- For the frog, see Melvin The Frog.
“ | I don't get it. What's so funny? | ” |
—Melvin Sneedly's catchphrase in the film. |
“ | You guys are so immature! | ” |
—Melvin in the books. |
Melvin Sneedly is the smartest person in all of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. He is the only known son of Gaylord Sneedly, the recipient of "The Most Brilliant Science Guy of the Whole Wide World Award", and Cindy Sneedly. He is a tattletale, which is a source of irritation to other pupils. Melvin briefly became The Bionic Booger Boy as the result of a failed experiment.
He is the secondary antagonist of the Captain Underpants franchise. In the Netflix Series, he is also the main antagonist.
He is voiced by Jordan Peele in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Jorge Diaz in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, and Len Forgione in the Sound-O-Rama Audiobooks.
Appearance
In the books, his outfits change throughout the books, to a pair of glasses, a white shirt, green shorts, and blue bowtie, to yellow shirt, dark purple shorts, and glasses.
In Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, his skin becomes lighter, his glasses become green, he is wearing a white polo shirt underneath his green and brown V-shape vest that has an argyle pattern, his bowtie becomes yellow, and he is wearing a blue watch, and his pants become blue. He also wears dark brown socks and brown shoes.
In The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, his shirt becomes light yellow, his bowtie returns to being red, his glasses become black again, his pants become a mix between blue and green, and his shoes are now green-ish brown.
As a baby, he wears a green pacifier and a diaper with blue pins.
History
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets
George Beard and Harold Hutchins sneak into the gymnasium to sabotage the Invention Convention, they see Melvin Sneedly making some last-minute modifications to his entry: the PATSY 2000 (Photo-Atomic Trans-Somgobulating Yectofantriplutoniczanziptomiser). Melvin Sneedly spots them, and George promises that they won't touch his invention if he promises not to report them. Melvin Sneedly reluctantly agrees. He presents its ability to make 3-D copies of a 2-D image to the two by creating a mouse. George and Harold are not convinced. After the Invention Convention is a complete failure, Melvin Sneedly breaks his promise and tattles on George and Harold. Melvin is seen in the detention room after George and Harold are made Principal for the Day. He writes "I will not be a tattletale" on the blackboard.
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)
He is seen in the study hall when Benjamin Krupp orders George and Harold to go to his office. He was later turned into a Zombie Nerd like the rest of the school (excluding George, Harold, and Krupp). He reverts to normal after he drinks the Anti Zombie Nerd Root Beer, along with everyone else in the school.
Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants
Melvin Sneedly briefly appears waiting in line behind George and Harold for a school field trip to Piqua Pizza Palace. Melvin Sneedly was one of the kids laughing at Professor Poopypants. Later, he is renamed "Pinky Pizzabrains" by Professor Poopypants.
Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman
Melvin asks Ms. Ribble if the students can make up their own poems for the class's retirement cards, but she says no. At the wedding, he is seen with cream on his head, feeling humiliated. Melvin later reads rule #7734 to his fellow students after Krupp turns into Captain Underpants and flies away, causing the robotic George and Harold to unleash their rockets and fly after him.
Captain Underpants and the Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy - Part 1: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets
Melvin serves as a major character in both this book and its second part.
Melvin keeps the class from leaving, wanting to do his class presentation. He shows them the device he built: the Combine-O-Tron 2000. For his demonstration, he combines his pet hamster Sulu with a miniature robot. When Sulu doesn't obey his orders to demonstrate his astonishing powers to the class, Melvin threatens to hit the hamster with a ping-pong paddle. In self-defense, Sulu grabs Melvin and spanks him with the paddle. Melvin yells that he doesn't want Sulu anymore and runs out crying. George and Harold adopt Sulu as their pet. Melvin later tattles to Mr. Krupp about George and Harold. Furious, George and Harold make a comic book that mocks Melvin and makes him look stupid.
Melvin reads a copy and is furious. When he returns home, he builds a superpowered robot, intending to become a cyborg in a manner similar to what he did to Sulu and get revenge on George and Harold. However, due to his parents' cat being in his bedroom (and Melvin is allergic to it), Melvin sneezes at the last second and is fused with the robot and his boogers. The next day, the rest of the class is horrified by Melvin's transformation into the "Bionic Booger Boy". Due to the time required to make a separation machine, Melvin is trapped as the Bionic Booger Boy for at least six months. Melvin finds positive side effects to his transformation, becoming the star football player (no one wants to tackle him), an ace volleyball player (no one wants to serve the volleyball he touches), and getting his own personal drinking fountain (the snot covering his body gets all over the fountain).
However, when the cold and flu season comes, Melvin Sneedly begins acting strange, producing sneezes covering gigantic areas in snot, and speaking in broken English ("Me no like tissues", when the correct one would be "I don't like tissues".). When the class takes a field trip to a tissue factory, the president throws tissue packs on Melvin. These tissue packs cause Melvin to grow gigantic in size and insane. He destroys the factory and goes on a rampage. George and Harold turn Mr. Krupp into Captain Underpants, who saves Ms. Anthrope from Melvin. However, Ms. Anthrope gives Captain Underpants a large wet kiss as thanks, which turns him back into Mr. Krupp. Melvin eats Mr. Krupp, then goes after George and Harold. Right before he eats George and Harold, Sulu, hearing the two's cries, saves them with his bionic powers. He then knocks Melvin unconscious using props from nearby stores.
Melvin Sneedly's parents arrive at the scene with the Combine-O-Tron 2000. Mr. Sneedly switches the batteries of the Combine-O-Tron 2000 around and separates the robot and snot from Melvin. However, Melvin is partially fused with Mr. Krupp. They are unfused by a second blast. However, the two begin acting strangely. Mr. Krupp says that George and Harold are immature, and Melvin yells that he will punish George and Harold. The robotic snot components come to life as the Robo-Boogers, destroy the Combine-O-Tron 2000, and chase after George, Harold, Mr. Krupp, Melvin, and Sulu.
Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy - Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers
The Robo-Boogers are still chasing the five. Sulu saves them, swallowing the Robo-Boogers and spitting them out to Uranus. Mr. Krupp and Melvin continue to act weird. George Beard and Harold Hutchins realize that as an unwanted side-effect, Benjamin Krupp and Melvin's brains were switched around. Melvin (nicknamed Mr. Melvin, as he is in Benjamin Krupp's body), explains that it will take 6 months to build a new Combine-O-Tron 2000. George suggests that Melvin instead builds a time machine, which will take only a day or two, and take the Combine-O-Tron before it gets destroyed.
Melvin takes credit for this idea, but snaps his fingers, causing Kruppy the Kid (Benjamin Krupp in Melvin's body) to turn into Captain Underpants. George and Harold try to stop this, but they are too late, and Mr. Melvin witnesses Captain Underpants fly out the window. Realizing that their principal is Captain Underpants, Mr. Melvin is confused about the situation, and George and Harold are forced to explain everything. Mr. Melvin plans to keep Captain Underpants' powers in his body and become a superhero (or potential supervillain). He forces George and Harold to cooperate, threatening them with excessive homework. He demands that they create a comic book about him, and specifically orders them to give him a cool name and not to make him look stupid. After that, he gets some supplies and heads to the vacant school library.
The librarian, Ms. Singerbrains, gets him a porta-potty from the basement (he sits in it while she carries it up to supervise), and he subsequently fires her for "the rest of her life."
The next day, after finishing the Time Machine, he sees the comic book George and Harold made. It is exactly the opposite of what he wanted, giving him a stupid name and not making him look cool. Mr. Melvin is immediately furious. He instructs them to use the time machine and retrieve the Combine-O-Tron. Before they leave, he gives them the Forgetchamacallit 2000 to erase anyone's short-term memories if they get spotted, a fake Combine-O-Tron to switch for the real one, and the instruction not to use the time machine two days in a row, as it needs a day to cool off. If they use it two days in a row, they’ll be sent to another dimension. Unfortunately, the boys don’t listen and they retrieve the Combine-O-Tron, and they get ahold of Captain Underpants.
Mr. Melvin asks Captain Underpants to come in for a "photo", and the two are returned to their original bodies. As Melvin planned, Captain Underpants' powers are still in Melvin's body. Instead of using his powers to stop the Robo-Boogers (who have returned from Uranus), he demands that George and Harold first write a new comic book about him, and make him cool this time. George and Harold refuse and go to save Captain Underpants. The Robo-Boogers are destroyed by the three, but Melvin arrives to the scene with a news crew, taking credit for the three's work with his new powers.
Melvin tries to force Captain Underpants to bow before him. Captain Underpants refuses. George and Harold run back to the school and get the Combine-O-Tron. They then use it to return Captain Underpants' powers to him. George then uses the Forgetchamacallit 2000 to erase all the recent events that had just happened from the memories of the news crew (and the audience watching the news). Soon after, an angry mob of people, who Captain Underpants and Mr. Krupp angered while in Melvin's body arrived. Melvin is last seen running away from the mob, and he is still running the next day.
Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People
After George and Harold enter an alternate universe, they meet an alternate Melvin Sneedly who has no intelligence (he is shown struggling on comprehending an easy to read children's bestseller and his clothes were worn incorrectly).
Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Re-Turn of Tippy Tinkletrousers
Melvin is mentioned in the newspaper that is about George, Harold, and Mr. Krupp's trial in the original future. It is said that he mocked them when they were found guilty.
Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers
After Sulu and Crackers sacrifice themselves, George, Harold and Captain Underpants find out that Crackers has laid three eggs. The heroes then decide to look after them. As they walk away, Melvin appears in a giant squid like device. He then proceeds to capture them and take them back to the present day (he knew where they were because an “old friend” of theirs led him there)
Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000
The story begins where the last book left off with Melvin kidnapping George, Harold, and Captain Underpants. He takes them to the present where Tippy is pursuing their past selves to the past. George and Harold ask why Melvin saved them by hacking into the bank's computer and defacing their surveillance photos, because in the past Melvin hated them. Melvin simply replies that 'he had his reasons'."
The truth is, in the original timeline, where George, Harold and Krupp went to the future, the Turbo Toilet 2000 returned to earth. Melvin get annoyed by him and insulted the Turbo Toilet 2000, saying "HEY! I'm trying to WORK, you idiot! BE QUIET!!!" The Turbo Toilet then chased Melvin to Jerome Horwitz Elementary School where he hid in Mr. Krupp's office. He notices a toenail from Mr. Krupp, and he tosses it away in disgust. Suddenly, he remembers that Mr. Krupp is Captain Underpants and he could extract his DNA to him. Melvin started searching for the toenail again. Eventually the Turbo Toilet 2000 finds him, but Melvin finds the toenail, converts it to a juice, and drank it.
When he kills the Turbo Toilet, The Mayor had a parade for him. Al Yankovic wrote a song about him and Vice President Joe Biden wrote a letter of congratulations to him and he became the superhero he dreamed of: "Big Melvin." However, he only liked it for a while, since soon enough, people kept meddling in with his experiments for dumb reasons and he decided to go save George, Harold, and Captain Underpants. Using a tracker he installed in Sulu's bionic body, he tracked them down to the future and saved them.
Present Melvin was seen in the classroom when Ms. Dayken opened the door and show Mr. Krupp that's there Two George's and Twos Harold's.
Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot
Melvin walks by George and Harold when school is back in session. Later, when he sees Yesterday George and Yesterday Harold under the effects of Rid-O-Kid 2000, he comments on how they were cooler than he thought. Later, he was spayed by Sir Stinks-A-Lot and under the effects of the Rid-O-Kid 2000.
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls
In the student awards, Mr. Krupp hands out an award for maturity. Melvin thinks it's for him, but Mr. Krupp says it is for George and Harold, since they made a book entitled: Ice Women Diary: A Witch's Tin Key.
Everyone laughs, and Melvin finds out its name is a pun of "I swim in diarrhea, which is stinky." He tells it to Mr. Krupp, and then they both chase George and Harold.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
He is Professor Poopypants' sidekick and the secondary antagonist of the film. He first appears when he tells George and Harold he tattled on them. He claims someone has to stand up for Mr. Krupp. When George says Krupp should stand up for himself, Melvin says he respectfully disagrees. Melvin is then the only one who is happy about the Invention Convention on Saturday.
Melvin debuts several items at the Invention Convention, including the Turbo Toilet 2000. George and Harold sabotage the presentation. However, Melvin reveals he had a nanny cam set up in a toy turtle and recorded George and Harold sabotaging his invention. Mr. Krupp reveals he told Melvin to do so in exchange for extra credit, which he grants to a happy Melvin, who leaves the room cheering about his extra credit.
Melvin later appears when Professor Poopypants becomes the science teacher, telling the Professor he likes his idea to get rid of laughter. Melvin is also seen taking notes about the brain and is the only student not to laugh at George joking about the Professor‘s name. He also is the only student not to find their comic book about him funny.
After realizing from George and Harold's comic that Melvin has no sense of humor, Poopypants recruits Melvin to help him in exchange for extra credit. Melvin shows the Turbo Toilet 2000 to Poopypants. After figuring that they need energy, Melvin tells the Professor about the toxic food in the school cafeteria.
The two suck the humor out of all the kids in the school. Melvin meditates and when George and Harold come, Melvin alerts the Professor about George and Harold's presence. After sucking away their humor, Poopypants accidentally restores their humor by saying Uranus. The two boys destroy their machine, causing Melvin to flee. After falling from the top of the toilet and getting crushed by toilet paper, both of which he survives, he is rolled away from the celebrating kids.
The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants
Melvin appears as the main antagonist and occasional anti-hero of The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. He makes frequent inventions that George and Harold often use to take the easy way out of their situations, though it often creates the problem of the week. One of his most notable inventions is the Time Toad, which would go on to be used several times in the series as it progressed. He has a crush on Erica Wang due to her high inteliegence being similar to his. A running gag is that he often comes up with lousy insults that don't even make sense.
Ultimately, his goal in the first two seasons is to get accepted into an elite private school, so he is used as a pawn by Mr. Krupp in exchange for receiving a letter from the school. At the end of season one, he figures out that the school superintendent, Vil Endenemys, is an anagram of Melvin Sneedly, revealing Melvinborg, who is a cyborg version of himself from the future.
In season two, he teams up with his future self to take over the school and get into the academy of his dreams. When they take over, they remake everything in Melvin's glory. In the season two finale, he sees how truly evil his future self is when he plans to kill Captain Underpants while the nanobots are inside of his body. He becomes fed up with his future self never thinking things through and renounces the plan, causing his future self to disappear for good. Erica's future self then says that this act of kindness could be the first step in him changing for the better.
In season three, he accompanies the kids to summer camp, although he is the last one to join in on the fun. During this season, he makes a comic book with George and uses a very computer inspired drawing style. He becomes very upset when George abounded him to return to being best friends with Harold. At one point, his intelligence is accidentally reduced to that of a wild animal. He somehow returns to normal offscreen. During this season, it is also revealed he has a locket of Erica's hair with him at all times.
In The Heartbreaking Havoc of the Haunting Hack-A-Ween, it's revealed Melvin hates Halloween due to being lonely and allergic to candy. He plays a pivotal role in getting Halloween banned with Mr. Krupp. He gets annoyed when George and Harold create Hack-a-ween and even madder when Gooch comes over (mainly because Gooch was paid to do so). When George and Harold invite him to go sneak-or-snacking with them, he seems excited to come along. However, 38 minutes earlier, he had turned the Halloween balloons and a house into monsters to attack. He helps George and Harold save the day, but he winds up disappointed when Halloween is reinstated due to his candy allergies.
In The Interactive Insanity of the Irritating Interlopers, he builds Kungstruction Fu Kolassas to destroy George Beard's Treehouse.
In season four, Melvin is intent on finding some amazing discovery on Earth to make him a "science god." He attempts to steal the Litlite ship and bring it back to Earth, and he later tries to make the first contact with the Biglyans. He ultimately gets captured by the Biglyans but overtime convinces them to crown him king. After attempting to lead the Biglyan armada to Earth to take over, he is pushed aside by the Biglyans. After the final battle, it is revealed he escaped to Earth and turned all organic things into Melvin-like creatures. However, George and Harold used the Time Toad to fix this off-screen.
In The Xtreme Xploits of the Xplosive Xmas, Melvin is obsessed with hamnog, a fictional drink inspired by eggnog.
Personality
Melvin Sneedly is known to be a snitch and has reported George Beard and Harold Hutchins at least twice. He is a boy-genius, being able to create complex inventions including a time machine and a fusing device. He is also very arrogant, moody, selfish, snobbish and greedy, and attempted to use Captain Underpants's powers for fame and glory, flat-out ignoring people being attacked by the Robo-Boogers. He has often hypocritically said "You guys are so immature!", showing his belief of superior maturity to his classmates. His tattletaling along with his attempt to use Captain Underpants powers for fame could be a result of his parents not giving him much attention at home.
Despite his high intelligence, Melvin Sneedly seems to lack common sense at times. He told George and Harold to: "...make up a story where I defeat Captain Underpants and become the world's greatest superhero." (as Mr. Melvin), without realizing that such a scenario would only make him the world's greatest supervillain. In book 11, however, for a whole year he was a superhero who saved the day albeit for glory and thrills as opposed to altruism. He then renounced his career after it made him work 24/7 and meddled with his inventions.
He gains a terrible sense of humor in the TV series, finding things like rotting fruit, cellular mitosis, and misplaced carbon rods to be funny, which causes him to turn classmate Jessica Gordon into the fun draining Vimpire. Despite this, his heart is not cold, as when his future self tried to convince him to betray George and Harold, he finally had enough of the cyborg's antics, and his good deed eliminated him for good. Erica's future self said that this act of kindness could change him and his future for the better.
At Summer Camp, he is very excited to make a comic book with George and very disappointed when George and Harold reunite and start ignoring him. This shows that somewhere inside Melvin Sneedly is a quite lonely boy, and that perhaps he just needs some close friends to help him become a hero.
In the Hack-a-Ween special, it's revealed Melvin Sneedly hates Halloween due to being lonely and allergic to candy.
In the space travel arc, he unintentionally causes a space invasion when he believes that he can use the planet’s inhabitants to build up his potential science career
Naming and Translations
Language | Name | Origin |
---|---|---|
Spanish (Spain) | Gustavo Lumbreras | N/A |
French | Édouard Binoclar | N/A |
Trivia
- In The Frenzied Farts of Flabby Flabulous, it is shown that Melvin can build robots, even when he was a baby.
- He is based off of a tattletale kid (dubbed "Micheal Sneedman" to protect his identity) that Pilkey knew in school.
- In the TV series, Melvin does not call the other kids immature like he does in the books. He instead uses unique insults (e.g. "You unbaked bananas!") that vary depending on the episode.
- He likes eggs, as shown in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.
- He was born on December 25th (Christmas day), but that may not be his actual birthday.
- Melvin has asthma, as shown in The Heartbreaking Havoc of the Haunting Hack-A-Ween. This trait is never referenced anywhere else in the series (except possibly The Taxing Trauma of the Treacherous Tattle Trials Part 1), nor the books or movie.
- The same special also reveals he has a candy allergy.
- Melvin is allergic to chocolate and gets a rash from eating anything with MSG in it.
- The Disturbing Dilemma of the Dysfunctional Doppelgangers is the only episode in the TV series where Melvin doesn’t appear.
- He doesn’t speak in The Cunning Combat of the Covert Camoflush and The Terrifying Perilous Misfortune of the T.P. Mummy.
- In The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, he has his own theme song, aptly titled "The Melvin Song."
- In Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy - Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers, he calls his superhero alter ego "Big Melvin."
- His favorite food is hamnog, as shown in The Xtreme Xploits of the Xplosive Xmas.
- His TV show appearance looks similar to Professor Helper from the Hypnospace Outlaw games.
- Despite having a high IQ, he has moments of foolishness in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants in Space!, such as how he always falls for the Biglyans' traps, even when George and Harold don't.
- In Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 he calls Turbo Toilet 2000 an idiot to to him for making loud noises
- His refrigerator (literally) runs on its own in the TV series. Melvin always goes after it, but the cops don't believe him whenever he tells them about this.