32 pages 1 hour read

Dav Pilkey

Captain Underpants

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 1997

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Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 16 Summary: “The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter”

This chapter opens with a warning that it contains “graphic scenes showing two boys beating the tar out of a couple of robots” (79). The chapter is arranged as a “flip-o-rama”: Illustrations on the right can be flipped through to create a moving image of George and Harold pummeling the robot guards until they become “MIXED NUTS (... AND BOLTS!)” (97).

Chapter 17 Summary: “The Escape”

George and Harold, having defeated the robot guards, untie Captain Underpants. Captain Underpants insists that they must save the world before they leave; Harold finds and pulls the self-destruct lever of the laser-matic machine, making it explode. Furious that they thwarted his plans, Doctor Diaper appears and points his Diaper-Matic 2000 ray gun at the group.

Captain Underpants flicks a pair of underpants onto Doctor Diaper’s head, stopping him from firing. George wonders where Captain Underpants got the extra pair of underwear; Captain Underpants asks, “what extra pair?” (104). In subsequent illustrations in the chapter, he is depicted wearing a barrel.

The group worries that they will not escape the explosion of the laser-matic in time. They run from the building. An illustration depicts Captain Underpants leading Doctor Diaper, whose face is still covered.