Captain Underpants

Captain Underpants is an American illustrated children's novel series and multimedia franchise created by 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.

As of 2026, the series includes 12 main novels, two activity books, colored versions, and 15 spin-offs. The series has been translated into more than 37 languages, with more than 90 million books sold worldwide, including over 50 million in the United States.

In 2015, the original novel series concluded with a twelfth book, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot. The finale was followed by a spin-off series titled Dog Man, released the following year in 2016.

Since its debut in 1997, Captain Underpants has been among the most frequently challenged books in American schools and libraries, as educators hold varied opinions regarding the series. Despite the controversy, the series has continued to have success, and released a manga adaptation in July of 2025.

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, followed by a television series, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, which aired on Netflix from July 13, 2018, to December 4, 2020.

Novels

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 and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants (2015)
Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman (2017) According to the publisher, the book was scheduled to debut simultaneously in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand through Scholastic's Graphix imprint and to retain the series' signature Flip-O-Rama pages while adopting the visual conventions of manga. The organization reported 464 formal, written complaints about library or school materials nationwide in 2012, an increase from 326 in 2011, which officials partly attributed to a new online reporting portal. In Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot, the two protagonists travel twenty years into the future and encounter adult versions of themselves alongside their families. In a 2008 commentary published in American Teacher, former high-school teacher Gary D. Askins argues that the books rely on bodily-function humor and depictions of disrespect toward adults. He questions whether schools should promote them as reading material for children aged seven to ten. In the same issue, school librarian Sara Kelly Johns defends the series as a tool for reaching reluctant readers, particularly boys, and quoted elementary librarians who praised Pilkey for embracing silliness as a route into reading for pleasure. A 2006 study of forty-three boys aged four to twelve, reviewed in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice in 2009, found that series books including Captain Underpants, Animorphs, Magic Tree House, and Redwall appeared frequently in the boys' personal collections and that humorous and illustrated formats were consistently valued by the participants. The therapist reports that while reading and discussing the series provided a vehicle for the child to engage with age-inappropriate humor, it served as a means to practice writing despite his reading difficulties. When asked about the recurring presence of the series on lists of challenged books, Pilkey said, ironically, he attributed part of his commercial success to the publicity generated by efforts to restrict access to the books. In 2009, he signed a deal with Scholastic for four new books, the first of which was The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, released August 10, 2010. The second was Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, released June 28, 2011. The third book, Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers, was released August 28, 2012. The fourth book, Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers, was released January 15, 2013.

Other media

Films

Feature film

On October 20, 2011, it was reported that DreamWorks Animation had acquired rights to make an animated feature film based on the Captain Underpants series. On October 25, 2013, it was reported that Rob Letterman would direct the film, while Nicholas Stoller would write the script. It would have been the second film to have Letterman and Stoller working together, the first being Gulliver's Travels. On January 21, 2014, the cast was announced, with Ed Helms joining as Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants; Kevin Hart as George Beard; Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins; Nick Kroll as the insidious villain, Professor Poopypants; and Jordan Peele as Melvin, the nerdy nemesis of George and Harold. On June 12, 2014, the film was scheduled for release on January 13, 2017. Following DreamWorks Animation's reorganization in early 2015, the studio announced that the film would be produced outside of the studio's pipeline at a significantly lower cost. It would be instead animated at Mikros Image in Montreal, Canada, and it would look differently than most of DWA's films. A month later, Deadline reported that Letterman had left the project, and that David Soren, the director of Turbo, was in talks to direct the film, but Letterman returned to the project and served as an executive producer with Dav Pilkey. The film was expected to be released on March 10, 2017, The film was released on June 2, 2017.

Spin-off films

On December 9, 2020, it was announced that a feature film based on the Dog Man spin-off series is in development at DreamWorks Animation with Peter Hastings directing at the helm after his experience with Dav Pilkey's works from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. On October 6, 2023, the movie was confirmed to be released in 2025. On January 29, 2024, it was announced that the film would be released on January 31, 2025. A sequel is in development.

Television series

Dav Pilkey had looked to turn the books into a possible live-action TV series, and he had imagined Chris Farley in the titular role. Around the same year the first book debuted to the public, Farley died of a drug overdose. Defunct animation studio Soup2Nuts also attempted to produce an animated series based on the books in the early 2000s.

DreamWorks Animation Television produced a television series based on (and a sequel to) the film that was streamed to Netflix. It was released on July 13, 2018.