Captain Underpants

''Captain Underpants'' is an American illustrated children's novel series and multimedia franchise by American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey. The series revolves around two fourth graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, living in Piqua, Ohio, and Captain Underpants, an aptly named superhero from one of the boys' homemade comic books, who accidentally becomes real when George and Harold hypnotize their cruel, bossy, and ill-tempered principal, Mr. Krupp. From the third book onwards, Mr. Krupp also possesses superhuman strength, durability and flight as a result of drinking alien "Extra-Strength Super Power Juice".

Currently, the series includes 12 books, two activity books, colored versions, and 15 spin-offs. As of 2014, the series has been translated into more than 20 languages, with more than 80 million books sold worldwide, including over 50 million in the United States.

DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to the series to make an animated feature film adaptation, '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'', which was released on June 2, 2017, to positive reviews, followed by a television series, '' The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants'', which aired on Netflix from July 13, 2018 to December 4, 2020, also to positive reviews.

After the main series concluded with the twelfth novel, '' Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot'', in 2015, a spin-off series titled '' Dog Man'' was released the following year in 2016. The spin-off series has 13 books so far. A 14th book, titled "Big Jim Believes" is scheduled to release on November 11 2025 while a film adaptation of the series produced by DreamWorks Animation was released on January 31, 2025.

Novels

The main series of novels has developed a pattern of alliteration from the fourth book on. The third book's "annoyingly long" title became a running joke in subsequent books.

Novels 6–12 in the main series form one unbroken story, in which the ending of each of such novel except the last is a cliffhanger, and the next novel in sequence immediately picks up where the last one left off.

''Captain Underpants'' novels

# '' The Adventures of Captain Underpants'' (1997)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets'' (1999)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)'' (1999)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants'' (2000)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'' (2001)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 1: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets'' (2003)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers'' (2003)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People'' (2006)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers'' (2012)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers'' (2013)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000'' (2014)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot'' (2015)

''Captain Underpants'' activity books

# '' The Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book o' Fun'' (2001)
# '' The All-New Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book o' Fun 2'' (2002)
# ''The Captain Underpants Super Silly Sticker Studio'' (2005)
# ''The Extra Big 'N' Extra Crunchy Captain Underpants Book o' Fun'' (2008)
# ''The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants: Let's Roll! Sticker Activity Book'' (2020)
# ''Full Color The Captain Underpants Double Crunchy Book o' Fun'' (2022)

''Captain Underpants'' spin-offs

# '' The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby'' (2002)
# '' The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future'' (2010 – 2021)
# '' Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers'' (2011)

''Captain Underpants'' collectors' editions

# '' The Adventures of Captain Underpants: Collectors' Edition'' (2005)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets: Collectors' Edition'' (2007)
# '' Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally-Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds): Collectors' Edition'' (2008)

''Captain Underpants'' collections

* ''The Tra-La-La Riffic Captain Underpants Collection/The First Captain Underpants Collection'' (Books 1–4; 1997–2000)
* ''Three More Wedgie-Powered Adventures in One'' (Books 4-6; 2006)
* ''The Second Captain Underpants Collection/The Tra-La-Larious Captain Underpants'' (Books 5–7 & ''Super Diaper Baby''; 2001–2003)
* ''Captain Underpants: Three Pantastic Novels in One'' (Books 1–3; 1997–99)
* ''The New Captain Underpants Collection'' (Books 1–5; 1997–2000)
* ''The Tra-La-La Tremendous Captain Underpants Collection'' (Books 5–8; 2001–2006)
* ''The Complete Captain Underpants Collection'' (Books 1–8; 1997–2006)
* ''The Captain Underpants Collectors' Edition Collection'' (Books 1–3 + 3 CD-ROMs; 1997–1999, 2005–2008)

''Captain Underpants in Full Color''

* '' The Adventures of Captain Underpants'' (2013; 25 1/2th Anniversary Edition, 2023)
* '' Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets'' (2014)
* '' Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)'' (2014)
* '' Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants'' (2015)
* '' Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'' (2017)
* '' Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets'' (2018)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2: the Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers'' (2018)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People'' (2019)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Re-Turn of Tippy Tinkletrousers'' (2019)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers'' (2020)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000'' (2021)
*'' Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot'' (2022)

Potentially cancelled books

These books were reported "coming soon-ish" at the end of a few books. No further information or cancellation has been released since their tease.

* ''The Captain Underpants Cartoon-O-Rama Book: Heroes, Villains, and Supercreeps''

* ''FrankenFart vs. The Bionic Barf Bunnies from Diarrhea Land''

* ''The Adventures of Ook and Gluk Jr: Kung-Fu Cavekids in Outer Space''

* ''Captain Underpants Presents: F.A.R.T.S. The Major Motion Picture''

* ''Super Diaper Baby 3: Petey's Revenge''

Characters

Overview

List indicator(s):
* A dark gray cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to be announced.
* A Main indicates a character had a starring role in the property.
* A Supporting indicates the character appeared in two or more times within the property.
* A Guest indicates the character appeared once in the property.

Main characters

* George Beard and Harold Hutchins – Two fourth grade pranksters, who are best friends, next-door neighbors, and the main protagonists of the series. They started a comic book company called "Treehouse Comix, Inc.", and sneak to the secretary's office at school to make copies of their latest comic book and sell on the playground. They are the class clowns in 4th grade at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School (named for Curly of the Three Stooges), a school which discourages imagination and fun, located in Piqua, Ohio. They often get in trouble with Mr. Krupp. In the ninth epic novel, '' Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Re-Turn of Tippy Tinkletrousers'', George wore his hair in a huge afro when he was 5¾ years old (it is also mentioned that he got his hair cut into a flat top by Harold before their final anti-bully prank). After time travel antics, duplicates of them are created in the present, referred to as Yesterday George and Yesterday Harold. After the original duo travel to the future, they find their other selves to have become graphic novel creators. Future Yesterday George married a woman named Lisa and had two children named Meena and Nik. Future Yesterday Harold married a man named Billy and had adopted twin children named Owen and Kei. George's parents are named Moses (his father) and Barbara (his mother), while Harold's mother is named Grace (Harold's parents got divorced and his father moved to Nevada a few months before he turned six). George's grandmother and Harold's grandfather appear in the eighth book, where they unknowingly drink the last of the superpower juice while reading a comic the boys created where they are the heroes. They later transform into the same heroes to defend George and Harold from Captain Blunderpants and profess their love to each other, much to the boys' disgust. In the adaptations, their personalities are mostly unchanged, but they now usually only prank to entertain their schoolmates and treat Captain Underpants more as a friend than a last resort. In the film, they are respectively voiced by Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch and by Ramone Hamilton and Jay Gragnani in the series, both respectively.
* Mr. Benjamin "Benny" Krupp – The "cruel" and "mean-spirited" principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School and the antihero of the series (usually when no real dangers are happening). He is usually depicted as an overweight man. Mr. Krupp has a deep hatred of children and also tries to protect the students at Jerome Horwitz Elementary from George and Harold's pranks. He has a younger brother named Jasper (Kipper's father), and his parents are named John and Bernice. When Mr. Krupp was little, he performed a hip-hop dance at a talent show, his mother passed out fruits and vegetables to the audience so they could throw them at him because he did not watch the cows from his family farm. This leads him to become "mean" and "cold-hearted" and vow to make all kids feel just as bad as he did. His last name is a pun of the word "corrupt". When he goes by his full name, it is a pun on "bankrupt". Mr. Krupp was based on Mr. Crutch from '' Shrimps for a Day'' and was originally named Mr. Crutch. In the film, it is revealed that he read George and Harold's comics when he confiscated them and felt they were a little funny, which explains how he knows what Captain Underpants acts like when he is hypnotized. In the film, he is voiced by Ed Helms and in the series, he is voiced by Nat Faxon.
* Captain Underpants – The superhero counterpart and alter ego/split personality of Mr. Krupp. He only wears white briefs and a red cape with black polka dots. Whenever Mr. Krupp hears the sound of fingers snapping, he turns into Captain Underpants and he turns back into Mr. Krupp when water is poured on his head. Captain Underpants gains superpowers in the third book and possessed superhuman strength, durability, flight, and "wedgie power" where he can pull unlimited underwear from his utility waistband. As the book series went on, Captain Underpants had increasingly minor roles in each installment. In the 12th book, he lost his superpowers and was erased from existence, much to George and Harold's apathy. Captain Underpants is considered to be the "light side" of Mr. Krupp himself, as he is friendly to everyone. He is very protective of children, especially George and Harold since he believes that they're his sidekicks. In the film, he is voiced by Ed Helms and in the series, he is voiced by Nat Faxon.
* Melvin Richard Sneedly – George and Harold's nerdy nemesis. He is an "annoying snitch", a "genius inventor", and the school's smartest student. His parents, Cindy and Gaylord, are professional scientists and are canonically neglectful. In the Netflix series, he is thought to have been inventing ever since he was a baby and has a bizarre sense of humor, laughing at videos of rotting fruit. In the movie, he is the only student who has no sense of humor because he thinks everything childish is not funny and only focuses on his studies so he can get extra credit. He is also said to have no brain stem (or "Hahaguffawchuckleamalus" as it is called in the movie). In the eleventh book, he becomes a superhero named Big Melvin after he defeats the Turbo Toilet 2000 after he drinks superpower juice he created from Mr. Krupp's dirty toenail clipping. He rescued people from emergencies, but later, people started to abuse the system by calling him to do menial tasks. He travels back in time to bring Captain Underpants to the present to defeat the Turbo Toilet 2000 so his life as a superhero would never become reality. In the film, he is voiced by Jordan Peele and in the series by Jorge Diaz.
* Sulu and Crackers – George and Harold's pets. Sulu was Melvin's abandoned pet bionic hamster who was adopted by George and Harold. Crackers is their pet ''Quetzalcoatlus'' they got when they traveled back in time with Melvin Sneedly's time machine. The pair then had three children together named Tony, Orlando, and Dawn.

Recurring

In book 11, when the teachers saw two Georges and two Harolds, they think they are dreaming and then they go naked. They are arrested when Miss Fitt pulled down Officer McWiggly's pants. Mr Hand in the series gets hired.
* Mr. Kenny Brian Meaner – Mr. Meaner is Jerome Horwitz Elementary School's gym teacher. He is depicted as being an overweight man and with a personality similar to Mr. Krupp's. Like him, he is cruel to students and often yells at them. He appeared in the Netflix series, where he is depicted as being ignorant and talks in a stutter by saying "yeah yeah yeah yeah." In book 12, Meaner becomes Sir Stinks-A-Lot. His name is a pun on the word "misdemeanor" or the saying "can he be meaner". He is voiced by David Koechner in the TV series. In the TV series, he has an alternate ego by the name of ''Sargeant Boxers'', which was made as a replacement for Captain Underpants in the first episode of the second season.
* Miss Edith Anthrope – The school secretary who is often shown to be in a bad mood. Like all the other teachers at the school including Mr. Krupp, she is unkind to children. She is slightly overweight, in contrast to most of the other teachers. In the movie, she is on hold for three days thinking she will win a contest with a cash prize of $1 billion. In the movie she does not speak, but in the series, she is voiced by Patty Mattson where she is glum but yells "Fine!". A running gag in the series involves her entering Mr. Krupp's office saying "Did you call me?" followed by something else she says. Her name is a pun of the word "misanthrope" or by saying "eat it/miss and throw up."
* Mr. Morty Fyde – Mr. Fyde was the science teacher at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. Unlike all the other grown-ups in the school, he is rather dorky and stupid. The events of the first three books gradually cause him to believe himself is insane and resign from his job to put himself in a mental institution (but in the movie Mr. Krupp simply fires Fyde because he'd rather spend time with his family instead of judge the school science fair and Krupp considers this unacceptable). His name is a pun on the words "mystified" and "mortified." In the film, he is voiced by Mel Rodriguez and in the series he is voiced by Stephen Root, where he is released from the mental institution, though he becomes nervous around loud noise, which is unfortunate for Mr. Fyde; an elementary school is practically built on noise. One of Melvin's inventions accidentally fuses Mr. Fyde with an avocado pit belonging to George and Harold, turning him into a giant avocado monster named Avocadwoe that attacks everything that makes loud sounds. Mr. Fyde is planted by Captain Underpants and he is turned into an avocado tree in a peaceful forest behind the school, something that Mr. Fyde is content with.
* Ms. Tara Ribble – Ms. Ribble is the homeroom teacher of George and Harold's 4th-grade class. In book 5, she is hypnotized into becoming Wedgie Woman. Her name is a pun on the words "terrible" and "miserable." Voiced by Dee Dee Rescher in the movie and Laraine Newman in the TV series.
* Miss Singerbrains – Miss Singerbrains is the librarian at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School who banned all but one of the books in the library and eventually closed down the library. Her name is a pun on the saying "missing her brains".
* Mr. Riles Rected – Mr. Rected is the guidance counselor at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. He is very nasty to students, especially George and Harold, and he is often seen hanging with Mr. Krupp, Mr. Meaner, Miss Anthrope, and Ms. Ribble. His name is a pun on the word "misdirected." He is voiced by Brian Posehn in the film and Jorge Diaz in the animated series.
* Ms. Dayken – Ms. Dayken is a member of the teaching board at Jerome Horwitz Elementary school. Her name is a pun on the word "mistaken". In the film, she is voiced by Susan Fitzer and was George and Harold's kindergarten teacher where she teaches about the planets, including "Uranus," which the boys found amusing.
* Mr. Rustworthy – Mr. Rustworthy is (according to his tie) the music teacher of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. His name is a pun on the word "mistrustworthy". In the series, he is replaced by a different music teacher, Ms. Herd (a pun on "misheard").
* The Lunch Ladies – The Lunch Ladies are the three women who run the cafeteria. They are notorious for cooking horrible, inedible, and possibly lethal food. They quit in the third book when Mr. Krupp says he cannot punish George and Harold for their antics without proof, though they are possibly rehired after the replacements are revealed to be aliens. Two of the Lunch Ladies are Miss Creant, the head lunch lady, and Mrs. DePoint, the cook. The revealed names are puns on the word "Miscreant" and the phrase "Misses the point".
* Doctor Diaper (known alternatively as Doctor Nappy in the UK) – A diaper-clad mad scientist and the first villain Captain Underpants ever faced.
* The Talking Toilets – An army of living toilets created by George and Harold, who were accidentally brought into the real world with a modified photocopier. All they could say is the phrase "Yum, yum, eat 'em up!"
* The Turbo Toilet 2000 – A giant toilet created by George and Harold, who was accidentally brought into the real world with a modified photocopier. After he was defeated by the Incredible Robo-Plunger, he and the other toilets were taken to Uranus where he remained for several books until being brought back to life by juice from the destroyed Robo-Plunger. In the film, it was now Melvin's invention that was grown by Poopypants with his size ray.
* The Incredible Robo-Plunger – A giant robot created by George and Harold to defeat the Turbo Toilet 2000. Afterwards, he repaired the school and took all the toilets to Uranus where he remained for several books until he was hit on the head by a kickball kicked into space by the Harold 2000. He is then rebuilt by the revived Turbo Toilet 2000 into a rocket scooter so the toilet could return to earth.
* Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer – Three space aliens who planned to invade Piqua, Ohio. They are the main antagonists of the third book. They disguised themselves as lunch ladies to turn the students of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School into Zombie Nerds by using Evil Zombie Nerd Juice.
* The Dandelion of Doom – A dandelion that absorbed alien super evil rapid-growth juice, causing it to grow into a giant monster.
* Tippy Tinkletrousers (formerly known as Professor Pippy Pee-Pee Poopypants, and in the film as Prof. Pee-Pee Diarrheastien Poopypants Esq.) – A scientist who comes from a foreign country where everyone has a silly name. In book 4, he forces everyone on earth to change their names into a silly one. After his defeat, Professor Poopypants changes his name, suggested by George rather than forcing everybody to change theirs. But Poopypants does not change his name to something normal, instead, he changes it to his grandfather’s name Tippy Tinkletrousers. In the film, he is voiced by Nick Kroll.
* Wedgie Woman (Ms. Ribble) – A villain created by George and Harold who was based on their teacher Ms. Ribble. After a second mishap with the Hypno-Ring, it convinced her that she is Wedgie Woman. At first, she has no superpowers, but after her hairstyle gets splattered with superpower juice from the third book her hair transforms into arms and she gains super-intelligence.
* Robo-George and The Harold 2000 – Two giant robots built by Wedgie Woman based on George and Harold. They were fully obedient to Wedgie Woman; each had a vast arsenal of powerful weapons and gadgets and were programmed to destroy Captain Underpants once they heard him say "Tra-la-laaa!"
* The Bionic Booger Boy (Melvin Sneedly) – A fusion of Melvin Sneedly, boogers, and a super-powered robot. His growth is triggered by a field trip to a tissue factory.
* Carl, Trixie and Frankenbooger (The Three Robo-Boogers) – Boogers who all come from the Bionic Booger Boy. They all share a weakness to oranges, which Captain Underpants successfully used to destroy the rampaging trio of living mucus. Carl had the Bionic Booger Boy's legs, Trixie had the tentacles, and Frankenbooger had the arms. Whenever they ate, they became bigger and more evil.
* Evil George and Evil Harold – Alternative versions and negative counterparts of George and Harold from an alternate dimension who are both intelligent and evil. They are the main antagonists

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