Dan Mandel

Full Name: Dan Mandel Species: Human Gender: Male ♂️ Pronouns: He/Him Age: Mid-Twenties Sexuality: Bisexual

Dan Mandel, or better known as Dan, is the villain protagonist/anti-hero of The Hub's animated series Dan Vs. and is also the main antagonist of the show, which is created by Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson. He is an angry and psychopathic man who lives in a messy apartment and will tend to get revenge on anyone and anything who he thinks has wronged him. As his shirt implies, he really is a jerk. He really hates it when his car is damaged and he loves his pet kitten, Mr. Mumbles. He is voiced by Curtis Armstrong. He lives in a messy apartment called Casa Paradiso.

Dan is a diminutive man with messy black bangs and a goatee, green eyes, crooked teeth, dark blue jeans, black shoes, and of course, a black short-sleeve shirt that says "JERK" on it with white-bolded and all-capitalized letters. He is 5’3" and weighs 106 lbs. While he is small in height, he is infuriated when he is reminded of the fact that he is smaller than other people- which makes him feel inferior.

"This is an outrage!"

"You unbelievable JERK!"

"I have a Chris."

"You date a married woman, you get hit by a Bus! Karma."

"Shut up! No, you shut up! What are you, stupid?! I said shut up! Okay, bye Grandma."

"It's possible I've wasted my life on petty and ultimately meaningless quests for vengeance!"

"This isn't the movies, this is REAL LIFE! Stop living in a fantasy world! The Wolf-Man scratched my car, and he must pay!"

"You'll get yours, Arizona."

HOW DARE YOU LET YOUR MACHINE PICK UP! YOU ARE SCUM! YOU ARE WORTHLESS, SPINELESS, ROTTEN TO THE CORE! THAT'S IT! WE ARE NO LONGER FRIENDS! I HATE YOU! WE ARE DONE! IF YOU EVER TRY TO SPEAK TO ME AGAIN I WILL LITERALLY STRANGLE YOU!!... Come over when you get this... It's Dan."

Dan is a very cruel, psychopathic, nasty, and antisocial man. He doesn't really care for anyone but himself. Despite this, he has rare nice moments. He loves his cat Mr. Mumbles, his teddy bear Brutus, and his red car. As shown in the episodes Dan Vs. The Animal Shelter, and Dan Vs. Burgerphile, and as mentioned in Dan Vs. Dan*, he is lactose-intolerant, which means he is incapable of eating cheese and drinking milk. He was going to have milk and cookies in Dan Vs. The Ninja, although they were lactose-free. Dan also does not like to be reminded that he's angered nor that he is small in height. He loves vengeance and fire, as his sometimes his meanings to solve his problems is to burn them.

Dan is a short-tempered man with a mission to exact revenge on anyone and anything he deems has wronged him. While expressing a very shallow and abrasive demeanor, in reality, he is simply too overwhelmed with stress, becoming overly-sensitive to everyday pet peeves. Whether due his poor living standards expounded by no job or by a horrible and terrifying childhood, he has been noted as decidedly unable to overcome this compounded stress. In stark contrast to how a normal, comfortably living person might deal with things, he instead takes matters to into his own hands, his solutions varying anywhere from assault to full on endangerment (which explains his vast criminal record), once he decides he can't restrain his anger anymore. He also sets out to undergo whatever methods necessary to stop the cause of this tripled agitation (upon him or, occasionally, the whole of the society) through his "revenge missions". Dan takes things he considers low standard (such as Ninja Dave, anything on Dan's list, normal misbehaved children, Chris, etc.) impersonally, while taking higher instigations (such as balloon cultists, demon bosses, abusive summer camp directors, extorting-thuggish children, wolf-men, etc.) very personally. He believes the entire world is out to get him, which is true most of the time. He will stop at nothing to make sure he settles the score even if his win is pointless, if it costs him more than he gets out of it. He can appear to be selfish and seem that he doesn't care what happens to others, though he's also known to hide his true feelings and is reluctant to admit them. (Burgerphile, the Animal Shelter, Parents, The Family Thanksgiving, and The Family Cruise.). He also has poor communication skills towards other people in soft moments, so he sometimes has trouble with admitting his true feelings and comfort (The Catburglar, The Animal Shelter) yet is able to properly show his love to animals and pets, such as his cat Mr. Mumbles.

Dan is an extremely short-tempered man, who can and will become enraged with nearly anything that... well... anything, really. He has very bad luck with anything mechanical and can accidentally cause major damage. He's very comical and childish, often referred to as a "big kid" by Chris. Always in a jobless state and poor living causes Dan to become rightfully raged at the things that cause his added pain. In many of his "missions" he is surprisingly often right in his outlandish assumptions. He can also be very sensitive, in both the negative and positive sense of the word. He can also be very harsh, in both a negative and positive sense as well, but the latter is only seen rarely (e.g. "Summer Camp" and "Chris").

Even with his rash behavior, Dan does have a sense of morality and will occasionally do the right thing. Examples include saving all the animals in the shelter before blowing it up, denying to back-stab his friend Chris, and let's not forget his undying adoration to his ragamuffin kitten Mr. Mumbles. Dan secretly has a strongly compassionate side in which he is willing to rescue Elise, Chris, and Elise's hated parents. He generally has a fake demeanor that he shows much in the show: he doesn't care about anyone but himself (and Chris slightly.), yet hides his real feelings which he uncovers whenever he is around Mr. Mumbles. He told Hortense at Burgerphile to do what she wanted to do, because she helped him with his strike. He started a relationship with her, but they broke it off when she was promoted and had to move. He even charmed three girls into liking him, though all these relationships were short lived, one of them have even used him in their own revenge schemes. He seemed saddened by this, but recovered each time by the next episode.

He is very fond of his car, even though it is in terrible shape. In fact, many of his revenge quests were caused because someone heavily wreaked his car, whether intentionally or not. He has said that he loves his car and if he has grandchildren he will sell it to them.

He is a serious fan of Shakespeare, his teddy bear is even named Brutus. He also shows a vast knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and the English language in general, shown by his usage of unusually erudite terminology and his correction of other people's utterances.

Although Dan comes off as cold and callous, he does have a sensitive side that is rarely seen. In "Wedding" when he found out Hortence was getting married, he looked to be on the verge of tears. His despair quickly turned into rage, but it was clear that he still felt devastated on the inside. He has much difficulty expressing emotions other than anger and outrage, and doing so is even on his list.

He was unable to tell Hortence that he loved her, saying instead that he, "felt very warmly towards her."

Dan is a born leader as seen in "The Fancy Restaurant" where he and Elise start a French food revolution between the cooks and dungeon people. Chris has also stated that Dan has a terrible memory, "He's like an angry goldfish." (Goldfish can only remember the last eight seconds.) According to Chris in "George Washington", he "has a very strange patchwork of knowledge, it's anyone's guess as to what he knows about any given topic." He then demonstrated this by asking Dan who carved Mt. Rushmore and where it is located. Dan knew who carved it but didn't know which state it was in. He has been shown to be very knowledgeable about many things yet ignorant of many things, as well. While he may be ignorant about some things, Dan is very persistent, which can be both a good and bad thing. Dan would sometimes look at things without reason, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, such as in "The Neighbors" when he assumed they are cannibals and trashed his car (Dan did that himself but pinned the blame on them anyway), and "The High School Reunion" where he didn't want to go, but went anyway due to the fact that he thought that wasn't invited (it was later found out that he was) and Chris points out he moved five times (probably due to criminal acts).

Chris Pearson, one of the producers and the inspiration for the character Chris, described Dan as "Calvin from the comic Calvin and Hobbes as a grownup, if his life had gone horribly wrong somewhere."

Dan has been shown to have a good natured side that he was not able to develop during childhood. It is heard by various comments and in conversations with Chris that Dan's parents were extremely harsh towards him while growing up. He has stated that most of his life has been spent in front of the TV as his parents were very neglecting, so he was "raised by TV" during his childhood.

Because of his parents' mindful or unmindful awareness in his rearing, Dan was put to witness many unfortunate experiences growing up. The first of Dan's backstory is seen in the episode Summer Camp, and hints of what his childhood was like have been brought up on several occasions.

Depending on the situation, Dan may be either the protagonist or the antagonist.

In several episodes, it is implied that Dan had an awful and abusive childhood, according to the episode "Dan", Dan's childhood was so horrific that even Elise's enemy-reprogramming therapist was mentally scarred from Dan's stories. In "Baseball", he reveals that he didn't learn to tie his shoes until he was twelve. His parents seemed to have been rather neglectful of his wellbeing; in "The Dentist", it's revealed that the dentist even tricked Dan's parents into giving Dan a root canal before he even had his permanent teeth. As a result of their negligence, Dan claims to have been raised by TV claiming he turned out "super-duper". Most of his awful experiences with his parents has caused Dan to become odd in communicating his affectionate feelings and poor in social skills having to deal with any type of loving reaction. It may also be because of his parents, relatives, poor family inter-relationship(s), or how he was raised poorly in his childhood, either or all of those, being possible causes upon why Dan isn't able to trust many people well and also has poor communication and social skills in such areas, as well. Dan has also mentioned that his parents got divorced when he was very young and he hasn't seen his father since. In "Summer Camp" his parents dropped him off at Camp Atrocious, which, according to Chris, "was even worse than its name", however, Dan looked back on it fondly because of his revenge on the ruthless counselor and bullies, and also because it's where he first met and befriended Chris. In the "The High School Reunion" it's revealed that Dan was incredibly popular in high school, since everybody loved his crazy revenge antics, but he was never aware of it.

Chris is Dan's only real friend, and their bond was formed when they were forced to attend "Camp Atrocious" as children. Their relationship as best friends was solidified when they band together with the other children to take down an abusive camp director running the camp. This could explain why Chris puts up with Dan's antics throughout the series.

Even though he typically treats Chris poorly, he has been shown to care about him and has helped him out a few times, if seemingly grudgingly.

Dan loves his cat Mr. Mumbles, and because of their friendship, Mr. Mumbles acts as the calming presence to his rage-bursts while Dan acts as the soothed aroused force, unable to become mad whenever he's around Mr. Mumbles and her adorable cuteness. Dan will stop at nothing to protect and adore his feline (such as helping escape the cruise ship in The Family Cruise).

Dan first met Mr. Mumbles during another one of his quests for vengeance against an Animal Shelter, he was dead set on exploding the shelter and all the living things in it (including the animals), until he first saw Mr. Mumbles and all her adorableness. Dan tried to ignore her, but gives in and sets her free, along with the other animals.

Dan at first named her "Mumbles" but soon started calling her Mr. Mumbles, not knowing her gender at the time, it wasn't until Art when Dan learned Mr. Mumbles actual gender, thanks to a Hobo that was helping them on his crusade against Art and Art Artstien, but even after learning this, he still refers to her as "Mr. Mumbles".

Sometime during early Season 1, Dan had developed a crush on Hortence, which would reach it's peak in "Burgerphile" when Hortence helped Dan stand up for himself during a protest when Jeff got his order wrong (He put cheese on Dan's burger).

Hortence even started considering herself Dan's "Girlfriend" during the protest. After Jeremiah Burger went to straighten the chaos out at Burgerphile, he promoted Hortence to regional manager, which resulted in her having to move 20 miles away from Dan. (despite being only 20 miles away, Dan never went to visit her.)

Dan thought he'd never see her again, but she made her return in "The Wedding" to announce she was getting married to Mr. Burger, much to Dan's frustration and sadness. Dan attempted to sabotage the couple's wedding, which went as you would expect, horribly. In the end, Hortence ended up moving even farther away and said her bittersweet goodbye to Dan. Since then, she has never returned in the series.

Dan and Elise have never had the best of relationships, they're always fighting, bickering or arguing with each other in some way, shape or form. They do have their rare moments of kindness towards each other (George Washington, Technology) and even somewhat bonded with each other after being trapped during a blizzard in The Ski Trip.

Dan seems to blame Elise for taking Chris away from him, as it's been said by characters (including himself) that he wasn't very positive during their wedding and even listed reasons why their marriage would not last very long. There's been times where he acts as if Elise has already left Chris (The Mummy). It seems very evident that he regards their whole marriage as a mistake.

Whenever Elise has a weapon Dan wants, Dan wants to play with it. Dan fails to get the weapons from Elise though.

Occasionally, something will rile Dan up while he's in the middle of exacting revenge on another party. This results in Dan whipping out a steno pad and writing down the offending object on his list of things to get revenge on later. (The list includes: Babies who cry at the park, babies in general, generals, dull pencils, pencils that are too sharp, Banana Slugs, Costa Rica, Neurotoxins, Alpaca Wool, Being forced to express his feelings, and Arizona.)

In "The Animal Shelter", Dan adds Burger Phile after accidentally drinking Chris' milkshake there. Later in the season, a whole episode revolves around Dan's vendetta against the fast food restaurant.

In "The Neighbors", Dan is shown to have a resemblance with Jason, his neighbor, as they both carry around steno-pads to right down the unruly object that annoys them.

In rare instances, Dan erases an agitation. In "The Telemarketer", Dan adds Elise to the list when she makes him angry and they both almost get into a fight. However, Dan erases her after he sees her ruthlessly beat up Chris' old boss, Mr. Zimmerman.

Dan has stated that the police no longer take his calls. ("The Dentist")

In "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theater", Dan is shown to have an extensive knowledge of and a large appreciation for the works of William Shakespeare, to the point that he swears a vendetta against the eponymous dinner theater for "soiling the works of the Immortal Bard".

Dan appears to be a fan of The Ramones, since he has a poster of the band's logo hanging in his apartment.

Dan is wanted by the INTERPOL, as stated by Elise in The High School Reunion.

During the episode "The High School Reunion", it's revealed that Dan was incredibly popular in high school, since his classmates loved his revenge hijinks, but he was never aware of it.

It is revealed in Summer Camp, that Dan and Chris met when they were forced into a bad summer camp, Camp Atrocious, when they were kids.

The name for his alter ego Biff Wellington is a play on the food "Beef Wellington".

As seen in Reality TV , Dan knows Morse Code.

Dan likes skeet shooting Dan has drawings of an American soldier and German warplanes on his motel wall.

Dan seems to be aware of the pattern in each episode: 1. He is wronged in some way, 2. He screams out the name of his new enemy, 3. He goes on his new misadventure). In the episode "Gigundo Mart", he learns Ninja Dave's Cookies, his preferred cookie eatery, is on the verge of shutting down due to being unable to compete with the titular mega-store and begins to scream, "GIGUNDO M-, oh wait I already did that...", realizing he has already sworn vengeance.

Dan appears to be ambidextrous (both left and right handed), as he is seen writing or using silverware with either one of his hands.

In the episode "Baseball", when Dan is shouting at the baseball pitcher, he mentions that he didn't learn how to tie his own shoes until he was twelve.

In The Mechanic (episode), Dan states "There's no "i" in friend", which means that Dan believes the word friend is spelled 'f-r-e-n-d'.

One of Dan's former friends is an unseen character called Ted, he has never appeared on the show, but he's on Dan's List.

Dan seems to have "Jerk" as his main iconography, as shown by his apron, His Dr.Jerk persona, and him using it as a logo for when his car was modified into a battle bot.

His left thumb is double-jointed, which is shown in "The Magician".

Dan is lactose intolerant. Eating cheese, butter, or milk-based products makes him roll around on the floor, clenching his stomach in pain (despite this, in a brief part of "Baseball" Dan is seen with a cheese sandwich).

In "Baseball" and "The Bank", Dan mentions he's been hit with tear gas so many times it doesn't affect him anymore. He's also immune to pepper spray.

Mr. Mumbles is a female cat and Dan acknowledges her as a girl. He named her before he knew her gender, and didn't find out she was a girl until several episodes after he adopted her, but still calls her Mr. Mumbles anyway.

Dan is attracted to men, as shown in "The Family Camping Trip", and has torn down the idea of involving women in his love life in "Parents". Both of which have prompted debate on his sexuality. It is likely he could be Bisexual, as he has shown some hetero attraction to Honey and Amber.

In "Elise's Parents", Don reveals that Dan was Chris's best man in Chris and Elise's wedding by saying, "I recall his best man toast where he told us that marriage is a scam and that you and Elise Jr. would be divorced within the year." In "Elise's Parents" Dan tells Elise that he has no dental records. A possible nod to "The Dentist" in which he stole his own records to prove that his dentist Dr. Pullem was a super villain.

In the episode "Dan", it is shown on his driver's license that Dan is 5'6" (1.68 m) in height, weighs 105 lbs (47 kg), and was born on October 31st, 1975.

In "The DMV", according to his mugshot, a piece of his hair reaches 5'6", but his actual head roughly reaches 5'3".

There are a few mistakes about his driver's license, as follows:

-As much as his license only reads "DAN", Chris' last name is, "PEARSON", after his namesake series co-creator, which suggests that Dan's last name is "MANDEL" after his own namesake series co-creator.

-His license says that his name is Dan, but some part of the series states that his real name is Daniel. It says his weight is 105 pounds, which is considered slim on the BMI. It's likely Dan weighs more as he's portrayed as plus-sized in episodes such as "The Gym" and "The Lemonade Stand Gang". It says his eye color is brown, in actuality it's green. The creators confirmed Dan's birthdate is inaccurate, meaning he was most likely born on the year 1985, the same year Chris was born; because of them being the same age during Camp Atrocious and high school. Mandel also confirmed Dan's birthday is February 3rd.