Baron Werner Ünderbheit

Baron Werner Ünderbheit is a fictional character and antagonist appearing on the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. He is voiced by T. Ryder Smith and is a close parody of the famous Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Doom: he bears a physical deformity, wears armor and a cloak, and is the tyrannical ruler of a small European nation.

Character history
Ünderbheit is a villain and member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and he seems to be one of its more competent members shown so far (Hank and Dean Venture believe him to be their father's arch-nemesis). He is also the dictator of Ünterland, a country that is most likely in the Germanic region of Europe, based on the accent that Werner and his henchmen display. He commands great respect in his country, as men serve a mandatory term in the Ünterland army and seem unfazed by the knowledge that they will be executed at the age of 38. His closest confidante is his slave Manservant, who was a gift from his parents when he was in college. His inner circle of national advisors was composed of villains known as Catclops (a cyclops with a cat's face in place of an eye), Girl Hitler (a female resembling Adolf Hitler, even having his signature mustache), and Manic Eightball (a human magic 8-ball); shortly after their first appearance in the series, however, he executed them for treason (before killing them with bombs strapped to tigers, he gave them gifts of tiger balm -- an oblique reference to the upcoming "tiger bombs").

Ünderbheit's most distinguishing physical feature is his metal jaw. According to Ünderbheit, he was forced to have the metal replacement installed after an accident in college that was most likely caused by his lab partner, a young Dr. Venture. As he told fellow villain The Monarch, where he comes from "a lab partnership is a sacred trust" which Venture failed to honor properly. The jaw can be detached, although Ünderbheit's tongue hangs grotesquely from his exposed throat; the teeth are apparently strong and sharp enough to saw through a thick chain.

Before suffering his disfiguring accident, Ünderbheit shared a tenuous friendship in college with Venture, Peter White (who was his roommate), and Mike Sorayama. On occasion, Ünderbheit's overbearing, imperious manner caused friction between himself and the others, although Venture and White often allied themselves with him in order to play jokes on Sorayama. Ünderbheit incurred Sorayama's wrath by tricking him into smoking oregano while insisting that it was potent Ünterland cannabis. Although Sorayama experienced a severe allergic reaction to the spice and nearly died, he was more upset over subsequently missing a study date with a girl on whom he had an intense crush.

After college, Ünderbheit returned to Ünterland, where he became the ruler (the chain of events that led to this appointment has not been explained as yet; as Pete White described as as "a prince or something," it is likely he inherited the throne). He vowed to get revenge upon Dr. Venture for disfiguring him, and he views him as the last remaining enemy of Ünterland. In the episode "Home Insecurity," he dispatched a squad of soldiers to deposit a scorpion in Venture's bedroom, but coincidentally The Monarch had implemented a similar scheme in which his henchmen released a tarantula at the same time; the two arachnids fought each other until Venture awoke. Ünderbheit and The Monarch argued vehemently over who deserved the honor of killing their mutual foe, until they eventually resolved to cooperate. Unfortunately, Dr. Venture's out-of-control security android decimated both teams of henchmen. The Baron also appeared in the episode "Tag Sale -- You're It!," in which The Monarch manipulated him into starting a riot.

Ünderbheit has not been seen in the series since the ending of "Past Tense," when Brock and Venture absent-mindedly left him chained to Mr. White in a dungeon. (White has appeared since, implying that Ünderbheit was also able to escape.)

Basis
As noted, Ünderbheit is a parody of the Marvel comics supervillain Doctor Doom; The Monarch even disparagingly refers to him as such. Both characters are rulers of fictional European nations with subjects who are blindly loyal to them. Doom and Ünderbheit were both foreign exchange students at American universities where they met there respective nemeses, who they blame for inflicting horrible disfigurements on them. Both characters hide their mutilation with metallic attachments: Doom wears a mask in order to obscure facial scarring while Ünderbheit wears a prosthetic jaw to replace his natural one. (It should be noted that while Doom wrongly blames Reed Richards for his accident, it is quite likely that Venture is indeed responsible for the loss of Ünderbheit's jaw.)

Additional notes
The Baron's last name is a mock-Germanification of "underbite", a misalignment of the jaw. This reference can be considered a darkly humorous foreshadowing of the loss of his jaw.

It is unclear whether the same incident that cost Ünderbheit his jaw caused the loss of his hair, but in flashbacks the college-aged Werner has a mop of hair, whereas the "present-day" Baron is largely bald with a few strands of hair remaining.