| Brock Samson |
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Brock Samson is one of the Main Characters on the Adult Swim show '' The Venture Bros. '', serving as a parody of Doc Savage , Race Bannon and other super-competent individuals in adventure serials. His name is a play on Biblical strongman Samson , with whom Brock shares a near-indestructible nature and, except for a few episodes at the beginning of the second season, long hair. He is voiced by Patrick Warburton . BACKGROUND Brock was born to a single mother in Omaha, Nebraska , apparently sometime in the early 1960s. He is one half Swedish , one quarter Polish , and one quarter Winnebago . He has one brother who has never been named or featured on the show. Sometime around the late 1970s or early 1980s, he received a Football Scholarship to an unnamed college, possibly the University of Nebraska, where his fellow students included Thaddeus "T.S." Venture , Pete White , and Werner Ünderbheit . Brock's college career ended one fateful afternoon when he accidentally killed Tommy, the team's Deaf quarterback, during practice. Haunted by guilt or possibly by having been cut from the team (or both), Brock drank heavily and returned to his dorm and vented his frustrations by beating Dr. Venture and several other students in a blind fit of rage. The chain of events led to Brock's loss of his scholarship and decision to join the military. Little is known of his military service except that he joined the Marines (as mentioned by Col. Hunter Gathers, as explained below). Several years later, Brock joined the Office of Secret Intelligence, a SHIELD -esque organization of super spies that have been defending the interest of the U.S. since "the second American revolution (the ''invisible'' one)." There, he was trained by Colonel Hunter Gathers, an eccentric yet brilliant secret agent (modeled after Hunter S. Thompson ), the "second closest thing to a father" he ever had, whose guidance led to Brock being granted a Level 8, Class A License To Kill , which he uses with great zeal (it also indicates he is an organ donor). Strangely enough, he failed to notice when his cherished license to kill expired in one episode, and only found out when he gave his license as proof of identity. During his time in the OSI, Samson faced "mind-blowing weirdness at every turn." Sometime during his years with the OSI he also developed a rivalry with a fellow agent named Hauser, who was eventually demoted to what Brock considered a 'desk job' of Secret Service duty at the White House . The OSI eventually gave Samson his current assignment: to protect Dr. Thaddeus Venture and his family, ostensibly to prevent Venture's more dangerous inventions from falling into villainous hands and threatening national security. The official code name for this assignment is "Operation Rusty's Blanket." ("Rusty" was Dr. Venture's much-despised childhood nickname.) It has been implied by Hauser that the assignment was not Brock's choice; that protecting Dr. Venture was a punishment assignment forced upon Samson as a result of certain as-yet unrevealed "failures" during his time in OSI. Molotov Cocktease See Also: Molotov Cocktease While many of the details of Brock's time with OSI have yet to be revealed, one aspect that has been fleshed out considerably is Brock's love/hate relationship with former KGB agent-turned-freelance mercenary Molotov Cocktease. The two first met early in Brock's career as an OSI agent during a mission in Paris. The two went into a hotel room, only to have Molotov impale Brock upon the bed with her blades and light the room on fire. In spite of the overt danger, Brock was more concerned that she took his cigarettes; she tossed one onto his chest after hearing his pleas. Molotov serves as an apparently perfect match for Brock, efficiently lethal and extremely hard to kill, and their rivalry has led to much bloodshed. Molotov killed Brock's partner and Brock responded in kind by killing her father. At another point in their relationship, Brock managed to pluck out Molotov's left eye, which he keeps in a jar in his room as a sort of macabre forget-me-not. Further complicating things was Molotov's decision to wear a chastity belt, which frustrates Brock to no end with his inability to act upon his sexual attraction to his nemesis. This mutual sexual attraction has led to their rivalry thawing somewhat, and the two have become grudging friends, to the point that Molotov agreed to fill in for Brock as the Venture Family's bodyguard while Brock was away on OSI business. (While guarding the Venture family, Molotov professed her god-like adoration of Samson, and criticized the Ventures for treating him like a household servant.) Afterwards, Molotov confronted Brock with an offer to run away with her, and for a partnership as mercenaries-for-hire. Brock politely turned Molotov down, pointing out that he considers the Ventures his surrogate family, and that he would not leave them, not even for Molotov. APPEARANCE In a scene in , skin-tight Polos , pastel-colored pants, white shoes, and side-zip ankle boots are all recurring items of clothing in his wardrobe. He also sports a (half-finished) tattoo of Icarus , after the Swan Song Records logo on his right bicep, as Brock is a huge fan of Led Zeppelin . PERSONALITY AND RELATIONSHIPS Brock embodies the 'strong, but silent' stereotype, usually speaking in a low, gravelly murmur and maintaining a casual aura. He speaks in an oddly calm manner in anything short of the most urgent circumstances, and his level voice is often at odds with his perpetually-crazed expression. However, he also has a hair-trigger temper which can cause him to snap at the slightest provocation, including a friendly touch on the shoulder at an inopportune moment. When he is engulfed in a fit of rage, he exhibits a near super-human strength, a facial twitch, and is apparently capable of enduring almost any kind of physical punishment imaginable, and his "normal" endurance is nearly as impressive. Even then, the worst injury he sustained was losing consciousness for a few hours. Simple surgery to remove a bullet revealed that Brock's body harbored Three Additional Bullets, A Blowgun Dart, Two Shark's Teeth, A Bayonet Tip, A Twisted Paper Clip, And A Handful Of Buckshot , none of which seemed to bother him in the slightest. Brock's ability to endure pain is matched only by his ability to dish out pain to others, which he does with great enthusiasm. As mentioned, he possesses a license to kill, and has proven himself quite capable and willing to kill anyone or anything at a moment's notice, in a manner that is as grisly as it is creative. Additionally, he can be briefly seen through the eyes of another character killing two men by pinning them to the wall with a running Lawnmower . He is also known to be quite thorough in ensuring that a threat is completely eliminated. On at least one occasion, he Urinated on what appeared to be a Mummy 's corpse, in the belief that defiling it would prevent any subsequent Reanimation . In combat, he scorns Firearm s, instead preferring bladed weapons (particularly his saw-toothed Bowie Knife ), blunt objects, or his bare hands. He does, however, appear to make an exception for certain Projectile -based weapons. He expressed a fondness for a functioning net cannon, complaining that too often they "only mess up the guy's hair." In addition, he honors one of his mentor's only rules: to never kill women or children, only subduing them with nonlethal means when necessary. Brock has an odd relationship with Dr. Venture. He doesn't always take the man seriously, yet dotes on him when he's hurt or ill. The two sometimes reminisce about their past escapades with fondness and even camaraderie and laughter. Brock even obeys Dr. Venture's rule that he can't smoke inside the compound, and helps with domestic chores. Dr. Venture seems to have a fondness for Brock, even sharing simple things with him like having extra coupons for shopping. Brock has an , if not paternal, relationship with the Venture boys. He seems especially fond of Hank , who idolizes him in turn. Samson shows greater concern for their well-being and development than Dr. Venture ever has, expressing concerns over Hank's sanity and Dean 's Effeminacy (though he never expresses the latter in such blunt terms), and also gives them useful advice on their first big date (" Victor. Echo. November. "). However, Brock has been slightly annoyed by Hank from time to time. His relationship with Venture and the boys has matured to the point that he refers to them as his family (" Hate Floats "), and it is suggested that he prefers being their bodyguard to the weirdness and moral ambiguity of his former life (" Assassinanny 911 "). It is of particular note that Brock's personality and relationships have evolved considerably throughout the series. In the beginning of the series he seemed to be hostile to most of the family, largely ignoring them and just focusing on brutally murdering his enemies and having sex with as many women as possible. As the series has continued he has begun showing considerable more affection to the Ventures, and a great deal of worry about their safety. Things have also been shown as disturbing him greatly, a big difference from the unfeeling Brock in the early episodes. He seems to be unfazed by most Supervillain s, despite his comment that the Guild Of Calamitous Intent is the only organization he still respects; the only one who seems to be able to deal with Brock on his own level is the Phantom Limb . Brock has proven himself able to sneak up on Limb and hold him at knife-point, successfully convincing the Limb to not attack the Venture family anymore. He also has a troubled past with the Guild's Sovereign, David Bowie , as the two exchanged curt pleasantries upon meeting each other once more at Dr. Girlfriend's Wedding . RECURRING THEMES Brock exhibits several stereotypical hyper-masculine behaviors and traits:
At some point in his youth, Brock also played the bass guitar (according to the Christmas special - the only episode to mention this - it was painted with zebra stripes - a popular motif among 80s rockers). In said Christmas special, he intended to give it to Hank as a present (whereas Dean was much more difficult to shop for); it is worth noting, however, that all but the last few moments of the episode were part of Dr. Venture's dream sequence, so whether or not he actually played is not currently known.
ADVENTURES Since Brock serves as the "brawn" to Dr. Venture's purported "brain," it is unsurprising that his exploits are among the show's most spectacular and action-intensive sequences. Over the course of the series so far, he has Infiltrated The Monarch's Cocoon Base, Killing Dozens Of Henchmen , Smuggled Sasquatch And The Bionic Man To Safety , Been Buried Alive In Tijuana , and Taken Part In A Blood-soaked Raid On An Amusement Park , among other things. Come the show's second season, his quick thinking has served the Venture family well, such as using Professor Impossible's own elasticity against him to Retrieve Pieces Of A Stargate Jonas Venture Urged His Son To Build , fulfilled his desire to get Edgar Allan Poe in a headlock, Taking Down A Cult Devoted To Osiris With Various Historical Figures , Single-handedly Holding Off An Attack From The Guild On The Venture Compound , and Helping A Pathetic Underground Resistance Overthrow Ünderland's Ruler . He was ordered by the OSI to Seek And Destroy his mentor, Col. Hunter Gathers, due to Gathers' having disappeared with millions of dollars and decades' worth of government secrets. Tracking him down to Macronesia, Brock found him unconscious and apparently recovering from gender-reassignment surgery. The plastic surgeon informed Brock that Hunter did not defect for treason, but, rather, to start a new life as a woman (or, perhaps, to avoid his inevitable assassination by Brock). Brock let him live, after checking his crotch "just to make sure" that killing him would have violated OSI's "no women, no children" rule. In the episode Ice Station – Impossible! Brock mentions that he had served with Race Bannon on several occasions. He regards his fellow agent with respect calling him "one of the best." More recently, after unexpectedly encountering Brock at a tattoo parlor, the Monarch's henchmen (many of whom were drunk at the time) managed to Capture Him (at the cost of many of their own - the "predictable casualties," according to Henchman No. 21) and bring him and the rest of the Venture family to the Monarch's cocoon. Ironically, this was a rare instance in which the Monarch did ''not'' want the Venture clan in his grasp, as he had sworn off their rivalry in order to wed Dr. Girlfriend. He covered for the Ventures' presence by claiming he had invited them to the wedding as a goodwill gesture. In yet another ironic twist, Brock came to the Monarch's defense when, during the wedding ceremony, the Phantom Limb struck the Cocoon and Guild in a Coup D'etat . Brock succeeded in Rallying The Monarch's Forces To Fight Off Limb's Massive Armada . In the end, however, the battle came down to a struggle between Phantom Limb and the Guild Sovereign (David Bowie). Brock's counterattack was largely irrelevant, though it did give Hank his first real opportunity to fight at Brock's side -- a portent, perhaps, of things to come. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES Brock's remarkable ability to survive extensive injury has served him well, including the following incidents: EXTERNAL LINKS |
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