As a follow-up to the previous Dexter’s Laboratory retrospective (check it out here!), this article will focus on the times the show parodied or referenced the superhero genre. The show spoofed a lot of things during its run, and superheroes were predominantly featured, both as comic book characters, as well as actual living characters within the series’ setting. Interesting enough, most of these characters – or rather the heroes they were based on – most of them originating from Marvel Comics, weren’t quite as well-known or popular when the show aired, as they are today thanks in part to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the multitude of cartoons that have aired in the last decades.
Justice Friends, Assemble!
Perhaps the first thing many would think of, when the topic of superhero parodies on Dexter’s Laboratory comes up. The Justice Friends segments focused on the trio of Major Glory (voiced by Rob Paulsen), Valhallen (Tom Kenny) and Krunk (Frank Welker), mighty heroes who live together in the same apartment and occasionally fight crime. It’s a sitcom setting but it works pretty well, whether it’s the characters interactions or the wacky situations they find themselves in.
Obviously the main characters are parodies of Captain America, Thor and Hulk, and as such they are also exaggerated quite a bit. Major Glory being a super patriot who has a big ego and keeps rambling on, about pretty much everything. Valhallen being a Viking god of rock who sounds like a surfer dude but also uses the old-timey speech style Thor has at the same time, if that makes any sense. Krunk has purple skin and green pants to swap the colors of the classic Hulk design, and despite his super strength he is rather stupid and childish. Perhaps less obvious, is that the title of the segments is a mix-up of the Justice League and the Super Friends, though most of the characters were based on Marvel Comics properties.
Likewise, more characters/parodies would occasionally show up, friends and foes alike. Below is a a brief rundown of their segments on Dexter’s Lab, along with some color commentary.
“TV Super Pals” sees the heroes arguing over who gets to watch the TV, while Krunk’s favorite show, The TV Puppet Pals was on. While not superheroes, the Puppet Pals would occasionally pop up a bunch of times throughout the show (and I mean the main Dexter segments as well), and later on The Powerpuff Girls.
“Valhallen’s Room” sees the Viking god of rock lose his magic ax guitar, and slowly losing his powers and becoming a nerd. The other two heroes travel through his room to find the missing artifact.
“Krunk’s Date” features the Justice Friends fighting Comrade Red and his minions, including She-Thing who starts a romance with Krunk. Comrade Red being a Russian Red SKull like foe. She-Thing of course, a take on She-Hulk (though not related to the Hulk parody seen here, so the romance could work). A similar character would also later pop up in an episode of Johnny Bravo (“Bootman”). Also present here is the Living Bullet, world’s fastest man, a parody of Iron Man mostly because of his armor.
In “Say Uncle Sam”, Major Glory tries making his roommates to clean up their acts for a visit from his beloved Uncle Sam.
“Ratman” introduces well, Ratman. Obviously a parody of Batman, right down to his origin which granted doesn’t make much sense here as it was rats that carroed his parents away. He lives in the basement and acts as sort of a janitor by the end of the episode.
In “Bee Where?”, the Justice Friends try to get a bee out of their apartment. A regular bee, not a superpowered one.
“Can’t Nap” brings in White Tiger, though not the any of the actual White Tigers from the comics. He’s more like a Black Panther parody I suppose, though he acts like a regular cat in addition to being a hero. He assists Valhallen in defeating Mental Mouse (a rodent MODOK!), and then spends the night in their apartment. But not knowing any of this, and being allergic to cats, Major Glory and Krunk try to get him out.
“Things That Go Bonk in the Night” is mostly a dream sequence, with the return of the Puppet Pals and Krunk briefly joining them for a sketch. But this being a dream, not everything is what it seems.
“Pain in the Mouth” has a variety of heroes and villains… trying to take out Krunk’s bad tooth. Apart from the heroes mentioned before, we also see Phan Tone (Vision), Miss Spell (Scarlet Witch), and Capital G (basically Goliath, I suppose). The villains aren’t mentioned by name here, but it’s kind of the only time we had a supervillain team-up on this series.
As a whole these segments were pretty fun, and it is interesting to think how these came at a time the Marvel characters parodied here weren’t quite as well known or mainstream as they have been in the lest two decades, thanks in part to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Likewise in a way, the sitcom setting could make these segments a predecessor to the current Teen Titans Go!, especially the bit with multiple heroes each with their own quirks, living under the same roof.
Dialing M, for Monkey!
Monkey (whose vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker) was Dexter’s pet monkey, on which he performed experiments ever so often. He seemed a normal monkey but unbeknownst to Dexter, he did have several super-powers, and was associated with a SHIELD like organization. His girlfriend was the human Agent Honeydew (Kath Soucie), based on Black Widow, mostly.
These segments basically came before the Justice Friends, as they were this first middle cartoon on the show during its first season. Many Justice Friends characters did originate here, though they weren’t shown as living together and were perhaps a bit more effective in fighting crime… but not that much, as Monkey was supposed to be the star, and the one to save the day. Here’s a brief rundown of the times Monkey saved the day…
“Magmanamus”, the title creature is a giant lava monster from the Earth’s core, who simply wants to get some sleep but is unable to because of all the noise in the world.
“Rasslor” is a parody of an actual comic, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #7 from 1982, where
Earth’s mightiest heroes are challenged to a boxing match. The cartoon switches things up a bit and instead it’s a wrestling match, with Rasslor being voiced by the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Monkey is one of the contestants (and this being his cartoon, of course he wins!), while other Justice Friends are featured as well. Major Glory, Valhallen, Krunk, Sam-R-I, Phan Tone, White Tiger, Capital G, and the Living Bullet. Interestingly enough, this episode would later be alluded to in another Marvel comic, Deadpool Team-Up #888 from 2010, where he meets an alien wrestler who acts like “Macho Man”. The actual “Macho Man” also appeared in the Spider-Man live-action movie from 2002, so there are lots of connections to this specific episode.
“Simion” features Monkey going up against a chimpanzee who got superpowers and intelligence after being sent to space by humans for an experiment.
“Barbequor”, one of the banned segments of the show, is a parody of Galactus who tries to literally eat out planet. His servant is the Silver Spooner (instead of a Silver Surfer, get it?). The Justice Friends also try to fight the menace before Monkey gets a turn, since it was his birthday. New characters featured here are Tiki Torch (think the Human Torch with a Hawaiian spin), and Snowman, who’s cool.
“Orgon Grindor” messes up Monkey’s date with Agent Honeydew, by using his music to hypnotize Monkey into stealing gold from Fort Knox.
“Huntor”, a lion like alien hunter wishes to hunt Monkey for fun. Huntor would later make a cameo appearance in an episode of Samurai Jack (“Jack versus Mad Jack”).
“Quackor the Fowl” reveals that Dexter’s rival Mandark has a pet duck he does
experiments on, similar to Dexter and his monkey. Another similarity is that the duck also has superpowers but uses them for evil, and fights Monkey in this cartoon. In fact he would later return in a latter short episode, making him one of the very few villains to show up in more than a single story. Quackor also has a cameo in an episode of Powerpuff Girls (“Bought and Scold”), so he really gets around.
“Peltra”, an alien fashion model who wants to skin monkey alive so she can have his fur.
Overall, these segments were pretty creative in how to depict a super-powered monkey in action. Reminiscent somewhat of old characters like Bleep from Space Ghost, or Gleek from Super Friends, but with the animal as the main character, and not a sidekick.
Dexstar, Boy of Wonder!
Apart from the separate segments mentioned so far, the main Dexter stories also sometimes dabbled in super-heroics. Monkey and the Justice Friends appeared in several episodes. Below are a few notable examples-
“Star-Spangled Sidekicks” sees both Dexter and Dee Dee trying to become Major Glory’s next sidekick, under the code-names Dexstar and Diva Dynamite, respectively. Dexstar should not be confused with the Red Lantern alien cat Dex-Starr (a character that didn’t even exist when the show came out!), and his title of “Boy of Wonder” is based on Batman’s sidekick, Robin. In the episode they also have to fight Doctor Diablos, a Doctor Doom lookalike but with horns, who rides a glider like the Green Goblin (or maybe the Hobgoblin would be a better reference considering their capes).
In “Figure Not Included”, Dexter makes his own line of Major Glory action figures, at first for himself but then to get some new friends. The real hero makes an appearance at the end, and tells Dexter about a little thing called copyright infringement.
“Last but not Beast”, the intended finale of the show, where pretty much every character shows up, including Monkey and the Justice Friends to fight a giant Japanese monster. The episode has plenty of action (and comedy, as the series is known for) and lots of surprises in there, which will not be spoiled in this brief review. It worked pretty well as a finale but the show did get an additional two seasons later on, with some mixed results.
Among the final episodes there was “Dexter’s Wacky Races”, a parody of the Wacky Races cartoon (and by extension, The Great Race live-action movie from 1965). Monkey was paired with Agent Honeydew in the same car, while the Justice Friends trio were another team. It’s a fun episode and tribute to the old cartoon, which even includes a brief history lesson on Hanna-Barbera and their limited animation techniques. But as far as superheroes go, there’s not much to discuss.
On top of these, Dexter also had other episodes dealing with super heroics; here are some notable examples.
In “Don’t be a Hero” Dexter tries getting his own superpowers, realizing most heroes received their powers from lab experiments and he’s had a lab for years, so… Power sets he tries – and comically fails – include super speed (the Flash!), human-insect mutation (Spider-Man but with the Man-Spider twist), underwater communication, a.k.a. being able to talk to fish (Aquaman), control over elemental forces like rock, ice, or fire (Ben Grimm/Thing, Iceman, and the Human Torch, respectively).
Another episode, “Comic Relief”, plays out like a motion comic similar to the earliest Marvel cartoons, as part of The Marvel Superheroes Show. Dexter fights the villainous Deestructa (whose identity should be obvious…) in a Jack Kirby like designed background, complete with word balloons. Dexter also turns into yet another parody of the Hulk.
And lastly, a crossover episode with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt Dog Wonder, in “Dyno-Might!”. I saved this for last because, the characters were already parodies to begin with, originating in their animated series from the ’70s. Still they fit in well with the tone and style of the show. Gary Owens and Frank Welker reprised their voice roles, too.
And there you have it. A rundown of some of the more notable, in my opinion, examples of superheroes that were parodied on Dexter’s Laboratory. As mentioned some of these might have been rather obscure to the general audience when the show initially aired, and perhaps viewers could find these examples more amusing in hindsight. Leave a comment below which one of these was your favorite, or which one surprised you the most. Maybe you’d like to comment on an example that wasn’t covered in this article.
