Thaddeus S. Venture | |
---|---|
The Venture Bros. character | |
Dr. Venture, Opening Title Card | |
First appearance |
The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay |
Last appearance |
Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart |
Voiced by |
James Urbaniak |
Information | |
Nickname(s) |
Rust Doc Rus Chairman |
Aliases |
Rusty Venture T.S. Venture Dr. Venture |
Occupation | Super-Scientist |
Relatives |
Lloyd Venture (great-grandfather) unnamed paternal grandfather Jonas Venture, Sr. (father; deceased) An unknown mother Thaddeus Venture (genetic template) Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr. (twin brother; deceased) Hank Venture (son) Dean Venture (son) Dermott Fictel (illegitimate son) The Monarch (modified clone/"brother") |
Notable characteristics |
Self-proclaimed "super-genius" Endless amount of cynicism Amphetamine addiction |
Current Alliances |
Team Venture Venture Industries Venture Techno Industries Brock Samson (bodyguard) |
Prior Alliances |
Hector Molina (forgotten childhood friend) Myra Brandish (former bodyguard, lover, and childcare provider) Original Team Venture Professor Impossible (former instructor and think tank supervisor) |
Enemies |
Baron Werner Ünderbheit Cult of Osiris Haranguetan (Wide Wale licensee, deceased) Mike Sorayama (deceased) The Monarch (would-be main archenemy, and by extension the Fluttering Horde and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch) Monstroso (hired by the Monarch to cheat Venture out of his wealth but cheated them both, deceased) Myra Brandish (stalker and frequent kidnapper of the boys) Otaku Senzuri Phantom Limb (and, by extension, The Revenge Society) Professor Impossible (Dr. V turned Sally Impossible against him) Sri Lankan Devil Bird (assigned by the Guild, deceased) Think Tank (Wide Wale licensee, deceased) Wes Warhammer (Wide Wale licensee, deceased) Wide Wale (current holder and license granter of the arching rights to Dr. V.) |
College Fraternity |
Gamma Psi Delta |
Dr. Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture (born April 30 1960) (voiced by James Urbaniak) is the main protagonist of The Venture Bros. He is the son of late super-scientist Dr. Jonas Venture, Sr. and the older twin brother of the late Jonas Venture Jr.. His family has a long history of super science and their legacy has impacted much of the super hero and villain world. He is also the father of the Venture twins, Hank and Dean, as well as Dermott Fictel. He is voiced by James Urbaniak.
Personality
Ostensibly a super-scientist, Dr. Venture's childhood left him scarred, emotionally insecure, apathetic, cynical, stressed out, and addicted to pills. He lives - and is effectively trapped - in the shadow of his famous father, Dr. Jonas Venture Sr., an incredibly renowned and universally respected genius in virtually every field of science and engineering who built a space station, fought diseases, solved mysteries, and is usually indirectly linked to most of the advanced technology on the show. Dr. Rusty Venture, however, is a sad failure of a man in every fashion, crushed under the weight of the expectations placed upon him by his father, who, thanks to his abuse and neglect throughout his youth, imprisoned him with crippling feelings of inadequacy and self-imposed incompetence caused by intense sloth.
Despite being the protagonist of the show, Rusty is extremely entitled and a narcissist, believing he deserves better than his fate, and often is prone to bouts of overconfidence when he believes he has the upper hand. Often this backfires as his arrogance and ego prevents from him from taking the advice of anyone, even if it is for his own good. He is a prisoner not only of his circumstances but of his own myopic behavior brought on by the lack of parenting he received as a child and the near constant horrors he encounters daily life such as mutant monsters, seeing his friends, family, and henchmen being injured and killed, himself getting brutally injured, and constantly being threatened attacked by the various supervillains, especially The Monarch who is his archenemy.
Despite the pride with which he wears his title, Dr. Venture is in fact not a doctor of anything; as first revealed in The Incredible Mr. Brisby, he never finished his education at State University, leaving after the death of his father. His "doctorate" is an honorary degree from a Tijuana community college,[1] which is occasionally brought up by those in the know to spite him.
Despite his ineptitude, lack of formal education, and technical training, Rusty has shown to have a talent in science, is a capable inventor, and has proven capable of building incredible feats of technology and engineering. In the second episode, Dia de los Dangerous!, he was able to jerry-rig his robot servant H.E.L.P.eR. into a portable dialysis machine, and has built several kinds of robots including a "walking eye", and multiple new chassis models for H.E.L.P.eR. Other accomplishments include shields for a space station, a nuclear-powered, impenetrable force field, a fully operational clone farm which he used to clone his dead sons, and even the reanimation of the dead. However, a recurring theme in his work is that he cuts corners and is very amoral and unethical; he often shows no qualms about sacrificing human lives in order to achieve his goals, such as the time he used an orphan's heart to power his Joy Can invention, or when he exposed his college interns to deadly amounts of radiation and did not care when they started to mutate and die. As a result, problems almost inevitably arise and mayhem ensues. This prevents him from living up to his father's legacy as his upbringing has left him in a self-sabotaging state due to his fear of failure and a sense of inadequacy.
Rusty has few friends outside of his bodyguard, Brock Samson, his tenant Dr. Byron Orpheus, Billy Quizboy and Pete White. His caustic, egocentric personality, and his lack of self-awareness, turns off and away most people from him, as it also prevents him from having romantic and sexual relationships with women. Throughout the series he gains more friends and allies such as the The Pirate Captain and Sergeant Hatred, but he ultimately remains highly insular, distrustful, and outright disdainful of most people.
A recurring theme throughout the show is his feelings for his sons. While he is too self-absorbed to consider his children the most important thing in his life (as discovered by Dr. Orpheus when he entered his psyche to rid him of possession by The Monarch), and often he seems to resent them, he does value them deeply—taking steps to protect them from physical or psychological harm and ensuring their education. This includes a panic room attached via a chute to each of their beds, as well as a massive cloning operation used to remake the boys when they suffer fatal accidents. While utterly blasé about the cloning of his children, this stems from the fact that Rusty considers the clones to be the ultimate way to protect the boys from harm, and to shield them from the worst consequences of the Venture lifestyle. He even goes so far as to throw “birthday parties” for each new pair of clones after they’ve been fully awakened.
While he tends to prefer Dean, the more intelligent twin, to the point where he actively grooms and forces him to be the successor of his "legacy" of super-science, Hank’s brash and curious demeanor reminds Dr. Venture of his childhood self and his days as a boy adventurer—and thus he tries to allow Hank to develop on his own. It becomes clear as the series progresses that Rusty truly loves and cares for his sons, although, because of the severe emotional damage from his own father, he does not often show it. Ironically Rusty is a much better parent to his sons than his own father ever was to him. Despite his flippant attitude toward many of his sons’ concerns, Rusty consciously treats them better than his own father treated him. He home-schools the boys to ensure their safety, and often entertains many of their childish whims. He also sincerely (albeit awkwardly and with varying degrees of success) attempts to impart life lessons into them—although, considering the state of Rusty's own life, this advice may or may not be particularly valid. When he learned that Dermott Fictel was his son as well, he was initially dismayed, but he grudgingly accepted him. Rather than keep Dermott away, Rusty regularly lets him hang out at the compound and treats him like he would his other sons by giving him chores and attempting to discipline him. After he realized that Dermott found out, he was shocked and could only look after him in silence. After moving to New York, Rusty helped Dermott with his O.S.I application.
His emotional scarring, drug addiction, lack of confidence, failure as a scientist, and insecurities can all be traced almost exclusively to his treatment at the hands of his father. As a child he was forced along on dangerous missions by the original Team Venture. Several times he was forced to kill men with his own hands: once by his father who made Rusty use a house key for the deed, and another on the insistence of Colonel Gentleman, when Rusty’s father was taken captive and being tortured.
In fact, many of the traumatizing incidents that occurred during Rusty’s childhood were inflicted by those close to him. One example being that, for an unknown amount of time, the Action Man would wake Rusty up in the morning by putting an unloaded gun to his head and pulling the trigger. According to Dr. Venture, he could “still feel the cold of the barrel” and the snap of the trigger making his teeth rattle, even decades later. His constant exposure to violence and horror, even in his own home, numbed him to the point that watching a man melt in front of his eyes leaves him completely unfazed. It seems to have also instilled in him a disregard for human life and the laws of nature as he runs experiments on animals and humans when he isn't stopped.
While his traumatic upbringing gives a sympathetic explanation to his behavior, he shows recognition that his childhood is the result of his behavior uses it as an excuse to justify his selfish actions, shift blame and avoid responsibility. Likely from a sense of entitlement to be compensated for his unfortunate life.
As the series progresses, he has made some self discoveries both good and bad that have helped him grow somewhat as a person and overcome at least the worst of the emotional damage his father and his life has relentlessly inflicted. He has come to see that he is not a complete failure and loser like drug addicted Johnny Quest or the former Wonder Boy. He has come to appreciate the family he has built and the fact that, as sad as his business is, it is still his business, which miraculously keeps afloat. He has also discovered how envious he truly is of his brother and this realization haunts him. Despite his personality and life of failure, he has gathered a group of family and friends around him who truly care about him and his sons. Together they form an unconventional, but still loving family that manages to survive and overcome the crazed and violent world of super science.
By season seven he is showing much more leadership both in his company and as a super scientist even leading the second meeting of the OSI and The Guild. His invention of the teleporter could be considered his greatest achievement to date. He also takes charge in saves New York City from a weather machine, and capably pilots his brother'sVentronic super-robot.
Character History
Rusty Venture, the Boy Adventurer
Thaddeus Venture was born to Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. and an unknown mother. He was born a twin, but he devoured it in utero, causing a fetiform teratoma to grow inside of him. He would be haunted by terrifying dreams of eating a baby until the teratoma became sentient and formed a tumor.
Thaddeus would be given the nickname "Rusty" due to his copper-rust hair, and went on adventures with his father and his team of superheroes, Team Venture. Their adventures were serialized in a TV show which became a popular and successful commercial franchise and a staple of pop culture with products such as comic books, toys, a summer science camp, and even a float at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Rusty was idolized by children worldwide as a hero including many important people later in his life such as Billy Quizboy and Nikki Fictel, the mother of one of his sons who owned a Rusty Venture fan club.
On the surface, his life seemed exciting, but in reality, he was constantly under threat from the brutal violence of the super villains and their super-science, as well as almost entirely isolated from other children with the exception a Mexican child named Hector who became his only childhood friend. Only the H.E.L.P.eR. robot remained consistently there for him through it all. The horror, violence, and casual death imbued him with a deep and severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder that only now has begun to recede.
Furthermore, despite his dashing heroic attitude and image, Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. turned out to be a bad father with no serious concern for the welfare of Rusty. Instead of properly and formerly educating or mentoring Rusty, he invented a learning bed to simply put Rusty in most of the time. He would sneak away, not listen, and even scolded Rusty as "ungrateful". He once also abandoned Rusty near the Greek island of Spanakos in order to attend the wedding of Jacqueline Onassis. When he was kidnapped by the island's natives, Jonas ignored their threats and didn't respond for a week, leaving the natives to take care of him. As Rusty reached puberty, the rest of Team Venture began viciously hazing him. For example, the Action Man would wake Rusty up by pointing an unloaded gun at Rusty's head and fire, saying "Not today, Rust." This culminated in Rusty's 16th birthday party, where Dr. Venture Sr. invited beautiful models and actually hired prostitutes for the party, and Team Venture pulled down his pants and shrank his penis in front of the crowd of women. While he eventually came to terms with the "good" part of his childhood - that he was an incredible boy adventurer who did amazing things, he overall hates his childhood, and deep down resent his father and the original Team Venture for what they did to him.
At some as-yet-unspecified point in his childhood, the original Rusty died. The current Dr. Venture is a clone of this original created by his father as a replacement.
College Years
Rusty left home to attend State University, where he met his future enemy Baron Ünderbheit and his friend Pete White. He was a member of Gamma Psi Delta, the same fraternity that his father had pledged. He was in one of Professor Impossible's science classes, which he would have failed if not for the D that Impossible gave him out of pity when Rusty's father died. He later shared a room with Brock Samson, until Brock killed a member of the football team and went on a rampage assaulting Rusty, Pete, Ünderbheit, and Mike Sorayama. Brock would apologize the morning after, then bluntly inform him his father died. Rusty then dropped out to take over Venture Industries and did not finish his degree. Rusty was blamed for an explosion in a school lab that blew off Ünderbheit's jaw. However, it was The Monarch who actually placed the bomb in an attempt to murder Rusty, who was Ünderbheit's lab partner.
Adult Life
After leaving college, Rusty took his father's place as head of Venture Industries, which quickly fell into ruin. The OSI assigned Myra Brandish as Rusty's bodyguard as part of Operation Rusty's Blanket, a mission designed both to protect him and the ORB. At this point, The Monarch began to attack Rusty frequently, but Myra thwarted him every time. Rusty and Myra soon grew closer and ended up sleeping together. Rusty eventually lost interest in Myra and began to leave the compound without telling her, causing her to have a mental breakdown as she had grown obsessive and possessive of Rusty. Bobbi St. Simone had approached Rusty to help remove her invisibility powers that his father gave her. Instead, he transferred her invisibility powers to her daughter, Debbi St. Simone, in exchange for her eggs which he would ultimately fertilize to create two twin boys. Rusty named his twin sons Hank and Dean Venture. Meanwhile, Myra had completely snapped and was taken away by the O.S.I. Around the same time Pete White showed up at the Venture Compound with a young Billy Quizboy looking for work, but they were quickly turned away.Myra was then replaced by Brock Samson. Rusty gave him a tour of the compound, including his cloning facility. At some point in the past both his sons died, forcing Rusty to clone them to bring them back.
A few years after Hank and Dean were born, Rusty fathered Dermott with Nikki Fictel, the president of his fan club who told him she was 20 when she was actually 15. Nikki's mother refused to let Rusty be involved with Nikki and their child's life, threatening to make the incident public unless he paid child support and never saw Nikki again. Despite his legitimate desire to support Nikki and the child, Rusty agreed to her terms, and a result did not know his other son until Dermott was in his teens.
Later Life
By the time of the pilot and first season, Rusty and Venture Industries was in dire financial straits. In order to make ends meet, he rented out a portion of the Venture compound to Dr. Orpheus and his daughter Triana. He also invented all kind of machines in a desperate attempt to win military contracts and sold them to anyone willing to buy such as the Oo-Ray, which basically was just a death ray, and the Joy Can. He went back to the Tijuana Community College that gave him an honorary degree just to make some money teaching classes. He attempted to sell cloning technology to Roy Brisby, but changed his mind after Brisby insulted him. He even had a yard sale, selling his inventions and equipment to anyone who wanted them including many of the supervillains that arched him. The teratoma that had became sentient and formed a tumor would turn out to be his twin brother who attacked and attempted to kill Rusty out of revenge. He prevented Brock from killing his brother and allowed him to start a new life with half of Venture Industries as a gift and was named Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr., or "JJ" for short. JJ, so happy to Rusty for sparing his life and for giving him so much, wanted to be his partner and worked with him for a time. However, JJ proved more capable than his twin, and completed the majority of Thaddeus' contract work with the government. He also built the X-X-1, an improved version of his father's X-1 jet plane. This annoyed Rusty, who in a jealous and resentful fit, effectively pushed him out of the compound to Spider-Skull Island and never welcomed him back.
Throughout later seasons, Rusty goes on many adventures, with him getting caught up in many situations mostly dealing with his self-proclaimed enemy The Monarch. His sons frequent deaths and stupid mistakes cause him no end of trouble, although at the start of season two, the deaths of the latest Hank and Dean clones seemed to have affected him profoundly to the point where he quit being a super-scientist. He wandered around the world trying to find himself until he was forcibly brought back to work by Brock. Seasons 3-4 saw all of the clones killed and the cloning chamber destroyed, making him a bit more careful and concerned and slightly less nonchalant about Hank and Dean's lives.
The fourth season had Rusty discover that he had a third son Dermott Fictel, and he lets him hang out at the compound with Hank and Dean and treats him the same as the others. He would also write his own hit musical that he would abandon after a more successful version of himself from an alternative timeline deterred him from doing so. The episode Assisted Suicide, provides a look into Rusty's psyche after The Monarch puts him in a coma. It introduces his Id, which manifests as Rusty in his childhood, wearing Roman garb and a golden crown of laurels and a harem of every woman he has ever desired such as Dr. Mrs Monarch, Dr Quymn, Sally Impossible, Molotov Cocktease and many others; Ego, which manifests as a dejected middle-aged Rusty who futilely works on a puppet of himself like Geppetto; and Superego a burly manifestation of Rusty as he wishes to see himself: physically imposing, with a full head of hair, no glasses and confidence evocative of his father. Meanwhile, the Monarch's tamperings inside Dr. Venture opens the floodgates of Venture's horrific past, revealing more of his traumatic childhood and the horrible memories of all Hank and Dean's deceased clones.
In the season 4 finale Operation P.R.O.M., he, along with his friends, have a special prom night for Hank and Dean. He invites local prostitutes and attempts to seduce them by offering a "Rusty Venture," unaware that, according to The Alchemist and Shoreleave, it is a horrific sex act originating in the gay community in the 1980s. Al and Shoreleave debate what kind of act it actually is, eventually calling up Colonel Gentleman and then Watch and Ward for help that neither source can provide. The others around the room begin debating it as well. Frustrated, Rusty doses all of the prostitutes with his specially engineered strain of Spanish Fly which makes them actually turn into horrific mutant flies.
In What Color is Your Cleansuit?, J.J. tasks Rusty to help him build Ray Shields for the new Gargantua-2 space station. Due to his usual ineptitude, Rusty fell behind schedule. In a rushed panic, he starts the Palaemon Project and hires an army of student interns from State University to assist in building the project while setting aside a few students that he keeps as personal slaves around his quarters. After a few more weeks working with the ray shields, the students start to slowly mutate due to the high radiation levels of the shield's capacitors, but Rusty does not mind or care. After the mutants begin to kill each other and other humans and plot to take over the world, Rusty is forced on an "antidote" to cure the mutants (which he describes as a combination of roofies and antibiotics) which works as far as reversing the mutations.
In All This and Gargantua-2, Rusty and the family visits the new Gargantua-2 space station that is up and running. Rusty tempers his bitter and jealous feelings towards J.J. aside when he tells Rusty that he is dying of cancer. When the space station is attacked and damaged, Rusty and Dean with the knowledge of the Ray Shields they built, repair them and save the lives of everyone on the station enough for him and everyone else to escape before it exploded.
In Season 6, Rusty finally gets the break he'd been waiting for after J.J.'s death as he had left him billions of dollars, VenTech Industries, and it's New York headquarters in his will. Upon moving to New York, he fires all of the the staff and goes on a spending spree. However, this choice came with consequences as he later learned that his firing of the staff led to the company stock price tanking, losing millions of dollars as a result. Dr. Venture then tasks his new staff, The Pirate Captain who he makes as his COO, Pete White, and Billy Quizboy to move the company away from consumer products in order to focus purely on inventions and super-science. However he winds up taking Dean's advice to continue the corporation's normal operations and instead sets up a new department to continue his super-science.
In Season 7, his penthouse began to have problems, as he believed it was hackers, while his family and Brock thought it was possessed. With the help of Dr. Orpheus and The Order of the Triad, they find that the Problem machine that had been on his father's Gargantua-1 space station that JJ had recovered and installed in the building was revealed to have the disembodied head of his father Jonas Venture Sr.. Rusty was shocked to learn that his father was really alive and just in a comatose state. After Pete White had attacked the machine, Jonas began to destroy the building. During Arrears in Science, Rusty begged his father to not destroy the building. After he was calmed by The Blue Morpho, who appeared seeking Jonas. Rusty had learned the truth about the Problem Machine and Jonas through Team Venture and was angry at not being told the whole time. Rusty spoke to his father for the first time in twenty years through his wrist communicator and the latter wanted him to clone a new body for him after he takes Vendata's body as a temporary substitute to which Rusty refused. Rusty and the Monarch were launched in the air by Jonas who was fighting the The Blue Morpho and witnessed the Jonas and the Morpho destroy each other. Effectively watching his father die for the second time.
After that incident, between repairing the building from the damage Jonas caused it, cleaning up from the Gargantua-2 disaster, and its falling stock price due to the fact that Rusty had not created anything useful, VenTech was facing bankruptcy. However, Rusty had made the biggest, most significant, and most successful breakthrough of his career: the invention of a working teleportation device. This did not sit well with the O.S.I. and the US Government that felt that such a device would be a threat to the economy, so they attempted to trick Rusty into giving it to them by using virtual reality, but the Guild of Calamitous Intent stole it from him instead. The Guild then used the teleporter to kidnap Rusty back to Meteor Majeure as part of the Saphrax Protocol to induct The Monarch as an elite villain where he learned that he and The Monarch are brothers.
By Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, Rusty is more concerned with saving Ventech Industries from bankruptcy with the product launch of the Helper Pod than he is about finding Hank and learning that he and The Monarch are related. After he got launched into space by Mantilla controlling the HelperPods, he manages to return the Ventech building safely back to Earth using Ventronic to put it right back on the old Venture Compound, preventing a catastrophe. He also learns from Ben that he and the Monarch are more direct clones than they are brothers.
Relationship with Other Characters
Family
Jonas Venture
Is Rusty's father. For many years he was brought along many of his father's adventures and sometimes had experiments tested on him. Jonas was shown to be very neglectful and showed no concern to how much danger his son was in or the impact such terrors had on a young mind. In Spanakopita!, while he does beat up the men who kidnapped his son, Jonas was at fault for leaving his child unattended for days while he went to a wedding. Intentional or not, Jonas was known to be very narcissistic and egotistical, something that was reflected in how he raised Rusty. It was also suggested in The Inamorata Consequence, Jonas had cloned his son several times, similar to Thaddeus' way of Hank and Dean. Rusty may not be aware of this, since he was confused by Dean's words on this matter.
Jonas was mainly responsible for instilling trauma within Rusty which corresponds with how Rusty raised his own boys. One example was when Jonas attempted to perform therapy on Rusty. However, instead of listening to his son or caring about how he felt, he snuck out of the room and appeared at the end of the session just in time to rebuke his son's problems and called him ungrateful for the opportunities given to him. Another example was when Jonas threw a "swingers" party at his home, where instead of having Rusty at another place, he held the party only rooms away from Rusty and Tara Quymm.
The last time the two spoke was during Rusty's first days in college. Rusty was complaining about his time there so far and Jonas can be seen on the watch communicator having a party while talking to his son. Later, Rusty is told by Brock that while he was in the nurse's office his dad died, leaving Rusty quite shocked at the news.
Despite hostile feelings he had for his father, Rusty still had some form of respect for him as in ORB, he admitted aloud to Billy that while his father was a terrible parent, he was a great scientist. He seemed to care about him as in Twenty Years to Midnight, when an alien disguised as his father appeared he begged him to stay thinking that it was his father but was upset after learning the truth. In Self-Medication, Thaddeus stated while he may have resented his father he never wanted to hurt him (in contrast to Lance Hale and Dale Hale), showing that he loved him in spite of his faults.
In The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem, Thaddeus was shocked to find his father's disembodied but still living head connected to a machine. He was horrified that Team Venture withheld this from him and his father's state. However, he was shocked that Jonas regained consciousness and called out to him and he was amazed at this, before he was forced to run away.
During Arrears in Science, Thaddeus begged his father to not destroy the building. After he was calmed, he learned more truth of his father's death and was still angry at not being told. Later on, Thaddeus spoke to his father for the first time in twenty years through his wrist watch and the latter wanted him to clone a new body for him after he takes Vendata's body as a temporary substitute. Thaddeus seemed shocked to speak with him after so long and was unsure of his plan, before he was launched with The Monarch and Vendata through the streets. After Vendata and Jonas were incapacitated, Thaddeus kept his father's head, while wishing he could see the parade though stated he was dead but begrudgingly gave the head to the O.S.I.
Jonas Venture Jr.
Is Thaddeus' younger twin brother who he ate while in the womb forty years ago. For several years, Thaddeus had subconscious memories of the event but always passed it off as nightmares. He also took many prescriptions to help him keep his mind intact from these supposed delusions.
However, Jonas Jr. managed to survive all that time and when emerged he tried to kill Thaddeus who was surprised at the revelation of having a brother before realizing he was the root of his nightmares while the latter showed nothing but contempt and vengeance against his brother even declaring to Thaddeus "You stole my life from me! Well guess what Rusty, I'm taking yours and claiming my birthright. The Venture empire is mine !!!". In the end, J.J. was defeated and was about to be killed by Brock, but Thaddeus (in a rare moment of compassion) stopped him. He accepted J.J. as his "brother", and in an attempt to make amends for trapping him for over four decades, gave him Spider-Skull Island and half of Venture Industries.
However, Rusty's attitude towards, J.J. changes dramatically after he sees J.J. inventing many great new and profitable products and fulfilling the world's expectations for the son of Jonas Venture Sr. By the beginning of the second season, Thaddeus had begun treating J.J. with the same contempt he displays for nearly everyone else. J.J., however, appears to ignore his brother's scorn and wanted to partner up with him on adventures. Calling themselves the latest new Team Venture. Considering that to be the last straw, Rusty pushes J.J. out and away from the compound to Spider-Skull Island.
While jealousy and bitterness do drive a wedge between the brothers, it appears that they do not completely despise one another. In, Now Museum-Now You Don't, when J.J. builds a museum dedicated to their father Jonas on Spider-Skull Island, he acknowledges and pays tribute to Rusty in a heartwarming and heartfelt way.
In All This and Gargantua-2, J.J. privately confides with Rusty that he has cancer and was dying, which shocked Thaddeus who held him tightly. During the crisis of the station, Thaddeus joined J.J. and Dean in the Team Venture handshake. In his final moments, J.J. happily bid his brother farewell before sacrificing himself. During his funeral, J.J. wills Rusty Venture Techno Industries and his entire multi-billion dollar fortune.
In Hostile Makeover, when hearing a recording of J.J.'s voice on Dean's phone; Rusty went into complete silence and told Dean "too soon" showing he respected his brother.
Henry Allen "Hank" Venture
Is Rusty's son, and throughout most of the show, the two are constantly at odds with each other mostly due to him favoring Dean over Hank, and over Hank's personality and behavior as a whole. As a result, Rusty is harsher on Hank than he is to Dean. Demanding that Hank get a job and earn a living and his own way in the world, even after they become rich and move to New York, and does not seem to be controlling his life as much he does Dean's.
Despite this, he does seem to care about Hank as in Ice Station - Impossible!, he attempts to protect the latter from being possibly shot by Richard Impossible. In Mid-Life Chrysalis, while suffering from a mutation he attempts to get Hank to shoot him should he try and harm him and Dean in his mutated caterpillar form.
During Any Which Way But Zeus, Hank and Sgt. Hatred pretend to hold Dr. Venture hostage and mistakenly call out Dean's name. Hearing this, Dr. Venture screams out to take him instead of Dean which shocks both Hatred and Hank. This causes Hank to reveal that they kidnapped him as well but Thaddeus states they can do whatever they want to him. This revelation causes Hank to become depressed, and before administering "torture" to his father, he asks why Thaddeus loves Dean more than Hank. Thaddeus rebuffs this statement by saying he does love Hank and says he only told them to torture Hank because he knows Hank is tough, like himself, and could endure the torture. Thaddeus explains that Hank, like Thaddeus, didn't want to be what his father wanted either and he is in fact proud of his son's resistance. After this, Hank understood that his father deeply loves and cares for him.
His care is shown again, in Venture Libre where he is shown worried when he asks Hatred if he contacted to which Hatred states dead, causing Thaddeus to worry until he mentions it was his wrist watch relieving him.
During Season 6, Rusty frequently gets upset with Hank for spending too much money on shopping, threatening to cut him off financially, and reiterating his demand that he finds a job before being pleased he did. In the latter seasons, he becomes more and more estranged to Hank to where he did not visit Hank when he was in a coma, and in Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, is dismissive and uncaring towards Hank's disappearance. However, he did put in some effort to search and did not financially cut Hank off, allowing the latter to purchase things.
Dean Venture
Is Rusty's son, who he sees as his favorite and actively grooms to be the heir of the Venture family super-science legacy. Much to the chagrin and resistance of Dean, Rusty continues to insist on doing so to the point of outright forcing him to accept a life of super-science. To that end Rusty took Dean to the mall as a birthday present to buy him his first "speed suit" -- which turned out to be an identical version of the short-sleeved jumpsuit his father habitually wears except Dean's is red. In the episode Perchance to Dean, when Dr. Venture, after deciding Dean's "clock was ticking" after Dean lost some of his hair, decides to start Dean's super-science training, giving him access to his "Egg": a chair in which he listens to progressive rock records for inspiration. He also gives Dean his very own miniature lab in the panic room, to keep him from distractions. Dean takes to both and tries to grow his hair back, only to think he accidentally cloned himself (it was actually a mentally deranged clone of him that was rejected by his father; see below). Also in Every Which Way But Zeus, when Rusty is supposedly kidnapped and Hatred accidentally mumbled Dean's name, Rusty was quick to tell them to take him instead of Dean showing concern for his son.
After finding out he was a clone, Dean adopted a more rebellious and sarcastic personality which caused him to distance himself from Rusty. This however, did not deter Rusty from his plans to make Dean a super scientist and take over the Venture legacy. In All This and Gargantua-2, Dean has mostly mended his relationship with his father, even managing to encourage the latter in the space station's darkest hour. In return, Thaddeus was very proud and impressed with Dean's quick thinking and intelligence which ended up saving the space station.
Rusty wants Dean to get a university degree in science and tries to enroll him in State University as a legacy admission, but to no avail after the University reminds him that since he did not graduate, he can't do a legacy admission as they thought they were dealing with JJ. After Dean gets admitted into Stuyvesant University, Rusty agrees to pay for all of his tuition and expenses and even gives him a blank check book to spend on whatever he wants and didn't seem to care when he gave The Monarch $1 million dollars.
During Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, he and Dean searched for Hank after he ran away. Dean gets very frustrated and upset at Rusty's uncaring and nonchalant attitude towards Hank's disappearance. At the end, Rusty tells Dean when he still voiced that he never found his mother, he doesn't know his own mother and Dean should be happy with the abnormal family he has, something Dean acknowledged.
Dermott Fictel
Dermott is Thaddeus' illegitimate son born from a sexual encounter with Nikki Fictel. Before Dermott was born, Thaddeus attempted to be in his life, but was forbidden by Nikki's mother Margaret who was furious at Thaddeus for sleeping with her underage daughter and threatened to call the cops. Thaddeus never saw Dermott grow up, which led to him failing to know who he was years later when the now teenage Dermott showed up in The Buddy System. Initially, Thaddeus thought of Dermott as a hooligan but allowed him to come to the compound and associate with his sons. Dermott reacts indifferently when interacting with Thaddeus. It is shown in the beginning of the Jacket special, that Thaddeus seems to believe Dermott is Brock's son but by the end he eventually deduces his parentage by recognizing Dermott's last name and estimating his age, whereupon he quickly ends the interview.
For most of season 5, whenever Dermott is at the Venture Compound, Thaddeus, now aware of their relationship, treats him exactly how he treats his other sons Hank and Dean, though without revealing the details of their relationship. A notable example is in the A Very Venture Halloween special, where Venture is seen trying to discipline him at the beginning of the episode stating "I have my reasons" when Dr. Orpheus notes on how Doc is hard on Dermott. In Momma's Boys, it is shown Thaddeus gives Dermott chores whenever he comes over, which irritates the latter who wants to know the reason. Dermott eventually learns who his real father is from Dr. Orpheus and while that was happening, Rusty in a death bed confession contest confirms his knowledge by telling Sergeant Hatred "Hank's friend Dermott-- that's my illegitimate son". At the end of the episode, Dermott shocks Thaddeus, Hank, and Dean by calling Dr. Venture "Dad". Maybe the open admission of their father-son status will essentially change their relationship.
When the Ventures move to New York City, Dermott is not seen again until the Season 7 episode The Inamorata Consequence, where it is revealed that Thaddeus has pulled some strings to get Dermott a position as a private in the O.S.I. on the condition he does not reveal their illegitimate father-son relationship to anyone.
The Monarch
The two had first met at State University. The Monarch, then known as Malcom, to make an unsuccessful attempt on Venture's life. He also was upset and jealous after he presumed that his then girlfriend Debra St. Simone had slept with Rusty. Since then, The Monarch as attempted to ruin Rusty's life and even tries to kill him but to no avail. The Monarch made Rusty his archenemy and is extremely fixated on exclusively targeting Rusty, as the Monarch will go after the boys and Brock/Hatred if they're in the way or to use as leverage but does not bear them any grudges or even really try to hurt them the way he does Thaddeus. In return, Thaddeus views the Monarch as an "annoying prick in a butterfly costume" and wishes the latter would leave him alone. Despite that, Rusty has no qualms about sending Brock to attack and kill The Monarch and his henchmen.
In Season 5, while infiltrating the compound The Monarch finds a photo of him and Thaddeus as children, seemingly forgetting that he and Thaddeus were once childhood friends. In Season 6, The Monarch takes up the identity of The Blue Morpho to eliminate villains assign to arch Venture so he could arch Venture himself. This act led to people mistaking Thaddeus as the vigilante and putting him in danger with the The Guild of Calamitous Intent.
During The Saphrax Protocol, The Monarch passes up an opportunity to finally kill Rusty, only to learn that he and the Monarch are related. For that reason, he was suspended again from arching Rusty until evidence was found to make their relations conclusive.
In Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, he showed no concern over a possible relation to the latter with the two even laughing at the thought. However, Thaddeus did get an eerie feeling when bringing up how it was possible because of his father's womanizing ways. Ben would go onto explain they are actually clones of the original Thaddeus and while Thaddeus was raised by Jonas, Monarch was given to the Fitzcarraldo couple, a wealthy family and was raised as their child. After Monarch was grievously injured, Thaddeus gave a blood transfusion to save him. The two reflected on how they both led a life of lies, as they were only partial copies of the same person. At the end, Monarch resolved to keep his enmity with Venture who remarked that expected this in exasperated tone.
Friends
Brock Samson
Thaddeus met Brock in college and the two were roommates but hardly interacted with each other. While depressed over an incident on the football field, Brock in a drunken rage, attacked Pete White and Baron Werner Ünderbheit resulting in them being sent to the nurse office. When Brock was leaving college, he apologized for attacking Thaddeus and informed him while he was in the nurse's office his father died. They met again when Brock, now an OSI agent, was assigned to be Thaddeus' bodyguard and the latter showed him around the compound. Brock was initially bored of Rusty and was disgusted at his cloning chamber, but over time, he grew to like and accept him and his children. Brock is one of the few to refer to Thaddeus as "Doc" but at times Brock has to be the voice of reason to some of Thaddeus' plans. Thaddeus also has a lot faith in Brock's abilities as he screams his name whenever he is in danger. At the end of Season 3, Brock quits his job at the OSI and by extension his job as the Venture's bodyguard. In Season 4, while as a SPHINX agent Brock still continues to protect the Venture family from danger. In Season 6, Brock, again a part of the OSI, is reinstated as the Venture Family bodyguard after Thaddeus inherited his late brother's company and moved to New York, which made him a high-level target for the Guild.
Pete White
Thaddeus met Pete in college and they were often shown hanging out. Pete views himself as Rusty's best friend and is one of the few to refer to him as "Rust" or "Rus", while Thaddeus seems to view Pete as an associate. Whatever the case, they are often shown getting along quite well. Though Thaddeus may not accept it, Pete is one of the real few friends that he actually has. A good example was in A Very Venture Halloween, where they hang out and have a friendly game. In Season 6, Pete and Billy went to work for Thaddeus in New York after Rusty purchased their company from Augustus St. Cloud.
Billy Quizboy
Billy was a fan of The Rusty Venture Show and idolizes Rusty. He was overjoyed at the thought of meeting him. However, upon their first meeting, he was disappointed when Rusty turned him and Pete away. Nevertheless, the two became friends as Billy is often seen at the compound and helps the family sometimes helping them in their time of need. Billy even reattached Doc's arm after it got cut off in Victor. Echo. November. During A Very Venture Halloween, where Billy dressed as Doc as a kid and they have a friendly game that Billy wins a round at.
In Season 6, Rusty hired Billy and Pete to be their top scientists and inventors in New York. He winds up being Rusty's guinea pig in many of this experiments such as the God Gas, the Teleporter, and the thermal suppositories.
Despite Rusty's issues and problems and the fact that Rusty tends to see and use Billy as a guinea pig for his most dangerous experiments, Billy still idolizes and looks up to Rusty much to his annoyance, and wishes Rusty would make him an official part of the family and Team Venture to which Rusty flatly refuses. Rusty is dismissive of Billy looking up to him and prefers to keep him as second hand help.
Dr. Orpheus
Was renting from Rusty at Venture Compound. They get along quite well and Orpheus refers to Thaddeus as "Mr. Venture". Despite their friendship, they would frequently clash and debate over science versus magic as Rusty doesn't believe in magic at all and thinks that Orpheus is a charlatan. For the latter reason, Rusty tends to only see Orpheus as an absolute last resort, and even then, is deeply cynical and dismissive of Orpheus's methods, even when it works and proves Rusty wrong.
Sergeant Hatred
Sergeant Hatred was assigned to be Rusty's enemy and acted as an intentional annoyance to Rusty more than a threat. In season 4, he becomes the family's new bodyguard after Brock's resignation. At first, Rusty was annoyed at Hatred's antics and incompetence and wanted and preferred Brock back, but after a while, he grew to accept Hatred. Hatred is one of the few people to refer to Thaddeus as "Doc". They are often seen bickering or competing over petty matters but are on good terms with Hatred one of his good friends. A good example was in A Very Venture Halloween, where they have a friendly game that Hatred wins a round at.
In All This and Gargantua-2, Hatred said he let Dr. Venture down when the compound went up in flames something Venture nonchalantly confirmed. In the same episode, it is shown that Rusty doesn't consider Hatred when making plans, as he went into space and had the power and water to the compound stopped, leaving Hatred in the dark. In Hostile Makeover, Hatred is replaced by Brock as the family bodyguard, with his only options with the OSI being riding a desk or retirement, he gets a job as a tour guide to go around the rule and continue to protect the Ventures who he now sees as a family. After helping Brock prank/foil an arching by Wide Whale as his only backup, Hatred was promoted to head of security for the Venture Building. He and Rusty are still on good terms as It Happening One Night they are shown playing Team Fortress 2 together, although Rusty still shows disregard to Hatred when he killed him with Hatred responding "Oh c'mon Doc, we're on the same dang team!" Interestingly, in this scene Rusty was on the opposite team as Hatred. This could either be an oversight of the stock footage used, Hatred being confused on which team they were assigned to, or simply Thaddeus changing teams and killing Hatred to spite him.
Original Team Venture
The original Team Venture members, The Action Man, Colonel Gentleman, and Kano, effectively raised Rusty alongside with Jonas, and went on adventures together. However, a large part of Rusty's childhood trauma stemmed from their relentless hazing and bullying of him. Particularly from The Action Man who once impaled Rusty with a fake grenade, and with the help of Colonel Gentleman, shrank his penis with a Shrink ray in front of everyone on his sixteenth birthday. Despite such abuse, Rusty considers them close family, making Action Man and Colonel Gentleman, Dean and Hank's godfather, spending time together and consulting them for advice and help when needed.
H.E.L.P.eR.
The H.E.L.P.eR. robot is Dr. Venture's personal assistant and has been a lifelong companion to Rusty. H.E.L.P.eR. was one of Rusty's few childhood friends, playing with it while Jonas left Rusty behind when going on missions. It assisted Dr. Venture in incubating and raising Dean and Hank and being their nanny. As Rusty grew older, he became neglectful of the robot, increasingly treating him as an old appliance or pet. Despite such treatment, he considers H.E.L.P.eR. to be an important and integral member of the Venture Family, often calling on him to help assist and protect him if Brock isn't available.
Dr.Quymn
Dr. Quymn is one of the few childhood friends that Rusty had. Some fans speculate that they may be half-brother and sister due to Jonas Venture Sr. and Mz. Quymn having an affair, and their close resemblance. They meet again as adults in the Amazon in the episode Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman as Rusty is successful in rekindling their relationship. They almost have sex until they are interrupted by her jealous bodyguard, Ginnie, and Tara has an epileptic seizure which disgusts and turns off Rusty. After that incident, they don't seem to be on speaking terms anymore, although a idealized version of her appears in his id, showing that he is still attracted to her. Dr. Quymn may be the only sane woman attracted to Dr. Venture.
Sally Impossible
Sally met Dr. Venture in Ice Station Impossible. She was attracted to him because of his carefree attitude and glaring imperfections. Rusty reciprocated his feelings towards her until he saw her activate her powers which horrified and disgusted him. In Twenty Years to Midnight Dr. Venture used Sally's desperation to his advantage to get inside Impossible Industries. She quickly forgot about her attraction to Rusty when she met his brother, Jonas Venture Jr., and the two became a couple shortly thereafter. Despite his disgust at her true form and powers, he appears to be still attracted to her as she appears in his harem inside of his id.
Bobbi St. Simone & Debra St. Simone
Bobbi had first met Rusty as a child when she had spent the night with Jonas. Finding him cute and endearing, she left him an autographed photo of herself that Rusty had kept until the present day. Years later, remembering their friendship, she approached Rusty asking him to undo the invisibility powers that Jonas had gave her. Instead, he transferred the invisibility powers to her daughter Debra. Debra in exchange would give Rusty some of her eggs which he used to ultimately create Hank and Dean.
Their encounter and relationship would be misinterpreted by many in the show. The Monarch had assumed that Debra was having an affair with Rusty leading to their breakup. Team Venture assumed that he and Bobbi were in a relationship, with the autographed photo as proof. The latter is what led to many on the show including Dean and Hank to believe that she was their mother.
Nikki Fictel
Nikki Fictel was a teenage girl who ran the Rusty Venture Fan Club and had an extreme and possessive obsession with younger Rusty. She acted out this obsession by luring Rusty to her after lying about her age, and seducing him, inadvertently impregnating her with Dermott. Her mother, Margaret Fictel threatened to charge Dr. Venture with statutory rape unless he paid child support and never saw Nikki again, despite his desire to help raise the child and support Nikki. He begrudgingly accepted the offer and left. Rusty has since held up his end of the bargain by never seeing or contacting her again. She does not appear in his harem of women in his id or anywhere in his psyche, meaning that he has completely erased her from his mind. Nikki however, still remains obsessed with the concept of "Rusty Venture" from the original TV show, and lures and seduces his son Hank, believing that he has the qualities of the Rusty from the TV show, as she does not think highly of the adult Dr Venture, appearing to have soured on him over the years after he left her.
Scamp
Scamp was Dr. Venture's beloved childhood dog that was subject to experiments and abuse by his father Jonas and killed several times. The first Scamp was launched into space and was the first dog to die on the moon. The second Scamp was also killed for unknown reasons. On the third version of Scamp, The Action Man, playing a trick on Rusty, threw a fake grenade. Unfortunately Scamp 3 ran up to it, and Rusty, fearing another death like Scamp 1 and 2, jumped on the grenade to save Scamp 3's life. The fake grenade, however, sprung a "boom" flag gag which impaled Rusty instead. The fourth and final version of Scamp, Rusty himself conducted experiments on and did not survive.
Enemies
Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
In the episode "Mid-life Chrysalis", Dr. Girlfriend goes undercover as "Charlene" in order to inject Rusty with a serum which turns him into a caterpillar. After she does, Dr. Girlfriend feels awful about it and breaks off with him, giving Rusty the antidote. However, Rusty fell in love with her and saw this encounter as a sign that they were meant to be together, and therefore spends the entire rest of the series trying to seduce her, even while her husband tries to kill him, much to her annoyance and disgust. In the episode "Return to Malice" they reconcile (although Rusty still has feelings for her). Rusty is so obsessed with her, she appears in his id and in a virtual reality created by OSI as one of his fantasies. She is effectively, the only woman he consistently loves and obsesses after for the entire series.
Baron Werner Ünderbheit
Thaddeus and Baron met in college and were on good terms until Baron lost his jaw in accident that was actually caused by the Monarch and Ünderbheit placed blame on Thaddeus despite the latter being in the nurse's office at the time of the incident. Ünderbheit's reason for the grudge is because according to him, his lab partner was supposed to look out for him but Venture didn't, so he began his arch-relationship with Dr. Venture ever since. Thaddeus has repeatedly denied any responsibility in the loss of the villain's jaw which is ignored as the villain holds him accountable for his injury. His hatred for Thaddeus increased when he lost his throne due to almost marrying Dean which left him out on the streets of New York until he joined The Revenge Society. In Bright Lights, Dean City, he and the other members of the Revenge Society attempt to kill Thaddeus but he escapes their clutches.
Guild of Calamitous Intent
The Guild throughout Rusty's life, has sent dozens of villains to arch him with some success and considers him to be their primary enemy. Despite that, and the damage they've caused him his entire life, and the fact that they would like to cause harm to him and his family, Rusty sees them as more of annoyance but is also willing to abide by the treaties, rules, and protocols set by them as seen in The Inamorata Consequence.
Myra Brandish
Myra was Dr. Venture's first assigned bodyguard from the O.S.I. The two grew close culminating in what is known to be the last time Rusty would have sex with another woman. Rusty and Myra's relationship went downhill as Myra's obsession with him caused Rusty to leave his family compound to get away from Myra. The situation between the two would ultimately collapse, with Myra being fired and arrested. Myra would later claim that Rusty used his political contacts to terminate Myra's parental rights to the twins and had her institutionalized, as Rusty "wanted the boys all to himself". The shock of Rusty's ultimate rejection of her and being arrested and dismissed from the OSI, caused her to have a complete and utter nervous breakdown and become mentally insane. Despite this, Rusty had initially went along with this, as he wanted Myra to give them free daycare and that he wanted to continue having sex with her. It would backfire as Myra would frequently kidnap Hank and Dean, forcing Rusty to go out and get them back.
Roy Brisby
Roy Brisby, the creator of Brisbyland, is one of the very few people that knows the truth about Dr. Venture: that he is actually a college dropout with a fake Doctorate diploma and that he has knowledge and access to advanced cloning technology. He uses that information about him to blackmail Rusty into creating clones of himself. When Rusty refused, Brisby resorts to force by kidnapping him, but was rescued by Brock and Molotov Cocktease. After this incident, Brisby did not attempt to blackmail Rusty again with the information he knows about him.
Skills/Powers
- Genius Intellect - Although he is amoral and unethical, Thaddeus has shown genius and can sometime show he has proven that his intelligence and capabilities are far above average in science. Examples are him being able to solve complex equations, build advanced devices, re-clone his sons multiple times, reviving people such as Venturestein, Ted and Sonny and creating a group of venturesteins for the army and bringing back Congresswoman Marsha Backwood (even though he was without access to his lab equipment and she had just been blown up). In Operation P.R.O.M., he showed skill in genetic engineering by unknowingly creating a serum which turned prostitutes into giant mutant houseflies. It was implied by Thaddeus' Superego stated that if he just stopped taking the easy way out and applied himself, he would be the man he wants to be but seems to lack the motivation and patience to make his inventions work.
- Creativity - With his above average intelligence, Thaddeus has shown to be able to come up with creative solutions to his problems, such as cloning the boys repeatedly to keep them alive, creating a powerful Oo-ray, and hooking himself up to H.E.L.P.eR. after his kidneys were stolen. In Victor. Echo. November., using his past experience with Team Venture, he was able to kill a GUILD henchman by himself (even though he lost an arm). In Rapacity in Blue, he had Billy Quizboy create a mind control gas called God Gas which makes people hallucinate. If he used his creativity more often, he would be much more successful as a super-scientist. There has yet to be a situation he has not been able to think his way out of given enough time.
- Survival Experience- Rusty has been in more deadly situations then any other boy in existence by his own admission. He has even killed multiple people with his own hands, even once using a house key while still a child. The amount of weirdness he has seen has made him almost immune to surprising situations. Where others would be terrified by an alien stepping through a portal, Venture sees it as just another day at the office. This vast experience makes him deadly to unsuspecting villains who think him a washed up has been. He has witnessed the deaths of countless arches over the years, despite his ineptness and has a vast knowledge of how to survive all sorts of deadly traps and situations to the point where he is mostly bored by them.
- Compassion - Although he rarely displays it, Rusty is shown to occasionally genuinely care for his sons, attempting to cheer Dean up when he was feeling overwhelmed by his life of constant villain attacks, and even confiding to Hank about his humiliating 16th birthday. He has few friends but is on relatively good terms with them, as Pete White considered Rusty to be his best friend in college and Billy looked up to the young Rusty Venture on TV. He was also very nice to Charlene (Dr. Girlfriend in disguise) when they were dating, and she later even remarked that he's "not so bad once you get to know him." As a father, he is much more caring and protective of his boys then his own father was -- not submitting them to the horrible mental abuse he endured and making sure they each got a good education. He was willing to trade places with Dean when he believed they were kidnapped to spare his son pain and felt Hank was more like him in his rebellious stage and wanted to hug him, as a form of an apology for his phase. He accepted Dermott as his son, after learning of their connection and treats him like his other sons. He also got him a place in the O.S.I. to better his path. He even refused to become a villain to arch his brother, despite being jealous of the latter's success. He seemed reluctant in destroying Venturestein, since the latter was an invention that hadn't failed him and was building an empire. When seeing his father for the first time in decades, he seemed happy to reunite with him but was put off by his intentions to kill another person to have a second chance at life.
- Friends and Family - Over time he has gathered friends and (reluctant) allies that have helped him survive and even thrive in the dangerous and insane world of super science. Jonas Venture Jr. even mentions that, unlike him, rusty has children and friends to rely on in times of trouble and support. Indeed, individuals like Brock Samson, Pete White, Master Billy Quizboy and the immensely powerful Dr. Orpheus have consistently come to his rescue and see themselves as his dearest friends even when Rusty does not. These friends have often proven the difference between life and obliteration for Rusty on uncountable occasions.
- Luck - Although Rusty has manage to escape danger due to his child-adventurer/scientist/survival skills, he has survived more dangerous events by having others save him like the original Team Venture, his bodyguard Brock, or just by sheer incompetence of the people trying to kill him. There have been times, where Rusty would be in a near death scenario only to get out by sheer luck or uncanny chances that would never happen to anyone else in the show. One example is when The Monarch planted a miniature explosive on him, only to become a dud when he sat in a water-Jacuzzi right before it was to explode. Another example is when the members of The Revenge Society had him cornered and ready to kill him, only to have Fat Chance trip over Rusty and he went through his "enigma hole" where he was sent to another universe where he encountered a alternate (and better) version of himself who brought him safely back home. The most apparent form of his luck was when a giant disco ball fell right on top of him, but he only received minor injuries.
Weaknesses
- Drug Abuse - Rusty has been known to abuse various prescription drugs, most notably 'diet pills' (amphetamines). The drug use has left his body "toxic with chemicals" and causes multiple health problems like breathlessness and impotence. His body chemistry is so messed up that when Mr. Brisby used a truth serum it made him act in an erratically effeminate fashion; Mr. Brisby chalked it up to his habit of "pill-popping". It seems that as the series progresses he has laid off at least some of the drugs as he is no longer seen using the diet pills. Whether this is a permanent change is unknown.
- Impatience and Laziness - Rusty has a habit of putting off his work until the last minute, often leading to rushed, malfunctioning inventions. His narcissism doesn't help either, as he believes he can get what he wants without putting in a corresponding amount of effort. This tendency has seemly faded somewhat in season seven as he is shown confidently attempting to lead his company forward and working to perfect a teleporter.
- Overly Analytical - While this is also one of Rusty's strengths, he tends to be analytical to the point where even close friends and family members see him as cold and uncaring. For example, when Dean is clearly in pain from his Testicular Torsion, his father does not comfort him but approaches the problem in a purely rational and scientific manner, which was not very helpful in this particular situation. Another sign of this is his approach to raising his sons like he is conducting an experiment, cloning them when they die, and treating them like problems needing to be solved rather than sons.
- Emotionally Insecure - His failure as both a scientist and a father has made Rusty incredibly insecure to the point where even the slightest insults provoke a very strong reaction. Rusty's reserved and confident facade hides this weakness, but those close to him know he is not as strong as he would like to appear to be. In trying to live up to his father's legacy, Rusty has grown detached, emotionally and mentally, from his family. His attempts at healing these rifts has worked somewhat.
- Lack of ethics and morals - His greed, laziness, and willingness to cut corners he often shows no qualms about using people in order to achieve his goals, such as the time he used an orphan's heart to power his Joy Can invention, or when he used his college interns as slave labor and didn't care or do anything when he exposed them to deadly amounts of radiation. He also seems willing to use his own friends and family as test subjects for his experiments like using Billy Quizboy for the God Gas, the Teleportation Device, or the thermal suppository. Or taking his sons on dangerous and deadly adventures.
Trivia
- A running gag in the show is that nearly all the women who find Dr. Venture attractive are shown to have a mental instability (these women include Sally Impossible, Myra Brandish, and Nikki Fictel.)
- Rusty did not lose his virginity until he was 24 years old, an experience he does not recall fondly.
- It is unknown who his mother is or what happened to her.
- During Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, it is revealed that he doesn't know his own mother but unlike his sons, he isn't concerned on the matter.
- Despite appearing bald, Dr. Venture claims that he still grows hair around the sides of his head, which he shaves off using a "Daisy" brand women's razor.
- Rusty always appears to wear a turtleneck sweater while wearing a suit. It is frequently shown however that he is in fact not wearing a turtleneck sweater, but actually a simple collarpiece, known as a dickie, that makes it look as if he is. No explanation for this peculiar habit is ever given.
- In early episodes, Rusty was frequently shown to forget his sons names, before being corrected by other characters.
- In the episode Assasinanny 911 he reveals he is 135 lbs of "grade-A, American come-and-get-it".
- As of What Color Is Your Clean Suit?, both Hank and Dean have grown to be taller than their father.
- In Home Is Where The Hate Is, Rusty mentions he hosts a monthly book club at the compound.
- Rusty cannot drink caffeinated coffee anymore - in Maybe No Go, he switches to "Caffix", a grain based coffee-like substance.
- He possibly has several half-siblings from his father's string of affairs, with one them likely being Dr. Quymn.
- During Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, he acknowledges the possibility of having some after noting of his father's womanizing ways when learning he and Monarch were related.
- Dr. Venture has appeared in almost every episode except The Lepidopterists, The Silent Partners and The Rorqual Affair.
- It has never been revealed as to what his middle initial "S" stands for.
Episode Appearances
Season 1
- The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay
- Dia de los Dangerous!
- Careers in Science
- Mid-Life Chrysalis
- Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!
- The Incredible Mr. Brisby
- Tag Sale - You're It!
- Home Insecurity
- Ghosts of the Sargasso
- Ice Station - Impossible!
- Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean
- Past Tense
- The Trial of the Monarch
- Return to Spider-Skull Island
- A Very Venture Christmas
Season 2
- Powerless in the Face of Death
- Hate Floats
- Assassinanny 911
- Escape to the House of Mummies Part II
- Twenty Years to Midnight
- Victor. Echo. November.
- Love-Bheits
- Fallen Arches
- Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills
- ¡Viva los Muertos!
- Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)
- Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)
Season 3
- Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny
- The Doctor is Sin
- Home is Where the Hate is
- The Invisible Hand of Fate
- The Buddy System (Venture Bros. episode)
- Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman
- What Goes Down Must Come Up
- Tears of a Sea Cow
- Now Museum-Now You Don't
- ORB
- The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I)
- The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II)
Season 4
- Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel
- Handsome Ransom
- Perchance to Dean
- Return to Malice
- The Revenge Society
- Self-Medication
- The Better Man
- Pinstripes & Poltergeists
- The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-Glider
- Pomp and Circuitry
- Any Which Way But Zeus
- Everybody Comes to Hank's
- Bright Lights, Dean City
- Assisted Suicide
- Operation P.R.O.M.
Season 5
- From the Ladle to the Grave: The Shallow Gravy Story
- A Very Venture Halloween
- What Color is Your Cleansuit?
- Venture Libre
- SPHINX Rising
- Spanakopita!
- O.S.I. Love You
- Momma's Boys
- Bot Seeks Bot
- The Devil's Grip
Season 6
- All This and Gargantua-2
- Hostile Makeover
- Maybe No Go
- Faking Miracles
- Rapacity in Blue
- Tanks for Nuthin'
- It Happening One Night
- A Party for Tarzan
- Red Means Stop
Season 7
- The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem
- Arrears in Science
- The High Cost of Loathing
- The Inamorata Consequence
- The Bellicose Proxy
- The Unicorn in Captivity
- The Terminus Mandate
- The Forecast Manufacturer
- The Saphrax Protocol
Movie
Gallery
References
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