Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz

Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (often called “Doofenshmirtz,” or occationally “Doof”) is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the television show Phineas and Ferb. He was created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, and is voiced by Povenmire. The character first appeared in the pilot episode of the series and appears in the majority of episodes. He is described as a bumbling, incompetent and forgetful evil scientist intent on conquering the local region known as the “Tri-State Area” through creating obscure inventions. He speaks with a caricature of a German accent and comes from the fictional European Kingdom-styled country of Drusselstein.

A typical episode features Doofenshmirtz who hatches an evil scheme or invention that he often links to a “back story” from his youth. The back stories explore his mentally abusive and shunned childhood in the fictional village of Gimmelshtump, Drusselstein. His parents often neglect him and favor his brother, Roger. Doofenshmirtz usually monologues and displays acts of “cartoonish” physical violence towards his frenemy Perry the Platypus, a skilled anthropomorphic platypus secret agent who disguises himself as the mindless pet of the series’ main characters. Doofenshmirtz appears in several merchandise pieces based on the series, particularly the book series and the video game.

Infomation
He is a 47 year old mad scientist hailing from the village of Gimmelshtump, in the country of Drusselstein. He is the head of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. He tends not to be evil in the traditional sense, but rather overly dramatic, eccentric and generally clueless. This cluelessness is showed particularly in “Bullseye”, when he is seen with Rodney discussing Lawrence’s first performance, with Rodney stating “I thought no one was more clueless at evil than you,” and Heinz saying, “I know.” His usual lair is an office building that he apparently owns, though he’s worked from other locations when necessary for his plans. He attempts to wreak generally “evil” havoc and assert his rule across the entire Tri-State Area. Despite true dedication to this mission nearly all of his plans have been thwarted by his nemesis Perry the Platypus. (Doofenshmirtz has become so used to this foiling that he tends to feel empty or upset on the few occasions where Perry does not stand in his way). Dr. Doofenshmirtz seems to quite enjoy musical numbers, and has performed songs about “impressing his professor” and how he hates his brother among other subjects. Though his plans are frequently clueless at best and his doctorate was purchased off the internet, some of his inventions (almost always suffixed with “-inator”) have been fairly impressive. Online, Doofenshmirtz goes by the name of StrudelCutie4427.

Doofenshmirtz suffered through a comically exaggerated neglectful, even abusive, claimed terrible childhood that left him scarred for the rest of his life. His parents were mentally abusive and ignored him, briefly disowned him, forced him to wear dresses or act as a lawn gnome, and frequently restricted him from doing even the smallest things. He also had to deal with many bullies, had no real friends, except for a balloon with a face painted on it, had issues with his body (a high squeaky voice and inability to grow facial hair), and generally failed embarrassingly at nearly everything he attempted. (The exceptions being cup stacking and, for a short time, shadow puppetry). His record in romance was equally dismal and almost always ended up with him being broken-hearted. Because of this, he built a robot to destroy love, which landed in the hands of Phineas and Ferb. Somehow he managed to woo and win the hand of Charlene and had one daughter with her before it fell apart and they divorced. Due to the cumulative weight of all these hardships he turned to evil and constantly attempts to seek vaguely directed vengeance with odd items he purchased off the internet.

Perry the Platypus
"It occurs to me that though I’ve never had a son, there is someone I can always count on to be there, someone I’ve begun to think of as family."

- Doofenshmirtz about Perry the Platypus

His nemesis is Perry the Platypus and it is often cited that the two enjoy loathing each other and presumably have for years. Despite this, Doofenshmirtz is unable to recognize him unless he is wearing his secret agent hat. All though they are rivals, Dr. Doofenshmirtz seems to have a great care for Perry, referring to him as his best friend, and in various episodes working very hard to impress him.

In the words of Doofenshmirtz himself to Perry, their encounters are typically in the following format:
 * “I have a scheme.”
 * “You try to stop me.”
 * “I trap you.”
 * “I tell you my scheme.”
 * “Behold, the ____inator.”
 * “You escape.”
 * “We fight.”

Doofenshmirtz shouts a constantly recurring phrase, which has numerous occurrences, to Perry every time he thwarts his schemes:

“Curse you, Perry the Platypus!”

Perry shows no concern at his words, considering its frequent usage, and due to the fact that its meaning is trivial: Doofenshmirtz mainly expresses his frustration and annoyance towards Perry through it, and it is generally expected and not taken seriously. The phrase is almost always present, considering Doofenshmirtz repeats it every time Perry ruins his plans. It is sometimes regarded as Doofenshmirtz’s catchphrase. Doofenshmirtz tends to have an evil scheme Perry always stops him.

Because Perry enjoys foiling Doofenshmirtz’s plans, he doesn’t usually turn him in to any sort of authorities. Despite this, there have been some rare occasions where Perry has not allowed a scheme to be carried out at all. This is usually if Doofenshmirtz's plan happens to put the Flynn-Fletcher house directly in danger.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz has used many different contraptions and methods, including crocodiles, as a means of containing Perry, but his standard method is to use a cage.

Though Perry and Doofenshmirtz regard each other as a nemesis, their relationship is more along the basis of “friendly enemy.” Doofenshmirtz habitually explains his plans before carrying them out and Perry always stops to listen. Sometimes, depending on the situation, Perry will help Doofenshmirtz with his “idea of the day” before proceeding to stop him when the situation becomes dire or when Doofenshmirtz turns his back on him. Perry also offered Doofenshmirtz his “universal delete button” to erase an embarrassing viral video that had became so well known that he couldn’t walk outside his apartment room without being mocked. Doofenshmirtz always anticipates Perry the Platypus’ entrance and even begins to become anxious if he doesn’t show up.

He also tends to let Perry into his own home or lair should he discover Perry’s presence before Perry has the chance to break himself in. In fact, the two of them are so used to one another being in each others’ lives that they can’t be nemeses with anyone else for more than a day or so. They even exchanged genuine Christmas presents. Once, Perry helps him learn how to kick a ball to impress Doofenshmirtz’s mother. Perry also has a key to let himself into Doofenshmirtz’s house. At one point when Perry refused to foil his plans due to them being silly and pointless, Doofenshmirtz followed him around, begging him to thwart him. Doofenshmirtz might actually somewhat admire or like Perry, because of his underwear has Agent P’s face all over it when his other clothes are pulled off by a jet pack (which shows him not being able to use one correctly). He states that he had it way before he even met him, which is quite a lie.

When the occasion arises, Perry always saves Doofenshmirtz from death. When Doofenshmirtz created his own aluminum siding business, Perry rescued him from its imminent explosion (which Perry himself had caused). Doofenshmirtz doesn’t usually return the favor, as he himself often puts Perry in peril, due to his evil reputation. Another example of this was when Doofenshmirtz tried to save Mr. Fluffypants, resulting in him falling off the building. Perry dived after him and used a parachute to save him and Mr. Fluffypants before they fell to the ground. Doofenshmirtz finally returned the favor and saved Perry (as well as Phineas and Ferb) from his 2n Dimension counterpart by giving him his toy train (losing that toy had caused Doof-2 to become evil), causing Doof-2 to change his ways and stop trying to destroy Perry, Phineas and Ferb.

At one point, Doofenshmirtz met Peter the Panda and made him his new nemesis, and despite his claims that it was just a spur of the moment whim, Perry was still very upset about the development. As time passed Doofenshmirtz himself found that it wasn’t the same and that he missed Perry too, remembering that the day he met Perry was the best day of his life. The two of them end up going on a show called Dr. Feelbetter to sort out their feelings, and after apologizing (and turning the show into a hostage situation for Perry to foil), Perry and Dr. Doofenshmirtz are (happily) enemies again. Similarly when Perry is assigned a new villain to thwart, Doofenshmirtz is quite offended and states that only he is Perry’s nemesis. In the future, when both Doofenshmirtz and Perry are old, they are in Doofenshmirtz’s house playing checkers in place of their old routine, seemingly further emphasizing the fact they can’t live without each other. Doofenshmirtz even almost admitted to Perry being his best friend once. He also said that Perry is like one of the family.

Major Francis Monogram
It appears that Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram actually know each other fairly well with Doofenshmirtz knowing both his home phone and cell number. Monogram also knows that he was raised by ocelots.

Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram have spoken to each other over Perry’s video phone for a few brief seconds but it appears that this is not the first time the two have met. Doofenshmirtz has nicknamed Major Monogram “Monobrow” because of his uni-brow.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram hosted a cliptastic countdown together. It is shown that the two appear to be quite fond of teasing and making remarks at each other that range from playful banter to being snide in nature. On the first episode of the Phineas and Ferb Podcast on iTunes, Monogram and Doofenshmirtz appear together and speak about the Christmas special with Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh.

The creators mentioned in a comic-con that Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram attended “The Academy” together, and it might be explored in a future episode.