Dirty Bubble

The **Dirty Bubble** is one of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy's archenemies along with Man Ray. He first appears in the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II."

## Description

He is a giant, transparent, brown, dirty bubble, hence his name. He has black eyebrows and pupils. His eyes go above his head when surprised. He can capture an object by landing over it and sucking it in.

### Powers and abilities

Being a bubble, the Dirty Bubble has the ability to float and fly in the air. He can also trap his enemies inside of his body with his "awesome surface tension."

In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," he can make a human hand with fingers, as demonstrated when he points at a boat.

### Weakness

Being a bubble, pointy objects are the Dirty Bubble's sole weakness, as they will simply pop him. He freaks out when near them. He is also weak against water, soap, or anything that can make him clean. This will turn him into the Clean Bubble as well as completely changing his personality.

## Role in series

### "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II”

The Dirty Bubble suddenly appears and attacks Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, trapping them inside of him. When SpongeBob emerges from the diner, having found *The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy* theme song on the jukebox, he defeats the Dirty Bubble by popping him with a pencil, which he claims was for him to sign his autograph with.

### "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V"

The Dirty Bubble returns, alongside Man Ray, in this episode. Man Ray has teamed up with him to form an organization called E.V.I.L. (Every Villain Is Lemons). When Barnacle Boy tires of Mermaid Man treating him like a young child, he joins the two and commits crimes. However, in the end, Barnacle Boy returns to the good side, leaving Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble disappointed.

### "Have You Seen This Snail?"

He is a champion at paddleball, as seen in this episode. His nearly impossible paddle-ball challenge is what distracts SpongeBob from feeding Gary, triggering the events of the rest of the episode.

### "Back to the Past"

Barnacle Boy shows SpongeBob and Patrick the Dirty Bubble's bubble wand and blows up the Dirty Bubble for a few seconds before popping him.

### "The Bad Guy Club for Villains"

In the lost episode of *Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy*, the eponymous heroes are spying on the Dirty Bubble. He is taking a bus to Bikini Bottom. The two heroes decide to stop whatever evil he is doing. Then, the scene cuts to the Dirty Bubble coming out of the bus, laughing, and Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy watching.

Outside of "Motel Evil," the Dirty Bubble shoots Man Ray out of his mouth and fires at the Elastic Waistband, who blocks it with his stretching belly.

### "Mermaid Man Begins"

He makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the episode, swallowing a citizen. Mermaid Man and Barnacle then pop the Dirty Bubble, releasing said citizen in the process.

### "Patrick-Man"

He is disguised as Incidental 82. When Patrick accidentally removes his disguise, the Dirty Bubble captures SpongeBob.

After a brief and destructive fight, he is defeated by Patrick, who leans down to pick up a Krabby Patty and unintentionally pops the Dirty Bubble with the cone on his head.

### "Plankton Gets the Boot"

He appears on the box for the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Paddle Ball Set.

### "Bubbletown"

The Dirty Bubble makes a cameo escaping from the Bubbletown Prison when Mr. Krabs arrives on the scene.

### "Dirty Bubble Returns"

He is taken to jail for six months after doing a huge crime spree in Bikini Bottom once again. He is turned into the Clean Bubble after his 6 months in jail and has a whole different personality. He was ordered to take a job at the Krusty Krab as a dishwasher, but was tempted by the grime. But luckily for him, SpongeBob was always there to keep him clean to avoid turning to his evil self. However he permanently turned back into the Dirty Bubble when he got hit by a piece of Patrick's belly button lint.

He once again does another crime spree in Bikini Bottom and absorbs all the dirt. However, SpongeBob absorbs him and the dirt he ate from the inside causing him to become a small bubble. The policewoman then traps the Dirty Bubble in a jar and he is taken to jail once again.

### Video games

#### *The Yellow Avenger*

SpongeBob accidentally puts the Dirty Bubble into a washing machine and he splits into duplicates. The Dirty Bubble later plans to end The Yellow Avenger's journey with the machine Jumbo Shrimp used in the third act. He also plans to hit SpongeBob with other small Dirty Bubbles.

#### *SpongeBob SquigglePants*

The Dirty Bubble appears in the Comic Book nanogame Fighting Dirty. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are trapped inside the Dirty Bubble, and the player must tap the screen repeatedly to pop him.

## Trivia

* In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" and "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," the Dirty Bubble was originally voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly. In "The Bad Guy Club for Villains," he is voiced by Tom Kenny. In *Lights, Camera, Pants!*, Reilly voiced him again.
	+ Coincidentally, Tom Kenny previously starred in a skit on the 1990s show *Mr. Show* called "The Altered State of Druggachusetts," where he played a send-up of Reilly's character on a 1971 children's TV show called *Lidsville*.
	+ Reilly's last audio as the Dirty Bubble was for his laugh in "Back to the Past."
* At one point, he went to Cancun with the Killer Shrimp, as stated in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V."
* Season 5 is the only season where he doesn't appear.
* In "Dirty Bubble Returns," he speaks mostly in rhyme.