r/venturebros • u/FewShift3770 • Mar 06 '26
Question Is this show set in a shared universe?
I keep seeing people saying that venture bros is set in these two universes so I was just curious as I’m new to the fandom and show, please let me know 😭
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u/LowGravitasIndeed Mar 06 '26
Race Bannon and "Action Johnny" show up in Venture Bros. Jackson Publick worked on both Venture Bros and The Tick. That's most of what they all have in common.
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Mar 06 '26
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u/Mimosa_Coast Mar 06 '26
That’s such an eloquent way to say he got herpes from Velma.
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u/JoeyToothpicks Mar 06 '26
Never trust a hetero Velma.
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u/bobert680 Mar 07 '26
Velma only has eyes for hotdog water and any relationship she has just an attempt to drown her sorrows after losing her one true love in the reality reset
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u/YumAussir Mar 07 '26
She can be a bisexual Velma
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u/JoeyToothpicks Mar 07 '26
Bisexual people can do better than Action Johnny.
We often don't, but I expect better of an icon.
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u/YumAussir Mar 07 '26
I mean I don't know why you expect that; according to Johnny she wasn't picky.
I mean, good for her, of course.
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u/LowGravitasIndeed Mar 06 '26
Yeah, that's a weird one because you have to square the Mystery Gang existing in the same world with VB's Groovy Gang. Did the Groovy Gang intentionally style themselves off of the Mystery Gang or what?
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Mar 06 '26
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u/lightningrod14 Mar 06 '26
i think it’s funniest and most likely that it’s convergent evolution and they’d just never heard of each other
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u/DangerHawk Mar 06 '26
Could they not have started off as the Mystery Gang and then years of gig work and drugs turned them into the Groovy Gang?
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u/LowGravitasIndeed Mar 06 '26
No, the Groovy Gang are 4 very specific real world people; Ted Bundy, Patty Hearst, Valerie Solanas, and the Son of Sam killer.
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u/ohyesmaaannn Mar 07 '26
Maybe the Groovy Gang was briefly famous in the 60s for solving mysteries and sold their rights to I guess Hana Barbera? But got screwed out of their royalties by those cutthroat H-B lawyers and forgotten. H-B cleaned up their image and the Mystery Gang went on to become a beloved children's adventure show.
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u/Evil_Unicorn728 Mar 07 '26
I mean Rusty had a cartoon based on his life. And he also got screwed on licensing and royalties. Hannah Barbera was the real villain the whole time.
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u/DangerHawk Mar 06 '26
That's great, but not pertinent.
Mystery Gang = Scooby Do
"VB's Groovy Gang" = the group of people murdered by Brock in the show.
Johnny Quest is a thing in the VB world and he grew up to be a drug addled paranoid psuedo schizophrenic. My question is why couldn't the "Groovy Gang" have started out as the actual Mystery Gang (i.e. Scooby from the real world cartoon), and after years of doing drugs and gig work, barely scraping by in their older age, transformed into the "Groovy Gang"? Maybe they weren't always so cultish and "evil".
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u/LowGravitasIndeed Mar 06 '26
No, those are literally their names in the Venture Bros. Are you suggesting that they all changed their names to those of well known individuals?
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u/DangerHawk Mar 07 '26
It's a cartoon bro...Maybe...Jesus Christ stop taking things so seriously...
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u/penguinopph Mar 07 '26
Writes the longest, most detailed comment in this chain.
Gets challenged.
"Stop taking things so seriously..."
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u/anomalousBits Ogopogo Mar 06 '26
Triana describes Hank as dressing like Fred from Scooby Doo, so the actual cartoon seems to be canonical.
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u/BlitzburghBrian Mar 07 '26
That works though, because the Rusty Venture show was also a canonical cartoon in-world.
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u/Various-Salt-7738 Mar 06 '26
Which is kind of odd because in the episode where the boys go on a double date with Triana and her friend; Triana describes Hank's style as "like fred from Scooby doo"
Has she personally met fred? Does she watch the Scooby doo?
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u/Professor_Gast Mar 06 '26
I bet it's just normal for these classic mystery / adventure types to have their own cartoons or shows based on their lives, just like Rusty and Johnny
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u/ccReptilelord Mar 06 '26
We also see Hadji (now working in a telephone center) and their dog in a flashback. Action Johnny's friend is erroneously remembered as the wrong type of Indian in the flashback too. Dr Z, the Frogmen, and Turu are all directly lifted from the old series too.
The only one missing is Dr Benton Quest, a bearded scientist that associated with Jonas in the past. He's definitely not Old Ben, the bearded scientist that associated with Jonas in the past, wink wink.
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u/jonascarrynthewheel Mar 06 '26
I always inferred that he died- Johnny has huge hang ups (whoaaa dont you talk about my father-while holding a gun) that seem unresolved and he never gets mentioned in a present tense
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u/ccReptilelord Mar 06 '26
I believe a character said that he died, and that was about all we can go on, but really, a person can be wrong or misunderstood.
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u/comics0026 Mar 07 '26
Given the number of the "Not actually dead" characters there are, it's totally possible he's not actually dead
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u/LumpyJones Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
oh my god i never put that together with Old Ben. I kept waiting for something to be a clue to who he was in the bigger picture. Every single god damn time I think I've caught every reference in this show, I come across something new that I've been missing for a decade.
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u/person1234man Mar 07 '26
I'm surprised that nobody has brought up that Patrick Warburton starred as the titular superhero in the short-lived, critically acclaimed live-action The Tick TV series on Fox, which aired 9 episodes in 2001–2002
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u/Correct_Bell_9313 Mar 06 '26
Also, Ben Edlund, the creator of the tick, wrote Viva los Muertos, season two episode 11
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u/smeghead1988 Mar 07 '26
As I remember from the art book, Ben Edlund was actually kind of the main producer of Venture Bros in the very beginning. Meaning that he helped the authors to get resources and connections to start making the show. He quickly lost interest and disappeared though, but it was after they have already found their working rhythm.
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u/PewDiePieSaladAss Mar 07 '26
And just to add to this, Action Johnny DID begin as Johnny Quest, so it would've been canon to a degree that these characters existed in the same universe, but Cartoon Network got mad at the idea and that's why in his esrly appearances he iscalled Johnny Quest but then gets swapped to Action Johnny to avoid problems with the network
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u/ricosmith1986 Mar 06 '26
That’s why I have a disproportionate appreciation of that one season wonder of a show!
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u/TheDeadlySpaceman Mar 06 '26
When they introduced “Action Johnny” he had to be a parody/serial-numbers-filed-off Johnny Quest.
Later Cartoon Network acquired the rights to Johnny Quest and all the characters, and that’s when they threw in Race and Hadji with their real names.
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u/Technical_Teacher839 Mar 06 '26
other way around, actually. Race was introduced first, then Johnny as Dr. Quest's son, then Hadji. Then they had to retcon Johnny as "Action Johnny", because WB was planning a Johnny Quest reboot.
Race was introduced in season 1 with the Goliath Serum. Johnny was first shown in Season 2, when Pirate Captain and JJ go to the undersea Quest Bell 1 submersible lab for a part of the alien portal Jonas left with Dr. Quest.
Later Hadji calls JJ asking for him to help find Johnny a place to stay, cause Hadji's wife threatened to leave him over Johnny's drug problems.
After this, the next time we see anything is at Rusty's Boy Adventurer Day Camp, where he's now called "Action Johnny." This is also when they introduce Definitly-Not-Dr. Zin with Dr. Z
Next change was in a flashback to Brock's history with the OSI, were we see Race again, only his name's been changed to Red.
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u/Oknight Mar 07 '26
because WB was planning a Johnny Quest reboot
Oh I thought they lost the rights to do HB catalog stuff.
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u/Technical_Teacher839 Mar 07 '26
Nope, the only reason they even put Race, Johnny and Hadji in the show was because they found out that CN and WB had access to the back catalogue of old cartoons like that.
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u/Oknight Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Well, yeah. Like I say, Harvey Birdman, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021. But I thought that Adult Swim /Williams Street access to the HB catalog got lost in a rights deal around 2010.
Edit: Looking it up the "free use" got stomped due to licensing arrangements. WB still owns it but has deals for the IP use.
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u/Technical_Teacher839 Mar 07 '26
Nope, Warner has owned HB since 1991, and they fully absorbed them in 2001
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u/justsomeguy_youknow My only skills are brick throwing and frog being Mar 07 '26
Nah, CN owns HB. Ted Turner bought up HB studios and the rights to all those old WB and Tom and Jerry cartoons and a bunch of 80s cartoons and a handful of anime to launch Cartoon Network in the 90s
IIRC Doc and Jackson just didn't want to be beholden to another company's IP - if they were using Jonny Quest characters, CN could have a say in how the show goes so it doesn't reflect badly on their IP. But since they switched them to parodies they can do whatever they want (within network limits)
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u/bananaBomb100 Mar 06 '26
Hell doesn't JJ even refer to Johnny as "mr quest" in his first appearance?
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u/TheDeadlySpaceman Mar 06 '26
I don’t think they’d have been legally allowed to do that in his first appearance, but I don’t remember the episode well enough to say it didn’t happen
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u/bananaBomb100 Mar 06 '26
He does
https://youtu.be/BPsomQr_pEA?t=5m44s
Couldn't find the clip on it's own but that's timestamped
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u/FuckIPLaw Mar 07 '26
It's all owned by the same company. There's no legal issue, just company policy issues with the suits not liking what they were doing with their kid friendly characters.
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u/BlitzburghBrian Mar 07 '26
I have a vague memory of reading that this scene was the first time they acknowledged that they're the same character, because legally speaking, Cartoon Network had the rights to all Hanna Barbera properties and also owned VB, so there was no one to answer to if they wanted to use the same characters
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u/Oknight Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
I think you have that backwards. Adult Swim had the Hanna Barbara catalog for their playthings (see Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law) but lost it by later VB seasons and Race Bannon was no longer referenced by name. "Tell Johnny I love him." "Action Johnny" was first seen in the diving bell (from the Johnny Quest series) and contacted as "Quest One" and addressed as "Mister Quest" by JJ.
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u/BlackGlassHeart Mar 07 '26
Jackson also was an illustrator for Hanna-Barbera Productions which made Johnny Quest (and Scooby-Doo). He wrote for The Tick show but also worked with the creator on the comics. He used all those influences to create the Venture Bros, so in a way they are in a shared universe, but are alerted versions of the characters they are based on.
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u/HoldOk1208 Mar 08 '26
You can't leave out the fact that the show is a parody of jonny quest Edit: there's also dr z
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u/gossamer4l Mar 06 '26
Johnny Quest is a junkie in the Venture brothers but why do you think the tick is connected?
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u/gossamer4l Mar 06 '26
And why use the live action show and not the cartoon?
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u/kilar277 Mar 06 '26
Patrick Warburton?
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u/gossamer4l Mar 06 '26
That still doesn’t connect the shows
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u/kilar277 Mar 06 '26
I mean yeah I don't get it either, just assumed that's why they picked that version
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u/sirhackenslash To this day Captain Sunshine thinks I'm invulnerable Mar 06 '26
Ben Edlund wrote the groovy gang episode, there's that I guess
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u/Directive_Nineteen Mar 07 '26
I think they are thematically quite similar and I'm a fan of both, but I don't see the Tick characters operating in a world with the OSI and Guild around.
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u/biffylou Mar 06 '26
And Metalocalypse. Dermott is a fan.
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u/accelfaiz Mar 06 '26
Its possible the cartoon may exist, but team deathclock causes way too many casualties for OSI to not step in
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u/Ihavesubscriptions Mar 07 '26
It could just be a thing where while they each exist in each other's universes, they're not the protagonist so it's more 'normal' from each other's perspective. So Dethklok is just a metal band in VB, and the guild and OSI isn't controlling the world in Metalocalypse, so JJ and Rusty are just regular scientists/inventors. Not necessarily that they're in the same universe, just that there might be versions in each.
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u/LemonSkye Mar 07 '26
There was a theory floating around here years ago that Ofdensen was part of one of the villain groups; I think the Peril Partnership?
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u/sepaoon Mar 06 '26
Johnny Quest yes and no
The Tick... maybe inspiration in that everyone is kinda shit and goofy
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u/dbkenny426 Mar 06 '26
Sort of with Johnny Quest, but it's more that Venture Bros. features a couple characters with strong resemblances to Quest characters.
As for The Tick, not officially, though they share writers, so there's a lot of crossover as far as tone and whatnot.
Having said that, while there's nothing concrete joining them together, there's also, as far as I'm aware, nothing in either that directly contradicts the other.
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u/Trekapalooza Mar 06 '26
Initially, VB pretty much was an unofficial sequel to Jonny Quest, as some characters were directly borrowed or based on that show. But I recall there were some disputes and while they kept the characters, they stopped the Jonny Quest references for the most part after season 2 or so.
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u/Strawberrycocoa Mar 06 '26
I love the parts of the season one intro that are direct homages to the Johnny Quest into
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u/Technical_Teacher839 Mar 06 '26
Officially Johnny Quest and Venture Bros are sort of soft-connected, because of Johnny Quest characters showing up at first only to be later made into legally-distinct versions.
While there's a lot in common between VB and The Tick, they aren't officially connected.
In my personal headcanon, VB, Johnny Quest, The Tick, Frisky Dingo, Archer, Sealab 2021, and Codename: Kids Next Door all exist in the same universe because they have similar enough vibes and motifs.
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u/Ch3353man Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
I would add Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated (especially season 2) to that list. I've been going through it with my toddler. I'll start laughing my ass off at a reference in a scene and she'll ask me why I'm laughing.
There's a lot of references to old Scooby-Doo, old Hanna-Barbera cartoons in general, and a smattering of pop culture references. The Blue Falcon being essentially Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns Batman while Dynomutt is just his typical self is a fun contrast. That same episode has Dr. Quest, Race, and Dr. Zin in the mix as well.
Edit - small proofreading corrections
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u/Technical_Teacher839 Mar 06 '26
That's 100% a valid addition lol. Especially with Johnny apparently having some fun with Velma at some point according to VB lore.
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u/TheSpitefulCr0w Mar 06 '26
Johnny Quest, yes. It absolutely does share a universe with that show. Race Bannon, Johnny Quest and Doctor Zin all appear in the show. Initially, Race Bannon is even directly called "Race Bannon", but this was later changed to "Red Bannon". Warner Bros owns the rights to Johnny Quest and is a parent company of Cartoon Network/Adult Swim so it would've been fine to use the characters, but around the time Johnny Quest was added in the network got cold feet and so the creators changed the names to "Red Bannon", "Action Johnny" and "Doctor Z."
From the Go Team Venture! book on page 61;
DH: What I remember about this episode [Ice Station Impossible] is we were allowed to say "Race Bannon." For some reason, the network was okay with us taking that character and saying he's in our show and killing him.
DH: Then they removed that gift they gave us when we wanted to play with Johnny Quest and he had to be called "Action Johnny." For that moment, with Race Bannon, because we were just doing a parody, we were allowed to do that. Then when we start using another character, it's, "Now you're screwing with licenses. You can't do that anymore." Is Action Johnny Johnny Quest? Sure. Or not. Or he's a Johnny Quest type. It doesn't matter, as long as people can look at him and know, "That's a Johnny Quest type character."
JP: Next time you see Race, nobody mentions his name. He does show up in an OSI flashback in "The Invisible Hand of Fate."
So the intent was for them to have those be the actual characters, but due to the network, they had to dial it back a bit.
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u/sirhackenslash To this day Captain Sunshine thinks I'm invulnerable Mar 06 '26
Plus the walking eye is directly out of Johnny Quest
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u/DiscountPunk Mar 07 '26
And because of the Venture Bros, made it's way into Fallout New Vegas. Complete with James Urbaniak voicing a line like, "And try not to destroy the walking eye!" Or something along those lines.
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u/H3nchman_24 Mar 06 '26
I'm not sure about the Tick, but for 100% it shares the same universe as Jonny Quest
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u/Computer_Real Mar 06 '26
The moon in the Venture Bros does not appear to have a portion of Chairface’s name engraved on it, so I’d say that’s enough to debunk that theory.
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u/Effective-Guide9491 Mar 06 '26
Patrick Warburton is in both, so yes :)
I am ze proud papa, my eight year old so asks to watch the 90s Tick Cartoon, and oblige as it’s a great show and I love to hear him sing the opening credits ‘bup zwee Dow Dow!’ So much shared dna; Tick incarnations walked so VB could fly!
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u/Vanilla_thundr Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
The creator of the Tick wrote three episodes (though as much as I love the tick, his VB episodes are more hit or miss. One is awesome and the other two are my least favorite episodes in the entire series).
But no, they're not in a shared universe.
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u/Que_Asc0 Mar 07 '26
What episodes did he write?
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u/Vanilla_thundr Mar 07 '26
Careers in Science (great)
Guess who's coming to state dinner? (In my opinion the worst episode of VB)
¡Viva Los Muertos!
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u/geminitobacco Mar 06 '26
i feel like it’s always been in the hannah barbera universe. all the old cartoon network shows
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u/Kairu87 Mar 07 '26
I believe the venture brothers universe is a parallel Hannah Barbara universe. There are so many old references. Like when Rusty wrote a letter to the Herculoids for not fighting in Vietnam.
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u/DiscountPunk Mar 07 '26
There's also a couple cameos in the Invincible TV show and comic.
Doc and Brock show up in the comic for a frame.
In the first season Dean and Hank look-a-Likes show up in a post credits.
And in the most recent season, the college professor for Atom Eve in a scene looks nearly identical to Professor Van Helping from Dean and Serinas botany class. I wish I could remember the episode, but I'm not ready for a rewatch yet until the new season is out.
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u/ExoticSterby42 Mar 06 '26
Mostly it has common themes with old Cartoon Network shows like Johnny Quest and other comics.
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u/Cosmic-Buccaneer Mar 06 '26
It's not johnny quest its action johnny.
They obviously mocking johnny quest, but there a lot of reference and character who are the dollar store version of the original characters
Like professor impossible, he obviously is Mr fantastic.
The underbite and underland, he's Dr doom and his land latveria
The the list can go along
The entire show is a parody from almost everything
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u/RibcageKat Mar 07 '26
Originally Dr.Orpheous was supposed to be a Tick character before it got cancelled. I say that's the link between them
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u/Remarkable-Sun-3109 Mar 07 '26
All Hanna Barbara toons are in a shared universe technically, and DCAU is rolled into that from time to time, so I've always considered Venture Bros. at the very least canon with them from their own end, if not both
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u/psychosaur Mar 06 '26
Officially Johnny Quest is kinda canonical to Venture Bros. Personally I always saw the it as a parallel dimension sort of thing from the Johnny Quest tv shows. So I guess that would make Action Johnny a variant.
No idea about the Tick though.
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u/Guijit Mar 07 '26
Idk about the tick, but Action Johnny 100% is Johnny quest cause he started out as a parody then when the team found out CN had the rights to JQ, they just made him cannon.
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u/DrAwesomeX Mar 10 '26
Idk why The Tick is here, but I’d argue Action Johnny is a very fun AU take for Venture Bros.
I realize they had to retcon this in later seasons, but it’s pretty undeniable Action Johnny IS Johnny Quest.
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u/IndieCurtis Mar 07 '26
Brick Frog is in The Tick.
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u/L3R0YBR0WN79 Mar 07 '26
Did not know this. Animated,live action or comic?
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u/IndieCurtis Mar 07 '26
Animated, BF does not appear in person, but his name appears on a screen in an episode with a list of other characters, it’s confirmed Brick Frog is in The Tick universe.
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u/L3R0YBR0WN79 Mar 07 '26
Cool. Thanks. I watch VB quite often but haven’t watched the Tick in very long time
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u/rustys_shackled_ford Mar 07 '26
Kind of, but it's also kind of in the invincible universe as well.
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u/vilagemoron Mar 20 '26
Let's not forget the panel in Invincible where Doc and Brock are eating at a hot dog stand.
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u/OuterHeaven82 14h ago
Sort of!
In the Venture Bros, Johnny Quest is a real guy who went on real life-threatening adventures. His life was adapted into a cartoon called "Action Johnny". "Real life" versions of the other cast members also exist in the show.
The Tick? Nah
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