Captain Underpants Books In Order

Publication Order of Captain Underpants Books

Captain Underpants is a character from a series of children’s books by Dav Pilkey. Captain Underpants is a superhero, made up for a comic book written by the two main characters, George and Harold. The comic books then become reality when they hypnotize their headmaster and he assumes the role of Captain Underpants.

The books have been very successful, selling over 50 million copies. There are 10 books in the series and 3 spin offs. It has also won awards from Disney and Dreamworks are interested in adapting the books for television.

The Characters

Principal Krupp –He is the principal of the Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. He is obese and has an intense hatred of children. He is often very cruel to the kids and that is why George and Harold hypnotize into become Captain Underpants. They made a mistake whilst trying to turn him back into Mr Krupp and now whenever someone snaps their fingers, or pours water on him, he turns into Captain Underpants. Principal Krupp knows all about the existence of a superhero called Captain Underpants, but he just doesn’t know that he is him!

Captain Underpants – As mentioned above, he is the alter ego of Principal Krupp. When Krupp is in this persona he wears underpants (hence the name) and a cape with black polka dots. He becomes a superhero in book 3, and he did not always have the powers. In the early books, George and Harold would have to keep an eye on him so he didn’t do anything that would hurt. He turns back into Principal Krupp when someone throws water on him.

George and Harold – They are the founding members of Treehouse Comix Inc. They are also best friends who live next to each other and they are in the same class in school. They are tricksters and they are always pulling pranks on other students. They write their comics and then sell them in the school playground. They sneak into the secretary’s office to make copies of their comic and if caught, they are in trouble. They are often in trouble anyway, with Mr Krupp because of their pranks.

Sulu and Crackers – They are Harold and George’s pets. Sulu is a bionic hamster who used to belong to their nemesis, Melvin. Sulu ran away when Melvin shouted at him, and now he belongs to Harold and George. Crackers is their pet dinosaur. They got him on one of their time travelling adventures. These pets do not appear until the later books.

Melvin Sneedly – Melvin is the enemy of Harold and George. The hate each other. Melvin is that intelligent nerd who everyone loves to hate. He is known as a mechanical genius and he is always snitching on Harold and George.

Dr Diaper – He is one of the main villains in the first book. He is a mad scientist but he looks a lot like a baby, so he is called Dr Diaper. He wants to blow up the

moon, but is stopped in the first book. In the 4th book, he succeeds when history is altered by another character, and the moon is destroyed. Never fear though, another character comes to rescue later on and restores the line of history to what it was. In the first book, he also has robots, who is uses to commit is heinous crimes.

Book One: The Adventures of Captain Underpants

In this book, readers are first introduced to Harold and George when they are drawing their comic with their super hero in it. They later play pranks on the school football team and are caught by the principal, Mr Krupp. He recorded the whole thing on video and as punishment; they must become his personal slave.

They spend the following day as his slave and then they get fed up and try to think of a way to get out of it. They end up hypnotizing him into believing he is Captain Underpants and he jumps out the window to fight crime.

In this first adventure, Captain Underpants is almost arrested because the police believe he is part of the gang who have robbed banks, but Harold and George save him at the last minute.

They are then dragged away by forced unknown and this is where they meet Dr Diaper, the villain of the stories. Dr Diaper has an evil plan to destroy the moon and therefore the World. He captures Captain Underpants and it is left to Harold and George to save the day.

Later, they try to get Captain Underpants to turn back into Mr Krupp but nothing works. In frustration, Harold throws water on him and he turns back into Mr Krupp. From then on out, Mr Krupp turns into Captain Underpants and vice versa whenever someone clicks their fingers, or throws water on him.

Film Adaptations

As mentioned above, it was reported that Dreamworks were interested in adapting the books for television, with an animated series. In 2011, they acquired the rights for a movie and it is currently in development. It has since been announced that the movie will be scripted by Nicholas Stoller and Rob Letterman will be the director.

About the Author

Dav Pilkey is the famous author of the Captain Underpants books. He also does the illustrations. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and he has one older sister. As a child he suffered from ADHD and dyslexia and was often reprimanded for his behavior in schools.

He came up with the characters for Captain Underpants when he was still at school. He was often sent out of class for his behavior and usually had to sit at a desk in the hallway.

The book that he made when he was stuck in the hallway was entered into a competition for student authors and he won. As a result of this, the book was published in 1987.

He has been a writer and illustrator ever since. Since the first novel in the Captain Underpants series in 1997, he did release a book nearly every year until 2006. There was a 6 year break then because he was caring for his father, who was terminally ill. His Father died in 2008 but it would be a further 3 years until he would resume writing the series.