Adult Swim's venerated and long-running animated series, The Venture Bros. is finally gearing up for Season 8. While the show started as a spoof of '60s era Hannah Barbera cartoons like Johnny Quest, it quickly evolved into much more, building a complex world of superheroes and supervillains hysterically loaded with major issues.

While Hank and Dean are the titular Venture Bros., the show mostly revolves around their father, Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture. A narcissistic, amoral, lousy super-scientist, much of the humor is derived from his continual failures and shortcomings. When the series began in 2005, the Monarch has been presented as the main antagonist of the show. But in truth, the Monarch and nearly every other awful thing in the Ventures' lives are actually just an after effect of the show’s true villain: Jonas Venture Sr.

RELATED: The Venture Bros. Is a Master Class on Character Growth

Jonas was Rusty's father and is considered a national hero, humanitarian and world-renowned innovator. Rusty paled in comparison to the public perception of his father in nearly every respect, and initially, Rusty's inferiority complex and jealousy seemed incredibly petty. But as flashbacks rolled out over the ensuing seven seasons, Jonas's private interactions revealed that he was a far cry from his public image. His greatest sin would be his failings as a father. Chiefly, rather than settle down from his adventuring life or find appropriate caretakers, Jonas dragged a young Rusty into every deadly situation. Rusty's safety was a secondary concern, as he has been shown using his son as bait to capture his foes or completely forgetting he left him on a yacht for days on end.

When Jonas did pay attention, he passively-aggressively cut down Rusty every chance he got. He frequently dismissed his son, sneaking out of a therapy session where he was his son's psychologist. As Rusty grew older and entered adolescence, Jonas would subconsciously see his son as a competitor and outright bullied him. Seeing Rusty cope with his childhood trauma in the face the world's continual hero-worship of Jonas goes a long way towards making him a sympathetic character.

RELATED: The Venture Bros: Hank's Batman Obsession, Explained

But beyond being a neglectful and antagonistic father to Rusty, he has continually acted in his own self-interests to a dubious degree. Jonas was chiefly concerned with his reputation and image, his true legacy to the world. Any blemish to that image was swept under the rug. As each of his dirty secrets resurface decades after his death, Rusty is left to perpetually clean up after Jonas' messes.

After an A.I. he programmed went rogue and gassed a tour of child fans with hallucinogens, he sealed the kids in the bowels of the compound for decades, covering the whole affair up and locking Team Venture member Dr. Entnann in the process. His precious Team Venture was little more than a sexist boys club filled with people he thought would make him look cooler. Original member Col. Gentleman once said Jonas "collected" friends, and there is ample evidence to support this.

RELATED: The Venture Bros: How Many Venture Brothers Are There, REALLY?

He blackmailed a vigilante and supposed friend, the Blue Morpho, with a sex tape he forced him to participate in under false pretenses. He did this to claim the Blue Morpho's sidekick, Kano for Team Venture and to force Blue Morpho to carry out Jonas' dirty work, anything that might sully the Venture brand. To add insult to injury, under the auspice of helping Blue Morpho and his wife conceive through scientific means, Jonas had an affair with his wife and she bore a child. That child grew up to be Rusty's arch-nemesis -- the Monarch, who only recently discovered he's related to his hated adversary.

Jonas' narcissism has also led to the creation of other major villains within the show. His famous Boy's Brigade, a group of young geniuses he nominally mentored consisted of some of the show's other antagonists -- chiefly Phantom Limb and Professor Richard Impossible, an amoral take on Marvel's Mister Fantastic who eventually became a flat-out bad guy. His private scientific research highlighted his self-centered nature, focusing on extending life or achieving immortality. He co-developed the cloning technology that Rusty uses to resurrect Hank and Dean after every time they die. Unknown to Rusty, he is a clone as well, which means at some point Jonas tested the tech out on his own son.

RELATED: 10 Times The Venture Brothers Outdid What They Lampooned

Jonas' other attempts to cheat death all led to horrific results. After the plane crash that orphaned The Monarch as a child, Jonas took the remains of the Blue Morpho and used them to build a cyborg called Venturion. However, his unscrupulous allies in Team Venture thought this was disrespectful and cold even for Jonas. He soon grew bored with Venturion, and when he malfunctioned due to fragmented memories of his life as Blue Morpho resurfacing, he tossed the cyborg in the trash.

Venturion was found by a drunken supervillain, Dr. Z, and tinkered with him until he became the supervillain, Vendata. Vendata was a prominent and serious enough threat to warrant a seat on the Guild of Calamitous Intent's Council of Thirteen. This was likely due to Vendata planning a heist on Jonas' space station, Gargantua-1, which resulted in Jonas' death.

RELATED: Venture Bros. Creators Explain Their Unique Take On Supervillains

Jonas' self-centered nature was laid bare in Season 7, where the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. device preserved from the destroyed Gargantua-1 was yet another of his attempts at cheating death. What was initially considered a vague sort of warning device, in actuality was a process that cryogenically preserved the head of Jonas Venture, all that was left after Team Venture botched placing his frozen corpse inside the device.

Rather than attempt to reconcile with his son, Jonas was hell-bent on having a new body cloned for him, and tried to steal Vendata's body when confronted by the cyborg whose memories as the Blue Morpho were returning. Jonas cared so little about anyone else, he ruined any chance at true resurrection by destroying the P.R.O.B.L.E.M. machine and Vendata in the attempt to claim his body.

Nearly every awful thing that has occurred in the show rippled out from his actions during life. While the O.S.I. may have claimed his head for research, Jonas is still technically dead. The damage he has done to his family and the world is only becoming more apparent as The Venture Bros. progresses, but his actions prove he is more destructive than any member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

KEEP READING: The Venture Bros. Season 8: Everything You Need to Know