Aug 3, 2008 08:00 AM
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The title of television's greatest cartoon, The Venture Bros., has at least a couple of meanings to those who are happily addicted to the show: Does it refer to Hank and Dean, enthusiastic (if somewhat stupid) sons of Rusty Venture, or Rusty and his own brother, Jonas Jr.? Or, as some fans seem to be thinking, does it refer to yet another, as-yet-unrevealed brother altogether? Speculation and potential spoilers under the jump.
Given that every episode of the show's third season so far has revealed secret histories of various characters in one way or another, it's entirely reasonable that fans at the Television Without Pity forums think that we're headed for a particular and peculiar reveal by the end of the season:
[W]hat if Monarch was actually Rusty's twin? Think about it...this season, we've established that Jonas was a real asshole. Dumping a twin off somewhere and manipulating his life so we could become a super-villain doesn't seem so far-fetched, especially if Jonas knew Rusty would be a burnout case in his adult life (even without the apparently untimely death), and he figured an even lamer adversary would be needed. And if you throw in Jonas not knowing about a third kid getting absorbed (wee JJ, channeling John Constantine), it's even funnier. The only question would be if Monarch knows about it.
Another fan takes that ball and runs with it:
If Monarch is a long-lost brother to Rusty, all signs point to the fact that their point of relation has to be the fact that they have the same mother as opposed to both being Jonas Venture's kids.
The notion that Rusty is a bastard-spawn would solve a lot of the unanswered questions about Rusty's past as far as the absence of his mother: Jonas had an affair with Monarch's mom behind Monarch's dad's back, shortly after the birth of the Monarch. The affair was exposed to Mr. Monarch as a result of the pregnancy and a deal was cut: Mrs. Monarch went into seclusion and gave birth to Rusty, who by this point had absorbed JJ into his body. As soon as Rusty was out of his mom's womb, she flat-out rejected him as far as having the doctor handing him off to Jonas while Mr. Monarch ominously tells Jonas to take his illegitimate child out of their home and never come back.
Which leads to why Monarch hates Rusty: the affair between him and Monarch's mommy destroyed Monarch's parents marriage, even though they stayed married for appearance sake. Given the plot point in the season one premire, as far as Monarch seeking out surrogate parents in the form of butterflies after his parents' deaths (as well as his apparently haphazard indifference towards them dying), maybe he only has negative memories of his family, perhaps spurned on by back and forth recriminations over Mrs. Monarch's affair with Jonas ruining the until that point storybook marriage? Not to mention his at times, sexist attitudes towards women. Growing up knowing that your mom is a slut who had a child with a man who isn't your dad could screw a guy up, and lead to Monarch striking out as the living symbol of his mother's adulterous, marriage ruining affair as far as Rusty is concerned.
Rusty finding out that he was the result of a illicit adulterous affair his father carried out would probably drive him up the walls even moreso, especially if he finds out how his mother rejected him in favor of Monarch. Which in turn would make for some interesting plotlines for Rusty's money trouble as far as him possibly suing Monarch for his share of his mother's estate, let alone how JJ would react to who his mother was...
Of course, other fans have a completely different identity for Rusty's missing mother:
I think the reason why we don't see Rusty's mother is because he doesn't have one. Rusty is a clone.
Talk show host: Dr. Venture what would you say was your greatest adventure and parenthetically eh, your greatest invention.
Jonas: Well Dick, those are both very good questions, but I'm afraid I have only one answer. My Son
Folks, Rusty is an experiment. Think all the way back to this exchange for the episode called "The Incredible Mr. Brisby"
Rusty: Congress has outlawed all cloning in North America
Mr Brisby: Congress? Bah they aren't men of vision, men like you and me, men like your father, and I vaguely remember him mentioning that he was dabbling in cloning
The reason why he haven't seen Rusty's mother is because he has no mother. Rusty is just a clone of Jonas.
Well, considering poor Dean and Hank's clone status, that isn't entirely out of the realms of possibility... But if this is the case, then does this make Dr. Girlfriend now Dr. Mrs. The Monarch Venture? She's going to run out of room on her business cards, if that's the case.
The Venture Bros. [Television Without Pity Forums]
Send an email to Graeme McMillan, the author of this post, at graeme@io9.com.
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