As hilarious as The Warp Zone is, it can have some pretty scary content, most notably the embodiment of corporate greed known as Dick Richards.
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Dick Richards: Hollywood Executive
- Dick Richards in general is widely considered to be one of the scariest villains in recent memory, and considering what he is the embodiment of, it's easy to see why. His ruthlessness, manipulation, and ambition-fueled greed make him one of the most realistic villains out there, with even the most powerful superheroes and villains in popular culture bowing before him.
- The first example of Nightmare Fuel is from "Joker Reacts to Suicide Squad", where Joker makes his entrance by bloodily murdering Richard's assistant. While it is played for Black Comedy, the fact that Richards didn't bat an eye at this is quite disturbing.
- While "The X-Men Try Joining the MCU" is pretty lighthearted and comedic, it ends with Dick Richards wielding the Infinity Gauntlet while declaring that "At Disney, we don't make mistakes. We make money", right before snapping his gauntlet-covered fingers. Just the fact that Dick Richards controls the Infinity Gauntlet itself (and doesn't seem to be affected or hurt by wielding the gauntlet that crippled the likes of Hulk and Thanos) is very scary to think about.
- The fact that his comedic smug demeanor suddenly becomes serious as he says "We make money" right before he uses the Gauntlet doesn't help matters.
- However, it is in "Spider-Man Reacts to the Disney/Sony Breakup
" where Richards first shows how money-hungry, manipulative, and terrifyingly ruthless he truly is.- To begin, the conversation between him and Spider-Man starts out harmless enough, with Richards trying to show Spider-Man the perks of not being in the MCU anymore (courtesy of the then-ongoing dispute between Disney and Sony), only for Spider-Man to accuse Richards of trying to trick him and demand that he talk with Sony and get Spider-Man back in the MCU. Richards seems to be so impressed by Spider-Man's enthusiasm that he's decided to talk with Sony as soon as possible to fix the rift between the 2 companies. And then we get this gem:
Spider-Man: That's amazing! When?- He then explains to Spider-Man that the entire scandal had been fabricated by him (with the help of Sony) in order to keep Spider-Man in the spotlight. Also, by making sure that the scandal eventually ended with Disney and Sony "making up" and bringing Spider-Man back to the MCU, the countless fans who protested the split would then feel as though they "won" the conflict, and would thus be more personally invested in future Spider-Man films, which would ensure record profits for Marvel and Sony. And the worst part? His plan was a complete success. As he puts it:
We created the ultimate soap opera, and the entire world was our middle-aged, emotionally unfulfilled housewife.- When Spider-Man threatens to reveal the truth to this plan, Dick calmly threatens to not make any more Spider-Man films, leaving poor Peter with no choice other than to agree to the plan. Dick then cheerfully says he's glad to hear it and tells a (now submissive and terrified) Spider-Man to leave in order to get ready for the press conference the next day announcing the "new" deal. He then sends his secretary, Janine, an incredibly disturbing message:
Dick: Janine, start the search for a live-action Miles Morales. I have a feeling we're going to need a Spider-Man real soon. (cue sinister grin forming on his face)- This message implies that Dick could very well kill off Peter Parker to keep his mouth shut on his sinister plan.
- The episode after that, however, is probably the scariest one of them all. In "Netflix Reacts to Disney Plus", Bob Netflix pays Dick a visit to try and discuss Disney+, Disney's new streaming service that would be a strong rival to Netflix. The conversation starts out friendly enough, with Dick even saying that he has no ill will towards Bobby himself and that he enjoyed their companies' partnership note . The heartwarming dialogue ends, however, when Dick Richards gives Bobby this revelation:Dick: Bobby. Trust me, it's not you. I truly cherished the time we had together. Our partnership was a wonderful...proof of concept. Seriously, if we hadn't worked together for all those years, we never would've gained the knowledge needed to launch our own streaming service to systematically dismantle your hold on the market and ultimate leave your company in total financial ruin.
- Dick then discusses how he plans to dominate the digital streaming market with Disney+ even if it runs at a loss for decades. One method is having Disney acquire the most popular IPs, such as their 2017 acquisition of 20th Century Fox. This is shown with how he calmly tosses Batman a large sack of cash and this conversation happens:
Bob Netflix: But you don't own Batman.Dick: (smirking)...Not yet.- After this, Bob Netflix thinks he's got Dick Richards beat when he revealed that Netflix hired Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss since Disney had wanted them to make a Star Wars film...only for Dick to laugh and ruin Bob's smug expression by revealing that they had actually fired the pair (who received heavy criticism following the vastly unpopular ending to Game of Thrones) simply to trick Netflix into giving them a contract worth $250 million.
Bob: Jesus Christ...you're ruthless!Dick: You're damn right I am! I have to be! See Bob, what you fail to grasp is that this fight is about more than just the future of streaming, it's about the future of everything. We're not just trying to control the media, we're trying to control how the people consume media. We're grooming the next generation of consumers to get all of their entertainment from us. We will fulfill their every emotional need. Every laugh they bellow, every tear they cry will come from us. And once we've achieved a brand dependency of that magnitude, they will buy whatever we sell them for the rest of their insignificant lives, and that is worth everything. So go on and run back to Silicon Valley and enjoy yourself while you can, Bob. It's only a matter of time before you run out of ideas and your war chest dries up. And finally, when Netflix is little more than a sad, saggy scrotum shadow of its former self, we will acquire it. And we will do the same to Amazon, Warner Bros. NBC, hell, even YouTube, and on and on we will go until there is nothing left. Nothing...but Disney.- Bob Netflix then runs away screaming, leaving Dick to maniacally laugh to himself. What is truly terrifying is when he says "you think this is a joke, don't you" and turns toward the camera before stating how we will soon be only using Disney products in the future, whether its a digital tablet or YouTube. There is a reason that it provides the image for Nightmare Fuel for The Warp Zone.
- In "What REALLY Happened to The Flash TV Show", the team at the Flash Studio CW Headquarters are discussing on Season 7, and how they're so glad on how bad they've made it that they're sure to cancel the show (since now they won't have to spend long hours away from their loved ones and sleepless nights working on the show), when the boss receives a call from his boss about something that makes him slowly turn horrified. The news? That the show has been renewed for season 8, much to their dismay. The name of the boss who gives the news on the phone? Mr. Richards.
- In the 2nd Netflix vid, Bob Netflix thinks he's gotten one over Disney because of all the money they lost during the pandemic. Dick Richards looks stressed out...and then with one motion to slide his hair back into place , he reveals it was all a con. He then pulls out a vial and heavily implies Disney was the one who caused the pandemic note as part of a Xanatos Gambit to get people to subscribe to Disney Plus while also further weakening movie theaters. When Dick said that Disney had money to burn, he meant it."Through the loss of millions, I have changed the viewing habits of billions."
