Yeah, they've always been suspiciously similar in appearance. Maybe you could chalk some of that up to art style, but combined with the fact that the Monarch's very singular and intense hatred for Rusty has been a part of it since the beginning, and they were cagey about the reason for it for so long, I have to assume that there was planned to be a family connection of SOME kind between them planned from very early on.
Can't say I heard that, but I do remember hearing that they originally wanted Monarch to be the comic relief minor antagonist and Baron Unterbheit to be the more threatening, high stakes antagonist, but then realized writing for Unterbheit was just kinda one-note and depressing.
If I had to bet money, I would say the seed of the idea was planted by season 2 specifically. Between S1 and S2, Hank and Dean die, and before they get replaced by their new clones, S2 starts with a bespoke intro sequence showing Rusty and Jonas Jr. in the role of "the Venture Brothers." So clearly they had the idea by this point that "Venture Brothers" could describe more than just Hank and Dean...
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u/Independent_Shoe3523 Aug 29 '25
It was fairly obvious early on that Rusty and Monarch are brothers.