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“ | WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!! | „ |
~ Krupp's usual response to finding himself dresses as Captain Underpants |
“ | Tra-la-laaa!!! | „ |
~ Captain Underpants's catchphrase. |
Principal Benjamin "Benny" Krupp, also known as Captain Underpants, is the titular deuteragonist of the popular franchise of the same name.
He is a superhero comic book character created by George Beard and Harold Hutchins who later became real after the duo hypnotized their principal, Mr. Krupp, into believing that he is Captain Underpants. The hypnotic suggestion became permanent after George and Harold doused his head with water. Now, whenever Mr. Krupp hears the sound of a finger snap, he is instantly brainwashed into becoming Captain Underpants once again.
In the film, he is voiced by Ed Helms, who also did The Once-Ler in The Lorax.
In the Netflix series, he is voiced by Nat Faxon.
In the scholastic audiobook series, he is voice by Len Forgione.
Personality[]
Mr. Krupp is a very mean, sour, grumpy, bad-tempered, strict, sadistic, selfish, evil, angry and bossy principal who hates children, especially George and Harold, because of their constant pranks and rebellious behaviour. He has Melvin Sneedly as his snitch as well giving him extra credits for his efforts of caught footage of Harold and George's troubles. According to Harold, Mr. Krupp hates all sources of fun like comic books, recess, Christmas, carnivals and even (allegedly) kittens. He has a romantic crush with the school's lunch lady, Edith.
However, his personality is completely polar as Captain Underpants. He's kind, jolly, loyal yet dim witted. Still, he saves the day and is loyal to his sidekicks George and Harold.
Appearance[]
As Mr. Krupp, he wears a white collar t-shirt with a brown tie and green slacks, along with a toupee. Once he becomes Captain Underpants, he strips to his underpants and removes his toupee, and dons a red cape.
History[]
Role in the books[]
Captain Underpants is a comic book character who was made up by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two mischievous, yet kind hearted boys to attended Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, a school which discouraged creativity.
Once, Mr. Krupp, the sadistic and grouchy principal, caught George and Harold on a video proving that they ruined the Horwitz Knuckleheads football Game. As a punishment, he blackmailed them by threatening to show the tape to their parents and the angry football team unless they completely behaved themselves, received lots of homework and spent all their free time doing chores for him like washing his car, clipping his finger and toenails, and vacuuming his house.
George and Harold had enough and bought a 3D-Hypno Ring. They planned to hypnotize Mr. Krupp into giving them the tape back. The two went into his office the next day, tricking Mr. Krupp into staring into the ring by telling him that he'll see a hidden picture if he stares long enough. Krupp begins getting sleepy, and eventually becomes completely hypnotized. George and Harold tell Krupp to obey their every command, and he agrees to do so.
After getting back the tape, the two decide to have some fun with their hypnotized principal, first making him think he's a chicken, then a monkey. After this, they tell him to think he's Captain Underpants. Mr. Krupp complies and begins smiling as he immediately strips down to his underwear. He rips the red curtain off his window and uses it as a cape, and begins stands triumphantly. The two found it funny, until he ran off and actually tried to fight crime.
After accidentally defeating Dr. Diaper, George and Harold dunk water on Captain Underpants' head, accidentally making the hypnosis permanent. Now, Mr. Krupp turns back into Captain Underpants whenever he hears fingers snap. Also, whenever "Captain Underpants" gets his head wet, he transforms back into his usual, grumpy self.
Mr. Krupp turns into Captain Underpants several times after this, going on many adventurers and obtaining real superpowers. He battles various foes, such as Professor Poopypants, Wedgie Woman, the Turbo Toilet 2000, Zorx, Klax & Jennifer, Captain Blunderpants, Evil George Beard, Evil Harold Hutchins, Melvin Sneedly and Sir Stinks-A-Lot.
Role in the movie[]
In the film, Mr. Krupp is bent on busting George and Harold of their multiple pranks they had done to him and the other staff, though he finds it upsetting that he hasn't gotten any evidence to have them punished. He also hates their Captain Underpants comics as he forbids them from creating any in the school grounds, even tearing up their latest one detailing the origins of the superhero, much to their horror.
George and Harold's pranks come to an apparent end after they tamper with a toilet invention called the Turbo Toilet 2000 made by the school's local snitch Melvin Sneedly. With that in mind, Krupp happily decides to place George and Harold in separate classes in order to annihilate their friendship and their pranks. But before Krupp could fill up the paperwork to make it happen, George hypnotizes Krupp with a 3D Hypno-Ring he received out of a cereal box; the boys see that Krupp bears a resemblance to Captain Underpants without his toupee and command him to be Captain Underpants. However, this quickly backfires when Captain Underpants begins causing some problems around Piqua, thinking he is a real superhero with superpowers.
The boys discover that they can turn Captain Underpants back into Krupp by splashing water on him and can turn him back by snapping their fingers. Believing that Krupp will continue with his plan to separate them, they decide to settle with Captain Underpants but insist that he be dressed up as Krupp under the pretense of a secret identity, to which Captain Underpants agrees. His sudden personality change even manages to attract the attention and affection of the school's shy lunch lady Edith.
The boys even learn (after exploring his house) that Krupp might not be as evil as they thought, but has rather been lonely for most of his life. Eventually, Krupp turns back into himself after a rainstorm occurred, learning that George and Harold have started a fair at the school without his knowledge. Having enough of their antics, Krupp angrily sentences the two boys to separate classes, much to their discomfort. Despite being satisfied that he finally punished the boys as promised, Krupp finds himself moping in boredom after looking at the casserole that Edith made for him, feeling so depressed that he never got a chance to ask her out on a date.
During the fight against Professor Poopypants and the Turbo Toilet 2000, the boys change Krupp into Captain Underpants to help them fight off the villains. Unfortunately, Poopypants gets the Turbo Toilet 200 to swallow Captain Underpants whole before taking George and Harold as hostages. However the boys' sense of comedy managed to help crash the Turbo Toilet's system, allowing Captain Underpants to escape after consuming the rotten leftovers inside.
The leftovers also allowed Captain Underpants to obtain superpowers to finally defeat Poopypants, becoming a true hero to the public. However, George and Harold destroy the 3D Hypno-Ring in an attempt to permanently change him back into Krupp, as they know that they can't control Captain Underpants. Feeling sorry for Krupp because he has no friends, the boys set him and the lovesick Edith up on a date. This made Krupp have a change of heart, even returning the comics he took away from George and Harold while admitting that they are funny.
However, the toxic waste from the Turbo Toilet 2000 transforms all the toilets into an army of Talking Toilets which attack the restaurant at which Mr. Krupp and Edith are dining. Upon snapping his fingers while calling for a check after seeing a toilet eating up a citizen in horror, Mr. Krupp once again becomes Captain Underpants, carrying George and Harold away to help him fight the Talking Toilets, which confuses George, as he thought destroying the ring would destroy the hypnotism.
Role in the Netflix series[]
As Mr. Krupp, he is now portrayed as incredibly stupid and mean. He has also developed a love for guacamole and salami, though he developed salami intolerance due to eating it too fast. Krupp's shown to be not very bright, even as a principal, and has always been a bully. However, there are still times where he is somewhat decent, though it's usually because it would benefit him, such as when he allowed the students and faculty of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School to go to space so he could have a chance to outshine his high school rival.
In "The Soggy Salvation of the Swirling Sweatnami," it is revealed his childhood was terrible. His mother, Bernice Krupp, verbally abused him and only saw him as a disappointment. When Mr. Krupp entered the school talent show and tried to perform as a rapper, Bernice humiliated him and encouraged his peers to do the same. This incident led Benjamin to become the spiteful principal he is today.
As a teenager, he was under the impression he competed with Moxie Swaggerman, despite her barely being aware of his existence. When Mr. Krupp meets Moxie again in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants in Space!, he attempts to serve as the schoolship's leader but fails horribly, even sending the School Spaceship to a planet called Utopiqua and their crash landing which would got everyone almost killed.
When he get turn into Captain Underpants, like his book series counterpart, George and Harold will use him to save Piqua and the world form the villain they created by accident.
He often says "Oooooooo" whenever he finds something surprising or interesting. He aslo has powers that has him able to survive in space without a suit.
Other alter egos[]
A brainwashed supervillain of Captain Underpants called Captain NanoPants after being taken over by the Nanobots who only appears in The Taxing Trauma of the Treacherous Tattle Trials.
A dream version of Captain Underpants called Captain Ultrapants who only appears in The Monstrous Mayhem of the Massive Melviathan.
Trivia[]
- Alternatively, Dav Pilkey wanted Chris Farley to play Captain Underpants as the development for a live-action film or TV series began in 1997, when the first book came out. The project was shelved when Farley died.
- In many occasions, the book version of Captain Underpants is shown to be smarter than his animated counterparts.
- In the TV series, Captain Underpants often says "Oooooooo" whenever he finds something surprising or interesting.
- In The Cunning Combat of the Covert Camoflush, Captain Underpants was apparently under prohibition for using paint to attempt to paint the town red.
- Despite his cruelty, Mr. Krupp does have a soft spot for his nephew Kipper, as he punishes anyone who seemingly bullies him, despite it being obvious that Kipper is the bully.
- His full name, Benny Krupp, is a pun on the word "bankrupt."
- In Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-Lot, Mr. Krupp lost his ability to turn into Captain Underpants. The book stated that there are two possible reasons for this: the electromagnetic explosion that resulted from feeding Sir Stinks-a-Lot soda, Mentos, and pop rocks had erased the hypnotic spell from Mr. Krupp's brain, or Sir Stinks-a-Lot's Super-Power-Juice-ectonomy took away Mr. Krupp's superpowers.
- It is possible he was not erased from Mr. Krupp's mind in the book series, because in Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers, Old Mr. Krupp was able to turn into Captain Underpants, even after the events of the twelfth book.
- He, Mr. Krupp, George, and Harold are the only characters to appear in every episode of The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.
- In Book 3, it is revealed that he is aware of his missions and heroism in the Treehouse Comix novels written about him by George and Harold. This is most likely because, as revealed in Book 1, Mr. Krupp has removed and stored every issue of their Captain Underpants comics. (This implies that he has read them all at some time).
- In the film, he reflects on his missions and accomplishments while also reading comic books about himself.
- In the film, he recalls using the plunger to fight the toilets in Book 2.
- Although he is unaware of Mr. Krupp, he is aware of his office and house
- Mr. Krupp cannot turn into Captain Underpants until his face and/or head are completely dry in the books and TV series. Mr. Krupp in the film can instantly transform back into Captain Underpants with the snap of a finger, even if he has just gotten soaked. In the film, the only exception to this rule is if it is currently raining.
- As seen in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, he is obsessed with carnivals and will go to any length to make them more spectacular.
- Despite the fact that he is a deuteragonist, the entire franchise is named for him.
Quotes[]
“ | Now it is time to fly again! | „ |
~ Captain Underpants' movie quote. |
“ | Stand down, you giant ape monster! | „ |
~ Captain Underpants believing a ape balloon is a monster |
“ | Well, you seem terrific! You're hired! | „ |
~ Captain Underpants hiring Professor Poopypants as a science teacher. |
External Links[]
- Mr. Krupp on the Villains Wiki
- Mr. Krupp on the DreamWorks Animation Wiki
- Captain Underpants on the DreamWorks Animation Wiki
- Mr. Krupp on the Captain Underpants Wiki
- Captain Underpants on the Captain Underpants Wiki