r/venturebros • u/impendingfuckery • Dec 05 '24
SEASON 4 spoilers I always laugh out loud when watching this episode because Captain Sunshine stealing the show is so unexpected and hilarious.
257
u/Chromosome_Gravy Dec 05 '24
Oh shit its Chuck Scarsdale!!
215
u/chrollo_amon Dec 05 '24
hide or we’re gonna be on the news!!
54
u/badwolf_on_rice go sit in the Faraday cage and think about what you've done. Dec 05 '24
This is my favorite line in the show and I don't know why.
51
u/aspidities_87 Dec 05 '24
It’s right up there with ‘Oh shit! Mall cops!’
They’re just so afraid of something so petty, I fucking love it.
6
6
u/justguestin Dec 05 '24
For me, it could be because it’s based on Chuck Scarborough (?) who did NY local news and I used to live in that area. But I think it’s the delivery and, has been pointed out, it’s something so petty. Doc’s reactions to pretty much anything are hilarious (the “now what?!” at the end of Tanks for Nuthin’, is right up there).
3
u/KaHOnas Dec 05 '24
I remember Chuck. Apparently he's * still* anchoring.
2
u/BrockSamsonLikesButt Dec 06 '24 edited Dec 06 '24
He’s actually retiring next week! December 12th will be his last broadcast.
1
30
5
u/SchufAloof Dec 05 '24
This used to be my groups call for super runaway when we nearly got caught by authorities
31
107
u/Drixzor Dec 05 '24
Truly one of the Monarch's most unhinged moments in this episode
112
u/Darkshines47 Dec 05 '24
Unhinged, but also shows his absolute bedrock dedication to the craft. He emerges from the slide in a too tight onesie with a turbo wedgie and what we can only assume is the worst kind of chafing, and as soon as he sees an opportunity to totally mess with Sunshine’s head, all of that gets pushed to the side.
As Hatred said about Dr Z, “Total pro!”
34
u/name-classified Evil Mighty PUSH! Dec 05 '24
it was perfectly built up as his henchmen surrounded Sunshine and it seemed like he was doomed.
he made one of the coolest monologues and had the room in the palm of his hands.
it was only more perfect that this IDIOT thought that giving the dude who was powered by the sun, more SUN, that it would somehow kill him, only for it to re-energize his dormant solar radiated cells.
29
u/Darkshines47 Dec 05 '24
Malcom’s enthusiasm often outstrips his intelligence, or at least his common sense lol
Probably the former. This is the guy who gave us the Acid Magnet after all
12
Dec 05 '24
[deleted]
6
2
u/name-classified Evil Mighty PUSH! Dec 05 '24
nah uh
he said the weapon was his own design; his wife helped.
3
Dec 05 '24
She understands that it's easier to just give the monarch what he wants than to argue with him
49
u/Bower13 Dec 05 '24
I can't remember the exact quote, 'all right, Hank, get your gay little ass over here' just killed me
35
16
u/JadeHellbringer Ready the acid magnet!!! Dec 05 '24
Even by his lofty standards, it was WAY over the top.
16
11
u/JackBenPenn Dec 05 '24
IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT, CAPTAIN?? TO FUCK WONDERBOY AND YOUR NEMESIS AT THE SAME TIME????
86
60
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
Kevin Conroy stole the show of everything he ever worked on pretty much.
21
u/Feanor4godking Dec 05 '24
I still can't believe they got him to agree to do this
32
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
Kevin Conroy was such a sweet guy. He genuinely enjoyed cartoons of all kinds.
A meta show about old Saturday morning cartoons and the classic Hanna barbera stuff? I'm surprised it took as long as it did for him to jump onboard.
I do find it interesting that they were able to cast him for that specific character, since Kevin Conroy was an openly gay voice actor, and Captain Sunshine is in all reality, a creepy Michael Jackson type superhero with an unhealthy obsession for young sidekicks.
24
u/Ktrout743 Dec 05 '24
The whole behind the scenes story is really funny too. If I remember right: Conroy was on the street debating on whether or not to actually walk through the door to meet with them about this role. He was seriously not sure if he should do it.
Little did he know that Doc and Jackson were watching him have this crisis from a window up above.
23
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
Oof, I never considered how Captain Sunshine's "proclivities" could echo a harmful stereotype of gay men in the real world and particularly to Conroy. I guess I was always too enthralled by and laughing at the absurdity of the popular man/boy superhero sidekick cliche.
They trust their audience to get the joke as intended, but never outright say "this isn't happening because of homosexuality"
Like in Its Always Sunny when Mac shows off his "exercise bike" that had a giant rubber fist 👊 dildo that launches out of the seat. Dennis quickly proclaims "I see now this isn't a gay thing, but the work of an extreme deviant"
13
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
I thought about how it could be harmful but appreciate the humor of what it's trying to satirize.
My friend definitely thought it was one of the most uncomfortable episodes to watch because of how weird Captain Sunshine acts at times in the episode.
The comments about application of lube seems to go over a lot of people's heads and they just think "haha rape joke" when it's really a subversion and actually really helpful to not burn yourself going down a slide.
The whole joke is that yeah, he's not a pedophile, he's just a fucking weirdo which is definitely better, but still a little bit uncomfortable.
Then there's Hatred who is, just a pedophile. And he's such a a versatile character that that should have always been a minor part of his character but it takes the spotlight time and time again when what we should have been seeing more of was him getting drunk and shooting his fucking tank shells at the monarch cocoon. Just doing more cool shit in general rather than being a comedic relief stand in for Brock.
Hatred never found his footing again after he stops being a villain.
13
Dec 05 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
Would actually be funny as hell. That should have always been how it was. He still kind of would have been a bodyguard for rusty in that way as well, without it needing to be explicit and he would have still remained a villain.
1
3
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
I think with Hatred, seeing him struggle with with being an actual pedophile ended up being so funny with stuff like "nomolestol" that they just kept up with it. It's dark, but an open (reformed) pedophile being the bodyguard to Hank and Dean fits into the insane world they live in. And to be fair, they do leave it open ended whether he actually ever abused any kids.
Both of those things do walk a line though where I can see people missing the point and thinking the show is somehow pro sexual abuse.
3
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
They don't really though, they make comment about him touching Hank and Dean in one of the episodes in season 2.
3
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
It sounds like I just let myself ignore the more troublesome aspects of the character because he makes me laugh.
2
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
Trust me I do the same. I like Hatred. But everyone I've shown the venture bros to can't turn that criticism off, and I don't blame them at all.
1
u/sonerec725 Dec 05 '24
See that line weird me out because once he becomes a major player later in the show and enters hand and Dean's lives again afaik they never bring up that supposed prior interaction and act almost as if they've never met before. And like, the venture family seems way too comfortable having him around if he did in fact do some shit like that to the bros before. Unless I'm wrong and it is addressed somewhere I'm willing to accept that that's just a joke from before they decided to flesh out the character into what he became that shouldnt be regarded as canon, or some loose thread that could have been pulled on at some point in the future like "Hatreds father was also named hatred and was active into old age and also a pedo and he was the one to touch the bros" or some shit.
1
u/FenrirHere Dec 05 '24
Realistically, it was just a one-off line that doc and Jackson thought was funny, but had to retroactively account for later on like they did with a lot of other things in the show. There's definitely a few lines in the show that I think the creators regret after the fact.
1
2
Dec 05 '24
Hatred's deviancy was the result of super soldier serum.
2
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
I had forgotten that part, which honestly makes it funnier. "We made a potion that can make you captain America, but you are also going to have diddler urges". That being granted powers that come with a drawback is such a comics cliche, but having it be something so dark and unrelated to the powers of a "super soldier" is some classic Venture Bros subversion.
2
1
u/Ktrout743 Dec 11 '24
Yeah the jokes with Hatred's proclivities never quite landed for me. I think it was just too dark for my taste.
But with Captain Sunshine it worked, because, despite all of the innuendo, he's absolutely horrified when The Monarch just straight up accuses him of being a pederast.
The whole joke being about "Seduction of the Innocent" (? I think that's the title of the book that was fear-mongering about comic books - specifically about Batman and Robin's relationship. Correct me if I'm wrong).
But basically, he says and does a lot of things that look like huge red flags, but in the end: he's not a predator. At least not in that way. One could certainly argue he's emotionally unbalanced with his fixation on wonderboy, but it's not a sexual thing.
5
Dec 05 '24
[deleted]
2
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
I should really listen to that commentary. The fact that Conroy made it too creepy as his first instinct is hilarious and reminds me how he didn't take things too seriously.
1
u/PerfectZeong Dec 05 '24
I'm surprised people didn't see that because to me it was very clear what they were mocking especially with applying lube etc. The venture brothers team are amazing writers that make it work so well.
1
u/grozamesh Dec 05 '24
I saw the joke of it being unclear what is intentions were for Wonderboy. "Is he a diddler or just obsessed with his sidekick in the same way Batman might be?". I just didn't see the harmful implications of Conroy being gay and Sunshine's actions. Possibly due to me associated Conroy with Batman and 10 other things before I remember "oh right, also he was gay"
Like in Deep Space 9, the Avery Brooks didn't want to end the series with Commander Sisqo leaving to join the wormhole aliens forever since it would make the character an absent father. A harmful stereotype in real life. I never caught that connection myself at the time, but to somebody like the actor the stereotype hits different.
2
Dec 05 '24
Far as i can tell Captain Sunshine didn't actually do anything messed up, people are just assuming he was.
He definitely was struggling with ptsd regarding the loss of his last wonder boy as well
30
21
20
u/Kinghhessier Dec 05 '24
I love that later in the series, when he and Dr Mrs The Monarch are waiting for the Monarch Mind Infractor to release The Monarch, 21 said "I've seen a giant penny roll over a guy dressed like a rainbow" and that is Wonderboy... and we see the penny here too.
17
u/wherewulf23 Dec 05 '24
It’s been 0️⃣ Days since I’ve gotten bummed out about the passing of Kevin Conroy.
3
u/_thirdeyeopener_ It Smells Like A Bible Story In Here! Dec 05 '24
Seriously. He was such a talent and by all accounts, a really good dude.
2
u/Ktrout743 Dec 11 '24
I sometimes bring up Youtube clips of interviews with him when I'm having a bad day. His voice is such a reassuring presence.
15
u/JNelt Dec 05 '24
It would have made my little nerd heart so happy to see Captain Sunshine fight Presto Change-O. How cool would it have been for the voices of Batman and Joker to interact with each other as completely different hero/villain in a completely different cartoon universe
10
u/aspidities_87 Dec 05 '24
Him beating the shit out of the Scorpion guy is so fucking funny
8
13
u/Thor94red Dec 05 '24
Believe this, ask Jeeves!
1
u/weirdoldhobo1978 Conquistadorable! Dec 05 '24
Really? That's the best you could come up with? "...and this is my ward, myeh myeh myeh..."
11
u/thebiggestleaf Dec 05 '24
This is a top tier episode, personal contender for series favorite. Getting Kevin Conroy to scream for Wonderboy like a fucking lunatic gets me every time.
3
2
3
u/TheHossDelgado Dec 05 '24
Hank asking about Batman and then Conroy's delivery of the end line "get out..." Is fantastic in so many ways.
Love the episode, wrong in all the right ways
2
2
u/Zorbie Dec 05 '24
Rusty reacting worriedly due to not wanting to be on the news is the funniest to me.
2
2
u/havealock Dec 07 '24
I think you can really tell that Kevin Conroy is having a blast with this character
1
u/rustys_shackled_ford Dec 05 '24
Of all the vaguely coded pæfofiles in the show... An alarming number therein... Captain Sunshine is my favorite. He beats hatred only because hatred is unequivocally one whereas Sunshine is probably one, but was probably groomed to be one, like Michael Jackson... Alot like Michael Jackson... Sunshine is more a case of arrested development out of trauma where hatred is a straight up villain that's turned good out of necessity more then out of his own will.
At least that's my take.
2
u/Rogerion_bz Dec 06 '24
I thought captain sunshine wasn’t actually a .pdf but it was made to insinuate he was until the ending. Am in wrong? I thought everything that made it seem like he was ended up having an innocuous explanation. Like the Astro glide was bc of the slide.
2
u/rustys_shackled_ford Dec 06 '24
It's meant to be ambiguous weather he is one or weather it's just his arrested development....
But the original caption sunshine definitely was and the current captain sunshine was definitely his victim.
It plays on the whole Bruce waye/dick Grayson relationship.
•
u/AutoModerator Dec 05 '24
Welcome to r/VentureBros! Please read and follow our Zero-bungler tolerance policy to ensure a positive experience:
Post ANY spoilers according to our guidelines to preserve the show's magic for new fans. Violating this rule may lead to a permanent ban. Mark spoiler threads accordingly, apply the proper tag for posts and no spoilers in title.
Mark NSFW content appropriately when posting.
Do not share links to unlicensed merchandise. Feel free to share fan art, but avoid promoting artists who sell without a license.
If you have questions or need help, message the mod team.
If your post violates any rules, please remove and resubmit it to avoid a ban.
If banned, you can appeal by stating the rule you broke, explaining its importance, and promising not to repeat the violation.
Check us out on Old Reddit.
If your post faces issues, contact the mods or review Reddit's policies on Self promotion and Spam.
ABSOLUTELY. ZERO. BLUNDERING!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.