The Dunwitch Asylum for the Criminally Obsessive, more often simply called Dunwitch Asylum, is a fictional mental hospital and insane asylum depicted in The Venture Bros. episode Momma's Boys. It holds people whose mental disturbances drive them towards criminal bent, including but not limited to insane supervillains. Its most notable current or former inmates included Teddy Talk-To-Me, Myra Brandish, and Radical Left.
Security and Connections to the Guild[]
As fits its nature, Dunwitch Asylum is (in theory) a high security facility, with guards armed with sidearms. Only blood relatives of the interred are allowed in, and guests are never allowed to physically touch each other. This has not stopped an inmate rebellion (see "Momma's Boys" below.)
Strangely, Guild Wasps are dispatched to deal with any riots or mass breakouts occur. This hints at a connections with the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Another connection is that Guild villains may, upon purposes of insanity, be transferred to Dunwitch instead of prison upon arrest for crimes committed.
Momma's Boys[]
For a short time, Myra organized the inmates and at least on guard into a cult simply named Momma's Boys. They venerated her as a sacred mother figure, perhaps not too unlike some depictions of Mary. Together, they took over the asylum for a brief time.
Myra hoped to use them to place Dean Venture back into her womb so she could give birth to him. Her plan was foiled by Hank Venture and Gary Fischer, who exposed her lies, causing her cult to break up and fall apart. Several inmates escaped, but the aforementioned Guild Wasps showed up to curtail the chaos.
Current and Former Inmates[]
- Big Time
- Cuckoo Clocker
- Giant Indian (escaped)
- Hank Venture (infiltrated Dunwitch in order to free Teddy, escaped)
- Henchman 21 (infiltrated Dunwitch in order to free Teddy, escaped)
- Joey Nickels
- Man-Dune
- Maneater
- Maybe Man
- Myra Brandish
- Radical Left (escaped)
- Teddy Talk-To-Me (escaped)
- Unnamed Inmate With Beehive Hairstyle
- Unnamed Inmate With Skull Head (escaped)
Notes and Trivia[]
In the creator commentary for the episode Momma's Boys, it was said that Dunwitch Asylum was inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Batman comics, though more the latter. Dunwitch Asylum draws its name from Dunwich, a fictional Massachusetts town from the Lovecraft short story The Dunwich Horror, much like how Arkham Asylum got its name from Arkham.