Phantom Limb
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- This article is about the fictional character. For the syndrome he is named after, see phantom limb
Phantom Limb, whose real name is Hamilton G. Fantomos, is a fictional villain on the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. He is a parody of articulate and "gentlemanly" supervillains, such as Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the James Bond books and films. His code name is a reference to phantom limb syndrome, and his true name is a reference to the French supervillain Fantômas. He bears a strong visual resemblance to the Lee Falk comic strip hero The Phantom.
[edit] Background
Not much is conclusively known of Phantom Limb's early life, though the episode "Victor. Echo. November." featured several characters discussing rumors regarding his origin:
- Phantom Limb took part in an experiment conducted by himself and his twelve-year old roommate Master Billy Quizboy regarding a muscle growth accelerator that resulted in Phantom Limb's limbs being "accelerated beyond the speed of light".
- Phantom Limb and Master Billy Quizboy were working on a time machine that was "broken or something". The machine backfired and teleported Phantom Limb's limbs, as well as Billy's missing hand, 40 years into the future.
- Phantom Limb was a stage magician (minus his trademark mustache) who, during a performance for the Queen of England, accidentally caused his limbs to disappear (they were sent to the moon). In this version, he is also responsible for chopping off and feasting upon Master Billy Quizboy's hand (which is now replaced with a robotic version).
The truth of the three is to be taken with a grain of salt (the last scenario is given by Hank Venture, and immediately denied by Dean). Furthermore, the episode "Victor. Echo. November." ends with a scene where Master Billy Quizboy admits to Dr. Venture that he doesn't remember how he received his robotic hand, which may rule out the second (and possibly third) scenario. Though, as we're dealing with an individual with access to a technology that wipes memories, it's hard to be certain.
A previous episode ("Hate Floats") offered more information on the character's origin from the character himself. During a confrontation with Brock Samson, Samson mocks Phantom Limb and what he feels are "quitter" scientists, who turn to evil after being injured by their own experiments. Phantom Limb mockingly agrees with Brock, referring to himself as a "goody-goody" super-scientist who invented such things as a muscle regenerator until a "disastrous experiment" led to his limbs becoming invisible and gaining newfound powers. No mention of Billy Quizboy is made by Limb though during his confrontation with Brock, though he uses a muscle regeneration device to help Brock heal a shoulder injury.
Despite being a high ranking member of Guild of Calamitous Intent, Phantom Limb's early villainous career was said to be quite low-class by his own account, with Limb living off of Ramen Noodles and SpaghettiO's, and driving a Honda Accord with a ghost on the hood as his vehicle. But despite this, he quickly became a feared and ruthless villain and ultimately formed an alliance with Dr. Girlfriend (then known as "Lady Au-Pair"), renaming her "Queen Etheria" and taking her on as both his second-in-command and lover. The relationship would not last, as Queen Etheria was seduced away from Phantom Limb by the Monarch, a move that has resulted in a long-standing rivalry between the two villains.
Phantom Limb first appears in the series at Dr. Venture's tag sale, where he runs into Dr. Girlfriend while The Monarch is in the bathroom. He chides her for still being with "the butterfly" and asks her to rejoin him, to which she angrily rejects, stating that she "has a good thing going on now". He is later shown to be a competent fighter after The Monarch starts a riot: since his arms and legs are invisible, he can easily strike others without warning.
Phantom Limb's next appearance was in the episode The Trial of the Monarch. In the episode, Phantom Limb frames The Monarch the murder of a police officer, who the Guild has bribed into allowing them to fake his death in exchange for a new life of wealth and a super-model wife. The plan coincided with another Guild operation regarding the capture of "Tiny Attorney", a deformed district attorney with a track record of successful criminal prosecution of super-villains. He is surprisingly aided by Brock Samson, whose respect for the Guild leads to him to take cover in the bathroom with Hank and Dean Venture while Phantom Limb's scheme unfolds.
He had a small but pivotal role in forcing The Monarch's fellow inmates to abandon him during an attempted escape, bribing or threatening various members into inaction. Despite Phantom Limb's efforts (and perhaps spurned on by Phantom Limb's refusal to use his position in the Guild to help him escape jail), King Gorilla arranged for The Monarch to escape jail after learning that Phantom Limb's entire motive for keeping the Monarch in jail was to steal Dr. Girlfriend away from him.
While Phantom Limb and Dr. Girlfriend were shopping at a mall, The Monarch cornered her in the food court and tried to convince her to return to him. Phantom Limb spotted them and angrily approached, causing The Monarch to tranquilize her in a panic and attempt to kidnap her; he clumsily dropped her while flying away. Mistakenly believing that The Monarch was successful in his abduction attempt, Phantom Limb nursed the wounded Brock back to health and misled him into thinking that The Monarch had kidnapped the Venture family. After proudly declaring that his home was "Location B" for the Guild, Phantom Limb allowed Brock to choose from his impressive array of weaponry and equipment and led him to The Monarch's cocoon for a rescue mission. Although the two seemed to be happily cooperating (Brock was impressed by the "killer-hand thing"), Brock angered Phantom Limb by repeatedly questioning whether Dr. Girlfriend was a transsexual, leading to Phantom Limb shooting Brock in the neck with a tranquillizer dart.
Even though he is a force to be reckoned, most of Phantom Limb's time is spent either engaging in overseeing the bureaucratic aspects of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, mainly recruiting members and dealing with the day-by-day bookkeeping aspects of running such a major organization. And while still quite capable of personally carrying out kidnapping plots and murder schemes, most of the character's villainous schemes involve rather mundane crimes such as the trafficking of valuable stolen artwork to wealthy clients of the Guild.
In "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)", Phantom Limb launches a massive attack on the Monarch's wedding to Dr. Girlfriend, demanding she be handed over. At first appearing to be mere jealousy over Dr. Girlfriend, it is actually a coup against the Guild Sovereign - David Bowie - using the massive army of the Guild itself. Using Bowie's associates Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop, Limb nearly succeeds, capturing Girlfriend and declaring himself the new Sovereign, but the combination of Bowie, Brock Samson - leading The Monarch's henchmen in battle against the Guild - and accidental intervention by the Order of the Triad brought those plans to a (literal) crashing halt. It is possible he escaped death from the crash through an escape pod, but permanently lost several limbs, namely a leg, arm, and what is implied to be his penis (discreetly taken by the Alchemist for his own use). He is currently on the run from Bowie (and, it can be assumed, the entire Guild of Calamitous Intent) and is now considered by The Monarch to be his arch-nemesis. If and how Phantom Limb will return is yet to be revealed.
[edit] Personality
Phantom Limb, unlike most other characters on the show, is cool, cunning, generally serious (although he has his ridiculous side) and occasionally even rather chilling in his ruthlessness. He is clearly able to plan well-ahead and in the course of only a few episodes is revealed to be a dangerous man to tangle with, able to even deal with Brock Samson at his own level while garnering Samson's respect.
In spite of this (or possibly because of this), Phantom Limb is extremely arrogant and pompous, almost to the point of theatrical drama, and to the point where he overreaches himself. He is prone to overacting when confronting several Monarch henchmen who he murders and often uses a far more extensive vocabulary than the situation demanded ("Hate Floats"). He also seems to have a penchant for using mismatched metaphors, like "precise soup" and "bigger rat fish." He can be condescending and sexist towards women, and seems unable to understand why this may anger them.
He was involved with Dr. Girlfriend, who used to work for him under the alias "Queen Etheria". The two were romantically involved as well as professionally. Limb continued to carry a torch for his ex-girlfriend (he kept her old costume in storage, with a few crusty spots on it which he told Doctor Girlfriend were his tears), culminating in him framing her new boyfriend The Monarch for murder to break the two up for good. Phantom Limb looks down upon the Monarch, often calling him "the butterfly" as a sign of disrespect, yet is so self-involved as a Guild operative (i.e. pencil-pusher) that he takes time out to organize The Monarch's re-admittance to the organization, complete with paperwork. Doctor Girlfriend eventually grows bored with the more realistic and even mundane aspects of Phatom Limb's crimes, missing the over-the-top super-villainy of the Monarch.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
The Phantom Limb's arms and legs are completely invisible (hence his name). In fact, his costume consists of a purple, short-sleeved, legless garment with an open-faced hood and domino mask; as such, it is not clear how much of his body is actually visible.
Although this ability has not been explained, he can perform some "killer-hand thing" (as Brock describes it) that incapacitates or kills others with a touch. The only visible sign of this effect is a flashing pattern which vaguely resembles blood vessels along his invisible arms. These "phantom limbs" and/or their strange powers are capable of deflecting projectiles. Phantom Limb has complete control over these powers, allowing him to touch people without outright killing them. It has also been established that Phantom Limb can use his "death touch" while wearing gloves as well as the fact that direct bodily contact is not necessary for him to use the power; in "The Trial of the Monarch", grabbing the barrel of a security guard's gun (with a gloved hand, no less) caused the guard to die. His powers don't work on everyone, only David Bowie has shown to be immune to Limb's powers.
But what makes Phantom Limb most dangerous is his access to the resources of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. As a high-ranking member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, he has access to the Guild's full resources of minions and equipment at a moment's notice, giving him a large reach regarding evil actions - yet he rarely seems to engage in them, and seems far more interested in selling stolen art to mundane gangsters and performing bureaucratic tasks.
| The Venture Bros. | |
|---|---|
| PRESENTED IN GLORIOUS EXTRA COLOR | |
| Characters Main | Secondary |
Hank Venture | Dean Venture | Dr. Thaddeus Venture | Brock Samson | H.E.L.P.eR. | Jonas Venture Junior Dr. Orpheus | Triana Orpheus | Pete White | Master Billy Quizboy | Molotov Cocktease | Myra Brandish The Monarch | Doctor Girlfriend | #21 | #24 | Baron Werner Ünderbheit | Phantom Limb |
| Organizations Prominent | Minor |
Team Venture/Venture Industries | Order of the Triad | Monarch Henchmen | Guild of Calamitous Intent |
| Cast and crew | Lisa Hammer | James Urbaniak | Patrick Warburton | Michael Sinterniklaas | Steven Rattazzi | Paul Boocock Jackson Publick | Doc Hammer | J. G. Thirlwell | World Leaders Entertainment |
| Episodes | Pilot | Season 1 | Season 2 | Specials | Phone Calls |
