WMG / Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Changes to the story.

George and Harold essentially ruined everyone's good day in the first book, so to give them a Adaptational Heroism, they did the prank as a retaliation to the Jerk Jocks and the Alpha Bitch cheerleaders. To have Mr. Krupp Kick the Dog, the boys actually finished to do the chores unlike in the book but Mr. Krupp decides to release the video out of spite.

• Arguably, change the prank so it was more against the teachers or the opposing team as none of the kids are jerks or mean (Aside from Melvin). The teachers on the other hand are definite Jerkasses.
  • Melvin is the one pranked in the film that sets things in motion.
  • Kind of. The teachers (With the exception of Mr. Krupp) aren't actively mean, they're more apathetic at best. George and Harold's pranks against the teachers are the only fun and joy the kids have at school.
• Personally, I'm hoping for a different story than the first book. That one's the weakest by far. I think they should make more of an Adaptation Distillation. Have the origin story of book one (shortened up quite a bit so as not to take up much runtime), but make the rest either a completely original story or an adaptation of another book in the series.
• So far, based on what's been seen in the first trailer, the story will be a mashup of some of the stories from the books, with the initial hypnosis of Mr. Krupp to Captain Underpants from the first novel, the arrival of Professor Poopypants from the fourth, the creation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 from the second, and Captain Underpants gaining his superpowers from the third.
  • Maybe Harold's Disappeared Dad, first in mentioned book nine, and how he and George became friends in the first place, also from book nine, will be part of the plot or at least get a mention. Maybe along the lines of having Harold remark "You know; as dumb as he is, having Captain Underpants around is almost like having a dad.", at which George looks uncomfortable and the Captain wants to know what he means by that, leading to a flashback where they briefly talk about Harold's dad walking out before moving on to "the day we met".
    • Jossed, no mention is made of Harold's Disappeared Dad.
    • Not quite- while the Dad being gone isn't specifically mentioned, when discussing Mr. Krupp and Edith (badly) flirting, Harold mentions that George's parents are married, while implying that he knows that adults can flirt- implying that his parents aren't together.

The Cheerleaders themselves if they appeared in the film:

• The cheerleaders will be friends with the boys, not bitches. George and Harold have a crush on them so all five of them prank the Jerk Jocks.
  • Jossed. They don't appear.
  • Also, Harold is canonically gay, so Dream Works, which has been called out for erasure in the past, evidently won't cross that line. Maybe.

The movie will go into a bit of Krupp's backstory and what made him so mean as a grownup.

• One of the themes of the books is that adults who try to snuff out a child's creativity can turn them into a bitter adult. Perhaps the very same thing happened to Krupp when he was a child.
  • An interview with Ed Helms on the movie gives some evidence possibly supporting this, with Helms describing Mr. Krupp as a repressed, lonely individual with a kernel of goodness in him deep down somewhere which comes out as Captain Underpants.
  • Kind of. There's no backstory on Mr. Krupp's childhood, but George and Harold do discover he's a very lonely, bitter guy.

Krupp secretly reads and enjoys the boys' comics about Captain Underpants.

• How else would he know exactly how Captain Underpants talks and acts unless the knowledge was already in his subconscious from reading the books?
  • Adding to the above WMG, Krupp cosplays as Captain Underpants behind closed doors. In real life hypnosis, subjects cannot be forced to do something against their will. If Krupp didn't want to pretend to be Captain Underpants, George and Harold's suggestion to him to become the Captain wouldn't have worked. Then again, in real life, someone can only be hypnotized if they want to be. So unless the people who made the Hypno Ring discovered a way to hypnotize someone against their will, real life hypnosis might not be in use here.
  • Confirmed. He does secretly enjoy the comic books.

Krupp's threat to destroy the boys' friendship could have held more water than initially appears.

• In addition to sending them to separate classes, he intended to convince their parents that they were bad influences on each other and that they needed to be separated "for their own good". If this proves canon, it will probably be the reason George hypnotizes Krupp because while he could probably make it without Harold, he knows there's no way Harold could make it without him. And not in a conceited fashion; if Harold is anything like his book self, before he and George became friends, he was a lonely Shrinking Violet who got constantly picked on and drew superheroes to try to deal with the pain of his Disappeared Dad.
• Jossed. He doesn't mention it to their parents because he concludes they must be failures, and at the end George and Harold realize they were overreacting to the whole thing and resolve to be friends regardless.
• Not completely. The boys' parents aren't involved and while they do come around to realizing they were blowing the situation out of proportion, prior to that, Harold is very clearly the more distressed of the two about the dilemma. Both Imagine Spots entailing their separation are exclusively from Harold's POV, and their intensity is actually rather harrowing. The first one (shown through sock puppets), its silliness aside, is still Harold envisioning how he and George will gradually and eventually grow apart, lead separate lives, with George subsequently forgetting about him and their friendship entirely if they're separated. The second one that occurs after they are separated in easily the most upsetting sequence in the whole film, is Harold imagining George and himself drifting further and further apart from being on separate islands, to opposite sides of the world, to different worlds entirely, to opposite ends of the universe, the two desperately calling out to each other but utterly powerless to stop the forces forcing them away from each other, as if cementing his earlier fears. As for George, he doesn't like the idea of being separated any more than Harold does, but amidst his own worries tries to stay rational about it and reassure Harold that "it's not the end of the world"; however, he caves to the fears and resolves to take immediate action to thwart it after seeing just how badly Harold is taking the situation from his narration of the aforementioned first Imagine Spot. What prompts George to hypnotize Krupp is sheer desperation and Harold frantically pleading for him to do something to stop Krupp.

The Hypno Ring has some kind of magical powers that allow it to do Hollywood Hypnosis, albeit not as perfectly as anyone would prefer. And it will be plot important, either in this movie or in a possible sequel.

• The trailer has the scene where George hypnotizes Krupp involve visible rings of power that appear to be solid and gravity alteration. Clearly there is something not normal going on there. And there are lots of reasons someone with fewer morals than George and Harold would want something that can make people do whatever you want them to.
  • It is unexplained-ly magical, though it's destroyed at the end.

There will be a scene where George and Harold rig the intercom to play "Weird Al" Yankovic music for six hours straight.

• We've already got the man himself doing the theme song as a Mythology Gag. A gag like this would make it an ironic Brick Joke, that Mr. Krupp's new alter ego has a theme song by a singer he apparently hates. Plus, if the implication is that George and Harold actually like Weird Al, having him do the theme song would be as much a dream come true for them as it was for so many fans.
  • There's also this photo from Al's Instagram of his band re-recording an old song of his for "an upcoming film." Though none of his other song appear on the soundtrack album.
  • Jossed. It doesn't happen, though Weird Al's song for the film plays over the credits.

There will be at least a subtle hint at (spoiler for the 12th book) Harold's homosexuality

Some of the trailers have George and Harold running at one another gleefully in a field of flowers. Whether this is romantic or platonic has yet to be confirmed.

• There will be some subtle Gayngst involving Harold; despite homosexuality is becoming more common and accepting, Harold will be afraid and uncomfortable about his feelings.
  • Or hopefully not, since the boys are, you know, 9-10.
  • There's nothing that says a child has to be of a certain age to know whether or not they're gay, and indeed kids even younger have been known to come out as homosexual or even transgender, even if they don't know those exact words exist. After all, plenty of kids know if they're straight or cisgender at that age; why not the opposite?
  • And one of the reasons he's struggling? He doesn't know how to tell George, who's totally straight, that he has a crush on him. But after some understandable initial shock, George reassures Harold that while he's not romantically interested in him, he still wants to be his friend and doesn't think any less of him.
• Jossed, there's no mention of this at all in the movie. However, there are some Ho Yay moments between George and Harold.

George and Harold's status as The Dividual will be abandoned, giving them more distinct personality traits.

Doing so could help make each one gain more Character Development.

• Something similar happened in book #9, where George was shown to be smarter and Harold was shown to be more imaginative. They'll probably do something like that here.
• During an interview, Thomas Middleditch noted that Harold is the slightly more sensitive and introverted of the two. In another interview, Jordan Peele commented that Harold is a good foil to George, along with George having optimism and energy. Even in the footage seen so far, the boys usually have different reactions and expressions to the same events they're experiencing. There probably will be some degree of personality difference between George and Harold, though the extent has yet to be known.
• Confirmed. George is definitely the bolder, more outgoing, and more optimistic of the two. He also seems to be the ringleader for instigating most of the pranks they do, but both contribute equally in said prank's execution. Harold is indeed more introverted and emotionally sensitive, as the two very dramatic imagine spots of how the two's friendship is destroyed by being separated are both shown coming from his perspective, and how very put out he was in response to Krupp tearing up their "Origin Issue" comic book in the beginning, significantly more so than George was. Harold is also shown to be a tad more socially awkward, as seen with the "Saturday" music number and the first attempts of affirming their friendship pact near the end, with George reacting confused/slightly weirded out in response.
• Ultimately played with- while they are more unique from each other than in the books, they do frequently comment to each other that they have practically the same thoughts.

Professor Poopypants will reform himself at the end of the film and develop a bond with Mr. Krupp.

• In the music video for Weird Al's Captain Underpants theme song, we see a clip of Professor Poopypants crying as if he realized what he was doing was wrong. We also know from a clip shown in a promo video that Professor Poopypants' main problem is that he can't laugh at himself. Perhaps George and Harold will help him realize that laughing at yourself can be a great way to get through life's struggles. After this, they reveal Captain Underpants' true form to Professor Poopypants, who is shocked by the revelation. The boys explain to Professor Poopypants about how Mr. Krupp is similar to him, since he hates fun and laughter like he did. Mr. Krupp and Professor Poopypants become friends, and try their best to make Jerome Horwitz Elementary School a fun place for the students who go there.
  • Jossed. Professor Poopypants doesn't get redeemed and ends up escaping on a back of a bee.

There will be a joke towards George and Harold's voices.

Considering the books have No Fourth Wall and constantly lampshades, and how old both the boys sounded, it's a given. One of the characters will Handwave this that their voices are deepening early.

• Jossed.

At the end of the movie...

...someone will snap their fingers, Mr. Krupp will turn into Captain Underpants and fly out the window yelling "Tra-la-LAAAAA!" and George and Harold will yell, "Oh no!" and "Here We Go Again!!!"

• Confirmed. Mr. Krupp snaps his fingers, and Harold does indeed shout "Here We Go Again!"

Who will be the main villain of the sequel?

Assuming it gets one. (Make it happen, film gods!) Place your bets here!

• Professor Poopypants, since he got away.
  • He may even be the Big Bad for the whole series, if it becomes one.
• Wicked Wedgie Woman
• Bionic Booger Boy, since Melvin's still around.
• The Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space.
  • Maybe Edith will have to fight them?
  • Or maybe Edith is one of them...
• Captain Blunderpants and/or Evil!George and Evil!Harold
• Dr. Diaper
• The Stuck-On-Hold woman

The sequel will have Professor Poopypants using the mysterious "cafeteria food" to create new supervillains.

He kept an extra supply of the stuff in case his toilet-mech ran out of power. He also figures out who Captain Underpants really is, and decides to make his own superhuman schoolteachers to combat him, ones who share his extreme hatred of children. Ms. Ribble and Mr. Meaner would make for some good candidates.

Edith will turn out to be one of the alien Cafeteria ladies.

Her "leftovers" are the source of Krupp's powers like the alien superpower juice from the books. This is because she's an agent from the same species as Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer, assigned to feed alien mutagen to children and create an army of superpowered tykes. Edith relented because she grew to love her human life and tried to dispose of the substance, but ended up giving Underpants his powers. A sequel will have three other members of Edith's species arrive on earth to claim Krupp as alien property, and become the series' main villains along with Poopypants.

Mr. Krupp KNOWS that he is Captain Underpants.

• At least, at the end of the movie where he admits he enjoyed reading George and Harold's comics. Remember, in the treehouse, he looks into the eyes of the Tattle Turtle, which has a hidden camera. Who's to say the turtle wasn't secretly recording at that time? Perhaps Mr. Krupp later watched the footage on the turtle (why he would is anybody's guess) and saw himself as Captain Underpants, which caused him to appreciate the character more.
  • Alternatively Edith witnessed him transform into his superhero alter ego right in front of her after the Talking Toilets interrupt their date. While it certainly surprised her, she doesn't seem bothered by it. However, I'd imagine at some point or another she'd question him about it or the like, and after some initial confusion, Krupp would be able to figure things out from there.

The second movie will start In Medias Res

Things will look bleak, with Captain Underpants locked in a life-or-death struggle with his latest foe. Then George and Harold will pause the action to recap the events of the first film (in their hand-drawn comic style) and explain how they got into whatever crazy mess they're currently in. It also serves as an excuse to use the Running Gag of "But before we tell you that story, we have to tell you this one!" from the books.

The Nobel Prize flashback was an exaggeration of what actually happened to Professor Poopypants.

• It would seem very unlikely in that situation that an entire audience of adults laughed at the name "Poopypants". Maybe Professor Poopypants was simply triggered by the fact that Nobel Prize moderator laughed at him, and was so stressed (due to the fact he never went out of New Swissland before, and thought his name was normal), he thought that this one person laughing at him meant that he didn't win the prize because the moderator couldn't take him seriously, and he also imagined that the audience laughed at him as well, since he found it humiliating for this one woman to laugh at his name.

In the "Klassic Funny Bloopers" reel, the safe falling was unscripted, and the guy actually died.

That's why Professor Poopypants finds it funny.

The radioactive leftover-goo gave Captain Underpants low-level Reality Warper superpowers.

• Think about it: Not only did he gain the standard Flying Brick powerset of flight, strength, and indestructibility, he also gained the ability to fire infinite underpants from seemingly nowhere. That can't be explained away as easily, right? It might also grant sentience too, seeing as it created the Turbo Toilets.

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