Steven Boxleitner, better known by his villain alias Dr. Two-Brains, is the main antagonist of the PBS Kids show WordGirl.
He is a mad scientist who, after an accident that left his brain fused with an evil mouse named "Squeaky", would grow obsessed with stealing as much cheese as possible, so much so that he's willing to turn people and the entirety of Fair City into cheese just to satisfy his obsession. Despite this, he still shows shades of his old personality in his affability and brilliance as a scientist.
He was voiced by Tom Kenny, who also voices the titular character from Spongebob Squarepants, and the Ice King from Adventure Time.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous[]
- Regularly pulls high-scale cheese heists on Fair City.
- Has tried to kill WordGirl and various other innocents by turning them into cheese with his cheese ray multiple times.
- Has attempted to turn Fair City into cheese multiple times, almost killing its citizens multiple times.
- Turned the moon into cheese before almost causing it to collide with Earth.
- When he spotted the cheeseteroid, he almost causes it to collide with Earth, something which, by his own admission, could wipe out half of Fair City. While this wasn't initially his intention, he also doesn't try to stop it (even trying to prevent WordGirl from doing so).
- In the "Invasion of the Bunny Lovers" two-parter, he and Mr. Big create an apocalypse of mind-controlled zombies that grows so out of control that WordGirl has to reveal her identity to Scoops in order to stop the two of them from being mind controlled.
- In the episode "Time-Out With Two-Brains", he used an untested time stopping ray in order to freeze time in the entire world just so his cheese doesn't expire. Something which he admits later in the episode, could end up freeze time forever, essentially condemning the entire world to a Fate Worse than Death all so he can keep eating his cheese.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Like most WordGirl villains, he is far too comedic for NPE, regularly being played for laughs and being submitted to a lot of slapstick and wordplay within the show and, much like other villains, having many moments that don't take him too seriously as a threat.
- Despite his rivalry with her, he is genuinely affable towards WordGirl, sometimes even teaming up with her on occasion.
- He cares about his henchmen, as despite frequently acting somewhat jerkish towards them, there are plenty of occasions where he shows genuine affection towards them, such as acting like a fatherly figure and enjoying seeing them happy.
- He shows respect for his fellow villains, with there even being a few occasions where he wishes to team up with them, particularly the other food-based villains, such as The Butcher and Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy.
- He has standards against bullying, as when Miss Power came to Earth and started to groom WordGirl into acting cruel towards others, he shows genuine disgust towards the fact that she willingly does so and then tries to justify it despite how obviously cruel her words are.
- He is quite honorable, even as a villain, as shown in one episode where he said he'll only steal cheese, but nothing else.
- He's genuinely tragic, as he was once a well-meaning scientist who genuinely wanted to do good for the world, before an accident caused his brain to be fused with an evil mouse, leading to him becoming the mad cheese stealing scientist he is in the present.
- For the same reasons that he is tragic, Two-Brains also has serious moral agency issues, as he is only really evil because of Squeaky's influence, something which, as seen in episodes such as "Dr. WordGirl Brains", once he is disconnected from his second brain, he no longer had any drive to steal cheese or do villainy, even admitting to enjoying doing hero work, and in the original online shorts, he was shown trying to fight back against the influence of the mouse brain. (In the full TV series, this was put to the side and downplayed heavily, but is still shown in some episodes).
- Additionally, WordGirl became villainous when she was in Two-Brains' body. As a result, it can be concluded that the show treats Boxleitner's condition as something he could do absolutely nothing about.
- For the same reasons that he is tragic, Two-Brains also has serious moral agency issues, as he is only really evil because of Squeaky's influence, something which, as seen in episodes such as "Dr. WordGirl Brains", once he is disconnected from his second brain, he no longer had any drive to steal cheese or do villainy, even admitting to enjoying doing hero work, and in the original online shorts, he was shown trying to fight back against the influence of the mouse brain. (In the full TV series, this was put to the side and downplayed heavily, but is still shown in some episodes).
Trivia[]
- Two-Brains is compared to the canon Ice King from Adventure Time, who is ironically a Villainous Benchmark. They are both tragic villains voiced by Tom Kenny who became villains as a result of being possessed and had a notable positive relationship with a main female character before descending into villainy due to their condition.
- Ironically, though, Two-Brains is mostly played for laughs in a large capacity and to the point where he is sometimes not even seen as a threat, while Ice King's detractingly comedic traits were subverted once the show delved more into his tragedy. That said, there are still a handful of moments where the show hints at his tragedy and possible inner turmoil underneath all his chaos, but it's done in a way that's subtle enough that the audience might not even notice it.
External Links[]
- Dr. Two-Brains on the WordGirl Wiki
- Dr. Two-Brains on the Villains Wiki
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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