Guild of Calamitous Intent
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The Guild of Calamitous Intent is a fictional organization of supervillains in the Adult Swim program The Venture Bros.. The Guild was first mentioned in the season one episode "Home Insecurity", with its first major appearance being in "The Trial of the Monarch".
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[edit] History
In the Venture Bros. series the Guild of Calamitous Intent is the largest organized group of supervillains. In the episode Fallen Arches, a promotional video sent to the character Dr. Orpheus states that the Guild was founded in 1910, and it is "the recognized leader in organized havoc". They credit their large numbers to the fact that they offer protection from authorities and benefits such as health and dental insurance to all members, as well as access to henchmen and other technology to help villains commit crimes. In exchange, Guild members are required to follow a code of honor (see "Honor Code").
The Guild approves heroes, or teams of theme appropriate colleagues, to be assigned their very own certified super-villains. A "villain screening" may be scheduled to allow the hero to select a villain. Having a member of The Guild as your own "arch-enemy" is a highly sought after status symbol for some heroes in the Venture Brothers universe. In the episode Fallen Arches, Doctor Venture becomes jealous of Doctor Orpheus's approval and seeks to entice villains waiting in line for the screening by salaciously washing his "giant walking eye" invention while shirtless.
Because of their policy (referred to as "controlled costumed aggression"), the Guild of Calamitous Intent enjoys a level of popularity and acceptance in society and amongst law enforcement. They have even turned their popularity and "trustworthiness" into an official motto: "Hate You Can Trust". (The Trial of the Monarch)
[edit] Key members
[edit] Sovereign
The Guild is run by The Sovereign. Should something happen to The Sovereign to prevent him from fulfilling his duties the next highest ranking member takes over the title and duties of Sovereign.
The Sovereign usually appears to fellow Guild members over a "tele-screen" as a heavily distorted and red tinted image with a modulated voice.
At of the end of the second season, the current Sovereign was revealed to be musician David Bowie. In the Venture Brothers universe, Bowie's musical career serves as a cover for his true identity as a shape-shifting supervillain.
[edit] The Council of 13
A group of super-villains whose actual position in the Guild's hierarchy is unknown, though they seem to be high up. They seem to act as judges within the Guild, and were seen judging the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, providing video footage that was secretly recorded by the Guild for evidence. They quite literally move as a group, are only seen in shadow, and constantly argue with each other. They presided over the marriage ceremony of Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch with the Soverign acting as a priest.
One of the silhouettes appears to be that of Bugs Bunny dressed up as Julius Caesar. A different member bears an extreme resemblance to Prince Fleaswallow from the PaRappa the Rapper video game series. Another bears resemblance to the Wild Fop. One has the distinctive wheezy, raspy voice of Baron Silas Greenback, DangerMouse's archenemy.
[edit] Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb is a high-ranking Guild operative, having achieved his lofty position through years of service inside the Guild. Limb was powerful enough within the Guild that he was able to seize command following the apparent assassination of the Sovereign, David Bowie.
Phantom Limb's rank within the Guild was such that his home (which appears to be identical to the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House) would occasionally serve as a secondary base (Base "B") of operations for the Guild. Phantom Limb has free rein over the resources of the Guild.
After Dr. Girlfriend dumped him to accept the Monarch's marriage proposal, Phantom Limb and a group of loyal "Strangers" attacked the ceremony. In the midst of the ambush, it was revealed that the true objective of the attack was to kill the Sovereign, David Bowie, who was attending. With the Sovereign apparently dead, Phantom Limb assumed command of the Guild and moved to completely wipe out the Monarch's henchman. However, Bowie used his transformation powers to fake his death and, after transforming back to human form, brings down Phantom Limb's aircraft. Following the crash, Bowie casually reconfirmed his position as the Sovereign and declared that his traitorous former subordinate was now the Guild's archenemy. It appears that Phantom Limb's appearance may now be more than superficial, as at least two invisible body parts were detected at the crash site.
[edit] Watch and Ward
The Sovereign is personally aided by two assistants, Watch and Ward. They oversee the Guild's various espionage programs serving as a link between Sovereign and his number two. The two characters are based upon show creators Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, both visually and in their dialogue, the bulk of which is taken from casual, everyday interaction between the two creators.
[edit] Strangers
Besides its vast membership of supervillains, the Guild employs its own henchmen, called "Strangers". Loosely based upon the villains of the film Dark City, "Strangers" are the main field operatives of the organization. They are a fleet of cyborgs specially trained in espionage and assassination, who dress in black, fur-lined trench coats and wide-brimmed fedoras.
[edit] Honor Code
What separates the Guild from most fictional villainous organizations is the complex Honor Code that its members abide by. The code was partially conceived as a set of rules and outlined in the Guild of Calamitous Intent's official handbook and has since been expanded over the years with the signing of various treaties between major heroes, such as Jonas Venture Sr., and unspoken "gentlemen's agreements" forged with various law enforcement organizations. These involve the Guild providing resources such as new police cruisers to local precincts, and banning its members from harming local cops under any circumstances, in exchange for the police turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by Guild members.
Following the Honor Code is required by all Guild members as a condition to join the group. While some members willingly follow these rules and don't question them, others see the rules as a bothersome formality that must be followed so as to ensure that they can still receive the Guild's very generous health and dental plans as well as a level of immunity from local law enforcement groups.
The code of conduct is complex; among the rules enforced are:
- Villains and their henchmen are severely limited in their choice of weapons, according to the severity of their situation and their target. (Hate Floats)
- Crimes such as rape and sexual assault are forbidden.
- Any hero who is associated with the Guild through its "Arch-Nemesis Assignment Program" will be paired off with a villain of approximately equal power and inclination, and this is often decided via an interview process.
- Local law enforcement officers are off-limits and can not be harmed under any circumstances. (The Trial of the Monarch). In turn, they seem content to occupy themselves with "regular crimes" and not "super-crimes."
Furthermore, all Guild members are required to follow and honor all treaties signed with the super-hero community, a number of which were negotiated personally by Jonas Venture, Sr. These include treaties banning Guild members from attacking heroes on holidays. Another treaty, "Rusty's Law" states that a Guild member must allow a hero and their children to leave their custody in the event that the hero's child becomes injured during the hostage situation to receive medical treatment.
Breaking these rules and/or acts that leave the Guild no choice but to abandon a member can result in expulsion and revocation of any form of immunity from law enforcement. In one particular case, King Gorilla was abandoned by the Guild after he dismembered and sodomized (in that order) Mötley Crüe member Vince Neil on national television (though King Gorilla protests that he "only sodomized half of him"); Phantom Limb claimed that there was virtually nothing the Guild could do to have him avoid imprisonment.
The Guild's rules, regulations, code, and treaties lead it to function far differently than one would expect a criminal organization to do. Most Guild actions involving violence seem to involve villain-on-hero conflict - regular civilians are left alone, or at worse knocked out harmlessly with such things as paralytic agents (The Trial of the Monarch). Supervilliany is viewed more akin to a career that is either distasteful or glamorously dangerous as opposed to an outright criminal activity.
[edit] Did You Know?
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- The Guild, in having most of the villains in the "Venture Brothers" universe's as dues paying members is similar to the DC Comics supervillain team the Secret Society of Super Villains and the Legion of Doom from Superfriends. Most specifically, the enemies of the Flash (aka the Rogues) have been established for years as having a unionized organization, including a dental plan.
- According to Doc Hammer, the Guild was created specifically to allow the "super scientists" and "supervillains" in the Venture universe to co-exist for the Tag Sale – You're It! episode. [1]
- The Guild is mentioned briefly in Home Insecurity, which aired before Tag Sale – You're It! but was produced immediately after: Baron Ünderbheit refers to the need to file an "Article of Collusion" with the Guild in order to work with another supervillain.
- Doctor Thaddeus Venture almost joined the guild to arch his own brother.
[edit] References
- ^ Tracey John. BROTHERS IN ARMS. Retrieved on 2007-01-04. “The Guild of Calamitous Intent actually came from ‘Tag Sale.’ When Doc [Venture] was trying to get rid of his father’s crap—who’d want it? Basically the super scientists and the evil supervillains. But to get them in one place, you needed a governing body. You couldn’t have them agree for one moment to co-exist. So the Guild actually started as something to facilitate a ridiculous script idea.”
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