The Venture Bros./Awesome

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• Brock seems to be made of crowning moments:
  • Captured by pirates and in manacles, he manages to kill his two guards and escape by mainly using his clenched gluteus maximus during a cavity search.
  • As Myra Brandish tries to run him over in her car, facing backwards, he performs Taichi's Single Whip, with one hand stretched forward and the other to his side. When she hit him, he flies through the windscreen, crushing her into the seat, his forward hand drops into position on the wheel, and his hand stretched to the side prevents Dr. Venture from flying out of the windscreen.
  • Brock vs. The Monarch's henchmen in "Dia de los Dangerous", after Brock airdropped his '69 Charger straight into the middle of Monarch's lair.

Brock: You get the boys outta here; I'll take care of these guys. Dr. Venture: Brock, are you sure? There's an awful lot of them... Brock: (eye twitching) They hit me with a truck.

• • His "MURDERFLIES!" speech to the Monarch's henchmen also counts.
  • This man survived getting sucked into outer space for a few moments with almost no ill effects.
    • He did have to blow some frozen blood out of his nose, but you have a point.
    • And he STILL had enough energy to have crazy sex with a frighteningly ugly woman.

Brock: "I prefer it with the helmet on."

• • An episode has him killing a bunch of the Monarch's henchmen in a warehouse/hangar. If you freeze frame, you will see him having pinned a henchman to the wall with a functioning lawnmower which he holds in one hand while strangling another henchman with his other hand.
  • One of the most fantastic moments comes in the episode "Victor. Echo. November." While Dr. Venture is watching The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Brock vaults into the room, completely naked, covered in blood, with a SEVERED HEAD in his hand. Dr. Venture asks why Brock is naked, and his response is spoken in an animalistic growl:

Brock: To prey on their fear, move like an animal, to feel the kill.

• • Not to mention the opening scene of "Dia de Los Dangerous!", where, after he is forced to strip naked, he receives an appreciative gasp, and even a short round of applause. And there was a springing sound when he took his underwear off, for some reason, even though he was in a room full of muscular, oiled up men in tights.
    • Well, obviously he did that on command just to further shame and humiliate every other man in that room with their inadequacy.
  • In the episode "Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!" Brock becomes trapped in a device created by Dr. Venture to create the thing that would make you happiest. He then proceeds to fight ninjas, flame-thrower wielding dinosaur riding cowboys, and polar bears on motorcycles with scuba divers in the side cars.
    • And bone his one true love.
  • How is it that we've gone this long without mentioning the FIRST episode? Where he's being charged by the Monarch's henchman, and manages to get a doubly-literal death-grip on poor Speedy. Cool moment, but the fact that they had to mercy-kill Speedy pushed it into CMOA territory.
  • During Mid-Life Chrysalis, when Brock's OSI license is suspended and he has to retake the test. The officer reading back his results generally summarizes Brock's overall MO:

Brock: So how'd I do? Agent Trayster: Well, let's see here Mr. Samson. On the driving portion you totaled every car but the one you were driving. On the pistol range you refused to use a gun, and, oh, (chuckle) here's my favorite: on the written you drew the little guy with wings from the Led Zeppelin records-- Brock: Icarus. So, uh, what are you trying to tell me here, little man? You don't like Zep? (Trayster stands and rips the written portion in half) Agent Trayster: My father is General Trayster. You saved his life. The man spoke of you as a God...and you did not disappoint. Brock: Oh yeah....I used to babysit you.

• • • And at the end of the episode, he goes back to the strip joint he and Dr. Venture hit up earlier in the episode, to take his revenge on the bartender who made fun of his hair. When he makes fun of Brock's hair, again, Brock simply slaps his newly renewed license to kill on the bar in front of him. The last thing the bartender does is give Brock an Oh Crap look before Brock leaps over the bar and starts wailing on him.
    • The next time you see that bartender he's wearing an eyepatch.
  • At the end of "Blood of The Father, Heart of Steel", he kills Hitler. Hitler in the form of an angry dog with his brain/soul in it, but Hitler nonetheless. And he does it with a ceremonial golden dagger, such that the dog is disintegrated by the magic afterwards.

Brock: Guess I can cross "Stab Hitler to death" off of my list of cool crap I never thought I'd get to do.

• The Monarch's got a few moments, himself. For one, his "minty fresh entrance" into his accountants office (Bad directions; It was supposed to be the Secret Venture compound), and, for another, his standoff against Brock on his birthday.
  • Oh, and his daring prison escape. And the speech he made leading up to it.
  • In the second season finale, he piloted his giant flying cocoon ("the pride of the poison sky") against Phantom Limb's Guild Wasp armada while arguing with Dr. Venture.
    • Add on his taking charge during the fight aboard the cocoon after Doctor Girlfriend is injured. "Well, I've got nothing to live for. All right, I get the one dressed like Taco. Brock, you get Spicolli!"
  • In the third season premiere, it's revealed that he also stole Dr. Girlfriend from Phantom Limb while working as one of his henchmen, and successfully passed the blame onto some poor schmuck called the Manotaur.
    • This seems to be more a massive What an Idiot! moment for Phantom Limb, who does not recognize his then henchman as well as holding a grudge against someone who looks nothing like him.
      • This troper posits that it would actually be characteristic of Phantom Limb to not recognize a former henchman of his. He's not the type who'd bond with his henchmen. Remember, Phantom Limb also doesn't recognize 24 as being a former henchman of his, despite 24 having the same number while working for the Monarch.
    • Not to mention his triumphant foray into the lair of the Phantom in that very episode.

THE LAIR OF THE PHANTOM. MINIONS, ATTACK! KILL EVERYONE! GOD WILL RECOGNIZE HIS OWN! TAKE NO PRISONERS! SHOW NO MERCY!

• • • As well as his first attempt to kill Venture as the Monarch where he simply drives a car through every room of the building Blues Brothers-style to get to the lab, even if he stepped out and got his ass kicked.
    • The entire third season episode "The Lepidopterists" is a crowning moment of awesome for the Monarch. He launches a deliberately doomed assault on Jonas Venture Jr. so that he can get his henchmen onto Spider-Skull Island so they can hack his video feed and make it look like he was killed by JJ, freeing him to arch Rusty Venture with a guild sanction like he always wanted.
    • In the fourth season, he tells off the Murderous Moppets after they try to give him an order. Their reaction was perfect. What makes this even better is that he's suffering from a terrible allergic reaction and his face is puffed up to hell and back. That he manages to be genuinely terrifying in spite of this is nothing but awesome.
      • I vaguely recall the episode, but I could have sworn he doesn't just tell them off, but straight up threatens them (unarmed, while they both wield knives) to the point where they have nothing to say in defense. And these are the characters who beat the shit out of about 20 henchmen a season back.
• Dr. Orpheus opened the minds of two foul-mouthed rednecks "to a world of arcane torture!" And later he imprisoned them in a little Homie doll he got out of a vending machine.
  • During the yard sale at Dr. Venture's place, he realizes he really wants an arch villain. So he slaps The Monarch across the face and lights his shoes on fire. Then he hands him his card in case the Monarch would like to arch him. The extent of the Monarch's retaliation was shouting, "You dick!"
  • The original Team Venture mistakes him for a villain (shooting him in the process) and Dr. Orpheus forces a standstill between the two. Then he tells The Action Man's fortune...

Dr. Orpheus: (Grabs Action Man's hands) Two years, seventeen days. Action Man: ... What? Dr. Orpheus: From a stroke. Good day, sir!

• • • Later on, someone comments they might not make it out alive from the villain's lair:

Action Man: Not me! I got two more years!

• • And the Order of the Triad's "Rochambeau." Okay, it wasn't the Rochambeau, but it really should be.
    • His teleportation spells are pretty cool along with his exits. He once made a cloud shaped like a skull explode into a bunch of little skulls, seconds after he teleported out of the room.
  • How about when he saves the Venture Family from a tomb's trap? From halfway around the world, over the phone, using Dean's passions for his daughter Triana as a homing signal?
• Billy Quizboy gets one in "The Invisible Hand of Fate", where he freaks out at being used as an expendable spy, and uses his new mechanical hand to land a solid Groin Attack on Brock Fucking Samson that sends him keeling over.
  • Give Mister Whelan another CMOA courtesy of "ORB", where he definitely earns his detective spurs.
• The skinny, pasty Dean Venture beating the crap out of a guy twice his size who is hinted at being the illegitimate son of Brock Samson is his larger half-brother in defense of Triana. He may have been almost crying with snot pouring out of his nose, but considering the kind of character he is normally, this is probably going to be the closest thing to a CMOA he is ever going to get.
  • Closest? It is Dean's Crowning Moment of Awesome! It's even better when you consider that he spent the whole episode in fear of this jerkoff who kept insulting him. The Triana thing just pushed him over the edge. And bonus points for the reactions he got: Dr.Z called him "a spinning murder top," and when Dr. Venture tried to step in Brock stopped him, just so he could see that kid get his comeuppance.
• Dr. Killinger nonchalantly makes Orpheus pass out in a nosebleed just by staring at him and resisting his powers.
  • It is submitted that Dr. Killinger is composed of pure CMOA.
    • Seconded. Motion carries.
    • That's because his heart does not pump blood like you and I, but rather a condensed form of pure liquid awesome.
• Russell "Go-Fish" Sturgeon, the second assassin from the third season finale (and the only one that was really any level of competent), throws a grenade at Brock before binding him with a Fishing Pole. He then drags Brock through the water with his speed boat and pelts him with chum to attract sharks!

Brock: You've gotta be kidding me!

• • And then Brock saying a quick prayer after dispatching him with a clever trap.
• Heinrich "Herr Trigger" Triggermensch proving to be an Implacable Man in his pursuit of Brock (and the only of the assassins to come out of their encounter with Brock alive, even if he died shortly thereafter.)
• The Monarch's simulation of his assault on the Venture Compound, in which he easily decapitates Brock with his wings.
• Team Venture's capture of Spider-Skull Island in flashback in "Now Museum, Now You Don't".
• In one of the most impressive sequences in the series, Brock's identical, concurrently shown beatdowns on Rusty and friends in their college days and the original Team Venture in the present.
• A very subtle CMOA for Dr. Mrs. The Monarch: trying to talk Sergeant Hatred out of killing himself while Hatred is sitting on the toilet in the Venture compound with his pants down and his corporal and two privates first-class in full view (censor cover notwithstanding), and she's treating everything as perfectly normal.
• The Monarch proving he could match the full power of the OSI blow for blow in the season 3 finale, and his daring gambit in the Death's Head Panoply.
• Ha! Molotov Cocktease out-awesomes everyone in the season 3 finale. See, it turns out that the whole "Brock getting disowned by OSI" thing was a lie that she concocted just to get him to take out the assassins. As a result, her own assassin agency now has no competition whatsoever. Said events took balls of the highest caliber.
  • So many characters have pulled one over on Brock Freaking Samson at this point that he's not so Freaking anymore.
    • This troper believes that you can give Brock a break in this instance. He does have a serious blind spot when it comes to Molotov. It's located about eight inches below his navel.
      • Eight to twenty.
• Molotov is worthy of Brock in awesomeness. Note particularly their fight in her introductory episode, and particularly when Brock throws a knife at her face - she catches it with her teeth.
  • In Blood Of The Father, Heart Of Steel, she shoots Brock out of a building.
• Dr.Venture has some CMOA as well, despite the fact that he is normally just about the biggest failure in a show about failure. This Troper found his incredible escape from the Venture Compound Basement when being held captive by an Insane Cult of Orphans his dad left down there in the late 70s to not only be awesome, but remind you that once he had to do stuff like this all the time. ORB also offers a similar moment. Rusty however for the most part is to the Moral Event Horizon what Brock is to Moments of Awesome.
  • When he walked out on therapy was another good one. Rusty realizing that he'd gotten over his childhood trauma and gone on to lead a relatively successful life was extremely moving for this troper.
  • There are times when Dr. Venture seems like the essential ubermench, especially in "Assisted Suicide". After undergoing Mind Assination Hank asks if Dr. Venture is okay. In response he relates a traumatic story about his father while he was a teenager. Hank: "That sounds like a nightmare." Dr. Venture: "No, what I went through today is a nightmare. What happened on my 16th birthday? That is my life."
  • Dr. Venture telling the Monarch off in "Are You There God? It's Me, Dean". He manages to talk his way out of the dastardly situation the monarch put him in just because his son wasn't feeling well. Failure or not, Dr. Venture has a truckload of guts and a tongue sharp as a razor-blade.
• OSI's generic ground troopers are probably amongst the best good guy redshirt army in animation history. They frequently slaughter other mooks without remorse including: decapitating a Destro look alike with an F-15, throwing a henchmen into a helicopter's rotors, nonchalantly shooting prisoners in the head, gunning down ejected pilots, decapitating henchmen via a jetpack headlock, and shrugging off dozens of Monarch darts before mowing down their enemies (Mostly because their armor repels the darts everywhere other than their face). They kill more villains in a single episode than most cartoon heroes manage in their entire career.
• Colonel Hunter Gathers, when he initiates Brock into the OSI. "You still ready for anything?"
• Sure, maybe it was just a Zerg Rush, and maybe the man was drunk and getting a tattoo, but The Monarch's henchmen taking on and actually capturing Brock Sampson as a gift for their boss's wedding has to count.
  • "Oh ****, I thought I dreamt that part!"
• 21 and 24 explaining to the much better trained henchman #1 that they will survive due do extreme Genre Savvy.
  • 21's opening sequence at the beginning of Hate Floats.
  • Also, the time he bought a toy lightsaber thinking it was real, and attacked Brock Sampson with it. Sure, he ran away screaming when he realized it was fake, but still...
    • It wasn't fake. It was a legitimate lightsaber, it's just that Dr Venture never mastered the saber part.
• The entire goddamn episode of The Family That Slays Together Stays Together. This one takes a LIST.
  • Brock actually backs down against Helper, when Helper produces an arsenal of weaponry the moment Brock starts barking orders at him.
  • Molotov Cocktease faces down Brock Samson when he has a knife DIRECTLY ON HER THROAT.
  • Stealth transsexual spy strippers.
  • Herr Trigger vs Brock Samson, involving almost enough dakka from Herr Trigger, Brock stopping his new car early so that Herr Trigger tumbles over it and lights on fire. He still manages to get up and launch a missile at the X-1.
    • At which point Helper climbs out of his little hole on the roof, climbs down the X-1, grabs the landing gear, and sacrifices half of his body to serve as an emergency landing gear. AWESOME.
  • Go Fish vs Brock Samson. Go Fish opens up with a grenade, then a frog bait that ties up Brock, then he tosses chum on Brock to LURE SHARKS TO KILL HIM. Brock cuts off his own hair, mounts it on a shark with his shirt, ties up the shark with fishing wire, and as Go Fish comes in for the final kill, Brock decapitates him with a shark. With a MOTHERFUCKING SHARK. His final line, a direct call out to the two useless formerly homosexual Christians on deck, is COLD AS HELL. He takes Go Fish's hat, puts it on his head, and goes with the line...

Brock Samson: Oh God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

• • While not as interesting as the rest, Le Treur vs Brock Samson is still quite entertaining, though in a much more subtle way. Of the three assassins, Le Treur does the single most damage to Brock, cutting off his nipple, carving him up with a sword pretty well, and slamming him through a window. In response, Brock bissects him vertically with his own sword. The hilarious part comes that when the blood splashes off of Le Treur, it hits the boys in a way to make them look as if they've pissed themselves.
    • Le Treur's statement to Hank of "I only like Batman for the villains!" is pretty magnificent, as well.
  • That C Mo A is also complemented with a funny moment at the end when Brock drags Le Truer's body into the bathroom and we hear Dr. Venture (who was in the bathroom bathing at the time) scream then walk out to throw up.
• Number 21 punches Brock Samson in the jaw. Brock's reaction is not immediately murdering him. 21 then proceeds to duel Brock and impresses the show's top Badass enough to survive.
• There's an extremely meta example in "The Better Man". A Minor Villain, Torrid, had been sucked into hell and driven insane by Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. A hero, Out Rider, who was revealed to be more powerful than Orpheus, brought him back. The Out Rider is about to cure Torrid when Torrid sucker punches him off his horse, screams "Share my pain!" and casts a spell on Rider before disappearing. All the characters admit that it was a pretty badass way to go.
  • To quote The Alchemist, "That was 100% bad-ass!"
• The ENTIRE Pinstripes & Poltergeists episode, but specifically:
  • THE DUEL. My God, THE DUEL. Took a Level In Badass, indeed.
  • Brock's 'sacrifices' speech.
  • Doc Venture completely missing the point and then sinking to a new depth of Jerkass a few moments later. "Come on in, boys! Hey, did I ever tell you about your mother? Or that you're both clones?"
  • The late #24 playing Obi-Wan Kenobi to #21's Luke Skywalker... Literally at one point.
  • Dr. Mrs. The Monarch finally putting The Murderous Moppets in their places.
  • The revelation of the "top secret" S.P.H.I.N.X. headquaters.
  • The Ending. "You really wanna do this? I'm twice your size." "Not anymore." I almost wept.
  • The Stinger. "BROCK?!?"
• Pomp & Circuitry could easily be called "Hank's Crowning Episode of Awesome." To wit: He tries to join S.P.H.I.N.X. At first, they laugh him off, because he's...well...Hank. He then explains that as Doctor Venture's son, he's experienced enough in the way of threats for several lifetimes. They try to tie him up? He escapes almost immediately. They try to erase his mind? He recognizes the type of machine and is Genre Savvy enough to wear a tinfoil hat to block it. They don't let him in, but it's still pretty awesome to see the character who is the definition of The Load get his moment in the sun.
  • It isn't even so much that they don't let him in, considering he actually passes the test. Brock appears to have pulled a few strings so that Hank doesn't follow in his footsteps, as much as he desperately wants to.
  • The same episode was a bastion of awesome for Phantom Limb. Turns out those inanimate objects he was talking to weren't so inanimate after all...
    • They were: his severed limbs (Armando and Leftenant Shankly) were moving them. Doesn't make it any less awesome, though.
• Sgt. Hatred got one when he rescued Rusty from the Monarch and his Butter-Glider by shooting him with Billy's shrink ray, enlarging him to the point where the Butter-Glider couldn't take his weight. All of which while "speedballing on tranq darts and PURE ADRENALINE!"
• 21, nay, this entire series, just accomplished one in "Assisted Suicide" when he and Mrs. The Monarch have a heart-to-heart conversation that results in her giving him a cheer while dressed like a cheerleader, revealing that she enjoys Star Trek just as much as he does, and him finally making a move to kiss her. She certainly didn't mind.
• Operation P.R.O.M., the one-hour fourth season finale, has several:
  • Treister's entire exit is one. He invites Hunter to the (real) bridge of the OSI airship, where he gives him the wheel. When Hunter tells him he's not a Hulk and that the Lepidopterists are Guild double agents plotting a takeover, Treister reveals that he already knew and set up an ambush for them. Treister puts Hunter in charge of the OSI, then launches himself into space so as to allow "alien technology" to find him and cure his cancer. To cap the whole sequence off, the last show of Treister is of him being releaed from his rocket in space, with a post-it note saying "Fix It!" affixed to his chest. That's the absolute pure defenition of Crazy Awesome.
  • After the Outrider's stupid speech at the very end of the episode:

Dean: You know what I think? Fuck You!

• • • And people said he would never have another Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Gary quitting.
  • The last 2:30 minutes of the episode were just fantastic. Spoilers, obviously
• David Bowie.

David Bowie: Hello, I'm David Bowie. [punches Iggy Pop] Make way for Homo Superior!

• Dr. Orpheus' entire involvement in the episode Assisted Suicide. Despite the series being a "show about failure," he spent that entire episode showing that he is damn good at what he does and saves Dr. Venture from The Monarch's mind-assassination attempt.
  • Which involved doing unspecified acts of Id's choosing in order to provide Ego with two hot babes of Rusty's fantasies.
• Dr. Girlfriend/Dr Mrs. The Monarch, whatever she goes by at the time, has two such instances that impressed this troper. The first being from "I Know Why The Caged Bird Kills" when she reveals she isn't just a voice of reason. She's an ass kicker, by mopping the floor with Killinger's Black Guards. And a more subtle one from "Tears Of A Sea Cow", when she assumes control of the cocoon. When the henchmen start cheering, she kicks back with a look on her face that just screams "Yeah, I'm that awesome."
• Let's not forget our friendly homosexual Shipwreck imitation Shore Leave. In "Every Which Way But Zeus" when he's about to be kidnapped by "Zeus." At first he rants on about something having to do with a ball he's always wanted to go to as a child. Then he politely asks if he could bring a mssive-ass gun with him, stares Zeus down and begins firing at him. Chalk up another one for Sphinx, boys.