Pop Culture References in Dexter's Lab You Didn't Know About

For most people from my generation, when you think of your childhood, the most memorable things were the cartoons. We loved them so much, we still watch them from time to time. And which were the best ones? Courage The Cowardly dog, SpongeBob, Johnny Bravo, the three Eds, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Batman, Spider-man, Rugrats, Looney tunes... Actually there were tons of high-quality animations.

Heck, I will continue - Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls, Pokemon, Swat Kats, Digimon, Eek! The cat, Kids next door, Cow and Chicken, I am Weasel, Iron Man... okay I'll stop. It's just so many.

Cartoon Cartoons

But one cartoon will always be my favourite - Dexter's Laboratory. It just brings all the nerdy things I love in one place. It had so many references and hidden jokes, it took me years to figure out. Don't know if you have seen 8 Naughty Jokes On Dexter's Laboratory That You Probably Didn't Get As A Kid, but you should take a look at it.

But Here I'll talk about references and spoofs.

Just Du It

We all remember the episode with the epic phrase Omelette du Fromage. With this simple phrase Dexter became a huge celebrity. If only life was so simple. But did you remember he was even making adverts for popular brands?


Just do it is the slogan of Nike corporation. In the episode they didn't show exactly the same logo, but you can figure out they are making fun of it. Basketball, kicks, a reverse Nike logo... and a rather similar slogan "Just Du it". Very clever.

The Justice Friends

This is an obvious one. Major Glory, Val Hallen and The Infraggable Krunk. Those are the three main Justice Friends which are based on other superheroes from Marvel and DC universes.

The Avengers vs. The Justice Friends

Major Glory - wearing the red, white and blue. A true US patriot. He is based on Superman (flying powers, vision, breath, cape) and on Captain America (the colours and patriotism). 

Valhallen - the name is a parody of the famous rock guitarist  Eddie Van Halen and the Agardian Valhalla. But his powers are a parody of the almighty Thor. Like the Mjolnir, his guitar is the source of his godly powers. He can fly with it, electrocute people and do awesome solos. He also have a narly accent.  

Krunk - Obviously he is a spoof of the Hulk and probably The Thing (from Fantastic Four). He is basically a reverse-coloured, retarded Hulk. But with a kind heart. 

But there is more. Here in Dexter's Lab Wikia you can see the rest of the Justice Friends and the villains. 

The Villains

• Doctor Diablos - His looks are based mostly on Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. But his glider is very similar to the Goblin Glider (Green Goblin)
• Disgruntled Postman - just look at his face! Obviously is the Joker... or a mailman version of him.
• Comrade Red - He is based on Omega Red, Lex Luthor and the Red Skull.
• Mental Mouse - with this enormous head, he is obviously based on M.O.D.O.K. 
• She-Thing - She-Hulk. Really easy one. But unlike She-Hulk and Hulk, here they are not cousins with Krunk, but something like lovers.
• Rasslor - Did you know he was voiced by "Macho Man" Randy Savage? He is a parody of The Champion of The Universe (a.k.a. Tryco Slatterus). If you are a big Marvel's fan, you've heard of him.
• Silver Spooner - he might be sassy and very flamboyant, but it's obviously a parody of the Silver Surfer
• Barbequor - Just a grill-master version of Galactus

And I am sure there were others - like that Cruelka de Vil chick and Huntor.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Don't forget Agent Honeydew is a spoof of Maria Hill and The Commander is basically a TV version of Nick Fury. 

Godzilla

There are several episodes based on Kaiju films. For those of you who haven't seen any Godzilla movies or the Pacific Rim, kaiju is the Japanese word used for all those enormous creatures demolishing cities.

In the episode The Big Sister, Dee Dee eats a cookie and becomes bigger than a skyscraper. So Dexter gets his giant robot and tries to fight her. Exactly like in a Kaiju film.

Remember the episode called Monstory? This is probably one of my most favourite ones. Dee Dee and Dexter evolve and become gigantic monsters. In the end you they reach their final form, which is incredibly awesome. They fight, they destroy. Not to mention Dexter looks almost like Godzilla. But it's not only the final forms. The creators have really outdone themselves with each stage of mutation. 

Then there was the creature Badaxtra. It's the most Kaiju of them all. Created by an experiment gone wrong, captured and held in a mountain. Then Dexters let's it loose and uses it's Voltron-like robot to stop him. Simply brilliant.

Steven Hawking

Who is Professor Hawk, you ask us. Who is Professor Hawk, we tell you. Some say he´s a mad man, some say he´s cookie bird, but we know he´s the man, he´s a genius.

I bet your remember this song. It was a very magical episode. I can't say for sure if Professor Hawk is based on Steven Hawking, but the name are similar and both men are geniuses.

Wolverine

In the episode of Dial "M" for Monkey where Huntor was introduced, we saw a big wall of trophies. One of the heads looked like a very famous X-Men - Wolverine.

Whatcha looking at, Bub?

The Obvious Episodes

Here I'll enlist references which are incredibly obvious, but just had to be said

Do you remember the one where they played Dungeons and Dragons? It's called D & DD. This episode made me interested in the game. And every time we played with friends someone had to say "You're walking through the dungeon-forest and you're walking, and you're walking along and you're...ummm".

D n DD

Then there was the Speed Racer parody. They even made the motions and animation similar. They even talked like in the original cartoon. A very jolly episode.

Let's not forget how Dexter becomes a mouse by an accidental brain switch. So he and his mom start playing the oldest game of cat and mouse. If that's not a Tom and Jerry reference, I don't know what is.

And the one with the James Bond theme. So Dee Dee takes photos of his lab and Dexter is on a mission to stop these photographs. He has a hot girl with an accent next to him, stylish suit, a car which can go underwater, all the cool techs. There is also the typical villain - Red-Eye. 

Bonus Clip

If you are a fan of Dexter's Laboratory, you've probably already seen it. The episode is called Rude Removal and it was banned. I've never seen it on TV, but thanks to Adult Swim, we can watch it on the web.