Episode - Season 2, Episode 12 (Production Code: 2-25)
First Aired - October 8, 2006
Dr. Girlfriend is with The Monarch in a seedy motel, cheating on Phantom Limb. Despite this, The Monarch remains jealous of Limb and questions Dr. Girlfriend if Limb got her pregnant. Dr. Girlfriend gets angry and tries to leave when The Monarch apologizes and asks her to marry him. Dr. Girlfriend agrees but lays out several stipulations: She is to be recognized as The Monarch's partner and equal, not his "#2." Also, The Monarch must stop tormenting Dr. Venture. Reluctantly, The Monarch agrees.
Later, the Cocoon is trashed, and the henchmen are hungover following The Monarch's bachelor party. To their horror, they realize that in their drunken stupor, they managed to capture the entire Venture family who are being held in a holding cell.
The Monarch is at Phantom Limb's place to pick up Dr. Girlfriend's (who he now calls Dr. Fiancée) belongings. Limb chats with The Monarch as he hunts in his backyard. The targets are shown to be The Monarch's former prison buddies. Limb guns down Mr. Monday, Dr. Septapus, and White Noise in quick succession. Limb then reveals that he had used Tiny Attorney to win their appeals, and then dispatches of Tiny Attorney in the same fashion. He then turns the gun on The Monarch, saying that he can have Dr. Girlfriend's belongings, but that Limb will have his revenge.
The Order of the Triad is battling Torrid in a magical realm, with Torrid having stolen the "All-Seeing Orb," a giant eyeball. After some initial struggles, the Order works together to defeat Torrid and recover the orb. However, the team is embarrassed with their poor performance and Orpheus chalks it up to a lack of practice. They agree to meet back at his house to train.
Back at the Cocoon, The Monarch returns and is horrified to find that his henchmen have captured the Venture family. He admits that he is impressed and asks why they could never do this before in the 10 years of trying. 21 explains that they got the jump on Brock Samson while he was getting a tattoo (with predictable casualties) and, with him captured, realized the Ventures were easy prey. Dr. Girlfriend enters and is infuriated upon seeing the Venture family after The Monarch promised not to arch them anymore. She threatens to call off the wedding but The Monarch, thinking quickly, says that he asked Dr. Venture to be his best man as a show of good faith and they are only in the cell because of Hank's curiosity. Dr. Girlfriend accepts the explanation and gives The Monarch a long kiss before going to get dressed. Dr. Venture notices that she kisses him in the same way "Charlene," (from an earlier episode,) kissed Dr. Venture.
Phantom Limb is communicating with the Sovereign of the Guild, who informs Limb that his request for vengeance against The Monarch has been denied. The Sovereign explains that the Guild cannot authorize such a request simply because Limb "got dumped." The Sovereign lets it slip that he "has a wedding to get to" before ending the transmission. The camera angle switches to reveal that Limb is set to defy the Sovereign, having amassed an attack squadron of Guild Wasps and Strangers.
The Monarch, 21, and 24 show the Venture family around the Cocoon after they agree to go along with the wedding. Brock and The Monarch trade barbs while questioning each other's sexuality; Brock also questions Dr. Girlfriends femininity (still believing her to be a transsexual.) Hank and 21 argue about the life of a henchman and Hank's clothing choices. Dean pesters 24 with questions about the Cocoon. Dr. Venture, meanwhile, slips away to find Dr. Girlfriend in her underwear preparing for her wedding. He begins hitting on her while Dr. Girlfriend explains that she was only doing her duty on a mission for the Monarch as "Charlene."
The Alchemist arrives at Orpheus' place dressed in a Hawaiian shirt with a six-pack of beer. He wants to start drinking, but Orpheus says it's only noon and Jefferson doesn't drink. Alchemist then temps Jefferson with a pack of Nik-L-Nips, sugar water that comes in bottle-shaped wax containers. Later, Jefferson is passed out from drinking all the Nik-L-Nips while it is revealed that the trio managed to summon Nien Numb from a Star Wars trading card. Alchemist asks Orpheus if he really thought he could get a bunch of middle aged guys to take the magic superhero team seriously, saying that the team chasing the same guy is completely gay. Orpheus says that he thought they could but is interrupted when his magical amulet begins glowing. Orpheus tells him that the amulet warns that the Venture family is in trouble and there is going to be great destruction and death coming. Orpheus assumes Al isn't interested, but Al says that's the kind of thing he is interested in helping with. They, Nien Numb, and a passed out Jefferson prepare to go save the Ventures.
Hank and 21 are in 21's room, arguing over the contents of 21's closet, which is full of toys. 21 calls them collectables, but soon the two start playing with them. 21 gives Hank an old costume of his (which is what the Monarch henchmen wore in the pilot episode,) to wear to the wedding, which is appropriate as it will be attended by mostly supervillains. Hank takes a goatee off of one of 21's toys and wears it, pretending to be a Russian supervillain. The disguise proves useful, as Hank ends up seated next to Sgt. Hatred, who Hank claims previously "bad touched" him. He converses with Hatred and Hatred's wife, Princess Tinyfeet.
24, tired of Dean's (now wearing a standard Monarch henchman uniform) pestering, allows him to go "explore" the Cocoon, warning him not to touch anything. When Dean gets to the engine room, an actual Monarch henchman gives Dean a read out of the Cocoon's radar, revealing that Phantom Limb's forces are in route, to take to The Monarch. Instead, Dean gets distracted by all of the neat stuff in the engine room and does not deliver the report.
As guests are arriving for the wedding, Brock ushers them to their seats. David Bowie then arrives (with his bodyguards, Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop) and, after an exchange with Brock who has a past with Bowie, reveals that he is there to give the bride away. Dr. Killinger performs the wedding ceremony but before Dr. Girlfriend can say "I do," Phantom Limb appears on the monitor. He announces that if The Monarch doesn't turn over Dr. Girlfriend, he will destroy the Cocoon and all inside.
Tropes:
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Sgt. Hatred makes his first speaking appearance here, with a different voice and build than he would later sport.
- Fake Russian: Invoked by Hank, who fakes this accent (poorly) in disguise.
- Hangover Sensitivity: 21 and 24 the morning after the bachelor party.
- Huge Holographic Head: How the Sovereign communicates to his Guild operatives.
- Multi-Part Episode: The first one in the series. Since then, each season has ended with a two-part episode.
- Noodle Incident: Brock mentions a past run in with David Bowie through gritted teeth and a twitchy eye.
- Not Quite Starring / No Celebrities Were Harmed: A disclaimer pops up on the screen when David Bowie is introduced letting the audience know that his voice is impersonated. Bowie is otherwise portrayed as the real David Bowie at least until Season 5, when we learn that he is merely a shapeshifter impersonating Bowie. Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop are likewise implied to be real (despite Nomi being dead in real life).
- Not What It Looks Like: Dr. Fiancé sees the Venture family in a holding cell and assumes that The Monarch broke his promise to not obsess over him. In actuality his henchmen captured them when they were drunk.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Hank in an old Monarch consume and a fake mustache. Completely fools Sgt. Hatred.
- Profound by Pop Song: During the ceremony, Dr. Venture (who has long had a crush on Dr. Girlfriend), serving as "best man", quotes "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield, specifically "I wanna tell her that I love her... but, that point is probably moot." The Monarch immediately calls him out on it.
- Shout-Out: See Part II
- Stinger: Due to the episode being the first of a two-parter, this is the first episode that does not have a post-credits stinger.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The diabetic Jefferson Twilight goes into a sugar coma from drinking too many Nik-L-Nips.
