My 6 Favorite Venture Bros. Characters
The sad news came down yesterday that The Venture Bros. cartoon has been stealth cancelled. The creators were working on the upcoming seasons when they got word several months ago. This is a major shame because The Venture Bros. is one of the greatest cartoons of all time.
As befitting such a great show, I wanted to do a really good List of Six, but honestly, I barely remember anything about the show. I thought about doing my favorite episodes…but that would require an entire rewatch to pick them out. I thought about listing the various unsolved mysteries and storylines that will never get solved…but that would also require an entire rewatch. And we only got the news yesterday! So how about something simple, like my favorite characters from The Venture Bros!
That should be easy! Join me after the jump for my favorite characters from the show. And feel free to share your own in the comments!
6. Truckules
Truckules is not much of a character, and I’m pretty sure he only appeared in a single episode, but that is such a fun pun. The Venture Bros. had a huge cast of colorful background characters, filling out all manner of roles and gags. Something I wonder if the creators just sat around pitching silly pun character names at each other. If they did, then I consider Truckules to be their magnum opus…or at least the one that stuck with me. Great name, great outfit, great throwaway gag of a character.
5. Brown Widow
What can I say? He’s a funny Spider-Man parody who showed up in the later seasons. He seemed like a cool guy, even with the weird butt stuff.
4. Brock Samson
What’s not to love about Brock Samson? Not only is he the best ass-kicker on the show, but I especially loved his detached, “over this” attitude about it all. The guy knew how cool he was and he made it look easy, to the point that he seemed almost reluctant to be doing any of this. That attitude always tickled my pink.
3. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, formerly Dr. Girlfriend, became a really great character as the show went along. She proved to be far more interesting, far more involved and just all around better and cooler than the Monarch in pretty much every possible way. I never dug the Monarch all that much on his own, but if she was cool with him, I suppose I could be cool with him too. But watching Dr. Mrs. The Monarch really come into her own as such a badass was a great undercurrent to the whole show.
2. Hank Venture
Of the two titular Venture Bros., I like Hank more than Dean. Hank is rougher, tougher, funnier and an all around cooler dude. Dean has a lot of solid character drama, but Hank is just more fun. Plus, Hank is also the night, and that counts for a lot in my book. To think the show now ends with Dean cuckolding Hank…it’s kind of fitting, if you think about it. That level of failure and emotional disappointment was what The Venture Bros. was about.
1. Henchman 21
Best character on the show. Fight me. Henchman 21 is the inspiration for this very website! Hello! I’m Henchman-4-Hire! I cosplayed as Henchman 21 at two different comic-cons, it was awesome! I could never do the voice, but there is no more fun character on The Venture Bros. than Henchman 21! His story is my favorite across the course of the show, from a nameless henchman, to budding good guy, to Monarch’s best pal and loyal warrior; there are so many great Henchman 21 moments! He will be truly missed!
Henchman-4-Hire shall carry on his legacy!
———————-
Posted on September 9, 2020, in Cartoons, Lists of Six!, Television and tagged The Venture Bros. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Henchman-4-Hire 
I heard something interesting. Basically, it’s that HBO Max couldn’t show episodes of the show as long as it was on Cartoon Network because of a contract that gives other streaming services dibs on Cartoon Network shows.
So by cancelling the show Cartoon Network, which I believe actually still owns the show and will receive money for selling it to HBO Max, has made it available to HBO Max. That’s just a theory someone posted on the Net, but it makes sense.
And to be fair to Cartoon, seven seasons in 17 years is not a lot of output. I will say the network has been very patient. I actually wouldn’t blame them if they cancelled it because they got sick and tired of waiting years for new episodes.
But that’s me.
That does make some sense! Switching it over to HBO Max is a solid hope. From what I’ve read on the net, the previous head of Cartoon Network was a real fan of the show and gave the creators all the room they needed to work. Once he was gone, the replacements, especially after that recent merger, were no longer nearly as accommodating.