Think Tank

Think Tank
The Venture Bros. character
First appearance	Tanks for Nuthin'
Voiced by	Jeffrey Wright
Information
Full name	Professor Nidaba
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	College Philosophy Professor Super-villain
Notable characteristics	Genius level intellect, Think Tank armor
Alliances	The Guild of Calamitous Intent

Think Tank (real name: Dr. Nidaba) is super-villain in The Guild of Calamitous Intent who was given the rights to arch Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture after he moved to New York and inherited VenTech Tower.

Appearance

Dr. Nidaba's most notable trait is his infant-sized body, with a gargantuan-sized head. His physical condition usually has him use an external apparatus to move, either a levitating chair while teaching classes, or a minature tank while arching. Nidaba has frizzled black hair, which is graying at the temples, as well as a prominent beard. While teaching, he wears a blue suit with a gold watch chain hanging from his coat. While arching, he wears a large metal purplesuit designed to integrate with his tank, which features a large T drapped over his forehead down to his nose.

Personality

Despite his role as a villain, Nidaba's most ferverant passion is his quest for intellectual stimulation against a worthy foe. Despite the raw firepower his tank offers, he prefers to arch via philosophy and wits before resorting to brute force. As a genius with multiple degrees, he takes great pride in his lessons as a teacher and a villain, though he tends to grossly overestimate his student's or archenemy's capability to match his outstanding intellect, let alone actually prove interested. When forced to engage in a fight however, his miniature tank has enough firepower to cause destruction in a small scale, as well as a localized force field that can protect him from harm.

History

He first appeared in the beginning of Tanks for Nuthin' where he was in his alter ego as Dean Venture's Philosophy professor at Stuyvesant University. He is shown giving a lecture until he is notified of his rights to arch Dr. Venture, whereupon he quickly ends the class session. He speaks with Dean and after accurately deducing the things going on at Dean's home he tells him to avoid going home to avoid any further distractions.

He then suits up in his Think Tank armor and invades VenTech Tower, where he confronts Dr. Venture stating he is pleased with finding an adversary worthy of his attention. He invites the Doctor to game of chess but is disappointed that Venture does not play the game however, he is delighted to battle with Brock Samson who he blasts out the building. However, Brock returns after being saved by Warriana and the two defeat the villain and destroy his armor. His plans foiled, Think Tank attempts to hail a cab outside the building though he is struck by Battleaxe in the Haranguetank and is seemingly killed when it explodes in the hole of the VenTech lobby.

However, it is revealed in The High Cost of Loathing that Think Tank survived, but is in a coma in the ICU at the hospital. The comatose Nidaba is visited by a tearful Stars and Garters, who sings to him, claiming singing aids in the healing process.

Appearances

• Tanks for Nuthin'
• The High Cost of Loathing

Trivia

• Think Tank is a parody of Marvel Comics villain MODOK and Dr. Cornel West.
• Despite his preference for mobility via vehicles, Think Tank is still fully capable of walking.
• Think Tank nearly died in the same place as Haranguetan, within the hole Wide Wale created in the Ventech building's lobby.
• Dr. Nidaba's voice and appearance seem to be patterned on Dr. Valentin Narcisse, a character on the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire. Both doctors are portrayed by the same actor, Jeffrey Wright.
• For some as-yet-unspecified reason, Warriana holds a strong grudge against Think Tank and took pleasure in defeating him.
• Stars and Garters is seen playing the guitar and singing to a comatose Nidaba in the hospital, stating that it aids in the healing process. It is unknown if either is aware of each other's status as a teacher at the same university in their civillian identities.
• He is the only villain in Wide Wale's Fiends and Family Plan to not have an encounter with The Blue Morpho.
• In the Sumerian pantheon Nidaba was the goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest.
• Nidaba's inability to hail a taxi-cab may be a reference to the difficulty even the most respectable-looking African-Americans encounter when trying to get a cab in New York.

Gallery

Dr. Nidaba in his civilian guise.

Nidaba in a coma