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Hit-Monkey

  • ️Wed Dec 01 2021

Hit-Monkey (Western Animation)

Nothing personal. Just monkey business.

…But your destiny is to walk between two worlds… never belonging to the humans… never belonging with the monkeys… yet keeping them both safe. Wear the suit. Be what you're meant to be. A killer of killers.

Hit-Monkey is an adult animated superhero series based upon the character of the same name from Marvel Comics, developed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades of Glory). It premiered on Hulu on November 17th, 2021 and is the streamer's second adult animated series based on Marvel Characters following M.O.D.O.K. (2021). It is notably the last overall series produced by Marvel Television before being absorbed by Marvel Studios.

The series follows Hit-Monkey, a Japanese snow monkey who is mentored by an American assassin's ghost while he navigates Tokyo's crime underworld seeking the people who killed his tribe as well as his new mentor.

The cast includes Fred Tatasciore as Hit-Monkey himself; Jason Sudeikis as Bryce, Hit-Monkey's ghostly mentor; George Takei as Shinji Yokohama, an honest Japanese politician; Olivia Munn as Akiko, Shinji's niece and speech writer; Nobi Nakanishi as Ito, a drunken cop investigating Hit-Monkey's trail of destruction; Ally Maki as Haruka, Ito's honest new partner; and Reiko Aylesworth as Maki Matsumoto/Lady Bullseye.

In February 2023, more than a year after the first season, a second season was announced, with production moving to 20th Television Animation and Leslie Jones and Cristin Milioti set to join the cast. The second season premiered July 15, 2024.

Provides examples of:

  • Adapted Out: Though he wasn't present in Hit-Monkey's origin story, Hit-Monkey as a character is very closely associated with Deadpool; having first appeared as an anatgonist for the Merc with a Mouth and served as a rival assassin and ally for him since. Here, Deadpool is never mentioned, and there is no indication that he exists within Hit-Monkey's world. Although Bryce is just as much of a Genre Savvy Deadpan Snarker.
  • Adaptation Expansion: The assassin from Hit-Monkey's origin comic was a nameless character who essentially only existed to provide the reason for why the monkey turned out the way he did. And when he returned to serve as Hit-Monkey's Spirit Advisor, it was ultimately revealed that he was nothing more than a figment of the monkey's damaged psyche. Most subsequent Hit-Monkey stories never mentioned or alluded to him ever again. The series turns the nameless assassin into a fully-fledged character named Bryce McHenry, who has his own backstory, goals and character growth, and is integral to Hit-Monkey's life.
  • Adaptational Superpower Change:
    • Yuki is a Badass Normal assassin in the comics, but her animated counterpart is a ghost with a host of powers that include flight, Hand Blasts and Extendable Arms.
    • Silver Samurai is still described as a mutant, but does not display his comic counterpart's ability to form a tachyon field around his katana. Instead, he relies on a combination of martial arts and high-tech gadgetry, while the closest thing to an outright superpower he displays is the ability to Wall Run.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: In the comic Bryce was more of a straightforward mentor figure to the Hit Monkey while here he is more of a content jokester who is not afraid to make fun of any situation.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • In the comics, Fat Cobra is a superhero who has fought alongside the likes of Nick Fury and Iron Fist. Here, he is presented as a criminal who went to prison after murdering many of his illegitimate children. Downplayed slightly, since Cobra actually did kill his children in the comics too, but only after they hunted him down to kill him first. Here, no reason is given for it.
    • Lady Bullseye was always a sadistic, murderous assassin, but the series takes these qualities to another level by having her be extremely petty with whom she chooses to kill, while also admitting to enjoying Cold-Blooded Torture.
  • Air-Vent Passageway: Monkey attempts to sneak into the casino using these, forcing claustrophobic Bryce to do the same. They end up falling through directly onto a card table. He tries this again while sneaking into the prison; and it doesn't turn out much better there.
  • All for Nothing: The opening of season 2 reveals that most of Hit-Monkey's actions in the previous season turned out this way. His quest to bring Bryce's killers to justice and help him "ascend" resulted in him being sent to Hell to be tortured for his crimes. Killing the Yakuza's leaders and Shinji led to a massive outbreak of violence in Tokyo, resulting in the deaths of countless innocents and Prime Minister Ozu. And defeating Bonsai Master unleashed an even worse evil on Tokyo, one that killed Hakura's entire precinct in pursuit of Bonsai Master's cursed sword.
  • Amplified Animal Aptitude: The entire premise of the series is a Japanese macaque with an uncanny talent for assassination.
  • Androcles' Lion: Several examples:
    • In episode four, Hit-Monkey rescues a mouse from a trap while infiltrating the prison. The same mouse later helps him to safely escape the prison.
    • In the same episode, Hit-Monkey chooses to spare Fat Cobra's life. Fat Cobra returns the favor by helping him fight off the other prisoners and retuning in the season finale to help him reach Shinji.
  • Animal Talk: All animals are shown being capable of understanding each other, with occasional subtitles for audience benefit.
  • Artistic License – Ornithology: In "Home Sweet Home", a snowy owl claims it cleared the remains of Hit-Monkey's tribe and later wants to eat Bryce's remains. While owls can scavenge it's still rather rare and certainly not enough to make eating dead primates a regular thing.
  • Asshole Victim: Considering that Hit-Monkey is a "killer of killers", it's hard to say that any his victims don't qualify.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Bryce and Hit-Monkey both clean up nicely.
  • Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: Demonstrated in the second season episode "Concrete Jungle" when Monkey and Double Tap use impressive ricochets against each other in a showdown.
  • Blind Seer: At a Shinto temple, there is a blind monk who can communicate with both Hit-Monkey and Bryce. At one point, he makes a prediction that Lady Bullseye will die by their hands.
  • Bribe Backfire: Bryce bribes crime-scene cleaner Buddy to take Iris to the bloodiest, worst crime scene imaginable so that she'll give up on becoming a cleaner herself. To his dismay, all this results in is Iris becoming even more fascinated by the cleaner lifestyle.
  • Canon Foreigner: Most of the cast, including Akiko, Shinji, Haruka and Ito. This increases even more in Season 2, which doesn't feature any other Marvel Comics characters or elements that weren't already there in Season 1, and instead introduces a slew of new, show original superhuman characters as villains and allies, including in roles where Season 1 would've thrown in a somewhat obscure comics character. Even the Devil is a Composite Character simply called "the Devil" (as detailed below) as opposed to any specific character who held the title in any book.
  • The Cameo: Wilson Fisk appears in a photograph in episode five.
  • Child of Two Worlds: Monkey. In episode eight, the spirit of his late chief tells him that he is destined to walk between the human and animal worlds, belonging to neither, but protecting both as a killer of killers.
  • Close-Call Haircut: Happens a lot over the course of the series when bladed weapons come into play. A stand out example is episode 2, where Hit-Monkey narrowly escapes a Conveyor Belt o' Doom and gets a large patch shaved off his behind, which remains days later.
  • Composite Character:
    • Lady Bullseye has the name and appearance of her comic counterpart, but her personality is more in line with the original Bullseye. She also takes his role as Hit-Monkey's first major supervillain.
    • The Devil does not appear to be based on any specific member of Marvel's Hell Lords. But in general, he takes the name of Satan/"The Devil", Mephisto's manipulative personality and affinity for making Faustian bargains, and his design incorporates elements of Blackheart, Belial, Hela, and some other demons.
  • Continuity Nod: A news crawl mentioning that M.O.D.O.K.'s A.I.M. organization has been purchased by Grumblr briefly appears in one episode, confirming that Hit-Monkey and M.O.D.O.K. take place in the same continuity as it was originally planned, despite their visual styles being completely different and the cancellation of The Offenders.
  • Couch Gag: After a brief opening, every episode has a different and creative way of displaying the title using an item that was involved in the prior scene (like blood, vegetation, etc.).
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Deconstructed. After accidentally killing his stepfather Eli, Bryce abandoned his wife and daughter to keep them safe from the fallout of this; while also leaving them Eli's money so that they can start a new life. But in Season 2, Bryce admits that the real reason he never tried to make contact with his family afterwards was because he had been numbed by his vices and assassin lifestyle to the point where nothing mattered to him anymore.
  • Darker and Edgier: Season 1 was already plenty dark, with copious violence, brutal deaths, sadistic villains, and a serious story focusing on Japan's political corruption. Season 2 takes things to the next level: featuring just as much violence and death as before, but with more sex, explicit language, interpersonal drama between Monkey and his allies, and higher stakes than ever before, as Hit-Monkey and co. have to save the entire world and all of humanity from the controlling grasp of the Aldermen, and later the Assassins Cooperative.
  • Deadly Euphemism: When Boone is trying to persuade Monkey to put the sword/relic in the forge, Boone explains his plans as preferring to use the terms "pulling the plug" and "global euthanasia" as a contrast to "armageddon" or "end of days."
  • Deal with the Devil: After going to the "warm place", Bryce signed one so he could return to Monkey's side. He didn't bother to read it before signing it and does not expect to be held to it. Season 2 expands on this, showing that Bryce made his deal to save himself from being tortured for eternity on top of wanting to reunite with Hit-Monkey and his daughter, in exchange for providing the Devil with evil souls to fuel his armies. He later makes a second deal with the Devil to have physical form for two days so he can reunite with his daughter.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Lady Bullseye kills anyone that causes her even the slightest inconvenience or annoyance.
  • The Dreaded: When Bryce sees Lady Bullseye's calling card, he flat out tells Monkey to run.
  • Drowning My Sorrows:
    • After checking into his hotel room in episode one, Bryce starts a bender to deal with his loneliness.
    • Hit-Monkey outright states in "Legend of the Drunken Monkey" that he is drinking to numb his emotional pain.
    • Bryce goes on another one in "Never Too Late" when he blows his chance to reunite with his daughter.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: The 128th deployed Ranger-trained soldiers to assassinate Bryce. Kato in "Bright Lights, Big City" complains that he deployed the most skilled and trained soldiers and was furious when he heard that they were killed.
  • Fastball Special: A favorite method of Fat Cobra's, he launches Monkey out of the pit towards The Accountant after Monkey earns his respect by sparing his life and again towards the finale when Monkey needs to reach the top of the building where the true villain of the series Shinji Yokohama is waiting after winning the election. The method backfires the second time.
  • Foreshadowing: Akiko is seen reading a Punisher manga at one point, excitedly commenting how "wet" the violence in the pages looks, hinting she might have a sadistic side suitable for a successor of Lady Bullseye.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Bryce is disappointed to find out that nobody he knew in life misses him now that he's dead.
  • Generic Cop Badges: Ito shows Akiko his official police ID and badge. The Lieutenant rank does not exist in Japanese law enforcement. The actual rank would have been Inspector. The emblem in the middle is not the official Asahikage emblem.
  • Guilt-Tripping: Bryce has a bad habit of doing this to Monkey and just about everyone else when their goals or actions don't align with his own. According to Monkey, one of the main reasons that he's so eager to join up with the Assassins Cooperative is because, unlike Bryce, they don't try and make him feel bad for taking time for himself.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Ito jumps in front of Haruka when Lady Bullseye attacks her, later dying from his wounds.
  • Icon of Rebellion: As the first season goes on and Monkey takes down more and more criminals, the people of Tokyo come to respect him and note him as a symbol of good. This comes to a head in the season finale where the crowd outside the tower Shinji's campaign is holed up all wear masks of Monkey's likeness. The cherry on top? When Monkey is exposed while trying to infiltrate the tower, the masked crowd quickly joins the brawl.
  • Improvised Weapon: In the second season episode "The Last Supper," Hit Monkey and Bryce fight each other with gardening tools from Eunice's garage or shed.
  • Invisible to Normals: Nobody is able to see, hear, or touch the ghost of Bryce. The only ones who can are Monkey (who he is spiritually bound to), Yuki (who is herself a ghost that others are able to see), the Monk, and at one point, Ito (for unknown reasons). By the season finale, Bryce learns he can make himself visible and capable of interacting with the human world by covering himself in salt, which causes him great pain.
  • It's All About Me: Bryce's main flaw is his colossal ego. He almost always spins any situation into being about himself, and constantly complains whenever Hit-Monkey isn't focused on helping him fulfill his own goals. As Character Development starts to kick in, he learns not to be such a narcissist and put the needs of others before himself. Turns out, this is exactly what he needed to do to find peace and move on into the afterlife. Though even after this, he still struggles to put others first on occasion.
  • Legacy Character: Deconstructed. Akiko learns the hard way that just because you take up someone's name and costume, that doesn't mean that you automatically possess the same skills that they do. The original Lady Bullseye was one of the most terrifying assassins in the world, with equal ruthlessness and Improbable Aiming Skills that allowed her to come close to killing Hit-Monkey every time they fought. Akiko as Lady Bullseye, by contrast, was barely able to survive her first fight with a machete-wielding assassin. When she actually came face to face with Hit-Monkey, she was only able to last as long as she did because she had the element of surprise and Monkey didn't want to kill her. She gets better at living up to her namesake when her ghost starts to mentor her.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Invoked in the second season episode "Concrete Jungle" when Boone uses a brainwashed Dot to fight against Monkey to stop the attempted ploy against the Cooperative's plan to end the world.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: Crazy Old Lady barely reacts to having her arm brutally severed in a meat processor while trying to kill Monkey.
  • Mistaken for Profound: Multiple characters in the first season take to viewing Monkey as a vigilante out to rid Tokyo of corruption, or a vengeful spirit aiming to punish sinners. Nobody seems to realize that he's merely an ordinary monkey who's on a personal vendetta mission.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After Monkey kills Shinji as he was about to kill Haruka, he becomes guiltridden when a devastated and angered Akiko curses him for killing her uncle as he was the only family she had left, as Monkey had lost his trust and friendship with Akiko.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Akiko reads a The Punisher manga in "The Code".
    • The scene where Lady Bullseye has one of her teeth knocked out and then proceeds to use it as a weapon is a nod to a similar moment from Kevin Smith's Daredevil run.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Upon discovering that Bryce continues to exist as a ghost, Lady Bullseye uses salt to torture him. However, this results in Bryce realizing that he can apply the salt to himself to temporarily acquire physical form, allowing him to distract Lady Bullseye long enough for Hakura to kill her.
  • No Party Given: Despite the election of the Japanese prime minister being central to the plot of the first season, no political parties are given for either candidate.
  • Odd Couple: Monkey is a serious, thoughtful animal, while Bryce is a cocky, talkative human ghost.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: After dying, Bryce finds that his ghost is spiritually tethered to Monkey, meaning the two are unable to be outside a certain distance of each other. Additionally, Bryce can only be seen by other spirits and can be trapped and injured by salt, although salt can also make him temporarily visible and tangible. He also develops telekinesis in his last scene of season one.
  • Queer Establishing Moment:
    • In "The Long Goodbye", Bryce assumes that he needs to confess to his sins to ascend. He subsequently confesses that he was once in love with a man, and deeply regrets having to break off the relationship.
    • In "Akiko", Iris states that True Crime is her favorite genre, right behind "Sapphic Sci-Fi". Bryce—after learning what Sapphic means—is totally unsurprised to know that she is a lesbian.
  • Race Lift: a lot of characters are changed to be more Japanese for example the suit Hit Monkey gets comes from a Japanese boy in a funeral while in the comic book het gets it from a small blonde boy in a wedding.
  • Revenge: Monkey and Bryce's motivation. Bryce was taken out by the same people who hired him to begin with and Monkey's tribe was wiped out in the same attack. They wind up working together to track down the mastermind.
  • Red Herring:
    • Despite being an all-around jackass, Ozu is not the one behind the conspiracy. He even lampshades it when confronted by Monkey, pointing out he was already beating Ken substantially in the polls and had no reason to order the hit.
    • The Monk and the Bonsai Master are not one and the same.
  • Retirony: Buddy is already a few days from retirement when he is assigned a fresh young protege to train as his replacement. They get along pretty well and together go for one last job, after which Buddy will officially retire. Subverted when the last job turns to be a surprise farewell party for Buddy, who is allowed to retire in peace. Then he comes Back for the Finale but once again survives where many other characters do not.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
    • The overarching plot of the first season involves Hit-Monkey and Bryce hunting down and killing everybody involved in the assassination of Ken Takahara, who are by proxy responsible for killing Bryce and Monkey's tribe.
    • Season 2 has Akiko go on her own rampage to get revenge on Hit-Monkey for killing her uncle.
  • Rousing Speech: Monkey (with Bryce as a translator) delivers one to Eunice's assassins when they need to deal with the Assassin's Cooperative plans to end the world.
  • Ruder and Cruder: A downplayed example. The first season was already as profane as a standard MCU movie, but season 2 introduces F-bombs and even one C-word dropped by Lady Bullseye's spirit.
  • Salt Solution:
    • Bryce cannot cross a line of salt. Monkey uses this to trap him in a public toilet in "Sayonara Monkey"
    • Touching salt causes Bryce immense pain, but temporarily grants him physical form. Lady Bullseye uses salt as a weapon against him during their finale showdown, inadvertently giving him the ability to fight back.
  • Sequel Hook: Season One ends with Hit-Monkey and Bryce fleeing to America, with Bryce now having gained the ability to affect physical objects. Meanwhile, in The Stinger, a heartbroken Akiko dons the dead Lady Bullseye's mask, implying she plans on taking up her mantle to get revenge on Hit-Monkey.
  • Shared Universe: Despite having a different animation style, this show officially shares a setting with M.O.D.O.K. (2021) which is designated as Earth-1226.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Smiting Evil Feels Good: Heavily subverted. Despite wanting to avenge his tribe and Bryce's insistence that punishing bad people is a good thing, Hit-Monkey rarely gets any pleasure out of killing people. Once his mission is over, he expresses a desire to give up the assassin lifestyle entirely, only to get pushed back into it by Bryce. It gets to the point that he's willing to team up with the Assassins Cooperative to ensure that there will be an end to violence entirely not knowing that this will mean the end of humanity.
  • Supernatural Repellent: Bryce can be trapped or injured by salt. Lady Bullseye's ghost shares the same weakness.
  • Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Season 1 was set in Tokyo and featured plenty of cameos by Marvel characters. Season 2 moved to New York, but had zero established heroes show up for a world-ending threat in the middle of the city.
  • Take That!: In episode four, Bryce gets a dig in at Lance Armstrong by comparing being a killer with a moral code to doing the Tour de France "without getting 'roided up".
  • Take Up My Sword: Two examples:
    • At the behest of a dying Bryce, Monkey becomes a hitman and seeks out the criminals that ordered his death.
    • With Akiko's encouragement, Shinji takes over the assassinated Ken's candidacy for Prime Minister. By the end, we learn this was his plan the whole time.
  • Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: The bulk of the first season is set in Tokyo.
  • Trojan Prisoner: In the second season episode "Mind Mall," Dot allows herself to be captured by Slyke as a mental prisoner to smuggle Bryce (in ghost form) so they can rescue Monkey.
  • Troubled Backstory Flashback: Bryce is forced to relive his troubled past when a janitor sweeps salt onto him, causing him to black out.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: In the second season episode "The Estate," Albert Rinkov's widow takes the staff to get the evil power of controlling and using animals in battle. She eventually and successfully turns Hit Monkey into a superpowered individual. Eventually Bryce and Boone are able to snap Hit Monkey out of her control without Monkey turning into the original shape. Hit Monkey eventually grabs her and bashes her against the stone repeatedly.
  • Villain Killer: Hit-Monkey and Bryce make it their mission to hunt down and kill Tokyo's villains, and later New York's. The Assassins Cooperative also fall under this though they are villains themselves.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: After dealing out Curb-Stomp Battle after Curb Stomp Battle to Yakuza leaders, assassins and supervillains, "Sayonara Monkey" introduces Hit-Monkey and Bryce to their first real challenge: Lady Bullseye.
  • Wham Episode: "The End Part 1" reveals that Shinji was behind Ken's murder, not Ozu.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Akiko calls out on Monkey and furiously curses him after he kills her uncle Shinji in the Season 1 finale.
  • Would Hurt a Child: After helping Monkey during the turf war between the two macaque tribes, young Koji is bludgeoned and killed by the leader of the Red-Stripes.
  • Wunza Plot: One's an unusually intelligent Japanese snow monkey with a bad temper, the other is the ghost of an American hitman who doesn't know when to shut up. Together, they seek vengeance in the crime-ridden streets of Tokyo.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Akiko explains to the ghost of Lady Bullseye that Lady Bullseye taught her everything that was needed and now Akiko can take it from here. To get rid of the ghost, Akiko jumps into the salt water and stays underneath until the ghost disintegrates.