Hank Venture

First Appearance	The Venture Bros. The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay
Performer	Christopher McCulloch

Henry Allen "Hank" Venture is one of the two titular central protagonists (alongside Dean Venture) of the Adult Swim series of the same name.

Personality and relationships

Hank Venture is the more outgoing, adventurous, and gullible of the two boys. He exhibits a typically 1950s/1960s outlook on life, frequently using such mild interjections as 'golly!' His appearance is similar to that of Fred Jones from Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo, (a similarity mentioned by Wikipedia:Triana Orpheus). The resemblance mainly stems from his ever-present (except when he wears his Wikipedia:Aquaman pajamas or his Wikipedia:Batman costume) white shirt and Wikipedia:neckerchief wardrobe and blond hair, although his hair is much shorter than Fred's. (Hank has remarked that he does not particularly like neckerchiefs any longer, but continues to wear them to please his father.) Unlike Dean, he tends to be less naïve and more decisive, even if his actions are often mentally unsound and fail to help the current situation. He is prone to flights of fancy; Brock Samson (WP) states at one point "it's like he (Hank) channels dead crazy people," to which Dean agrees. He is older than Dean by four minutes.

Hank tends to be more keen on adventuring than anyone else in the family, frequently asking to accompany Brock on his various trips ("Wikipedia:Home Insecurity") or just hanging out with him ("Wikipedia:Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!"). While Brock considers Hank an apt pupil, Hank's exuberance and joy at being included in adventurous undertakings frequently leads to missteps - ranging from slight to fatal - occurring. His best friend is certainly his brother Dean, and the two attempt to live up to the legacy of Wikipedia:Team Venture, albeit poorly. Like any other pair of brothers, Hank and Dean argue at times; Hank is the physically stronger of the two and usually overpowers Dean when rough-housing (His father, Doctor Thaddeus Venture (WP), also once mentioned that Hank "get(s) that kind of retard strength when he gets all worked up"). His relationship with his father can border on the nonexistent at times, largely due to Dr. Venture's focus more on Dean and on his own work/money troubles. However it is later admitted by his father that Hank reminds him of himself as when he was young he tried to rebel against his father's legacy as well.

Hank tends to bond well and easily with others: Brock Samson, The Monarch, Sergeant Hatred (after Hatred swore off child molesting), Dermott Fictel, Doctor Girlfriend (who rightly considered Hank capable of driving a getaway car, while dismissing Dean as a "candy-ass"), Henchman 21 (who, before learning of Dr. Venture's cloning facility, believed Hank to be a Highlander-style immortal being based on the number of times 21 had seen him die), and assassin Jean-Claude Le Tueur (whom Hank bonded with while discussing comic books; their plans to go to the Wikipedia:San Diego Comic-Con the next year fell through, however, as Brock sliced Le Teur in half) are all characters that Hank has befriended.

Hank has a close relationship with family bodyguard Brock Samson, who treats him with genuine affection and concern. While Dean is apparently being groomed by Dr. Venture to follow in his father and grandfather's footsteps as a super-scientist, Brock has passed on some of his own unique expertise to Hank. He once talked him through the process of defeating several "ghost" pirates via his wrist communicator("Ghosts of the Sargasso (WP)"), and tends to think of Hank as his back-up in most violent situations the Ventures get into ("Wikipedia:Love-Bheits", "Wikipedia:The Buddy System").

The Hank who appeared in the first season was circumcised, while Dean was not; Hank used this as an insult (calling it a "creepy dog dork"). However, the Hank that was activated in "Wikipedia:Powerless in the Face of Death" was uncircumcised until the third season episode "Wikipedia:Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" when he passed through an Amazonian warrior tribe's rite of manhood. In the new Season 4 trailer, Hank is shown to have a drastically altered appearance, having grown his hair out and now wearing Brock's old jacket on top of a black shirt and blue jeans; the series creators have stated that this change is due to Hank beginning to age normally in a single body, now that he has no more clone bodies in which to be revived (see below).

There are suggestions from other characters that Hank may be Wikipedia:gay, particularly from the Alchemist in "Wikipedia:Fallen Arches" and from Triana and Dean in "Wikipedia:The Buddy System." In "Wikipedia:I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills," Hank insinuates that he may have enjoyed some of Wikipedia:Sergeant Hatred's Wikipedia:sexual molestation. Additionally, he was almost kissed by Wikipedia:Abraham Lincoln, whose spirit had temporarily taken over Dean's body, in "Wikipedia:Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?" and was kissed by Captain Sunshine in "Wikipedia:Handsome Ransom." In the instance with Lincoln, which Hank rejected, Lincoln offered the excuse that he was merely reacting to the hormone levels in Dean's teenaged body, and the instance with Captain Sunshine was akin to a Wikipedia:Mafia-style dismissal rather than a sexual advance. However in "Wikipedia:Everybody Comes to Hank's" he loses his virginity to Dermott Fictel's biological mother Nikki Fictel. However he has his memory erased by S.P.H.I.N.X. shortly afterward due to potential psychological trauma after he learns the truth of Dermott's conception (he's Rusty Venture's bastard son with Nikki Fictel the 15 year old chairperson of his fan club that he impregnated. Dermott was raised to think Nikki was his sister and that his biological grandmother was actually his mother). Though he leaves a message on his communicator for himself under the title "Dean Faceplant" explaining everything but the traumatic parts to the post-brainwash Hank.

History and activities on the show

thumb|left|Hank wearing a tin-foil hat.

Details of Hank's childhood have been very sparse; in "Careers in Science (WP)," Dr. Venture bemoans the "moment of passion" that led to the boys' birth. He, like Dean, regrets knowing nothing of their birth mother and sometimes entertains fantasies about finding her ("Wikipedia:Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!" "Wikipedia:Hate Floats"). The episode "Wikipedia:I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" gave a likely (but not officially confirmed) suspect of now insane (possible) ex-OSI agent Wikipedia:Myra Brandish as their mother (to which Hank bears some resemblance).

Thanks to their father's scientific knowledge, the Hank and Dean that appear in The Venture Bros. have been cloned over 14 times. Venture explains that the boys seem to be rather "death-prone," and as a precaution he keeps a few clones ready at all times for activation. Although Dr. Venture mentions in "Wikipedia:Powerless in the Face of Death" that both Hank and Dean's clones were first developed from "toenail clippings," obviously his dead sons' clippings. A flashback montage showing the boys' deaths seems to indicate that Hank may have met an unfortunate end slightly more frequently than Dean. In the season three episode, Wikipedia:The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I), Hank mentions in a conversation with Le Tueur that he once jumped off his roof pretending to be Batman, then second guesses himself saying "or maybe I dreamt it". This clip was seen in the season two premiere as one of Hanks many deaths, hinting the boys may have some residual memories of their past selves.

Hank has a fascination with Wikipedia:Batman and is shown wearing the same Batman costume as a Wikipedia:running gag.

While Hank rarely has an episode dedicated solely to himself, he does play at least a prominent part in nearly all episodes. He helped Brock to take down a ship of faux-ghost pirates (WP), led an attack on the "Phantom Spaceman" and attempted to free Brock from Dr. Venture's hypnotic "joy can." He can be counted on for enthusiasm, if not actual intelligence or competence. Unlike Dean, however, Hank noticed that his supposed age did not match the date on his ID card.

One of his larger roles involved his accidental exposure to the "Goliath Serum." (Ice Station -- Impossible(WP)) This compound, invented by Richard Impossible for use as a weapon, was intended to cause a chain reaction in a living organism that culminates in a massive, devastating explosion proportional to the mass of subject, for example, an ant could destroy a tank, meaning Hank theoretically could have exploded with the force of atom bomb at least. Dr. Venture worked with Wikipedia:Pete White, Wikipedia:Master Billy Quizboy, and Impossible's wife Sally to produce an antidote. Shortly after being injected with this experimental cure, Hank's symptoms vanished; Dr. Impossible, however, curtly announced that the scientists had only succeeded in inventing Wikipedia:ranch dressing. (The serum was apparently only effective on Wikipedia:ants, the only creatures on which it had ever been tested.) However, Hank did manifest symptoms of the serum, so it's possible that the supposed "ranch dressing" was really a cure and Dr. Impossible was just jealous of Dr. Venture's success. Richard's wife, Sally Impossible, even claims that this is the reason.

He developed an intense crush on Wikipedia:Molotov Cocktease when she guarded the Venture family for several days while Brock was hunting his former mentor and eagerly threw himself into the training the Russian mercenary forced the Ventures to do. His infatuation led him to take down his posters of Wikipedia:Mary Lou Retton and Wikipedia:Danica Patrick, which worried Dean about the training's effect over his brother. Coming across her then-discarded Wikipedia:stiletto heel boots, he nuzzled and rubbed against them, only to be lightly touched in the neck by the blade hidden in the heel, which was coated with a highly effective psychotropic hallucinogen. This caused him to hallucinate that Molotov wanted him to kill his father so they could be together (Dr. Venture had been making his usual pathetic advances to Molotov in the meantime). He picked up a Wikipedia:machete and attempted to hack down his father in his lab; but the weapon was made merely of Wikipedia:papier-mâché and he was summarily grounded for his attack.

Again he has played minor but important roles in recent episodes, such as attempting to personally crash the wedding between Wikipedia:Baron Ünderbheit and his brother while trapped in Ünderland; he also tried to help the spirit of Wikipedia:Abraham Lincoln save the current president from being assassinated — although when his brother was possessed by Lincoln, he was nearly kissed, an event that horrified him but prompted Lincoln (who indicated that he had access to Dean's memories) to express knowledge that the boys had experimented with each other previously.

On a minor note, Hank has pointed out that he has a scar from a giant centipede.

In the fourth season, Hank is shown with his hair grown out and has begun to emulate his absent hero, Brock, wearing his jacket and a greater willingness to learn combat. He has also gained a rebellious streak referring to his father as both a "honky" and the "president of the United States of boogers". He has also grown resentful towards Dean after Dean both gets his own lab in the panic room while Dr.Venture refuses to train Hank for his future career (with his dad and an unbiased delivery man both thinking his future is in box moving). A massive amount of Dean pictures in the attic (put up by a clone), and being blamed for a fire (which said Dean-clone caused), calling the police on his dad (which was actually due to aforementioned deliveryman/amateur psychic) and stealing the people mover to flee to Mexico (which was actually his fault) resulting in a large grounding and a beating when he listened to records. His father has also tried to prevent him from using the bathroom while grounded but this was foiled given the fact the Venture Compound only has one bathroom. He later tried to join S.P.H.I.N.X, but, despite his amazing résumé and incredible skill passing every "test" they threw at him, they found him more of a nuisance than a asset. Though as Brock Samson pointed out, Hank will need to be 18 or older to join S.P.H.I.N.X anyway.

Mother

• Dr. Venture has vaguely referred to the boys having an actual mother on a few occasions:
  • In "Wikipedia:Careers in Science", Dr. Venture says that he "started" the boys in a moment of passion.
  • In "Wikipedia:Mid-Life Chrysalis", the boys directly asked Dr. Venture about their mother. He realizes that he's never really told them about their mother, and begins to tell them about her, but is cut off before he could go into more detail.
  • Also, in "Wikipedia:Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!", the image of Dr. Venture makes a reference to their mother while Hank is in the fantasy world of Dr. Venture's "joy can", with Hank hearing her voice off screen. However, this was the idealized fantasy world of Hank's in which he had a mother (with Dean's absence implied), and likely had no basis in real events at all.
  • In "Wikipedia:Powerless in the Face of Death", Dr. Venture implies that the boys' mother was ugly. When he mentions losing his virginity at 24, Dr. Orpheus says "That is awful!" (Referring to his continued cloning of the boys). Dr. Venture scoffs, and replies "You didn't even see her, it was horrific." While there is no official confirmation at this time, the most likely suspect offered up as being Hank and Dean's mother has been Myra Brandish: season 3 confirmed that she was Thaddeus Venture's bodyguard at approximately the time he was 24, at about the right time frame for the boys to be conceived, and Thaddeus has confirmed he did have sex with her.
• Also, in the episode Wikipedia:Perchance to Dean during a flashback we see Dr. Venture showing Brock the Dean and Hank clones. Upon coming across one that's deformed he says it's a face only a mother can love and "good thing she's not here".
• Hammer and Publick have confirmed that the boys do, in fact, have a biological mother.