in examining it.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Formerly a famous and successful boy adventurer and heir to the prodigious Venture Industries, he is now a bitter, unsuccessful, drug-addicted CEO to a floundering science firm. He gets a Rags to Riches story putting him back on top when he inherits Jonas Jr.'s company... which he, again, runs into the ground and eventually collapses.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Subverted when it comes to how little the world thinks or cares about him anymore. A Kid Hero and son of the greatest scientist-adventurer in history with his own cartoon show, he is now a walking Small Name, Big Ego... at least outwardly. At several points in the series, he admits to being painfully aware of how big of a failure he is and the denial is something of a coping mechanism. Even the Monarch realizes that Rusty is Too Broken to Break.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Publicly to his father, utterly failing in his family legacy of adventuring "super-scientists" with world-changing inventions. In private, the extent of his father's extreme sociopathy is well known and Rusty, by virtue of being an overall better person and father (admittedly that isn't saying much, but still) while having family/friends who actually care for him, makes him something of a Superior Successor instead, even if the general public only sees him as a has-been burnout in comparison to his father's legacy.
• Informed Flaw: Zig-zagged. While we're constantly told what a failure he is, he does accomplish several impressive scientific feats... that all fail for circumstances either beyond his control or related to his arrogance, rather than his lack of talent. He himself blames his failures on emotional and self-esteem issues related to his upbringing, and seems like even more of a failure than he is in comparison to his father and brother.
• Innocent Bigot: It's shown in flashbacks as a kid that he was affected by the values dissonance of the '60s such as referring to Hector as "that little brown boy" when they first met and writing that The Herculoids were hippies for not fighting in Vietnam. He's a little better as an adult, being politically incorrect at worst.
• Insistent Terminology: There are a few keywords that will set him off.
  • He refers to the jumpsuits he wears throughout most of the series as "speed suits". Calling them a "jumpsuit" will set him off quickly.
  • He is Doctor Venture, never Mister Venture. (His lack of a PhD, or any non-honorary college degree at all for that matter, notwithstanding.)
• It's All About Me: His selfishness is one of his biggest negative traits. He always comes first, even over his boys, which goes hand-in-hand with his Small Name, Big Ego as he cannot stand the thought of no longer being a world-famous super-scientist. When a villain starts kidnapping sidekicks and henchmen, he genuinely believes that they'll be coming for him next.
  Dr. Venture: "You can't collect scientists and not have a Rusty Venture!"
• Jaded Washout: As the son of the great (at least publicly) Jonas Venture Sr. whose adventures as a child were famous enough to get him his own cartoon show, Rusty had all of the potential in the world. However, a mountain of Freudian Excuses from that lifestyle, dropping out of college, running his father's company into the ground, and having two kids of his own have left him a cynical, washed-out, has-been. Brock being assigned to him is considered a Reassigned to Antarctica posting and later O.S.I. members question "wasting" resources on him at all. He gets a second chance when he inherits J.J.'s highly successful company and becomes a top level "arch" once again... only for him to piss all of that away through incompetence.
  Billy: Venture? That guy peaked too early. He's been a joke since he was sixteen.
• Jerkass: Early in the series and on occasion later, he is extremely self-centered, follows a For Science! attitude, and is mostly Only in It for the Money. He doesn't care about his friends or family, not even caring that much if his boys die because he can just clone another set. It's incredibly rare for him to demonstrate any interest in the feelings or needs of anybody who isn't him. After some Character Development, he improves in this regard, but never fully evolves out of it.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Following the events of The Doctor is Sin, more of Rusty's "heart of gold" tendencies have started to show through. That's not to say that he doesn't still have plenty of Jerkass moments, and he can still be motivated by the promise of sufficient profit to do some morally questionable things, but he has softened up a bit, particularly towards his boys and brother. (As seen by him empathizing with typical unfavorite Hank and genuinely consoling his brother when he learns of J.J.'s cancer.)
• Karma Houdini: Subverted, considering some of the horrible things that he has gotten away with, such as using an orphan's remains to power a Lotus-Eater Machine. However, when you consider how terrible his life is and all of the trauma he has endured, you can argue he's gotten away with nothing.
• Kavorka Man: Granted, the women rarely sleep with him, but when he stops trying so hard with the sleazy come-ons and pick-up lines and just talks to them normally, they find him quite charming. This includes Unlucky Childhood Friend Dr. Quymn, Sally Impossible, and several Femme Fatale specimens such as his old (pre-Gonk) bodyguard Myra and Dr. Mrs. the Monarch.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Deconstructed as part of the basis of the show, in line with being a Dark Parody to Jonny Quest, is Rusty being one of these. A childhood of "boy adventurer" trauma (including his death and being revived as a clone, likely repeatedly) has left him a bitter, jaded, and cynical adult with loads of Freudian Excuses who is Conditioned to Accept Horror. He takes a lot of it out by putting his own boys through the same lifestyle, complete with deaths and cloning, at least until a much-needed Heel Realization brings out more of his "heart of gold" tendences, even if he's still pretty outwardly abrasive toward them.
• Lampshade Hanging: Very prone to hanging them, going along with his Genre Savvy. For example, when a villain leaves him in a room with advancing spiked walls, he tells Dr. Orpheus that he's "trapped in a cliche."
• Leitmotif: He has a special one for whenever he's being a Jerkass to the boys.
• LGBT Fanbase: In-Universe, The Rusty Venture Show was apparently VERY popular in the gay community, to the point where Rusty is something of a gay icon with an ambiguous sex act named after him.
• Licked by the Dog: Though he's not around to hear him say it, Brock confidently describes Rusty as "one of the foremost super scientists on the planet" in the series finale.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He has no idea that the Spanakopita events are completely made up just for his amusement (and to take his money). Brock found out but decided not to tell Rusty, as it was one of the few times of the year where Rusty was truly happy. Hatred finds out and chooses to keep it secret as well.
• Mad Scientist:
  • Comes along with being a "super-scientist". Just about everything is done For Science! without regard to safety or side-effects, and Rusty is no exception. The first thing he is shown doing in the pilot is turning the pet dog inside out. It only gets crazier from there.
  • Even when he's not trying to madden up the science, it ends up mad anyways. An example would be "What Color Is Your Cleansuit?" in which his attempts to create a ray shield for Gargantua-2 end up with the interns he hired mutating into tribal, superhuman creatures that create a caste-based society in the Venture Compound's E-Den... and yet he still manages to get the ray shield finished and delivered on time despite it all.
• Majority-Share Dictator: After inheriting VenTech from JJ, one of his first moves is to fire everyone and then restart the shuttered "super-science" division at the cost of the more Boring, but Practical tech they were working on. It's never made clear exactly what percentage of the company he owns, but it's clearly a large majority with other "shareholders" being mentioned and the company's stock prices tanking.
• Missing Mom: Offhandedly mentions at one point that he doesn't know who his mom is and doesn't seem to care. Jonas Sr.'s history of philandering means it's anybody's guess.
• Mistaken for Badass: In season six, he is mistaken for the Blue Morpho by the Guild because he looks enough like the Monarch from a distance, as well as a mounting wall of circumstantial evidence. In "A Party for Tarzan", the Monarch's plan to exonerate himself goes off without a hitch, thus exempting him and Venture from suspicion. Billy still believes it to be the case, even after the events of "Red Means Stop".
• Mister Seahorse: He used Debbie St. Simone's donated DNA to impregnate himself with Hank and Dean via an artifical womb.
• Morality Pet: Dean starting in season four. Rusty tries to bring him into the "super-science" world, introduces him to his favorite hobbies (like Progressive Rock music), tries to pull strings to get him into college, and gets him an internship with Impossible Industries. He does, however, keep up his Jerkass quotient by being even stricter with Hank.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Subverted. Despite going by "Dr." Venture and "Doc", he actually doesn't have a legitimate doctorate; he's a college dropout who acquired an honorary doctorate from a Tijuana community college. In the early seasons especially, we see the "morally ambiguous" portion come into play, such as skinning the family dog for pharmaceutical testing and inventions like the "Joy Can" being Powered by a Forsaken Child, to the point where he frequently crosses into Villain Protagonist territory. Later, after a Heel Realization in season three, he gets a little less morally ambiguous, but it still rather self-serving and abrasive.
• Multiple-Choice Past: According to creator commentary, he has trouble remembering what his actual experiences were and what were embellishments for the Rusty Venture cartoon. Considering that he's a clone of the original Rusty and was kept at around 10 years old from the late-'60s into the '70s (presumably from multiple deaths), that's not too surprising.
• Mutually Unequal Relation: In the early seasons, his "rivalry" with the Monarch is almost entirely one-sided. The Monarch could drop off the face of the Earth and Rusty probably wouldn't even notice, much less care. He's, at best, just another member of Rusty's Rogues Gallery. Downplayed in later seasons where, while still unequal, Rusty seems to recognize the Monarch as more of rival. For example, in season seven's "The Bellicose Proxy", Rusty pulls out all the stops to mentor Billy and Pete in their first arching from Augustus St. Cloud when he learns the Monarch has been serving as St. Cloud's mentor.
• Nerves of Steel: Zig-Zagged. Given his upbringing, Rusty isn't easily scared or intimidated. While he is, for the most part, cowardly at heart and will put his own well-being above others, his standards of danger have the bar set extremely high compared to any normal person. Rusty's not so much fearless as very desensitized to violence to the point where he considers, on a scale of 1-10, a hand grenade being a 2, a Giant Spider a 4, and has stated that people have been trying to kill him "since he could pee standing up". While it takes a lot to shake Rusty, don't expect any big heroics either.
• Noodle Incident: He frequently drops hints that, whatever the bizarre thing he's going through in the episode, he's been through worse before. For example, he claims to have been buried alive five or six times, he's already missing a kidney when his second one gets stolen, and his father forced him to kill a man when a house key when he 10. These examples are just scratching the surface of what he has been through.
• Not So Above It All: Admits in the series finale that he likewise despises the Monarch on a personal level but would rather not have that hatred rule his life like it does his nemesis.
• Not So Stoic: It takes a lot to rattle him owing to his traumatic upbringing making him Conditioned to Accept Horror. However, he does have a few moments of genuine terror throughout the series, like when the Grand Galactic Inquisitor first appears in "Twenty Years to Midnight" ("Ladysmith Black Mambazo!") and when he sees Vendata for the first time in "Bot Seeks Bot" ("No! The metal murder man from my dreams!"). He is also prone to fear from Mundangers, like a cancer scare or an expensive home repair.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Like many of the "science" tropes applying to Rusty, this one is zig-zagged as well. While primarily a Bungling Inventor with the occasional moment of brilliance undercut by his attitude, he has shown to be capable in fields as diverse as robotics (the Walking-Eye really does work...he just can't come up with an application), anatomy (he harvests kidneys from the boys to replace his own), and especially biology (running a large cloning facility to replace the boys when they died while recording their memories as they slept in their learning beds so the clones would never be the wiser), with the later in particular earning him fame/infamy (he was sought out by Roy Brisby to clone himself a new body and neo-Nazis to clone Hitler). However, much of what he accomplishes is eventually revealed to be simple maintenance and/or adjustment to his father's creations, like the cloning technology and learning beds. Ultimately, he knows enough about a broad variety of sciences to get by when he absolutely has to.
• Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement: He shares a story with Sgt. Hatred of a time his father made him kill a man with a housekey when he was 10.
• Only in It for the Money: His main motivation is to get rich, often forgoing morality to accomplish that, like building the "Joy Can" that's Powered by a Forsaken Child or "Frankenstein"-ing a dead henchmen to turn into zombie suicide bombers for the military. A Heel Realization followed by some more Character Development in season three causes him to downplay this more often, such as refusing to clone Hitler for some neo-Nazis despite really needing the money. By the time he takes over Jonas Jr.'s company in season six, he even forgoes the profitable Boring, but Practical technologies J.J. was working on to refocus on Awesome, but Impractical "super-science" R&D, firing everyone else, which badly tanks the company's stock prices.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: When he's not "Dr. Venture", he pretty much only goes by "Rusty". Nobody ever calls him "Thaddeus", however, the Monarch will perodically needle him by calling him "Thad".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The sight of him happy — genuinely, honestly happy, as opposed to angry, bitter, and abrasive — is so infrequent and foreign to Billy and Pete (who are basically his best friends) that Billy considers it creepy to witness.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: It's been shown a few times that, as messy as his career has been, he can actually create some pretty impressive bits of superscience, like the "Joy Can" (which did function, although required an immoral power source, a functional teleporter, and ray shields for the Gargantua-2. Several of his experiments have major reliability issues, but it's the sort of thing that could potentially be ironed out if he weren't so lazy. It's only because he's trying to live up to Jonas Venture (both of them) that he looks much less awesome than he is.
• Parents as People: He's a single father with two sons and a lifetime of emotional and psychological baggage of his own. He seemed to play favorites with his sons but he eventually reveals what was actually going through his head. He favored Dean because he thought Dean wanted to live the life of an adventurer, while Hank was the one who wanted nothing to do with the lifestyle and felt trapped by it. In reality; Dean was the one who wanted to escape, while Hank was the one who wanted to stay as an adventurer. Rusty even says he wants to apologize to Hank for, allegedly, dragging him into a lifestyle he never wanted. He didn't hate his sons, he was trying to help them but made an innocent mistake.
• Pet the Dog: Despite all his personal shortcomings — and there are a lot — we occasionally see that Rusty is perfectly capable of humanity. For example, even when he was at his most amoral in season one, he steps in front of Hank as Prof. Impossible prepares to shoot him. Later, when he thinks a bunch of kidnappers are holding him and his sons, he tells them to go ahead and kill Hank while trying to protect Dean. It seems like horrific Parental Favoritism... but then he reveals that he only said it because he knows Hank can get out of it while Dean wouldn't, which brings joy to Hank upon hearing. In "All This and Gargantua-2", despite their Cain and Abel relationship, he is genuinely sad and tries to console his brother upon learning of J.J.'s terminal cancer diagnosis. Later in the episode, before J.J. performs a Heroic Sacrifice, he matches J.J.'s "Go Team Venture!" salute which he has otherwise avoided throughout the series.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Upon becoming the new CEO of J.J.'s company, Rusty's first act was to fire pretty much the entire staff and refocus entirely on "super-science" rather than the mundane (and more profitable) applications of the company like communications technology and programming, thus quickly tanking the company's stocks.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: As a child, he was an Innocent Bigot with Deliberate Values Dissonance played in the flashbacks, like calling Hector a "little brown boy" when they first met. As an adult, he's more politically incorrect and ignorant than outright bigoted. Hank does mention a Noodle Incident where Rusty apparently tried to "eliminate the gay gene" before he got shut down, but considering he never displays an issue with the multiple gay characters (Al, Shoreleave) in the show, it was probably another of his many morally bankrupt, Only in It for the Money scientific endeavors.
• Precocious Crush: Apparently had a big one on 1960s model and comedy actress Bobbi St. Simone, simply because she was one of the few amongst his father's many, many, many girlfriends that actually treated him well, however briefly they were together. This would later apparently be the impetus for harvesting genetic material from her daughter to create his sons.
• Properly Paranoid: Discussed by Hank and Dermott in season five's "Momma's Boys" when Dermott questions how Rusty could believe that his friend "Teddy," which is actually just a talking teddy bear the boys were using to play a prank on him, is in danger. Hank mentions some of the outlandish things that have actually happened in the form of Continuity Nods (i.e, '70s-era David Bowie punching out a man with no limbs on his front yard) and Noodle Incidents, which make the Teddy situation seem perfectly reasonable by comparison.
• Psychological Projection: It's implied that this is a lot of the reason he makes so many bad judgments with his sons in later seasons. He perceives Hank's rebellious attitude the way he perceives his own rebellion against his father, which was that he was forced into a life that he never chose and wishes he could have had a normal childhood. In Dean, meanwhile, he sees Dean's more passive and bookish nature as the blossoming of everything he could have been as a superscientist, and so tries to make sure Dean is given what he needs to surpass his father. However, in the process he doesn't realize that he's actually gotten things backward: Hank is the one who wants to live a life of wild adventure and shows a lot of untapped potential in doing exactly that, while Dean is the one who never wanted to be a superscientist and wishes he could just go to a regular school and get a job.
• Punny Name: Rusty's full name is Thaddeus Venture. Thad Venture. thAd venture.
• Rebuilt Pedestal:
  • To his brother Jonas Jr. Despite viewing him as a joke for most of the series, by "All This and Gargantua-2", J.J. has come to admire Rusty since, despite his flaws and failures, he's still surrounded by a network of family and friends who love him anyway.
  • Billy's view of Rusty as a brave heroic role model was shattered the very instant they met in person in flashback episode "The Invisible Hand of Fate". However, by the end of "O.R.B.", Billy seems to have concluded that for all Rusty's faults, the boy adventurer he adored as a kid is still somewhere in there.
• Reed Richards Is Useless:
  • Zig-zagged with Dr. Venture over the course of the series. Early on, he actually does come up with some functional inventions (either his own creations like the Joy Can or completing/continuing his father's unfinished work like the cloning tech), but between the combination of his For Science! attitude, greed, laziness, and Freudian Excuses, most of them have terrible side-effects (like the Joy Can being Powered by a Forsaken Child and the Vaccuum Boom-Broom leaking radiation) that kill any practical applications. He also never considers selling cloned organs, though given what we see of the technology (the clone slugs seem to grow in real-time, so it wouldn't be very fast) and it's explicit illegality, it's likely he wouldn't have been able to do so anyway. When he finally does come up with a working, (mostly) side-effect free invention (the teleporter in season seven), the O.S.I. attempts to confiscate it as The World Is Not Ready (and it ends up being stolen by the Guild).
  • There is also irony between this trope and Rusty's admitted plan of "retiring to Spanakopita on a pile of money" when he sells his teleporter technology. He could have done that as soon as he inherited VenTech from J.J., either letting the (already well-run) company continue to what J.J. had it doing while pocketing the profit or by selling his shares for billions. Instead, he ran the company into the ground (including implied bankruptcy come the Finale Movie) by firing nearly everyone and re-focusing it on "super-science" instead of the Boring, but Practical tech J.J. had it creating.
• Replacement Goldfish: The Rusty that we know is actually a clone of the original (and given the implied number of clones, going up to at least "22", he was probably cloned multiple times), who died at some point during his father's previous adventures. He later ensured that Hank and Dean would be preserved in the same way, using the same technology.
• Seen It All: In his own words (as of "All This and Gargantua-2"), he's "learned not to ask" when confronted with mind-blowing weirdness. Very little can surprise or shock him, and most of the time he expresses annoyance at situations that would scare the piss out of a normal man or the prospect of his imminent death. His reaction to multiple Guild of Calamitous Intent soldiers on his lawn, as somebody plans to activate a (possible) doomsday device is an annoyed glare that just screams "Can I go back to bed now?" Not to be confused with Only Sane Man. Which he would clearly like to be, but he fails at by being, well... you've seen the rest of the page up until now. He really doesn't seem like the most well-adjusted individual, does he? It ends up deconstructed in one episode, where he falls for an obvious trick because what would be warning signs of a bullshit story to most people are no more nonsensical than events Rusty has actually experienced.
• Show Within a Show: He starred "The Rusty Venture Show" in the '70s, an exaggerated telling of his adventures as a boy with his father. The creators have invoked the Noodle Incident regarding its overall contents, only showing brief glimpses throughout the series, contending that it is best left to the audience's imagination as long as they know that it was "the most awesome show ever".
• Sleepyhead: In seasons four and five, he develops a penchant for napping. It's possible this is a side effect of him getting over his pill addiction from the first two seasons. In particular, he is seen napping in odd places and at odd times, such as in the O.S.I. Nozzle room while resting his head on Sgt Hatred's boobs in "O.S.I. Love You". White and Billy make fun of him for napping in ""What Color Is Your Cleansuit?", suggesting it's because he's getting old.
  Rusty: "I-I-I was resting my eyes."
  White: "What are you, my dad? Did you get all tuckered out watching Matlock?"
  Billy: "Yeah, Grandpa. Had too much Chinese buffet and drifted off watching Murder, She Wrote?"
• Small Name, Big Ego: Zigzagged frequently. If he's in a poor mood, he's probably going to be abundantly aware of his own shortcomings and how much he's struggling to keep the Venture empire going. But if he's in a good mood, or within talking distance of an attractive woman, he'll act like he's exactly the amazing, universally-successful, genius superscientist which he absolutely isn't. Even in his more introspective moments, he tends to see himself as more a victim of circumstance and bad luck than an actual failure.
• Stalker with a Test Tube: According to the Action Man and seen in the Finale Movie, Rusty was one for the St. Simones, resulting in Hank and Dean.
• Super Gullible: Rusty is easily convinced of many ridiculous things, and not exactly prone to thinking too deeply about how believable something is. It's not his fault - he's Seen It All in a Fantasy Kitchen Sink World Gone Mad. To paraphrase his son Hank, if you'd seen '70s-era David Bowie punch out a man with no limbs on your lawn, you'd believe anything.
• Superior Successor:
  • A Downplayed Trope towards his father, but still true. On the few occasions Rusty can be bothered to really apply himself, he's actually been able to either complete inventions his father left behind or even correct flaws that his father couldn't. He's also got a few accomplishments to his name that even his father couldn't match up to, including bringing the dead back to life. More subtly, despite not having his father's charisma or courage, he's a far better person than his dad ever was as Rusty can make actual emotional connections to others, has family and friends that truly love and support him, and is a far better dad towards his sons despite his flaws. (Though to be fair, Jonas Sr. didn't really set the bar that high being The Sociopath and The Hedonist, only concerned with his own fun and only saw everyone around him as people he could use.
  • Publicly, he inverts it, being seen as a has-been washout and Inadequate Inheritor to his father's legacy and estate. Jonas Sr. is still seen by anyone who didn't know him personally as a legendary Science Hero while Rusty is decidedly not.
• Tech Bro: After inheriting Jonas Jr.'s tech-business, he turns into this. He fires their entire staff on their first day, insists on implementing Awesome, but Impractical superscience into their products, overworks and underpays what little staff he has and by the Finale Movie, creates a launch-product that drives the company into bankruptcy.
• Technician Versus Performer: "The Performer" to Jonas Jr.'s "Technician". His experiments are often of the grandiose, outlandish, Awesome, but Impractical "super-science" variety with little regard to safety, morality, or applicability. J.J., meanwhile, founds a billion dollar company based on Boring, but Practical tech like communications and programming, actually shuttering the "super-science" department.
• Too Broken to Break: No matter what horrible things happen to him, he's been through worse. An abusive childhood has made him incredibly jaded, cynical, and callous. When the Monarch tries Cold-Blooded Torture on him, nothing has any effect due to him having experienced almost all of it at some point, leaving him unfazed. Trying to crush his spirit doesn't work either, because he's so depressed and bitter that even his old college friends consider it creepy to see him happy. The Monarch puts it best:
  The Monarch: "What can I do to this guy that life hasn't already done!?"
• Took a Level in Kindness: Later seasons make him a bit more responsible, if out-of-touch and overprotective, father to Hank, Dean, and even Dermott. When Hank asks him for dating advice, he gives his son pamphlets on chlamydia. Another episode has him tell Dean not to sext. A big part of the additional protectiveness is the loss of his original safety net in the clone farm.
• Torture Is Ineffective: His Hilariously Abusive Childhood means that any given torture method his enemies can throw at him has no lasting impact. Best showcased in "The Devil's Grip", where a mixture of this and bad luck causes the Monarch to just give up and let him go, considering him Too Broken to Break.
• Tragic Hero: There's every indication that were he able to cast off the truly impressive Freudian Excuses he has been saddled with, he could be an even greater man than his father. He has family and friends who actually care about him, he lacks his father's outright sociopathy (even if he can still be rather selfish and abrasive), and he has proven that he can be a capable Science Hero with the right motivation. Too bad he is so Overshadowed by Awesome by his father that, no matter what he does, he'll always be seen as a washed-up has-been hack failing to live up to his family legacy.
• Truly Single Parent: The last shot of the series (literally the Stinger of the Finale Movie), is The Reveal that he combined his and Debbie St. Simone's genetic material to gestate Hank and Dean in an artificial womb.
• Unexpected Inheritance: After J.J.'s death in All This and Gargantua-2, Rusty expects, if he's left anything at all, to get Spider Skull Island and the X-2. He passes out when it turns out that he gets a multi-billion dollar company and its headquarters in New York City.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Because of his passive attitude to danger, he seldom shows any gratitude to those who end up saving his life. A prominent example comes in "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" when he resists contacting Orpheus while stuck in a "The Walls Are Closing In" death trap until Brock and boys berate him, then shows no appreciation when Orpheus saves them. He also has the expectation of his body guard protecting him at all times from all things, even chastising them for failing due to circumstances beyond their control or for dealing with their own (more pressing) problems.
• Useless Protagonist: While a celebrity in the super science and supervillain world, he's a largely passive figure who has to be dragged into absurd plots against his will and even then he'll willfully only have a bit role to play in such events. It's fair to say that many of the series' most significant events happen around him, with Rusty being a Spanner in the Works at best.
• Vague Age: A Zig-zagged case with elements of Comic-Book Time and Revealing Continuity Lapse playing into it. Rusty's stated canonical birth year is 1963 and he claims to be 43 in season two (which came out in 2006). However, in all the show's flashbacks — not just his own memories, but in videos and photos from the era too — he is shown as being the same, roughly 8-10 year old, age. This is despite the fact that the flashbacks take place over the span of more than a decade, from the mid-1960s (Action Man kills Turnbuckle in 1966) to the late-1970s (Kano kills Venturion in 1976). He is in college when his father apparently dies during the Gargantua-1 "Movie Night Massacre", which takes place in 1987, meaning he'd be far older than a typical college student if he were born in 1963, but nothing about his age at the time is brought up as unusual. The final season implies, and the Finale Movie confirms, that like his own boys, Rusty was killed and cloned at least once, and most likely multiple times, making his true age even harder to pin down. Throw in decades of trauma, his use of "diet pills" in seasons one and two, and possible degradation of his DNA from cloning, the end result has made it impossible to tell just how old he really is.
• Villain Protagonist: He spends the first few seasons as a Nominal Hero with very few personal morals he isn't willing to violate, and his worst actions (the Joy Can, Venturestein) put him firmly into this territory. That said, he is frequently the lesser of many evils when actual villains are involved. Explored in the episode "The Doctor Is Sin", where Dr. Henry Killinger tries to groom Rusty into becoming his own twin brother's archvillain.
  Rusty: "Brock, am I... a bad person? Am I, Brock!?"
  Brock: "Ehhh..." [makes a "kind-of" hand gesture]
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He still craves his long-dead father's approval and it factors into his many Freudian Excuses. Over the course of the series, he seems to realize just how awful of a person his father was, public legacy be damned, and has a Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse realization in "Self Medication" after he sees how bad off all of the other "boy adventurers" in his group are. He focuses on becoming a better (if still misguided and abrasive) father to his own boys in attempt to break this cycle.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gets these a lot, especially in the early seasons, when he casts morality or safety aside in pursuit of scientific greatness and/or money. It was almost to the point where this trope no longer applied because there's little point in invoking it against a full-on Villain Protagonist. After a Heel Realization in season three, he starts getting these a lot less, usually when doing something good but that still has a selfish component (like quick-cloning a boy who was killed on his tour in "The Buddy System" and passing him off to his parents to avoid being sued. Brock calls him out on it).
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Has the chance to bail out of the falling VenTech Tower twice in Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. The first time, he's talked out of it by Billy who shames him for the potential deaths he could prevent by stopping its descent. The second time, he decides to do so of his own volition using Ventronic, which potentially saved the lives of Dr. Orpheus, Hank & Dean, Jefferson Twilight, Dermott Fictel, Bobbi St. Simone and her animals, who were in the immediate area. At minimum, this act allows the protagonists to recover and resuscitate H.E.L.P.eR., which would've been impossible if Hunter Gathers had blown the building out of the sky like he originally intended.
  • Despite having the perfect opportunity to be rid of him once and for all, he also chooses to help save the Monarch's life in the same film. His archenemy thanks him by having his pants pulled down in front of everyone.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Beneath all his vices and flaws, Rusty genuinely wants to bring the world into the utopic "super-science tomorrow" promised in his youth. That it's Awesome, but Impractical, and that neither his father nor brother were able to pull it off despite being far more competent scientists, notwithstanding.
• Worthless Foreign Degree: Despite dropping out of college as an undergrad, he uses the "Dr." title based off of an honorary degree from Tijuana.
• You Cloned Hitler!: Defied. Despite needing the money following the events of the season three finale, he refuses to use his cloning technology in the season four opener "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel" to clone Hitler for a bunch of Neo-Nazis.
  "Really? You went with this cliche??"
  "All you Nazis ever want is to clone Hitler!"

Brock Samson

Special Agent Brock Samson

Voiced by: Patrick Warburton

"Look, you don't want my life, Hank. This job's not all it's cracked up to be. I've been at this for over twenty years and what do I have to show for it? A metal plate in my chest, Vatican karate gorilla blood on my hands and a footlocker full of Manboro miles?"

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. Assigned by the O.S.I. to Dr. Venture, he spent nearly the boys' entire lives as the family bodyguard, dealing with all manner of threat via application of extreme violence... Until witnessing enough bizarre and horrific events in the line of duty causes him to quit at the start of season four. He joins his mentor Hunter Gathers with the S.P.H.I.N.X organization which, located on the Venture compound, means he still regularly interacts with the family during the season's second half. After Hunter is placed in charge of the O.S.I., all members of S.P.H.I.N.X are rolled back in, including Brock. Due to Rusty's rise in status and move to New York City at the start of season six, he is reassigned as the family bodyguard.

---

• The Ace: Brock is widely recognized, by both hero and villain alike, as perhaps the single most renowned badass on the planet. The fact that "Death by Samson" and "getting Samson'd" are recognized terms used by villains, henchman, and even Guild Strangers speaks to how much of an "ace" he is. In later seasons, he's easily the top agent at SPHINX and then the O.S.I as well. There is no denying he's very good at what he does.
• Action Hero: A full-blown massive, muscular One-Man Army who can solve nearly any problem with an application of enough violence. Deconstructed when, in the season three finale, he quits after having a breakdown caused by all of the bizarre things he's been forced to experience in the line of work. This is later reconstructed when he has an epiphany that he's just that good at it and that it allows him to protect the people he cares about.
• Affectionate Nickname: Typically refers to Rusty as "Doc", and is the only character to regularly do so (despite Rusty's lack of an actual doctorate). Despite recognizing his flaws (and being the character who most often points them out), he does care about Rusty and the two clearly became close over Brock's nearly two-decades working for the family.
• Almighty Janitor: Invoked with his reassignment to bodyguard the Ventures. As revealed in "The Invisible Hand of Fate", he and Hunter were getting close to the Guild, so O.S.I. officer and Guild mole Courtney Haynes (later known as Sgt. Hatred) uses the failure of the Billy/Phantom Limb mission to reassign Hunter to Guam and turn Brock into this, a top-caliber operative being wasted playing babysitter to a washout of a super-scientist, keeping them out of the Guild's business.
• Amazon Chaser: One of his biggest turn-ons seems to be women who can "give him a good fight". Molotov Cocktease, who he admits is the only woman he's ever loved, is one of the few people on the planet who can go toe-to-toe with him. When meeting Quymn family bodyguard, Ginny, Brock is initially put off by her hot-and-cold approach to flirting, but when they start brawling, he thoroughly enjoys himself. Later, when Warriana has Brock trapped in her truth lasso, he rather enthusiastically declares his interest in big gals. (The two later hook up, with Warriana apparently taking a dominant role in the bedroom.)
• Ax-Crazy: In the pilot and early seasons, as well as in flashbacks (averting Characterization Marches On), he is basically a merciless killing machine, going into some kind of frothing battle frenzy as he puts on bloody Mook Horror Shows. Following some Character Development in seasons two and three, he is able to show more restraint but still makes a very effective killer.
• Badass Normal: Brock has no canonical supernatural abilities (pending his ability to tell when someone is in his car, which doesn't help much in a fight). He's also one of the deadliest people in a world full of super-powered individuals, advanced technology, and real magic.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Attempted in "The Saphrax Protocol" when a heavily armed Guild strike-team attempts to neutralize him, only to learn Sgt. Hatred neglected to keep one under the front desk, which Brock chastises him for. (Brock still deals with the Guild team by the episode's end.)
• Berserk Button: Touching his car, taking his last cigarette, showing him disrespect, or disrespecting Led Zeppelin will have him trying to kill you very quickly.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: He's a mountain of a man and it's implied several times in the series that his penis is also large. Ranges from Downplayed (like in "The Incredible Mr Brisby" where the "tent" in his boxers after making out with Molotov is large, but still realistic) to later examples (like his Full-Frontal Assault in "Victor. Echo. November.") where the Censor Box approaches Gag Penis proportions.
• The Big Guy: Brock is an absolutely massive mountain of a man who towers over everyone else on Team Venture and is naturally one of the best physical combatants seen in the series. If the fake Guild ID he presents in "Bot Meets Bot" is accurate (and one presumes the physical measurements would be), he is seven feet tall and weighs 390 pounds. Colonel Hunter Gathers put it best when first meeting Brock:
  Gathers: Good god they're making them big nowadays! Don't they know there's a gas crunch on? Look at the size of you!
• Blood Is the New Black: After a fight, Brock (especially in earlier seasons or flashbacks when he was more of a mindless killing machine) will often be shown covered in paint-like swaths of blood.
• Blood Knight: He clearly enjoys the awesome fights he gets into as part of his job, and the more an opponent can dish it back out to him, the more he likes it. It comes back to bite him occasionally when he gets in over his head or inadvertently endangers those he is protecting, but learning to control these urges is part of his Character Development (though it never fully goes away). Even in the later seasons, he is positively giddy, for example, about the prospect of fighting Red Death and, in the Finale Movie, admits that even he isn't sure if he could win that fight (the only time he admits this about a one-on-one fight).
• Bloody Hilarious: Many of his fights, especially early in the series when he was much more Ax-Crazy, involve about as much blood as can be spilled and still have it be played for comedy.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: He is this after many of his fights, to the point of it being a Running Gag, and very rarely is any of the blood his. Lampshaded in "The Buddy System" where Rusty has to remind him not to get blood on a rented monster suit.
• Boring, but Practical: His fighting style and reputation, for a given definition of each term. While his fights are often entertaining (to him and to the audience) Bloody Hilarious Mook Horror Shows, they're mostly him throwing his massive size/strength around and using only his knife. One "practical" benefit is that, since he doesn't use anything more powerful, the villains, per Guild bylaws on "equally matched aggression", aren't allowed to either.
• Car Fu: Is extremely capable of using his car (or any other vehicle he gets ahold of) as a weapon in this fashion.
• Character Development: Brock has some of the most subtle yet significant of the main cast over the course of the series. In the pilot, he outright abandons the Venture boys to have sex with an unattractive hooker, and the first season emphasizes his Ax-Crazy and womanizing traits. However, he grows more moral by the next season; for example, in "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner", he addresses one of these instances by saying that he didn't know that Lt. Baldavitch and Col. Manstrong were in a formal relationship before he had sex with the former and he apologizes to Manstrong for the transgression. In "¡Viva los Muertos!", Brock has a What Measure Is a Mook? inspired breakdown in which he questions his willingness to kill hapless enemies who pose no threat. He goes on a Vision Quest, but in the end, he realizes that being lethal is what he does. However, he does acknowledge that there's a difference between justified lethal force in the line of duty and soulless killing. In the season three finale, after witnessing so many bizarre things over the years, he has another breakdown and outright quits. He comes back, first to S.P.H.I.N.X., then the O.S.I., and then back to Team Venture, but is much less of a mindless One-Man Army. He realizes that he is good at what he does, despite the nature of it, and that it allows him to do "cool" things while protecting those he cares about.
• Characterization Marches On: Notably averted. The changes in his character over the course of the series, from Ax-Crazy womanizing One-Man Army early on to a mature, professional Papa Wolf by the end are shown as new developments triggered by experiences during the course of the show. In flashbacks, he is still that same character from the early seasons.
• Chick Magnet: Brock has slept with a large number of one-off female characters (especially in the first season), and attracted the attention of several of the most badass women in the series, such as Molotov Cocktease, Ginnie, and Warriana. Dr. Girlfriend has also shown signs of attraction to him.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Downplayed in that he doesn't seem to find it outright erotic, but he does seem to get joy out of taking good hits in combat. He takes it as a sign of a "good fight" and really seems to like it when he's fighting an attractive woman (like Molotov) who can actually dish it back out to him. (He won't kill a woman, but will use non-lethal force, something Hunter instilled in him.)
• Cool Car: A 1969 Dodge Charger, a classic "muscle car" fitting his character. He can sense if someone is in it from another continent away.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Has them in later seasons. It's not for any particularly obvious reason, either — they start showing up around when he was going through a rough patch, but they're present in flashbacks to his rookie days too.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Brock in nearly any fight in the series. For a guy who gets into as many fights as he does, the number that isn't one of these can probably be counted on one hand. In the most extreme cases, it passes into full-blown Mook Horror Show territory to his opponents.
• Cyanide Pill: In a false tooth, which he says is standard O.S.I. issued. He offers it to the Doc when captured in "Love Bheits".
• Dating Catwoman: Mercenary agent/assassin Molotov Cocktease was the only woman he had ever loved. This winds up being deconstructed as their game of cat and mouse means that, even with their flirting, Brock's aggressive nature and Molotov's refusal to take things further leaves their potential relationship in complete deadlock and eventually sinks the idea altogether. Brock even eventually ends up in a much more stable relationship with theAmazonian superheroine Warriana.
• Disappeared Dad: It turns out he fathered several illegitimate children on Spanakos while accompanying Rusty on his yearly trips. He avoids the island so that he doesn't have to confront their mothers. Given his history of womanizing, it would not be a stretch to say there are likely more out there as well.
• Disproportionate Retribution: His solution to everything is violence. Given his line of work, it is often justified. However, there are plenty of instances where it isn't, like when he returns to the the bartender in "Mid-Life Chrysalis" who made fun of his mullet once his "License to Kill" is renewed. Touching his car, taking his last cigarette, disprespecting him... all of them can set Brock off onto a murderous rampage. As Orpheus puts it bluntly:
  Orpheus: So, anyone who doesn't immediately show you respect, you murder?
• Doesn't Like Guns:
  • Will kill by any means except by shooting with bullets. He'll throw guns and use them as melee weapons, but he won't shoot them. The practical reason is that according to Brock, the Guild enforces a code on the villains who will never escalate their weaponry if Brock doesn't. If he doesn't use a gun, lethal as he already is, the baddies won't upgrade either.
  • That being said, he really, really wants to shoot J.J.'s room-sized "late-'60s ultra death ray", a feeling that agents Cardholder and Doe share.
  • He is revealed to possess a crossbow in season five. Not quite a gun, but still a projectile firing weapon. He gives it to Gary at the end of the episode to cheer him up after the O.S.I. finally destroys S.P.H.I.N.X.
  • In season six he's forced to carry a pistol due to Rusty being a top-level arch target, but he keeps it unloaded. Season seven reveals it's a disguised grappling gun. He's also not above using a paint gun to train Billy, and was implicitly willing to put a bullet in Teresa's head if she tried to harm Rusty.
  • In the season seven finale, he goes for a gun but is irked that Hatred doesn't keep one under the desk. This is justified as he was facing an armed Guild blackout team and not the usual costumed villains. Since he was fighting trained and armed soldiers, his attempt to find a gun to use wasn't unwarranted.
• Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Justified with him being a trained secret agent, as he instinctively defends himself from anyone sneaking around him. He takes down Hank once for this, and a few other times is quick to put his knife on the possible intruder's throat.
• Drives Like Crazy: Even when not outright using Car Fu, he drives like a madman under normal circumstances. In season seven, he is revealed to do this even in crazy New York City traffic.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He is the character who most often finds himself disgusted by Rusty's more Villain Protagonist actions, giving him a fair number of What the Hell, Hero? speeches. In "The Doctor is Sin", he can't bring himself to disagree when Rusty asks if "[he's] a bad person".
  • Brock himself is a legendary badass in the world of heroes and villains, but keeps his professional persona separate from his actual personality. While "on the job", he enjoys being a "Swedish made murder machine" secret agent (though in later seasons, after some Character Development, he starts to downplay the mindless killing). On a few occasions, he'll drop that persona and act like the genuinely Nice Guy he is when the situation calls for it. Some prominent examples include:
    • In "Love Bheits", when he grabs the crotch of one of Underbeit's minions to interrogate him, he stops abruptly and goes from angry to worried while telling the guy he found a lump and that the henchman most likely has testicular cancer. He immediately puts the man down and tries to console him while telling him he should probably leave to be with his wife and family.
    • In "Viva los Muertos!", he realizes that he went too far by killing the rookie henchman who was terrified and trying to escape, posing no threat to Brock or the Ventures. When the henchman is resurrected as Venturestein and is terrified of Brock, Brock feels terrible and realizes from a Vision Quest that, while he enjoys fighting and killing on the job, there's a big difference between killing in the line of duty ("you can't teach a hammer to love nails") and murdering a helpless man who posed no threat. From that point, he resolves to rein in his blood-lust because he's a secret agent and bodyguard, not a cold-blooded murderer.
• Expy Coexistence: He is based on Race Bannon from Jonny Quest, who appears (and dies) in "Ice Station Impossible". Flashbacks reveal that they both worked together in the O.S.I.
• Failure Hero: It transpires that while he's a legendary fighter and secret agent, he's failed to protect Hank and Dean from being gruesomely killed over a dozen times.
• Famous Ancestor: If Poker Night 2 is to be taken as canon, Ash Williams is one of Brock's ancestors via TimeTravel.
• Firearms Are Cowardly: Downplayed owing to his Doesn't Like Guns attitude. While he won't use "standard issue" smaller firearms, he does still show an interest in really big guns, like J.J.'s room-sized "late-'60s ultra death ray", and will use other projectile-firing weapons like a crossbow and grappling gun.
• Foil: To legendary Guild villain Red Death. Each is quite possibly the deadliest member of their given organizations (O.S.I. and Guild, respectively) but each has spent much of their career in a role below their abilities (Brock because he was demoted to play Rusty's babysitter after getting too close to the Guild and Red Death because he has separated his professional and personal lives to such a degree that the latter is impacting his ability to do the former). They both share an intense bloodlust (Brock in more of a Blood Knight sense while Red Death is more Ax-Crazy when he has his Game Face on) that they've each learned to control (Brock via Character Development as seen in episodes like "Viva los Muertos!" while Red Death uses his villain career as an outlet to keep it separate from his family life) while both are, deep down, Nice Guys (Brock in a Papa Wolf, Jerk with a Heart of Gold way and Red Death as an Affably Evil family man).
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Often seen smoking and is a decidedly "good" character. As if the "smoker is incredibly badass" line didn't qualify enough, he is also fatherly to the boys, a memetic sex god, and has a very stressful career, ticking a few of the other "good" boxes.
• Green Thumb: He has a small gardening hobby, including an herb garden, and takes care of the compound lawn, with it being his own special blend of sod types.
• Guest Fighter: He appears as one of the opposing players in Poker Night 2.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • In "Viva los Muertos!", he feels guilty after he kills a terrified rookie henchman who is trying to run away. He then feels even worse when Rusty brings the henchman back to life, Frankenstein-style, and expects Brock to provide even more bodies for this purpose. He shuts down in a depression and goes on a Mushroom Samba induced Vision Quest with some help from Dr. Orpheus. During it, he realizes that while he is an excellent killer, there is a difference between killing in the line of duty and mindless murder. He comes out of it less Ax-Crazy, which holds up for the rest of the series.
  • At the end of season three, he realizes that a lifetime of witnessing bizarre things as an O.S.I. agent and bodyguard for a super-science family have taken a toll on him and quits, going to live in peace with Steve Summers and Sasquatch for a time. He decides to get revenge on Hunter and Molotov for using him... only to be drawn back into the fold when Hunter reveals he's a Double Reverse Quadruple Agent who is still on the side of good and convinces Brock to rejoin him as part of the rebuilt S.P.H.I.N.X., free of the O.S.I.'s obstructive bureaucracy where Brock can be a true, world-changing secret agent again.
  • Has a brief one in season seven's "Arrears in Science" where the Guild villains reveal the truth about the Pyramid Wars that Brock joined the O.S.I. to fight — the Guild started them and blamed S.P.H.I.N.X., making Brock's whole life a lie. He gets over it rather quickly.
    Red Mantle: Oho, look at that. I have never actually seen a man realize his whole life has been a lie.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He's a government agent who spends most of the series bodyguarding a nominally good scientist, but (especially in the early seasons) is prone to bouts of Ax-Crazy brutality against his enemies while having sex with as many women as possible. His college football career (and scholarship) ended when he accidentally killed his own team's quarterback during practice, so he joined the marines and then the O.S.I where he got a literal "License to Kill", and made eager use of it. After some Character Development resulting from a couple of Heroic BSoD instances, he downplays it in later seasons. He can still be a merciless killing machine, but tends to save it for situations in which its actually called for.
• Hero's Classic Car: Drives a 1969 Dodge Charger that he converted to electric. Her name is Adrienne.
• He's Back!: He quits the Venture family and O.S.I. in the season three finale due to experiencing a Heroic BSoD. He joins his mentor Hunter with the reborn S.P.H.I.N.X. which, being headquarted in an abandoned building on the Venture compound, means he's still close to the family and features into several late season four episodes before they fold back into the O.S.I. Come season six, with Rusty inheriting J.J.'s company and becoming a "top level arch" once again, he gets reassigned to the family and is back to stay.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: While he may not show it much and would probably never admit it, serving as the Venture family bodyguard for most of the boys lives has brought him very close to Rusty, with the two becoming genuine friends during that time.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He does the heavy lifting for Team Venture, in the first few seasons especially. While Rusty and the boys head to the panic room or another area of safety, Brock deals with the actual threat.
• Improbable Weapon User: Lawnmowers, Bibles, sharks, jawbones, a sock full of party snaps... anything but a gun. At least, not in the traditional way you use a gun as a weapon.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He's basically a blond Patrick Warburton.
• Irony: He ends up becoming a Parental Substitute to Dean and Hank (especially Hank), but he's a deadbeat dad to his own illegitimate children on Spanakos.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the early seasons, there is more of an emphasis on the "jerk" part as he's more of a mindless killing machine. The "heart of gold" is still present in his interactions with the boys though, to whom he's very much a Papa Wolf Parental Substitute. Following some Character Development in the second and third seasons, the "jerk" part is downplayed significantly, saving his violence for those who really deserve it, and he proves to be a genuinely caring, loyal Nice Guy.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's a top heavy seven-foot tall Big Guy who was athletic enough to play college football on scholarship and still has no issue keeping up with anyone else in the series into his 40's.
• Love Interests:
  • With Molotov through the end of season four. They have a Slap-Slap-Kiss relationship and he calls her the only woman he ever loved, but the two never actually have sex. Following the season four finale (where she is shown to be in a relationship with Monstroso) and season five's "O.S.I. Love You" where she joins the agency as a deep cover agent, their relationship is sunk.
  • With Warriana in seasons six and seven. He's an Amazon Chaser and a gender-inverted Best Her to Bed Her example, and Warriana qualilfies as both. Despite being a vocal misandrist, she is into Brock as well and the two hook up.
• Machine Empathy: He has shown an ability to know when someone is in his car, even when not physically present. Hank mentions having seen Brock do it from "a continent away".
• Made of Iron: Very little seems to deal serious damage to Brock. He can be hit by cars, shot by a cannon, blasted by super powers, etc. and shows little more than Clothing Damage and maybe a flesh wound. It's not any sort of superpower, he's just that tough. Lampshaded by Phantom Limb in "Hate Floats":
  Phantom Limb: "I have removed the bullet. And three others, a blowgun dart, two shark's teeth, a tip of a bayonet, a twisted paperclip, and a meager handful of buckshot. You may want to learn how to duck."
• Meaningful Name: While his name is mostly meant to bring to mind "Race Bannon", he's an immensely strong guy with long hair, like the biblical Samson. The name "Brock" sounds like "brick" and "rock," and also means "badger," which all speak to his toughness. Finally, given Brock's love of smoking, it's an interesting coincidence that both "Brock" and "Samson" are name brands for loose-leaf tobacco.
• Mistaken for Gay: A couple of times with Rusty, which is an easy mistake to make given the closeness of their working relationship. Brock quickly corrects anyone making this mistake.
• Mook Horror Show: Brock puts one of these on seemingly every time he goes up against a group of henchmen, leaving a Blood-Splattered Warrior with a pile of corpses behind him. A particularly notable example is at the start of "Viva los Muertos!", which is actually seen through the eyes of a henchman he kills.
• Morality Adjustment: Brock has one of the most subtle yet significant adjustments of the main cast over the course of the series. While ostensibly "heroic" from the start, in the pilot, he outright abandons the Venture boys to have sex with an unattractive hooker, and the first season emphasizes his Ax-Crazy and womanizing traits. However, he grows more moral by the next season; for example, in "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner", he addresses one of these instances by saying that he didn't know that Lt. Baldavitch and Col. Manstrong were in a formal relationship before he had sex with the former and he apologizes to Manstrong for the transgression. In "¡Viva los Muertos!", Brock has a What Measure Is a Mook? inspired breakdown in which he questions his willingness to kill hapless enemies who pose no threat. He goes on a Vision Quest, but in the end, he realizes that being lethal is what he does. However, he does acknowledge that there's a difference between justified lethal force in the line of duty and soulless killing. In the season three finale, after witnessing so many bizarre things over the years, he has another breakdown and outright quits. He comes back, first to S.P.H.I.N.X., then the O.S.I., and then back to Team Venture, but is much less of a mindless One-Man Army. He realizes that he is good at what he does, despite the nature of it, and that it allows him to do "cool" things while protecting those he cares about.
• Muggles Do It Better: Despite all manner of superpower, advanced technology, and outright magic existing in the Venture universe, Brock, a Badass Normal, is considered by hero and villain alike to be one of the outright most dangerous people on the planet.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Brock is used to violence and a world of, in his words, "mind blowing weirdness and moral ambiguity", but although he can brush of incidence of extreme horror, violence, and death regardless of his own personal involvement, there are things even he balks at and several times when he's admitted he went too far in the course of his duties. To note a few prominent cases:
  • In "Viva los Muertos!", when he kills a rookie Monarch henchmen who was attempting to run away that Rusty then resurrects as Venturestein, Brock has a "What Measure Is a Mook?" breakdown. With the help of Orpheus, Brock has a Mushroom Samba invoked Vision Quest and realizes that while killing actual threats in the line of duty is justified (and he can still even enjoy it), he acknowledges that killing people who are fleeing from you who have no intention to fight is monstrous.
  • Gets this feeling after he finds out the truth behind the Pyramid Wars in "Arrears in Science". Vendata led a team of young Guild members, including Red Death, to a secret and unsanctioned arching of Jonas Venture, Sr. onboard Gargantua-1. The result was the "Movie Night Massacre" and Jonas Sr.'s (apparent) death. To cover up the unapproved arching and the murder, the Sovereign disguised himself as S.P.H.I.N.X. Commander and tricked the OSI into thinking that S.P.H.I.N.X. was responsible. As Red Death tells this to the group at the diner, Brock remarks that the reason he was recruited into O.S.I. was to fight in the Pyramid Wars, to which Red Death thanks him for wiping out the Guild's competition.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: His ability to tell if someone is in his car.
  Shore Leave: Right, that is a legitimate superpower.
  Hank: Seen him do that from another continent away.
• No-Sell: Beyond being Made of Iron to the point where things that would kill a normal person barely slow Brock down, he also shows an incredible resistance to being knocked out. Notably, it takes several dozen of the Monarch's Tranquillizer Darts to knock him out, which are strong enough to knock out a normal person instantly.
• Not So Above It All: He pronounces "spaghetti" as "pasghetti";. Rusty and Billy are so overcome with amusement that they waste no time in trolling Brock for it.
• Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement: Multiple stories are told in this fashion about Brock throughout the series, going hand-in-hand with being a frequent Improbable Weapon User. The "sock full of party snaps" that made the victim's head explode is a particularly notable one.
• One-Man Army: Brock is one of the biggest badasses in the series, regularly killing entire squads of enemy Mooks in droves. Becomes a Deconstructed Character Archetype when a lifetime of killing people and witnessing truly bizarre things working for the O.S.I./Venture family leads to him having a bit of a breakdown and quitting at the end of season three. After some time away, he gets over it, realizing that he has a "cool job" and that it allows him to use his skills to protect people from serious threats, joining Hunter at the reformed S.P.H.I.N.X. and then getting folded back into the O.S.I.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Molotov feels this way about him, saving his life several times with this justification.
• Only Sane Employee: Of Team Venture in the early seasons. He not only bodyguards the family as ordered, but is essentially a nanny to the boys. As long as his Berserk Buttons were kept under control, he was the only sane/competent member of the family.
• Papa Wolf: He is very protective of the boys, and even Rusty to an extent. Even if later seasons when he's less Ax-Crazy, endangering the family is still a great way to set him off on a murderous rampage.
• Parental Substitute: For both of the brothers, he's clearly a better and more compassionate father figure than their actual father, especially Hank. He also tends to take on more of the "nuturing" role to the boys, helping to make up for their Missing Mom.
• Pet the Dog: While Brock is often merciless to enemy Mooks, he can be nice to them under the right circumstances. In "Victor. Echo. November.", he sings to a Guild Stranger as a sort of last request after apparently knicking an artery. In "Love Bheits", while performing a Groin Attack, he finds a lump. He immediately lets the guy go to reconcile his condition with his wife.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Brock made transphobic remarks to and about Dr. Girlfriend in earlier seasons thinking that she was a transsexual. In later seasons, he no longer seems to care.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves to work for S.P.H.I.N.X. in the season four premiere, but returns as recurring character in the mid-season finale. He remains in that role for the rest of the season and into season five, before returning as a main character when reassigned to Rusty in season six.
• Really Gets Around: He has racked up quite the female "body count" of a different variety, especially in the early seasons and flashbacks. Pretty much the only woman he wants to sleep with but hasn't is Molotov. Later in the series, he sleeps around less, but is treated as something of a memetic sex god, even bedding notable misandrist Warriana.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He seems to be the more 'maternal' figure of the family unit as he's willing to play along with the boys' little games (even Dean's effeminate activities). He's also perfectly comfortable with his sexuality and doesn't mind being hit on by gay men, gently brushing it off with an Incompatible Orientation explanation. He's notably not homophobic, considering who some of his colleagues are.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: How he, one of the O.S.I.'s top agents, ended up bodyguarding the washed-up, has-been Dr. Venture. He and Col. Gathers were getting too close in their investigation of the Guild, so an O.S.I. officer named Haine (actually Sgt. Hatred) assigned Brock to "rookie stuff" in bodyguarding Venture while sending Gathers to Guam.
• Red Herring: Is strongly implied to be Dermott's father in season three. Eventually, we learn that this is not the case.
• Rule of Cool: Everything he does runs on it. He's even badass enough to do things that are Awesome, but Impractical just because he feels like it.
• Shooting Gallery: In season one, he is forced into this as part of his "license to kill" renewal. He [[Does Not Likeguns still refuses a gun], instead besting the course with his knife and bare hands. Not only is this not held against him, the instructor is impressed.
• Showy Invincible Hero: Part of his reputation. It's extremely rare that someone fighting Brock isn't subjected to an immediate Curb-Stomp Battle, even against superior numbers (which tends to become a Mook Horror Show), much less for Brock to actually lose. Molotov Cocktease seems to be the only one capable of fighting him evenly, and it's part of his attraction to her. The only times in the entire series that Brock admits he might not be able to win are against an entire squad of Guild Strangers and Red Death.
• Smoking Is Cool: He is one of the most badass characters in the series, considered as such in-universe and out, and is often seen smoking cigarettes.
• The Stoic: It takes a lot to get an emotional reaction out of Brock, positive or negative. And given the, in his own words, "mind blowing weirdness" he encounters as part of the job, that is really saying something. Endangering the boys or triggering one of his Berserk Buttons causes the flip to switch to an Ax-Crazy Unstoppable Rage real fast, however.
• Terrible Artist: Brock may be an artist in combat, but in terms of more classicly defined arts, he is rather lacking. For example in the season four premiere, we see him paint Steve Summers and Sasquatch for art therapy, which comes out looking rather ugly. Nonetheless, they appreciate the gift.
• Testosterone Poisoning: Especially in the early seasons. The Big Guy made of muscles with implied Bigger Is Better in Bed traits who Really Gets Around and amasses an astronomically high body count with a Cool Car, he is comically manly. Like many simlar tropes, he also deconstructs it — he can't be with the only woman he really loves, is something of a Failure Hero who let the boys die over a dozen times, and has multiple instances of Heroic BSoD when the psychological toll of his violent life catches up with him.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His upper body is much larger than his legs, which look downright skinny by comparison. This is especially prominent in the pilot episode.
• Tranquil Fury: While Brock can be very vocal when going into an Unstoppable Rage, he seems to be at his most dangerous when he's enraged but muted. A prominent example from the very first episode:
  Brock: They hit me with a truck. [eye twitches]
• Twitchy Eye: Has a very twitchy eye that manifests when he enters one of his Unstoppable Rages. This happens especially when killing people who have threatened the Ventures... or ran him over with a truck, while he's returning the favor.
• Undying Loyalty: He's very loyal to the people he cares about, especially the boys and Dr. Venture (even after he quits being their official bodyguard). He is also extremely loyal to Hunter, seeing him as a father figure, which Hunter uses to take advantage of Brock multiple times (though always for what turn out to be good reasons).
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Not Brock, but it's offhandedly mentioned that Brock has a brother by Hunter. He's never seen in the show, though Hunter justifies it as that version of Brock being dead.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: If a problem can be solved by copious amounts of violence, Brock will solve it. For instance, after every other effort by Team Venture fails to put it to rest, Brock deals with the shrieking ghost of Major Tom in "Ghosts of the Sargasso" by running up and beating the shit out of it, punching its skull off, and then tossing it back into the sea. It solved the problem on their end, anyway.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Brock, perhaps logically as a Badass Normal, does not deal well with supernatural threats like ghosts and hauntings. Most of the time, it doesn't manifest as an outright fear, but it is something he struggles to deal with more than flesh-and-blood enemies since he can't just pummel them. For example, he has no compunction about knocking the head off of the ghost of Major Tom in "Ghosts of the Sargasso" and handles the annual haunting of the X-1 hangar by angry native spirits by calling Dr. Orpheus. Other times, like when he tries to attack the intangible, Ambiguously Human Investors, he shows uncharacteristic trepidation and expresses disappointment over them being "magic guys". In "The Venture Bros. and the Curse of the Haunted Problem", he's is genuinely terrified of the apparent poltergeist taking over VenTech Tower to the point where the boys comment that the situation is "scare-a-Brock spooky".
• The Worf Effect: Like his inspiration Race Bannon, he's knocked out and imprisoned several times over the course of the show. Luckily for him, the villains he contends with are usually too dramatic (and red-taped by Guild rules) to settle for simply putting a bullet in his skull while he's at their mercy.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Downplayed. He will hit a girl, and has done so several times to Molotov for a prominent example (keeping her eye that he took during their first meeting in his room as a trophy), but won't kill one. Hunter instilled this philosophy in him (and later takes advantage of it by undergoing a sex change to keep Brock from killing him when he goes rogue from the O.S.I.).

The Boys in General

The boys in the earlier seasons.

"Go Team Venture!"

Hank and Dean are the fraternal twin sons of Dr. Venture and, at least outwardly, are the eponymous characters of the series.

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• The All-American Boy: Initially, they are innocent, cheerful adolescent boys. They eventually outgrow their "gee-whiz" naivete, but never quite shed the dorkiness completely, downplaying it by the end.
• Born Unlucky: As if being born into the "super-science" world wasn't bad enough (just look at what growing up with that lifestyle did to their father), they have died and been brought back to life at least 14 times. A few of the things shown in their season two Death Montage are just plain horrible luck (getting sucked into the X-1 engine, getting accidentally beheaded riding their hover bikes, the gas leak).
• Character Development: Early in the series, they are about one step short of Single-Minded Twins. By the end, they've reached the opposite extremes of recklessness (Hank) and cautionness (Dean). It is implied that, by that point, it's quite possibly the longest either has been alive without needing to be cloned, allowing them to develop down different paths.
• Corrupted Character Copy: To "boy adventures" like Jonny Quest and The Hardy Boys. While they think they're out solving mysteries and braving danger, in truth they are Too Dumb to Live and in over their heads, and only survive thanks to getting cloned after the many times they died. After some Character Development kicks in, Dean does everything he can to get out of the adventuring super-scientist life, while Hank outgrows his uselessness.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Both of them have had their jealous moments with their respective love interests (Dean with Triana and Hank with Sirena). They get clingy and obsessive, eventually suffocating their interests with attention to the point of it ruining the relationship. They inherit this trait from their dad, who gave their (alleged) mother the same treatment.
• Decoy Protagonist:
  • Early in the series, the brothers are portrayed as the main characters, but after they're killed off at the end of season one, the focus shifts to a more Ensemble Cast with heavier focus on Rusty, the Monarch, and plenty of Lower Deck Episodes as well.
  • By the end of the series and confirmed in the Finale Movie where it is revealed that the Monarch is a Rusty clone, it's possible they aren't even the most important set of "Venture brothers" to the series and that it was really about Rusty and the Monarch the entire time.
• Divergent Character Evolution: They were practically Single-Minded Twins during the early seasons. They've since become Polar Opposite Twins, with Hank as a wannabe-badass Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass and Dean as a nervous, awkward Non-Action Guy who just wants to be normal.
• Emo Teen: Each boy has gone through this phase at different points.
  • Hank fits the spirit of the trope, if not the usual stereotype, going through his rebellious phase in season four following Brock's departure. He disobeys his father and his new bodyguard often, lets his hair grow out, and starts wearing a wider variety of clothing.
  • Dean in season five fits the stereotype more closely, wearing all black (with dyed black hair), resenting his father, and resists going on the family adventures. At one point, he appears even to have started cutting himself, which scares Sgt. Hatred, of all people, leading to a Pet the Dog heart-to-heart moment from Hatred.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Both of them start changing their hairstyles as they become more aware of world they inhabit and deal with emotional hardships.
  • Hank goes through his rebellious phase in season four following Brock's departure, marked by him refusing to cut his hair. His hair ends up getting shaved down to its original length when he tries to join S.P.H.I.N.X., which is incidentally just a little while after he reunites with Brock. Afterwards, he keeps his hair generally short but lets his bangs grow out.
  • Dean dyes his hair black and combs it down in stereotypical Emo Teen following his nasty falling out with Triana and finding out that he's a clone. After he recovers from that with a surprising heart-to-heart from Sgt. Hatred, he loses the hair dye but keeps his hairstyle relatively the same.
• Flanderization: Inverted. In season one, the two are basically static caricatures — basically every Hardy Boys trope played out in completeness, with little difference between the boys personalities. As the series goes on, they go through so much Character Development that they're all but unrecognizable from their season one counterparts. To note:
  • By the end of the series, Hank is more of a Dumb Jock with a Hidden Heart of Gold, and moments of Small Name, Big Ego thrown around aplenty. His early "boy adventurer" personality is played off more like something between boyish charm/naivety and constantly jumping at Calls to Adventure that may or may not actually be there. Through it all, he badly desires to be a badass like his idol, Brock.
  • Dean ultimately goes through more de-flanderizing than Hank, ending up with a radically more Straight Man personality; he's still naive and at times too trusting, but this is played off less as him being Too Dumb to Live (as in the early seasons where he was just as naive as Hank, if more "book smart") and more that he's simply so good-natured he tends to miss when people are trying to use him (though he's become just jaded enough to pick up on malintent almost as often as a normal person). If nothing else, he's far less oblivious to when people are actively trying to kill him and reacts accordingly.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Both of them early in the series, with some unusual swears mixed in. Hank drops this over time, while Dean clings to it. While still rarely swearing, Dean became decidedly less shy about cursing at the very end of "Operation: P.R.O.M.", dropping a Precision F-Strike.
• Heroic Lineage: Through their father, they are at least the fifth generation of the "super-scientist" Venture family.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Though not quite to the same extent as their father in terms of direct abuse, being dragged along on dangerous adventures, being subjected to repeated trauma, and even dying outright at least 14 times (with a Death Montage showing most of those deaths being fully Played for Laughs over upbeat music and with Rusty/Brock joking around while they reminisce), their childhood absolutely qualifies.
• Legacy Character:
  • They're actually the second/third "set" of "Venture brothers", depending exactly how one defines it. Rusty ate his twin in-utero and was unaware of him until J.J. broke out at the end of season one. Season seven strongly implies, and the Finale Movie ultimately reveals, that Rusty and the Monarch are a sort of set of "brothers" as well (Monarch being a slightly altered Rusty clone).
  • They've also dubbed themselves one as "Team Venture" in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of their grandfather's The Squad of the same name. They are, as a whole, decidedly less badass (though nowhere near as sociopathic).
• Like Father, Like Son: They end up driving away their respective love interests after becoming clingy and obsessive towards them, which is exactly how their father drove away their (alleged) mother.
• The Load: They are utterly useless on the family's adventures in the early seasons, frequently needing to be saved (or, failing that, revived as clones), despite believing themselves to be competent "boy adventurers". With some Character Development as the show goes on, they eventually downplay it. Hank becomes braver and more physically capable, while Dean becomes more crafty. However, they still have some incompetent traits, such as Hank being Book Dumb and Dean being naïve), so they never quite outgrow this trope.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • Until season five, they're unaware of being clones. When they saw the "clone farm" in season two, Rusty manages to convince them that the clones were going to be Christmas presents. Dean finds out first in the pre-season five special "A Very Venture Halloween" and experiences Clone Angst, choosing not to tell Hank at first to spare him that same trauma. In the season five finale, he finally tells Hank, who not only isn't upset, but things it's actually cool.
  • Hank and the Alchemist learn that Dermott is their half brother in season four's "Everybody Come to Hank's", but Hank chooses to mind wipe this information after having sex with Dermott's sister/mother. Rusty figures it out in the pre-season five special "From the Ladle to the Grave", but does not tell the boys. Dermott figures it out in "Momma's Boys" but it's unclear if he tells the brothers. Dean reveals that Rusty told him while drunk in "The Saphrax Protocol", but he's speaking to Hank while in a coma and it's still unclear if Hank knows after that.
• Missing Mom: Nearly the entire series passes without them knowing who their mother is, though a few hints (mostly Red Herrings) are dropped throughout. Season two's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" implies that it may be Rusty's former bodyguard, Myra, but season five's "Momma's Boys" reveals that she isn't. In the final episode of the show, The Saphrax Protocol, the Action Man tells Hank (while in Comaland) that it's an actress named Bobbi St. Simone, who left the state, changed her name, and stopped taking Rusty's calls when he turned obsessive. Finally, the Finale Movie reveals that she and Rusty were never even in a relationship. In actuality, Hank and Dean don't even have a mother in the traditional sense. They were grown in an artificial womb, worn by Rusty, with it being implied (and outright stated by Doc Hammer) that Bobbi's daughter, Debbie, was the one who donated her eggs to facilitate the birthing as payment for Rusty transferring her mother's invisibility powers (originally granted by Jonas Sr.) to her.
• Nice Guy: Both are both good-hearted and naively innocent. They do both lose their naivety over time as a consequence of no longer being expendable clones and develop obvious character flaws, but they remain good-natured at their core.
• Save the Villain: Both Hank and Dean are given their own respective opportunities to get rid of the Monarch once and for all, but instead take action to spare him as letting him die in such a way would violate their principles.
• Secondary Character Title: Despite being the (apparent) title characters and the clear (current) Jonny Quest analogues on Team Venture, they're generally secondary in focus to just about every other major character in the show, really. By the final seasons, they're lucky to have maybe two episodes per season in which they're still the actual "focus", though continue to appear in nearly every episode as supporting characters and/or are involved in the "B plot".
• Sibling Triangle: End up in one of these in season seven. Dean develops feelings for Hank's girlfriend, Sirena, and Hank eventually finds them in bed together. They get past it during the Finale Movie.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Initially averted, as they start off closer to Single-Minded Twins. As the series goes on, they undergo Character Development toward opposite ends of the recklessness (Hank) and cautiousness (Dean) scale. Hank remains Book Dumb and wants to be a badass, while Dean gets less naïve and wants to have a normal life.
• Sleep Learning: The boys sleep in learning beds designed to teach them the basics they were missing out on by not having a standard school-based education {originally created by Jonas Sr. for Rusty). Of course, said information is woefully outdated as said videos were made during Jonas Sr.'s time and never updated to take Science Marches On into account. The beds also double as recorders of the boys' memories while they sleep to be implanted into clones in the highly likely event they should die. Again.
• Too Dumb to Live: Dr. Venture made clones of the boys as they wound up getting killed a lot (at least 14 times that we see). In fact, they died at the end of the first season, being replaced with new (but virtually identical) clones. Since then, the current incarnations have been able to stay alive.
• Villainous Lineage: As revealed in the Finale Movie, their biological mother is Debbie St. Simone, daughter of the supervillain Force Majeure, former leader of the Guild of Calamitous Intent (before getting usurped by the Sovereign) and Arch-Enemy of their paternal grandfather, Jonas Venture Sr.

Hank Venture

Henry Alan "Hank" Venture

Voiced by: Christopher McCulloch

"Let me show you what a Batman-filled, Brocked-trained Venture can do!"

Boisterous, energetic, and headstrong, Hank is the more athletic but less intelligent of the brothers. He desperately wants to be a badass (superhero, secret agent, private eye...) and has shown an aptitude for it on several occasions, but his recklessness and immaturity often hold him back. He idolizes Brock and was devastated when he left the family, leading to Hank becoming more openly rebellious toward his father and seek greater independence.

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• Book Dumb: He is not the brightest when it comes to things taught as part of a traditional education, especially when compared to the much more "book smart" Dean. He didn't graduate from his learning bed (revealed to have been sleeping in it face-down with an eye mask and earplugs to block it out) and has no intention of going to college.
• Buffy Speak: He's desperate to be a badass and tries his best to come off as mature and cool, but his ignorance and immaturity cause him to speak like this. For example, he calls ammunition "gun food" and refers to Brock's lays as "naked sex ladies", among many others.
• Character Development: Though still not the brightest, Hank isn't nearly as naive or childish as he used to be in early seasons. The best evidence comes during his angry speech after 21 kidnaps he and Dean, accusing them of killing 24. Brock's absence actually seemed to have a pretty positive effect on Hank's personality and actions. In later seasons, he's a bit of an action junkie, a Casanova Wannabe, and a relative badass being able to take down lesser threats and escape from almost any situation S.P.H.I.N.X. could think of putting him in to discourage him from joining. And yet he's still the same lovable doofus.
• Children Forced to Kill: Dr. Killinger makes him kill a man who stole from his father in "The Doctor is Sin". In later seasons, while showing off his Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass abilities, he usually only employs non-lethal force against those he fights, though he does try to blow up the mutants with a rigged J-Pad in "Venture Libre". (It detonates late due to the humid conditions and only kills a Sleazy Politician.)
• Clone Angst: Inverted. When finally told this by Dean at the end of season five, he actually thinks its pretty cool to be a clone.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Hank is prone to arriving at bizarre conclusions, often drawing heavily from pop culture, and uses a lot of Buffy Speak that make him sound downright crazy at times, not helped by his Book Dumb traits frequently causing him to flat out misunderstand what is going on. A planned storyline for the canceled season eight was that his different "personas" (Bat-Hank, detective Hank, Enrico Matassa, etc.) were actually going to be the ghosts of dead Hank clones haunting him, adding to this. (This idea was partially implemented in the Finale Movie, where they are instead hallucinations brought on by his head injury.) Brock put it best:
  Brock: It's like he's channelling dead crazy people!
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In the later seasons, after spending the first few as a Small Name, Big Ego instead. When he attempts to join S.P.H.I.N.X. in season four, Hunter throws every crazy trap and scheme he can come up with to scare Hank off from joining. Hank actually uses every last bit of "boy adventurer training" to pass each test, even beating the mind-wiping machine. Later, he gets to show this off even more in "Venture Libre", single-handedly saving his father and Hatred while taking out multiple gun-wielding, half-man-half-animal creatures, all while hopped up on coffee beans (and experiencing diarrhea from them). He's still not the brightest bulb but probably qualifies in the top levels of badass on the show by the end.
• Deadpan Snarker: His streak isn't as pronounced as his father's or his brother's in later seasons, but he still is capable of laying the sarcasm on thick whenever he's annoyed, such as when 21 holds them captive under the belief that they killed 24.
  Hank: Oh, wasn't that that same day when a hundred gooey copies of me and my brother got mowed down by a lunatic in a spinning laser suit? And the day that my best friend, Brock, left us forever? Oh, how could I forget one of, like, a million guys who died on my lawn?!
• Did Not Get the Girl: Sirena. Despite getting off to a good start, he sinks the relationship by becoming overbearingly clingy, pushing her to cheat on him with Dean.
• Fatal Flaw: Immaturity. He struggles to grow out of it compared to Dean and ends up in hot water more often than not as a result of it. He eventually gets the physical aptitude to get out of the dangerous situations he winds up in, but his lack of maturity puts him in quite of these situations to begin with (or makes them worse). It also contributes to him being an overbearing Crazy Jealous Guy to Sirena, culminating in her cheating on him with Dean.
• Fearless Fool: He's reckless and impulsive, believing himself to be some kind of action hero, and charges into dangerous situations without fear. This makes him The Load early on, diving into danger but being useless once there. This isn't helped by the fact that he actually has died but was brought back as a clone numerous times, completely unaware of this fact. Later, he gains some Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass traits, but still does not approach dangerous situations with much regard for himself.
• Generation Xerox: Rusty believes this to be true about he and Hank, but this isn't entirely accurate. To note:
  • Subverted in that Rusty believes that Hank rebels because, like himself when was younger, Hank doesn't want to be part of the "adventurer-scientist" lifestyle. (He has this reversed for his boys, with Hank embracing it while it is Dean who wants out.)
  • Romantically, they play it straight. Hank loses his virginity to Nikki, who Rusty slept with in the past (making him Dermott's father). Part of the reason she's attracted to Hank is because he reminds her so much of Rusty. Hank's love life mirrors his father's again in season seven, when he starts obsessing over Sirena. The Action Man points out that Rusty did the same to the boys' (alleged) mother, with equally poor results.
  • The movie reveals that [[spoiler:he shares many traits with his biological mother: not only are they both quirky, energetic and blondes, they’re also both cases of I Just Want to Be Special- Hank wants to be an adventurer, Debbie a supervillian.
• Group Costume Fail: Hank's refusal to wear any costume other than The Bat ruins at least three costume contests, once when they go as Star Wars characters, once as characters from The Wizard of Oz, and again as members of KISS.
• Hypocritical Humor: Mocks Dean for being uncircumcised, but then we find out at the end of "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" that Hank was apparently uncircumcised, too (emphasis on the was, as it was done as a "reward" from the tribe).
• I Just Want to Be Badass: He really wants to be something badass, like a superhero (especially Batman) or a secret agent/action hero like his idol Brock. Early on, his attempts are pathetic, with him being a Fearless Fool and The Load who tends to make situations worse thinking he is helping (like joining the fight against Phantom Limb in the Battle of Cremation Creek in disguise). Later, he is more of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass who actually can pull of some impressive feats of heroism (passing the S.P.H.I.N.X tests, everything in "Venture Libre")... when he isn't completely handicapped by his immaturity and overconfidence (like attempting to take on Molotov, who has repeatedly fought Brock to a stand-still, even with a strength suit, in "O.S.I. Love You").
• Limited Wardrobe: Downplayed. He wears the "Fred from Scooby Doo" outfit almost exclusively in the first three seasons, barring a couple of situational outfits (like the spacesuit in "Careers in Science"). He switches to a Venture Industries speedsuit (with Brock's jacket) for most of season four, then changes it up more frequently than any other family member for the final seasons.
• The Load: In early seasons, Hank's Too Dumb to Live recklessness often significantly worsened whatever dangerous situation was at hand (like attempting to solo Baron Ünderbheit's base in "Love Bheits", where he was lucky to only get a cut on his tongue from his mask). Starting in season four and continued in season five, he Took a Level in Badass to become a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass... though is still handicapped quite a few times by his impulsiveness and recklessness (like trying to take on Molotov in "O.S.I. Love You").
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: He functions as a gender-inverted example to Sirena. It was his goofy and childish charm coupled with his complete earnestness that attracted her to him. It gets deconstructed in season seven, where his over-the-top gestures of affection gradually lead to him alienating Sirena, until she ends up cheating on him with his more down-to-earth and reserved brother.
• Malaproper: Prone to these, especially in the early seasons, sometimes combined with Buffy Speak. For example, when referring to Sgt. Hatred's history as a pedophile, he calls him a "pedestrian".
• Nice Guy: Hank is the more pure brother. He is good-hearted, heroic, and committed to helping his family.
• Nerves of Steel: Downplayed because of his goofiness and naivete, but Hank really has Seen It All and very little affects him. He rarely panics about his own safety or that of his family, performs well under stress, takes horrific sights in stride, keeps his composure when kidnapped or threatened, and often leaps into peril of his own accord even when his father/Dean are looking for safety. It seems to be a result of his own stupidity at first, but after acing the strenuous S.P.H.I.N.X. initiation tests, it's implied that he actually does have some serious guts and skill. As the series progresses, his recklessness is portrayed less as bumbling overconfidence and more as genuine courage.
• Only Sane Man: Though downplayed by the standards of normal people, Hank qualifies by virtue of being the most well-adjusted member of his Dysfunction Junction family. He's the only one that isn't bitter or jaded, and actually accepts and enjoys the mind-blowing weirdness of his world.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Prone to using these, owing in part to his immaturity and overconfidence leading him to believe they'll work. Most notably, in "Show at Cremation Creek", he wears a fake mustache and an old Monarch uniform but actually manages to fool both Sgt. Hatred and Brock while pretending to be a Russian "exchange henchman".
  Hank: Hello-ski! I am, how you say? Russian Guyovitch!
• Powered Armor: He acquires "The Countess" strength suit in "S.P.H.I.N.X. Rising", a full body set of armor with a feminine model. He apparently wears it non-stop for weeks until losing it in "O.S.I Love You", leaving him severely atrophied.
• Precision F-Strike: Subverted in "Operation P.R.O.M." where he appears to do this in front of Triana's new boyfriend just to show Brock that "the new Hank cusses". However, the uncensored version reveals that he only said "shit".
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Dean's blue, being impulsive while Dean is more pensive.
• Shout-Out:
  • His outfit is identical to Fred's from Scooby-Doo.
  • A Running Gag is his admiration and desire to be Batman, wearing a Batman mask every chance he gets and going as Batman for Halloween almost every year (even when it ruins the family's attempt at a group costume).
• Small Name, Big Ego: Early on, he thinks of himself as something of a action/adventure hero, diving into dangerous situations with little regard, forcing him to be rescued (if it doesn't result in his death outright). Downplayed later in the series where he is shown to have some genuine Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass traits... but is still immature and overconfident enough that he still gets in over his head more often than not.
• School Is for Losers: At some point after the first season, when he started focusing more on being the "cool" brother, he stopped paying attention to his learning bed; wearing earplugs and an eye mask while sleeping in it face-down to ignore the lessons, leading to his many Book Dumb traits. He also refuses to go to college.
• Too Dumb to Live: Literally true, in that he's died over a dozen times at least, most of them through means that could have easily been avoided had be been a little more intelligent (like attempting to jump off the compound roof using an umbrella while dressed as Batman). Beyond this, he 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 more of an idiot with no sense of danger.
• Took a Level in Badass: After spending the first few seasons as a Too Dumb to Live Fearless Fool, he shows serious growth starting in season four. He attempts to join S.P.H.I.N.X, so Col. Gathers puts him through Training from Hell... and Hank is able to pass every single test, even beating the last-resort mid-wiping machine. In season five's "Venture Libre", he saves his father and Sgt. Hatred while taking out multiple gun-wielding, half-man-half-animal creatures with nothing more than coffee beans and jury-rigged Batman-style equipment.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • He's very combative and rebellious in season four owing to Brock leaving and resenting Sgt. Hatred for replacing him.
  • He becomes a clingy Crazy Jealous Guy toward Sirena in season seven, losing a lot of the charm and earnestness that attracted her to him in the first place, before ultimately sinking their relationship and driving her to cheat with Dean.
• The Unfavorite:
  • Rusty is far more verbally abusive to Hank than to Dean, which gets worse as the series goes on and Hank becomes more rebellious. This is part due to Hank's oblivious disregard for his own life with Rusty just trying to protect him, though doing so in more abrasive fashion that is called for. This becomes even more pronounced when Hank goes into Emo Teen mode starting in season four due to Brock's absence (manifesting in Hank as something akin to Parental Abandonment). Ultimately subverted when Rusty reveals (unaware that Hank is present) that he "doesn't hate Hank", but actually sees Hank as more like himself than Dean is, thinking Hank wants nothing to do with the "super-science" lifestyle and actually feels bad for Hank. (Rusty has the situation with his sons backwards, but Hank still appreciates the comments.)
  • Resurfaces in the final two seasons where Rusty is quick to cut Hank off from the family's newfound wealth and forces him to get a job while Dean still has access and gets to go off to college. (Hank did not help himself by making numerous expensive purchases right off the bat...)
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He actually does crave Rusty's attention and approval, and has a definite complex about being The Unfavorite compared to Dean. As such, he tends to latch on to other "father figure" types, especially Brock, but also Dr. Killinger in "The Doctor is Sin" and even Sgt. Hatred, once he warms up to him a bit.

Dean Venture

Dean Venture

Voiced by: Michael Sinterniklaas

"I don't wanna be a scientist, or a boy adventurer, or even a Venture Brother anymore! I just wanna be my own man."

Kind, good-natured, and bright, Dean is the more intelligent but less athletic of the brothers. Early on, he was more eager to follow in his father's "super-scientist" footsteps (which he has shown an aptitute for several times), but eventually desires to leave those dangerous adventures behind and craves a normal life. After learning that he is a clone at the start of season five, he has become much more rebellious, even showing shades of becoming goth, though settles down between the two extremes once he is able to attend a normal college in season six.

---

• Armor-Piercing Response: Delivered to Billy Quizboy when Billy got a little too fresh with him in the lab.
  Dean: Hank is following me around looking for advice on how to score with women.
  Billy: [chuckling] Do you know anything about that?
  Dean: If I did would I be down here?
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Gets one in "The Revenge Society". Because Dean is the great-grandson of Lloyd Venture, founder of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, it makes him the rightful heir of the title of Sovereign. The current Sovereign "crowns" Dean, who then passes it back to the Sovereign, crippling Phantom Limb's claim of rulership. As of the Finale Movie, Dean may actually be the legitimate heir in another way — his biological mother, Debbie St. Simone, was the daughter of the former Sovereign, the supervillain Force Majeure, who the "Bowie" Sovereign usurped. By having Dean pass him the Sovereign-ship, "Bowie" Sovereign may be retroactively legitimizing his rule in a different way.
• Badass Pacifist: In the later parts of the show where Dean is tired of super-science and villainy, he solves his problems through pacifistic methods.
  • In the hour-long episode "What Color is Your Cleansuit?", Dean beats Martin in a challenge for tribal leadership not in outright battle, but through the non-violent "Way of the Indian" (including competitive leg wrestling, "Indian" burns, and the like).
  • In "The High Cost of Loathing", he manages to peacefully defuse a potential arching between The Monarch and Victor Von Helping, one that would've likely ended with The Monarch's death, by paying the Monarch to go away.
• Berserker Tears: Gets them when he kicks Dermott's ass in "The Buddy System", crying and flailing wildly but winning the fight.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Do not be rude to Triana Orpheus in his presence. He may throw sissy punches, but he'll throw a lot of them, and he won't give you any warning first.
  • During his summer internship at Impossible industries when he was confronted by the newly minted Revenge Society, Dean first incapacitates Richard with a rape whistle and then kneecaps Baron Ünderbheit, easily three times Dean's size, with a baton to the knee. It takes a low-power version of Phantom Limb's Death Touch to finally knock Dean out.
  • In the Finale Movie, Dermott is on the receiving end of this again when he refuses to say where Hank went. Dean (who thinks he is becoming a vampire) slams Dermott against the wall hard enough to get Dermott talking.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: He will sometimes reveal uncomfortable tidbits about his family, especially his father's issues/habits, in the middle of innocent, unrelated conversations. For example, he reveals that he sleeps in a learning bed to Triana in the middle of their first conversation and tells Hank that he knows their father still masturbates.
• Cannot Spit It Out:
  • He could not tell Triana about how he felt. When he finally did he realized that their relationship wouldn't work and "let her down" gently before she could.
  • He couldn't tell Doctor Venture he didn't want to be a super scientist until season five. That being said, he does show signs of being very good at it, even restoring H.E.L.P.e.R. to his original body in that same season after Rusty had combined him with the Walking Eye.
  • He struggled with the knowledge that he and Hank are clones and nearly told Hank multiple times, but never came through, instead changing the subject or dropping vague hints. He ultimately does tell Hank, who takes it exceptionally well.
• Character Development: Dean gradually changes from an enthusiastic, if naive, classic boy adventurer to a Seen It All who desperately wants a normal life through his experiences in the first couple of seasons, with a big leap when he finds out that he and Hank are clones ahead of season five. He's also become more likely to get into fights, especially when his friends and family are threatened/insulted, though he's not actually any better at fighting, just more willing and less of a Dirty Coward. (As shown when the Revenge Society tries to jump him and he teaches them to Beware the Nice Ones.) He's also gotten more clever and is more likely to find pacifistic solutions to violent problems (like paying the Monarch off to get him to go away, quite possibly saving his life in the process).
• Chick Magnet: Compared to Hank (and really any Venture not named "Jonas"), girls tend to find the pensive and introverted Dean more approachable than his manic and boisterous twin. Triana, the Quymn twins, Thalia, an unnamed girl at the mall... In season seven, Hank's girlfriend Sirena even cheats on him with Dean.
• Clone Angst:
  • He takes the knowledge that he and Hank are clones very poorly, leading to his "emo phase" (along with his falling out with Triana that happened around the same time). He doesn't take either event well and no one he talks to seems to consider the moral and philosophical implications of his situation as severely as he does, believing that it's better than being dead. He decides not to tell Hank to spare him from this same fate but, after a season of wrestling with it, finally tells Hank who handles it in stride while helps Dean to overcome it as well.
  • In season seven's "The Inamorata Consequence", the H.E.L.P.eR. Model 2 in Ben's house on the old Venture Compound attempts to bond over their shared "scientific creations" background. In the end, when H.E.L.P.eR. Model 2 decides to stay, he thanks Dean but calls him "Rusty Venture", having mistaken him for his father the entire time. Dean concludes that his father must have been cloned as well, which the Finale Movie confirms as true.
• Clone Degeneration: Subverted. According to Orpheus' Master, Dean's genetic code is so horrifically scrambled that any offspring he produces would result in a deformed mutant. However, according to Ben's testing in "A Very Venture Halloween", Dean is perfectly healthy. It's likely that the Master was just using the possibility to convince Triana to leave and chase her destiny as a powerful magic-user (which she does).
• Cloudcuckoolander: While not the same extent as Hank, Dean is a big daydreamer and extremely stressful situations can cause Dean to temporarily lose his sanity. For example, during the battle in "Showdown At Cremation Creek", he goes way off in a sort of Dune/The Lord of the Rings reverie.
• Cowardly Lion: Very meek (especially compared to his brother) but, as seen in episodes like "The Revenge Society", a good pep talk can help him muster enough courage to face a dangerous challenge.
• Crimefighting with Cash: In "The High Cost Of Loathing", with the risk of Professor von Helping descending back into murderous supervillainy and to save Sirena, Dean bribes the Monarch with one million dollars to make him leave. Considering that von Helping was close to killing the Monarch, Dean very well may have saved his life as well.
• Deadpan Snarker: He develops into an especially cutting one after learning he is a clone in "A Very Venture Halloween" and entering his "emo phase". This joke at the end of that episodes proves he is most definitely Rusty's son in this regard (and is far from the last time):
  Hank: Hey, thought you died.
  Dean: Well, wouldn't be the first time.
• Did Not Get the Girl:
  • Triana. He decided it was for the best, though it doesn't stop him from being jealous of her new boyfriend.
  • Thalia. The two do genuinely connect to where he almost did "get the girl", but between the mutations, the cure, and Rusty's mass "roofie", neither of them remembers it.
  • Sirena. Based on his actions in "The Saphrax Protocol" and then the Finale Movie, he genuinely regrets hurting Hank by sleeping with her and the movie implies that neither will be going back to her.
• Emo Teen: Starting in season five after finding out he's a clone. He emerges from it at the end of the season when he finally tells Hank, who actually thinks it's pretty cool, which helps Dean to accept it as well. Downplayed after in that he keeps a few of the traits, including hairstyle and increased snarkiness, but settles somewhere between this and his former self.
• Entitled to Have You: Cruelly double subverted with Triana. When she tells Dean she isn't interested, he at first accepts it with a staggering level of maturity, immediately hunting for a rebound with Hank and even earning a kiss on the cheek from Triana... but then she gets a boyfriend, who joins the two at their prom. Cue Dean engaging in Passive-Aggressive Kombat the whole night before exploding at her with a barrage of sexist insults that border on sexual harassment, at which point Triana storms off in disgust. The worst part? Triana mostly rejected Dean because she believes, due to being told as such by her father's Master, that marrying Dean will lead to an absurdly Awful Wedded Life, so she was trying to protect Dean as much as herself.
• Follow in My Footsteps:
  • Rusty is under the assumption that Dean wants to be a boy adventurer while feeling Hank was forced into the life (which is actually backwards), and thus tries to make Dean into his protege. However, Dean just wants a normal life and has a hard time breaking the news to his father. Dean does actually have some aptitude for the "super-science" life, like being able to repair H.E.L.P.eR. and bring the Gargantua-2 ray shields back online, which makes it easy to see why Rusty made this mistake, but he doesn't want the lifestyle associated with it.
  • Dean's actual stance on the situation does mirror Rusty's when he was younger, following in his father's footsteps in a different way. As revealed in several flashbacks to Rusty's youth, he too wanted to be a normal boy and go to a normal school with friends his own age. Rusty was forced to resign himself to this lifestyle. Time will tell whether Dean will fare better than his dad, and, if nothing else, he is a lot more emotionally healthy and Hank's presence seems to be a big reason why.
  • His love life, like Hank's, is retroactively revealed to also mirror his father by the Action Man, who states that Rusty's obsessiveness over the boys' (alleged) mom, an actress named Bobbi St. Simone, drove her away from him... much like how Dean drove Triana away after their break-up at their prom by being a total asshole about her seeing someone else.
• Future Loser: According to Orpheus' Master, this is Dean's fate if he ends up with Triana, with them having an Awful Wedded Life. It convinces her to leave and pursue a career in sorcery like her parents, trying to spare Dean this fate.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He absolutely refuses to swear for most of the series. Even "double dammit" is too vulgar for him. However, in the final line of the fourth season finale, he drops a Precision F-Strike to the Outrider after he tries to deliver a I Want My Beloved to Be Happy speech to dean.
  Dean: You know what... Fuck you!
• Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Inverted. He's doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps of being a "super-scientist" because of all of all of the craziness that comes with it (villainous arching, creating monstrosities, being exposed to danger, etc.). However, there are several indications that he's actually a pretty good scientist in his own right and would be content in that profession if allowed to live a normal life.
• The Heart: He is easily the most empathetic member of the family, frequently going out of his way to relate to others, like with Col. Gentleman after he has a huge fight with Kiki, and is the most likely to visit the others when injured/incapacitated throughout the series (he seems to be the only one who visits Sgt. Hatred in season six). Taken even further starting in season five after he learns that he is a clone when he sympathizes with other "scientific" creations/experiments, like rebuilding H.E.L.P.eR., releasing the "primos", and bonding with H.E.L.P.eR. Model II.
• Hopeless Suitor: Has a crush on Triana, but even before she gets a boyfriend, she was never interested in him romantically. His attempts at wooing her are, as shown in Brock and Rusty's reactions, extremely pathetic.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Initially after he "let's her go", believing it's the best thing for her. However, he grows bitter about Triana having a boyfriend and, when the Outrider gives him a speech along the lines of the trope, subverts it with a Precision F-Strike in response.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: This sentiment grows increasingly strong in him over the course of the series. While he and Hank both start off seeming to enjoy the "boy adventurer" lifestyle, Dean shows as early as season two that he'd prefer a normal life, in a normal school, with normal friends. Come season five, he is finally able to admit to Rusty that he doesn't want to be a scientist or boy adventurer. In season seven, he finally gets this to a degree, getting to move out into a college dorm across the city... though Rusty still forces some science classes on him and the family's misadventures still draw him in regularly.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: When exposed to the narcotics concocted by his father at the end of "What Color is Your Cleansuit?", he seems to have forgotten a good chunk of the last three months, most notably his relationship with Thalia.
• Limited Wardrobe: Downplayed. He wears the same sweatervest outfit for most of the first three seasons, barring a few situational outfits (like the spacesuit in "Careers in Science"). He switches to a blue Venture Industries speedsuit in season four, then borderline goth attire during his Emo Teen phase in season five. He settles on something between that and his old attire for the final seasons.
• The Load: Unlike Hank who is at least physically capable in a crisis (though his recklessness tends to make situations worse), Dean can pretty much be expected to curl into a ball Dirty Coward style when the going gets rough. Downplayed in later seasons where, while still not much help in a fight, he is more crafty and capable of resolving situations without violence.
• Named After Someone Famous: Rusty tells him that he's named after the artist Roger Dean.
• Nerds Are Naïve: While both titular brothers are rather oblivious to how most things work in the real world due to their "Science Hero" upbringing, Dean is the sensitive nerd to Hank's Dumb Jock and comes across as far more ignorant about women and sex. For example, in "Fallen Arches", before spending the day with Triana, Rusty attempts to give Dean The Talk, but Dean is so confused by it that he ends up putting on a play for her. Lampshaded by the adults:
  Brock: How did that go?
  Rusty: [snarky] He staged Lady Windermere's Fan...
• Nice Guy: At the start, he was good-hearted and naively innocent like his brother. He loses the naivety and becomes a lot more cynical over the course of the series, especially after learning that he is a clone and entering an Emo Teen phase. However, his heart still remains in the right place, he is still nice toward others who he sees as victims of the super-science lifestyle (H.E.L.P.eR, the O.S.I. "primos", etc.) and remains the most empathetic member of the family, visiting the others when they're injured and helping out when needed. This takes a blow when Sirena cheats on Hank by sleeping with him, but as revealed in "The Saphrax Protocol" and the Finale Movie, Dean is badly broken up by it and holds himself responsible for Hank's situation.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Downplayed in that it is also a Wimp Fight, but Dean decimates Dermott in "The Buddy System" after the latter makes one-too-many sexists comments toward Triana.
  Dr. Z: (to Rusty) That boy is a spinning murder top! Are you sure he's your son?
• Non-Action Guy: Unlike Hank, Dean is pretty much useless in a violent situation. He does have a few moments, like beating down Dermott (though still in Wimp Fight fashion) in "The Buddy System" and taking out a few members of the Revenge Society with self-defense implements in "Bright Lights, Dean City", but these are rare exceptions.
• Only Sane Man: Though downplayed by the standards of normal people, he rivals Hank as being the most well-adjusted member of the family, though in a different way. While Hank embraces and enjoys the lifestyle, lending him "sanity" in comparison to the others, Dean rages against it. His awareness of his mortality and repeated deaths have led him to admit he doesn't want to be a super scientist to his father and rejects that boy adventurer lifestyle. He now swears and admits he wants a girlfriend like a normal teenager, admits he wants to live his life the way he wants to, and sidesteps possibly dangerous situations by using rationality. By season six, it's much more obvious; when everyone else is doing ridiculous things with their new status, his plan for all the money and his life in New York is to get into a good college. Later, when he and his family are discussing the future of VenTech with the COO, The Pirate Captain, he suggests a good compromise: Keep the direction of the company as Jonas Jr kept it (conventional high tech) and use the R&D department for all the super-science developments.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: Exaggerated early on, when he is utterly clueless about sex and doesn't seem to recognize the extent of the violence in his life (for example, thinking that the people Brock kills are just "sleeping" when he has previously mentioned him seeing Brock blow a man's head off with an improvised weapon). Even as he seemingly learns about these things, he'll later appear just as clueless as before, even after the "that happened to clone!Dean" excuse wears off. He starts to downplay this as he matures and grows as a character, but still keeps elements of it even into the later seasons.
• Precision F-Strike: At the end of "Operation: P.R.O.M.", to the Outrider (also the last line of the season).
  Dean: You know what... Fuck you!
• Pretty Boy: He's invokes the idea of a sensitive nerd to contrast Hank's Dumb Jock, having more slender, youthful, feminine features. (Baron Ünderbheit outright mistakes him for a girl when he's dressed as Slave Leia for a Halloween costume.) It works for him, given that he's also a frequent Chick Magnet (Triana, Thalia, Sirena...)
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Hank's red as the series goes on, being the more quiet and cautious of the two.
• Shout-Out:
  • His physical resemblance to Peter Parker. Ironically, he ends up befriending the Brown Widow.
  • His early season attire is drawn from Buddy Holly, with Triana even explicitly comparing the two at one point.
• Squishy Wizard: Not an actual wizard, but he's booksmart and nerdy while also being very thin and physically weak.
• Took a Level in Cynic: As of season five (after learning that he is a clone), his naivety has largely lifted, leaving him exhausted, somewhat ill-tempered, and fairly bitter. He's pulled out of it a bit thanks to Hank, but he still remains reluctant to go along with his family's nonsense.

H.E.L.P.e R.

H.E.L.P.eR.

Voiced by: "Soul-Bot" ^note Christopher McCulloch

"(unintelligible beeping noises)"

H.E.L.P.eR. stands for Helpful Electronic Lab Partner Robot (with the extra 'e' for aesthetic purposes). Invented by Jonas Sr. as the prototype for an eventual line of robot servants, all of the others were destroyed due to having numerous safety issues. H.E.L.P.eR., despite these issues, served capably as a nanny to the young Rusty, and then later to Hank and Dean. He continues to assist the Venture family in their adventures, but years of neglect and trauma have left H.E.L.P.eR. a battered wreck, both physically and emotionally.

---

• Ace Pilot: H.E.L.P.eR. can pilot the X-1 at least as well as any human. He is even able to safely catch Brock as he's falling off of the O.S.I. Helicarrier in "O.S.I. Love You".
• Chew Toy: H.E.L.P.eR. gets destroyed in a variety of ways throughout the show. Torn apart by Guild Strangers, used as emergency landing gear, blown up, torn apart, blown up again... Thankfully, someone in the family eventually rebuilds him each time.
• Hammerspace: Despite being a fairly lanky, skinny robot, H.E.L.P.eR. has a veritable arsenal of gadgets and weapons contained within him including helicopter blades, a spinning hand blade, multiple guns, a flamethrower, and collapsible armor plating
• Helicopter Pack: Has a set of retractable helicopter blades in his head that allow him to fly.
• Hidden Depths: Besides his surprising emotional range and uncanny affection for his family, H.E.L.P.er. is implied to have interests and personality quirks unknown to the viewer due to his unintelligible squeaking and booping. Based on his interactions with the Ventures, who can understand him, he seems to enjoy Maya Angelou, has strong or even elitist opinions about music, and expects an upcoming war between humans and robots. Based on his inflection, the Monarch and his henchmen infer that he has a bit of a sarcastic/sassy streak, too.
• In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: As seen in flashbacks, H.E.L.P.eR. has been around since Rusty's childhood in the '60s. As we eventually learn, he is the prototype of the line which were mass produced by Jonas Sr. but later recalled and destroyed (not counting Ben's red H.E.L.P.eR "Model II") because their parts became choking hazards for children.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: The Venture family, including Brock, can all understand him. In the fifth season episode "Momma's Boys", Dermott understands him as well, though is confused about how. (Given that he turns out to be a blood relative of the family, maybe it's something genetic.)
• Iron Butt Monkey: The abuse and neglect he suffers can reach astronomical proportions, but as a robot, he's more or less immortal, once someone gets around to repairing him. When he's lost, he always finds his way home... eventually.
• Odd Friendship: With Brock, of all people. He has a familial bond with Rusty and the boys, but is shown spending time and sharing banter with Brock on multiple occasions, and the two hug twice. During "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills", they drive around together and argue about music, quote poetry, and discuss Myra like old friends.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Despite his presumably artificial intelligence, H.E.L.P.eR. demonstrates a remarkable range of emotion. He clearly shows jealousy, fear, and affection on numerous occasions. He misses Rusty when he goes to college, gets emotional when Brock leaves to renew his license to kill, and despairs when he thinks Rusty is replacing him and spitefully bars him in the panic room as punishment. Rusty seems aware of H.E.L.P.er.'s depths, as he comments on sending him to therapy after he gets traumatized in the season four premiere, but instead opts for a "hard reboot".
• Robot Buddy: A battered and abused one, but qualfies:
  • Tragically one-sided with Rusty, downplaying it. In flashbacks, he is shown eagerly playing with young Rusty and is said to miss him terribly while he is away at college, but Rusty barely pays him any mind as an adult despite his continued loyalty.
  • Played straight with the boys and Brock. While Rusty treats him rather coldly, the rest of Team Venture view the robot in a much warmer light, considering him part of the family, including him, and, in Dean's case, repairing him when Rusty can't be bothered.
• Robot Maid: Was the prototype for a line of these. However, they proved very unsafe for children, leading the the rest (minus Ben's H.E.L.P.eR "Model II") to be recalled and destroyed. He served in this role to Jonas Sr. and a young Rusty, and continues to do so to the current Venture family.
• Spider Tank: In season four, when he is merged with Rusty's Walking Eye which is an Oculothorax on four spider-legs. Dean restores him to his original body in season five.
• Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Zig-zagged. Given that he is the prototype for a line of robotic maids/nannies, the amount of weapons and gadgetry he possess is beyond overkill. However, given the family's lifestyle and Jonas Sr.'s penchant toward For Science! thinking, giving the family robot these armaments may be fully justified (if still extreme).
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • After H.E.L.P.eR. gets blown up in the season three finale, Rusty attached his head to the Walking Eye he had built in season two, creating a bigger, more physically imposing H.E.L.P.eR. with a laser cannon. In season five, he is rebuilt into his original form by Dean.
  • A deleted scene suggests he also lost a level in Badass- when Rusty was a kid, he was equipped with an arsenal of hidden weapons that quickly fell into disrepair when Rusty wouldn't do the upkeep. Regained during season six after being repaired, but then subverted in that he doesn't get to actually use his arsenal.
• The Unintelligible: He only communicates in beeps and boops, though the tonal expression can clue the audience into his mood. To the family, he is instead the Intelligible Unintelligible, as they can apparently understand him just fine.
• Undying Loyalty: Part programming, part genuine attachment. This little fella will roll himself across the country or obliterate his body as a substitute for landing gear if it helps his family. Not that they often appreciate it...

Sgt. Hatred

Courtney R. Haine (Soldier-X, Sergeant Hatred)

Voiced by: Brendon Small (Season Two), Christopher McCulloch (Season Three onward)

"There's less hatred left in this ol' Hatred."

Sgt. Hatred is a veteran member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and for a time, was a mole for them in the O.S.I. He is also a convicted pedophile, but actively works against his urges (even as a villain), making him a rare sympathetic example. He was repeatedly mentioned in season two whenever 21 and 24 stole supervillain equipment, and he becomes Dr. Venture's official Arch-Enemy after the Guild reassigns The Monarch in season three. As Venture's nemesis, Sgt. Hatred has vowed to be as nice as possible to Dr. Venture to annoy the Monarch in retaliation for all of the technology stolen by The Monarch's henchmen.

As of season four, he takes over as the Venture Family bodyguard after Brock quits. The O.S.I. gives him the medication Nomolestol to alleviate his pedophilic urges, though it has had the side effect of causing him to develop large, feminine breasts. When Dr. Venture inherits J.J.'s company in season six, he's reassigned from the Ventures after Brock is reinstated and becomes Rusty's head of security at VenTech.

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• Affably Evil: He vowed to subvert the trope with his rivalry with Dr, Venture, just to piss off the Monarch for stealing technology from him. It worked too well, as Hatred ended up replacing Brock as the Venture family's bodyguard.
• All Gays Are Pedophiles: Though there are other gay or bisexual characters in the show, Hatred's sexual orientation is questionable. He is Ambiguously Bi, as his pedophilic urges have all been directed towards boys, whereas the only adults he's shown attraction to are women.
• Always Someone Better: Brock, towards him. Initially, Hank views him as a lousy replacement to Brock and he certainly seems to fit, being older and out of shape. However, as is series tradition, this is heavily played with when you look at the results. Brock is The Ace and one of the world's most dangerous people, but he's not actually that great at running security: he dislikes guns, doesn't care about prevention, is easily distracted by women, combat, and O.S.I. business, and generally has a laissez-faire attitude towards the boys' safety, since for most of his tenure Rusty just replaced them with clones when they died. On the other hand, there's Hatred, the overweight has-been who proves to be the Boring, but Practical alternative: he prefers the lethal and immediate force of firearms over flashy Mook Horror Show slaughters, runs around the clock security measures, and trains the boys so they can actively protect themselves; in the end, he's actually a bigger deterrent to the Monarch than Brock ever was, being responsible for more henchmen deaths in a shorter time period, and never lets either of the boys die. He still gets replaced as the Venture family bodyguard once Rusty moves up in the world both because Brock outranks him and Venture is up against a higher caliber of villains (though continues to pull his weight as the VenTech building security guard/tour guide).
• Annoying Arrows: Subverted with the Monarch's darts in "The Diving Bell vs. the Butter Glider", as the only reason he managed to recover so quickly from the darts is that he had taken a shot of adrenaline beforehand to counteract the darts effect.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • He was Rusty's official "Guild-sactioned" arch in season three after the Monarch was forced to give up the position as punishment for his previous unsanctioned arching of Rusty. Sgt. Hatred takes Rusty, planning to treat him wonderfully, to get back at the Monarch for stealing from him over the years.
  • Due to a misunderstanding while teaming up in "The Devil's Grip", Henchman 21 becomes one to him. When given the opportunity to attack the Monarch in season six, Hatred instead opts to pistol-whip 21.
• Ascended Extra: He is first mentioned in season two as a villain who the Monarch's henchmen steal parts and tech from, then shows up at the Monarch's wedding at the end of the season. In season three, he becomes Rusty's official Guild-sanctioned arch specifically to torment the Monarch in revenge, then becomes the family bodyguard in seasons four and five.
• The Atoner: Tries his hardest, even when his medication starts to run out for an episode in season four, to resist his pedophilic urges. Also subtly an element of his relationship with the boys; he clearly cares about them and tries to mentor them, likely making up for them being two of his victims in the past.
• Badass Boast: "I saw a guy's head spin around! Like right off his neck! Y'know why? 'Cuz I punched him!" and "I ate a whole Labrador retriever once!" No evidence yet on whether either one is truth or hyperbole, but his high rank while acting as The Mole in O.S.I. (enough to reassign Hunter and Brock) indicates that he used to be a genuine badass.
• Becoming the Mask: He seems to legitimately enjoy working with the Ventures, beyond just fouling up the Monarch's attempts on their lives. 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".
• Being Good Sucks: He frequently struggles against the moral constraints and limitations of being on Team Venture, which makes him a rather lackluster anti-hero, let alone a good guy. Trying to be friendly and emotionally open with others also rarely works out for him, as does attempting to overcome his many vices. When he briefly returns to supervillainy in the season five finale, he all but cripples the Monarch's entire empire by permanently destroying his Flying Cocoon and murdering all but one of his henchmen in a misguided attempt to take revenge on Gary.
• Bilingual Bonus: His last name (Haine) is French for "hatred".
• Boring, but Practical: His approach to being the Venture bodyguard. Unlike Brock's creative brutality, Hatred favors simple yet efficient methods in his approach to keeping them safe. He almost always defaults to firearms against threats, uses tactical planning to outmatch enemies or counter threats, and imparts combat knowledge to the boys so they can fight on their own. These methods have been enough to ensure the boys stay alive and the Monarch's henchman actually find him worse to deal with than Brock.
• Breast Expansion: Over the course of season five, implied to be a result of his Nomolestol interactive adversely with his Super-Soldier serum, he grows large, feminine breasts that reach 48DDD in size. He seeks the O.S.I.'s help in having them removed in "O.S.I. Love You" and they're gone by season six.
• Butt-Monkey: Once he becomes Venture's bodyguard, his dim but enthusiastic nature makes him a persistent target, particularly by Brock. Made even worse in season six when he's demoted out of the role, replaced by Brock, and returns as the VenTech building security guard (and tour guide). He gets clobbered repeatedly (Haranguetan, Copycat) and no one other than Dean apparently bothers to visit him in the hospital.
• Captain Ersatz: Of the Daredevil villain Nuke as Army sergeant-themed villains who use guns and paint/tattoo their faces.
• The Chew Toy: In season six, after losing his job as the family bodyguard and becoming head of security at VenTech Tower, he mostly exists as comic relief and gets beaten down repeatedly (Haranguetan, Copycat) and hospitalized.
• Continuity Nod: From the first episode of season five until having them removed after "O.S.I. Love You", he grew large, feminine breasts, believed to be due to a reaction between his "Nomolestol" medication and his experimental super-soldier serum treatment.
• Crazy-Prepared: Once he becomes the family bodyguard, including building explosive decoys of Rusty, training the kids with weapon usage, and running "kidnapping drills" among other things. He takes arching prevention much more seriously than Brock ever did.
• Creepy Uncle: Played With. He's not actually the boys' uncle, but they sometimes call him "Uncle Vatred". He's a former child molester and super-villain, though he has pulled a Heel–Face Turn and is currently taking medication for his pedophilic urges, but can still cross into this territory every once in a while for Black Comedy.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Hatred is more than a little ridiculous, but he's a former Super-Soldier, veteran member of both the O.S.I. and the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and Brock trusts him enough to leave the Ventures in his care (even if he doesn't care much for Hatred himself as evidenced by his constant needling/teasing in later seasons).
• Dented Iron: He's pushing 50, overweight, and well past his Super-Soldier prime, but he's still a capable combatant.
• Disproportionate Retribution: He begins to bond with Gary during "The Devil's Grip", even showing extreme gratitude for Gary saving his life... But when he's misled to believe that Gary has betrayed him, he flips his lid and storms the Cocoon with his hover tank, destroying it, burning down the Monarch's house, and killing all of his henchmen except Gary.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Subverted. It's part of his schtick as a supervillain, and he implies that this was the case when he was younger, but by the time he becomes Rusty's official arch-enemy in season three, he's more concerned with treating the Ventures well to get back at the Monarch. When he becomes their bodyguard, he is actually very patient and gentle with the boys, even in his training, and occasionally butts heads with Dr. Venture and Brock over their lax approaches to parenting and bodyguarding, respectively. He's still a short-tempered and stern military man, but no longer qualifies outright.
• Driven to Suicide: Tries to kill himself when Princess Tinyfeet leaves him at the end of season three, but fails and seeks out Rusty, as his Arch-Enemy, to do it instead.
• Embarrassing First Name: Courtney, which despite its origins (and continued, if uncommon, use) as a unisex name, is much more commonly associated with women.
• Foil:
  • He is most immediately one to Brock Samson. Brock is incredibly cool, while Hatred is mostly pathetic. Brock is standoffish and introverted, while Hatred is outgoing and eager to talk. Brock considered the whole "Rusty's Blanket" business beneath his talents until he grew genuinely fond of Rusty and only does anything involving it begrudgingly, while Hatred considers it My Greatest Second Chance and is willing to do anything Rusty asks of him. Brock's immoral actions (mainly all the killing) tend to be Played for Laughs and almost never really impact him, while Hatred is guilty of an irredeemable crime and taboo that he will never fully repent for, and he knows it. Brock is Famed In-Story as an ideal of masculinity, while Hatred is respected by nobody. Brock is incredibly physical and straightforward, while Hatred is tubby and tends to rely on gadgets. And while Brock aided Rusty in keeping Hank and Dean as sheltered as possible, Hatred, for all his faults, ultimately tried to raise them to be independent and saw it pay off surprisingly well. While Brock took a laissez-faire attitude towards the boys' safety since they could just be revived as clones, Hatred never lets them die.
  • Indirectly to the many abusive parents on the show. Despite being a pedophile and former super-villain, Hatred is an otherwise well-intentioned character who genuinely cares about the Venture family. He also shows remorse for his harmful actions, at times going out of his way to protect the boys from himself when he thinks he's relapsing. Contrast this with someone like Jonas Sr., a nominal "good guy" who thinks nothing of his routine psychological abuse of Rusty.
• Formerly Fit: Though he has some Stout Strength left in him, you'd have a hard time looking at his physique nowadays and thinking he was a Super-Soldier. His flashback appearance in "The Invisible Hand of Fate" shows him in his prime and he looks like a buffer Brock with a thinner version of modern Hatred's face.
• Friendly Enemy: When he becomes Dr. Venture's official Guild-sanctioned Arch-Enemy in season three, he seeks to make Dr. Venture's life wonderful to piss off The Monarch in revenge for stealing from him. This ends up netting him the vacant Venture bodyguard seat starting in season four.
• Gender-Blender Name: Downplayed. His real name is Courtney, which despite its origins (and continued, if uncommon, use) as a unisex name, is much more commonly associated with women nowadays.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a former Super-Soldier and, though he's now pushing 50 and rather overweight, still possesses some Stout Strength. That said, his actual skills lie more in technical fields, being something of a Gadgeteer Genius as a supervillain (who the Monarch frequently stole from) and is also quite well-read if his knowledge of Henry Darger is anything to go by.
• Good Costume Switch: When he becomes the new Venture family bodyguard in season four, he not only switches to wearing a Venture Industries suit, but also replaces the "H" tattoo on his face with a "V" tattoo. Better, it used to say "HATRED" down his front, but he removed all but the "D" because that one was "in a tender area". Now it just says "VD"...
• Harmless Villain: Invoked in season three where he arranges to become Rusty's new "Guild-sanctioned arch" after the Monarch is forced to give it up. Hatred plans to treat Rusty amazingly well to spite the Monarch, whose henchmen had been stealing parts and tech from him.
• Heel–Face Turn: He goes from a veteran Guild supervillain who once served them as their Mole in the O.S.I., to a Friendly Enemy to Dr. Venture, to the Venture family bodyguard. Oddly enough, he barely changes in personality. (He wasn't all that evil to begin with, and was something of a Punch-Clock Villain.)
• Henpecked Husband: According to the DVD creator commentary, this was going to be his main character quirk in season three, with a couple of hints dropped. However, they didn't go through with it.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Alluded to as a child molester before ever appearing on the show and later introduced as a Guild villain. After he becomes the Ventures' bodyguard, he's shown to be a soft-hearted, broken man who only wants their respect. He loyally serves the Ventures, who mostly dismiss him as an inadequate replacement for Brock, while combatting suicidal urges, alcoholism, his failed marriage, drastic side effects from super soldier experimentation, and pedophilia-repressing drugs and his own dark urges towards children, which he is deeply ashamed of and troubled by. It's also implied that his urges may be due to the Super-Soldier project, which greatly increased his physical attributes while worsening his aggression and severely diminishing his empathy.
  • Everyone from the Ventures to the O.S.I. to other villains looks down on him as an out-of-shape has-been well past his prime... and they aren't entirely wrong, at least physically. However, as a former member of both the Guild and the O.S.I., he has deep knowledge on both organizations, their rules, and their members. He uses this knowledge to shut down illegal arch tactics and help Brock to set a trap for Wide Whale in season six.
• Honorary Uncle: Though it takes them each some time to warm up to him (Hank moreso than Dean), both boys eventually refer to him affectionately as "Uncled Vatred".
• Hover Tank: His primary vehicle as a villain, and an absolutely massive one at that. In season five, it's revealed that he still has it (and that it's been sitting gathering parking tickets). He later uses it to shoot down the Monarch's cocoon while he thinks Gary betrayed him.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: His attempts at suicide in the season three finale did not go well, so he seeks out his "Arch-Enemy", Rusty, to finish him off.
  Sgt. Hatred: I tried to blow my head off with a damn shrink ray and now I got a little baby tongue!
• Iconic Sequel Character: He didn't appear until late in season two and didn't get much characterization until season three. Come seasons four and five, he is a main character as the new Venture family bodyguard and is present in almost every episode. He takes a step back a little in seasons six and seven, but remains prominent in many episodes.
• Informed Ability: Partly as a consequence of being Overshadowed by Awesome via Brock, it's hard to tell he used to be a Super-Soldier. Given that he's pushing 50 and way past his prime, while the super-soldier serum has been repeatedly implied to have had negative effects as well, the fact that he is actually pretty good as a bodyguard (never letting the boys die and inflicting even more henchmen casualties since he lacks Brock's aversion to guns) can come as a surprise. Even Rusty scoffs at the idea, to which Hatred only responds:
  Hatred: I keep a straight face every time you call yourself a 'super-scientist.'
• I Was Quite a Looker: The flashback in "The Invisible Hand of Fate" reveals that he had a buff, athletic physique almost identical to Brock Samson, but the years haven't been as kind...
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Post-Heel–Face Turn, this is his defining trait: Hatred desperately seeks companionship and a place to belong, and wants to be a part of the Venture family. He'll go to any lengths to make other people like him, even—hell, especially—if it means throwing himself in danger or embarrassing himself. Unfortunately for him, his desperation to be liked, along with his general lack of charisma and being seen as a poor substitute for Brock, seems to make people like him even less.
• Insane Troll Logic: He attempts to speed up bonding with Hank by encouraging him to shoot him with a gun as that, in Hatred's mind, will be the equivalent of Taking the Bullet for Hank like a good bodyguard should.
• Logic Bomb: Uses a string of nonsense words and phrases to disable a robotic security guard in "Return to Malice".
  Sgt. Hatred: Robots. Programmed to respond to over 700 questions, none of which include "chicken fingers".
• Meaningful Name: "Haine", his real last name, is French for "hatred".
• The Mole: He previously held a high position in the O.S.I., high enough to reassign even Hunter and Brock even, to keep them out of the Guild's business.
• No Indoor Voice: He always talks like a drill instructor, loud and raspy.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Despite Brock easily outdoing him on raw badassery, Hatred inspires just as much fear from common henchmen because he has no problem with using guns and racks up an even higher body count by just shooting them.
• Noodle Incident:
  • He apparently molested Hank and Dean once, or at the very least tried to, before he was introduced to the story proper.
  • While exchanging traumatizing stories with Rusty, he mentioned having "punched a man's head" so hard it "spun off" his body and eating "an entire labrador retriever".
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Or at least Affability. He's more cunning than he lets on, with a mind full of decades worth of Guild and O.S.I. secrets, but he's also a bit of a clear-cut buffoon whose quest to be liked makes him seem more pathetic.
• 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.
• Out of Focus: Following his career switch from bodyguard to head of security of VenTech tower, Hatred plays a less active role in most episodes, mainly appearing for comic relief and to be a Chew Toy.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Compared to Brock. Rusty and the boys consider him an inadequate replacement, which, considering Hatred is a chubby has-been compared to Brock, is understandable. However, they take different approaches as bodyguards (Brock being a One-Man Army with Hatred coming closer to a Gadgeteer Genius), with Hatred also focusing on more preventative measures (doing rounds, upgrading compound security, training the boys in self defense) and never letting the boys die under his watch. In season four, 21 mentions that the Monarch's henchmen take more casualties with Hatred as a bodyguard, since, unlike Brock, he has no aversion to using firearms.
• Pædo Hunt: Subverted; he's a rare depiction of a sympathetic pedophile. Hatred's pedophilia is implied to be a side effect of the Super-Soldier serum and is not rooted in a genuine sexual urge towards children. He hates himself for having these urges and is genuinely terrified when he runs out of his medication. His breakdown is played, not for shock value nor black comedy, but as a tragedy, as Hatred frantically escapes a cinema to lock himself in the panic room after his medication runs out.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Though no longer the Super-Soldier he once was, he's more than willing to use his former supervillain arsenal when he sees the need for it and his reckless, misplaced, vengeance-fueled hatred of Gary causes him to strike the ultimate deathblow against the Monarch's Flying Cocoon and his Fluttering Horde vis-a-vis his Hover Tank.
• Pet the Dog: Gets genuinely worried when he thinks Dean is cutting himself, leading to a heart-to-heart between the two of them.
• Promotion to Parent: The boys are initially very uncomfortable around him, especially Hank, owing to an implied previous molestation (or at least attempt) as well as seeing him as a poor replacement for Brock. After a while, they warm up to him enough to the point that they both affectionately call him "Uncle Vatred".
• Psycho Serum: The Super-Soldier serum he took did increase his physical attributes, but at the cost of a massive spike in aggression and implied to be the cause of his pedophilic urges, as well. By the time he becomes Rusty's official arch in season three, it's apparently been decades since the experiment and he's noticably less aggressive.
• Real Men Wear Pink: A former Super-Soldier and Drill Sergeant Nasty-themed super-villain, he is still a very warm Parental Substitute to the boys, gets into Dean's "Giant Boy Detective" books, and calls brief underpants "panties", among other things.
  Hatred: I have a tattoo of Calvin and Hobbes on my thigh! Calvin isn't peeing, he's hugging Hobbes.
• Refuge in Audacity: His aforementioned attraction to young boys, even implied to have molested the Venture boys at one point before his introduction. Ultimately subverted, as he is shown to be disgusted by his own urges, works against them, and is a rare sympathetic pedophile in media.
• Schlubby, Scummy Security Guard: He's pretty ineffective as head of VenTech security, being in over his head against the higher-level threats Rusty faces after moving up in the world. The Monarch even refers to him as an "over-the-hill rent-a-cop" in the Finale Movie.
• Serious Business: Upon becoming the Venture family's bodyguard/head of security, Hatred takes protecting Doc and the boys very seriously - at one point, whilst freaking out in the midst of an assault on the compound, he states that his primary objective "is to protect (Rusty's) body at all cost, even unto death" - an attitude that would be fitting if bodyguarding a head of state or something similar, not a washed-up scientist who tends to be harassed at worst by enemies who are heavily red-taped by Guild rules.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Not quite as bad as Hank, but he's got a rather inflated sense of himself when he first takes over as the Venture family bodyguard. The out-of-shape, Dented Iron former Super-Soldier treats it like he's bodyguarding a head of state rather than a failed scientist and his teenage sons. Downplayed over the rest of the series, where he seems to settle into the Venture family level pretty easily.
• Soul-Crushing Desk Job: After he is replaced as the family bodyguard by a returning Brock in season six, the O.S.I. orders him to take a desk job. He refuses, quits, and then rejoins the family as head of VenTech Tower security (and building tour guide).
• Stealth Pun: Has the word "hatred" tattooed down his body with the "H" on his face and the "D" being hidden by his underwear. He later changes the "H" to a "V" for "Venture" while erasing all of the others except the "D" due to being in "a tender area". This leaves them to spell "VD"...
• Super-Soldier: Willingly subjected himself to a program dubbed "Soldier-X" and the serum used is outright called a "super soldier serum" by the O.S.I. The experiment modestly increased his strength, endurance, and agility, but greatly increased his aggression and induced a massive decrease in his sense of empathy. Also, it may be responsible for his pedophilic urges.
• Team Mom: More compassionate and sympathetic with the boys than Rusty, particularly towards Dean.
• Undiscriminating Addict: In one episode, desperate for an alcohol fix, he is seen on the floor of the bathroom spraying generic brand body spray into his mouth.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Venture family once he joins them as bodyguard. When Brock takes back over, he quits the O.S.I. and becomes head of VenTech security (and tour guide) to stay near the family.
• The Worf Effect: Gets hit by this even more so than Brock did. He is frequently incapacitated to enable the events of the story to take place.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • The end of season four seems like he'll reconcile with his wife, Princess Tinyfeet. At the beginning of season five, however, he takes her back to their old house only to find that Scorpio there waiting as Princess Tinyfeet's new lover. Ouch.
  • After finally establishing himself as the family bodyguard, befriending Rusty and even getting both boys to consider him an Honorary Uncle, he gets replaced in season six by Brock after Rusty inherits J.J.'s company and becomes a "top-level arch" candidate once again. He quits the O.S.I. when they order him to take a desk job and re-joins the Venture family as the VenTech Tower head of security/tour guide.

Dermott Fictel

Dermott Fictel

Voiced by: Doc Hammer

"Too bad I had to register my hands as lethal weapons. Afraid the government made me do that..."

Hank's best friend and connection to the world outside the Venture Compound, Dermott is all of the classic "teen jerk" traits rolled into one character. Initially believing that Brock is his father, he's actually the son of his own "sister" Nikki Fictel and Dr. Venture. Since Nikki was a teenager, her mother raised Dermott as her own son, while Dr. Venture was forbidden to see them while being forced to pay hush money. Several characters learn about this through seasons four and five, with Dermott himself implied to know by the end of season five. As of season seven, Dermott has joined the O.S.I. as a private.

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• Art Evolution: His first appearances are downright Gonk, but his looks soften up over the course of the series making him more attractive.
• Blatant Lies: Just about everything that comes out of his mouth, crossing over with his Small Name, Big Ego traits. One of the first things he says in the series is that his hands are registered as "lethal weapons" by the government and they only get more blatant from there. For example, when caught stealing video games from the "big box" store he works at (by sneaking them out with the trash), he first claims that they're "defective", then claims to that he was going to pay for them.
• Boisterous Weakling: He likes to brag about being badass. In his first appearance, he mocks Brock and makes claims about what a badass he is that sound more like a Chuck Norris joke. Later in the same episode, it's shown that even Dean can beat him up Wimp Fight-style. And not just beat him up, curb stomp him. His claims don't hold up much better throughout the rest of the series, either.
• Cain and Abel and Seth: He almost instantly separates Dean and Hank, as he is more similar to Hank following the brothers' Divergent Character Evolution. He's initially made out to be Brock's son, but he is actually Rusty's accidental child, thus making him the third Venture brother.
• Character Development: Becomes less of an outright Jerkass over time, dropping the Internet Jerk act during the fourth season and even becoming Dean's friend on occasion. By the end of the series, he has become an O.S.I. grunt and actually shows some capability for it.
• Child by Rape: Statutory rape, anyway. The sex itself was consensual, in as much as that can apply to a starstruck teenager (Nikki) who lied about her age with an adult (Rusty).
• Dumbass Has a Point: In "The Better Man," he actually gives good advice, telling Dean to just talk to a girl and see what happens instead of overthinking it. Hank and Dean find it so surprising that Dean asks if someone can go check the temperature in Hell.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: Dermott's "sister" Nikki turns out to be his mother, who he thinks is his mother turns out to be his grandmother, and after spending two-plus seasons thinking that Brock is his father, learns that it is Rusty Venture.
• Heroic Bastard: While the "heroic" part is pushing it, he is Rusty's biological son after a one night stand with Nikki, who was the president of his fanclub and lied about her age. Her mother extorts the situation, forcing Rusty to never see Nikki again, with him not knowing the fate of the child, and pay out hush money since the sex was technically statutory rape.
• I Am the Band: Subverted in that he believes this to be true about Shallow Gravy, but Hank is quick to call him out on it since he can't play an instrument and Hank wrote their only "hit" song.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Dermott didn't appear until season three but then became a regularly recurring character, appearing nearly as often as the Venture brothers themselves in seasons four and five. He then gets Put on a Bus when the family moves to New York in season six before making a single appearance in season seven after having joined the O.S.I.
• Internet Jerk: He has this attitude and personality in real life. Dermott is so fixated on convincing people he's cool that he even mouths off to Brock in his debut episode. Brock's oath to Gathers to not harm women and children is the only thing that keeps Dermott from getting "Samson'd", and Brock is thrilled when Dean ends up kicking Dermott's ass. While he continues to have Boisterous Weakling and Small Name, Big Ego traits, some of his outright abrasiveness tones down over the course of the series inline with his Character Development.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a cocky, self-absorbed teenager with a Small Name, Big Ego who thinks of himself as a badass despite never backing it up and constantly spews Blatant Lies about his life and accomplishments. He starts off as more of a pure Jerkass, but does genuinely like Hank and grows to be good friends with him. It's also shown that he does sometimes have a conscience, such as regretting stealing video games from his job, and does genuinely apologize to someone after he hits them with nunchucks.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Goes hand in hand with being an Internet Jerk personified. He constantly spews Blatant Lies and badly misreads multiple situations throughout the series. For example, he thinks Triana is a goth stereotype who will apparently orgasm just because Dean puts on some goth clothes and lights a fire on her lawn.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He is the illigitimate son of Rusty and half-brother to Hank and Dean.
• Luke, You Are My Father: In his initial apperance, he believes that Brock is his father. Later, after he and Orpheus piece together that he's Rusty's son in "Momma's Boys", he calls Rusty "Dad" during the episode stinger much to the shocked expressions of Rusty, Hank, and Dean. In season seven, Dean confirms that at least he and Rusty know this to be true while speaking to a comatose Hank.
• Put on a Bus: Dermott is absent during the sixth season with the Ventures moving to New York City. He returns in "The Inamorata Consequence" as he's become a private in OSI and has been assigned to security duty during the re-signing of the Treaty of Tolerance.
• Self-Serving Memory: In the "Shallow Gravy" special, he remembers beating up Dean instead of the other way around. Dean outright calls him a liar when told about it.
• 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 does a "Go Team Venture" with them in the season four finale. This turns out to be apropos because he is himself a Venture brother.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He talks about himself as if he is the ultimate badass to end them all. Dean delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to him in his first episode and he doesn't come across as any more badass in any later appearances, either.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hank. Even though they constantly argue and tease one another, they are genuinely best friends.
• What the Fu Are You Doing?: As perennial a trope with him as you'd expect of a self-taught master of Jeet Kun Do (the martial art most famously practiced by Bruce Lee). He can name plenty of martial arts and moves, but he's never once demonstrated an ability to perform them, even injuring himself in a few attempts (like hitting himself with nunchucks).
• Worf Had the Flu: Tries to claim this about himself in "Perchance to Dean" when recalling him getting beat up by Dean in "The Buddy System". First he claims that Dean "cheap-shotted" him, then that he had "a stomach bug" to justify his defeat. Come the "Shallow Gravy" special, he goes the full-blown Self-Serving Memory route by claiming that he beat up Dean. (Dean immediately calls him a liar.)

The Original Team Venture

The Team in General

From left to right - Dr. Entmann (aka Humongoloid), the Action Man, Col. Gentleman, Otto Aquarius, Jonas Venture Sr., Ook-Ook, Kano, Swifty. The cameraman in the foreground is a young Richard Impossible.

"GO TEAM VENTURE!

The closest friends and associates of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. who accompanied him on his adventures in the '60s-'80s. Publicly, the Original Team Venture were an inspirational band of adventurers and heroes. In private, they were were a band of sociopathic anti-heroes (at best) who put young Rusty through immense trauma, by both dragging him along on their dangerous adventures and pranking him with sick, often disturbing jokes.

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• Badass Crew: Issues aside, they were (and still are in the case of the surviving members despite their age) incredibly skilled when it comes to thwarting villains, killing henchmen, and saving the world. Each of the martially capable members was at one time among the most dangerous individuals on the planet.
• The Band Minus the Face: The surviving members still identify as Team Venture long after Jonas Sr.'s apparent death, though they're very rarely active by the time of the main series.
• Battle Cry: "Go Team Venture!" It is much more epic than when the boys do it, complete with special effects, a cutaway over the Venture logo, and a Leitmotif.
• Bullying the Disabled: Their rivalry with The Fraternity of Torment; while officially they were supervillains, it seems the team mostly used this as an excuse to abuse them for their various physical deformities.
• Closest Thing We Got: Lacking any other acquaintances who could realistically provide for his sons in the event of his passing, Rusty has the Action Man and Col. Gentleman listed as the godfathers of Hank and Dean, respectively. The boys are sent to live with them in "The Devil's Grip" after Rusty's apparent death.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In flashbacks to the '60s and '70s, they exhibit things like racism, misogyny, sociopathy treated as heroism, and scientific advancement at the cost of anything else which are considered the norm for the era.
• Dysfunction Junction: Led by a brilliant but sociopathic narccisist, their ranks include a Depraved Bisexual He-Man Woman Hater, a Super-Soldier hopped up on "Jump Juice" who believed There Is No Kill Like Overkill, a humongous master martial artist who became an Elective Mute after "killing a great man", a scientist Sizeshifter stuck first in his giant form then in his tiny form, a Half-Human Hybrid Captain Fishman Actual Pacifist, a Dented Iron former championship boxer, an unfrozen caveman, and a Tag Along Kid. More charitably, at their most heroic, they cross into Ragtag Bunch of Misfits territory instead.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite their many unsavory proclivities, the other members of the team are suitably uncomfortable with Jonas reviving the Blue Morpho and turning him into a (barely) sentient robot. With Col. Gentleman outright telling Jonas that he has gone too far this time, while the Action Man asks what kind of life the Blue Morpho can have before referring to it as "Just... wrong". It is also likely, at least in part, them realizing that Jonas would not hestitate to do something similar to any of them if the situation were to arise.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Although they act like the best of friends when together, they don't actually seem to like each other that much. For example, when Jonas Sr. "died", they never told Rusty how or that he was in the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (Progressive Biological Life Extension Module). They just shoved him in and went their separate ways, despite Rusty having cloning technology being capable of bringing him back. (This is, in fact, exactly what Jonas wants to do when he is briefly revived.) Similarly, they never bothered to look for Dr. Entmann once he was shrunk, go back for the orphans trapped beneath the compound, or anyone else involved in any of Jonas' experiments. Hell, until the boys rally them in season one to rescue Rusty from his old college roommate, it's revealed that they hadn't spoken to Rusty or apparently each other since Jonas died (1987 until 2004). Averted in the final two seasons when, after the boys bring them together, the surviving members all move into an apartment in New York together.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: The group can be seen as a Deconstruction of the trope. While publicly they are seen as heroes, they're actually a group of immoral thrill-seekers who hurt as many people as they save. Their actions, while amusing, are also portrayed as damaging to Rusty, who had to endure the trauma of being dragged along on their dangerous adventures and their sick "pranks". Rusty's Hilariously Abusive Childhood gave him no shortage of Freudian Excuses, made him Conditioned to Accept Horror, and left him Too Broken to Break.
• Never My Fault: They have little-to-no remorse for abusing and endangering Rusty during his formative years and even Kano (one of the nicer members of the team) is quick to scoff at the idea that Rusty could ever actually find the ORB (which he does).
• Old Master: Most of them were born in the 1930s or earlier with Col. Gentleman, which would put them in their 70-80s during the time period of the show. However, they are just as capable in a fight now as when they were in their primes.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The original Team Venture is comprised of a Science Hero, a Gentleman Adventurer, a psycho Super-Soldier, a hulking master martial artist, a size shifter stuck in his large form (then his small one), a Jehovah's Witness fishman, a brain-damaged boxer, a defrosted caveman, and a Tag Along Kid. Given their many flaws, they easily cross into Dysfunction Junction territory as well.
• Team Hand-Stack: When they perform the "Go Team Venture!" Battle Cry, they all salute with two fingers raised in a "V" in this fashion.

Jonas Venture Sr.

Dr. Jonas Venture, Sr.

Voiced by: Paul Boocock

"I just performed the greatest act of super-science! What are you people not getting?"

The grand figure looming over the series. Publicly, Dr. Jonas Venture, Sr. is a renowned super-scientist, adventure hero, and charismatic celebrity who saved the world countless times and whose genius profoundly changed it. In private, he was an abusive, narcissistic sociopath who chased women and never missed an opportunity to promote himself to an adoring public. Jonas lived a life of luxury and adventure, with the world constantly revolving around him, and that was the only way he accepted it. He was a terrible father to Rusty, an even worse friend who would use anyone around him without hesitation, and a careless scientist who often left projects unfinished, colleagues trapped or killed, and cared little for the consequences of his actions, downplaying negativity, victim blaming, and quickly moving on to his next big idea. He is believed to have died in the "Movie Night Massacre" aboard his Gargantua-1 space station about 17 years before the series begins.

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• Abusive Parent: He is the reason why Rusty is the Conditioned to Accept Horror, Seen It All, Too Broken to Break, traumatized mess of a person he is today. He included Rusty in all his missions from ages 3-17, made him endure numerous kidnappings, tortures, and forced him to kill at least twice. Whenever Rusty attempted to express his frustration, Jonas would simply disregard it and call him ungrateful. His style of parenting was so bad, that in "Are You There God, It's Me Dean", even The Monarch admitted to Hank that Jonas really did a number on him. He's also repeatedly shown to be not have been shy at all about exposing young Rusty to sex, as he just sent Rusty into another room during a key party (rather than arranging to get him out of the house, or holding it somewhere else entirely) and often appears naked in Rusty's hallucinations. There's also the fact that Colonel Gentlemen (allegedly) invented a sex act and named it after Rusty, which suggests nothing good... As revealed very late in the series, the original Rusty died and Jonas replaced him with a clone (likely several times given that Jonas had at least 22 clones ready to go). He also never bothered to establish relationships with any of his other implied illegitimate children - The Monarch, Tara Quymn, or the kid in the boy's brigade that looks exactly like him.
• The Ace: A Deconstructed Character Archetype of it, along with a Science Hero, being based on examples like Doc Savage but showing what a person who lives this kind of life would be as a person, parent, and friend. He was a brilliant scientist, undeniably charismatic, and could handle himself in a fight... but brought his young son along on his adventures, traumatizing the hell out of him, and cared little for any other collateral damage his actions caused.
• Ambiguously Bi: While he was well known for womanizing, his famous "key parties" and orgies included plenty of men as well, notably some of his teammates including the unambiguously Depraved Bisexual Col. Gentleman. At the very least, he was clearly comfortable having sex around other men.
• Arc Villain: Of the "Morphic Trilogy" of episodes that open season seven and close the Blue Morpho storyline. He was behind the death (and resurrection) of the original Blue Morpho, the cause of the "haunting" in VenTech tower, and his attempts to take over the Blue Morpho's body until he could clone a new one for himself lead to the trilogy's finale.
• Arch-Enemy: Said to be Force Majeure, the previous sovereign of the The Guild of Calamitous Intent. He otherwise has a very robust Rogues Gallery with several villains shown "arching" him repeatedly (Scaramantula, L. Ron).
• Art Evolution: Subtle but present in his eyes as the series animation quality improves overall. Later seasons show that Jonas had pale blue eyes, much like those that young Rusty is depicted with.
• Asshole Victim: His fate is downright horrific, but considering all the terrible things he has done, it is both well-deserved and entirely his own fault. The "Morphic Trilogy" of episodes that open season seven show that he was frozen solid from exposure to outer space during the Gargantua-1 "Movie Night Massacre", shattered when the rest of the Original Team Venture comes to rescue him, and has his severed/frozen head put into the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (Progressive Biological Life Extension Module) where he convalesces for about two decades. However, he's stuck in the machine and his attempts to communicate (as seen in season one's "Careers in Science") are in vain before Gargantua-1 crashes down (as seen in season two's "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner") and the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. is salvaged by Jonas Jr. sometime prior to his death and put on display in VenTech Tower. He manages to take over the tower's systems, which is mistaken for a poltergeist, and then has his head re-severed from the machine moments after finally getting the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. door open. He attempts to hack and overtake the cyborg Vendata/the original Blue Morpho/Don Fitzcarraldo, but fails when the Blue Morpho's son (The Monarch), who turns out to be a slightly altered Rusty clone Jonas gave the Fitzcarraldos when they couldn't conceive, distracts him, leading to his ultimate death. As a final insult, the O.S.I. takes his severed head to use in experiments.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Col. Gentleman notes that Jonas had a near-nonexistent attention span in regards to his science, being prone to simply abandoning his "new toys" the instant they ceased to be immediately interesting in his eyes. A few of his unfinished projects include trying to shrink Dr. Entmann down from his Humongoloid size but making him tiny and leaving him sealed inside a vault, leaving the gassed orphans trapped beneath the compound, and leaving the would-be astronauts trapped for decades within the E-Den.
• Attention Whore: Practically everything he does is motivated by a desire to have other people notice and admire him.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Most of the world sees him as a jovial, charismatic, compassionate man of science and a great hero. In reality, he only cares about himself and has no empathy for anyone he hurts, including his young son and his closest friends.
• Blaming the Victim: When his charisma fails to cover for his detestable actions, he resorts to blaming those he victimized for the situation. Most prominently, he brushes off Rusty's desire for "a normal life" and chastizes Rusty for not appreciating the "opportunities" their lifestyle provides.
• Break the Cutie: His years of abuse turned Rusty from a sweet kid, into the traumatized, jaded, cynical adult he is in the series.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • He's a globetrotting super-scientist adventurer who has foiled the plots of countless supervillains. But when you dig a little deeper, you see that he was an emotionally abusive parent who constantly put his son's life in danger by dragging him along on dangerous adventures as well as being a habitual womanizer. He frequently lost interest in his projects, leaving many half-finished and anyone unfortunate enough to be involved to their own devices (E-Den, the drug-addled orphans trapped beneath his compound, Dr. Entmann, Venturion etc.)
  • In-Universe, the other members of Team Venture would often enable Jonas's terrible behavior and turn a blind eye to his less admirable qualities. But when he showed off Venturion, even they were disgusted and managed to dissuade him from pursuing the subject further.
• The Casanova: A habitual womanizer known to throw "key parties". The video tape he uses to blackmail the Blue Morpho is labeled "Orgy #68", and those are presumably just the ones he bothered to tape.
• Casting Couch: Subverted. Jonas invited Bobbi St. Simone to his lab to help her improve the invisible woman special effects for her upcoming show "Follow that Bikini". However, while he of course used it as a pretense to have sex with her, he also made good on his word and gave her actual invisibility superpowers. That, in true Jonas fashion, she had a hard time turning on-and-off.
• Cerebus Call-Back:
  • In his first appearances, Jonas seemed to be a mostly good person, and as a father was only slightly negligent and hard for Rusty to live up to. It isn't until we later learn about some of the darker secrets of Venture Industries (such as keeping a population of drug-addicted orphans in the tunnels beneath their house for decades) that we begin to see Jonas as he really was.
  • The flashing P.R.O.B.L.E.M. light in season one's "Careers in Science" and the crash of Gargantua-1 in season two's "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner" are revealed to be a revived Jonas attempting to communicate and then attempting to take over the space station.
• Character Development: An unusual case given his nature as an (apparently) Posthumous Character when the series begins, but as we (the audience) get more insight into what type of person Jonas really was via flashbacks and his reappearance in season seven, his characterization changes as well. Publicly, he is still a legendary adventuring Science Hero. However, in private, he's very much a Broken Pedestal to his son and friends who did just as much harm (if not more) than good.
• Condescending Compassion: Even when it seems like he's being benevolent, what's really happening is his narcissistic escapades are just so happening to yield positive consequences. He often saved the world in his adventures, but that was really just because he loved fighting villains and he left countless lives shattered in his wake because he never caused about damages. He gave his "friend" Blue Morpho an adoptive son to raise, since Morpho had been trying to start a family. It's touching until you find out Jonas spliced one of the clones he had lying around of his son with baboon genes on a whim, was displeased with the results, and pawned the kid off on Morpho to get rid of it. The fact that the Blue Morpho wound up being a loving father was an afterthought; when he wound up dead and his son orphaned, Jonas intercepted the body for science experiments but never checked up on the child, who later grew up to be The Monarch.
• Crossover: According to Poker Night 2, he worked with Cave Johnson at one point. Appropriate as both were self-absorbed and eccentric men overly obsessed with science whose lifestyles wound up profoundly hurting the person closest to them.
• Corrupted Character Copy: He's based on Doc Savage and Dr. Benton Quest, being an adventuring scientist and Genius Bruiser par excellence, but was a terrible father to Rusty, exposing him to numerous traumas and then making minimal effort to help him with the problems he developed from it. And that's not even getting into what a horrible friend he was, for example, thinking nothing of resurrecting a dead team member (who he had spent years blackmailing) as a cyborg, apparently just For Science! with a dash of stroking his own ego.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: A scathing deconstruction of pulp adventurers/globetrotting Science Heroes. The question posed is this: what kind of man would travel around the globe for no other reason than For Science! with his friends, isolating his son from a normal childhood, and create countless technological marvels while gaining almost universal praise from the government, the media, and society in general? An amoral sociopath who treats everything as a game/experiment, only seeks his own gratification, doesn't care enough about people to form close personal attachments, and sees his son/friends as (best case) people to stroke his ego or as (worst case) guinea pigs for ostensibly altruistic projects he starts but gets too bored with, gallivanting away to do the next big thing, leaving said projects unfinished, all the while callously leaving a trail of destruction and misery which he never gives a second or even first backward glance, heedless of all future consequences.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Zig-zagged due to his extreme narcissism. While he constantly rescued Rusty from death and danger, it was always circumstances that he himself had gotten Rusty into as a result of bringing a small child along on his dangerous adventures, and the only reason he actually saved him was that he required somebody to succeed him to stroke his ego. On the other hand, he was legitimately confident in his son's potential as a scientist, seemed to be sincere when he called Rusty his greatest creation (though given the later revelation that he had cloned Rusty, this comment can be taken in a drastically darker light), and actually let him keep his happy memories with his would-be Greek kidnappers by shooing him out of the room before beating the snot out of said kidnappers. Especially as Rusty got older and moved to college, when Jonas seemed to take more of a genuine interest in bonding with his son. Unfortunately, he had also thoroughly alienated Rusty by that point and (apparently) died soon after.
• Evil All Along: Throughout the show, Jonas is slowly revealed via flashbacks to be an emotionally abusive parent and habitual womanizer who frequently lost interest in his projects, leaving many half-finished, and anyone involved to their own devices. Ultimately, he turns out to be an outright villain when it's revealed that he blackmailed his former friend Blue Morpho, is implied to have slept with his wife, and confirmed to have rebuilt him as an emotionless, amnesiac cyborg who went insane. When they're reunited decades later, Jonas has no problem killing him to steal his body for himself.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When his teammates tell Jonas he's gone too far after resurrecting the Blue Morpho as a cyborg servant, Jonas is confused why they're mad at him for bringing back their friend and discovering a breakthrough in science in the process.
  Jonas: I just performed the greatest act of super-science! What are you people not getting?
• Extreme Omnisexual: While his many "orgies" imply that he's at least Ambiguously Bi, a Freeze-Frame Bonus of a newspaper article in season seven's "The Inamorata Consequence" suggests that he wanted to have sex with a seal.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Though known by an adoring public as a brilliant scientist, legendary adventurer, and overall wonderful person, Jonas in private was a narrcistic, sociopathic, irresponsible man-child who traumatized his son and downplayed anything negative until it could be covered up and replaced by his next big idea.
• False Friend: To all of Team Venture, to note:
  • He slept with Col. Gentleman's wife repeatedly and might be the father of his step-daughter Tara Quymn.
  • It's explicitly noted that Action Man was only as much of an unhinged lunatic as he was because Jonas kept him constantly pumped full of experimental "Jump Juice" drug cocktails, probably in order to control him.
  • Jonas videotaped the Blue Morpho cheating on his wife, using it to blackmail him for years. When he died, Jonas resurrected him as a cyborg, grew "bored" of him, used him as a servant, and then threw him away in the trash after he suffered a psychotic break. It is also strongly implied that he slept with the Blue Morpho's wife (though the long-standing implication that he is the Monarch's father was disproven in the Finale Movie).
  • He treats Kano as little better than a servant and functionally kidnapped him from the Blue Morpho to be in Team Venture full-time.
  • He dubbed Paul Entmann with the insultingly ableist hero name of "Humongoloid" (from humongous and mongoloid) and after accidentally shrinking Paul down to the size of an ant while trying to cure his gigantism, Jonas made only the bare minimum effort to find him before forgetting entirely about him, leaving him sealed in a vault for decades.
  • He "repays" Swifty and Hector's friendship by giving them menial maintenance jobs on the Venture Compound, reassigned so far away from anything important that Rusty genuinely forgot the two still worked for the company.
  • Gave Bobbi St. Simone the power of invisibility in exchange for sexual favors, then when she asked to have it reversed he ignored her in favor of pushing her further into a life she didn't really want. Like most of Jonas's other friends she understandably betrays him for this, deciding to work for The Guild.
• Fatal Flaw: Impulsiveness. Jonas's work is mostly made out of passion projects that he would forget about the moment something else caught his interest. If he 'did' finish a project he'd never put it through tests for even the most basic flaws^note Like making sure production models of H.E.L.P.eR. robots didn't have parts easily removable by children., leading to a lot of his work having serious design flaws ^note like M.O.T.H.E.R..
• Fate Worse than Death: He was all but killed during the infamous "Movie Night Massacre" on Gargantua-1 which resulted in the deaths of nearly its entire crew. Following his explicit instructions regarding such a scenario where he dies, his teammates placed his remains in the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (Progressive Biological Life Extension Module), hoping that its regenerative abilities would restore him. However, due to being just a head with some of his nervous system, the task proved impossible, leaving him trapped inside, barely alive. The old Team Venture eventually disbanded and tried to forget all about the state they had left him in. By the time of season one's "Careers in Science", he has regained consciousness and attempts to communicate via the machine's light, but fails. By season two's "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner", his attempts to take over Gargantua-1's systems cause it to crash, leaving him once again trapped until Jonas Jr. salvaged the machine and put it on display in VenTech tower. By the time he reunites with Rusty in the season seven premiere, Jonas has been forced to drain the rats infesting Ventech Tower to keep himself alive as a protein source until the events of the following episodes result in his actual death.
• Faux Affably Evil: Behind his jovial and gallant demeanor lies a man who has no higher motivation beyond satisfying his own desires and becoming famous. He had no problems putting his son in mortal danger and was an extremely unreliable friend to his colleagues.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Not at first, but it's implied that towards the end of his life, most of his family and friends had come to despise Jonas and spent less and less time with him (to the point that they weren't even with him during the Movie Night Massacre). Unsurprising, given how he treated all of them.
• Gadgeteer Genius: A brilliant inventor... until he would lose interest and leave many of his projects unfinished. Rusty seems to stay afloat by (often poorly) completing Jonas' unfinished work, or just plain selling it at yards sales.
• Generation Xerox: As with previous Ventures, he was a super-scientist and engaged in globe-spanning adventures. He also installed this lifestyle into his son.
• Glory Hound: Whatever good things he did weren't motivated by altruism but a desire to be admired.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While not publicly recognized as such, so many of the problems in the current setting can be traced back to him. Rusty's neurosies, the Guild/O.S.I. Enforced Cold War, his many untested/unfinished projects becoming problematic, etc.
• Grand Theft Me: He tries to convince Rusty and Billy to swap out his brain with that of his "friend" the cyborg-ized Blue Morpho, which would kill the latter but allow Jonas to live.
• Harmful to Minors: Just about anything he did with his son counts. Dragging him along on dangerous adventures that result in him getting kidnapped, tortured, injured, and even outright killed is bad enough, but Rusty witnessed Jonas' sexual adventures first hand as well, scarring him for life in that regard as well. Additionally, the company he chose to keep often pranked or even outright assaulted Rusty, further damaging him.
• Hate Sink: Despite the series having many colorful and entertaining villains, as well as "heroes" who often qualify as outright Villain Protagonists, Jonas Venture Sr. is possibly the most detestable character in entire show. Though dead before the series began, each flashback into Rusty's childhood shows Jonas to be a narcissistic, amoral sociopath who makes Rusty look like the father of the year. His abuse shaped his son into the mess he is in the present, abandoned a bunch of orphans underground after his insane AI tried to kill them with a hallucinogenic gas, and blackmailed his "friend" the Blue Morpho with a tape of him cheating on his wife and then resurrected him as a cyborg, something even the rest of the amoral team Venture viewed as going too far. To cap it all off, he's a Villain with Good Publicity, meaning only those closest to him (mostly Rusty) know what a terrible person he was while everyone else thinks he's a hero.
• It's All About Me: Dr. Venture was a narcissistic sociopath who lived a life of luxury and adventure, with the world constantly revolving around him, and that was the way he liked it.
• Killed Off for Real: He's been dead long before the first season, or so it seemed. Turned out he was suffering a Fate Worse than Death in a regenerative machine. He really bites the dust in season seven's third episode, though Brock does ask Rusty if the O.S.I. can have his head to perform experiments on.
• Lack of Empathy: Jonas fits the bill as a classic narcissistic sociopath - he doesn't show concern for anyone other than himself, thinks nothing of subjecting his son or friends to horrific trauma if it gets him what he wants, and masks it all with incredible charisma that leaves him a Villain with Good Publicity. Ultimately Deconstructed, as this ends up coming back to bite Jonas hard, as the same unwillingness to concern himself with other people's feelings towards him also meant Jonas was seemingly unable to realize that one of the 'friends' he had repeatedly abused, blackmailed, and consigned to a Fate Worse than Death would want to kill him. Even his treatment of Rusty accidentally caused his own Fate Worse than Death when one of his toys causes Team Venture to slip and break Jonas' frozen body, leaving only his head to be preserved.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Jonas made a career out of conducting unethical science experiments on people, the most notable of which being his resurrection of his dead friend, the Blue Morpho, as the cyborg servant "Venturion". After growing bored of him, Jonas used Venturion as a servant and then threw him in the trash after he tried to kill Rusty (who triggered a memory of his old life). In the end, not only is Venturion (now the villain Vendata after being restored by Dr. Z) the key suspect in Jonas' murder during the "Movie Night Massacre", but Jonas only survived by becoming a guinea pig for one of his own experiments, the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. He was trapped inside for decades, waiting for help but unable to communicate with the outside world. Much like the Blue Morpho, he was also placed there by his friends, who proceeded to do nothing about it and left him there (as he'd driven them all away). The son he spent decades abusing is eventually called and could potentially help him, but a lifetime of mistreatment at Jonas' hands means Rusty is too jaded to bother looking into the subject with any detail. He meets his—seemingly—final end when he tries to steal the Blue Morpho's body, only for Morpho to fight him off. The O.S.I. even takes Jonas' head to run experiments on it.
• Life Drain: The P.R.O.B.L.E.M. allowed Jonas to survive his unending stasis by sucking the nutrients out of nearby lifeforms with a set of tendrils.
• Losing Your Head: He's been reduced to just a head that's been kept alive by the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (Progressive Biological Life Extension Module). The invention was intended to revive his entire body, but the original Team Venture ended up slipping on one of Rusty's toys and dropping his frozen body, shattering him. They stick his frozen head inside, allowing him to survive, but cut-off from the outside world and unable to leave.
• Narcissist: While Jonas was indeed a brilliant scientific mind and a capable adventurer, it seems to have inflated his ego and sense of self-worth far beyond that of any rational person, to the point where he doesn't care about anyone but himself and his achievements.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Died under mysterious circumstances while Rusty was in college and never said goodbye. There are several Red Herrings dropped throughout the series about how he died, but season seven's "Arrears in Science" reveals that he is believed to have died during the "Movie Night Massacre" aboard his space station, Gargantua-1. The rest of the old Team Venture actually saved him by putting his frozen, broken off head into the P.R.O.B.L.E.M., where he has survived, but cannot leave and his attempts to communicate have failed. He is ultimately Killed Off for Real at the episode's conclusion, once again not getting to say anything like "goodbye" to Rusty.
• No Product Safety Standards: The H.E.L.P.eR robots were at one point mass-produced to be household servants until a baby happened to pluck out one of their eyes and almost choked on it, causing a public outcry. The public's fears, while excessive, were ultimately justified given that Jonas' true nature makes it clear that he could have avoided all of this if he had just checked to see if they were built well enough.
• Older Than They Look: In all of the flashbacks, photographs, and videos we see of him, Jonas always appears to be the same age regardless of the time period. From the '60s to the '80s, he appears to not have aged a day. When his still-living head is found to have been preserved in the P.R.O.B.L.E.M., he still hasn't aged, despite having to be at least in his mid-70s by then. While the latter case can be justified by suspended animation stopping the aging process, the man still aged extremely gracefully over the previous two decades.
• A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: He was known for hosting "key parties" and participating in orgies, with the video tape he uses to blackmail the Blue Morpho being labeled "Orgy #68".
• Papa Wolf: Downplayed, but if there is one mildly positive trait about him, he does try to protect and rescue Rusty... even though Rusty is only in danger to begin with due to Jonas' negligence and willingness to put him in dangerous situations. A great Zigzagged example are the Greek kidnappers from "Spanikoptia". Jonas and the other members of Team Venture beat the crap out of them in The Stinger... but the kidnappers actually treated Rusty better than his father could on any given day... And the beating caused one of them to swear revenge by scamming Rusty out of large amounts of money every time he comes back to visit (which works out since he always ends up happy to be there).
• Pet the Dog:
  • For all the torment he subjects Rusty to, he did apparently believe in Rusty's potential as a scientist. For example, in "Twenty Years to Midnight", he left a message to Rusty about the Grand Galactic Inquisitor, believing that Rusty could handle it (or least that he would be the best person on Earth to handle it). He also asks for Rusty's help in transplanting his brain into the Blue Morpho, just assuming that Rusty would be capable of performing complex brain surgery. He chose poorly, but it says a lot about how he viewed his son, especially considering his narcissism. Further, when on the erzatz Johnny Carson Show, he claimed his son was his greatest creation, and was apparently sincere about it. (Given the later revelation that he cloned Rusty, this comment can be seen in a much different, darker light). He also shows it in smaller moments, like when the decency to let his son keep his happy memories from "Spanikopita" and shooing him out of the room before savagely beating the would-be Greek kidnappers.
  • The Finale Movie reveals that he gave Malcolm, who is revealed to be one of Rusty's clones, to the Blue Morpho and his wife to raise as their own when he found out they couldn't conceive children. Considering the many ways he had mistreated the Blue Morpho and the heavy implications that he coerced the Blue Morpho's wife into having sex with him, this is a very shocking, selfless development. Then again, Malcolm was a Rusty clone that Jonas had randomly spliced with Baboon genes and wasn't pleased with, so from Jonas's perspective his "favor" was just him finding someone to dump an unwanted experiment on.
• Playing the Victim Card: He pulled it out any time a young Rusty tried to complain to him about his life, particularly when posing as his therapist. Instead of admitting that he was putting his son in danger and traumatizing him for life, he said Rusty was "ungrateful" and blamed him for all his problems because their adventures were really "opportunities." He also acts like it was completely unjustifiable for the Blue Morpho to seek revenge on him, even after subjecting his "friend" to a Fate Worse than Death.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: With elements of Deliberate Values Dissonance at play. He was racist (thinking he could get away with his "Doctor Fandragon from Japananawa" disguise for one example), sexist (constantly womanizing and treating them little better than objects to stroke his... ego), ableist (giving Dr. Entmann's giant form the name "Humongoloid", with "mongoloid" a slur for people with Down's Syndrome), to name but a few. Given his era, these were all seen as heroic traits at the time.
• Posthumous Character: Subverted. He is implied to have died mysteriously while Rusty was in college, about two decades before the series begins, though shows up prominently in flashbacks throughout. While several Red Herrings are dropped throughout the series about how he died (with the most prominent being that Kano killed him under orders to prevent him from activating the ORB), he turns out to have been frozen solid from exposure to outer space during the "Movie Night Massacre" aboard Gargantua-1. The rest of the old Team Venture accidentally shattered him while placing him into the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (Progressive Biological Life Extension Module), ultimately only placing his head within and keeping him in conscious stasis for decades. He attempts to escape by taking over Vendata's (formerly the original Blue Morpho) cyborg body in the season seven-opening "Morphic Trilogy" of episdes, but is finally Killed Off for Real and his severed head is taken by the O.S.I. for experimentation.
• Predecessor Villain: If there's a problem plaguing the characters (other than themselves), it can often be traced back directly or indirectly to Jonas' actions in the past. His inventions malfunctioning, abandoned projects, vengeful former villains, Rusty's plethora of traumas, and even the O.S.I./Guild conflict are all plot points that stem from something Jonas did in the past.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Beneath the charm and intelligence, Jonas was a deeply selfish and irresponsible man who prioritzed his ego and desires over everyone else. He was generally more concerned with having fun, getting laid, and being famous than anything else. Noticeably, when Rusty became a teenager, Jonas tortured him with an endless series of humiliating pranks and did little, if anything, to stop his teammates from bullying Rusty with harmful pranks and violent threats.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: One of the many horrific acts he blackmailed the Blue Morpho into performing was to sleep with Dr. Z in order to steal from him while disguised, implicating Jonas, at the very least, into a Rape by Proxy situation. There are also several implications in seasons six and seven that Jonas may have slept with the Blue Morpho's wife, visiting her without consent, making it, at minimum, a very uneven relationship, though the Finale Movie shows that he did not actually impregnate her.
• Really Gets Around: He was constantly getting laid. Movie stars, super models, wives of friends, hosting key parties, participating in orgies... Naturally, this being Jonas, he only used them for their bodies and didn't care one iota about their own pleasure and health, abandoning and forgetting about them as quickly as his projects, when he didn't actively manipulate and emotionally abuse them for his own wants and ends. Aside from Rusty, he is heavily implied to have multiple potential illegitimate children (Tara Quymn, the boy in the photo of the "Boys Brigade" who looks just like him, etc.).
• Rogues Gallery: Has a fairly deep one which makes sense being, at least publicly, the Big Good of the Venture universe during his prime. Just going by those shown or mentioned in the show, there's Scaramantula, Brainulo, Manotaur, Half-Jackal, L. Ron... The first three even did a Villain Team-Up to kidnap Rusty. Dr. Z, while more prominently a villain to the Quest family, reveals that he also "arched" Jonas on a few occasions, once reprogramming an army of H.E.L.P.eR. robots to use against him and later reprogramming Venturion (the cyborg-ized original Blue Morpho) into the villain Vendata (who is strongly implied to have killed Jonas). The Finale Movie reveals that his ultimate Arch-Enemy was the former Guild Sovereign Force Majeure, adding another.
• The Sociopath: Jonas ticks all the boxes of being a classic narcissistic sociopath. He's superficially charming while having a coplete Lack of Empathy. He is a super-scientist and adventurer, not for the benefit of others, but for the fun and fame involved. He's arrogant beyond all reason, emotionally manipulative, performs acts of extraordinary cruelty and callousness, and doesn't feel one iota of guilt for any of the pain he's caused others, usually blaming them for their situation.
• Spirit Advisor: In the early seasons, he appeared to Rusty in this fashion, though only when Rusty was off his drugs. He turns out just to be a representation of Rusty's own mind, helping him to realize things Rusty already knew but had just forgotten (like how he left one of his cowboy toys in the Gargantua-1 control console).
• There Are No Therapists: 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 not enjoying the life of a boy adventurer. This makes Rusty distrustful of therapy later in life, avoiding getting help, and when he finally does (in season four's "Self Medication"), it actually does help him.
• Too Clever by Half: Jonas was a legitimately brilliant scientist who created many amazing feats. However, he was also lazy and selfish, not bothering to fully test his inventions leading to issues (like the small parts on the H.E.L.P.eR. robots being a choking hazard to children) or just abandoning them entirely when something else caught his interest (like the would-be astronauts in the E-Den).
• Ungrateful Bastard: The Blue Morpho was his friend and helped him on his adventures. When Jonas, who had a sparkly clean public image despite his depravities, needed an ally who could "get their hands dirty", he secretly taped the Blue Morpho cheating on his wife and then blackmailed him with it to get what he needed. When the Blue Morpho died, Jonas brought him back as the cyborg Venturion (which horrified even the other members of Team Venture), something considered by everyone but Jonas a Fate Worse than Death. This comes back to bite Jonas when, after Venturion is reprogrammed by Dr. Z into the villainous Vendata, Vendata is strongly implied to have killed Jonas aboard Garguantua-1, and is later directly responsible for his actual death in season seven.
• Villainous Breakdown: In an attempt to free himself from the P.R.O.B.L.E.M, he orders Billy to transport his brain into the cyborg Blue Morpho. After Morpho disconnects from the P.R.O.B.L.E.M, Jonas flies into a rage and tries to kill Morpho himself, raving madly at the "blue bastard" and demanding he not ruin this for Jonas.
• Villain with Good Publicity: While the world views Jonas as a heroic adventurer and scientific genius, privately he was also a total narcissistic sociopath who abused his son, used his friends, and hurt a lot of innocent people in his escapades. What contributions he did make were to get fame, get laid, and/or For the Lulz. His is implied to have brought Rusty along on his adventures to improve his public image, as an excuse to rescue him, fight bad guys, and tack "good father" onto his list of achievements. He habitually womanized, even women who were married to his "friends", and had no issues blackmailing and using said friends for experiments, either. While extremely gifted in science, he was little more than a reckless hedonist who endangered everyone around him for his own gratification.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Jonas believes that any good that comes out of his scientific breakthroughs more than makes up for his shadier actions. During Rusty's childhood, he acted as his son's psychologist, and wrote off all the danger his adventures put his son in by accusing Rusty of being "ungrateful" for all the "opportunities" he gave him.
• With Friends Like These...:
  • Being a narcissistic sociopath, he had no compunction against using the other members of Team Venture however he saw fit. He had an affair with Col. Gentleman's wife (possibly impregnating her), kept the Action Man perpetually high on an experimental Super-Soldier drug cocktail, all but kidnapped Kano from Blue Morpho, totally forgot about Dr. Entmann after accidentally shrinking him to ant size, and many more. At best, Jonas had little regard for the agency of his friends and saw them all more like tools to be used to his own ends.
  • Despite outwardly considering the Blue Morpho a friend, he videotaped the Blue Morpho cheating on his wife and used it as blackmail to get the Blue Morpho to do his "dirty work", while he is also implied to have slept with the Blue Morpho's wife himself. When the Blue Morpho died, Jonas brought him back as a cyborg, quickly grew bored of him (not helped by the other members of the old Team Venture being disgusted by him), and used him as a servant for menial tasks. When the Blue Morpho suffered a psychotic break and was killed as a result, Jonas threw him away with the rest of the trash, and doesn't even bat an eye when his former friend resurfaces as a supervillain years later, even questioning why the Blue Morpho is seeking revenge.
• Would Hurt a Child: Indirectly, at least. Not only did he take Rusty along with him on his adventures when he was just a child despite the incredible danger (getting him kidnapped, tortured, and even outright killed), he also abandoned a bunch of orphans underground after a rogue AI he created pumped them full of hallucinogenic gas, then made no effort to go back and save them.

Col. Gentleman

Colonel Horace Gentleman

Voiced by: Christopher McCulloch

"Are you sure you want to have a fight? Cause I'm only gonna use a thumb. Eh, left one... right one is too powerful for you."

The apparent second-in-command of the original Team Venture, Col. Gentleman is a quintessential British adventurer who formerly served in both the RAF and MI5. A Scottish-accented bisexual swinger, he retired to Morocco until the events of the series draw him back to action.

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• Artistic License – Military: He claims to have been in the British Royal Air Force, but the rank of colonel does not exist in the RAF (the equivalent rank is group captain).
• Beware the Nice Ones: Downplayed in comparison to a normal person, given his misogyny, racism, and hedonism, but by the standards of Team Venture he's practically a saint. He can tease and traumatize his friends and loved ones, but if someone else does it, he'll give them a thorough asskicking.
• Blood Knight: Downplayed in that he's not as obessive or psychotic about it as most examples, but he's clearly excited by the prospect of a good fight, even in his advanced age. He taunts the much younger, buffer mercenary before delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle in "The Devil's Grip" while he's clearly eager to kick St. Cloud's ass in "The Bellicose Proxy" before letting Rose do it, since St. Cloud is there to "arch" her son.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He enjoys making "crazy old person" lists (Ex. "Toys Col. Gentleman wishes he has when he was a lad"), has a fascination with Sabrina the Teenage Witch (particularly Salem the Cat), and, apparently, gluing bits of a battleship model to his dog in his spare time.
• Cool Old Guy: Despite pushing 80 by the time of the series, he's still very capable in a fight. He gets Brock to back down after he punches Rusty thanks to his reputation and a well-aimed cane to the throat. Later, he beats a buff mercenary half his age in a Curb-Stomp Battle and holds his own during the fight aboard Gargantua-2 against some super-powered villains.
• Depraved Bisexual: He's downright hedonistic in seeking sexual pleasure and Really Gets Around with both men and women. Almost everything we learn about his sexuality is Too Much Information and he's very eager to share. He's also the first person Shoreleave goes to for info on the "Rusty Venture" sex act and claims to have invented the act. How is "naming a gay sex act after his friend's child" for depraved? Further, according to the creator commentary, he is "above sexuality":
  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!
• Dirty Old Man: He is pushing 80, yet still sexually active with people young enough to be his grandchildren.
• Game-Breaking Injury: He's taken out of the fight on Gargantua-2 after Prof. Impossible breaks his hip. Until then, he was holding his own, despite his age and the power of his opponents.
• Gentleman Adventurer: A character archetype he is meant to invoke, particularly of the British variety. His voice is an imitation of Sean Connery with elements taken from two such characters he portrayed in James Bond and Alan Quartermain.
• He-Man Woman Hater: Nearly every time he talks about a woman is to mention either screwing them or giving them a "smack in the mouth". The one exception we see is toward his step-daughter, Tara Quymn, as he punches Rusty in the face for breaking her heart.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He is very fond of his dog, Mischa. An episode planned for the canceled season eight had Gentleman in a John Wick parody after Mischa turns up dead.
• Heroic BSoD: During the fifth season finale, after Kiki walks out for good. He rather glumly realizes all his favorite gay flings have passed on, that he's shacked up with a bitchy Moroccan a third his age, and that Tangiers has lost its appeal on top of considering his sexual preference a capital offense. He moves to the States by the end of the episode, and he and the Action Man decide to room together.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. For all his many flaws (misogyny, racism, hedonism), he legitimately cares about his friends and family, is very protective of them, and is probably one of the more consistently "nice" members of the original Team Venture. In many ways, he's more of a father figure towards Rusty than Jonas ever was, though still participated in playing traumatic pranks on him.
• Manly Bi: He was married to a woman and has slept with several, although it's somewhat clear he strongly prefers men as a rule; his autobiography is titled "Gentlemen Prefer Gentleman", after all. On the "manly" end, he's a badass Gentleman Adventurer who can still kick ass even in old age.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • He is essentially what you would get if William S. Burroughs (residing in Morocco, sexuality, hedonism) were played by Sean Connery.
  • His name is taken from Sir Horace Gentleman, the Stage Name of Horace Panter from The Specials.
• Only Mostly Dead: Hank and Dean found him apparently dead in the second season's "Twenty Minutes to Midnight". Turns out it was a diabetic coma, they were just too stupid to actually check that he was alive. Kiki gives him a shot when he returns and Gentleman shows back up in season three.
• Papa Wolf: In general, he is a Team Dad who will not tolerate any mistreatment of his family and friends. For example, he decks Rusty for breaking his step-daughter's heart in "Now Museum, Now You Don't", eagerly joins in the beatdown of Rusty's attempted kidnappers in "Spanikoptia", and nearly beats down St. Cloud in "The Bellicose Proxy" before he lets Rose do the honors (since St. Cloud was there to arch her son). Despite everything he did, Rusty cares about him beneath the sarcasm and seems to view him as an Honorary Uncle, even leaving Dean with him in his will.
• Really Gets Around: Just from those mentioned or implied in the series, he hits double digits easily. In the DVD commentary for season two, he states (with creator Jackson Publick speaking in-character) that he is "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!"
• Team Dad: Frequently plays this role to the original Team Venture, being one of the oldest and most paternal of them. He is the first to call out the other members for going too far (like the Action Man's tendency toward overkill), even chastising Jonas for bringing back the Blue Morpho as a cyborg.
• Too Much Information: Anytime he goes into his detail about his many sexual escapades, he is not shy about sharing the details. Pretty much every character within earshot is visibly repulsed once he gets going.
• Tuxedo and Martini: States in his debut episode that he served in MI5 and is voiced in an imitation of the most famous James Bond actor, Sean Connery. He also mentions driving an Aston Martin, a favored Bond car, in one flashback.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: He says that Kano is an excellent pilot despite his "racial handicap". (Most likely an example of Deliberate Values Dissonance to reflect that Col. Gentlemen is rather out of touch with modern ideas about racial sensitivity.)

The Action Man

Rodney (The Action Man)

Voiced by: Christopher McCulloch

"I was a dang super soldier. Jonas had me on jump juice for the good of flag and country!"

The gun-toting super soldier of the original Team Venture with violently psychotic tendencies. He seems to have cooled off with age, first marrying the widow of Major Tom and, after she passed, dating Rose Whalen (Billy's mother) who he settled down with in New York.

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• Battle Cry: In fights, he tends to loudly shout "ACTION!" over and over.
• Been There, Shaped History: In-universe history, at least. According to the Monarch, it was Action Man's violent beat-down of the boxer-themed Harmless Villain Turnbuckle that lead to the O.S.I./Guild "equally matched aggression" hero/villain system in the first place.
• The Berserker: In his prime, he seemed to enter some kind of battle frenzy while shouting his Battle Cry over and over, shooting or otherwise beating down every enemy in his path.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Pretty much every fight we see the Action Man in his prime via flashback involved with is a one-sided bloodbath in his favor. The Turnbuckle incident, where the Action Man pistol whipped a boxing-themed Harmless Villain who threatened a young Rusty to near death and then executed him (in front of Rusty), is specifically cited by the Guild for establishing their "Equally Matched Aggression" level system to ensure that villains don't get in over their heads against "protagonists" out of their league.
• Drugs Are Bad: Most of his psychotic episodes in the past can be, at least in part, attributed to the "Jump Juice" experimental drug cocktail Jonas had him on. He kicked it later in life and is much nicer by the time of the series.
• Everyone Has Standards: While it's already in the General folder for Classic Team Venture, it has to be said - Rodney is easily one of the most sociopathic (bordering on outright psychotic) members of the original Team Venture. The reason he's not the most is the fact that Jonas (who an actual sociopath) is worse, and the fact that he called Jonas' resurrection of the Blue Morpho Sick and Wrong.
• Foil: He's a huge contrast to Brock on the current Team Venture. While both are physically imposing men capable of massive violence, Rodney was an unstable gun-toting psychopath who was outright cruel towards Rusty while Brock prefers knives, is generally calm and level-headed, and is a proper Parental Substitute to the boys.
• Freudian Excuse: It's strongly implied that Rodney was only such a madman in his youth because Jonas was constantly making him take a cocktail of experimental drugs (that he calls "Jump Juice") to enhance his combat prowess (and probably make him easier to control).
• Gass Hole: Prone to flatulence at his advancing age. Pretty much every apperance he makes, and just about every sentence he speaks, is punctuated with a fart.
• Guns Akimbo: Uses a pair of semi-automatic pistols and is not shy about expending ammo.
• Handicapped Badass: Had to have his knees replaced by the time of the series, but can still put up a good fight. (Just don't force him to use the stairs...)
• Happily Married: To Major Tom's widow, Jeanie, who helps him kick the "Jump Juice" Jonas had him on and control his other urges. She dies sometime prior to season five and moves into another happy relationship with Rose.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: For a given definition of "heroic", like most members of the old Team Venture. He dished out bloody Curb Stomp Battles and "overkill" executions without pause, even seeming gleeful while in his battle frenzy. He also used to wake up a young Rusty Venture with an empty gun pressed to the boy's head.
  "Not today Rusty..."
• Jerkass: Dished out bloody deaths to enemies, was not nice at all to Major Tom's ghost about marrying his wife, shot Orpheus without a second thought, and particpated in the team's tormenting of Rusty in his youth.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Many of his earlier Jerkass actions can be attributed, at least in part, to the Psycho Serum Jonas had him on. By the time of the series proper, after "kicking" the stuff, he's practically fatherly to Hank, a good husband/romantic partner to Jeanie and Rose, and even admits that the regrets some of his actions to Rusty.
• Papa Wolf: For all his flaws, Rodney really does care about Rusty and is shown to have been extremely protective of him, when he wasn't terrorizing Rusty while under the effects of his "Jump Juice". It cuts both ways too; despite everything he did, Rusty cares about him beneath the sarcasm and seems to view him as an Honorary Uncle, even leaving Hank with him in his will.
• Psycho Serum: Jonas Sr. had him take "Jump Juice", an experimental drug cocktail, that enhanced his physical traits to Super-Soldier-levels while making him violently psychotic. He manages to quit it by the time of the series, being much calmer.
• Really Gets Around: Something of an Informed Attribute, but he claims this was the case in his youth and is shown in bed with two women during a flashback while eulogizing Dr. Entmann. Throughout the series, he is instead Happily Married to Jeanie until her death and then gets into a likewise healthy relationship with Rose.
• Remarried to the Mistress: Gender inverted. Jeanie was cheating on her husband, Major Tom, with him. After Tom dies, the two get married.
• Shout-Out: His name comes from a lyric in "Ashes to Ashes," the David Bowie song that was a continuation of "Space Oddity" (and thus the story of the original Major Tom). Bowie got the name from the British equivalent of G.I. Joe.
• Super-Soldier: He states that Jonas Sr. had him take "Jump Juice" while they worked together, enhancing his physical traits while making him violently psychotic. He says he kicked it when he retired and is much less aggressive by the series proper.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In his prime, his bloodlust often drove him to this. Notable incidents include emptying the entire clip from two pistols into the head of a henchman at point blank range (Col. Gentleman calls him out on it) and beating the unpowered, unarmed Harmless Villain Turnbuckle to near-death before blowing his brains out. The latter is what part of what led to the Guild's current "EMA" system, meant to ensure that villains only battle people they're on equal terms with.
• This Was His True Form: Gets called out for killing a baby on an old mission by Col. Gentleman. Action Man does not deny this was the case, but points out that the baby was a werewolf trying to maul them when he killed it.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the time of the series proper, he is significantly nicer and definitely a lot less psychotic. It's implied that a lot of this can be chalked up to him kicking the "Jump Juice" Jonas kept him on.
• Uncertain Doom: In season seven, he finally has the stroke that Dr. Orpheus implied would kill him way back in season one. He appears in Hank's coma dream (or Hank appeared in his), implying that he is still alive, albeit comatose.
• Unreliable Expositor: When they're in Hank's coma, he tells the boy that his father harassed and stalked Bobbi St. Simone, while Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart reveals that they're on rather amicable terms to the point that she lives relatively close to the Colorado compound.
• Your Days Are Numbered: After mistakenly shooting Dr. Orpheus in season one's "Past Tense", the latter tells Action Man that he's going to have a stroke in two years, seventeen days (a prediction that eventually comes true in season seven's "Arrears in Science"). This news doesn't seem to bother the Action Man in any way, even using it positively later in the episode:
  Col. Gentleman: We're all going to die!
  Action Man: Not me! I still got two more years!

The Blue Morpho

Don Fitzcarraldo (The Blue Morpho, Venturion, Vendata)

Voiced by: Paul F. Tompkins, Doc Hammer as Vendata

Dr. Z: The Blue Morpho was the junkyard dog of Team Venture ... If there was a dirty job the squeaky clean Jonas Venture needed done, he sent the Blue Morpho.

The Monarch's deceased father and an ally of the original Team Venture. He and his wife died in the plane crash that orphaned their son. Jonas Sr. recovered the Blue Morpho's body and turned him into a cyborg named Venturion. Venturion's programming was erratic, resulting in him nearly strangling a young Rusty to death, and was promptly terminated by Kano. He was eventually recovered by Dr. Z, who erased his memories as the Blue Morpho and Venturion, and became the supervillain Vendata. For more information on Vendata specifically, see The Guild.

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• Anti-Hero:
  • Described as such by other characters, particularly as doing whatever dirty work the "squeaky clean" (at least publicly) Jonas needed but couldn't do himself. For example, he acquired a MacGuffin from Dr. Z after performing every known sexual act (while disguised as Billie Jean King). Enters into Cerebus Retcon territory with the reveal Jonas blackmailed him into it under threat of destroying the Blue Morpho's marriage.
  • The artbook suggests this to be something of an Informed Attribute on his part. From his first presentation, he looks to be the darker and more violent counterpart to squeaky-clean Science Hero Jonas, but from what we see of him, he seems to be a genuinely decent and goodhearted person, and most of his worse moments were prompted (or outright forced) by Jonas. Essentially, he's the Disney Anti-Hero to Jonas' Nominal Hero (verging on Villain with Good Publicity).
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: The (allegedly) ruthless, amoral Anti-Hero Blue Morpho was the one who did Team Venture's dirty work so that Jonas Venture didn't get his hands dirty. Except not really. Jonas and the rest of Team Venture were just as depraved as the Blue Morpho was reputed to be, but had a squeaky-clean image to maintain. In fact, Jonas had to blackmail the Blue Morpho into this role, simultaneously subverting and exploiting it.
• Blackmail Backfire: Attempts to blackmail Jonas Venture during one of his archings as Vendata with their orgy sex-tape (the same one Jonas had been blackmailing the pre-Vendata Blue Morpho with for years), but Jonas instead laughs it off as ironic since part of the orgy was himself as Blue Morpho.
• Butt-Monkey: His time with Team Venture and beyond see him endure unceasing humiliation and pain. Not the least of which being losing his family, body, and identity after Jonas resurrects him as a cyborg.
• Captain Ersatz:
  • Of The Green Hornet, with a blue fedora/trench coat outfit, an Asian martial artist sidekick, a Cool Car, and an insect theme.
  • Of The Shadow, specifically in the dynamic between The Shadow and Doc Savage mirroring the Blue Morpho and Jonas Venture Sr. The Shadow is a a darker, Anti-Heroic urban vigilante while Savage is a "boy scout" adventurer with a clean public image. Also like the originals, Venture has ruthless tendencies he hides from public view (Doc Savage kidnapped and lobotomized criminals into submission) while Morpho is trying to be a good, honorable man despite his dark work (albeit more emotionally vulnerable than the often cold and distant Shadow).
• Came Back Wrong: Subverted, as at first, it seems that when Jonas Venture, Sr. recovered his body and rebuilt him as an emotionless, amnesiac, cyborg that he went insane. It ends up being revealed that his original personality survived almost entirely intact. It's just that no one, least of all Jonas, took the time or cared enough to help it resurface.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: His costume consists of a snazzy three-piece suit with a Fedora Of Ass Kicking, a Badass Long Coat, and a Domino Mask.
• Cultured Badass: The entrance into his secret base is hidden in his impressive library.
• Cyborg: Jonas brings him back to life as the cyborg Venturion, with a mostly robotic body containing the Morpho's brain.
• The Dog Bites Back: He (as Vendata with vague memories of his previous life) is heavily implied to have opened Gargantua-1's bay doors during the "Movie Night Massacre", flushing everyone aboard (including Jonas) into space. Later, after regaining at least some of his original personality, he kills Jonas Sr. a second time (and seemingly for good) when Jonas tries to upload his mind into the Morpho/Vendata's body to escape the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. (though Morpho/Vendata is killed in the process as well).
• Fallen Hero: Originally an already ruthless Anti-Hero (at least allegedly), after his death as the Blue Morpho, Jonas Sr. resurrected him as the cyborg Venturion. After regaining a flash of memory from his previous life, he attempted to strangle a young Rusty and had to be put down. Dr. Z then rebuilt and reprogrammed him as the fully villainous cyborg Vendata.
• Fate Worse than Death: After dying in a plane crash, Jonas resurrects him as the (mostly) mind-wiped cyborg, Venturion. After spending a few years as essentially a robotic servant, he gets a brief memory of his past life, tries to strangle young Rusty, and has to be put down. Dr. Z finds him in the trash and reprograms him as the villainous Vendata.
• Forced into Evil:
  • Jonas Sr. blackmailed him into performing some downright heinous acts including theft, Rape by Proxy, and implied murder.
  • After being resurrected as a cyborg by Jonas Sr., he was trashed, recovered, and reprogrammed by Dr. Z into truly believing himself to being a villainous super-robot.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: After his death, Jonas brings him back only to put him to work as a robot butler after the rest of the old Team Venture give him a What the Hell, Hero? reaction. When his incomplete memory wipe causes him to attack a young Rusty, Kano "kills" him and Jonas puts him out with the trash (literally). Team Venture seem truly surprised when he reappears in the present, and it seems only Kano kept respecting his memory.
• Go Out with a Smile: Dies smiling after finally, if very briefly, reuniting with his son.
• Grand Theft Me: Attempted by Jonas, who tries to hijack his cyborg body in "Arrears in Science" to use until he can clone a new one for himself.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Is at heart a classic hero who revels in protecting New York City, but his methods (pretending to be a villain to work from the inside) and Jonas Venture blackmailing him into taking on more lascivious missions have seriously marred his public and professional legacy by the time of the series.
• Honey Pot: One of his more impressive feats was disguising himself as Billie Jean King and seducing Dr. Z (who claimed that they performed every sexual act there was) in order to claim a jade statue of his.
• Idle Rich: All the Monarch (his son) can remember of him is being rich and having a butterfly collecting hobby.
• Informed Attribute: While stated to be a ruthless Anti-Hero vigilante who isn't afraid to "get his hands dirty", we never actually see this. He seems more like a standard hero (and downright saintly compared to old Team Venture) whose only amoral actions come after Jonas starts to blackmail him. The series' artbook further supports this idea.
• The Last Dance: Zig-Zagged. Vendata is actually just mimicking the motions he only sparsely remembers in donning the Blue Morpho suit and seeking out Jonas Venture. Once his original personality resurfaces, however, he and Jonas do reignite their conflict and fight to the death.
• Legacy Character: The Monarch dons the suit and mask in season six to moonlight as the Blue Morpho to eliminate the villains ahead of him to arch Dr. Venture. Ironically, it does look a lot like the original Blue Morpho's Anti-Hero vigilantism.
• Like Father, Like Son: Although they both had different reasons, both Blue Morpho and Monarch end up with butterfly-themed costumed identities and a Dr. Venture as an enemy. The latter even takes on the identity of the former as a quasi-Legacy Character in order to eliminate villainous competition.
• Machine Monotone: He's only able to speak in a loud, droning, robotic voice after his resurrection as a cyborg. This continues even after he's regained his personality.
• Morality Dial: Had one installed by Dr. Z when converting him into the villainous Vendata.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Saving Jonas from Scaramantula turns out to be a huge mistake for the Blue Morpho in the long run, and brings a colossal amount of misery, right up to death and resurrection into a Fate Worse than Death.
• Papa Wolf: During his stint as Venturion, the programming glitch that caused him to strangle a young Rusty was remembering his son's anguished screaming. From his perspective, he wasn't even strangling Rusty; rather, he was trying to right the plane before it crashed.
• Price on Their Head: Due to never applying for Guild arching rights, the Guild of Calamitous Intent did this to stop him. According to members alive at the time, the bounty was claimed in 1976 but the records were lost on who claimed it.
• Rescue Introduction: Introduced via flashback as he rescues the original Team Venture from Scaramantula in the Cold Open of season six's "Rapacity in Blue".
• Riddle for the Ages: Who claimed his bounty and if he opened the bay doors on Gargantua-1 are never revealed. He insists that the latter was not his fault, but he can't remember exactly what happened.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Dresses in a blue pinstripe suit with a Domino Mask and matching Fedora of Asskicking.
• Token Good Teammate: Barring his former sidekick Kano, the rest of the members of the original Team Venture were varying shades of Gray ranging from Nominal Hero at their most moral to Villain with Good Publicity at their worst. The Blue Morpho, while stated to be a ruthless vigilante, never actually displays this behavior on screen except when forced to via Jonas' threats of blackmail. We only see him act antagonistic toward actual villains.
• Undying Loyalty: Subverted towards Jonas Venture. Flashbacks and recordings show them as being good friends, while another character states that the Blue Morpho "would've done anything for Jonas Venture". Turns out they were good friends, until the Blue Morpho decided to not engage in extramarital affairs with Jonas anymore. At which point, Jonas used a video of said affairs to blackmail Blue Morpho into doing "anything" for him.
• Walking Spoiler: In addition to the spoiler that he's the Monarch's father, there's also the twist that the Blue Morpho is still alive as the supervillain Vendata, and that he may or may not be Jonas Venture's murderer.
• We Can Rebuild Him: Jonas Venture brought him back to life as the cyborg "Venturion", then threw him away after he was destroyed by Kano during a psychotic break where he attacked a young Rusty. Dr. Z then got his hands on him and turned him into the supervillain "Vendata".

Kano

Kano

Voiced by: Christopher McCulloch

Col. Gentleman: (referring to Kano) Careful, lad. His hands are strong enough to crush a boulder, but delicate enough to crush a butterfly.

The massive, stoic martial arts master and pilot of the original Team Venture. Originally the sidekick of the Blue Morpho, he became Jonas Sr.'s official O.S.I. bodyguard and a nurturing parental substitute to Rusty. He took a vow of silence in penance for killing "a great man", afterward mostly communicating via origami. He seems to have retired to Japan after the apparent death of Jonas Sr. by the time of the series.

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• The Big Guy: The largest member of the original Team Venture (save Dr. Entmann in Humongoloid form) with hands "strong enough to crush a boulder".
• Breath Weapon: He has firebreathing powers, though we only see them being used in flashbacks.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Beneath his massive, threatening appearance, he's a Gentle Giant with a big heart. He was easily the most nuturing team member toward young Rusty while enjoying "softer" hobbies like baking and karaoke.
• Dented Iron: More from age than any specific injury, but he's no match for Brock in "ORB".
• Elective Mute: He took a vow of silence in penance for killing a "great man". (At first implied to be Jonas Sr., later revealed to be the Blue Morpho.) The only time he breaks it is when he believes Brock is about to kill him.
• Expy: Of Kato, the Asian martial artist sidekick of The Green Hornet. Made even clearer in season six when it's revealed that he started as the sidekick of the Blue Morpho, himself an expy of the Green Hornet.
• Far East: Kano's ethnicity is never made explicit in the show, only being referred to a few times as "Asian", but he blends elements of being Japanese (practices origami, appears to be in Japan when Col. Gentleman contacts him in "Past Tense", his uniform appears to be a karate gi) and Chinese (an expy of Kato from the Green Hornet, most famously played by Bruce Lee who was from Hong Kong).
• Gentle Giant: Despite his imposing appearance, he's clearly a sensitive soul, being very gentle and protective of his friends and having hobbies in baking and karaoke. He seems to have been the primary caretaker of Rusty and acted as a gender-inverted Team Mom.
• Meaningful Name: According to creator commentary for "Now Museum, Now You Don't", "Kano" is short for "volcano" and refers to his firebreathing powers.
• Mundane Utility: His incredibly strong and martial arts-honed hands are capable of creating extremely detailed origami in seconds.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He took a vow of silence because he is consumed with grief and guilt over having to Mercy Kill his best friend, Blue Morpho, when, after being resurrected by Jonas as the cyborg Venturion, had a psychotic break and strangled Rusty.
• Nice Guy: By far the nicest, well-balanced, and least sociopathic member of the original Team Venture (other than Otto Aquarius, but he can be a bible-thumping prick at times) who served as a Parental Substitute to Rusty and felt badly enough about killing his former friend Blue Morpho that he became an Elective Mute.
• Off with His Head!: How he kills Venturion, twisting his head right off of his body.
• Parental Substitute: Given the way he cared for Rusty as a child, Kano might be the closest thing to a mother Rusty has ever known.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a master martial artist and bodyguard, but likes to bake and served as a Team Mom to the original Team Venture, Rusty especially.
• Red Herring: Season three's "ORB" heavily implies that the "great man" Kano killed was Jonas Sr. to prevent him from activating the ORB. Not until season seven do we learn of Jonas' actual (apparent) death and that the "great man" was in fact the Blue Morpho.
• Shout-Out: While an Expy of Kato, he physically shares a number of characteristics with Oddjob, i.e. Asian, really tough, doesn't talk.
• The Stoic: Subverted. Outwardly, he is a massive, intimidating martial artist who served as bodyguard to a Science Hero. However, his vow of silence came as the result of guilt from killing "a great man" and beneath it all, he's a pretty goofy guy, being into origami, baking, and karaoke.
• Stout Strength: He is "strong enough to crush a boulder" and is massive, in both height and weight.
• Team Mom: The role he played to the rest of Team Venture. He and Col. Gentleman did more to raise and care for Rusty than Jonas ever did.
• Token Good Teammate: Easily the nicest and most genuinely heroic member of the old Team Venture.
• Undying Loyalty: Publicly, he joined Team Venture after the Blue Morphic was infected with an alien virus that made him evil. In reality, he was one of the many things Jonas forced the Blue Morpho to give him under threat of blackmail. His penance as an Elective Mute for killing the (resurrected as an unstable cyborg) Blue Morpho shows that he still cared about his former friend and master.

Dr. Entmann

Dr. Paul Entmann (aka Humongoloid)

Voiced by: Stephen DeStefano

"You know that whole "Ants can lift a hundred times their own weight" thing? It's a myth!"

After a botched scientific experiment left him with a case of "super-gigantism", he served Team Venture as the massive hero Humongoloid. While working with Jonas to cure his condition, he shrunk to an extremely small size and was trapped in a sealed room under the Venture compound. After he is freed, he lives with the Action Man until he is accidentally crushed and killed at the end of season four.

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• Ambiguously Jewish: Has a Yiddish accent while in his tiny form. "Entmann", while obviously a play on "Ant-Man", also sounds like a vaguely Jewish name.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: Inverted. He claims that, during his decades trapped, he had to battle ants for food and that they frequently tried to rape him.
• Butt-Monkey: He can't catch a break. First turned into a giant whose heart nearly stopped after the slightest physical activity, then shrunk to a few inches tall and left in an abandoned bunker for 30 years fighting off ants, and then killed by getting squished under a rocking chair.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Dr. Hank Pym/Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket, being a Sizeshifter hero, with his surname even invoking "Ant Man". Thoroughly lampshaded when Brock says he reminds him of a Marvel hero and Entmann's guesses ("Hawkeye?" "Sub-Mariner?") are way off.
• Easily Forgiven: He doesn't harbor any resentment toward the rest of the old Team Venture for leaving him shrunken and trapped, immediately rejoining them and living with the Action Man until his death.
• Gone Horribly Right: Working with Jonas to cure his super-gigantism accidentally causes him to shrink down to a few inches in height and leaves him trapped beneath the Venture compound.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Stuck with Shapeshifter Mode Lock at a tiny size after working with Jonas to cure his super-gigantism.
• Killed Off for Real: Lived with the Action Man in a retirement home but got crushed underneath a rocking chair.
• Mighty Glacier: As Humongoloid (his giant form), he was 15-feet tall and strong enough to break through walls, but he was more Blessed with Suck than anything, considering the strain caused by his size causes heart problem with the slightest physical activity.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: In his giant form, he bears a striking resemblance to André the Giant, including slurred speech, facial shape, and curly hair.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Jonas gave his gigantic form the name "Humongoloid", combining "humongous" and the slur "mongoloid", used toward people with Down's Syndrome. It's perfectly in-character for Jonas, but it's unclear what Entmann thought about it.
• Sizeshifter: Albeit an unintentional one. He first grows to giant size as a result of a botched experiment, then gets shrunken down to a few inches tall while working with Jonas to reverse the change.
• Square-Cube Law: References it - he nearly went into cardiac arrest from the slightest activity when he was a giant, and expresses annoyance with the "many times its own weight" description of an ant's strength ultimately meaning nothing.
• Squashed Flat: He is killed at the end of season four by the Action Man accidentally crushing him under his rocking chair.

Otto Aquarius

Otto Aquarius (The Last Son of Atlantis)

Voiced by: T. Ryder Smith

Action Man: (referring to Otto's origin) A drunken sailor has to have his way with your mermom, kid.

Son of a drunken sailor and an Atlantean princess, Otto is a fishman aquatic hero who has long since given up violence as an answer to his problems after joining Jehovah's Witnesses.

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• Actual Pacifist: As preached by the Jehovah's Witness. Unfortunately, it makes him all but useless when the boys call the original Team Venture together to save their dad.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: He takes inspiriation from both Aquaman and Sub-Mariner, with just enough details that he could qualify as either.
• Atlantis: He is the son of an Atlantean princess.
• Captain Fishman: He's the Token Non-Human of the original Team Venture, having a Fish Person physiology thanks to his half-Atlantean DNA.
• Catchphrase: "Salutations".
• Fish Person: He's half-human, half Atlantean, which makes him look like a fish-man including fins, scales, and gills.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Thanks to, in the Action Mans's words, a "drunken sailor having his way with [Otto's] mermom."
• Hollywood Jehovah's Witness: Pacifistic and hands out pamphlets. Despite a few jokes about it, he's a very positive portrayal, being one of the few members of the original Team Venture who isn't massively flawed.
• Nice Guy: He's a devout Jehovah's Witness, being pacifistic and treating everyone with deep respect and kindness.
• Older Than They Look: He looks much younger than the rest of the original Team Venture despite being around the same age. As he notes, his half-Atlantean DNA is responsible for that.
• Psychic Powers: Like his inspirations, he can psychically control sea life as seen in the flashback opening of "Now Museum, Now You Don't".
• Politically Incorrect Hero: A deleted scene from "Past Tense" has him voicing a disgust for "sodomites" and aiming this towards Colonel Gentleman.
• Token Good Teammate: Alongside Kano, he's probably the most unambiguously heroic of the original Team Venture. Unlike his teammates, he never took part in any of the horrible things that they did to Rusty.

Swifty

Voiced by: Brendon Small

"(Unintelligible mumbling)"

A middleweight boxing champion and good friend to Jonas Sr. who served on the original Team Venture. After becoming a punch-drunk palooka, his wife left him and Jonas gave him a maintenance job at the Venture Compound out of pity. Later, he works for Jonas Jr.

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• Cloudcuckoolander: A notably serious example. Swifty suffers from severe dementia, seems to have no idea what is going on around him most of the time, and can only speak in barely intelligible mumbling. Hector seems to serve as his minder.
• Dented Iron: All the hits he's taken in the past have left him with dementia pugilistica, so he's not too aware of his surroundings and is usually seen mumbling unintelligibly to himself.
• Forgotten Childhood Friend: Rusty seriously doesn't remember that this guy was his dad's best pal.
• George Jetson Job Security: He has been working at the Venture Compound for 30 years despite Rusty having forgotten about him completely. Rusty fires him as soon as he learns of this.
• Jet Pack: While working with Team Venture, he often wore the "hover boots" that have been seen a few times since in the series, while otherwise wearing boxing gloves and trunks.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His overall appearance in his prime, including face, hair, mustache, and preference for white boxing trunks, are taken from former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.
• Retired Badass: By the time of the series, he is slow, out of shape, suffering from severe dementia, and has been working maintenance for three decades but damn if he can't still throw a punch.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: The artbook suggests that Swifty's mental deterioration is a mix of his life as a boxer and being a draftee into the Vietnam war.
• Talkative Loon: Speaks almost entirely in barely intelligible nonsense by the time of the series. "I remember there was a ring... that loved the radio."

Major Tom

Major Tom after his accident.

Voiced by: James Urbaniak

"I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go"

A pilot who died in a crash while testing an experimental aircraft built by Jonas in 1969. The Action Man was sleeping with his wife, Jeanie, who he later marries following Tom's death. When the current Team Venture disturbs the crash site trying to salvage the aircraft, he rises from the ocean as a screaming, flaming skeleton.

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• Ace Pilot: One helping Jonas test his experimental aircraft, the TVC-15.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's never seen with the rest of Team Venture in flashbacks taking place before his death, even after Otto, Swifty, Hector, and Ook Ook were retroactively added.
• Dem Bones: His face and left arm, at least. The rest of him is still covered by his flight suit.
• Flaming Skulls: His skull is on fire, but it's never explained exactly why. It does add to his creepy appearance, at least.
• Majorly Awesome: Holds the rank of Major and was an Ace Pilot.
• Non-Malicious Monster: At least in function if not intent. All he does is walk around the X2 screaming. Half the time, he doesn't even seem to acknowledge other people.
• Off with His Head!: Brock deals with him by knocking his flaming, skeletal head clean off.
• Overly Long Scream: Spends pretty much his entire appearance screaming nonstop. He pauses briefly when the boys bring up his ex-wife Jeanie on their communicator, but this quickly turns into an anguished Skyward Scream after learning that she married the Action Man.
• Shout-Out: To the eponymous song from David Bowie's Space Oddity. His name is Major Tom and he's involved in an accident while flying a plane designated 'TVC-15'. His rivalry with the Action Man is based on another Bowie song, "Ashes to Ashes".
• Two-Timing with the Bestie: His wife was cheating on him with fellow member of Team Venture, the Action Man.
• The Undead: Is a ghostly skeleton apparition rising to the surface after three decades spent at the bottom of the ocean.

Ook Ook

A "mindless savage" and unfrozen caveman who somehow got refrozen between 1969 and the present day.

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• All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: He is hunched over, hairy, wears an animal skin, uses a bone as a club, and can only speak by saying his name.
• Bad with the Bone: His weapon of choice is a large bone wielded as a club.
• Contemporary Caveman: Was frozen and then joined the old Team Venture after thawing out. He is then apparently refrozen at some point since 1969 and is now on display in the Spider-Skull Island museum.
• Dumb Muscle: Called a "mindless savage", all he can say is his name but he can swing a mean club.
• Flat Character: A "mindless savage" who only appears in a single episode.
• Human Popsicle: Was unfrozen by Team Venture and even manages to get refrozen between 1969 and the present day.
• Pokémon Speak: Can only say his name.

Hector Molina

Voiced by: Brendon Small

"Twenty years? I'm... 45? I haven't even kissed a girl yet..."

The original Team Venture counterpart to Hadji, Hector is a young Mexican boy who saved Jonas' life. After growing up, he got got a job on the Venture Compound. Later, he works for Jonas Jr.

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• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He seems to take care of Swifty and the two are never seen apart.
• Expy: Of Hadji from Jonny Quest, being a young, adopted member of the family. The biggest difference is that Hector is Mexican to Hadji's Indian.
• Forgotten Childhood Friend: Rusty has no memory of him despite traveling together as children.
• George Jetson Job Security: Like Swifty, he has been working at the Venture Compound for 30 years despite Rusty having forgotten about him completely. Rusty fires him as soon as he learns of this.
• Heroic Bystander: Becomes a member of Team Venture after saving Jonas' life by shielding him from a spear with an Aztec calendar as a child.
• No Social Skills: Adopted by the Venture family as a child, he went along on their adventures and then started working at the compound. He's in his forties and, for example, still hasn't kissed a girl.
• Tag Along Kid: He had no powers, training, or brilliance like the adult members of Team Venture but still went along on their adventures.
• You Didn't Ask: He doesn't even know that Jonas Sr. has died. Rusty is unsympathetic and fires him anyway.

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