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The Guild of Calamitous Intent is an organization of supervillains that serves as the main antagonists of The Venture Bros.

Operations

The Guild was first mentioned in the season one episode Home Insecurity, with its first major appearance being in The Trial of the Monarch. 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 episode Tag Sale – You're It![1] The Guild of Calamitous Intent is the largest organized labor group representing supervillains. Its direct competitors are The Peril Partnership and the Fraternity of Torment, both of which control less than a tenth villainy to the Guild's overwhelming majority. 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 insurance to all of it 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 and be classified and ranked by their Equally Matched Aggression Level.

The Guild approves villains to be assigned their own hero, super-scientist, or etc to "arch." A "villain screening" may be scheduled to allow the villain to select a hero. 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 Dr. Orpheus's approval and seeks to entice villains waiting in line for the screening by salaciously washing his "giant walking eye" invention while shirtless. The Guild even assigns potential arch-enemies to its members, but do not approve killing them on the first day, as The Monarch did to Dr. Dugong.

The Guild of Calamitous Intent's policy of "controlled costumed aggression" has led to some popularity and acceptance in society, even with law enforcement. This is seen in The Guild's official motto: "Hate You Can Trust".[2] The Guild also has a villainous mentor program.[3]

History

The Original Guild

A flashback in ORB reveals that The Original Guild existed during the Gilded age, and had been "founded to protect and serve humanity's best, not to be 'a guild of calamitous intent.'" A cabal of Guild members, including Colonel Lloyd Venture his bodyguard Eugen Sandow, Fantômas, Aleister Crowley, Samuel Clemens, and Oscar Wilde, had devoted their lives to "perfect and protect" a mysterious artifact known as the Orb, which had been crafted over the centuries by Archimedes, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Galileo and other great minds in history. Colonel Venture's group eventually came into conflict with another faction of the Guild and had to flee with the Orb aboard an airship while being pursued by Nikola Tesla and the Avon Ladies. The Guild members had different ideas about what to do with the Orb; Colonel Venture and Oscar Wilde both wanted to use it "for the good of mankind," while Fantômas argued that the Guild should be the ones to "decide what is best for mankind." When Crowley tried to seize the Orb for himself, Fantômas and Colonel Venture put aside their differences to throw him out (literally) and then agreed to use the Orb against Tesla. However, before Colonel Venture could figure out how to work the Orb, Sandow claimed to have murdered him, believing it for the best of humanity that the Orb remain unused.

However, in a later flashback revealed in The Revenge Society, Sandow mercifully destroyed the Orb itself to avoid having to kill his master; the Orb was made to appear as if it had been repaired, and the story carefully covered up to prevent the truth from getting out.

The Orb's effect on the Guild's unity became synonymous with the Guild itself, to the point that the schism in its ranks is commemorated through their logo, which consists of a heraldic dragon atop an Orb-like object wreathed with leaves and bearing an amalgamation of the letters G, C, and I.

The Classic Guild

How this early version of the Guild eventually came to be a well-known organization of mass villainy remains vague. ORB implies that Lloyd Venture was the member most strongly opposed to the semi-villainous Fantômas. The Revenge Society discloses that Fantômas was a usurper of the Guild's leadership, claiming that Lloyd was the rightful leader. According to Guild council members Dragoon and Red Mantle, Fantômas' version of the Guild was in 1959 merely a rock-and-roll band he formed from kidnapped musicians so that he could play sousaphone.

During the 1960s, however, the Guild entered its heyday as the arch-villains of Team Venture and Action Johnny Dr. Z, Dragoon, Red Mantle, and Scaramantula among many others are old veterans from this time period. The conflict would later be fictionally dramatized in the Rusty Venture TV show. During this time The Guild's leader was Force Majeure, with its headquarters at Meteor Majeure.

The Dark Age

By the late 1970s, Team Venture and other heroes had largely defeated the original generation of the Guild. Red Death later remarked that the 1980s were the "dark age" of the guild, when they went underground, and a younger "new wave" of villains slowly rose up from the shadows. At some unspecified point, Force Majeure was overthrown, killed, and replaced by The Sovereign, a mysterious shapeshifter who copied the persona of David Bowie, and ruled over the Council of 13.

During this time both the public at large and major intelligence agencies believed The Guild did not exist, dismissing the concept of the organization as "the bad guys from the old Rusty Venture TV show." O.S.I. Agents Brock Samson and Hunter Gathers were for a time the only two agents that believed in it's existence and actively investigated it. However, after a failed attempt to try an expose Phantom Limb, (then going as an undercover alias) as a Guild member, Sergeant Hatred acting as a Guild mole within the OSI, broke up Brock and Hunter Gathers and continued to keep government attention away from The Guild.

Pyramid Wars

This changed in 1987, with the Movie Night Massacre aboard the Gargantua 1 space station. Vendata, Red Death, and a few other Guild villains attacked the space station. During the attack, the station's bay doors mysteriously opened up, killing Jonas Venture, most of the crew, as well as some of The Guild members behind the attack. Rather than punish the three surviving Guild members from the botched mission, The Sovereign instead framed the massacre on the Guild's main rival at the time in super-villainy: S.P.H.I.N.X. This sparked off the Pyramid Wars of 1987, leading to the destruction of S.P.H.I.N.X. which allowed the Guild to grow and expand, returning to open prominence in the 1990s.

Modern Guild

By the present day, the Guild's secrecy was over. The O.S.I. not only acknowledged The Guild's existence, and will even work with them on occasion such as through the Treaty of Tolerance. The Guild also has both official and unofficial relations with local law enforcement agencies, as there seems to be some form of protocol enabling police to defer certain violations and arrests as "Guild matters".

However, within The Guild, internal rivalries and factions arose. Phantom Limb sought to upsurp The Sovereign's leadership many times. First by attacking The Monarch's wedding to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. After he was defeated and captured by The Guild, he escaped and infiltrated the headquarters of the Guild and kidnaps two members of The Council of Thirteen, Red Mantle and Dragoon, whom he blackmails into helping him obtain the ORB. However, Phantom Limb failed to activate the Orb as it was sabotaged long ago by Eugen Sandow. Limb tried again by attempting to exploit a leadership loophole after Dean Venture is revealed to be the rightful Sovereign of the Guild of Calamitous Intent owing to his blood descent from Colonel Lloyd Venture of the Victorian Era Guild. However, The Sovereign convinces Dean to transfer his status and title back to The Sovereign, foiling Phantom Limb's plans.

After these events, The Sovereign then initiated his own coup by assassinating members of The Council of 13 as well as attempting to eliminate both the Investors and the rival Revenge Society by destroying the Gargantua 2 with both groups on board. The Guild Resistance was a short-lived mutiny of high-ranking Guild henchmen and surviving Council members following the Sovereign's attempted elimination of his rivals. The group consisted of Watch, Ward, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, Dr. Phineas Phage.

New Guild

The New Guild was founded by Dr. Henry Killinger following the deaths of the Investors and of The Sovereign. The autocratic position of Sovereign was abolished and the Guild's structure was returned to that described in the Classic-era Guild Charter, led by a collaborative council of thirteen elected, rather than hand-picked, councilors. Dr. Mrs Monarch and Phantom Limb acted as leading members, with Mrs. Monarch leveraging her position as de facto spokeswoman to win powerful seats for Wide Whale and Red Death in exchange for their cooperation while Dr Z, Red Mantle, and Dragoon remained as holdovers from the Sovereign era.

Key Members

The Council of 13

Main article: The Council of 13

Members of the New Council of 13

Former Members of the New Council

Members of the Old Council of 13

  1. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (replaced Vendata)
  2. Wild Fop (Deceased)
  3. Red Mantle
  4. Dr. Phineas Phage (replaced Boggles the Clue Clown)
  5. Dr. Z
  6. The Nerve (Deceased)
  7. Steppenwolf (Deceased)
  8. Dragoon
  9. Don Hell (Deceased)
  10. Bug Samurai (Deceased)
  11. Mommy Longlegs (Deceased)
  12. Monseñor (Deceased)
  13. The Sovereign (Deceased)

Former

Watch and Ward

Main article: Watch
Main article: Ward

Watch and Ward oversee the Guild's various espionage programs. They also serve to assist recruitment and assigning of supervillain identities.

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.

Strangers

Besides its vast membership of supervillains, the Guild employs its own henchmen, called "Strangers". Strangers are the main field operatives of the organization. Currently they consist of a fleet of cyborgs specially trained in espionage and assassination, who dress in black, fur-lined trench coats and wide-brimmed fedoras, much like the silhouette of the Neighborhood Watch signs. Strangers in previous eras had similar uniforms, albeit modified to fit the style of the times. It is unknown when the cybernetic enhancements were introduced. They are much more efficient and skilled than the generally comical henchmen provided by the guild for supervillains.

Honor Code

What separates the Guild from most fictional villainous organizations is the complex Honor Code by which its members abide. 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 do not 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.[4]
  • In the case of some crimes the Guild will allow the member to continue as a member of the Guild but suffer a penalties under law, such as restraining orders against members who engage in inappropriate behavior (Sergeant Hatred being a noteworthy example).
  • 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 cannot be harmed.[5] In turn, they seem content to occupy themselves with "regular crimes" and not "super-crimes."
  • Conflicts may not take place on any hallowed ground, parodying the Highlander series of movies.
  • "If protagonist aggression exceeds Level 8, the antagonist, in case of survival or escape, is granted Extended Vengeance. This includes Guild sanctioned immediate relatives."[6]
  • A New Mental Health Clemency Clause of the Guild's rules (called "a Section 8" or "pulling a Section 8" by Henchman 21), a villain must release his arch if they have to receive psychiatric help as long as the arch has a note from their doctor.[7]
  • Article 97D of Guild bylaws states: No villain may arch previously claimed nemesis, without first consulting the primary arch of said nemesis.[8]
  • The Guild's Articles of collusion paragraph C stipulates: in the event of a team-up, the team's right to arch supersede that of the primary. But not without offering the primary arch first right of refusal to participate in and/or lead said team-up.[9]

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 (though apparently, the hostages are then required to voluntarily return to their captor's custody once the injury has been treated).[10]

Despite their honor code and rules the guild does encourage and/or tolerate certain behaviors, one such behavior they encourage is the double-cross (likely because it is viewed as part of the villainous lifestyle).[11]

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 eviscerated 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 worst knocked out harmlessly with such things as paralytic agents.[12] The exception to this are those associated with heroes - for instance, it appears kidnapping the Venture Brothers (and in his youth, Rusty Venture) is almost a constant.

In the episode The Lepidopterists, Jonas Venture Junior questions Brock on the advisability of playing along with these rules. Brock points out that without the code of conduct, "You are looking at a bunch of pissed off nutbags with rayguns and giant, I don't know, a giant octopus tank with laser eyes." Further, in that same episode, when Jonas Venture Junior informs The Monarch that he is "about to deliver [his] killing stroke, then what?" Dr. Girlfriend replies, "Then the Guild steps up their game. You throw a rock, they throw a knife. You throw a knife, they come to your house when you are sleeping and murder your family." These points suggest the Guild's code structure acts as a way to control and direct the aggressiveness of Guild members - and also prevent them from conflict in an age of super-science, super-heroes and super-agents like OSI.

Gallery

References

  1. Tracey John. "BROTHERS IN ARMS". http://web.archive.org/web/20080105015005/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/toyfare/002817276.cfm?page=2. Retrieved 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 miscellany - who would 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." 
  2. The Trial of The Monarch
  3. The Bellicose Proxy
  4. Hate Floats
  5. The Trial of the Monarch
  6. The Lepidopterists
  7. Self-Medication
  8. Bot Seeks Bot
  9. Bot Seeks Bot
  10. Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean
  11. Pinstripes & Poltergeists
  12. The Trial of the Monarch
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