DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man is finally here, and the 2025 animated film is actually a secret sequel to a forgotten $125 million DreamWorks movie from eight years ago. Dog Man seems to be an all-new animated movie series from DreamWorks, with it being based on Dav Pilkey’s immensely popular book series of the same name. While Dog Man can be enjoyed as a stand-alone film, many potential viewers don’t realize that the film actually has a major connection to another forgotten DreamWorks film, with it actually being the second installment in the franchise.

Dog Man is one of the most highly-anticipated animated family movies of 2025, with the new DreamWorks film using a unique art style and wacky comedy in order to bring the book series to the big screen. Dog Man tells the story of a police officer and his canine companion, with the duo getting caught in a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly explosion. The only way to save them is to sew the dog’s head on the police officer’s body, leading to the birth of the ultimate cop: Dog Man. Dog Man must face Pete Davidson’s Petey the Cat, setting up the newest DreamWorks Animation story.

Dog Man Is A Spinoff Of DreamWorks’ Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Dog Man Is A Comic Series In The Captain Underpants Universe

Although the film’s marketing hasn’t made it explicitly clear, Dog Man is actually a spinoff of DreamWorks Animation’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie was released in 2017, with it adapting the beloved Dav Pilkey children’s book series by combining several stories and elements from the first few novels. Despite coming out less than a decade ago, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie has been mostly forgotten. However, Captain Underpants can still live on in the DNA of Dog Man.

In the universe of the Captain Underpants books, Dog Man is an in-universe comic series written by Captain Underpants‘ two protagonists, George and Harold. Despite being a fictional story within the Captain Underpants lore, Dog Man books have been getting published since 2016, with there being 14 mainline entries in the series as of the writing of this article. Each of these Dog Man books is presented as if it was written by George and Harold in the universe of Captain Underpants, meaning that the movie may follow this rule too.

Will Any Captain Underpants Characters Appear In Dog Man?

George & Harold May Have Already Been Spotted

Since the Dog Man books are fictional stories set within the Captain Underpants universe, it is doubtful that George, Harold, Captain Underpants, or any of the other characters will have a major impact on the story of Dog Man. One Dog Man TV spot does show two characters who look like George and Harold walking in the background as Dog Man drives by, although this is probably nothing more than an Easter egg. The cast of Dog Man already has plenty of characters, and it wouldn’t make sense for any Captain Underpants characters to reappear in the story.

However, it is entirely possible that George and Harold could appear in Dog Man as part of a framing device. Since George and Harold wrote the Dog Man comics, the Dog Man movie could utilize this. Dog Man could open or close with George and Harold writing the Dog Man comics, with many other in-universe Captain Underpants comics pulling off this trick in the books. This would allow Dog Man to acknowledge its connection to Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie without confusing audiences who didn’t see the original film.

Why Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Never Got A Proper Sequel

DreamWorks Didn’t Think It Was Successful Enough

Despite having a cult following, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie never got a proper sequel. The film was made surprisingly cheaply, with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie having a budget of only $38 million. The film grossed $125.4 million, meaning that it undoubtedly made money. However, the film still did not meet DreamWorks’ expectations, leading to them never greenlighting a proper Captain Underpants sequel.

However, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie did get a successor on Netflix. A 2D animated TV series тιтled The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants began in 2018 on the streaming service, with it running for four seasons and also getting several specials. Now Dog Man is the next installment in the franchise, and some fans are holding out hopes that a Captain Underpants sequel could happen if the spinoff succeeds.