Three years after the cancellation of the series, adult animation classic The Venture Bros. returns with a brand new film. Immediately after the series finale, the film follows the Venture Family in the search for Hank, who went missing after being betrayed by Dean. Meanwhile, Rusty takes his old robotic assistant, Helper, to the next level, which may make or break Venture Industries. And the Monarch desperately tries to deny his possible familial relation to Rusty.

The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart is a 2023 adult animated science fiction series based on the 2003 series The Venture Bros. It was produced by Titmouse & Astro Base G.O.! and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Editor’s Note: Adult Swim Studios provided a review copy of The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart to support this review. Spoilers for the series and film may be present.

On the finale of The Venture Bros., as we currently know them, several plot threads still need to be answered. This included but wasn’t limited to the origin of Hank & Dean’s birth, Hank’s whereabouts following his sudden disappearance, and the potential of Monarch & Rusty being brothers. The new film promises to answer at least some of these burning questions though it’s careful to keep the door open for a genuine revival. On its own, however, Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart is a very solid cap-off for the Venture family. 

THE GOOD: The film begins with The Venture Family and the O.S.I. (including Brock Samson) looking for Hank, who went missing after getting injured and catching Dean sleeping with his girlfriend, Sirena. Being fooled by Hank, the Ventures return to Venture Industries, where Rusty prepares to launch Helper 2.0, a consumer Amazon Alexa-like ripoff version of his robotic assistant Helper. Glitches persist, and Rusty is warned to hold off on the launch by Billy Quizboy & Pete White, which he ignores. Meanwhile, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tries to convince Monarch to take a D.N.A. test to unveil the truth of his potential relation to the Ventures for the sake of The Guild of Calamitous Intent. Even with his upgraded Guild status, Monarch feels he’s been placed in limbo due to his lack of permission to arch Rusty after the Guild fails to obtain his D.N.A. sample. After an argument with Mrs. Monarch, he and Henchman 21 Gary reunite with his ex-girlfriend Mantalia, who now runs her own villain’s organization, A.R.C.H., which is relatively successful. She offers Monarch and 21 an opportunity to resign from the Guild to join A.R.C.H. continuing his arching of Rusty with little to no restrictions. Being impressed with A.R.C.H.’s technology and career path offerings, he and Gary ultimately accept the job.

Hank goes on a quest to discover who he truly is and slowly loses his mind communicating with his many alter egos with what’s left of his sanity, who help guide him on his journey. This reignites his past desire to find his mother. Upon a reunion with Dermott, he is again mistakenly led to believe his birth mother is actress-turned-spy Bobbi St. Simone. He successfully locates her at her primate sanctuary, where she tells him about her involvement with Jonas, who helped her during a rough patch. However, the two never had any sexual relationship with each other. She also reveals that the two met several times before, though Hank, a new clone, had warped memories of the previous meetings. Bobbi had fallen in love with a former Guild Sovereign named Force Majeure she was spying on for the O.S.I., by whom she had a daughter (revealed to be Mantalia). Majeure is killed, leading Bobbi to turn to Rusty, whose father, Jonas, is responsible for her joining the O.S.I. after she gained invisibility powers. Hank passes out after hearing the news and returns to his coma world. Dean, who enlisted help from Dr. Orpheus & Jefferson Twilight to find Hank, heads to Bobbi’s primate sanctuary, where Orpheus enters Hank’s mind. The two have a heart-to-heart discussion leading to Hank forgiving Dean after he awakes.

Monarch and Gary toy around with their new A.R.C.H. gear and go to arch Rusty. After invading Ven-Tech-Tower, the two are forced to work together with Team Venture once the new Helpers malfunction, as earlier predicted by Billy & White. As they prepare to take out the Helper bots, Monarch confronts Rusty over sleeping with his ex, which he denies stating he only did her a favor. Mrs. Monarch finds out about A.R.C.H. and investigates the group with help from Red Death. While infiltrating the A.R.C.H. headquarters, she learns that it’s been thoroughly cleaned out and is confronted by Brock, Shore Leave, and Red Death, who accuse her of being behind A.R.C.H. committing treason against the Guild. The trio gives Mrs. Monarch a head start as the O.S.I. & Guild attack and hunt her. She’s saved by Red Death’s horse, who reveals that they know Mrs. Monarch is innocent and that the evidence against her was doctored. Mrs. Monarch confronts Mantalia, who believes she wants revenge on her for taking The Monarch from Mantalia.

Mantalia reveals she did all this to get Mrs. Monarch’s attention to join forces as a villainess duo because she idolized the latter. Mantalia berates Mrs. Monarch for always having a man by her side, feeling she’s more than capable of taking control of her own organization. Mrs. Monarch refutes Mantalia saying her choices were her own and she lives by them all. Mantalia reveals her origin and that she is the true heiress to the Guild and wants Mrs. Monarch to join her but is refused. Monarch offers Mantalia an opportunity to instead become a villain under the Guild with her past being wiped clean, but only if she helps stop Ven-Tech-Towers, which was shot into space, from crashing down, causing mass destruction. Mantalia accepts Mrs. Monarch’s offer, and using the former’s invisibility powers, the duo doctor Mantalia’s records, making her a villain for the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Mrs. Monarch returns her attention to Monarch and Team Venture aiding them in an attempt to land Ven-Tech-Tower. The group discovers the Voltron-like Ventron robot, which they use to stop the crash of Ven-Tech-Tower landing at the original Venture Compound. The Monarch is accidentally ejected, and Jonas Venture’s statue impales him, mortally wounding him. Ben, the scientist who helped Rusty clone Hank and Dean, aids in saving The Monarch with a partial liver transplant from Rusty.

As everyone regroups, Monarch and Rusty learn that they are indeed brothers through being clones of Jonas Venture, with Monarch being cloned with a mix of baboon D.N.A. explaining his angry nature. The Monarchs reconcile as The Monarch recovers, and Dean confronts Rusty over the truth about his and Hank’s mother. An annoyed Rusty ensures Dean that whoever birthed them loved them, which satisfies Dean. The Monarch, though weakened, with confidence gained from Mrs. Monarch, loudly declares his renewed intentions to arch Rusty. In an end credits scene, a young Rusty reassures Helper revealing Hank and Dean being born in a portable tank, heavily implying that the boys are his clones.

The Venture Bros. has always been an enigma for Adult Swim. From its strange pilot debut to its frequent delayed production due to animation at the time being increasingly expensive. It has been enigmatic behind the scenes and woven a series of mysterious plot threads through its unique superhero/supervillain parody world-building style. In addition to having a knack for character development, there are many reasons why the series has such a special place in the hearts of its adoring fans. Many reasons and those mentioned earlier are featured in Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. In most cases, it’s not that impressive disguising an elongated episode as a feature-length film, but because it’s The Venture Bros., it worked out rather fantastically.

We already got used to the idea of extended Venture Bros. episodes with the specials, and those never set out to do much more than what the series became so beloved for beyond expanding the crazy plot. And that’s basically what you’re getting with the movie, which is good. It never feels like it’s trying too hard to be much more than what it’s always been, which is a fault of many film finales for a long-running T.V. series. The entire film always remembers what it is and embraces it with many callbacks and a few recaps of some major plot points. There’s only so much you can fit into a nearly hour and a half runtime. Unfortunately, this meant that some of the deeper story arcs got left behind to be answered later.

The film doesn’t quite feel like an actual ending 100%, admittedly. However, it feels like a satisfying yet complicated pause until Adult Swim regains confidence in the series down the line. Co-creators Hammer and Jason Publick are more than ready to keep the train rolling whenever that day comes.

THE BAD: Though the film ends on extremely high fan service and emotional notes, it does a bit of sequel baiting with an uncertain future. This was intentional, as Doc Hammer and Co. never intended for the series to end when it did, and they have significant hopes for it to continue as an entire series again sometime soon. With that being said, I can see several fans being a bit upset with the overall ending of the film.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart finale closes the door on some years-long burning questions that have existed since the series’ inception. Some fans may be disappointed in the handful that is carried over to be answered sometime in the distant or possibly even far future. However, the film gives the series a more than satisfying “for the time being” conclusion with plenty of room for more. Otaku Dome gives The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart an 85 out of 100.