Bart Simpson

**Brothers/Friends:** Jimbo Jones, Kearney Zzyzwicz, Milhouse Van Houten & Dolph Starbeam
**Grandfather:** Abraham "Grampa" Simpson
**Grandmother:** Mona Simpson

### First appearance

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (series)

### Voiced by

Nancy Cartwright

**Bartholomew** **JoJo "Bart" Simpson** (born February 23), also known as "**El Barto**," "The boy" (Homer Simpson), and "**Bartman**," is the tritagonist of *The Simpsons.* He is the mischievous, rebellious, misunderstood and "potentially dangerous" eldest child of Homer and Marge Simpson, and the older brother of Lisa and Maggie. He also has been nicknamed Cosmo, after discovering a comet in "Bart's Comet". Bart's also been on the cover on numerous comics, such as "Critical Hit", "Simpsons Treasure Trove #11" and "Winter Wingding". Bart also has a whole comic series known as the Simpson Comics Presents Bart Simpson. Bart is loosely based on Matt Groening and his older brother, Mark Groening.

Even at a young age Bart has accomplished many feats. He has won an award for his Angry Dad web series. He has discovered a new comet which was named after himself and he also has perfomed in a successful band with Milhouse Van Houten, Nelson Muntz and Ralph, and also the performed in a succesful band of Sepultura with Milhouse Van Houten, Dolph Starbeam and Jimbo Jones.

## Biography

Bart is a self-proclaimed underachiever who is constantly in detention. He is easily distracted. His penchant for shocking people began before he was born: Bart "mooned" Dr. Hibbert while he performed a sonogram on Marge, and moments after being born he set fire to Homer's tie (Marge saying that he could not have done it on purpose because he was only ten minutes old). Bart's first words were "Ay Caramba".

Bart's interests include Krusty the Clown (he is "Krusty Buddy" number 16302),  reading comic books (especially *Radioactive Man*), watching TV (especially *The Krusty the Clown Show*), terrorizing Lisa, playing video games, helping Lisa solve various problems (e.g. reuniting Krusty with his estranged Father), and pulling off various pranks, (such as mooning unsuspecting people, prank calling Moe at his tavern, and his patented spitting off an overpass). Bart also sprays graffiti under the alias 'El Barto', and regularly frequents the Kwik-E-Mart (for bubble gum and Squishees) and The Android's Dungeon. Yuma Hickman moved to Springfield when Marge was pregnant with Bart.

Bart hinted that his favorite movies are *Jaws* and the *Star Wars* trilogy. His best friend is Milhouse Van Houten.

He is the most misunderstood of the family (After Maggie, who currently can only speak two words), constantly frustrated by the narrow-minded people of Springfield, who judge him merely by his thoughts and actions.

### Behavior

Bart is considerably a prankster at Springfield Elementary, and his pranks are often elaborately complex, but can lead to unfortunate consequences. Bart's overall intelligence, like his mother's, has been shown to fluctuate slightly over the course of the series. It has been shown anywhere from being just above his father's level, to being just below, or (on the rare occasion that he shows interest or is willing to pay attention) exceeding that of his sister. Despite his behavior, Bart is also extremely good at science, art and even sports like skateboarding. His actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts, and understanding. When Bart became a hall monitor for Springfield Elementary, his grades went up, showing that he only struggles because he does not pay any attention.[6] Bart suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder. This has been exaggerated to the point he is willing to do Algebra, so long as it's a distraction from his *actual* homework.

On the other hand, Bart often seems to have trouble understanding even the simplest concepts, such as the word "irony," what the equator is and that the logo on his globe ("Rand McNally") is not actually a country. It was also once implied that his mischievous behavior may have been a result of Marge accidentally ingesting a droplet of champagne while pregnant with him. Also as an infant, one night he wandered into his parents' bedroom and witnessed Homer and Marge having sex with each other.

Labeled as an "underachiever" by authority figures, Bart rides an academic roller coaster, his grades, running the Loop-the-Loop from "F" to "D-" and back again. But he can be ingenious when the chips are down—as long as his ingenuity is not applied to anything school-related. He once learned portions of the Talmud to help reunite his idol, Krusty the Clown, with his father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky. Once, after unleashing a surf wave across the school (damaging property but also saving Ned Flanders, who was on fire at the time), Bart was given an experimental drug for Attention Deficit Disorder called Focusyn. Focusing his energy allowed Bart's intellectual potential to reach its maximum, even to the point where he was capable of tutoring a Navajo boy. Unfortunately, the drug also drove him paranoid as a side effect, and he started to believe that Major League Baseball was using satellites to spy on everyone in town. Marge and Homer became concerned for his erratic behavior and tried to take him off the drug, but the prospect of losing his intellectual edge over his enemies causes Bart to go berserk and sneak into Fort Fragg to steal one of its tanks. After blazing a path of destruction through the town, Bart uses the tank's cannon to shoot down a MLB satellite, thereby actually proving his suspicions to be correct.

Bart also displayed the ability to learn very quickly when he so desired, or in some cases subconsciously. In "The Crepes of Wrath" while on exchange to France, Bart managed to learn French without even realizing it simply by being in the vicinity of two men who regularly spoke French. Later, during "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", he showed considerable talent in the ballet despite his initial hatred of it, which he did not realize until he attempted to take off his leotard. He has also managed to do this by choice such as in "Blame It on Lisa", wherein Bart learns fluent Spanish in less time than a plane to Brazil, only for Marge to inform him that the Brazilians speak Portuguese.

His pranks can range from being relatively harmless to very cruel/destructive, depending on the characterization. He was also frequently a delinquent, getting into all sorts of trouble. It's implied that his exceptionally mischievous behavior (which Lisa once noted was borderline sociopathic) had its roots from when Marge accidentally ingested a drop of champagne (caused by then-Mayor Quimby breaking a champagne bottle on the newly christened battleship, the U.S.S. *Float-and-shoot*) while still pregnant with Bart, as well as out of some deep-down rage for being told that he'll be a failure as early as preschool (of which it once led to him developing suicidal thoughts severe enough to make an extremely graphic drawing of his own demise). However, he has put limits on the trouble he can cause; he won't lower himself as to stealing the school textbooks, like Lisa did while he was hall monitor.

Although he gets into trouble and is sometimes shallow and selfish, Bart also exhibits many qualities of high integrity. He has, on a few occasions, helped the love life of his school Principal and his teacher, despite the fact he often terrorizes them, and he often befriends lesser known kids like Milhouse. One example of his quasi sense of honor is when Bart stands up for Ralph Wiggum at the cost of peer popularity with the bullies. Bart's hidden integrity is also evidenced when he is dared to shoot a bird with a BB gun by Nelson. Instead of outright refusing the challenge, Bart instead tries to intentionally miss the bird. Unfortunately, Bart doesn't compensate for a crooked sight, and he accidentally kills the bird. He is visibly upset by this, snapping at Nelson when he calls him a "cold-blooded killer" and even goes so far as to try and mend his wrongs with a right by adopting the bird's nest. Bart also displays his sense of morality when he acts as a conscience for his peers several times throughout the series, such as when he tells Jessica Lovejoy that stealing from the church is wrong. He was once sent to a juvenile detention center when he played a serious prank involving faux wedding gifts and a fake wedding.

He also has legitimate guilt whenever he got either Ms. Krabappel or Principal Skinner fired, especially if it was not his intention to do so, like in the former case where his and his classmates’ plan on getting her laid back by spiking her drink backfired when she ended up getting herself fired,[13] and the latter case where his dog ended up in the ventilation shafts and got trapped along with Willie when he intended to use Santa's Little Helper for show and tell. He also sometimes gets into trouble even when he never actually did anything bad, or even when he actually did a good deed. A notable example of the former is when he was framed for a prank at a Medieval festival held at school and was expelled for it (the actual culprit was Groundskeeper Willie) but he was welcome back as an apology, and a notable example of the latter was when both he and Milhouse ended up permanently (at the time) banned by Jeffery Albertson from the Androids Dungeon because Bart and Milhouse talked Mrs. Prince out of selling him rare and invaluable *Star Wars* memorabilia that belonged to Martin Prince for what was obviously a ripped off price.

Although Lisa is a vegetarian, Bart is the real animal lover in the family. He becomes extremely attached to animals that fall under his care and will, most of the time, save animals that he feels will be hurt or else will go to great lengths to protect them. Some of Bart's favorite pets include: his dog (and best friend) named Santa's Little Helper, a snake named Strangles, an elephant named Stampy, a racehorse named Duncan, a nest of bird-eating lizards named Chirpy Boy and Bart Junior, Santa's Little Helper's greyhound puppies, and a cow named Lou, for whom he was willing to prematurely marry in order to spare from the slaughterhouse.

### Appearance

Bart has yellow/blond spiky hair, and sports a fat belly. He wears a red or blue short-sleeved shirt, blue shorts, white underpants, white socks and blue-white shoes. He sometimes wears his "lucky" red baseball cap and carries around his Penny Board or a slingshot. According to Marge in "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star", Bart wore diapers until he was five because he thought there was a monster in the toilet.

### Alter Egos and Aliases

Bart sprays graffiti around Springfield using the name "***El Barto***", and his superhero alter-ego is Bartman. He called himself Cupcake Kid[15] when Homer became Pie Man. Bart is also known as "The Devil in Blue Shorts"[16] by the organizers of the Teacher of the Year Awards, but he was believed to be an urban legend.

## Relationships

### Family

   Due to Bart's mischievousness and Homer's often uncaring and incompetent behavior, the two have a turbulent relationship. Bart will often address Homer by his given name instead of "Dad" (when he was a baby, this was because other adults would refer to him as this), while Homer in turn often refers to him as "the boy". Usually when Homer finds out that Bart has said or done something stupid or bad, he shouts "Why you little!" (often followed by throttling him) or simply "BART!" Bart once returned the favor when he learned that Homer, in order to buy back incriminating photos of his dropping Bart down as a baby, spent all the money that had been earned by starring in commercials relating to alleviating bad smells from Babies, eventually resorting to using Homer's belt to strangle his larynx due to being unable to strangle Homer the usual way due to the size differences between the two, and directly led to a separation from his father. It is also implied once that, whenever he messes up, he almost expects people to strangle him and even goes as far as to strangle himself (presumably due to his experience with Homer), such as when he accidentally let go of Ned Flanders' best fishing rod when attempting to fish with Flanders, Bart instinctively starts clutching his own neck and imitating strangling before realizing and reacting with surprise that Ned Flanders isn't strangling him. Homer and Bart's relationship reaches a breaking point following Homer's pollution of Lake Springfield (causing Springfield to be sealed under a giant dome by the EPA), with Bart even going so far as saying that he wishes Flanders was his father. Nevertheless, the two really do love each other deep down.

Marge, who calls Bart her "special little guy", is much more caring, understanding and nurturing than Homer, but she also refers to Bart as "a handful" and is often embarrassed by his antics.
Bart shares a sibling rivalry with Lisa, who is two years and thirty-eight days younger than he is.[18] While Bart has often hurt Lisa out of jealousy, and even fought her physically, they are very close—he cares for her as deeply as she does for him, and has always apologized for going too far. He also believes Lisa to be his superior when it comes to solving problems, and frequently goes to her for advice. He is often protective of her when she is threatened or insulted by others, though he frequently insults her himself. Both siblings formed a dynamic crime-solving duo during many of their encounters with Sideshow Bob, Bart's nemesis. At one time, he enters a series of robot battles with his robot: Chief Knock-a-Homer (which is Homer as the robot hoping to gain Bart's trust), and tries to cheer up Lisa when Snowball II dies. Also, in the Christmas special he tells Lisa that she's the person Bart has always wanted to be.

### Friends

Despite being disliked by most adults, Bart is rather popular with other kids and has very many friends at his school. Out of all of them, Bart's best friend is Milhouse Van Houten. Though the two are close friends, Bart has accidentally put Milhouse into trouble countless times throughout the series, with more than one occasion causing physical harm to Milhouse due to Bart's lack of regard for Milhouse's safety. At one time, Bart was driving a forklift with Milhouse standing on the fork while the forklift was moving. When Marge stopped Bart from driving the forklift, Milhouse was sent flying and was knocked unconscious.[19] The relationship between Milhouse and Bart has been strained several times. When Milhouse fell in love with Samantha Stankey and spent less time with his best buddy, Bart seperated the two by notifying Samantha's father, who placed Samantha in a Catholic School. This resulted in a fight between the two friends, although Bart eventually offered an apology. In one episode, Bart stated that he was a little attracted to Milhouse, to get Homer ticked off. Bart's other friends include Nelson Muntz, Lewis, Richard, Bashir bin Laden,[20] Nikki McKenna,[21] Jessica Lovejoy,[22] Donny[23]Laura Powers[24] and even the less socially desirable children of his school, such as Jimbo Jones, Dolph Starbeam, Ralph Wiggum, Martin Prince, Database, and Wendell. == Springfield Elementary School staff == Bart is known to be a huge troublemaker at his school, resulting in him often being enemies of the teachers, particularly Edna Krabappel, Principal Seymour Skinner, and Groundskeeper Willie. Despite this, while he does take joy in tormenting them, he does have some degree of respect for them, and would never deliberately intend to get them fired. During the 20th Anniversary of Seymour Skinner's time as principal, Bart tried to prepare a meal for Skinner to honor him. Bart initially attempted to give him scoops of Dog Food with American Flags sticking out of them (either as a prank or because, according to Bart, Skinner actually likes Dog Food), although a combination of factors, namely Marge suggesting he make a cake instead after initially telling him off, as well as Homer obliviously eating the Dog Food beforehand, Bart instead made Skinner a cake (although Homer ate it before "Skinner" had the chance to cut it after the unexpected arrival of the real Seymour Skinner while everyone was shocked at Skinner, or rather Armin Tanzarian's admission to being a fraud).
Arguably, Bart's best relationship with his family is with Maggie, as they more often than not get along quite well (mostly because she is a baby). Bart's shine to Maggie has come in the form of his pulling various pranks with her, playing and bonding with her after he and Milhouse were separated for a time, and at one point square-dancing with her at a Dude Ranch.