Dr. Z

Dr. Z
	The Venture Bros. character
First appearance	The Buddy System
Voiced by	Christopher McCulloch
Information
Aliases	Councilman 5, Lazlo
Gender	Male
Occupation	Supervillian, councilman
Relatives	Mrs. Z (wife); Ro-Boy (adoptive son)
Notable Characteristics	No blundering tolerance policy
Alliances	The Council of 13; The Guild of Calamitous Intent
Prior Alliances	The Sovereign (Deceased)
Enemies	Action Johnny (Traditionally); Blue Morpho I (Deceased); Blue Morpho II; Jonas Venture Sr. (Deceased); The Sovereign (Deceased)

Dr. Z is a super-villain and member of the Council of 13. He is the aged, former nemesis of Action Johnny. He is voiced by Christopher McCulloch.

History

Dr. Z is a homage and parody of Johnny Quest's Dr. Zin. As on Johnny Quest show, he was the archenemy of Johnny Quest or "Action Johnny" and his father. However, due to the legal issues the show runners had with their other Johnny Quest parodies, the name was changed from "Zin to Z."

In 1973, he was in possession of a Jade Dragon figurine, which Jonas Venture wanted retrieved. Jonas sent The Blue Morpho to do the job. He ended up seducing Dr. Z by pretending to be professional tennis player Billie Jean King, and eventually held Dr. Z at gunpoint to force him to give up the Jade Dragon. To this day, Dr. Z can't figure out how Blue Morpho managed to trick him into believing he was a woman, as he performed every known sexual act with him.During a weekend in March 1977, Dr. Z teamed up with Shrill Specter and Scary Nilsson after being kicked out of the nightclub the Whiskey a No Go. They were drunk and decided to go arch Dr. Jonas Venture. Jonas was not home however, and the three resorted to throwing garbage on his lawn. Dr. Z then found the wrecked body of Venturion inside a dumpster, and took it back to his lab. He discovered that Venturion was not a robot, but a cyborg with a human brain inside its head. He pitied him, and considered putting him out of his misery, but could not resist turning Jonas Venture's inventions against him. Flipping a switch in his head from Good to Evil to reprogram him, he transformed Venturion into Vendata.

Soon after the makeover Dr. Z was arrested for possession of drugs. When he escaped from prison, he found Vendata had escaped his lab.

Modern Era

In The Buddy System, Dr. Z was invited by Dr. Rusty Venture to making an appearance at a "boy-adventurer" day camp as the "special guest." Sergeant Hatred expressed his humility and honor to meet such a legend in the field of super villainy. Z was reunited with Action Johnny, who was driven into a breakdown by seeing his former archenemy. Upon seeing the drugged out mess Action Johnny had become, Dr. Z expressed his dismay and sadness.

Dr. Z reappeared in the fourth season episode Self-Medication, wherein he was accused of murdering the therapist of Johnny and other former boy adventurers. Dr. Z eventually explained that the group have to leave their boy-adventurer pasts behind them and become men. In the same episode it was implied that he engaged in gay sex and his wife was merely his "beard". At the end of the episode, he and his wife adopted Ro-Boy, who had heard they couldn't have children of their own and consequently asked to be part of their family.

In Bot Seeks Bot it's revealed that he is also a member of the Council of 13.

In All This and Gargantua-2, Red Mantle, Dragoon, and Dr. Z fled from The Guild, most likely after hearing of the other Council members suddenly being murdered in The Sovereign's attempted purge. They fled to OSI headquarters to cut a deal: in exchange for full immunity, they would reveal The Sovereign's location. After the deaths of The Sovereign and The Investors, Dr. Z and Red Mantle/Dragoon were recruited back as part of Dr. Killinger's new Council of 13.

In Season 6, the Blue Morpho seemingly rises from the dead and begins stalking Equally Matched Aggression Level 10 villains and slaughtering them. In reality, this is simply the Monarch wanting to kill the competition standing between him and Dr. Thaddeus Venture. At a Guild meeting, Dr. Z correctly surmises a new figure has assumed the first Blue Morpho's mantle. After the new Blue Morpho accrues enough hits, Dr. Z and the rest of the new Guild Council convene to deal with the situation. Evidence points to Dr. Venture as the new Blue Morpho, and the Council sets up an assassination attempt. Along with Wide Wale, Dr. Z insists Dr. Mrs. The Monarch take the shot to shoot Venture dead. The bullet hits but is absorbed by the bullet proof vest hidden in the Morpho costume worn by Venture. Meanwhile elsewhere, The Wandering Spider is slain, leading to Dr. Thaddeus Venture's absolution of any crimes.

During the events of season 7, he works as a Council member in the Guild as usual. The Council convenes in Wide Wale's penthouse at the end of The Rorqual Affair and the beginning of Arrears in Science, where they collectively see the original Blue Morpho return in the Morphomobile before mysteriously entering VenTech Tower. Once members of the Council are appraised of the situation going on within by the Venture family, Dr. Z tells his story of rebuilding Vendata from Venturion and deduces that this Blue Morpho is Vendata. After Vendata's death, the Council, including Dr. Z, incorrectly conclude Vendata was the party responsible for the murder of the Guild's villains.

In The Terminus Mandate, the Council decides to reform itself as the governing body of the Guild in the wake of its failure to recruit a full 13 members. However, this requires Dr. Z and the rest of the Council members to give up their roles as individual supervillains. Each is given a final arching assignment before their retirement. Dr. Z visits Action Johnny at the Sunnylake Retreat drug rehab center, where he gives Johnny an old Anubis head from one of their previous capers. Dr. Z also tells Johnny Ro-Boy and Mrs. Z have given the okay for Johnny to move in with them. After Dr. Z expresses his love for Johnny (in a nonsexual way), Johnny says they should keep things slow and thinks it better for Dr. Z to simply loan him some money, and Dr. Z agrees. After an awkward pause, Johnny offers to let Dr. Z chase him around for old times' sake, and Dr. Z heartily takes him up on the offer.

In,The Forecast Manufacturer Dr. Z sends The Monarch and Henchman 21 on an "off the books" mission to assassinate The Creep for violating Guild laws and rules in exchange for an upgraded EMA level.

Gallery

Episode Appearances

Season 3

Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny (silhouette)
The Buddy System

Season 4

Season 5

Bot Seeks Bot

Season 6

Season 7

Movie

Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart

Trivia

Dr. Z wears facial elaborate prosthetics when acting behind the monitors of the Council of 13, in order to provide a more elaborate silhouette to properly conceal his identity.
In Bot Seeks Bot, it is revealed that Dr. Z's drink of choice is a Tom Collins.
Dr. Z's face becomes flushed when he is intoxicated, as seen in the flashback to his month-long bender in 1977 in Arrears in Science.
In the season 4 episode Self-Medication Dr. Z's wife calls him "Lazlo", which is presumably his real first name.
When Dr. Z explains his wife's infertility as the reason that he and his wife were unable to conceive children, Mrs. Z claims "I thought it was because I was your beard", implying Mrs. Z was only covering for Dr. Z's implied homosexuality. Later episodes imply this was actually a joke on Mrs. Z's part, as Dr. Z was shown having sex with a woman (despite the fact this was actually The Blue Morpho in disguise, unknown to Dr. Z at the time), or she was referencing the same incident with humor.