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alt title(s): The Venture Bros; Venture Bros; Venture Brothers
The Venture Brothers

"Go Team Venture!"

"Love never blows up and gets killed."

The Venture Brothers, snarky Hank and naive Dean, are the woefully out-of-date teenage sons of scientist/adventurer Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture, who has grown bitter and sarcastic living in the shadow of his father Jonas Venture (making him a sort of pulp version of a former child star). Joined by their buff, mullet-wearing, Swedish murder machine bodyguard Brock Samson (later, Sergeant Hatred), the Ventures travel the world, getting into all sorts of bizarre adventures and spoofing the everloving hell out of Jonny Quest along the way. (Most of the JQ characters appear in VB; Cartoon Network now owns Jonny Quest.)

Word Of God acknowledges that the show is a dark Deconstruction both of the "boy adventurer" genre, (specifically, Jonny Quest) and what happens to them when they grow up and the 60's "super science" shows in general. Show heads Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have said "failure" is a primary theme.

Notable for, out of all the Adult Swim cartoons, coming the closest to making sense. As the seasons go by, more episodes focus on the characters' bizarre and intersecting backgrounds, with surprisingly deep Character Development that, instead of falling into Cerebus Syndrome, in fact adds to the humor.

Recurring characters in this series include an eclectic blend of dysfunctional heroes and villains. Good guys include Pete White and his roommate, Billy Quizboy (the former an albino scientist, the latter a former boy genius who's now just a midget with a lisp, a robot hand and an oversized head); Byron Orpheus, a melodramatic necromancer who rents apartment space at the Venture compound with his surprisingly down-to-Earth teenage daughter Triana; and Brock's old flame Molotov Cocktease, former KGB agent and certified Femme Fatale. Bad guys include The Monarch, at-first-ineffectual butterfly-themed supervillain and self-proclaimed (Later, official) arch-nemesis of Thaddeus Venture; Dr. Girlfriend, The Monarch's beautiful but suspiciously deep-voiced paramour; Henchmen 21 and 24 24 dies, and 21 becomes one of the most effective villains ever, remains the monarch's henchman, and passes the efficiency to the rest of the organization; Baron Ünderbheit, Doctor Doom knock-off and (Former as of Season 2) arch-nemesis of Dr. Venture; and assorted other bad guys from The Guild Of Calamitous Intent (such as the Phantom Limb, Dr. Girlfriend's former partner/lover).

J. G. Thirlwell does the soundtrack, which is awesome by the way.

There is a Character Page for the series.

The Venture Brothers provides examples of:

  • Aborted Arc: The season three episode "ORB" introduced an Artifact Of Doom called "The ORB" which possessed Godlike power, so much so that the US Government (knowing that the ORB was in the possession of the Venture Family) had standing orders for all government provided bodyguards to murder the Venture Men if they ever found the device, right down to the reveal that Rusty's grandfather was killed by his bodyguard and Kano (Jonas Venture's bodyguard) all but confessing to Brock (who had reservations about carrying out the hit on Rusty) that he murdered Jonas. However, this was all undone with season four and the reveal that Rusty's grandfather didn't die and that his bodyguard simply damaged the ORB, rendering it useless.
    • The Orb thing is really a better example of They Plotted A Perfectly Good Waste. If you listen closely to the scene in "ORB" where Sandow allegedly breaks Col. Venture's neck, it sounds a lot more like glass being broken than bone. This implies that the Orb being broken was planned from the very begining and the fans just got worked up over the thought of an epic plot. In other words, Doc and Jackson are amazing trolls.
    • Also, the entire pre-season three backstory of Sgt. Hatred and the Venture Brothers, which included the reveal that Sgt. Hatred gave the boys wine after kidnapping them and molesting them (Hank remembers, Dean was passed out) Season three pretty much erased that from canon.
      • Speaking of Sgt. Hatred, the season 2 commentary indicated that his major character quirk was going to be that he was a Henpecked Husband - that he would tell anyone who would listen (and some people who wouldn't) about how Princess Tinyfeet turned his life around, how great her cooking was, etc. Instead, Princess Tinyfeet was mentioned once in season 3 before leaving Hatred, and his pedophilia became a much larger part of his character.
    • She's actually mentioned now and again. Especially when Sgt Hatred went back to Malice and witnessed her with multiple partners and a lot of leather. She's also apparently the only thing that kept Sgt. Hatred from molesting little boys.
  • Abusive Parents: Where to begin? Rusty is a shitty parent who treats his kids as portable organ banks and who purposely isolates them from society and drags them onto adventures where they get kidnapped and killed, with the "out" being that since he has spare clones of them, that he doesn't care one bit about their safety until the safety net is forever removed at the end of season three. Also, adding to the mix is his obliviousness to the fact that Dean is routinely having full-on mental breakdowns and his barely disguised contempt for Hank, who has started to rebel against his father's abusive parenting.
    • Jonas Sr. was shown to be one during flashbacks throughout the show, right down to mocking his then pre-teen son when he dared to tell his father that he wanted a normal life and be a regular kid. Season 4's provided further cases that indicate that the fathers or guardians of boy adventurers in general are like this.
      • Subverted with Doctor Orpheus; while his rival accused him of shoving his family away so he could spend his days and nights honing his powers, Orpheus has been shown to be a loving father (minus the constant mindwiping of his daughter when she finds out that her closet is a dimensional gateway).
  • The Ace: Dr Killinger, who can fix peoples problems, personal or career-related.
  • Actor Allusion: Kevin Conroy plays a wealthy superhero who likes to take on young boys as sidekicks with disturbing implications. Sound familiar?
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: Go-Fish's specialties; Aquatic Annihilations, Moist Murders, Sea Slayings, Liquid Lynchings.
  • Affably Evil: Phantom Limb, Dr. Henry Killinger, Henchmen #21 and #24, and both the Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend
    • Then there is Sgt. Hatred, who vows to follow the trope with his rivalry with Doctor Venture, just to piss off the Monarch for stealing technology from him.
  • Adobe Flash: Yes, that "poorly-animated, tween-overusing, software program" Flash. You read right. "Hey, everyone! Let's take an animation tool known for horrible animation and use it for the characters, EXACTLY like hand-drawn animation, fool the audience, and prove that you can't blame the tool for bad output!"
  • Adolf Hitler: Girl Hitler, a minor recurring character, is pretty much exactly what you would expect her to be: a woman who looks and acts like Adolf Hitler (mustache included). In the Fourth Season Premier, Hitler himself appears (somewhat) possessing a dog that Nazis want to use Rusty's (now revealed) cloning technology to bring back.
    • Although Girl Hitler is far more reasonable and much less evil than either the real Hitler or Dog Hitler.
  • The Alleged Car: Henchman #24's powder blue Stanza.
    • Somewhat subverted in the Season 2 episode "Fallen Arches". When a prostitute hired by The Monarch steals #24's Stanza, it is featured after the credits.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: There's a pretty good argument that the real star of the show is Rusty and not his sons since most of the episodes revolve around him or his actions somehow. Not to mention the notion that the show itself is one ongoing alternative take on Jonny Quest itself.
    "This isn't all about you, Hank: these kids are here to see Rusty Venture. Maybe when there's a cartoon called 'The Venture Brothers', it'll be different!"
    • The sheer jackassery of Rusty Venture has caused some people to believe he is a Villain Protagonist. Dr. Killinger believed this as well and tried to help him become an Evil Scientist. The fact that the episode in question itself ends with Rusty, while rejecting Killinger, earnestly asking Brock about whether or not he's a bad guy (and Brock's hesitation to respond) lampshades this.
      • It's also entirely possible that Dr. Killenger gave Rusty that Moral Event Horizon simply SO he would back away from it. Dr. Killinger seems to be the least villainous villain in the series (Much more of a morally ambivalent self-help guru who wants to help people achieve their potental, regardless of what it is) so it's within reason that Killenger wanted to help stop Rusty's slow slide into villainy.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent (Dr. Orpheus and Baron von Underbheit are imitations of Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom, respectively — the latter is even called a "dime-store Dr. Doom" when mentioned in the first episode. Professor Impossible and his associates are full-on parodies of the Fantastic Four. It's even mentioned that they won "Best Group Costume" at Halloween as the Fantastic Four.) Brock's employer, the OSI, is a mixture of SHIELD and GI Joe, with a GI Joe-esque theme song and nemesis organization Sphinx.
    • Don't forget "¡Viva los Muertos!", which gave us the Mysteries Inc. gang with the members switched out with famous criminals.
    • Most of the cast ends up corresponding with someone. Dr. Venture is Jonny Quest as an adult. His father was Doc Savage. Hunter Gathers is Hunter S Thompson and so forth...
    • This is lampshaded with Dr. Entman/Humongaloid. Brock says that Entman reminds Him of a Marvel Comics character.
  • Amazon Brigade: Molotov's Blackhearts.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Doctor Girlfriend, who's chain-smoker voice makes some think she's a man.
  • Amoral Attorney: Monstroso. "He's a supervillain and a lawyer! That's like a shark with a grenade launcher on its head!"
  • Anachronic Order: "Blood of The Father, Heart Of Steel". The part of the story focusing on the Venture family is done Back To Front, starting with the climax of the Stupid Jetpack Hitler plot, and running up to the start of said plot. However, at the same time, we see what's been happening to Brock Sampson; his plot is told in normal chronological order, and is played in between segments of the Venture family plot. The timeline is established by titles displaying the CGC value of #21's Marvel Comics #1 and by the length of Hank's hair.
  • Animation Bump: On top of the to-be-expected Art Evolution, the pilot was, instead of having higher quality animation, animated in Adobe Flash.
  • Anyone Can Die: Played with: the title characters die at the end of season one and are revealed to be (in flashback) death prone (though their season one deaths are the only ones to occur in real time) and the death of Henchman #24 is a Wham Episode worthy of spoiler tags.
  • Anything That Moves: In a DVD commentary for season 2, Col. Gentleman was stated to be above sexuality. "Of course I'm having sex with Kiki, what would you do with him? Look at 'em, he's beautiful! That doesn't make me gay, that makes me smart!"
    • Dr. Girlfriend / Mrs. The Monarch / Queen Etheria had quite an interesting personal life before joining up with the monarch.
  • A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: The episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso".
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Rusty and Dr Orpheus spend the entirety of "Return to the House of Mummies pt II" debating this. In the course of their distraction, they shrink Billy, embarrass Billy with sophomoric Mad Libs, forget completely about saving captive Brock and the boys, and step on HELPER.
  • Arent You Going To Ravish Me?: Dr. Girlfriend secretly harbors fantasies of sex with Brock Samson after an encounter along these lines; It's not so much that she's specifically attracted to Brock, she just can't imagine anyone saying no to her like that.
  • Arson Murder And Life Saving - Brock gets this once.
  • Art Evolution: The main cast's faces became a lot more detailed by season two, while Dr. Orpheus' face just settled. Backgrounds were more detailed by season three. By season 4 there is more detail all around and the colors are more vibrant.
  • Ass Pull: Some viewers found the "twist" that Col. Hunter Gathers only had a sex change for the purpose of gaining membership into Molotov Cocktease's all-girl hitman squad and quickly had said surgery reversed when Molotov began to suspect that he was spying on her pulls the rug out from under a once well-treated transsexual character by making him a man that only did it for the mission. Of course, these viewers failed to notice that: #1, Gathers was originally portrayed as having had the sex change to exploit an antiquated OSI loophole about not killing women so he could safely defect, and #2, Gathers really misses being a woman now.
  • Author Appeal: In the DVD commentary for the Doc Hammer-written "ORB", Jackson Publick remarks that the script was "a list of stuff Doc likes". Most notably, allusions to late 19th/early 20th century American painters.
  • Author Avatar: 21 is a self-admitted Avatar, just listen to some of the episode commentaries.
    • In the DVD commentaries, Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick have said whenever they're stuck on the writing, they create a pair of characters loosely based on (and frequently voiced by) themselves. #21 and #24 are the Ur-example; others include Watch and Ward, the Moppets and the Lepidopterists.
  • Author Filibuster: Possibly a Subversion, but: The season four finale had two (Anti-Pro Life and Anti-Vegan/Vegetarianism) for the price of one, when now Imaginary Friend 24 delivers a tangent about the "truth" about souls: everything BUT unborn babies have souls (babies don't get their souls until their first year of life) and that God doesn't care if you eat animals/plants that have souls.
  • Awesome But Impractical: A common source of humor in regards to many of the Zeerust devices.
    • Jetpacks. "My shoe is on fire!"
    • The WALKING EYE! Which of course has many important uses, general Walking Eye stuff.
    • The Monarch's Flying Car, for a host of reasons.
      • Not to mention the Monarch's Battle Panoply, the reasons for which don't need to be stated since they're all shown in the episode it's used.
  • Badass: Brock Samson, to the point of deconstruction.
  • Back From The Dead: Hank and Dean, though season three removes the resurrection option from the table, also Colonel Gentleman, who's season two death was handwaved away as being in a diabetic coma.
    • Brock, in the first episode, after getting shot with hundreds of The Monarch's henchmen's tranquilizer darts and getting run over by the Monarch Mobile. He got better.
  • Batman Gambit: Brock Samson does this to The Monarch and OSI and tricks them into fighting each other. Of course, Brock himself is a victim of a Xanatos Gambit by Molotov Cocktease and Hunter Gathers, as they trick Brock into thinking OSI is out to kill him to get him to eliminate the competition for their new assassination agency.
    • Then in Season 4 there's the revelation that Gathers's Face Heel Turn and sex change were actually part of his plan to infiltrate Cocktease's league of assassins as The Mole, while forming an alliance with SPHINX for as of yet revealed reasons.
    • And the above gambits were part of a larger one to get Brock to join SPHINX so he can help the organization take down non-costumed villains that the OSI tends to ignore.
  • Battle Cry: O.S.I! O.S.I! O.S.I!
  • Beethoven Was An Alien Spy: Buddy Holly — among others — is alive and a member the Guild of Calamitous Intent, which previously counted as members Mark Twain, Aleister Crowley, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few.
  • Berserk Button: Don't make fun of Brock Samson. Just... just don't.
    "So...anyone who doesn't immediately show you respect, you murder?"
    • Also, apparently, rudely hitting on Triana Orpheus in front of Dean.
      • Or her father.
    • NEVER MENTION WONDERBOY TO CAPTAIN SUNSHINE.
      • Or The Monarch. Especially not in the same breath. Just ask Scorpio.
      • And don't talk about Dr. Quest in front of Action Johnny!
  • Berserker Tears: Dean. See above.
  • Better On DVD
  • Big Bad: Monarch, Phantom Limb (in season two), Molotov Cocktease and Colonel Hunter Gathers' Black Hearts Mercenary group in season three, and back to the Monarch again in season four.
    • Subverted with Sgt Hatred in season three; while he's Rusty's official nemesis for that season, he is dead set on gaining Rusty's respect and love, largely to torment Monarch by not killing Rusty.
  • Biggus Dickus: Brock. In the first scene of the series, an onlooker golf claps.
    • Also Dr. Venture Senior. It's what first caused Rusty to feel so inadequate.
  • Bilingual Bonus: This may be unintentional, but in the pilot, the character "Otaku Sensuri" is introduced as representing "the Onani Coporation of Japan". Onani, in Danish and Japanese, means masturbation. This troper nearly died laughing.
  • Biting The Hand Humor: Done very subtly. The creators had to fight tooth and nail with Cartoon Network to get them to cough up the money to use a licensed song in the second season premier. The third season premier has the Guild's Council showing a video of Monarch having sex with Doctor Girlfriend for the first time, only to replace the song (by "The Sugarcubes") with generic music because they couldn't afford the rights, much to The Monarch's annoyance.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Season 3. Where do I start? Well, the three assassins who tried to kill Brock turned out to not have been with the OSI, but they were Molotov's assassin rivals. However, the others don't know yet and Molotov is still likely not an enemy of the Venture family, so they're safe for the time being; it also appears Sergeant Hatred might perform a Heel Face Turn. However, Brock's experience with the whole situation convinces him to quit the OSI, thus he also quits being the family bodyguard. Finally, the attack on the Venture Compound by the Monarch left the boys' clones destroyed, but Dr. Venture may be likely to protect his boys more often (As he told Hank, "You only live once"). And his cloning experiments (who are illegal), have been made public. Oh yeah, and 24 and H.E.L.P.er are dead; the former now talks with his best friend, Henchman 21, from beyond the grave (He also helped said friend become a Badass) and the latter had his head placed on a walking eye Dr. Venture made some time ago.
  • Boat Lights: As near as it can be told, (the Mighty Sovereign, David Bowie)
  • Brainwashed And Crazy: Hank and Dean in "The Incredible Mr. Brisby"
  • Break The Cutie: Monarch dumping Dr. Girlfriend in "Trial of the Monarch", especially given how Monarch reduced his lover to tears by calling her a whore. Unseen, but mentioned, was Dr. Quymn's off-camera break-up with the father of her two kids, which left her emotionally destroyed until her childhood friend Rusty came back into her life.
    • Rusty's childhood consisted of a lot of this, thanks to his father being a complete Jerk Ass, a constant with the fathers/guardians of former boy adventurers/detectives.
  • Brick Joke: There are a few here and there, but the Call Back to "Dawn Venture" in the third season finale was a stealth Crowning Moment Of Funny.
    • Another big one: in the season 3 premier, the Monarch told an offhand war story about "Captain Sunshine" in which he tricked the hero into thinking that the Monarch was invulnerable. For all the viewers know, this is just some guy the Monarch made up to impress Dr. Girlfriend. Captain Sunshine charges into the story in the second episode of season 4, and loudly declares that he knows the Monarch is invulnerable.
      • That is the second of two of these, the first is the Monarch's orders to 21 and 24 from prison on how to dispose of the charred remains of Wonderboy, whom he later admits he "kind of slew" during his period of heavy drinking following the breakup with Dr. Girlfriend.
    • 21 realizes Hank's immortality in season 2 and tells him he's the Highlander. In season four, after Hank's clones are all destroyed, 21 tells him that it looks like he won't see the Quickening after all.
    • A subtler one happens in the Season 4 midseason finale, "Pinstripes & Poltergeists." The Monarch is executing a business deal with the hugely oversized Devil-themed villain Monstroso; as far back as the Season 1 finale, Dr Girlfriend was assumed to have some history with Monstroso.
  • Brilliant But Lazy: Rusty can be pretty competent when necessary (he's certainly adept at cloning) and weapons of mass destruction. It's also implied that Pete White is a skilled scientist as well, though he spends most of his time playing playing video games and goofing off.
    • Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that Pete White's specialty is computers and technology, with most of his hobbies (video games, radio, internet) reflecting that.
  • Broken Pedestal: The third season had several episodes showing Jonas Sr. as a Jerkass who's actions either psychologically damaged Rusty or caused incredible amounts of suffering to others. Granted this is nothing audiences didn't already know; the first season had a flashback showing that Jonas Sr. used Rusty to test out dangerously incomplete amusement park rides.
  • Boring But Practical: Monstroso's plan to take down Venture was to do it buereaucratically rather than some grandiose invasion like the Monarch had hoped for.
  • Bungling Inventor: Dr. Venture
  • Buried Alive: Brock in "Dia De Los Dangerous"
  • Butt Monkey: Billy Quizboy. Most of the characters are on the receiving end of tons of abuse, but Billy is roundly dismissed as a loser even among his fellow losers. It doesn't help that he tries to convince people that "Quizboy" is another type of boy adventurer and threaten people with his "laser hand" ("Everyone knows your hand doesn't shoot lasers, Billy!").
  • Buffy Speak: Jefferson Twilight tends to do this a lot.
  • Cain And Abel: Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr.
    • Always thought that was more of a case of "Jacob and Esau".
  • Camp Gay: The Alchemist, who ironically is the one member of the Order of the Triad who also sees how utterly silly the trappings of super-heroism is and constantly busts Dr. Orpheus's balls when ever he starts taking things way too serious.
    • Most of the members of the aforementioned OSI, who resemble The Village People and are all very enthusiastic about "hitting the showers" together. Eventually we learn that Shoreleave was kicked out of the group for being gay, indicating that the group apparently lives in a Transparent Closet.
      • In the The Guild flashback, Oscar Wilde, who's referred to by Aleister Crowley as "The ugly queen".
  • Captain Ersatz/Expy: Many, MANY characters are thinly-veiled pastiches of both famous and obscure fictional characters.
  • Cargo Cult: The season 3 episode "What Goes Down Must Come Up", where a group of chemically addled children trapped in an underground bunker derive their entire culture from punchcard recordings Jonas Venture made to educate Rusty in the event of a nuclear apocalypse... and VH-1 Classics.
  • Carnival Of Killers: At the end of season 3.
  • Casting Gag: So you have Captain Sunshine, who is a combination of a Superman Expy and every Batman and Robin gay joke in the world. Who did they get to voice him? Kevin Conroy.
  • Caught With Your Pants Down: One episode has The Monarch watching Dr. Girlfriend seducing Dr. Venture on a video monitor. He starts rubbing his chest, his hand drifts downward... and stops abruptly when a henchman passes through.
  • Cavemen Vs Astronauts Debate: 21 and 24 debating Who Would Win in a fight: Anne Frank or Lizzie Borden?
  • Celebrity Paradox: Unusually, parodies of characters and celebrities exist alongside the real thing. Rusty, modeled as a grown-up Jonny Quest, interacts with the actual Jonny Quest; Jonny and Rusty gossip about Daphne and Velma in "Self Medication" despite parodies of the characters showing up in "Viva Los Muertos!" - not even touching the fact that other characters have Lamp Shaded Hank wearing Freddy's signature outfit; Col. Gathers points out the similarity between the 80's OSI superstars and The Village People; Professor Impossible and his family exist in a world where people read comics about The Fantastic Four; and Captain Sunshine and Wonder Boy are real while Batman and Robin are fictional.
  • Celibate Hero: Deconstructed with Col. Bud Manstrong, who is so sexually repressed that his girlfriend cheats on him with Brock Samson. He's shown to be a complete Mama's Boy too, and it is later revealed that his mother's an Evil Matriarch who's bullying of her son has caused him to repress any and all sexual desires, to the point of having a Heroic BSOD when said girlfriend gives him a handjob right before she dies.
  • Cerebus Retcon (relatively speaking): Billy's inability to remember how he got his robotic hand.
  • Chain Of Corrections
  • Chaos Architecture: Underland is somehow in Eastern Europe and at the same time bordering with Michigan.
  • Character Development: Most of the characters started out as Jonny Quest/pulp comic parodies whose personalities could be summed up in one or two sentences, but all of them have become more complex and three-dimensional as the show progressed. For example:
    • Dean has gradually changed from an enthusiastic adventure boy to a Type 2 Seen It All who really just wants to hang out with kids his own age. He's also become more likely to get into fights (though he hasn't Taken A Level In Badass).
    • The Monarch has become more intelligent and sane in his villainy, even pulling off a decent Xanatos Gambit.
    • Brock has become more moral over the course of the show, questioning things that didn't seem right when he looked closer, leading up to quitting in the season 3 finale.
    • The entire purpose of Dr Henry Killinger is to force this in characters. He's like a more affable Mike.
    • While still not all that smart, Hank isn't nearly as naive or childish as he used to be in early seasons now that he's older. The largest evidence came during his angry speech when 21 kidnapped him and his brother and accused them of killing 24. Brock's absence, while unfortunate, is actually having a pretty cool effect on his personality and actions.
    • Dr. Venture himself has slowly but surely overcome some of his daddy issues. Hand in hand with this is him becoming less callous toward his sons (if more openly vitriolic).
    • Henchman 21, following 24's death, has become one of the most competent people not just in the Monarch's organization, but in the Guild. He was actually capable of earning praise from Brock Samson for their fight.
  • Characterization Marches On: The writers describe their characterization process as simply writing whatever was funniest at the time, then modifying the character afterward so that it comes across as Hidden Depths instead of Character Derailment. This off-the-wall approach has led to some characters going in wildly different directions - Hank and Dean went from one step short of Single Minded Twins to extreme opposites of recklessness and cautiousness; the Monarch went from a wimp mocked for his butterfly theme to the man who made butterflies badass; and Brock Samson became a far-cry from the negligent, sexually insatiable Man's Man seen in the pilot.
    • Rusty's characterization has been kept almost completely consistent, however.
  • Chekhov's Gun: A bunch, some huge, some subtle. Like Phantom Limb using a muscle accelerator to heal Brock Samson. He says it was a left over from his day as a goodie two shoe scientist. In season three we learn that using similar devices on himself is what gave him his powers.
  • Chew Toy: H.E.L.P.eR
  • Christmas Episode: "A Very Venture Christmas".
  • Cloning Blues: Hank and Dean, upon discovering the laboratory where their clone slugs are kept, curl up and start weeping.
    • Not to mention a deformed Dean clone who was aborted as a baby but somehow survived hidden in the Venture compound, wishing he was the 'real' Dean. Oh, and also making a Dean-suit out of the skins of dead clones.
    • "The Better Man" adds a new wrinkle to this, possibly. Dean's genes are useless for reproduction, as the cloning process has made him unable to father kids that aren't freaks. Since the clones were all made at once, this must mean the cloning technology has some serious flaws. Of course, the Master could easily have been exaggerating to make a point.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Hank and Dean, each in their own special way.
  • Companion Cube: Phantom Limb's "Revenge Society" consists of a coffee mug, a toaster, and a shoe... and he talks to them.
  • Conspicuous CG: The monarch's jet car.
  • Continuity Nod: In a throw-away line at the end of the first season, the Monarch instructs his henchmen to "send Captain Sunshine the charred remains of his beloved Wonderboy." Said Captain appears for the first time three seasons later.
    • On top of that, Captain Sunshine's belief that the Monarch is invulnerable confirms a story that the Monarch told to impress the future Dr. Girlfriend in a flashback in the third season.
  • Contractual Genre Blindness: Literally, when you sign a contract with the Guild of Calamitous Intent.
  • Cool Car: Brock's Dodge Charger, which still holds together despite him using it as a weapon with some frequency. And, showing how tough he is, it's shown that he tore it apart before the beginning of the two-part season three finale when it tried to kill him.
    • And the Monarch's new Monarchmobile, which can fly. This is in marked contrast to his previous transport, Henchman #24's beat-up Nissan Stanza, and even the original Monarchmobile. Well, okay, the original original Monarchmobile was actually pretty cool - the purple war wagon he adopted later was a little fruity.
    • Myra's 'Bullitt' Mustang is a nice complement to Brock's Charger. The car chase scene in Bulitt is between a Mustang and Charger and is often listed as the seminal chase scene.
    • Colonel Gathers' Jensen Interceptor, with gadgets similar to 007's DB5. All OSI members past and present seem to have some identifiable 'cool car' from the late 60s or early 70s.
    • 'Venture Motors' SAAB 96 in which Hank and Dean were likely conceived.
  • Cool And Unusual Punishment: 21 uses the Chinese Water Torture on Hank and Dean, which just proves to be kind of annoying at worst. Doesn't help that he neglected to keep them completely isolated and keeps telling them that they're going insane.
  • Crapsack World: One where themes of the show is the notion that the age of super-science occurred in the 1960s/1970s but never amounted to anything as far as none of the cool technology promised (such as jet packs and flying cars) ever came to be a reality for the common man.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Implied to be the bane of Jefferson Twilight, Blacula hunter, since he exclusively hunts black vampires. Later countered when it's revealed that he is a former army vet and has a ton of practical skills such as the ability to drive a tank.
    • That said, abandoned, fueled-up, ready-to-drive tanks that can actually be driven by one guy are probably much less common than Blaculas.
  • Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Has its own page.
    • The Monarch finally telling off those creepy little Murderous Moppets in Season Four and scaring the dog squeeze out of them with his threats.
    • Rusty got one where, after working with his fellow ex-boy adventurers to track down their therapist's killer, realizes that for all the crap he went through due to his dad, he's been doing far better than them.
    • Henchman 21 fights Brock Samson one-on-one...and lives.
      • Not only that, but 21 seems to have gained Brock's respect, as he teamed up with 21 to kill Monstroso.
  • Crowning Moment Of Funny: Also with its own page.
    • After the death of Hank and Dean Venture at the end of Season 1, we get the Hank and Dean Death Montage. The sequence Crosses The Line Twice a dozen times in a row in rapid succession and alludes to several Noodle Incidents for good measure along the way.
    • The Monarch's rant to the "misguided" teens in prison. Like most of the humor in this show, it Crosses The Line Twice and hilariously so.
  • Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: At the beginning of season four, when Hank sees Brock for the first time since the end of season three, he hugs Brock and says, "Why did you leave me?" Brock replies, "Hank, I'll never leave you."
    • Dean to Triana: "Can we talk?"
    • Rusty Venture's attitude to Dean in season 4, probably as a result of his inability to bring his sons back to life any longer in the event of their likely deaths, seems genuinely fatherly at times. His attempts, however misguided, to help Dean with his superscience career in "Perchance To Dean," and particularly in "The Revenge Society" when the two of them are locked in the Panic Room and Rusty helps Dean get over his fears, are surprisingly genuine examples of Rusty's caring for his sons. Even Hank's rebellion against his father's "strict rules" is indicative of the fact that Rusty is trying to keep him safe—although it would be a betrayal of Dr. Venture's character to portray his inability to connect with Hank on an emotional level as anything but cynical irritation.
    • The season 4 mid-season finale when S.P.H.I.N.X members are listing the grievances they've suffered to further their goals. Most are petty or insane, but Brock's biggest sacrifice? "Living next to the boys for a year and not being able to tell them that they're safe".
    • In season 4 “The Better Man”, Jefferson Twilight’s childlike joy at his new-found magical powers is really quite touching.
  • Crowning Music Of Awesome: The episode "Perchance to Dean". Dr. Venture introduces Dean to Progressive Rock. The rest is awesome wrapped in a Fantastic Voyage wrapped in a Mushroom Samba.
    • Don't forget this series actually has a purchasable soundtrack!
    • For some definitions of awesome: #21 and #24's duet performance of Mars: The Bringer of War during their comeback as The Monarch's henchmen.
  • Crossdressing Voices: Dr. Girlfriend
  • Crosses The Line Twice
  • Cryptic Background Reference: Many characters and elements started as offhand references. Baron Underbheit, Monstroso, Sgt. Hatred, Truckules and Captain Sunshine were all briefly alluded to as part of the show's world-building before they became important parts of the story.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Though any scene where Brock puts a beatdown on the Monarch's henchman is an example, nowhere is this more noticable than in the first episode where he tries to run them over with his car.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Hee-hee, they smell MY cat!
  • Cut Lex Luthor A Check: Referenced; the Monarch paid a couple million dollars for some robot caterpillars just so that he could ransom the Venture boys for ten million. He explicitly says that he is doing this For The Evulz.
  • Cyanide Pill: Brock has a false tooth loaded with arsenic, which he offers to Dr. Venture in "Love Bheits"
  • A Date With Rosie Palms: "Don't knock or anything! It's not like I live with 80 guys and no women, so there is no chance that I am masturbating!"
    • Dean: "I'm practicing being a boyfriend, Pop!"
    • The episode "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner" is one long masturbation joke.
  • Dead For Real: Wisdom
    • Or should I say THE SOVEREIGN!?
  • Deconstructive Parody: The show starts out as an analysis of how boy adventurers like Jonny Quest would fare later in life.
  • Deconstructor Fleet: On top of the genres mentioned above and the several tropes listed on this page, specific episodes have also featured grim Dark Comedy deconstructions of The Fantastic Four and Scooby Doo.
  • Decoy Protagonist: The Venture Brothers aren't so much the protagonists. Episodes seem to be more focused on Dr. Venture and Brock, and the season arcs in general seem to narrate The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend as they become professional villains.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: In the flashbacks to the original Team Venture.
  • Did Not Do The Research: From circumcision to orangutans, the Amazon in the episode "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" looks more like the Malay Peninsula.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu: The Outrider literally does this in "The Better Man."
  • A Disgrace To Blackbeard: The pirates from the "Ghosts of the Sargasso".
  • Disnot: Roy Brisby, creator of Brisbyland.
  • Disproportionate Retribution
  • Distaff Counterpart: Dr. Quymn's twin daughters, Nancy and Drew, were written to be counterparts of Dean and Hank, but with far more worldliness. Dr. Quymn herself is one to Rusty Venture.
  • Distressed Damsel: The young Rusty Venture, to the point where there's a Guild of Calamitous Intent bylaw for hostages known as "Rusty's Law".
  • Doctor Girlfriend: The Monarch's right-hand woman, the Trope Namer.
  • Doesnt Like Guns: Brock, who will gladly crush you with knives and bare hands instead.
  • Does This Remind You Of Anything: Hank's reactions to Sgt. Hatred being his new bodyguard clearly resemble those of a stepchild not liking their stepfather. "You're not my real bodyguard!"
  • The Dragon: Dr. Girlfriend made a career out of playing "Number 2" to various supervillains, including the Monarch and Phantom Limb. Shortly after their marriage, however, she and the Monarch became an Evil Duo, with the Pupa Twins (formerly Dr. Girlfriend's Murderous Moppets) acting as twin Dragons.
    • The Pupa Twins eventually lose their Dragon position to Henchman 21, or as the other henchmen call him, General 21.
    • Depending on whether or not one sees Rusty as a Villain Protagonist, Brock Samson could also count.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Col. Hunter Gathers; Sgt. Hatred; 21.
  • Dropped A Bridget On Him: Inverted in that Dr. Venture never learns Ginny is a woman because he's not remotely attracted to her.
  • Dumb Muscle: Deconstructed with Ned Impossible, who was mentally challenged before the freak accident that gave him superhuman strength.
  • Dumbass Has A Point: When Dermott gives Dean girl advice, Hank marvels that it was actually good.
  • Elite Mooks: The Black Guards the Monarch briefly employed under the tutelage of Dr. Henry Killinger.
  • Emo Teen: Hank in season 4.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Triana's friend Kim, who had a major role in one episode and a tiny cameo in another, is very popular. Fans have been requesting a return ever since.
  • Equal Opportunity Evil: in Ünderland, both men and women are apparently subject to conscription into Baron von Ünderbheit's army until age 38, at which point You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Rusty Venture refusing to clone Hitler in the season 4 opener.
  • Everyone Went To School Together: Rusty was in college with Baron von Ünderbheit (similar to Doctor Doom's relation with Reed Richards), as well as Pete White, Brock Samson, and The Monarch. This is quickly lampshaded by Hank. Also, Professor Impossible was one of their teachers.
    • It's later revealed that Billy Quizboy and Dr. Girlfriend also went to State University, but not at the same time as everyone else, and that Phantom Limb used to teach there, having taken over Professor Impossible's position at the school when Impossible was involved in a scandal involving a student named "Sally".
      • Season three also implied that Phantom Limb and Professor Impossible worked under Jonas Venture Sr. as part of group of assistants to his scientific work.
    • However, Dr. Orpheus went to "a junior college upstate" where he majored in communications (Post-Mortem Communications?). And the Doctor title was bestowed upon him by a higher power than a mere college professor.
  • Everythings Better With Spinning: The Monarch's Death's Head Panoply at the end of season 3
  • Evil Foreigner: Italian master criminal Scaramantula, who is partially based on James Bond villain Francisco Scaramanga.
  • Evil Overlooker: on the cover of the DVD for season 2
  • The Faceless: The Sovereign, up until the season 2 finale, where he is revealed to be David Bowie.
    • The Council of Thirteen, though some of them can be identified by their silhouettes (Wild Fop, for one...)
      • Not that you can go by that. Word of God says that they often use silhouettes when they haven't decided exactly what a character will look like.
      • Two councilmen, 8 and 3, were revealed in The Revenge Society as Dragoon and Red Mantle (or as The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly in their earlier days).
  • Fake High: Unfortunately the victim of the prank was allergic to oregano.
  • Fake Cross Over: Race Bannon from Jonny Quest makes an appearance in "Ice Station— Impossible!", but dies onscreen within minutes of appearing (he later appears as an OSI interrogator in season three). In the season 2 episode "Twenty Years to Midnight", the group has an encounter with a deranged, drug-addled, middle-aged Jonny Quest. Sadly, lawyers and the desire to do more than one-off guest spots led to Jonny Quest becoming "Action Johnny" in season three and Hadji becoming Radji, who works for Jonas Jr. and has a strained relationship with his wife due to his desire to help the drug addicted Action Johnny while Doctor Zen became Doctor Z.
    • Not really fake, as Johnny has been referred to as Mr. Quest. From what I understand, because Cartoon Network is the inheritor of Hanna Barbera, they legally own all these properties and don't need to worry about copyright.
      • To clarify, Warner, owner of both shows, was okay with them using the characters but were worried about Johnny's image since they had been planning a movie around the time season 3 started, so they requested they change his name.
    • In "The Buddy System," The Captain (fake Ghost Pirate) describes his past adventures as a villain to the kids, which all sound like episodes of Scooby Doo, particularly the part about getting to meet Don Knotts. The implication is that the Captain is, in fact, really from Scooby Doo.
      • It's actually Don Adams, "...the guy who did the vaice fer Inspector Gadget."
      • Expanding on the Scooby Doo point, "Self Medication" included some dialogue between Dr. Venture and his fellow former boy adventurers that referred to Daphne and Velma as if they were real.
      • With Action Johnny having slept with Velma, much to the surprise of his companions who all thought she was a lesbian.
  • Fetish Fuel: Dr. Girlfriend/Mrs. The Monarch - inspiring a love for manly voices in many fans.
    • Triana's mom and Dr. Orpheus' Ex-Wife, as shown by the Master, is exceedingly hot. Yum...
  • Fetus Terrible: Jonas Venture Jr., Dr. Venture's fetus-in-fetu parasitic vanishing temporarily evil twin.
    • As well as Tiny Attorney, inverted as the parasitic twin is a Matlock-esque Southern gentleman and the brains of the operation while the host is an inbred simpleton who doesn't speak.
      • Tiny Attorney is a direct shoutout to "Kuato", the leader of the Mutant Rebellion in Arnold's Total Recall.
  • Foe Yay: The Monarch's obsessive hatred for Doctor Venture has recently hit very weird levels... like him having sex with a robot that had Venture's face.
  • Foreshadowing: LOADS
  • Forgot To Feed The Monster
    • "Okay, who forgot to feed the butterflies?"
  • For Science: Dr. Venture and Professor Impossible both put their scientific work before their families and produce morally unsound creations. Like Venture's Joycan, a Lotus Eater Machine Powered By A Forsaken Child.
    • And it's important to note that Dr. Venture sees Science only as a means to an end; his underlying motivation is Money Dear Boy, and to a slightly lesser but still very strong degree, recognition. How he gets there is of little importance to him. Professor Impossible meanwhile is portrayed as a borderline Complete Monster whose treatment of his wife and son borders on cruelty and at best, treats them as possessions and not human beings.
      • Later seasons, however, have implied that both characters have come to take their families for granted as a result of their scientific exploits rather than neglecting to care for them at all; examples are the mess Dr. Impossible has become as a result of Sally's leaving him in season 3 and Dr. Venture's arguably greater interest in his sons' well-being after all of their clones are destroyed at the end of that same season.
  • Four Temperament Ensemble: Hank, Dean, Brock, and Dr. Venture.
  • Frankensteins Monster: Venturestein
  • Freak Lab Accident: One was involved for Phantom Limb, Dr. Entman/Humongoloid, and Dr. Du Gong (if indeed that is not a costume).
    • Season 1 has Baron Ünderbheit suggesting Rusty Venture was responsible for the loss of his jaw during a lab accident, though it turns out the explosion was caused by The Monarch in an attempt to kill Rusty.
  • Freud Was Right
    Dr. Henry Killinger (in the form of Dr. Venture's father's penis): This is the moment your feelings of inadequacy first manifested themselves! When your father turned from role model to tormentor/rival! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!
    • There's also Jonas, Jr.'s "late 60's Ultra Death Ray." It's shaped like a penis and every man in the room wants to have a go with it.
    "If that thing were a woman, I'd marry it."
    "And I'd jeopardize our friendship by nailing your hot wife."
    • Jonas Sr.'s drill tank from "What Goes Down Must Come Up" merits a number of penis jokes as it's clearly built for penetration.
    • Brock and Lieutenant Baldavitch turn the docking procedure of a spacecraft into one long act of foreplay. Dr. Venture is unamused.
  • Freudian Slip: When The Monarch is handing out orders on who each of his henchmen is to "find and subdue," Dr. Mrs. The Monarch accidentally says "find and seduce Brock Samson."
  • Friendly Enemy: Sergeant Hatred. "I'm going to make his life wonderful! And you can't do squat about it!"
  • Full Frontal Assault: Brock in "Victor. Echo. November."
  • Genre Savvy: Almost all of the cast is genre savvy, some (like #21 and #24) dangerously so. In other cases, such as Dean and Hank, they're genre savvy to the point of it interfering with their social lives.
  • Gentleman Adventurer: Colonel Horace Gentleman
  • Get Out: Final line of a season.
  • Ghost Pirate: Or so it seems, until it proves to be a hoax by not-so-ghostly pirates.
  • Good News Bad News
    Gathers: Do you want the bad news or the good news first?
    Brock: I don't know, the good I guess.
    Gathers: There is no good news! Just bad news and weird news.
  • Great Escape: The Monarch's escape plan, after being framed for a murder that didn't happen, involved the cooperation of several fellow imprisoned villains... who all looked the other way when he made his move due to threats of death from Phantom Limb (who framed Monarch so he could reclaim his ex). He got out with help from King Gorilla, whose own issues with the Guild and Monarch's reveal why he was framed, led to him defying Phantom Limb.
  • Green Eyes: Molotov Cocktease, with the red hair to boot.
  • Grievous Harm With A Body: Brock has knocked off a stone golem's arm and proceeded to repeatedly punch it in the crotch with said arm.
  • The Grotesque: D-19, an aborted, disfigured clone of Dean who only wants to be accepted by Dr. Venture as his son.
  • Growing The Beard: season two had peach fuzz, season three had stubble, season four is when the beard really came in.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Played straight and parodied here and there.
    Military Policeman 1: Oh, uh, I'm sorry, sir. Go on ahead.
    Military Policeman 2: What are you doing? Why'd you let 'im go?
    MP1: What? It's just a bunch of vets campin'.
    MP2: Dude, that was a shaved Bigfoot and Steve Summers in a wig made out of shaved Bigfoot.
    • Subverted in the "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" when Mandalay pulls a captain sensible and opts not to fight a pissed off Brock Samson, stepping aside so he could rescue the Ventures.
  • Hahvahd Yahd In My Cah: Pete White.
  • Hallucinations: Maybe. After 24's death, 21 began carrying around his skull and talking to it. In the season four finale, 24 appears as a ghost only 21 can see and gives him advice in combat situations. At one point, he (the ghost) implies that he may be only a product of imagination, giving 21 confidence in his own abilities. Which is met with a frantic "NO! You are real!"
    • Most definitely in "Showdown at Cremation Creek Pt. I and II", where Dean has a complete (peaceful) breakdown where he imagines a trek through the inside of the cocoon's engine room is a magical adventure with his childhood hero, Giant Boy Detective, and he is The Chosen One. It's basically an extra-Freudian Never Ending Story.
  • Hard Gay: King Gorilla.
  • Harmless Villain: Sergeant Hatred.
  • Has Two Daddies: Brock and Rusty to the twins (well, the show is satirizing Jonny Quest after all). Brock seems to fulfill the "mother" duties, being much more personally involved with the boys than Rusty.
  • Heel Face Turn: Sgt Hatred has replaced Brock as the Venture family bodyguard.
  • Heel Realization: Dr. Venture in "The Doctor Is Sin".
  • Hero Of Another Story: Inverted for a villain with Sergeant Hatred. He was originally a catch-all for whenever another villain needed to be mentioned, particularly for 21 and 24 to steal stuff from. He eventually gained a a few unsavory quirks from offhand mentions before he debuted in the series proper and was integrated into the main cast.
  • Heroes R Us: The OSI, technically.
  • Heroic Albino: Pete White. Well, okay, he's kind of a loser, but still. And let's not even get into his old coke habit...
  • Heroic Sociopath: Brock, Molotov, etc.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners:
    • Dr. Venture and Brock Samson
    • Pete White and Billy Quizboy
    • Watch and Ward
    • Mr. Doe and Mr. Cardholder
    • #21 and #24
    • Tim Tom and Kevin
    • Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer
  • Hey Its That Voice: Dana Snyder, the voice of The Alchemist, is also the voice of Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hunger Force which he also created.
  • Highly Conspicuous Uniform: The Monarch's Mooks wear bright yellow uniforms with ridiculous oversized butterfly wings on the back.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The first part of Dr. Venture's "Flashback" in The Doctor Is Sin. It opens with a young Rusty eating some cereal (and the first spoonful is arranged to read FACE YOUR FEAR), then his father comes in wearing nothing but briefs, saying good morning. Rusty tells him that he couldn't sleep, that he had heard noises. Jonas then says that he was just having a little sleepover...and then his fly is suddenly open, AND HIS COCK HAS DR. KILLINGER'S FACE ON IT. And it's talking. Then it starts strangling Rusty while extending like a snake.
    • Tiny Attorney. Just...Tiny Attorney. The man is a midget GROWING OUT OF THE STOMACH OF AN INBRED MAN that sounds as if he suffocates whenever Tiny comes out.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Everyone in Dr. Venture's therapy group, which consists of expies of Robin, Johnny Quest, and the Hardy Boys. They even refer to him as "Johnny".
  • Hollywood Nerd: Henchman #21, whose "weapons arsenal" consists of replicas, collectibles, and Hulk Hands.
    • Jean-Claude LeTueur is a handsome and extremely wealthy assassin whose last known whereabouts were the San Diego Comic Con; When asked by customs at the airport whether he had anything to declare, he shouted "Excelsior!"
  • I Have No Son: Lance Hale considers Dale his "allegedly" twin brother.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: Hank tries to justify getting a chance to shoot at Neo-Nazis by referencing his skill in Medal Of Honor.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: A lot of characters are named based on puns, such as Phantom Limb.
    • or Manotaur, Quentin Ball, Killermanjaro, and "Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Nightmare-coat".
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Monarch and the Ghost Pirate Captain, the latter being a parody of Scooby Doo villains (at first).
  • Instant Awesome Just Add Ninja: Judging by the boys' recollections and Brock's flashbacks, a good chunk of the family's adventures.
  • Jerkass:
    • Dr. Venture, most of the time.
    • Prof. Impossible (who attempts to keep his family a hidden secret)
    • Dermott (who is just a stupid Jerk Ass)
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Brock Samson as of Season 3. Even after being terminated from his mission, he continued caring for the safety of Venture and, more noticeably, the boys, when facing three deadly assassins.
    • Debatably; I mean, sure, people make jokes about it, but how is that different from just Batman?
    • Orpheus' master could also qualify. He'll never miss the opportunity to mock Orpheus for his failures in life, or Triana for how she could possibly fail, but he arguably does this for his pupil's benefit (to show him where he's gone wrong and encourage him to change).
    • Rusty Venture... maybe. He has some genuinely soft moments like when he cried over Brock's "grave" in Dia de Los Dangerous!, or when he ordered Brock to spare the life of his brother who just tried to vaporise him with a laser. But... then there are times like when he used the soul of an orphaned child to power a sentient "pleasure chamber" in Eeney, Meeney, Miney...Magic!.
  • Knife Nut: Brock
    • And the Moppets. "We can take out his tongue - " "With a knife!" "Remove his heart - " "Yeah, with a KNIFE!" "BIGGER knife!" "Fuckin' KNIFE!!"
  • Knight Of Cerebus: For a little while, Phantom Limb in "Victor. Echo. November.", when he calls in an order with the Guild to kill the Venture family and Doctor Venture loses his left arm.
  • Large Ham: The Monarch, who does it for fun and show, and Doctor Orpheus, who seems incapable of not doing it.
  • Lawful Evil: The Guild has very strict rules.
  • Leitmotif: Dr. Orpheus has his own dramatically RISING MUSIC whenever he SPEAKS ALLLLOUD!
  • Light Is Not Good: Captain Sunshine, who is solar powered, just for extra irony. Well, OK, he's still a superhero, but he does some... questionable things.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Brock Sampson.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Most of the cast. Exceptions include Brock, who has been seen wearing at least 3 different shirts.
    • Lampshaded in the Episode: Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean:
      Hank: "I had to sleep in my clothes! Now I feel gross wearing them two days in a row!"
      Monarch: "You're kidding me, right? That's the only outfit I've ever seen you in!"
      Hank: "Well, that doesn't mean I never wash it."
      Monarch: "Fair enough."
      After which, Hank spends most of the rest of the episode in a minion costume.
    • Also Lampshaded in "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II", when we learn Triana Orpheus always wears the same outfit due to a maddening fear of her closet, it being the doorway to the Necropolis.
  • The Load: Hank and Dean, most of the time. Dr. Venture on occasion.
  • Logic Bomb: In Season 4, Sergeant Hatred speaks nonsense to the robotic guard outside Malice. The guard's head shoots sparks and it's face pops off because while it's programed to answer over 700 questions, "none of which include chicken fingers."
  • Lotus Eater Machine: the Joycan.
  • Love Freak: King Gorilla. The only reason he helped the Monarch escape from prison was in the name of love.
  • Love Redeems: Word Of God states that The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are meant to be a subversion: they have a functioning and loving relationship while still being irredeemably evil villains who kill people at the drop of a hat. The prevalence of the trope combined with the hilarious and over the top nature of their Moral Event Horizon moments make it a little hard to realize that this is happening.
  • Luke You Are My Father: Dermott has told at least one person that he is Brock Samson's long lost son. Although his word is only as good as anyone else's in the show (Which isn't too good mind you), it's still a good chance that Brock may indeed be his father.
  • Mad Scientist/Mad Doctor:
    • Dr. Venture (Rusty, with the others tied for second)
    • Dr. Orpheus (Although he prefers magic to science: his doctorate is in Communications with a minor in Women's Studies)
    • Dr. Impossible (May have intentionally caused the accident which gave him superpowers and disfigured the rest of his family)
    • Dr. Girlfriend (Actually quite rational, apart from her staying with The Monarch)
    • Dr. Henry Killinger (Utterly sane. Terrifyingly sane. Probably the most horrifyingly sane man on the planet.)
  • Made Of Iron: Brock and Molotov
  • Made Of Plasticine: Just about everybody who goes up against Brock, but especially The Monarch's Mooks.
  • Magic Bullets
    Hank: "I'm gonna take my shot now. I have it figured out that if I can just skim pop's belt buckle, maybe the bullet will ricochet off it and kill the guy with the gun!"
    Sergeant Hatred: "Hank, I will give you so much money to not shoot your dad."
  • Magic Versus Science: The rivalry between Doctor Venture and Doctor Orpheus that comes to a head with the Two Lines No Waiting challenge to shrink themselves. Dr. Orpheus ends up quitting because his master tells him how, philosophically, he's already as small as he can get in comparison with the vastness of the universe.
  • Man Child: Captain Sunshine.
  • Manly Tears: A more sound-based example: Brock is sobbing when he's seen destroying his Cool Car that tried to kill him.
  • Mauve Shirt: #21 and #24. Lampshaded with that page's quote.
    • By the season 3 episode "The Lepidoperists" they become Dangerously Genre Savvy.)
      • (#24 has since died (probably) for violating one of the rules.)
      • Could have either been a Too Dumb To Live moment, since he did buckle the seatbelt... in a car that wasn't running! or possibly the Plot Armor jinxing by #21.
      • Since the car accident, #21 has become the #1 henchman, even becoming strong enough to take on Brock Samson! (not win of course, but still). Despite being the strongest and most competent henchmen, striking fear into the hearts of his subordinates, he refuses to change his number out of respect to #24.
  • Meaningful Name: Assassins Jean-Claude LeTueur, Russel Sturgeon, and Heinrich Triggermensch; "Le Tueur" is French for "The Killer", Sturgeon is a kind of fish (and Rus specializes in maritime assassinations and general aquatic activity), and Herr Triggermensch ("Hair Trigger"), (German: Mr. Trigger-person, or Trigger-man) is a former biathlete, expert marksman, and gun fetishist.
    • Brock Samson himself, a little, too. While his name is mostly meant to bring to mind "Race Bannon", he's a strong and somewhat amoral guy with long hair, like the biblical Samson, and has brick/rock-like qualities.
      • Also, the name "Brock" means "badger". You do not want to voluntarily mess with a badger.
    • Not to mention a certain family that tends to venture into danger (much like another family tended to quest).
    • Let's not forget Molotov Cocktease... I'll leave it up to you to figure out.
  • MIB: Mr. Doe and Mr. Cardholder.
  • The Minnesota Fats: Jonas Jr.
  • Mis Aimed Fandom: Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend; though they are supposed to be the bad guys, fans have taken to them in spite of their villainous nature (or because they are nowhere near as bad as Rusty can be in the jerkass department.)
  • Mistaken For Gay: Brock Samson and Dr. Venture, dressed as Rocky and Dr. Frank-N-Furter, respectively:
    Doctor: (Venture is taken to the emergency room to extract a tumor) Sorry, medical personnel only.
    Brock: I go where he goes.
    Doctor: Oh. You must be his... partner then?
    Brock: No, it's more like I work for him— Wait a minute! NO!!
    • Pete White. In the Christmas episode.
  • The Mole: Sergeant Hatred in OSI.
    • Hunter Gathers in the Black Hearts.
    • It turns out Hunter Gathers was working for SPHINX the entire time, and has recruited Brock, Shore Leave and a whole slew of former OSI agents into his organization.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Jonas Venture, when he abandoned orphans in an underground shelter full of hallucinatory gas, although that wasn't entirely intentional.
    • Dr. Venture himself arguably crosses the horizon on a regular basis, although it's mostly played for laughs.
      • Rusty subverts this in the season 4 opener; when he's asked to use his cloning technology to clone Hitler, he flat-out refuses.
    • Doctor Girlfriend betraying Monarch at the end of season one.
    • Monarch tormenting a prostitute by forcing her to run a dangerous gauntlet in order to leave his base was supposed to be one, but it didn't take with fans, partly because of the shout-outs to "Red Dragon" and "Lost" in Monarch's running commentary as the hooker ran for her life.
  • Mundane Solution: How do you dissolve an impenetrable shield generator force field? Put a little club soda on it.
  • My Brain Is Big: Subverted with Billy Quizboy, who is actually a hydrocephalic. Played straight with the Jonas Venture-era villain Brainulo.
    • Although note that in the DVD commentary the idea that Brainulo doesn't have any actual inborn mental powers (and that he was originally written as if this were the case) is raised.
  • My Beloved Smother: "Colonel Bud Manstrong, listen to your mother!"
  • Nemean Skinning: Brock does this to a polar bear in "Ice Station Impossible".
  • Never Trust A Trailer: The fourth season trailer (beware of spoilers if you haven't watched up to the season three finale). Several clips used in it turn out to be fake-outs of some sort, especially the clip of Future!Doctor Venture juxtaposed with a shot of Dean aging - the two scenes have nothing to do with each other in the series, and Future!Doctor Venture is just David Bowie in disguise. The trailer also milks fantasy sequences and out-of-context lines for as many cool scenes as they can.
    • The Trailer for The Better Man focused on a "Hell Beast From Hell," who was even in the Cold Open & wasn't even from Hell. And despite physical appearances, was not on the level of Cthulhu. The rest of the trailer talked about Triana entering a "portal to the Second World." Except it's not a portal to the Second World. Orpheus doesn't have a portal to the Second World. Half the episode centered on Orpheus not having a portal to the Second World.
    • None of the Season 4 Trailers can be trusted: AT.ALL!
  • Nice Guy: Byron Orpheus, theatrics notwithstanding.
    Orpheus: I'm making my famous fritatas!
    Orpheus: Who wants PIZZA ROLLS?
    Orpheus: I would make a whizbang salesman!
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Brock Samson's Joy Can vision includes ninjas raining from the sky, cowboys with flamethrowers riding Tyrannosaurs, polar bears on motorcycles with scuba divers manning machine guns in the sidecars.
    • Fun fact: the show shares a colorist with The Adventures Of Dr Mc Ninja (Carly Monardo).
      • Who also happens to be Chris Hasting's fiancee and does the cover art for the books.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • Dr. Henry Killinger looks, sounds, and acts a lot like former Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, right down to his magic murder bag. Then again, it's heavily implied that that's exactly who he is.
      • As if the name didn't give it away.
    • Brock's mentor, Col. Hunter Gathers, is a distillation of the public persona of Dr Hunter S. Thompson, with the addition of a gender dysmorphism of which Thompson appeared to be free, or perhaps medicated out of existence.
    • Col. Gentleman, while he looks and sounds like Sean Connery, shares many of the personal traits of the late William S. Burroughs: a relationship with a Maghrebi adolescent boy named 'Kiki', a fondness for hashish, and a tendency to write on and on and on like a crazy person.
    • Mr. Brisby is a jaundiced view of Walt Disney, differing only in that he appears to have been limited to a wheelchair for the past twenty years, as opposed to having died and been kept frozen in the basement of Tomorrowland.
    • David Bowie and his associates Iggy Pop and Klaus Nomi.
      • David Bowie gets another subtle one in "ORB" during the flashback to the Victorian Era Guild: "Tesla and the Avon Ladies are attacking."
      • Brian Eno shows up, too, in "The Revenge Society". Flying in the Warm Jets, no less.
    • When 21 and 24 finally see each other out of costume, they comment that they look like Kevin Smith without a beard and Jerry Seinfeld with a unibrow, respectively.
    • Appearing for only a few seconds is the BDSM-themed supervillainess Bettie Rage.
    • Guild council members Red Mantle and Dragoon describe an alternate explanation of the events of The Day The Music Died in The Revenge Society.
  • No Delays For The Wicked: Subverted—the Guild of Calamitous Intent's labyrinthine rules for "arching" often delay The Monarch's schemes long enough to reference the documentation. However, the protagonists are similarly constrained by GCI policies.
  • No Indoor Voice: Byron Orpheus and the Grand Galactic Inquisitor.
    IGNORE ME!!!
  • Nominal Importance: Henchman #1 is a study in all aspects of the trope. It doesn't save him.
    24: You are nameless-
    1: I'm Scott Hall! My name is Scott Hall!
    24:Mmmmm, nope! Not gonna help!
    21: Yeah, now it's just pathos. You're all dying in my lap and I'm all, SCOTT, SCOTT DON'T YOU QUIT ON US, DON'T YOU DARE!
    24: You've just made your unavoidable death more pathetic.
    • Ironically, we learn 21's name (Gary), but not 24's.
  • Not Me This Time: When Rusty and Brock are knocked out and kidnapped by a flying coffin, Hank and Dean immediately call the Monarch and demand he return them. He responds that it wasn't him this time, but "I have something planned for Thursday."
  • Not Quite Starring: David Bowie, aka the Sovereign, in the two-part Season 2 finale. His first appearance is even accompanied by text at the bottom of the screen that says "Celebrity voice impersonated".
    • Allegedly, they tried to get David Bowie himself but he didn't get back to them before the episode aired.
    • Fun Fact: His voice actor is the same as Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" S. Venture and his twin brother, Dr. Jonas Venture Jr. Oh, and Phantom Limb. They're all, more or less, scientists.
  • Not So Different: Rusty and The Monarch, stated by Dr. Girlfriend.
    • Lampshaded when Phantom Limb is about to begin a speech about how Not So Different he and Brock are, but Brock cuts him off, saying he knows that speech well enough from hearing it every time.
  • Not So Harmless: The Monarch. Do not screw around with the king butterfly, man.
    • Pretty much called out in "The Lepidopterists" where not playing by Guild rules to satisfy their crazy supervillain games ends up getting a lot of people dead. When bored supervillains don't have heroes to play stupid games with they tend to commit real crimes.
  • Obliviously Evil: Dr. Venture never seemed to realize that his huge accumulation of horrible deeds could qualify him as a "bad person."
  • The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness: The Council of Thirteen
  • The Only One Allowed To Defeat You: The Monarch and Baron Ünderbheit argue with each other over who can claim this title; disputes of this nature are apparently arbitrated by The Guild of Calamitous Intent.
    • This is how Molotov views Brock when they aren't making out.
      Molotov: You know I'd never let anyone kill my Samson. That is my job.
  • Overly Long Gag: "We are about to engage...THE NOZZLE."
  • Paper Thin Disguise: Despite the fact that Jonas Venture Senior is a 6'2" white guy claiming to be "Japanese man from the village of Japaninawa", despite dressing like a Chinese person, and despite Scaramantula explicitly pointing these facts out, he never fully realizes that he's talking to the man he's planning on blackmailing.
    • Also, Hank in "Showdown at Cremation Creek":
      Hank: "Hello-ski! I am, how you say? Russian Guyovitch!"
    • The superteam in "Handsome Ransom" is instantly recognizable as the Action News team.
  • People Jars: Hank and Dean's clone storage.
  • Perky Goth: Triana Orpheus, with the twist that her single father is a Nice Guy Large Ham Necromancer.
  • Ping Pong Naivete: Hank and Dean, about sex, reality in general, and the fact that Brock kills people in front of them on a regular basis. May have something to do with those learning beds, which Dr. Venture believes screwed up his own social life. This was also due to their clones not getting the advantage of first-hand experience for very long; the current Hank and Dean are getting much more well-rounded the longer they're alive.
  • Pinky Swear: Between the Monarch and Dr.Girlfriend
  • Plot Armor: By season 3, Henchman #21 mentions how he and #24 can't die, having practically become main characters. Henchman #24 tells him not to jinx it. It's good advice.
  • Plot Induced Stupidity: Lampshaded in "Return to Malice", where Sergeant Hatred apparently couldn't just contact the boys.
  • Powered By A Forsaken Child: Trope Namer (the Joycan).
  • The Power of Progressive Rock: The inspiration for Rusty's science (and Dean's attempt.)
  • Power Perversion Potential: Orpheus's Master is a shape-shifter and well aware of the benefits. First demonstrated when he takes the form of Cerebus and lets one of his three heads continuously lick his genitals, which he admits to loving (but can also taste, which is maddening). Then later when he takes the form of Catherine the Great's horse (a scene that was mostly cut), and finally Lampshaded when he takes the form of Orpheus's surprisingly still hot ex-wife and claims he's going to jump rope naked in front of a mirror, in her body, after Orpheus leaves. "I mean would you look at these breasts? You could bounce a penis off these!"
  • Previously On: Parodied in "Return to the House of Mummies Part II", where the five minute Previously On is all that exists of Part I. Ends with an On The Next for a Part III which we never get to see either.
    • In "Showdown at Cremation Creek Part 2," there is a Previously On which basically shows the major events of the previous episode in super-fast motion, ending with the scene of the cliffhanger, played normally.
  • The Power Of The Sun: Captain Sunshine's gimmick.
  • Psychic Nosebleed: Happens to Dr. Orpheus when he tries to probe Dr. Henry Killinger's mind.
  • Punch Clock Villain: The Monarch's henchmen, and, previously, the Monarch and Henchman #24 for Phantom Limb, as well as Dr. Venture's single-episode "Venchmen".
  • Put On A Bus: Baron Underbheit after he was exiled from Ünderland and refused lodging by The Monarch in "Love Bheits".
    • This may actually be permanent, since the creators have said they don't plan on writing any more stories involving him.
    • Also Triana after deciding to live with her mom for a while.
    • H.E.L.P.E.R. was first seen in his new Spider Tank form at the beginning of Season 4 and hasn't shown up in any episodes since.
  • Putting The Band Back Together: When the boys had to round up the original Team Venture to save Brock and Rusty.
  • Rape As Comedy: King Gorilla trying and failing to rape the Monarch in prison, and Nancy and Drew Quymn attempting to rape Dean.
    • In "The Revenge Society" short-statured Billy Quizboy wakes up from what he believes was a dream only to be greeted by recovering pedophile Sgt. Hatred.
  • The Rashomon: In "Victor. Echo. November.", three completely different origin stories are given for Phantom Limb by various characters and all of them involving Billy Quizboy somehow. In 'The Invisible Hand of Fate" Limb's origin is revealed and did indeed involve Billy.
  • Red Right Hand: Phantom Limb's got... well...
    • This one is extremely common on the show. Almost every single villain, and a sizable fraction of the heroes, have some kind of freakish physical trait. Probably the most iconic example of this is Scaramantula, who has eight fingers on his right hand and wears a rubber four-legged spider on his nose (with his eyebrows and mustache forming the other four legs).
  • Red Shirt: Lampshaded incessantly by Henchmen #21 and #24 with Scott Hall Henchman #1.
  • Red Shirt Army: The Monarch's henchmen, more than any other supervillain, especially right after breaking out of prison and hiring a bunch of thugs off the street.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless-For all his money problems Doc Venture never considers selling cloned organs.
  • The Red Sonja: Gender reversed: Brock Samson fell in love with Molotov Cocktease when, the first time they met, she tied him to the bed and set the building on fire.
    • And Ginny, who is clearly attracted to Brock and considers him the only real man she's ever met.
  • Replacement Goldfish: In the season four premier 21 tries to convince Dr. Venture to clone 24. However, as the only payment he can come up with is a vintage comic book, Doc declines.
    • In "Handsome Ransom"(4x02), Capt. Sunshine seeks to make Hank his new Wonderboy. It's clear he's desperately trying to use Hank to replace his slain sidekick because he's not ready to deal with it, spoiling and sheltering him for fear that he'll feel that loss again.
  • Replacement Scrappy: Season 4. Does anyone else think Sgt. Hatred as Brock's replacement is to the detriment of the show?
  • Reunion Revenge: "Past Tense" centers on Dr. Venture, Brock, Pete White and Baron Ünderbheit being kidnapped by a supposedly (and actually) dead college classmate for their "crimes" against him - all of which are extremely minor, petty pranks which he thinks ruined his chances with the girl of his dreams (they didn't; he was a total loser and she wasn't interested).
  • Reverse Funny Aneurysm: Doctor Venture taking his sons' kidneys in the first episode was played for Dead Baby Comedy. However, the beginning of the second season revealed that they are replaced with clones on a semi-regular basis, so it wasn't quite as horrible as it first seemed.
  • Robot Buddy: H.E.L.P.eR
  • Rule Of Funny: Sgt. Hatred's pedophilia is played for laughs.
  • Running Gag: Several, including 24's Nissan Stanza and 21 complaining about not being told about things, such as the fact that the wings on the henchmen's costumes are actually flight-capable.
    • There are also other episode-specific ones, such as the lingering smell of the stinkbomb in season 4's finale.
  • Sadist Show: Word Of God says that the show is about "failure." He ain't kiddin'.
    • Ironically, one of the bumps Adult Swim used was a 3 page essay someone wrote about how the show is about greatness and triumph over adversity.
    • Just to illustrate how dedicated the producers are to this concept; one episode showed the home of former game show host Pete White. He lived in a trailer, the standard fictional home of losers. In the establishing shot, a billboard is shown in the foreground informing the viewer that that trailer is the only house of a planned subdivision. The character is a failure, his home's a failure, and the ground his home is standing on for miles around is a failure.
      • The show seems to have begun subverting this: Rusty and a lot of his generation seem either doomed to the results of their "Adventure" lifestyles or partially breaking away from them, such Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend's marriage, 21 growing up, and even Rusty settling his issues. Their children however are moving on and showing signs that they'll break this cycle and either be successful or at least not be psychologically scarred.
  • Scarecrow Solution: "Escape To The House of Mummies Part II". Dr. Venture, sitting on Brock's shoulders and dressed in a green blanket waves a flaslight at cultists to save Hank and Dead. It doesn't work.
  • Scary Black Man: Mandelay, Mr. Brisby's bodyguard, who dwarfs even Brock in size and is just as intimidating.
  • Science Hero: Every Dr. Venture except Rusty.
  • The Scrappy: The Murderous Moppets/Pupa Twins, a pair of Scrappys that nobody likes due to their extreme hostility and overall creepiness.
  • Screw This Im Outta Here: During the season 3 finale Brock quits his job at the OSI as a secret agent and his job for Venture as a bodyguard because he can no longer stand all the weird, jacked-up crap he has to deal with on a daily basis.
    • And the fact that his car tried to kill him.
  • Seen It All: Everybody in the entire Venture universe.
    • Played straight in the Season 3 finale...
    Doc Venture: You don't know me. Why in my prime I saw some things that would make your head spin!
    Sgt. Hatred: Yeah, I've seen a guy's head spin, like right off his neck. Why? 'Cuz I punched him! Top That!
    Doc Venture: Okay, okay... My father made me kill a man- kill a man! -with a house key. I was ten.
    Sgt. Hatred: That's nothing. I ate a whole Labrador retriever once!
    • ...and subverted.
    Brock: I've seen enough spinnin' butterfly... naked boy armies... screw this... I'd rather, uh, quit.
  • Serious Business: Most supervillians take themselves very seriously. Especially the Monarch:
    Jollyrancher82: I just thought, you know, "The Monarch," I thought you were into cosplay?
    Monarch: Real name. And I am into costume buisness, not costume play.
  • Sequel Hook: Each season finale had these. In fact, seasons one and especially three have had full on cliffhanger deaths.
    • On killing Henchman 24, Doc Hammer stated that it was such a stupid decision that you have to see where they're going with it.
  • Ship Sinking: The Better Man has one of more gentle examples.
    • Could alternately count as an Anchored Ship (especially since The Master imples Triana would have ended up with Dean and her main problems seem to involve learning that they're clones and her memory is at risk), although I guess only time will tell for sure.
  • Shooting Gallery: Subverted. Brock has to to prove his marksmanship skills at a shooting gallery as part of a test to get his OSI license renewed, but refuses to use the gun he is given, opting instead to jump over the barricade and tear apart the bad guy card board cut-outs with his knife (and using one innoncent bystandard cut-out as a club, which he props back up after destroying all the other targets).
  • Shotacon: Sgt. Hatred
  • Shout Out: The whole show starts and middles as a Shout Out to Jonny Quest.
    • Hank's outfit is clearly based on that of Fred from Scooby Doo, a fact that other characters have remarked on.
      • And Dean's clothes and haircut are reminiscent of Peter Parker's from His debut.
    • Not to mention the hundreds of other references. To other stuff, that is. Star Wars is a particularly popular subject. Usually patently obvious.
    • This show does lots and Shout Outs to various bands and musicians. Led Zeppelin, The Stooges, The Buggles, Bjork, Adam and the Ants, Depeche Mode, The Residents, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Jesus Jones have all been explicitly name checked. David Bowie was alluded to at least 3 times in various fashions before his appearance at the end of season 2 with Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop.
      • At one point, Henchman #21 tries to get Henchman #24 to team up with him as "Jet Boy and Jet Girl", just to make a reference to a French indie band despite neither of them qualifying as "Jet Girl".
    • The occasional ray-gun sound effect is a dead ringer for the ones in He Man.
    • Jean-Claude LeTueur's supervillain costume and history as a big game hunter/comic book nerd all harken back to Spider Man foe Kraven the Hunter; Kraven's costume has a lion head chestpiece and leopard skin pants, LeTueur's has an elephant head and zebra skin.
    • Russel Sturgeon is explicitly based on Quint from Jaws in voice and appearance, his costume resembles that of Aquaman, and his entire MO as a fishing themed aquatic villain is a take on Aquaman villain the Fisherman.
    • In general, the three assassins sent after Brock are all shout outs to the different kind of villains of Comic Book Ages. Go-Fish is a shout out the Golden Age, Le Tueur to the Silver Age, and Herr Trigger to the Bronze to 90's Darker and Edgier style of villains.
    • The 4th season premiere contains a lengthy shoutout to the climax of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Complete with "Don't look, no matter what happens", and Nazi face-melting.
      • And Molotov's list of targets are actually the writers and artists of the original Marvel Comic #21 gave Rusty earlier in the episode.
    • The Dean suit that D-19 is making is reminiscent of Silence Of The Lambs.
    • The Scooby Doo parody in season 2 are all references to famous crazy people: Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Patty Hearst, and Valerie Solanas.
  • Shown Their Work: The stolen Rembrandt painting that Phantom Limb tries to sell to a Mafioso is a real painting that is currently missing.
  • Silence You Fool: The Council of Thirteen in the Season 3 opener.
    • Lampshaded when the first council member to shout it out has to explain himself to one of his confused comrades ("I was just trying to sound intimidating."), then subverted when another member attempts it and repeatedly screws up the timing ("Ok, you need to do that when SHE'S talking.").
  • Simple Country Lawyer: Tiny Attourney
  • The Sixties: Most of the characters are drawn from the books, comics, movies, and cartoons of that decade, but with modern twists.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Brock's relationship with Molotov Cocktease is.... volatile.
  • Sleep Learning: Hank and Dean. Dean has expressed a dislike/fear of this at multiple points.
  • Smash Cut
  • Smug Snake: Phantom Limb. Oh so much.
  • So Cool It's Awesome
  • Soaperizing
  • Spikes Of Villainy: Baron Ünderbheit has these on his armour
  • Spider Tank: The new H.E.L.P.eR
  • Spirit Advisor: 24 to 21, in Season 4. Maybe.
    • The Master to Dr. Orpheus.
  • Spiritual Successor: Shares a creator, an actor, and several themes with The Tick.
  • Squick: Quite a few examples, notable moments include Myra implying that she breastfeeds her own cats and almost breastfeeding her own 16 year old "sons" and Post-Op Colonel Gathers' encounter with Brock at a strip club.
    • Basically any dialogue from Sgt. Hatred involving young boys. As of Season Four, It Got Worse.
  • Stalker With A Crush: Myra, Rusty's old bodyguard. In her defense, it's not exactly her fault she thought there was something between them after she had his children.
    • Allegedly. Well, until flashbacks confirmed her version of events to be true, anyway.
    Rusty Venture: Alright, I *** ed her. What of it?
  • Straight Gay: The Alchemist and Colonel Gentleman
    The Alchemist: But being a magic super hero that keeps chasing the same guy? It’s completely gay. That is coming from a guy that voluntarily has sex with men!
    • Inverted with born-again Holy Diver and Sky Pilot, who are allegedly Gay Straight.
  • Sure Why Not: Invoked at a con appearance by the writers. A fan asked whether or not Triana knew that the boys were clones; Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick badgered the fan for his answer and then declared it canon.
    • Well, whatever the answer was, it has been revealed that Triana has found out that Dean and Hank were clones several times but Orpheus kept mind wiping her.
      • It was actually the opposite of what the fan suggested. The fan decided that Triana knew they were clones, since she's probably adjusted enough to weird things to be able to live with it.
  • Sweet On Polly Oliver: Baron Underbheit mistakenly attempts to marry Dean when he is dressed as Slave Leia under the impression that his name is "Dawn Venture".
    • Actually, Underbheit didn't know any name to call Dean. Hank thought the invitation mentioned Underbheit's marriage to Dawn, but really it was just giving the time of the wedding (at dawn). Unfortunately, this was a joke that didn't really work so well in execution and the audience made the same mistake as Hank.
  • Take A Third Option: Season 4 revealed that Eugene Sandow actually broke the Orb, instead of killing Colonel Venture. This could be justified as Sandow couldn't bring himself to kill Venture, but the potential threat the Orb poses was too great.
  • Take Our Word For It: Lt. Baldavitch's face.
    • And the alien (disguised as Jonas Venture Sr.) in "Twenty Years to Midnight". Annoyed by Rusty's berating him for showing up as his dad, he reveals his true appearance to everyone's horror.
  • Take That Scrappy: The Monarch delivers a rather chilling low-key one to the Murderous Moppets. He tells them in no uncertain terms that if they ever defy his command he will kill them and feed them to dogs.
  • Talking To Himself: Every comedy duo in the show except for the Venture boys themselves (Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, 21 and 24, the Murderous Moppets, Billy and White, Watch and Ward, Doe and Cardholder) are voiced by writers Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick; Publick also voices Hank, Sergeant Hatred, Action Man, Col. Gentleman, Ned, the Pirate, and Dr. Henry Killinger. He talks to himself a lot as a result. Doc Hammer does it the most often between Dr. Girlfriend and 21, while James Urbaniak gets in on the act with all Dr. Venture/Jonas, Jr. conversations.
    • The season 4 episode "The Revenge Society" has Urbaniak in a three-way conversation with himself.
    • It's clear that the writers try to keep the number of Talking To Himself instances down. For example, any time 21 and 24 interact with the Venture twins, 21 always pairs up with Hank so that Jackson Publick doesn't play both sides of the conversation; similarly, most of these characters are often kept inside their Cast Herds so that they do not interact with the voices most similar to their own (the Action Man has yet to talk to Sgt. Hatred, for instance, while 21 and Billy are always kept far away from each other).
  • Technical Pacifist. Brock doesn't use guns, but will kill people with just about anything else, including his bare hands. And a lawnmower, a tattoo gun, the bible, a jawbone...
    • And, on one notable occasion, his butt. Sorta.
    • The Guild of Calamitous Intent forces this on their members. Weapon tiers are strictly enforced.
  • Ted Baxter: Hank slowly develops into one. He is tragically deluded into thinking that he is a Badass when he's really a wimp and proves himself frequently Genre Blind to the world he lives in (such as attempting to invoke Magic Bullets).
    • Similarly, if Dermot was half as awesome as he says he is, he'd be right up there with Brock. Instead, he gets his ass handed to him by Dean. Triana sees through his bullshit even before that.
  • Teleporter Accident
  • Tempting Fate: Do NOT brag about your Plot Armor. Someone dies in the season 3 finale, and it sure as hell isn't a Venture Brother.
  • The Chris Carter Effect: Avoided. The writers have stated that they don't plan anything, but they're usually pretty good at introducing and then tying up plot points. They've described their writing style as coming up with stuff on the fly, then writing future plots to remain consistent with what has been written while expanding on any detail that looks interesting.
  • The Unreveal: The reason why The Monarch hates Dr. Venture so much has yet to be revealed, leading to much speculation from both fans and characters. In one episode, Monarch begins to reminisce about the first time he felt hatred for Venture, and the screen begins to get wavy as if we're going to a flashback...only it turns out things look wavy because his wings are on fire thanks to the laser security system at the Venture Compound, and he interrupts his own reminiscence to mention this.
  • The Chosen Zero: Dean Venture's bizarre mental breakdown during the season 2 finale has him imagine himself as the chosen one of a fantasy world. The ruler of the fantasy land is not impressed and assumes that it's some kind of a joke.
  • There Are No Therapists: After three seasons of seeing how messed up Dr. Venture is, he finally goes to a therapy session. The delay is even given an in-story justification, as it's revealed that Jonas Venture, the source of all of Rusty's trauma and mental issues, was his son's therapist and fucked it up royally by sneaking out while his son talked and them went on a long-winding lecture condemning his son as an ungrateful whiner who should shut the fuck up and never blame his father for his fucked up life, since the isolationism and forced trauma was considered by Jonas to be something "better" than the life of most normal kids.
    • The episode has a second justification for this trope. The therapist is killed by a snake that the Monarch had 21 plant so Rusty doesn't have an excuse to get out of arching. The Monarch is damn determined to get at Rusty.
  • They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot: "The Lepidopterists" episode. Imagine: a season-long arc of the Monarch arching Dr. Venture, Jr. with many adventures in-between, and Dr. (Rusty) Venture playing second fiddle. This all culminates into the Xanatos Gambit of the Monarch finally getting his true arch back, like he did in that episode. So much potential.
    • "The Revenge Society", anyone? This episode features the return of Phantom Limb and David Bowie, a callback to "ORB", a Guild assault on the Venture compound with only Sgt. Hatred and Hank to defend it, and the revelation that Brian Eno, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper are members of The Guild of Calamitous Intent. And it all proceeds to add up to an episode where nothing happens for a good 2/3s of the ep, with little jokes in the interim, with an ending that comes out of nowhere. Definitely should be a record there for most plot wasted in a single episode.
    • To be fair, the show creators REALLY like to play with this trope. While there have been a few genuinely epic moments in the series, major plot points are just as likely to be resolved in mundane, boring, or off-screen ways. It all ties into the whole "failure" thing.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: The Murderous Moppets.
  • Those Two Guys: Pete White and Billy Quizboy, #21 and #24; Watch and Ward
  • Throw Away Guns: "We have more bullets, you know. You have to stop doing that."
  • Thrown From The Zeppelin: literally in ORB
  • Time Travel: "Escape To The House Of Mummies Part II"
    • Don't forget Grover Cleveland's Presidential Time Machine!
  • Took A Level In Badass: 21. The mid-season finale pretty much has raised his status to one of the most competent characters on the show now, as goofy as he still acts. He even manages to go toe to toe with Brock *** ing Samson. He loses, but upon waking from being knocked out, Brock commends him for his ability.
  • Too Much Information: Col. Gentleman and Sgt. Hatred's sex lives.
    • Billy Quizboy's "guilty pleasures" list is considered too much information by Billy himself when he realizes he misunderstood the question.
  • Too Soon: "Handsome Ransom" involves a Captain Ersatz of Superman and Batman who takes a shine to Hank as his new Robin. It involves "sleepovers" and giving him lots of toys. For what it's worth, the season had started production before Michael Jackson died.
  • Transsexual: Brock's mentor Hunter S. Gathers.
    • Though at some point between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of season 4 he got it reversed.
    • Some think Dr. Girlfriend, due to her deep, masculine voice. But in the Season 3 episode "Home Is Where the Hate Is", she's caught smoking for the first time by her husband, The Monarch, at a party. After he comes to realize the clues that she's been smoking (since 1989), well...
      Sgt. Hatred: I guess I'll say it. Her 3-pack-a-day voice?
      • Brock continues to make jokes about Dr. Girlfriend to both the Monarch and Phantom Limb through seasons one and two. Eventually, it's finally explained by the reason above, as well as seeing a clearly female Dr. Girlfriend in flashback sequences to her late teens and early 20s.
      • Also there was a scene where she's adjusting her makeup in a (women's) restroom, and two girls approach her to ask about the color of lipstick she's using.
      Girl:: Uh.. I have a question...
      Dr. Girlfriend: (sighs) YES, I belong in here. I just have a very deep voice.
      Girl: Ok, can I ask another question?
  • Transvestite: In the years before his gender reassignment, Col. Gathers evidently used any excuse to use a feminine persona as a "disguise".
  • Troperiffic
  • Try Not To Die: Brock actually says this to Hank in the season 2 finale.
  • Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny: 21 and 24 like to debate these. Their debut consisted of an argument about who would win in a fight between Ann Frank and Lizzie Borden. When this conversational well runs dry, they also engage in excessive Fan Wank. In all cases, 24 takes whichever position is most obviously wrong.
  • The Unfavorite: As the series goes on, Dr. Venture shows more contempt - or at least snark and negligence - toward Hank, brought on by Hank's Too Dumb To Live Ted Baxter tendencies.
    • Though it did lead into an unexpected Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming for Rusty when he held Hank back and told him "You only live once" after Hank unleashed the naked clone army to be ground up in the Season 3 finale, thus ending their effective immortality.
  • The Unintelligible: H.E.L.P.eR
  • Unknown Rival: The Monarch, until the end of the first season
  • Urban Legends: Kidney theft is a major plot point in "Dia De Los Dangerous".
    • Also, the chupacabra. There are apparently tons of them.
    • Of course El chupacabra is a Puerto rican Urban legend, so what was it doing in mexico?
      • It originated in Puerto Rico, but the legend has spread to Mexico... and from Maine to Chile...
    • Also, Billy Quizboy was granted an automatic 4.0 GPA for a semester of college because his roommate committed suicide.
  • Values Dissonance: "The Rusty Venture Show! Brought to you by SMOKING!"
  • Villainous Breakdown: Phantom Limb. Big time.
  • Villain Decay: Richard Impossible in season 3. This is probably intentional considering the breakup with his wife.
  • Villain Episode :"Shadowman 9: In The Cradle Of Destiny". While many other episodes have a majority of the episode dedicated toward the Monarch, this episode did not cut to the Venture family at all.
  • Villain Protagonist: The Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend, and their henchmen. Rusty and Brock may count for some people, though Brock is far more a Heroic Sociopath.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Speedy. Poor little guy. He was this close to earning his wings.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Captain Sunshine's powers don't work at night.
  • Weird Trade Union: The Guild of Calamitous Intent
  • Well Done Son Guy: Rusty toward Jonas Venture.
    • Implied with Hank - when Dr Killinger comes to take over the Venture compound, he hangs out with Hank, encouraging him with sports and other physical activity.
    • Season Four gives us a deformed clone of Dean who Rusty flushed away when he didn't come out right (though unknown to him he survived). Poor guy end up having delusions of a imaginary Rusty talking to him and trying to make a body suit out of the skin of the deceased Dean clones.
  • What An Idiot: In season 4, episode 2, The Monarch corners Captain Sunshine in Sunshine's own base, cooly informing him that he knows that Captain Sunshine's powers don't work at night. So what does he use to attack the solar powered superhero? A special ray gun built to emit sunbeams identical to the kind Captain Sunshine uses. Predictably, his attempt at sentencing Cap to Death By Irony just ends up repowering the superhero.
  • What Could Have Been: Listening to the creator commentary on some episodes is kinda sad once you hear how many interesting tidbits had to be cut for time. The Freudian dream sequence in "The Doctor is Sin" had a fairly interesting backstory that had to be cut, and "Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman" was slated to have a flashback implying that Dr. Quymn could be the boys' biological mother as well as some Pet The Dog moments for Dr. Venture.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome: Everybody but Brock.
    • #21 and #24 donning their henchmen uniforms while humming Mars, the Bringer of War and providing their own sound effects.
    • Doctor Byron Orpheus! and The Order of The Triad
    • Go Team Venture! (except when the original 60s team does it)
    • the "Ooo Ray"
    • #21's "weapon stockpile
    • Dr. Dugong
    • Phantom Limb's selling of stolen artwork as supervillainy
    • Led Zeppelin (according to H.E.L.P.eR, at least)
    • Dr. Zin Of Jonny Quest, who revels in acting out as a Large Ham to the benefit of younger villains and heroes and to entertain kids.
  • What Happened To The Mouse- We never really find out exactly what Doctor Girlfriend said to Monarch at the end of season two.
    • King Gorilla's fate; Phantom Limb threatens to castrate him if he didn't turn his back on the Monarch during his prison escape. While Phantom Limb killed/maimed the other imprisoned villains who did do as they were told by Phantom Limb at the end of season two, King Gorilla was absent from the bloodbath.
      • Of course, King Gorilla was likely too Badass to go out like that and escaped the Guild, explaining his absence from the 'hunting party'.
    • This happens a lot. A lot of subplots are resolved just by virtue of the episode ending: Doc getting stuck in a wall, Doc and Sgt. Hatred being busted by the police while Hank runs away, Phantom Limb's fate at the end of "The Revenge Society," and the entire B-plot of "Return to the House of Mummies Part 2" (of course, that was the point.) Usually helped out by Rule Of Funny, as many of these resolutions are either boring or funnier in the audience's imagination.
  • What Kind Of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway: Manic 8-Ball, whose only power seems to be the ability to respond with Magic 8-Ball answers in his chest instead of speech.
    • The Impossibles (save Dr. I) fall into this category and Blessed With Suck: Sally's skin is invisible (making her a walking anatomy model) and her power is to make it opaque, Ned's entire body is severely callused (though not invulnerable, so he's in constant pain), and Cody is instantly combustible with oxygen (he also is physically sensitive to his own power, though he seems to immediately heal when extinguished).
    • Also, lampshaded by The Order of the Triad, which includes a sorcerer and an alchemist with great magical powers... and Jefferson Twilight, whose power is to track and hunt Blackulas (and only Blackulas). He is also, however, an accomplished martial artist and military veteran.
      • And the whole living between two worlds thing.
  • What The Hell Dad: Especially when Sgt. Hatred is their bodyguard.
  • What The Hell Hero: Dr. Thaddeus Venture is a supposed good guy, and yet a lot of the things he does disturbs and disgusts the people around him. He has:
    • Created the Joy Can, a Lotus Eater Machine Powered By A Forsaken Child. Dr. Orpheus is suitably disgusted with this information.
    • Revived a dead Mook and started planning on Frankensteining more dead people in order to use them as cheap labor, only to change his mind via a phone call with the military and eschew the plan in favor of using the "Venturesteins" as what ammounts to zombie suicide bombers. Brock Samson was quite disturbed at this.
    • Eschewed protecting his children in favor of letting them die to be replaced with clones, much to Brock's disgust.
    • Allowed a young child to be killed on a tour of his compound and returned a genetically modfied clone to his parents in his place (although claiming that he was doing the boy a favor since his DNA made him "a ticking timebomb for cancer"). Again, much to Brock's disgust.
      • Dr. Killinger once attempted to make Rusty an official villain, only for him to back out at the last moment, horrified to know that he's potentially just that evil. Even Brock himself has some Even Evil Has Standards moments with Rusty and is hesitant and answering Doc's question of whether or not he's a bad guy (settling for a very dark morally gray area).
    • Trying to solve his money problems by stealing orangutans from the Amazon and teaching them to box. Brock (notice a pattern?) called this "a new personal low"—and not just because of the fact that orangutans don't live in the Amazon.
    • Using Sally's (Richard Impossible's then wife) love for him to get a crucial machine part for him. Once again Brock calls him out for this.
  • Why Am I Ticking: Hank in "Ice Station Impossible".
  • Why Dont Ya Just Shoot Him: Because the Guild of Calamitous Intent's bylaws prevent it. In fact, supervillains are generally not even allowed to arm their henchmen with actual guns, which is why the Monarch and his henchmen use darts. Heroes also have to adhere to this if they don't want to piss off the Guild, which is described as a powder keg of psychos who like using kiddy gloves but have access to far, far worse.
  • Will They Or Wont They: Dean and Triana. They won't. Probably.
  • Worf Had The Flu: In the third episode of season 4, Dermott shows up to hang out with Hank. When Hank brings up the time Dean beat the shit out of him, Dermott claims he was "cheap-shotted when I wasn't ready" and "had a massive stomach flu". Obviously, he's lying.
  • Wouldnt Hit A Girl: What Brock was told never to do as an OSI officer, which led him to refuse to kill his former superior in "Assassinanny 911" when he underwent a sex change to be a woman.
    • This rule and the above example pretty much cause the events of the 3rd season finale.
    • Brock will hit Molotov Cocktease, but she's as tough as he is and likes it.
    • Lady vampires are fair game because they're not technically alive.
      • "Also, fictitious!" Though, according to Jefferson Twilight, Hunter is incorrect.
      • Perhaps not. I don't think we've yet seen a female vampire. All the ones I can recall at the moment are male.
  • Xanatos Gambit / Xanatos Roulette: "The Lepidopterists": The Monarch, by arching Jonas Jr. and riling him into serious retaliation, trick everyone into thinking J.J. nearly destroyed him. Long story short, he and his men were fine and the Monarch was granted the right by Guild law to get revenge upon J.J. by attacking his family, finally making it possible for him to assault Rusty Venture without incurring the wrath of the Guild.
  • X Called They Want Their Y Back: Shore Leave says this to Col. Gathers. Gathers' comeback is a subversion:
    "The Village People called, and they want you to GO FUCKING KILL YOURSELF YOU PRANCING BASTARD!"
  • You Cloned Hitler: Averted and Lampshaded in the Season 4 premiere.
    Hank: Is it me, or does like every Nazi want to clone Hitler? It's like the only thing they think of!
  • You Got Murder: Lampshaded. One afternoon, Rusty is going through some old mail when he opens a large box containing a death threat from The Monarch, involving a Cobra jumping out of the box to bite him... Except not really.
  • You Know I'm Black Right Averted and parodied in "What Goes Down, Must Come Up":
    Jefferson Twilight: [To Dr. Orpheus, regarding why Orpheus doesn't want him and the Alchemist to see his master. Note that Jefferson is black.] Yeah, tell the truth. You're embarrassed of us, aren't you? It's 'cause The Alchemist's gay, isn't it?
    Doctor Orpheus: No, it's because you soiled yourself... and he's gay.
  • Youre Insane: Inverted when Phantom Limb is talking to a member of "The Revenge Society", who are all inanimate objects, in front of Guild Councilman Red Mantle (who has Councilman Dragoon's head sewn onto his shoulder) and Billy (who has been stuffed inside a potato sack):
    Billy: Why can't I hear them?
    Red Mantle: Because you are sane!
  • Zeerust: The entire Venture Compound, as well as the other Venture bases and various other elements of the show.
  • Zero Chops: Any time that Hank or Dean gets into a fistfight.

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