| The Investors | |
|---|---|
| The Venture Bros. character | |
 The Investors (Lips, Caecius, and Skiron) | |
| First appearance |
Pomp and Circuitry |
| Last appearance |
All This and Gargantua-2 |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Super-Villains |
| Relatives | Dr. Henry Killinger (Brother) |
| Current Alliances |
The Guild of Calamitous Intent |
The Investors are a trio of mysterious men in business suits who possess mysterious powers and abilities that, as described by Monstroso, "make dreams come true." They primarily do this by making "contracts" with certain people, promising them their desired dream in exchange for a hefty price, usually their lives. Their behavior and appearance is almost demonic in nature, being able to make unholy deals with others and then collecting their "fee" in a rather horrific manner. They can hide their presence from others and change their forms at will, making them a formidable and deadly presence.
History
The Investors first appeared working with Monstroso who was in dire need of a new heart. The Investors then took the dying King Gorilla's heart and kidnapped Billy Quizboy who was pretending to be a doctor even though he did not have a degree. They then gave Billy a medical license so he could perform the heart transplant for Monstroso. The group then left after S.P.H.I.N.X. showed up.
Months after saving Monstroso's life the Investors proceeded to murder a detained Monstroso who was in O.S.I. custody, via phasing him through the compartment wall and out of the airship, sending him plummeting to the ground. They then changed their forms to appear as government investigators for the incident, possibly to determine if anyone knew about their involvement.
In All This and Gargantua-2, the Investors were revealed to be the financial backers of Jonas Venture Jr.'s space station Gargantua-2 and attended its grand opening. It is also revealed that they are responsible for allowing The Sovereign to become leader of the Guild for an unspecified contract, in which The Sovereign was terrified of repaying this debt to them. Fearing for his life, The Sovereign attempted to have the Investors killed by destroying Gargantua-2. However, the Investors knew The Sovereign's plans and sabotaged the space station's controls which led to a meltdown before travelling to Meteor Majeure, where they confronted their brother, Dr. Henry Killinger, with the intent to kill him for not siding with their agenda. But Killinger prevailed in killing two of the Investors in a psychic duel before finishing the last one by stabbing his umbrella into him with the helpful interruption of The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and Henchman 21.
Powers
- Phasing: The Investors have shown they are capable of phasing through objects such as walls and bullets.
- Shapeshifting: The Investors are able to disguise themselves as shown when they disguised themselves as government investigators.
- Mimicry: Along with their shape-shifting, they are fully capable of copying the mannerisms and personality traits of others when transforming into them, making their shapeshifting abilities all the more convincing.
- Levitation: The Investors are able to slightly float over solid ground and can seamlessly hover over floors.
- Selective Invisibility: The Investors can't be seen by cameras as witnessed in All This and Gargantua-2 where Brock can see The Investors but they don't show up on OSI's video feed.
Enemies
- O.S.I. - Possibly afraid of them discovering their secrets.
- S.P.H.I.N.X. - Originally afraid of them discovering their secrets, but are no longer a threat to them due to it being disassembled.
- Dr. Henry Killinger - Is their brother who went rogue as Killinger mentions that the Investors supposedly lost sight of their way when they tried to rule over humanity. The Investors attempted to kill Killinger aboard Meteor Majeure but the latter defeated and killed them easily.
Notes
- The Investors were repeatedly described as vampires when they first appeared.
- It is revealed in All This and Gargantua-2 that the Investors are the brothers of Dr. Henry Killinger and are respectively named (from left to right in the captioned photo) Lips, Caecius, and Skiron, which are references to the Greco-Roman gods of the southwest, northeast, and northwest winds, respectively. This also implies that Killinger is Apeliotes, the god of the southeast wind.
- The very first appearance of the Investors was in the episode Pomp and Circuitry, sitting on the podium behind Professor Impossible during his speech.
- During General Hatred's flash-back nightmare in Venture Libre, A trio of O.S.I. soldiers resembling The Investors pull a crazed Sergeant Hatred (who the flashback reveals as being named C.R. Haine) off of his victim during what appears to be a super soldier training program label Soldier-X.