Dennis

Dennis

**Dennis the Hitman**, better known simply as **Dennis,** is a fish who is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside King Neptune) of *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.*

## Description

### Movie

He has a muscular physique, light olive-green skin and wears a black cowboy hat, red bandana with white crosses covering his mouth, a belt with an angry skull with cracks at the top, sunglasses (two pairs), a knife necklace, a gray shirt, leather black pants, light gray shoulder pads, a black vest with his name on the back, and black biker boots on his feet, which have white, metal spikes hidden underneath, of which is his weapon of choice for his task to kill SpongeBob and Patrick.

On his right hand-shaped fin, he wears a black, fingerless glove that trails a few inches up the wrist. This glove is covered in similar, yet less sharp spikes. Under his right shoulder pad is a gray flap, overlapping a darker gray flap.

### Game

Dennis retains his overall appearance, but he is now depicted with a black ponytail underneath his hat, and with scars on both sides of his face. Also, his shirt is changed from gray to white and his pants are changed to blue.

### Television

In "Captain Pipsqueak," Dennis retains his design from the movie, but his clothes use the colors from the video game. Also, his hat is now brown, his shades are blue, his shoulder pads are black, but the spikes are still gray, and his skin is a brighter green. His knife handle is also white.

### *Road Trip in 3-D!*

He has the same appearance as in the film but without the bandana, shades, and hat, with his ponytail from the game in its place.

## Personality

Dennis is a deadly, sadistic, callous, fearless, dangerous, cruel, truculent, and notorious individual, as he holds an illegal occupation title and poses a threatening appearance. He is intimidating towards and even tougher than most fish in the sea; he rips off the mouths of two hillbillies, and brutally assaults the Thug Tug leader, Victor.

### Abilities and talents

* **Strength:** Dennis easily rips off Floyd and Lloyd's mouths using his own bare hands for insulting him. He also easily defeats Victor by upper-cutting him only once, sending him flying back to the bar and causing it to sink. He also swats Patrick away from David Hasselhoff's back all the way to his foot as if he's just a stuffed toy.
* **Growing a mustache by force:** Dennis grows a mustache on command to show SpongeBob and Patrick, who were wearing the kelp "mustaches" Mindy gave them, what a real mustache looks like.
* **Durability:** Dennis survives getting stepped on by the Cyclops, merely being stuck under his "bigger boot" like a wad of used gum, and easily reforms with only his apparel damaged. He also manages to survive being struck by a catamaran at high speed, as he appears again in "Captain Pipsqueak" alive and well.
* **Speed or teleportation:** Dennis manages to get to the outskirts of Shell City before SpongeBob and Patrick do, despite him being seen tracking them far behind on their journey. Also, he suddenly appears behind SpongeBob after the latter jumps to David Hasselhoff's other leg to escape him.
* **Maneuverability:** Dennis is somehow able to drive the Cyclops' boot on the sea to David Hasselhoff's foot even though he is still a squished blob.

## Biography

### Film

Dennis is a mercenary that was hired by Plankton to kill SpongeBob and Patrick. The reason for this is that Plankton stole King Neptune's crown and tricked Neptune into believing the crime was committed by Mr. Krabs, so Neptune threatened to execute Krabs unless the crown is retrieved within a period of six days; Plankton obviously wants Krabs to die from a painful and wrongful execution, and upon learning about SpongeBob and Patrick's journey to get the crown back from Shell City, he knew that Neptune would discover that Plankton was the thief, so he sends Dennis to kill them before they get there.

During the journey, Dennis encounters the gas station that SpongeBob and Patrick had gone past earlier, and examines a sesame seed from the Patty Wagon. Floyd and Lloyd proceed to insult him, making fun of his hat, so he rips their mouths off before moving on.

Later, as SpongeBob and Patrick are being chased by the frog fish monster, Dennis stops at the Thug Tug. He finds some bubble soap and blows a bubble with it, which shows an image of SpongeBob and Patrick inside. He is then confronted by Victor and the patrons, who begin to recite their brutal anti-bubble blowing "baby" policy. However, before they can finish it, Dennis upper-cuts Victor, sending him flying to the bar and causing it to sink. Dennis then continues his tracking pursuit for his targets.

When he arrives at the skeleton field, he begins laughing upon crushing a skull. Sometime later, he arrives at the outskirts of Shell City and waits for his targets.

SpongeBob and Patrick encounter Dennis for the first time after reaching the outskirts of Shell City. Dennis explains to them that he is a hitman hired to exterminate them. SpongeBob and Patrick laugh him off, believing that they are "invincible men" with the seaweed "mustaches" that Mindy gave them earlier. Dennis rips them off like he did with Floyd and Lloyd's mouths earlier and reveals to them that they are fake, growing a real mustache himself to prove it.

As SpongeBob and Patrick tremble with fear, their "masculinity" proven to be a sham, Dennis explains that Plankton sent him to step on them so they wouldn't find out that he actually stole the crown. Having revealed enough information, Dennis prepares to kill them with his "big," spiky boot, all the while cackling about how he loves his job, only to be stepped on by the Cyclops' "bigger boot."

In the climax of the film, SpongeBob and Patrick hitch a ride back to Bikini Bottom on the backside of David Hasselhoff. During the middle of their swim, SpongeBob and Patrick see the Cyclops' "bigger boot" advancing on them. The boot stops at Hasselhoff's foot and tilts back to reveal Dennis, who emerges from underneath it, showing that he survived getting stepped on. He walks up to SpongeBob and Patrick, wanting to finish the job. Patrick tries to fight him, but Dennis quickly swats him aside and goes after SpongeBob, who constantly avoids him, which results in Dennis stabbing Hasselhoff in the bottom. He eventually corners him, but SpongeBob jumps to Hasselhoff's other leg, only to find Dennis there too. SpongeBob tries to bribe Dennis with Goober dollars and bubbles, the latter of which damage Dennis' eyes. Enraged, Dennis prepares to finish SpongeBob and Patrick off, having "messed around" with them enough, but as Hasselhoff passes underneath a catamaran sailboat, Dennis ends up colliding into it, saving the duo once again from him for good.

### Game

Dennis appears as the boss in two of the four boss levels in the movie game adaptation: "Name's Dennis..." and "Dennis Strikes Back!"

In "Name's Dennis...," he places SpongeBob on a stick and uses him to fling toilet projectiles at Patrick. Patrick can use his upgraded Star Spin attack to reflect them back at him, otherwise, he has to use the throw fruit against him. Dennis will also sic Spinners on him, so Patrick has to defeat them too; he can also use his upgraded Smash attack to stun them and throw them at Dennis. Once defeated, Dennis laughs and get crushed by the Cyclops like he does in the movie.

He later appears in "Dennis Strikes Back!"; this time, SpongeBob fights him, and he must use his SpongeBowl attack to attack Dennis, as he leaps to another part of Hasselhoff's back if SpongeBob manually approaches him. Dennis will fling multiple daggers at SpongeBob, which can be reflected back with his upgraded Karate Spin. Dennis also recruits Thief Slammers to attack him, so SpongeBob has to defeat them too. Once defeated, he tries to step on SpongeBob, but gets hit by the catamaran like he does in the movie.

### Series

Dennis makes a cameo on a poster at the Police Station in the episode "Call the Cops."

Dennis appears in the episode "Captain Pipsqueak" as a member of E.V.I.L.; this marks his first physical appearance in the TV series.

## Trivia

### General

* Dennis' old design found on some early merchandise for the movie was partially reused for his appearance in "Captain Pipsqueak."
* Dennis is defeated by pure luck both times. First, he is stepped on by the Cyclops and then is hit by a boat.
* Dennis is one of the most threatening villains in the *SpongeBob SquarePants* franchise, as he is a callous hitman who genuinely takes pride in and loves his job.
* Besides having appeared on numerous movies such as *Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation*, *The Hunt for Red October* (from which footage was used in the movie's teaser trailer), and *Glengarry Glen Ross*, Alec Baldwin has also lent his voice to numerous DreamWorks movies, including *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa* (where he also voices an antagonist), *Rise of the Guardians,* and *The Boss Baby* franchise*,* where he voices the titular character.
* Patrick thinks he's a mermaid after he shows him and SpongeBob his mustache.
* In the French dub of the movie, Dennis was voiced by Greek-French TV host Nikos Aliagas.
* Despite being hired by Plankton, Dennis is never seen on-screen with him. It wouldn't be until "Captain Pipsqueak" of the main series that the two would be seen interacting with each other.
* While he is underneath "bigger boot," he is crushed very much like Plankton; there are even dark green wrinkles on him that resemble Plankton's unibrow and eye.

### Cultural references

* Dennis has many similarities to Judge Doom from *Who Framed Roger Rabbit?* for the following reasons.
	+ Both have had artifacts in their shoes (Doom used springs in his shoes to jump higher, and Dennis used spikes on his boots for try to kill SpongeBob and Patrick).
	+ Both wear black clothes (Doom was dressed as a Judge and Dennis was dressed a hitman).
	+ Both have a buck-toothed prey (Roger Rabbit is Doom's prey with buck teeth and SpongeBob is Dennis' prey).
	+ Both had a bar-related quest (Judge Doom tried to catch Roger Rabbit in a bar in Los Angeles and Dennis found one of SpongeBob and Patrick's clues in the Thug Tug).