Tophet Tower is a skyscraper in New York City on The Venture Bros. It is located across the street from VenTech Tower. The lobby is easily accessible from the subway entrance for 59th Street/Columbus Circle.
Tophet Tower is the residence and base of operations for the criminal Wide Wale. It is also the residence of Warriana, a member of the Crusaders Action League, and Copycat, a member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.
Known Residents
- Wide Wale, Sirena Ong, & Barnacle Badhul (living in Penthouse A)
- Copycat (living in 44-44)
- Warriana (living in 12-B)
Episode Appearances
Season 6
- Hostile Makeover
- Maybe No Go
- Faking Miracles
- Rapacity in Blue
- Tanks for Nuthin'
- It Happening One Night
- A Party for Tarzan
- Red Means Stop
Season 7
- The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem
- The Rorqual Affair
- Arrears in Science
- The Bellicose Proxy
- The Unicorn in Captivity
- The Terminus Mandate
- The Forecast Manufacturer
- The Saphrax Protocol
Backstory
The Venture Bros. co-creator Jackson Publick had this to say about Tophet Tower:
"Something I never expected to be as important as it is now is planting the new Venture building at the corner of Columbus Circle--directly opposite Trump Tower, in real life. Trump Tower is a big, black glass box with gold appointments on it--right in the Guild of Calamitous Intent's color spectrum. So we decided the New York equivalent of Malice, a private neighborhood for villains from previous seasons, is Tophet Tower, which has expensive condos primarily for villains. So the villains now live right across the street, because that's how it is in New York: everybody's your neighbor. You no longer need a flying Cocoon to commute to villainy, to your arch.
Wide Wale is just a resident; he's got the penthouse. I don't know if the Guild owns the building. It might be a co-op or they might own a stake in it. It's a building favored by villains, but Warriana lives there too, and she's a superhero. You know, I'm sure a lot of people live in Trump's building who are at opposite ends of the moral and political spectrum."[1]
Cultural References
- Donald Trump, the owner of Trump International Hotel and Tower, appears as a party guest in Wide Wale's penthouse in the episode Faking Miracles.
- In the Hebrew Bible, Tophet was the site of pagan sacrifices to the gods Moloch and Baal in Jerusalem. Worshippers would burn children alive as divine offerings. As a result, Tophet has become associated with Hell in Judeo-Christian symbolism.
Trump International Hotel and Tower
- The New York skyscraper with a large, gold T is an obvious reference to Trump International Hotel and Tower.
- Tophet Tower appears to be located where the Trump International Hotel and Tower stands in real life, at 1 Central Park West on Columbus Circle between Broadway and Central Park West, in Manhattan, New York City.