#*just*

My main guess is Dr. Flug crashed into Black Hat Organization HQ — whether by Dr. Flug’s fault or by Black Hat’s intervention, who knows — and Black Hat threatened Dr. Flug to stay and pay off the expenses. But, instead of letting Dr. Flug leave after making the money for repairs, Black Hat is instead keeping him indefinitely, constantly threatening him with death. The “deadlines,” or most of them, all over Dr. Flug’s calendars might be written literally, although this may never be solidly confirmed and will have to just stay head canon.

However, Black Hat gives Dr. Flug access to many resources and probably indirectly offers protection, too, just by reputation, so Dr. Flug might be making the best of his situation.

How I came to this conclusion:

The airplane in the roof of Black Hat Organization and Dr. Flug saying he came to the organization “by plane”

In one episode, there’s a still image of Dr. Flug hastily throwing a bunch of books into a carnivorous plant to get rid of them. One of the books is labeled something like “The Complete Guide to Hijacking Planes.” (I unfortunately can’t find it now — I thought it was in the Q&A ep for some reason — and I’ve already spent much longer on this post than I intended, haha. I’ll edit and link if I find it.)

Dr. Flug’s changing motivational animal posters (“Hang in there,” “Hope is lost,” “Hope is restored”) plus the yellow “Don’t try to run -BH” sign in both the “worst nightmares” machine short and around the end of A Guide for an Evil Conquest

Obviously Dr. Flug doesn’t want to be working for Black Hat. Or, at least it’s hard for him to be there.

Dr. Flug’s diploma

He graduated as a mad scientist from an institution run by Black Hat. So, we know he went out of his way to basically be a certified villain. (I’m interested in what Black Hat teaching villainy in an organized fashion, such as an actual school, means for the dynamic of this show’s underworld. But I doubt that will ever be touched upon, haha. I’m probably thinking too sociologically for a Cartoon Network show, but jeeeeez I’d like to see some sociology student or someone write a fic with this thought at least in the background.)

Another side note, I wonder if we’ll ever find out who the other person who signed the diploma is. You can vaguely see “Dr. Flug” under Dr. Flug’s circular signature, but I can’t decipher the other one. (“President Dr. Black Hatter”? Hahahaha no the first name has too few symbols where's the double strikethrough when you need it)

Dr. Flug’s delight in the more evil aspects of his job

He seemed too smug and happy threatening the Delightful Kids from Down the Lane, and he got really into threatening the Kids Next Door. And we can’t forget his often-fanarted threat to Mojo Jojo, even if it doesn’t seem like the injection had the desired effect.

I genuinely wonder if 5.0.5.’s name is intended as a low-key S.O.S. cry for help since one of my friends pointed out that adding periods between the numbers changes the name to nonsense. It doesn’t stand for the number 505 anymore.

I really don’t know what to make of the 1921 photo, hahahaha, (Other than it being a reference to The Shining) and to what extent it works into the series’s lore. If it’s supposed to mean Demencia, Dr. Flug, and 5.0.5. have been with Black Hat for that long, then my idea falls apart because the plane in the roof of BHO isn’t of a design from that era. (But, then again, it wouldn’t be the first time a cartoon mismatches era designs for the sake of visual clarity or other reasons.) It really could be just a for-fun reference, but a lot of the “flashed for only one or a few frame” images seem to be important. Basically, I just don’t know, although it's so specific it seems most likely to just be a shout-out reference.

This was all just stuff I mentally put together and decided to finally write up in an organized manner. It will be fun to see what gets confirmed or disproven as I watch or read more theory stuff and more of the show is aired. I know I haven't caught everything from the show. (Like there's stuff about ones and zeroes from flag signals in the Boxmore episode, possibly a binary message, but I haven't looked into it. And Demencia's hidden message from Elmore doesn't seem directly relevant to this post, so I haven't discussed it here.)

Calendar with "DEADLINE"s at 0:27 above 5.0.5.'s drawing of him and everyone. There's also a still image of Dr. Flug in one episode panicking with his calendar in the background, also covered in deadlines.

"Don't try to run" sign at 9:15

Dr. Flug's diploma is in more than one episode, but I found it first in The Lost Cases of Elmore while making this post, first clearly visible at 1:56

Dr. Flug threatening the Delightful Children from Down the Lane at 10:05 and then the Kids Next Door at 11:35 Bonus, Black Hat's newspaper talking about the Kids Next Door going missing at 8:35 of the Q&A. WHAT DID YOU DO, DR. FLUG

Mojo Jojo trapped and getting threatened at 10:29, and someone asking about the effects of the injection at 4:36

The 1921 picture shows up around 0:58 during the static, after Black Hat pushes the Hat Bot back down and before the Cartoon Network logo shows up. It's only there for one frame or so.

The stuff with the ones and zeroes flags I've been too lazy to delve into is mentioned starting at 9:26 of this English fan video by Cartoon Universe