Brock Samson
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Brock Samson is one of the main characters on the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros., serving as a parody of Doc Savage, Race Bannon and other super-competent individuals in adventure serials. His name is a play on Doc Samson (Doc/Brock) of Marvel Comics fame who is based on on Biblical strongman Samson, with whom Brock shares a near-indestructible nature and, except for a few episodes at the beginning of the second season, long hair and similar appearance of the comic hero. He is voiced by Patrick Warburton.
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[edit] Background
Brock was born to a single mother in Omaha, Nebraska, apparently sometime in the 1960s. He is one half Swedish, one quarter Polish, and one quarter Winnebago. He has one brother who has never been named or featured on the show.
Sometime around the early 1980s, he received a football scholarship to an unnamed college where his fellow students included Thaddeus "T.S." Venture, The Monarch, Pete White, and Werner Ünderbheit. Brock's college career ended one fateful afternoon when he accidentally killed Tommy, the team's deaf quarterback, during practice. Haunted by guilt, and having been cut from the team, Brock drank heavily and returned to his dorm and vented his frustrations by beating Dr. Venture and several other students in a blind fit of rage. The chain of events led to Brock's loss of his scholarship and decision to join the armed forces. (In the episode "Past Tense", Brock says that he is joining the Army, though in the later episode "Assassinanny 911", he is said to have joined the Marines.)
Several years later, Brock joined the Office of Secret Intelligence, a SHIELD-esque organization of super spies that have been "thanklessly defending this big-ass country since the second American revolution (the invisible one)." There, he was trained by Colonel Hunter Gathers, an eccentric yet brilliant secret agent (modeled after Hunter S. Thompson), the "second closest thing to a father" he ever had, whose guidance led to Brock being granted a Level 8, Class A License to Kill, which he uses with great zeal (it also indicates he is an organ donor). Strangely enough, he failed to notice when his cherished license to kill expired in one episode, and only found out when he gave his license as proof of identity. During his time in the OSI, Samson faced "mind-blowing weirdness at every turn." Sometime during his years with the OSI he also developed a rivalry with a fellow agent named Hauser, who was eventually demoted to what Brock considered a 'desk job' of Secret Service duty at the White House.
Brock was apparently around ten years old during the Vietnam War.
The OSI eventually gave Samson his current assignment: to protect Dr. Thaddeus Venture and his family, ostensibly to prevent Venture's more dangerous inventions from falling into villainous hands and threatening national security. The official code name for this assignment is "Operation Rusty's Blanket." ("Rusty" was Dr. Venture's much-despised childhood nickname.) It is revealed in the third episode of Season Three that Samson was given this assignment as punishment for failing a mission involving Phantom Limb and the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Despite this possible punishment, Brock seems extremely attached to his now foster-family.
[edit] Molotov Cocktease
While many of the details of Brock's time with OSI have yet to be revealed, one aspect that has been fleshed out considerably is Brock's love/hate relationship with former KGB agent-turned-freelance mercenary Molotov Cocktease. The two first met early in Brock's career as an OSI agent during a mission in Paris. The two went into a hotel room, only to have Molotov impale Brock upon the bed with her boot heel spikes and light the room on fire. In spite of the overt danger, Brock was more concerned that she took his cigarettes; she tossed a lit one onto his chest in parting.
Molotov serves as an apparently perfect match for Brock, efficiently lethal and extremely hard to kill, and their rivalry has led to much bloodshed. Molotov killed Brock's partner and Brock responded in kind by killing her father. At another point in their relationship, Brock managed to pluck out Molotov's left eye, which he keeps in a jar in his room as a macabre forget-me-not. Further complicating things was Molotov's decision to wear a chastity belt, which frustrates Brock to no end with his inability to act upon his sexual attraction to her. This mutual sexual attraction has led to their rivalry thawing somewhat, and the two have become grudging friends, to the point that Molotov agreed to fill in for Brock as the Venture Family's bodyguard while Brock was away on OSI business. While guarding the Venture family, Molotov, in anger, revealed her god-like adoration of Samson, and criticized the Ventures for treating him like a household servant. Afterwards, Molotov confronted Brock with an offer to run away with her, and for a partnership as mercenaries-for-hire. Brock politely turned Molotov down, pointing out that he considers the Ventures his surrogate family, and that he would not leave them, not even for Molotov.
[edit] Appearance
Appropriate to his half-Swedish heritage, he has blonde hair and light blue eyes. His mullet hairstyle has become a trademark of sorts, to the point that its loss after the events of the first-season finale was mentioned in a TV Guide synopsis. Over the course of the second season, his hair has grown steadily longer in each episode; Brock has also begun sporting long mutton-chop sideburns in the second season. In a scene in "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" with Molotov Cocktease it is shown that he is impossibly well-endowed, further demonstrating his unparalleled manliness. In keeping with the show's vaguely anachronistic sense of fashion, Brock is usually drawn in clothing styles popular in the 1970s: four-pocket sports shirts, skin-tight polos, pastel-colored pants, white shoes, and side-zip ankle boots are all recurring items of clothing in his wardrobe. He also sports a half-finished tattoo of the Swan Song Records logo on his right bicep, as Brock is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin.
[edit] Personality, abilities and relationships
Brock embodies the 'strong, but silent' stereotype, usually speaking in a low, gravelly murmur and maintaining a casual aura. He speaks in an oddly calm manner in anything short of the most urgent circumstances, and his level voice is often at odds with his perpetually-crazed expression. However, he also has a hair-trigger temper which can cause him to snap at the slightest provocation, including a friendly touch on the shoulder at an inopportune moment. When he is engulfed in a fit of rage, he exhibits near super-human strength, a facial twitch, and is apparently capable of enduring almost any kind of physical punishment imaginable, and his "normal" endurance is nearly as impressive. Even when shot in the shoulder, he only lost consciousness for a few hours. Simple surgery to remove the bullet revealed that Brock's body harbored three additional bullets, a blowgun dart, two shark's teeth, a bayonet tip, a twisted paper clip, and a meager handful of buckshot, none of which seemed to bother him in the slightest.
Brock's ability to endure pain is matched only by his ability to dish out pain to others, which he does with great enthusiasm. As mentioned, he possesses a license to kill, and has proven himself quite capable and willing to kill anyone or anything at a moment's notice, in a manner that is as grisly as it is creative. He is also known to be quite thorough in ensuring that a threat is completely eliminated. On at least one occasion, he urinated on what appeared to be a mummy's corpse, in the belief that defiling it would prevent any subsequent reanimation. Additionally, he can be briefly seen through the eyes of another character killing two men by pinning them to the wall with a running lawnmower.
In combat, he scorns firearms, instead preferring bladed weapons (particularly his serrated Bowie knife), blunt objects, or his bare hands. He does, however, appear to make an exception for certain projectile-based weapons. He expressed a fondness for a functioning net cannon, his sole complaint against them is that too often they merely "mess up the guy's hair." In addition, he honors one of his mentor's only rules: to never kill women or children, only subduing them with nonlethal means when necessary.
Brock has an odd relationship with Dr. Venture. He doesn't always take the man seriously, yet dotes on him when he's hurt or ill. The two sometimes reminisce about their past escapades with fondness and even camaraderie and laughter. Brock even obeys Dr. Venture's rule that he can't smoke inside the compound, and helps with domestic chores. Dr. Venture seems to have a fondness for Brock, even sharing simple things with him like having extra coupons for shopping.
Brock has an avuncular, if not paternal, relationship with the Venture boys. He seems especially fond of Hank, who idolizes him in turn. Samson shows greater concern for their well-being and development than Dr. Venture ever has, expressing concerns over Hank's sanity and Dean's effeminacy (though he never expresses the latter in such blunt terms), and also gives them useful advice on their first big date ("Victor. Echo. November."). However, Brock has been slightly annoyed by Hank from time to time. His relationship with Venture and the boys has matured to the point that he refers to them as his family ("Hate Floats"), and it is suggested that he prefers being their bodyguard to the weirdness and moral ambiguity of his former life ("Assassinanny 911"). Brock seems to be on a friendly basis with H.E.L.P.eR., the Venture's robot, even going so far as to have arguments over Led Zeppelin (H.E.L.P.eR. dismisses Zeppelin as "jock rock") and sharing appreciation for poetry. Brock seems to treat H.E.L.P.eR. almost as an equal, unlike Doctor Venture, who criticizes and yells at the hapless robot most of the time.
It is of particular note that Brock's personality and relationships have evolved considerably throughout the series. In the beginning of the series he seemed to be hostile to most of the family, largely ignoring them and just focusing on brutally murdering his enemies and having sex with as many women as possible. As the series has continued he has begun showing considerably more affection to the Ventures, and a great deal of worry about their safety. Things have also been shown as disturbing him greatly, a big difference from the unfeeling Brock in the early episodes.
He seems to be unfazed by most supervillains, despite his comment that the Guild of Calamitous Intent is the only organization he still respects; the only one who seems to be able to deal with Brock on his own level is Phantom Limb. Brock has proven himself able to sneak up on Limb and hold him at knife-point, successfully convincing the Limb to not attack the Venture family anymore. He also has a troubled past with the Guild's Sovereign, David Bowie(Molotov Cocktease has been shown to work for Bowie), as the two exchanged curt pleasantries upon meeting each other once more at Dr. Girlfriend's wedding.
[edit] Recurring themes
Brock exhibits several stereotypical hyper-masculine behaviors and traits:
- Muscle cars: One of the show's signature vehicles is Brock's red 1969 Dodge 'Hemi' Charger, which he maintains and cleans with a near-obsessive fastidiousness. On several occasions, the car has become an instrument of death and destruction. Brock has used it not only to fatally run down dozens of The Monarch's henchmen, but also to defeat Venture's twin brother Jonas Venture Jr. The latter act (in which Brock, chained to the car's roof, guided H.E.L.P.eR. through the difficulties of manual shifting) inflicted severe damage on the beloved car, which Brock repaired early in the show's second season. Brock has apparently implanted a flamethrower in the car's steering wheel and rigged it to activate during any attempt at hotwiring the vehicle.
- Womanizing: Brock has displayed a voracious sexual appetite on par with his macho bearing. No woman seems to be able to resist his advances once he catches her eye. His conquests range from sleazy (middle-aged prostitutes and overweight strippers) to bizarre (The Queen of the Ant People) with the exception of Dr. Girlfriend, whom he is convinced is a transsexual. This promiscuity is likely a reference to the legendary exploits of James Bond, another character with whom Brock has much in common.
- Rock music: Brock's devotion to Led Zeppelin surfaces in several episodes. Some references are rather subtle (when driving the Charger, Brock almost always is listening to facsimile Led Zeppelin songs) while others are more overt, such as Hank rifling through Brock's collection of "Zep" cassette tapes or Brock drawing the logo of the band's label instead of completing the essay portion of a written exam, in addition to having a (currently incomplete) tattoo of it on his arm. He passionately believes that the band is more than just "jock rock" whose music talks about love and longing . . . and hobbits. In an "interview" with IGN.com, Brock has stated that his favorite track is Led Zeppelin's "'Moby Dick', live at Montreaux," which is probably meant to be Bonzo's Montreux from Coda. In response to a question sent from a fan on MySpace, Doc Hammer stated that Brock also likes Rush (up to the album "Moving Pictures"), early music from the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath (until Ozzy Osbourne left), and the solo Dio. At some point in his youth, Brock also played the bass guitar (according to the Christmas special - the only episode to mention this - it was painted with zebra stripes - a popular motif among 80s rockers). In said Christmas special, he intended to give it to Hank as a present (whereas Dean was much more difficult to shop for); it is worth noting, however, that all but the last few moments of the episode were part of Dr. Venture's dream sequence, so whether or not he actually played is not currently known. The only other reference to his musical aspirations is his regret, in his possibly non-canon interview with IGN that he regretted not getting a band together (he claimed to play "bass" and "vox" [1]).
- Mercy: Brock has on several occasions shown mercy and/or regret towards henchmen of the various villains he faces. When trapped in the castle of Baron Underbheit, he violently killed several Henchmen and began to torture the last remaining one by squeezing his testicles, only to apologise profusely and let him go to his wife upon discovering a lump in them [1]; when Phantom Limb had sent out a strike team from the Guild of Calamitous Intent to kill the Venture family, he stabbed one of the operatives, threatening to make the wound fatal if he refused to talk, but upon the knife's removal the Henchman overreacted, believing himself to be dying, and forced Brock to sing a Technotronic song as he did not wish to die alone [2]; Brock began to feel genuine guilt when Dr. Venture brought back one of the Monarch's henchmen as a Frankenstein-style monster, but these feelings were quickly dispelled by the repressed Psychological influence of his mentor, Col. Hunter Gathers [3]. In addition, Brock has had numerous chances to kill the Monarch's only surviving Henchmen, #24 and #21, but has always refrained due either to coincedence, a lack of interest, or extenuating circumstances. He does his best to avoid civilian fatalities in accordance with "no women, no children" as stated by his mentor Hunter.
[edit] Adventures
Since Brock serves as the "brawn" to Dr. Venture's purported "brain," it is unsurprising that his exploits are among the show's most spectacular and action-intensive sequences. Over the course of the series so far, he has infiltrated The Monarch's cocoon base, killing dozens of henchmen, smuggled Sasquatch and the bionic man to safety, been buried alive in Tijuana, and taken part in a blood-soaked raid on an amusement park, among other things. Come the show's second season, his quick thinking has served the Venture family well, such as using Professor Impossible's own elasticity against him to retrieve pieces of a stargate Jonas Venture urged his son to build, fulfilled his desire to get Edgar Allan Poe in a headlock, taking down a cult devoted to Osiris with various historical figures, single-handedly holding off an attack from the Guild on the Venture compound, and helping a pathetic underground resistance overthrow Ünderland's ruler.
He was ordered by the OSI to seek and destroy his mentor, Col. Hunter Gathers, due to Gathers' having disappeared with millions of dollars and decades' worth of government secrets. Tracking him down to Macronesia, Brock found him unconscious and apparently recovering from gender-reassignment surgery. The plastic surgeon informed Brock that Hunter did not defect for treason, but, rather, to start a new life as a woman (or, perhaps, to avoid his inevitable assassination by Brock). Brock let him live, after checking his crotch "just to make sure" that killing him would have violated OSI's "no women, no children" rule.
In the episode Ice Station – Impossible! Brock mentions that he had served with Race Bannon on several occasions. He regards his fellow agent with respect calling him "one of the best."
More recently, after unexpectedly encountering Brock at a tattoo parlor, the Monarch's henchmen (many of whom were drunk at the time) managed to capture him (at the cost of many of their own - the "predictable casualties," according to Henchman No. 21) and bring him and the rest of the Venture family to the Monarch's cocoon. Ironically, this was a rare instance in which the Monarch did not want the Venture clan in his grasp, as he had sworn off their rivalry in order to wed Dr. Girlfriend. He covered for the Ventures' presence by claiming he had invited them to the wedding as a goodwill gesture. In yet another ironic twist, Brock came to the Monarch's defense when, during the wedding ceremony, the Phantom Limb struck the Cocoon and Guild in a coup d'etat. Brock succeeded in rallying the Monarch's forces to fight off Limb's massive armada. In the end, however, the battle came down to a struggle between Phantom Limb and the Guild Sovereign (David Bowie). Brock's counterattack was largely irrelevant, though it did give Hank his first real opportunity to fight at Brock's side -- a portent, perhaps, of things to come.
[edit] Near-death experiences
Brock's remarkable ability to survive extensive injury has served him well, including the following incidents:
| Episode | Injury | Effects |
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| "Dia de Los Dangerous!" | Shot with over two dozen tranquilizer darts as well as apparently lethal darts, hit with a truck, and buried alive | Extreme rage upon waking several hours later, downs a bottle of tequila and in retaliation he runs over many of the Monarch's henchmen with his car |
| "Careers in Science" | Exposed to the vacuum of space for several seconds without protective equipment | Slight nosebleed, coughed up a pink chunk the size of a small kiwifruit but didn't feel anything missing; decided to "go lie down." |
| "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" | Drugged with a chloral hydrate-laced cigarette, dumped into a tar pit | None, after washing off tar |
| "Return to Spider-Skull Island" | Bashed over the head with a pipe wrench, chained to the roof of his own car which subsequently catches fire and crashes through a window | Loss of mullet |
| "Hate Floats" | Shot in the shoulder at close range with a 9mm pistol | Brief period of unconsciousness due to blood loss |
| "Assassinanny 911" | (in flashback) Stabbed simultaneously in the kidneys with drug-tipped stilettos, pinned to a bed with a sai in each shoulder, and trapped in a burning room | Frustrated anguish over lack of cigarettes |
| "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" | Falls victim to plastic explosives while investigating a dumpster, later hit head-on by a car | Charred clothes, lost a shoe |
| "¡Viva los Muertos!" | Assaulted en-masse by dozens of gun-toting Monarch henchmen in the Venture Compound Hangar. | Guilty conscience for killing the last retreating henchman. |
| "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)" | Clinging to the top of Phantom Limb's Command Craft as it crashes into the floor of the Grand Canyon. | None |
[edit] References
- ^ Episode "Love-Bheits"
- ^ Episode "Victor. Echo. November."
- ^ Episode "Viva los Muertos!"
[edit] External links
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