Guild of Calamitous Intent

The Guild of Calamitous Intent
File:Guild logo.jpg The Guild of Calamitous Intent logo
Publication information
Publisher	The Venture Bros.
First appearance	"Home Insecurity"
Created by	Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer
In-story information
Base(s)	Mostly Unknown, Base "B": Lair of the Phantom

The Guild of Calamitous Intent is a fictional guild and organization of supervillains in the Adult Swim program The Venture Bros.

Organization

The Guild is an overbearing and major organization of villains in the Venture Bros. universe, holding as its members include nearly every supervillain and otherwise major criminal presumably active. The members pay dues and submit themselves to certain regulations outlined in the Guild of Calamitous Intent handbook in return for protection from the law and other benefits such as health and dental care. The Guild is known for having almost complete immunity from the police, as they supply the police with new weapons and equipment.

The Guild has certain members working directly for the top, particularly in terms of espionage; they are known as strangers, who receive their orders from two cyborg monitors. Furthermore, some costumed supervillains also work directly for the Guild, such as Tiny Eagle, who intercepted a message the Monarch tried to send out while in jail.

Brock Samson has stated the Guild's methods are accurate and precise enough that they're the only organization he still respects.

Activities in the show

The Guild was passingly first mentioned by the Monarch in "Home Insecurity" when he and Baron Underbheit had turned a dispute into a good time and wanted to have a villainous team-up, but would have to ask the Guild to allow it for regulation purposes (which they passed on doing anyway). Another passing mention was in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean" when the Monarch wasn't even listed amongst its members in an adventurers' field guide, claiming he only joined it for the health care plan.

The Guild's activities came to the forefront in "The Trial of the Monarch". Its revealed that Phantom Limb holds a high-ranking position in the Guild, and is overseeing an operation to capture the #3 individual on the Guild's Most Wanted list, Tiny Attorney, who was acting as prosecutor in the titular trial and had a successful record of prosecuting supervillains. The entirety of the episodes events, including disappearing a police officer and framing The Monarch for the crime, are revealed to be orchestrated by the Guild in service of this goal (though it seems likely the selection of The Monarch as the operation's patsy was made by Phantom Limb himself so that he could continue to pursue a relationship with Dr. Girlfriend free of interference).

The Guild caught wind of the Monarch's plot to orchestrate a prison break in "Powerless in the Face of Death" and Phantom Limb either bribed or forced members to abandon the scheme(while Phantom Limb does so in his capacity as Guild operative it seems likely his personal animosity towards The Monarch is a strong motivator).

Here another interesting fact is revealed: the Guild, presumably under Limb's influence, has been neglecting to help members in jail or otherwise incapacitated, such as King Gorilla (who had been paying dues to the Guild for a decade with nothing to show for it), revealing perhaps that Limb is attempting to cast off those members he feels are worthless. In any event, King Gorilla realized that the Monarch was more concerned over winning Dr. Girlfriend back from the Phantom Limb more than any sort of vengeance against the Guild and helped the Monarch escape.

In Hate Floats Phantom Limb reveals he could be killed by the Guild for revealing the location of the Guild's "Location B" headquarters while cooperating with Brock Sampson.

Trivia

• The Guild, in having all major supervillains as members as well as those members paying dues and working together, is similar to the DC Comics supervillain team the Secret Society of Supervillains and the Legion of Doom from Superfriends.

• The Guild apparently also acts as a distributor of nemeses. Dr. Orpheus has filed petitions with the guild for a constumed nemesis, something he has coveted since the events of "Tag Sale -- You're It!".

• The Guild has been around for at least 30 years, and apparently had dealings with Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. in the past. According to the Monarch, Rusty's Law, an addendum to their charter, was named for Dr. Thaddeus Venture.