Episode - Season 2, Episode 8 (Production Code: 2-21)
First Aired - September 3, 2006
Dr. Orpheus receives a video in the mail from the Guild of Calamitous Intent, officially approving his application for an arch-villain. However, he was approved as part of a team that disbanded years ago, The Order of the Triad. Before the screening process for an arch-villain begins, Orpheus must set off to bring his teammates back together.
Dr. Venture is busy working on his latest project, the "Walking Eye." He shows it off to Brock, Hank, and Dean to steal ideas from them for potential uses. Out the window, they see the forces of the Guild moving in, landing Guild Wasps in Brock's herb garden.
In a subway station, two black vampires are battling a third black man who wields two katanas. He slays one of them and removes the vampire's teeth to add to his necklace. The other vampire sneaks up behind him but is blasted by Dr. Orpheus when he arrives on the scene. The "Blacula hunter" is revealed to be Jefferson Twilight, a member of the Order of the Triad. Orpheus informs him of the team's Guild approval, and they leave to find their third member.
At The Monarch's Cocoon, 21 shows 24 his forged arching license. 24 points out that the height and weight listed on the card are way off for 21, which 21 refutes as no one reads them anyway. 21 is trying to convince 24 to join him in splitting off from The Monarch to go arching on their own. Meanwhile, The Monarch is with a prostitute he is forcing to act (and speak) like Dr. Girlfriend.
At the compound, the Guild forces set up the screening event for the Order of the Triad. Watch and Ward meet with Dr. Venture and discuss Venture's father (whom they call the real Dr. Venture,) with Ward stating that the original Dr. Venture is the reason he joined the Guild.
Dr. Orpheus astral projects himself in the lab of The Alchemist: a short, balding man in a robe who claims he is searching for a cure to AIDS. Orpheus informs him of the situation and the reformation of the Order of the Triad is complete.
In the boys' room, Dr. Venture is informing Dean that Triana will be spending the day with him while Orpheus interviews arching candidates. Dean wants to put on a play for her, but Venture gives Dean the "birds and the bees" speech, which only confuses and disgusts Dean.
At the Cocoon, 21 reveals two jet packs to 24, claiming to have stolen them from Sgt. Hatred. They plan to use them to fly into girls' rooms and have sex. (Sex!!) The Monarch has finished with the prostitute, who wants directions back to town. Instead, The Monarch decides to punish her and informs her that she must escape the Cocoon.
A line of supervillains has formed outside the Venture Compound, as they await their turns to interview with the Order of the Triad. Two villains, the Intangible Fancy and Torrid, engage in small talk. When Torrid realizes that this is the home of thee Dr. Venture, he decides to head inside as he has something he has to do. Hank, in a dress for Dean's play, walks into the bathroom where Torrid is taking a dump. Torrid teleports away but leaves an incredibly foul smell behind.
21 and 24 are in a field to test out their new costumes and jet packs. 24 sets his shoes on fire while 21 is only able to get a few inches off the ground due to his weight.
In the interview, Jefferson has to explain that he only hunts "Blaculas," and explains that he doesn't know the politically correct term for them, since there aren't many African Americans in England. They go through several rejected villains, including a reptile looking one and a frogman themed one (making fun of the "rudder" on the head of his suit.)
Brock is reciting lines to the play (Lady Windermere's Fan) with Dean, while Triana pages through a magazine disinterested. Brock leaves, while Dean asks that Hank come out of the bathroom. Hank tells Dean to come into the bathroom to smell the stench that Torrid left behind. Triana and Dean enter the bathroom and discuss how awful the smell is, apparently blaming Hank for it and thinking that something is wrong with him. As they reenact Hank entering the bathroom, Triana sits on the toilet and promptly vanishes.
The interviews continue as the Triad finds a magical themed villain, named "Curse," who they like. They decide to have a test battle but defeat Curse too easily for their liking. Outside, Venture has taken his Walking Eye out for a wash. The villains in line are excited, since they see this as a great opportunity to arch a "legend" like Venture.
The next villain to interview is Lady Au Pair, who is really Dr. Girlfriend in disguise, trying to set out on her own. The Triad likes her look at first but are turned off by her voice.
Hank and Dean are trying to solve the mystery of Triana's disappearance, so Dean tells Hank to turn on the shower, which is where Torrid is hiding. Hank only reaches a hand inside to turn on the water, which forces Torrid to vanish in a cloud of steam. The steam reveals a message written on the mirror by Triana, reading "I'm in the torrid zone. Tell my father."
In the Cocoon, the prostitute is trying to escape from a series of death traps set up by The Monarch. The Monarch rambles over the loudspeaker while in the shower. 21 and 24 are still in the field, now discussing possible team names. 24 doesn't like 21's suggestion of "Jet Boy and Jet Girl," even if 24 is allowed to be Jet Boy.
Torrid, now in his interview with the Order of the Triad, reveals that he has kidnapped Dr. Orpheus' daughter. Orpheus goes nuts and attacks Torrid, while Jefferson and the Alchemist indicate that Torrid is the obvious choice for their new arch-villain.
Venture is in the kitchen, watching hordes of supervillains attacking his Walking Eye, which was too tempting of a target for them. Guild security shoots foam at the rioting villains, and Brock decides to go outside to get a piece of the action.
The Triad enters the kitchen with Hank and Dean, revealing to Dr. Venture that they've selected their arch villain. They reveal that Triana is safe in the "torrid zone," which is actually the area between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer where Dr. Orpheus owns an island. As the Alchemist thanks Venture for "accepting Hank for who he is," (since Hank is still in a dress from the play,) Venture demands that they all leave his kitchen.
The Stinger shows 21 and 24 trying to hitchhike their way back to the Cocoon. The prostitute pulls up in 24's powder blue Stanza but speeds off when she sees their costumes. 24 can't believe that she stole his car, which he still owes his dad for, while 21 can't believe she survived the death traps.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Dana Snyder voices the Alchemist in the same voice he uses for Master Shake. (He later becomes a frequently recurring character.)
- Awesome, but Impractical: 21 and 24's jetpacks. They're cool and all, but 24 lights his shoe on fire with its flames and 21 can barely get off the ground because of his weight.
- Bait-and-Switch: Jefferson Twilight starts trying to think of what comic-book character to compare to Orpheus (an obvious Doctor Strange parody), and finally settles on... Aquaman.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Sgt. Hatred is one of the supervillains in line to interview with the Triad and is later seen attacking the Walking Eye. He would become a more important character starting in season 3 and would join the main cast in season 4.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Averted by the prostitute The Monarch hires. He throws her into a maze filled with traps and death around every corner... but she survives and manages to get away from him.
- Fanservice Car Wash: Parodied with Rusty washing his Walking Eye, the sight of which arouses multiple villains who see it.
- Gass Hole: The smell Torrid leaves behind in the bathroom is described by characters as like gunpowder, "poo-poo eggs," "a grandfather pooping," and "something biblical."
- Harsh Talent Show Judge: The Order of the Triad is holding auditions for potential villains. Much to the dismay of the optimistic Orpheus, Al spends most of the time making fun of the candidates as the "harshest" one of the group, clearly not taking it seriously. It doesn't help that most of the candidates are shown in a Terrible Interviewees Montage, meaning there is a lot to make fun of them for.
- Jet Pack: 21 and 24 highlight some of the flaws with them. (24 lights his shoes on fire and 21 can barely get off the ground due to his weight.)
- Kinky Role-Playing: The Monarch hires a prostitute to dress (and speak) like Dr. Girlfriend and have sex with him. And then when he's done with her, he drops her into a death course for no real reason.
- Oculothorax: The Walking Eye has a big red eye on its body with long, spider-like legs.
- Papa Wolf: When Torrid informs the Triad that he kidnapped Triana, Orpheus has a brief Jaw Drop, then furiously attacks him.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Orpheus reassembling the Order of the Triad.
- Shout-Out:
- The play Dean puts on is Lady Windermere's Fan, by Oscar Wilde.note
- 21 and 24's costumes when they discuss going off on their own are from Family Double Dare.
- Jefferson Twilight is a pastiche of Marvel Comics' vampire-hunting superhero Blade and Blaxploitation movie hero Shaft.
- Torrid is modeled after Marvel Comics' Dormammu and DC Comics' Deadman, with an accent modeled after Marvel's Pyro.
- Curse is modeled after DC Comics' villain Mordru.
- The scene with Dr. Venture washing his Walking Eye is a parody of the car wash scene from Cool Hand Luke.
- The Rabbot from Aqua Teen Hunger Force can be heard in the background of the scene introducing Torrid.
- When The Monarch sheds his robe to reveal the tattoo on his back, he's mimicking Ralph Fiennes' version of Francis Dolarhyde from Red Dragon. He also recites a paragraph from Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Pit and The Pendulum as the prostitute makes her way through the deathtraps. His maze also features the polar bear from Lost.
- Hank's statement about finding Triana's smoldering remains with her tapping out "kill me" in Morse code is a reference to the book and film Johnny Got His Gun.
- When giving the "birds and bees" speech to Dean, Dr. Venture references the video for Here I Go Again by Whitesnake.
- 21 wants to name his supervillain team with 24 "Jetboy and Jetgirl" after the Elton Montello song, and also points out that it was covered by The Damned.
- Stylistic Suck: The application video Orpheus receives in the mail is has Watch and Ward staring at the camera and delivering their lines flatly and without much enthusiasm. They don't actually say Dr. Orpheus's name - it is dubbed in by a different speaker. There's even a small editing mistake that managed to sneak by concerning the pie chart.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Most of the potential arching candidates for the Triad.
