Monarch henchmen
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| Group from The Venture Bros. | ||||||||||||||
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| Henchmen of The Monarch | ||||||||||||||
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The henchmen of the Monarch, in particular the recurring characters #21 and #24, are supporting characters of the Adult Swim program The Venture Bros. Doc Hammer voices #21, and Christopher McCulloch voices #24.
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[edit] Description
In the The Venture Bros. series the henchmen of The Monarch are a parody of Bond villain and various other supervillain henchmen. All are out of shape, none are particularly clever, and they all have absolutely no ambition or initiative. Most of them seemingly joined the Monarch because they had nothing better open to them or for them to do. A large number of henchmen are revealed to be suicidally depressed in Showdown at Cremation Creek Part II.
Their outfit consists of black tights with a golden-orange leotard over it, golden-orange boots, gloves, wings, antennae, and mask, with the eye-goggles colored red. Their belt has a butterfly symbol as the buckle and none of the henchmen are in good enough shape to make the costume look impressive. The costume's wings enable the henchmen to fly and also are functional as an inflatable life preserver; however, the henchmen were all unaware of this for most of the first two seasons. The only weaponry they ever carry are dart guns that carry poison or sedatives. Henchmen are referred to only by an assigned number.
The henchmen's relationship with their employer is complex. They are sent into battles where they are killed by the dozens without much hope of achieving their objectives and are killed at a whim by the Monarch himself, yet they can have an almost bizarre parental relationship with the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend. The Monarch disciplines them as if they were children ("Tag Sale – You're It!"), and the Monarch once proclaimed to Dr. Girlfriend that the henchmen had cried themselves to sleep at night ("Hate Floats") over her absence.
When the Monarch was thrown out of The Guild of Calamitous Intent, all the henchmen left except for the recurring #21 and 24. Due to their inability to recruit new henchmen through the guild, the remaining duo recruited new henchmen from inner-city thugs and gangsters. These new henchmen, though far more aggressive and equipped with firearms, were totally uncontrollable by the Monarch after their first, botched mission to capture Dr. Girlfriend (instead taking Dr. Venture) and mutinied, taking control of the Cocoon and tossing the Monarch, #21 and #24, and Dr. Venture into a prison cell. It took Brock and the Phantom Limb to crush them on a rescue mission, which they did quite easily.
As of "Love-Bheits", the Monarch's supply of henchman has apparently been replenished. They are provided as part of the Monarch's henchmen-plan in the Guild.
According to #24 in "¡Viva los Muertos!", 9 out of 10 new Monarch henchmen don't survive a month.
The henchmen begin pulling off successful raids in Season 2. They assault what they thought was the Venture compound only to find it was the Monarch's accountant's office and silently left (but not before taking numerous office supplies). Whilst drunk, and attempting to get tattoos, they surprisingly managed to take down Brock and then decided the rest of the Venture family were easy pickings...only to learn for once this action was not desired due to Monarch's agreeing to break off his hatred of Venture in order to wed Dr. Girlfriend.
[edit] Notable members
[edit] #21
Number 21, whose real name is Gary, is an overweight pop culture geek. He was kidnapped by the Monarch at age 15, but despite this he appears to have grown to enjoy his role as a henchman.
He was one of the henchmen to help organize a party with Baron Ünderbheit's soldiers after the two groups' plans to kill Dr. Venture canceled each other out, and was one of the few to escape Venture's mad robot G.U.A.R.D.O.
Accompanying The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend to Dr. Venture's tag sale, he purchased a prototype lightsaber-like device. Eager to live out his dreams of being a Jedi Knight, he attacked Brock Samson in a manner reminiscent of the Star Wars kid, but learned the lightsaber only lit up and did not actually do any damage. He very wisely ran away from Brock before he could be harmed.
He and #24 later published a tell-all book entitled "The Flight of the Monarch." This set in motion a chain of events which led to The Monarch's breakup with Dr. Girlfriend and eventual imprisonment. He and #24 were the only henchmen to not abandon the Monarch when he was in prison, carrying out their boss' instructions by destroying the flying Cocoon (or at least flipping it on its side) and attempting to kill the Venture brothers, a goal they actually achieved, albeit accidentally.
At a Henchmans' Anonymous meeting he talked of possibly becoming a supervillain in his own right, perhaps called "The Viceroy." This was the first place he and #24 actually saw each other without their costumes. (#24 commented that #21 bears a resemblance to Kevin Smith.) When he learned The Monarch was back in business he eagerly left home (where he had been living with his mother and running a comic book business) to re-enter his employer's services. He and #24 were charged with recruiting new henchmen to replace those who had jumped ship during The Monarch's incarceration, and they proved quite adept at attracting various inner-city thugs, but this success backfired when the new henchmen proved uncontrollable, eventually mutinying and imprisoning The Monarch, Dr. Venture and the two original henchmen in a cell inside the Cocoon after a botched attempt to kidnap Dr. Girlfriend. #21 proposed using the stash of weapons he claimed he kept in his room to make an escape, but when the group reached his room the arsenal proved to be nothing more than a collection of Magic: The Gathering cards and comic book and movie toys and memorabilia, with a replica sword from The Lord of the Rings having the most destructive potential of the lot. However, he would not allow it to be removed from its box. They chose to attempt a breakout with the contents of this unimpressive armory anyway, only to discover that Brock and Phantom Limb had already stormed the Cocoon and disposed of the new henchmen in the mean time.
He and #24 accompanied The Monarch to a restaurant on his double date with a woman he met on the internet, Dr. Girlfriend, and Phantom Limb. The pair's involvement in the eventful night's drama was limited to a frightening encounter with Brock in a restroom stall.
Some time later, with the disillusionment that had prompted the two to write their tell-all book earlier perhaps having returned, #21 decided to explore his dreams of moving up in the world of professional villainy. He forged a pair of Guild arch-villain IDs and managed to acquire a pair of jet-packs from the inventory of one Sergeant Hatred, and tried to convince #24 to go into business with him as an independent super-villain team. He eventually convinced his reluctant friend to go along with the plan, but it went nowhere, with the obese #21 unable to even achieve flight using the jet-packs.
According to the deleted scenes from season 2, #21 had not seen his mother since his kidnapping while #24 lost his mother, found that his dad married his ex-wife and has a gay brother. #21 was later seen living with his mother in Hate Floats.[1]
[edit] #24
Number 24 is usually seen together with #21, and is the only other henchman to achieve recurring character status. He seems to be slightly smarter than his portly companion and the more grounded of the duo. Prior to "henching," #24 was a laid-off mill worker.
Unlike #21, he originally took up henching voluntarily, choosing a career in costumed villainy because his GED did not allow him many careers; it was either this or join the Army. He originally served with the Monarch as a henchman for Phantom Limb, but defected when the Monarch went into business for himself. The Monarch initially promised to make him #2, but didn't follow through. Like #21, he actually seems to enjoy being a henchman, and being taller and thinner is described by #21 as looking like "Seinfeld with a unibrow." (Although the unibrow was drawn out in later episodes) His appearance is identical to the other Monarch henchmen when wearing his uniform, though he is distinguishable by his voice which is similar to that of Ray Romano's.
He (carefully) released a tarantula into Dr. Venture's bedroom before that particular plot to assassinate the super scientist was broken up by the presence of henchmen in the service of rival supervillain Baron Ünderbheit.
He used to own a car, a (mostly) powder-blue Nissan Stanza, which he picked #21 up in when the two returned to The Monarch after his escape from prison and in which he later drove The Monarch and #21 to a restaurant where The Monarch was going on a date (and where the two henchmen had a memorable meeting with Brock Samson in a bathroom stall). His car was stolen by a prostitute The Monarch had picked up when she made her escape from the Cocoon, though he ended up recovering it later. The car was apparently purchased with loaned money from "Doug," #24's father, and he is still paying it off.
He initially wanted no part of #21's plans to leave The Monarch's service and become independent villains, but #21's rather inaccurate descriptions of the equipment he had procured eventually prevailed #24 to get on board with the scheme. He accidentally set his shoes on fire with one of the duo's purloined jet-packs, but fared better than #21, who was never able to do better than hover even using both of the two devices. #24 quickly wrote off the entire idea of going independent and was preparing to go back to the Cocoon, only to discover that the car he was attempting to hitch-hike a ride from was his own Nissan Stanza, being driven by The Monarch's escaping prostitute, who drove off in terror at the sight of #24's butterfly costume.
He frequently has arguments with #21 about unusual hypothetical situations, such as whether Smurfs lay eggs ("Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean") or who would win a fistfight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden. In the DVD commentaries, the creators admit that in these arguments they always give #24 the crazier idea.
In many ways #24 has proved to be efficient. This can be easily seen in season two finale, as he had easily mastered flying (a lifelong dream) and retained a level head attitude during the henchmen's attack on Phantom Limb's Guild. While there are no "ranks" in the cocoon, it is revealed that #24 is a commander.
All full-fledged season one henchmen resemble #24 (when in costume), except for #21. In the second season, #24 gained a cleft chin, a minor alteration in his design presumably intended to set him apart visually from the otherwise interchangeable henchmen. He was briefly part of the elite "Black Guard" formed by Doctor Henry Killinger and also had his herpes cured by Killinger.
[edit] References
- ^ Season 2 DVD deleted scenes
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