Team Venture

On The Venture Bros., Team Venture is a fictional adventuring organization, in currently two incarnations. Its base is Venture Industries; this article will deal with them both as the two are closely intertwined.
The original Team Venture
The was assembled by the renaissance man Dr. Jonas Venture to help him on his travels. They made exciting scientific discoveries, had fantastic adventures, and fought supervillains on a regular basis, presumably becoming well-renowned and beloved in the process. Their time frame was from the 1960s (sometime before Thaddeus Venture was born) to the early 1980s, when Jonas Venture disappeared and the remaining team members went their separate ways. The members were:
*Dr. Jonas Venture: Scientist, adventurer, and intrepid leader - also an irresponsible, oversexed, and careless egomaniac. One of the greatest minds of the 20th century, Dr. Venture, Sr., created an empire using science and innovation. Though the manner of his death is left ambiguous for a majority of the series (a heart attack is alluded to now and again), it is hinted in season 3's "ORB" episode that Kano is responsible for the loss of Jonas after the discovery of the ORB. (an order from the OSI given to all Venture bodyguards since the late 19th century).
*Col. Horace Gentleman: Dashing diplomat, "RAF, MI5, et cetera... retired." Wealthy, eccentric, and bisexual. He has a passionate, long-term, tempestuously violent romantic relationship with his manservant/companion Kiki. When depressed, he eats Mallomars and drinks Yoo-hoo, putting him in a diabetic coma.
*The Action Man: Gun-toting super-soldier. Real name Rodney, married Major Tom's wife (see below). Dr. Orpheus, using his mystic powers, apparently has made a prediction that he will die of a stroke in two years and seventeen days. As an old man, he suffers from constant flatulence problems.
*Kano: Bodyguard to Jonas Venture. Resembles a sumo wrestler. Master of martial arts and origami, he also has the ability to breathe fire. His mute nature is his choice of penance for "taking from this world a great man," as mentioned in the episode entitled "ORB." This may be Dr. Jonas Venture, however in flashbacks displaying the original team, Kano is a mute while Dr. Venture is alive. This "great man" may be someone else, since it is not uncommon for ironic twists to occur in the series; whether this even refers to Kano killing someone is up for debate as well.
*Otto Aquarius: His father a drunken sailor and his mother a mermaid, he is an exiled son of Atlantis. He is able to breathe both water and air, and communicate with sealife. After he left the team, he became a Jehovah's Witness and pacifist, and doesn't prefer the company of his old team due to various moral issues (as shown in deleted scenes).
*Swifty: A Jet-boot using African-American boxer, and bodyguard to Jonas. He suffers from Dementia pugilistica from years of boxing. Currently employed by Jonas Venture, Jr.
*Ook Ook: A cave man-like member of the team, currently (through an unexplained circumstance) encased inside a block of ice.
*Dr. Entmann/Humongeloid: A formally gigantic man who was eventually shrunk to roughly the size of an ant when an attempt was made to cure his condition. He was left underground by Jonas for about 30 years, until Brock Samson found him.
*Major Tom: Test pilot that speaks with a British accent, killed when an experimental spaceship crashed and sunk into the ocean, one of the original Team Venture's few (shown) failures.
*: Otherwise known as Dr. Venture nowadays. He was merely a boy who accompanied his father and his father's teammates on their adventures from the ages of 3 to 17. He was good at climbing through small holes and often got captured, which proved traumatic to him.
*Hector Molina: A childhood friend of Rusty's, who worked for him for several years. Apparently, Hector's mail is still sent to the Venture Compound, as in the episode "", Dr. Orpheus bemoans the fact that he continues to receive his junk mail. Currently employed by Jonas Venture, Jr.
*H.E.L.P.eR: Was the neurotic Robot nanny and is still today on the current Team Venture, only now he takes care of Hank and Dean and occasionally Rusty every now and again.
The current Team Venture
Not officially a team like their previous incarnation, but rather a group of individuals revolving around Dr. Thaddeus Venture. Much more incompetent and pathetic than the originals (to the extent that the Phantom Limb considers Dr. Venture a level-one threat to The Guild of Calamitous Intent, presumably the lowest tier possible), and frequently only inadvertently stumbling onto adventures, it is only through the frighteningly capable and dangerous bodyguard Brock Samson and necromancer Dr. Orpheus that they achieve any kind of results. The members are:
*Doctor Thaddeus Venture: Dubious super-scientist and unworthy successor of the late Jonas Venture.
*Hank Venture: One of the Venture twins, son of Thaddeus. Is more interested in sports and adventure than science.
*Dean Venture: the other Venture twin, son of Thaddeus. The more science-minded son, as well as the most awkward.
*Sergeant Hatred: Massive bodyguard of Dr. Venture. A former supervillain, and apparently reformed(behavior modified) pedophile.
*H.E.L.P.eR.
And, by extension:
*Master Billy Quizboy and Pete White: This pair frequently finds itself aiding Dr. Venture and Company and might thus be considered peripheral or honorary members.
*Doctor Byron Orpheus: A resident of the Venture compound, the necromancer frequently gets involved in their activities anyway. He has since assembled his own team, the Order of the Triad, and gained an official arch-villain.
*Jonas Venture, Jr.: Dr. Venture's semi-fetal, yet extremely capable, brother.
*The Pirate Captain: The leader of the "ghost pirates" in the episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso". After his initial encounter with the Venture family, he began living on the X-2 after having difficulties in finding a job. When Jonas Jr. acquired the ship, he hired the captain. He has not been referred to by any name or nickname other than "The Captain."
*Sally Impossible: Jonas Venture Jr.'s girlfriend and Dr. Richard Impossible's ex-wife. She now lives with J.J. along with her cousin Ned and son Rocket. She was seen fighting alongside Jonas when The Monarch attempted to destroy Spider Skull Island.
Formerly included:
*Brock Samson: Muscular bodyguard of Dr. Venture. Very deadly. Loves Led Zeppelin. Left after the fallout of a massive OSI/Monarch battle that also resulted in the revelation of Venture's clone lab.
Team Venture symbols
The hand symbol is simply a V sign placed against the fingers of another member doing the same. Hank and Dean will frequently do this after the end of any successful incident, and shout the team motto 'Go Team Venture!' in imitation of the former team (who do it far more impressively). When done properly (as the original team do, and the boys have managed on at least one occasion), it produces an impressive special effect of a large V with an outward-stretching ray pattern behind it. Brock and Dr. Venture have each expressed discomfort with the boys doing this (endings of "Ghosts of the Sargasso" and "" respectively). A side note to the (V sign) is that when the hand sign is done by Dean and Hank, it resembles the American Sign Language for "fuck". It is unclear if this was an intentional on the part of the show's creator for the possible "double" meaning. Brock, in moments of particularly outstanding loyalty to the family, has also said (albeit more calmly), "Go Team Venture"; this is accompanied by holding up two fingers, which makes the shape of a "V" and resembles the peace sign. This can be seen in "Assassinanny 911".
The symbol of the team and Venture Industries is a globe with latitude and longitude lines, with a red banner containing a 'V' covering the sphere's bottom. This is seen in Swifty's championship belt in a flashback and also in the employee uniforms Hector and Swifty wear.
Venture Industries
Venture Industries is the privately owned company of the Venture family. Once world renowned for its innovations in technology and science, it has fallen from grace since Jonas' passing. The Venture Compound is home base and headquarters of the team. It was seemingly built as a large research and manufacturing campus by Jonas himself with his many scientific inventions' profits, large government contracts and business acumen. It evolved to become an enormous set of buildings, with a large fountain and a giant stone statue of Jonas holding a young Rusty on his shoulder up front, the two shadowing a beautifully-designed white compound. The compound would seem at one time to have had a large workforce, but is now practically empty. It is large enough that Dr. Orpheus and his daughter Triana can actually rent out a portion as their own home. Currently, it is being run rather into the ground by Thaddeus Venture, who fulfills mainly government contracts rather than make any major new discoveries. Venture Industries at one point had its corporate business headquarters in New York City. At some point, the building was sold and became '1 Impossible Plaza', headquarters of Impossible Industries. A private compound belonging to Venture Industries, which was gained after the original Team Venture foiled a scheme by Scaramantula's Fraternity of Torment, also exists on Spider Skull Island, and is being run (rather successfully) by Jonas Venture, Jr.
After the death of his father, Thaddeus Venture - then a college student - was put in charge of the company. Presumably the company went into a gradual decline after as there were few new inventions of value. The death of Jonas also probably meant an end to the large manufacturing/engineering contracts with the government. Assets (like the New York headquarters) were sold for cash and all of the employees were eventually let go until only the Ventures were left living in the compound. Sadly, much of the building has fallen into decay. As a result, Dr. Venture has forgotten much and is largely unaware of what it contains. A running gag in the third season was a constant rediscovery of new parts of the compound, from Dr. Venture learning he has a Manufacturing Wing, to discovering two original members of Team Venture, Hector and Swifty, having lived at the compound for around twenty years, to an entire society of orphans living in his basement, worshiping an old video of his father.
In the pilot episode, the compound's location was revealed to be in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the home to a number of U.S. military bases and defense industry contractors. This may also be an homage to the brilliant but eccentric scientist Nikola Tesla, who also had a laboratory near Colorado Springs.
The Venture Industries compound contains the various following rooms and buildings:
*A large lab where Jonas Jr. and Thaddeus Venture work on their various experiments and inventions.
*An arachnid research lab, now converted to an apartment, rented by Dr. Orpheus.
*Jonas' private den, now converted to a guest bedroom.
*A large hangar for holding the X-1.
*A 'public room' where Jonas once negotiated with The Guild of Calamitous Intent and would show off various new inventions.
*A large guard room, with 8" tempered steel walls, where one can hide from danger. When activated, the beds of Dr. Thaddeus Venture and his sons transform into slides, instantly transporting them to this room. Dr. Venture refers to it as "The Panic Room", and has used it on multiple occasions throughout the series. Its current use is a dusty storage room full of Christmas decorations.
* The E-den. A huge dome full of jungle plants intended to be a closed ecological system to prepare astronauts for extended space station living. It is inhabited by an extremely violent (possibly mutated) gorilla.
* A vast underground complex intended to be a bomb shelter. It contains an artificial intelligence named M.U.T.H.E.R. and a tramway. It also contains a doomsday bomb (which is a parody of the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes).
.Recent changes to the compounds design have made the main building look like the General Motors Futurama building from the 1964-1965 Worlds Fair
Inventions and products that appear to originate at Venture Industries are:
*The orbital space station Gargantua-1.
*The supersonic airplane X-1 and the yacht-like X-2. (The X-2 now owned by Jonas Venture Jr.) As well as the X-X-1 which was built by Jonas Jr.
*Hover bikes and hover shoes.
*Subliminal audio-learning aides one uses while asleep, used for both Thaddeus Venture and currently his sons (as well as "Venture-Stein," a re-animated corpse of a new Monarch henchman, who had been killed by Brock in a Venture Compound raid). They can also record brainwaves and memories.
*A successful way to clone people (so far not public - when asked about it, Dr. Venture has to publicly deny its existence, both to hide the fact that his sons are clones - they very easily, and to keep himself out of trouble from Congress, as they have banned all cloning research in North America; used only to replace Hank and Dean when they die).
*Various ray guns, such as the melt-anything 'Ooo-Ray' and a death ray of sorts.
*The robotic nanny H.E.L.P.eR.
*The robotic bodyguard G.U.A.R.D.O.
*A supposedly functioning shrink-ray, . Later intentionally broken by Pete White as he was "looking for a treasure map".
*A machine capable of reproducing the innermost fantasies of anyone who enters. Powered by the heart of an abducted orphan, much to the disgust of Dr. Orpheus, who disposed of the machine shortly after learning this.
*A replica of a lightsaber, purchased by one of The Monarch's henchmen, Number 21, at a yard sale. Although it looks very realistic, the "weapon" does not inflict any damage.
*A sound that kills (built by Jonas Jr.)
*A teleporter (malfunctioning and unfinished, built by Jonas Jr.)
*A flying saucer style craft that crashed during testing.(The TVC 15)
*The "Metasonic Locater", a tracking device capable of locating said flying saucer; also has the ability to awaken the dead.
*A large "walking eye", that actually did nothing but was advanced enough to cause supervillains to want to attack it.
*A force-field that actually seemed to keep all matter and sound from escaping, but can be washed away with club soda.
*A silver two-door car, bearing the Venture Industries logo and a running board decal that reads, "Venture Motors". The vehicle itself resembles a late-model Saab 96, as Saab was once revered for its innovations in automotive technology. It is revealed that the boys might have been conceived in the very same vehicle by Dr. Venture and Myra Brandish. The car is still used by Thaddeus and the Venture brothers themselves.
*Ventronic, a giant battle robot, made from several robots combining, a la Voltron (built by Jonas Jr).
Cultural references
*The original Team Venture with leader Jonas is a homage to Doc Savage and the Fabulous Five.
*The name "Venture" is likely a reference to adventurers with improbably exciting last names such as Doc Savage and Jonny Quest, as well as being a synonym of the word "quest".
*Col. Horace Gentleman bears a strong resemblance to Sean Connery's portrayal of Alan Quatermain in the film version of Alan Moore's comic miniseries League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Otto Aquarius resembles the character of Abe Sapien from Mike Mignola's comic series Hellboy. Team Venture itself could also be a parody/homage to Moore's comic series, which assembled various heroes from classic Victorian pulp/adventure fiction together as a team.
*"Major Tom" and "the Action Man" are both characters from David Bowie songs; the opening scene of the "Ghosts Of The Sargasso" episode is a convoluted joke based upon lyrics from Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Ashes To Ashes", both of which feature these characters. Action Man is also a long running and popular line of action figures based on a G.I. Joe license but of British origin.

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