50 Fun Facts About Captain Underpants

Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants, was born in which US state?

He was born in Cleveland in 1966 and grew up in North Ridgeville, Ohio; the books are set in Piqua, Ohio too.

George and Harold, the two fourth graders who create Captain Underpants, have which surnames?

George Beard and Harold Hutchins run a comic company called Treehouse Comix, Inc.

In which real Ohio town do George and Harold live?

The aliens Zorx, Klax and Jennifer try to invade it disguised as lunch ladies.

George and Harold's school, Jerome Horwitz Elementary, is named after which real person?

Jerome Horwitz was Curly's real name. The joke fits a series full of silly names.

Who is turned into Captain Underpants?

Benjamin 'Benny' Krupp is cruel and bossy, so the boys hypnotise him and things get out of hand.

What sound turns Mr. Krupp into Captain Underpants?

The trigger comes from the boys' hypnosis with the 3-D Hypno-Ring, and it keeps happening at the worst possible moments.

How do George and Harold change Captain Underpants back into Mr. Krupp?

Which is why so many adventures end with someone hunting for a bucket.

What does Captain Underpants wear?

The cape is actually a curtain from Mr. Krupp's office in the first book.

In the first book, George mail-orders the 3-D Hypno-Ring from whom?

The boys use it to escape punishment after Mr. Krupp catches their pranks on video.

The villain of the very first book wants to destroy the Moon with a Laser-Matic 2000. What is his name?

George stops him with a slingshot loaded with fake dog poop.

From the third book on, how does Captain Underpants gain real powers such as flight?

The juice belongs to the alien lunch ladies Zorx, Klax and Jennifer. Before that he had no powers at all.

The three aliens who disguise themselves as cafeteria ladies are Zorx, Klax and who?

The plain name is the joke. They plan to turn the students into Zombie Nerds with Evil Zombie Nerd Juice.

Professor Poopypants comes from a foreign country where everyone has what?

After his defeat he takes his grandfather's name instead: Tippy Tinkletrousers.

After his defeat, Professor Poopypants changes his name to what?

It was his grandfather's name, which rather defeats George's suggestion to pick a normal one. He returns in books 9 and 10.

Which teacher is hypnotised into becoming Wedgie Woman in book five?

She is George and Harold's homeroom teacher. Another mishap with the Hypno-Ring does it, and she builds Robo-George and the Harold 2000.

Who is the super-smart classmate and inventor who is George and Harold's rival?

In book 11 he briefly becomes a superhero himself, Big Melvin.

Sulu, the boys' pet, is what kind of animal?

His partner Crackers is a Quetzalcoatlus from a time-travel adventure; they have three children, Tony, Orlando and Dawn.

The Turbo Toilet 2000, a giant toilet the boys drew, is brought to life by what?

The boys build the Incredible Robo-Plunger to fight it. In the movie, Poopypants grows Melvin's invention with a size ray instead.

The gym teacher at Jerome Horwitz Elementary has what fitting name?

Mr. Fyde is the science teacher, Mr. Rected the guidance counsellor and Miss Anthrope the grumpy secretary.

How many main novels are there in the original Captain Underpants series?

The last, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot, came out in 2015. There are also 15 spin-offs.

The first Captain Underpants book was published in which year?

The second, Attack of the Talking Toilets, followed in 1999.

What is the title of the second book in the series?

Poopypants is book four, Wedgie Woman book five and the Purple Potty People book eight.

The final book of the original series, published in 2015, is Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of whom?

In it the boys travel twenty years into the future and meet their grown-up selves and families.

Roughly how many Captain Underpants books have been sold worldwide?

More than 50 million of those were in the United States, and the books have been translated into over 37 languages.

In which two consecutive years was Captain Underpants the most-challenged book in the US, per the ALA?

Complaints usually cited toilet humour and disrespect for authority. Pilkey has argued the books get reluctant readers reading.

Where did the author first invent Captain Underpants as a boy?

He was often sent out of class for misbehaving. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child.

How did the author come to spell his first name 'Dav' without an 'e'?

He kept the misprint. His first book, World War Won, was published in 1987 after he graduated from Kent State.

As a child the author was diagnosed with dyslexia and what else?

He has said his teachers told him he would never make a living drawing silly pictures.

Which studio made the 2017 film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie?

It came out on June 2, 2017, and made $125 million on a $38 million budget.

Who voices George Beard in the 2017 movie?

Middleditch voices Harold, Helms is Mr. Krupp and Nick Kroll plays Professor Poopypants.

In the movie, Professor Poopypants (voiced by Nick Kroll) comes from which made-up country?

The film gives him a German accent and the full name Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants Esquire.

Roughly how much did Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie earn worldwide?

Against a $38 million budget, with positive reviews. Nicholas Stoller wrote it and David Soren directed.

The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants TV series originally streamed on which service?

It ran from 2018 to 2020, including a Camp season and one set in space, and moved to Peacock in January 2026.

Who voices Mr. Krupp and Captain Underpants in the TV series?

Sean Astin narrates and Koechner voices Mr. Meaner. Ed Helms only played Krupp in the movie.

The spin-off series Dog Man, launched in 2016, stars a hero who is what?

After an explosion, doctors sew police dog Greg's head onto Officer Knight's body. His enemy is Petey, 'the world's most evilest cat'.

In Dog Man, what is the name of the police dog whose head is sewn onto Officer Knight?

A nurse suggests the operation when the doctors say they can't save both of them.

Which Epic Tales showrunner wrote and directed the 2025 Dog Man movie and voices Dog Man's vocal effects?

Pete Davidson voices Petey and Ricky Gervais plays Flippy. It grossed $145.6 million on a $40 million budget.

Which other spin-off from the series stars a crime-fighting infant hero?

It came out in 2002, with a sequel, The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, in 2011.

In 2026 the first book was re-released in which format?

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, drawn by Motojiro, keeps the Flip-O-Rama pages. It came out on April 7, 2026.

Which company publishes the Captain Underpants books?

The manga edition came through Scholastic's Graphix imprint, home of Dog Man too.

Which future Get Out director voices George and Harold's nerdy rival in the 2017 film?

The 2014 cast announcement also brought in Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch and Nick Kroll.

The three Robo-Boogers, Carl, Trixie and Frankenbooger, share a weakness to what?

Captain Underpants uses it to destroy the rampaging trio of living mucus, which grow bigger and more evil whenever they eat.

A field trip to what kind of plant triggers the growth of the Bionic Booger Boy?

The Booger Boy is a fusion of the class brainiac, boogers and a super-powered robot, and fills two books.

In the final book, the adult Harold is shown with a husband of what name?

Scholar Thomas Crisp noted a teacher could skip the single word 'husband' when reading aloud; one Michigan school pulled the book from a fair in 2015.

Which comedian did Dav Pilkey once picture in the title role of a live-action TV version?

Farley died the same year the first book came out, and the defunct studio Soup2Nuts later tried an animated series too.

Kipper Krupp, the bully from the boys' kindergarten days, is the principal's what?

His father is Jasper Krupp. A run of pranks eventually made him and his friends Finkstein, Bugg and Loogie nicer to younger kids.

Captain Blunderpants, the evil counterpart from another dimension, is marked out by what?

His transformation works in reverse, and in his dimension the alternate Krupp is actually nice.

After a 2015 reorganization, the 2017 film was animated at Mikros Image in which city?

Producing it outside DreamWorks' usual pipeline cut costs sharply and gave the film a different look from the studio's other releases.

Which DreamWorks film took over Captain Underpants' original March 2017 release date?

Captain Underpants slid to June 2, 2017; Turbo's director David Soren ended up directing it.

Which planet did kindergarten teacher Ms. Dayken teach the boys about, to their amusement?

The joke pays off later: the Robo-Plunger hauls the defeated toilets to that very planet.