The Monarch | |
---|---|
The Venture Bros. character | |
First appearance |
The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay |
Last appearance |
Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart |
Voiced by |
Christopher McCulloch |
Information | |
Full name | Malcom Fitzcarraldo |
Aliases |
Shadowman 9 (formerly) Bare Walls in Baltimore The Blue Morpho (vigilante alias) Mr. Monarch (by Red Death) R-22 (by Ben) |
Species | Human |
Occupation | Aspiring supervillain and sworn enemy of Dr. Venture and (formerly) of Phantom Limb and Dr. Jonas Venture Jr. on a trial basis |
Relatives |
Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (wife) Jonas Venture, Sr. (Biological father/creator) The Blue Morpho (adoptive father, deceased) Mrs. Fitzcarraldo (adoptive mother, deceased) An unnamed Mother-in-Law (via Dr. Mrs. The Monarch) Thaddeus Venture (clone/"brother") Hank Venture (nephew) Dean Venture (nephew) Dermott Fictel (nephew) |
Notable Characteristics |
Semi-mechanical suit equipped with a grappling hook, poison darts, tranquilizer darts, a gas gun, and collapsible wings which enable flight; obsessed with Monarch butterflies |
Current Alliances |
The Guild of Calamitous Intent The Fluttering Horde Doctor Girlfriend |
Prior Alliances |
Phantom Limb (former boss) The Sea Anemone (former boss) Helicoptro (former boss) Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Nightmare Coat (former boss) Augustus St. Cloud (mentee in the Big Villain Program) |
Enemies |
Brock Samson Brown Widow Captain Sunshine Dr. Heinie (taken to improve arching level) Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture (would-be archenemy) and the Venture Family Phantom Limb Professor Victor Von Helping Professor Vibrations Sergeant Hatred Wide Wale and his arching rights licensees |
The Monarch (real name: Malcom Fitzcarraldo, born 1968) is one of the main characters and the primary antagonist on the 2003 Adult Swim animated TV series The Venture Bros. He is a supervillain who has modeled himself after the Monarch butterfly. He is voiced by Christopher McCulloch.
Character Abilities & Description
The Monarch's primary traits are his Monarch butterfly and royalty theme, his shrill voice, and his obsessive hatred of Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture. His base of operations is a giant, floating, Cocoon (many characters have commented on Butterfly's don't use cocoon's), and all of his weaponry is mostly tranquilizer or poisonous darts. In spite of his fascination with them, the Monarch remains oblivious to the actual biology and physical capabilities of butterflies.[1] The Monarch commands an army of henchmen who are also dressed as butterfly's that are called The Fluttering Horde, and are all known and addressed solely by number. He sees his henchmen as disposable; sometimes accidentally or intentionally killing them himself, as he does not seem to care if they all die on his missions. Regardless of his attitude towards them, his henchmen are loyal to the Monarch, and it's suggested many of them were down on their luck or troubled when he recruited them and gave them a purpose.
The Monarch "co-arches" with his wife Doctor Mrs. The Monarch who gives him advice as well as emotional support. His best friend, right-hand man, and number one henchman is Henchman 21. Despite the constant failure of The Monarch's plans and witnessing almost all of his fellow henchmen die at the hands of Brock, he still stays on as a loyal henchman and ultimately gained the trust and support of The Monarch to be his most senior henchman.
The Monarch's chief and only arch-rival (and sole purpose in his life in his mind) is Rusty Venture. The majority of his missions are all and always "arching" him and his family, and very rarely anyone and anything else. The Monarch's entire career of arching Dr. Venture was unsanctioned by The Guild of Calamitous Intent; The Monarch was not even a registered member of the Guild until the beginning of season three.[2] Prior to that, he had been registered with the Guild as various low-level henchmen for other villains. Despite the fact that they are clones of each other, The Monarch's hatred for Venture is unknown, unexplained, and considered irrational, with the first instance of attempted murder occurring when they were both in college.[2] Throughout the series The Monarch is forced to stop "arching" Dr. Venture in order to comply with The Guild's rules, but makes repeated attempts to rekindle their one-sided rivalry. He also attacks and arches Dr. Venture's sons Hank and Dean, and his bodyguards, Brock Samson and Sergeant Hatred to a lesser extent because of their affiliation with Dr. Venture. The Monarch has had the opportunity on numerous occasions to eliminate forever Rusty Venture and his family, but prefers to play at a "deadly game of Cat and Also Cat" as he calls
Character History
Malcolm, the child who would later become The Monarch, was cloned from the original Thaddeus Venture and was given some baboon DNA that saved him from early male patterned baldness but enhanced his aggression, courtesy of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr..
He was then passed off as the child of a wealthy couple, Mrs. Fitzcarraldo and Don Fitzcarraldo, who was a playboy and butterfly enthusiast whose secret alter ego was a talented hero named The Blue Morpho. Malcolm's parents were friends of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. and would take the young Monarch to play with Rusty, though for some unknown reason, The Monarch has no recollection of the events.
The Monarch's parents were killed in a plane crash in the New Jersey Pine Barrens in 1976. The Monarch, then only eight years old, was the only survivor, and spent three months living in the forest amidst a colony of Monarch butterflies, who sort of raised him. As he was ignorant of their migration patterns, the butterflies eventually left, and the devastated Monarch hitchhiked to the city to inherit his father's wealth. The remainder of his boyhood and teenage years were likely spent in New York, as The Trial of the Monarch revealed Monarch's connection with the 1980s New York punk scene.
The Monarch apparently left New York's punk scene to go to college at State University. He shared a creative writing class with Dr. Venture. Apparently, The Monarch devoted all of his assignments to butterflies. At some point, The Monarch made his first attempt to kill Dr. Venture known as T.S. in college, by blowing up a school laboratory building, but not only was T.S. not in class that day, he was blamed for the damage and blowing off his lab partner รnderbheit's jaw.
After graduating college with a BA in Creative Writing, the Monarch went to work at the Guild of Calamitous Intent as a registered low-level henchman to various villains including Phantom Limb (then known as Shadowman 9), while he waited for his trust fund to come out of escrow. During this time, he also illegally moonlighted as his "Monarch" alter-ego, unsuccessfully arching a young Dr. Venture. It was during his henching days when he met his Dr. Mrs Monarch who was with Phantom Limb, as Queen Etheria. Donning one of his "early version" butterfly costumes, he attended a dinner party held by the Guild, and successfully seduced Queen Etheria in his car parked outside. However, when Phantom Limb discovered this, both Queen Etheria and the Monarch were forced to leave together.
The Monarch began dating the Queen, who changed her name to Dr. Girlfriend, became his number 2 henchperson, and turned to full-time arching of Dr. Venture. Using the Monarch's vast wealth, they built the Cocoon and The Fluttering Horde from which he used to attack Dr. Venture. Near the end of the first season, he and Doctor Girlfriend have a falling out over The Flight of The Monarch, a tell-all book published by Henchman 21, which brought to light her salacious past with a variety of other supervillains. She left him and went back to Phantom Limb, who in turn framed the Monarch for murder and sent him to prison so that he could have Doctor Girlfriend to himself. The Monarch manages to escape from prison and rebuilds his team with the help of Henchman 21 and Henchman 24 eventually winning back Doctor Girlfriend; The Monarch and Doctor Girlfriend are officially married at the beginning of Season 3, whereupon she changes her name to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.
In return for recognition and leniency from the Guild, and for permission to marry his wife, the Monarch is forced to stop arching Dr. Venture, a fact which he has trouble coming to terms with. They move into the Phantom Limb's former mansion in the supervillain community Malice together with her personal henchman Kevin and Tim-Tom while the rest of the henchman stay in the cocoon.
The rest of Season 3 sees The Monarch sinking into depression over not arching Venture by killing all eight of his assignments from the Guild and finally arching Rusty's brother, Jonas Venture, Jr. only to be constantly be defeated and fail for his efforts. Thanks to a "family bylaws" loophole found by Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, Season 3 ends with a major battle at the Venture compound, where The Monarch dons a special armor suit and faces off against the O.S.I., Dr. Venture, and clones of his sons, alongside an army of henchmen. The suit malfunctions as he loses control of it and becomes incapacitated.
Despite the setback he had at the battle that saw him lose most of his henchman including, Henchman 24, The Monarch resumes arching Dr. Venture, sometimes through the most innovative ways such as entering his brain and sub-conscious which would leave him in a coma and almost dying in process. While he was out, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and Henchman 21 would have a short affair.
In Operation P.R.O.M, the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend sneak into Hank and Dean's prom using Sergeant Hatred's ex-wife Tinyfeet along to help them get in while meeting up with 21 as well. However, when 21 admits that he realizes Dr. Venture is not a bad person, the Monarch accuses him of being drugged. An inebriated 21 snaps and angrily reveals his infatuation with Dr. Girlfriend, even telling the Monarch about a brief affair they had, but the Monarch merely laughs it off due to his "swinger" relationship with Dr. Girlfriend, and her telling him that the affair meant nothing, causing 21 to quit in disgust.
During Season 5, the Monarch continues to try and antagonize Dr. Venture but continues to fail in every attempt as well as believing that Henchman 21 still works for him, much to his wife's dismay. In the finale, his wife is offered a position on The Council of 13 and she kidnaps Dr. Venture who, after failing to torment with physical torture, Dr. Girlfriend succeeds in breaking him with mental torture. Henchman 21 also returns just as the Cocoon and his mansion is destroyed along with a majority of the Monarch's henchman by Sergeant Hatred. In All This and Gargantua-2, he burns down and destroys The Venture Compound, while attempting to rescue his wife from The Sovereign, and join Phantom Limb
As a result of the Cocoon and his mansion's destruction, the Monarch, along with his wife and Henchman 21, moved into his childhood home in Newark, New Jersey. In the beginning of Season 6, he's seen trying to adjust to having no base, henchman, and his wife being on the council. While exploring the house, he discovers to his shock that his father was once a super-hero called the Blue Morpho who had a secret base under the house. He hides the discovery from his wife, originally wanting to turn it into his lair and ignore his father's legacy. However, this changed after trying to intimidate other villains so he could arch Dr. Venture and realizing it wouldn't work after being framed by a villain named Copycat who made it look like he had broken a deal with Doctor Girlfriend about arching Venture. The Monarch eventually decided to take up the role of Blue Morpho and 21 his sidekick Kano as part of his plan to eliminate all of the villains ahead of him arching Venture while fooling his wife and The Guild into thinking The Monarch is complying with his rules.
While they succeed in killing or injuring many villains in the way of him arching Dr. Venture such as Haranguetan, Redusa, and The Wandering Spider, his Blue Morpho and Kano alter-persona becomes the enemy and target of his wife and The Guild, who spare no effort in trying to capture him. This would also cause conflict with her in trying to keep his Blue Morpho identity a secret. He is captured by Wide Wale when he attacks him, who figures out he is really The Monarch, and tortures him. Whale prepares to execute him out of revenge for killing his brother Douglas Ong, when Red Death and Mrs. Monarch arrive with Douglas who was alive all along. Wide Whale then spares Monarch's life.
In Arrears in Science, The Monarch, his wife, 21, and the rest of The Guild witness the strange happenings going on at VenTech Tower, and go to investigate it, when the real Blue Morpho, really Vendata with the brain and memories of his dead father, arrives. The Monarch and 21 go back to their old costumes and enter the building to see Jonas Venture, Sr. and Morpho/Vendata communicating with each other and with Rusty. The Monarch, who had been watching from a nearby ledge, bursts in and interrupts. Vendata/Morpho scans The Monarch, discovering that he is in fact his son, and weakly calls Monarch by his real name, to Monarch's shock. Jonas, however, attempts to grab Morpho so he can take his body, and they both fall down the escalator, with Rusty trapped underneath them, while The Monarch jumps onto the top of Jonas curious to learn how he knew his name. Vendata's rocket boots activate, sending them flying across Columbus Circle, eventually crashing in front of the New York Museum of Natural History, while Rusty and The Monarch land together onto the Rusty Venture Balloon that was being prepared for its debut in the Parade. The Monarch runs over and in a hopeful tone addresses Morpho as his father, Morpho smiles at him to confirm the question, before he short-circuits a final time and seemingly dies. The Guild Council see this while The Monarch declares that he has killed the Morpho, and Jonas Sr leaving him off the hook.
In The High Cost of Loathing, the trust fund left to the Monarch by his parents had been finally exhausted. Dr. Z. reassessed the Monarch's Equally Matched Aggression Level as only a Level 5, much too low for arching Dr. Venture. Monarch and 21 resume trying to injure and kill villains in their way of arching Dr. Venture, starting with Professor Victor von Helping. They storm his class and are outmatched by Professor Helping, when Dean Venture, one of his students, intervenes, by writing The Monarch a check for a million dollars in order for him to leave his professor alone. This income allowed The Monarch to win both the highest Guild income for the month and a bump in Equally Matched Aggression Level to 6.
In The Forecast Manufacturer, The Monarch and Henchman 21 head upriver to upstate New York on a boat with Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and Dr. Z. The two Council villains reveal that a rogue villain named The Creep has created his own rogue version of The Peril Partnership, the Canadian version of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. His organization has been encroaching on Guild territory and refusing to work with established institutions, prompting the Guild to authorize an off-the-books assassination of The Creep--with the acknowledgment of the O.S.I. that they will look the other way. Sheila guarantees that he will go one full EMA Level if he successfully carries out the assassination. The Creep is killed on the mission and The Monarch finally makes it to a Level 10, elite supervillain, triggering The Saphrax Protocol. During the ceremony, The Monarch is offered the chance to kill the kidnapped Rusty Venture and lose 21 as his loyal henchman. The Monarch declines to do either which was actually part of The Guild's test and ceremony. As a result, he is promoted to a Level 10 villain.
In Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart The Monarch is still prevented from arching Rusty after the news came out that they are related and are possibly brothers. Frustrated at The Guild again, The Monarch is approached by his ex-girlfriend Mantilla and her organization, ARCH to help him arch Venture. She gives him a Hover Tank and henchmen to attack and storm the VenTech building. However, it turns out to be a ruse, as Mantilla takes back the tank and henchmen and traps The Monarch and 21 as she sends the VenTech tower into space. Out of desperation, The Monarch and 21 turn to Rusty and Hatred for help, and the two work together in order to get the building back down to Earth. After Mantilla turned off the Helper Pods, sending the building into free-fall back to Earth, The Monarch joins Venture, Hatred, and 21 in the Ventronic robot to try and slow the building's descent. He found himself in Ned's Clown Arm of the robot which got blasted out of control, sending him back down to Earth separately from ventronic back onto the Venture Compound, getting seriously injured and impaled under the statue of Jonas Venture. He is rescued and saved by Ben and the rest of the Team Venture. While saving him, Ben learns and tells everyone that he and Rusty Venture are actually direct clones made for his infertile parents, albeit infused with minor traces of baboon DNA (to combat premature baldness) which caused his extreme aggression. The news does not seem to change or deter The Monarch from vowing to continue to arch Rusty Venture.
Personality
Rivalry with Dr. Venture
The Monarch's entire personality is based around his unending hatred of his arch nemesis Dr. Venture. He has never stated what made him hate Venture, but it changed him into a villain hellbent on revenge by any means. He is a colorful villain whose theatrics are not matched by his competence; his plans tend to go awry through mixtures of error, arrogance, bad luck, being outwitted, and Brock Samson killing his henchmen until enough are dead to stop any schemes. He also is given to grandiose speeches and phrases, some of which get away from him or don't sound like he expected.
Murder and Villainy
Despite his incompetence and failure, he has shown no qualms about injuring and killing anyone who gets in his way, regularly killing henchmen for minor offenses, killing an intern to sneak onto the Venture compound, and murdering dozens of villains in his crusade to arch Venture. There are few lines he won't cross to suit his own purposes, including breaking Guild laws.
He has shown to be quite skilled at arching and is considered by many (including Doctor Mrs. The Monarch and 21) to be a person truly talented in villainy, filled with a villainous kind of hatred that's almost an art form. After he was banned from arching Dr. Venture, he ran through eight arches in a few months, killing each of them on the first day of arching them. In the case of Dr. Dugong he attempted to channel his hatred of Dr. Venture, causing him to slip into a temporary moment of insanity and hallucinate Venture's face when looking at Dugong. He was almost assassinated by O.S.I. for it, but managed to escape through sheer tenacity and trickery. His abilities have grown over the series and, along the way, he has gained allies and a powerful henchman in the form of 21, who turned his following of inept henchmen into a fearsome fighting force.
In fact, The Monarch was able to intimidate Tim-Tom and Kevin by threatening them with death if they tried to order him about. This was notable as they are usually fearless and murderous, as well scaring the other henchmen.
Self-Loathing
The Monarch has admitted, only to 21, that sometimes he hates himself more than other villains hate their arch-nemeses. Despite his wealth, power, beautiful wife, and loyal henchmen, he is very insecure and self-loathing. The reasons for this have yet to be explained. It's not entirely impossible that, on some level, The Monarch realizes he's wasted most of his life trying and failing over and over to successfully defeat Dr. Venture
Charisma and Passion
The Monarch can be witty and charming, and possesses a cutting sarcastic wit. Unfortunately, these traits tend to emerge right before he does something very unwise. He often explodes in episodes of violent rage which get him into a lot of trouble. These rages are often accompanied by executions of whichever hapless henchman angered him. His arrogance, aggression, and ego means that rarely teams up with other super-villains, preferring to work alone with his henchmen and wife. When he does team up, he inevitably betrays them and goes his own way.
Metamorphosis
The possible explanation for The Monarch's odd mixture of ineptness and genre-aware cunning, may have been given in the season 3 premiere Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny, in which it was revealed that The Monarch was actually a Guild henchman who started his own career as a full-blown "villain" without "going through the proper channels" of the Guild or receiving formal training. Depending on how one looks at it, The Monarch could actually be seen as a very successful henchman, who was able to bootstrap his way up to being a major villain, and win over Dr. Girlfriend. This furthers the dichotomy between the Monarch and Dr. Venture: Venture started out with everything, the son of the great Jonas Venture that had all of the advantages, and his life turned into a failure. The Monarch may not be the most successful or competent villain ever, but compared to Venture, he's at least got the excuse that he wasn't supposed to be a major villain, but refused to play the hand fate dealt him.
By the end of the seventh season, The Monarch shows considerable maturation as a villain. Though he retains his attitude, he goes through the proper procedures to raise his EMA level to 10 in order to arch Dr. Venture again. He seems to have dreams and plans to create a new army of henchmen with powerful weapons and a new, more advanced cocoon. When offered the chance to kill his nemesis and remain a level 9--with the caveat that he would be a solo villain, without the aide of 21--The Monarch refused; he had acknowledged that his hatred of Dr. Venture defined him, not to mention that he was all too aware that he was too old to start over with a new arch. He also may have seen the Guild handing Venture to him as a cop out and too easy a win after his lifetime of struggling to kill his enemy on his own.
Relationships With Other Characters
Family
Don Fitzcarraldo
Not much is known about his relationship with his father, though the monarch is shown to love his father and misses him, due to losing his parents when he was very young in the plane crash.
Mrs. Fitzcarraldo
Not much is known about his relationship with his mother, though the monarch is shown to love his father and misses him, due to losing his parents when he was very young in the plane crash. During the early episodes of season 6, he was horrified to find out his father cheated on her. In Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, while taking to Rusty over their possible relation, he was angry when the latter suggested Jonas Sr. may have slept with Monarch's mother. He quickly strangled the latter for implying such a disgusting idea.
Dr. Girlfriend/Mrs. Monarch
Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch first meet when he was a henchman for Phantom Limb. He attends a party hosted by Phantom Limb as The Monarch, where she doesn't recognize him as the henchman. They end up having sex in his car and she leaves Phantom Limb for him. They have a pretty steady relationship until after the book The Flight of the Monarch is published, which causes them to break up.
Dr. Henry Killinger reunites them and they get married, with a few complications. She now goes by the name "Dr. Mrs. The Monarch" and is no longer his number two, but his equal. As a married couple, she accompanies him and sometimes helps him plan when he arches Venture and his family, and often acts as a voice of reason and restraint, which sometimes causes tensions. Despite such, and despite his constant losses to Venture, she remains very loyal, supportive, and devoted to him, as their relationship is as passionate and sexually healthy.
In Season 6, she is unaware that her husband is disguising himself as a vigilante and killing villains assigned to arch Dr. Venture. Eventually in Season 7, due to Red Death's promise of killing Blue Morpho, 21 reveals their big secret. Though she clearly is angry at her husband for his antics, she still refuses to let the other Guild members kill him. When the original Blue Morpho (a.k.a. Vendata) is found, she is concerned for her husband knowing that it's his father, though that revelation and how both processed is never seen.
She and her husband continue where they left off, with him struggling as a level 5. When he's revealed to be officially broke and is ready to throw in the towel, she pulls him back up with a speech. She shows she clearly believes in husband and supports him, still showing she loves him. Surprisingly, The Monarch acts as a steadying hand to Sheila by preventing her from getting in a fight with Agent Kimberly McManus, an intercession that seemingly saves Dr. Mrs. The Monarch from losing her career as councilwoman. Ironically, it is that same career that ends their villainous partnership (though not their marriage), for later she makes the decision to retire from active super-villainy in order to retain her seat on the Guild Council.
Doc Hammer has commented that, even prior to the formal ending of the Monarch's villainous partnership with his wife, their relationship with each other was facing pressure. Her work with the Council kept her from serving as a source of support and comfort for the Monarch after he lost his base and all but one of his henchman. 21 took up the slack and became quite close to the Monarch not only professionally but as good friends, in a sense (unwittingly) taking away some of the connection Dr. Mrs. The Monarch had with her husband. For his part, the Monarch kept his secret of being the second Blue Morpho from her. Doc Hammer commented their situation was not one with any true fixes
Dr. Venture
The Monarch made Rusty Venture his sworn arch-nemesis, but this rivalry is one-sided, as Rusty does not seem to notice or care, and sees The Monarch as an annoyance at best despite the serious attacks and harm The Monarch and his henchman have caused him and his family.
During the The Saphrax Protocol, he was greatly horrified to learn that he and Venture are related.
It was never revealed how until Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, in that they are actually clones of each other, and that The Monarch was given Baboon DNA in order to control baldness, but it also made him extra aggressive and angry which somewhat explains the rivalry. The two reflected on how they both led a life of lies, as they were only partial copies of the same person. After a talk with his wife on his next path, Monarch resolved to keep his enmity with Venture who remarked that he expected this in exasperated tone.
Henchman 21 (Gary)
Throughout the series, 21 is The Monarch's most loyal ally and friend after Dr. Mrs. Monarch although it did not start that way. In the first two seasons, The Monarch treated 21 like any of this other henchmen and didn't think much of him. Unbeknownst to him, 21 anonymously authored the tell-all biography The Flight of The Monarch, which inadvertently lead to The Monarch's temporary break up with Dr. Girlfriend. But as time grew on, as 21 proved himself, and especially after 24's death, The Monarch becomes to see 21 as more than just a disposable henchman and ultimately considers him his right hand man, giving him more rights and responsibilities than his typical henchman. Even after when 21 attempted to have an affair with his wife, and quits later in response, The Monarch still thinks 21 is loyal to him and believes 21 is on some kind of undercover mission in The Venture Compound.
Despite Gary closely working with The Monarch, the latter never knew his first name, asking who "Gary" was after The Cocoon's destruction and not remembering that he had kidnapped him as a child. In season 6 after the destruction of The Cocoon and their moving into The Monarch's family mansion in New Jersey, The Monarch and 21 become closer, seeing 21 more as an equal rather than a subordinate, even apologizing to him after an angry outburst in Faking Miracles, a courtesy which in the past he has claimed that a villain should never give their henchmen. Despite such, The Monarch would never admit he relies on 21 to such a great degree and often messes up without 21 there to keep him on track. In The Saphrax Protocol, they both affirm their loyalty and friendship to each other, especially with 21 refusing The Guild's offer of quitting being a henchman to become a super villain.
Jonas Venture Jr.
In Tears of a Sea Cow, it was revealed that The Monarch was assigned by the Guild of Calamitous Intent as his new arch nemesis, though currently only on a trial basis. The Monarch proceeds to use Jonas in a plan to exploit a loophole in the Guild's rules that allows the Monarch to go after Thaddeus and his boys once again. The Monarch attacks JJ at Spider-Skull Island, but JJ using ventronic, defeated him. After that battle, The Monarch never tries to attack or arch JJ again.
Dean and Hank Venture
As part of arching Dr. Venture, The Monarch would often times target his sons, Dean and Hank. Usually by kidnapping them and demanding a ransom in return. While he does get angry and aggressive with them, he also bears no hard feelings towards them sometimes as they also see him as strange man that is more of a nuisance than a threat.
During Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, it revealed that he is a clone of their father. This in turn technically makes him their uncle.
The Fluttering Horde
Other than Henchman 21 and Henchman 24, he thinks of his henchman as fairly disposable and insists that they prefer to be called "minions". He came to value them once 21 became his general and made the henchmen more efficient. Monarch even gain the loyalty and respect of the Murderous Muppets, after intimidating them and establishing his status as leader. After the loss of all of henchmen in Season 5, Henchman 21 becomes The Monarch's sole henchman. He later recruits a group of migrant workers led by Manolo who rebuild his house as his new army. Following the "Tenning" ceremony in The Saphrax Protocol, 21 becomes a Level 10 villain in his own right and The Monarch's Number 2, the role formerly held by Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.
Enemies
Phantom Limb
Initially the Monarch used to be one of his henchman. Phantom Limb did not seem to treat him with respect as Phantom's attitude towards him as well as his need to arch Dr. Venture, and falling in love with his girlfriend, caused him to be unsatisfied with being his henchman.
The Monarch angered Limb by stealing his girlfriend and since then Phantom Limb vowed revenge. A revenge he gets in The Trial of the Monarch when he successfully framed The Monarch for the murder of a police officer. Following being sent to prison, Limb monitored Monarch and prevented him from escaping by bribing and intimidating all of The Monarch's villain inmates. Very soon, the Monarch realized that it was because of Limb that he was there, and with help from King Gorilla, he escaped. They did not meet again Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I) when Phantom attacked the Monarch's wedding and kidnaps Dr. Girlfriend. With the help of Brock and The Ventures, Phantom's plot failed. He still wanted to get his revenge on The Monarch, but chose to focus on Dr. Venture instead.
In All This and Gargantua-2, Phantom Limb and The Revenge Society squatted at The Monarch's old childhood home before The Monarch, his wife, and Henchman 21 moved back in. The Monarch soon became aware that Phantom Limb was staying over after seeing a cooking knife that matched Phantom Limb's tastes. He accurately deduced Phantom Limb's plan and became determined to capture him to achieve a spot on the The Council of 13 but that was soon forgotten.
In Season 6, while Phantom Limb seems to be over his attraction to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and has let go of his hatred towards The Monarch, the latter still holds disdain for Phantom Limb for his previous actions.
During Season 7, Phantom Limb approves of the monarch seemingly defeating the The Blue Morpho, unaware of the truth. Monarch accepted it, as he hoped to boost his reputation in the GUILD.
Others
King Gorilla
The Monarch and King Gorilla were in prison together. They got along though the monarch was put off by King's attraction to him. When The Monarch tried to escape, he saw Phantom Limb had turned all of his associates against him. Monarch looked to King Gorilla for help, though he was reluctant but after hearing how The Monarch was trying to reunite with his girlfriend, he intervened and helped him escape, despite knowing what Phantom Limb would do. King Gorilla stated he was helping, because he could tell how much The Monarch loved Dr. Girlfriend and kissed the monarch goodbye as he escaped.
They met again in The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-glider, where Monarch attends his release party. He is shown upset by King Gorilla's illness and impending fate, most likely because he was grateful that King Gorilla helping reconcile with his girlfriend who became his wife. King Gorilla was happy to see him again and called him "roomie" but was annoyed that Monarch gave him cigarettes. As the guests looked at him for his insensitive gift, Monarch sadly replied that nobody told him.
Mantilla
The Monarch's ex-girlfriend. According to the Monarch, they broke up because he thought she slept with Rusty Venture. He also spoke with Dr. Venture if he really slept with Debra but the latter denied such an accusation. Years later, he was surprised to see her again when she had approached him to join ARCH. Debra later explains to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch that the real reason was that she was the daughter of Force Majeure, the original Sovereign and her mother disapproved of her dating a villain as they both had given up the villain life. She also shows no residual feelings for him, as she considers him to be inferior and beneath Mrs. Monarch.
Equipment and Abilities
Though the Monarch has no powers, his costume is equipped with a variety of gadgets. His costume conceals large butterfly wings crafted by Doctor Girlfriend that allow him to fly short distances, and he also has two wristbands that shoot out a number of darts depicted as either tranquilizers or lethal. He has shown on multiple occasions to be surprisingly competent in battle as he has held his own against a horde of Guild robots on one occasion. In the episode Dia de Los Dangerous!, he explains that he lived off of milkweed while being raised by Butterflies, "ensuring his toxicity to this day", though it does not appear to have any bearing on his performance. He is constantly working to upgrade his gadgets and has gone through many versions of his suit.
All of The Monarch's equipment is based on butterflies. His base is a giant flying cocoon. It has a pink and purple color scheme inside and he refers to the central workstation as his "throne room." The master bedroom's bed doubles as an escape pod, shaped like a smaller cocoon. Its internal defenses were personally designed by him, which may explain why Brock could easily take them out single-handedly.[3] He also has a car, the Monarch-mobile, also decked out in purple, as well as a butterfly-shaped aircraft (with cargo/henchman room in the abdomen) that was only shown once. The cocoon's engine may run on antimatter.[4] The Monarch also briefly had a "Butterfly Glider" ( based off of Spiderman's, Green Goblin's glider, a large golden butterfly shaped personal flying transport that ran on bio-diesel in the episode The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-Glider.
After taking up the mantle of The Blue Morpho, The Monarch took to wearing his father's old costume and has full access to the latter's old gadgets which includes tranquilizers, his car, and water scooters, all of which he found in the latter's secret lair.
Equally Matched Aggression Level
The Monarch's EMA Level has fluctuated significantly over the course of the series.
- The Devil's Grip: Following an accidental attack by Sergeant Hatred, The Monarch loses Phantom Limb's former home in Malice, The Cocoon, The Pupae Twins (Tim-Tom and Kevin), and every other member of The Fluttering Horde except for Henchman 21, who has just returned from the now-defunct S.P.H.I.N.X.
- Hostile Makeover: Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells Wide Wale that she's a Level 10 villain but her husband only has an EMA Level of 6.
- Maybe No Go: Dr. Mrs. The Monarch informs her husband that his arching level is too low to arch the now Level 10 Dr. Venture. She tells him that he's a Level 6 on the books, but should be re-assessed at an EMA Level of 3 or 4 due to the loss of The Cocoon, the home in Malice, and The Fluttering Horde.
- Rapacity in Blue: Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells The Monarch that if he stops harassing Dr. Venture and quits talking about him entirely she can get his EMA Level bumped up to 8 when she presents his case at that evening's Council meeting.
- Tanks for Nuthin': With no lair or army of henchman The Monarch is consequently downgraded to an EMA Level of 4 by The Council of 13. He complains to his wife that she promised to bump up his level, to which she counters that he lies around in his bathrobe all day and parties all night with Henchman 21. She proposes he hire more henchman, build a new cocoon, and arch somebody else until he proves he is worthy of arching a Level 10 protagonist like Dr. Venture.
- A Party for Tarzan: Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells her husband that The Guild will raise his EMA Level from 4 to 5 if he successfully "thwarts" hero proctologist Dr. Heinie.
- The High Cost of Loathing: At the beginning of the episode, Dr. Z assesses The Monarch's current operation during a surprise audit and assigns him an EMA Level of 5. At the end of the episode, following Dean Venture cutting The Monarch a million dollar check that makes him the top Guild earner for the month, Dr. Z raises The Monarch's EMA Level to 6.
- The Bellicose Proxy: The Monarch and Henchman 21 visit Guild Strategic Operations, seeking field work to increase The Monarch's EMA. Watch and Ward tell them about the Big Villain Program, where you tutor a Guild newbie for a day to get massive brownie points with the Guild EMA review board. The Monarch and 21 mentor Augustus St. Cloud in arching Billy Quizboy and Pete White, which apparently is enough to raise The Monarch's EMA status to Level 7.
- The Unicorn in Captivity: After Dr. Venture invents the revolutionary teleporters, The Guild becomes so intent on stealing them that they offer The Monarch one full EMA Level upgrade if he successfully aids Copycat's team in retrieving the new technology. The Monarch and Henchman 21 are ultimately successful in obtaining the teleporters for The Guild, upgrading him to Level 8.
- The Forecast Manufacturer: The Guild receives intel from the O.S.I. that The Creep, a former O.S.I. agent who has started his own rogue version of The Peril Partnership, is using a Guild weather machine to create a blizzard over New York. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells The Monarch that he will receive one full EMA Level upgrade if he successfully pulls off a covert mission, which ends up being an infiltration of The Creep's lair and the assassination of The Creep. During the course of the mission The Monarch shows his Guild ID card to The Creep, confirming that The Monarch is currently a Level 8. The Creep accidentally dies when he becomes distracted during a game of "Dive Bomb" and a lawn dart impales his skull, completing The Monarch's mission for him and bringing him to Level 9.
- The Saphrax Protocol: Following a ceremonial "Tenning" test on Meteor Majeure that is heavy on ritual and symbolism, The Monarch and Henchman 21 successfully prove their worth to the Council review board and are both awarded Level 10 villain status.
Episode Appearances
Season 1
- The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay
- Dia de los Dangerous!
- Mid-Life Chrysalis
- Tag Sale - You're It!
- Home Insecurity
- Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean
- Past Tense (cameo)
- The Trial of the Monarch
- Return to Spider-Skull Island
- A Very Venture Christmas
Season 2
- Powerless in the Face of Death
- Hate Floats
- Victor. Echo. November.
- Fallen Arches
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills
- Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)
- Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)
Season 3
- Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny
- Home is Where the Hate is
- The Invisible Hand of Fate
- The Buddy System (Venture Bros. episode)
- Tears of a Sea Cow
- The Lepidopterists
- 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
- Return to Malice
- Self-Medication
- Pinstripes & Poltergeists
- The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-glider
- Assisted Suicide
- Operation P.R.O.M.
- From the Ladle to the Grave: The Shallow Gravy Story
Season 5
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
- The Rorqual Affair
- Arrears in Science
- The High Cost of Loathing
- The Bellicose Proxy
- The Unicorn in Captivity
- The Terminus Mandate
- The Forecast Manufacturer
- The Saphrax Protocol
Movie
Christmas Songs
- Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth
- Hard Candy Christmas
- Venture Aid 2006
- Fairytale of New York
- The Chipmunk Song
Trivia
- Some of The Monarch's earlier costumes are reminiscent of the Batman villain Killer Moth
- His drink of choice is Fresca.
- He is allergic to rocket and/or sunchoke, an arugula and sunflower root salad.
- He had an opportunity to appear on the cover of Modern Enemy Monthly, a popular villains magazine, but had a severe allergic reaction and instead his wife appeared on the cover for August.
- He is a non-smoker and strongly disapproves of his wife's smoking.
- For whatever reason, he does not drive anymore and therefore must rely on others to drive for him.
- The surname "Fitzcarraldo" is a reference to the 1982 Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known in Peru as Fitzcarraldo, who is determined to transport a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber territory in the Amazon Basin. The film is derived from the historic events of Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald.
- His family home--the Fitzcarraldo mansion--is based on a real location in Newark, New Jersey: the Krueger-Scott Mansion.
Gallery
References
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