Sheldon James Plankton (simply known as Plankton) is a green zooplankton and the business rival and personal archenemy of Mr. Krabs and the main antagonist and sometimes an anti-hero of the SpongeBob SquarePants TV series and movies, and the titular main protagonist of the upcoming 2025 live-action/animated Netflix film Plankton: The Movie. Plankton owns his own restaurant called the Chum Bucket, less popular than the Krusty Krabs and has very few customers. Plankton's plans all revolve around stealing the elusive "Krabby Patty Secret Formula" so he can copy it and make the Chum Bucket more popular.
He is voiced by Doug Lawrence, who also voiced Filbert the Turtle in Rocko's Modern Life, Edward Platypus, Dave, Ping Pong, and Nurse Leslie in Camp Lazlo (2005-2008). In the musical adaptation, he was portrayed by Wesley Taylor.
Sheldon J. Plankton was born on the same day as Mr. Krabs. His parents were Mama and Gordon Plankton, and he is the grandson of Lily Plankton and Grand Dad Plankton. He didn't have a good relationship with his family as he was irritated by their stupidity and also neglected. His best friend was Mr. Krabs since they were born and he considered him like a brother.
Once arrived at school, Plankton and Krabs were bullied by other kids throughout the years, most notably a school group led by Incidental K1 because Krabs was poor and Plankton was already very intelligent, which earned him the image of a nerd. When they discovered that money could bring them out of their poverty, they decided to make money selling hamburger patties and set up a mini-restaurant in the local dump.
At first, their burgers were not successful; the first of their patties were tried by Old Man Jenkins, who was knocked out by the contaminated burger. Plankton started complaining about how Jenkins had been old and not able to handle the patty. Offended by this, Krabs tried to take the recipe from Plankton to improve upon. Plankton wanted to do this himself and both he and Krabs argued, but he only ended up with the corner of the recipe, which read: "And a pinch of chum."
Plankton stormed out of the restaurant and went to create his recipe, using only his memory, the corner of the recipe, and science. At school, Plankton tried to sell his chumburgers in a mini-sized chum bucket and failed, while Krabs succeeded with his Krabby Patties, which he had created by accident when Plankton had forcefully slammed the door. Ingredients fell in the patty batter, thus creating the patty. Plankton later named his restaurant the Chum Bucket, after the secret ingredient of the original unsuccessful patty recipe. Mr. Krabs named his restaurant the Krusty Krab, after himself. Plankton would then meet a female sentient calculator by the name of Karen and fall in love with her, as she was slowly upgraded by him into a computer.
He would later become the chef of a summer camp named Camp Coral where Krabs was the chancellor of the camp. There he worked with Karen and he met for the first time SpongeBob SquarePants but, as seen in their first interaction in Plankton!, they apparently forgot about their encounters. He also tasted for the first time a Krabby Patty which showed him how delicious they are and made him decide to steal the formula.
At some point of his life he also married Karen and has an hipster outfit.
Series[]
Plankton is Mr. Krabs's business rival and he's single-mindedly obsessed with obtaining the Krabby Patty formula and running the Krusty Krab out of business. He often goes to incredible and quite ridiculous lengths to do so. In "SpongeBob's Last Stand," for example, he builds a massive highway that goes straight through Jellyfish Fields and over the Krusty Krab, leading right to his restaurant.
In "Dunces and Dragons," it is implied that the fight between the Plankton and Krabs families began centuries ago when Plankton's evil overlord ancestor, Planktonamor, was vanquished by a Krabby Patty. Plankton's other ancestor, Dead Eye Plankton, who appears in "Pest of the West," terrorized Dead Eye Gulch. SpongeBob's ancestor, SpongeBuck SquarePants, defeated him.
Even in the present day of the series, Eugene and Plankton are occasionally shown to get along somewhat, such as in "New Leaf" and "Best Frenemies," though these moments of mutuality tend not to last very long.
The major on Plankton's degree is Tank Driving and is seen driving a tank in "Teacher's Pests" as well.
Later, when Plankton was an adult, he married Karen. In "Girls' Night Out," Karen says that she and Plankton have been married for 26 years. Plankton is very ashamed of his first name, Sheldon, and gets embarrassed when Karen makes fun of it in "Plankton's Army." However, she calls him Sheldon in many other episodes and he does not seem to mind. It is revealed in "Walking the Plankton," that even though he's married to Karen, they never had a honeymoon.
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton has exhausted all his diabolical plans and was forced to resort to "Plan Z." As per its instructions, he stole the crown of King Neptune and sold it to Shell City, framing Mr. Krabs for the deed. With Krabs cryogenically frozen by Neptune, Plankton took the Krabby Patty secret formula and became highly successful from producing the burgers. Using mind-controlling bucket helmets, Plankton turned Bikini Bottom into a Stalin-like dystopia named Planktopolis, where everyone serves the minuscule menace. However, he was suddenly stopped by SpongeBob and Patrick, who destroyed the mind-controlling helmets, thus freeing the Bikini Bottomites, and returned Neptune's crown to its rightful owner. Plankton was left crippled from being stepped on by the townsfolk, who incarcerated him in the Institution for the Criminally Tiny. However, as shown in the post-movie episodes, he was eventually released or he escaped.
Personality[]
Plankton is egotistical, aggressive, and power-hungry. He is very jealous of Krabs and his success. His only goal throughout the series is stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula and running Krabs out of business, a desire that has led him to destroy The Krusty Krab on more than one occasion. He is manipulative, as he manipulated SpongeBob into becoming "assertive" in "Walking Small" to drive everyone in the beach away so he could build another Chum Bucket. He also manipulated SpongeBob in "F.U.N." by pretending to be his friend to get a Krabby Patty. He is also deceitful, as he is always trying to convince SpongeBob and the others that he can be trusted, only to use their goodwill to get closer to the formula. Either way, he's too busy plotting revenge to interact with most of the characters. Being a villain might be lonely, but Plankton seems to like it that way.
He also has an obsession with "world domination" as he is always mentioning that he will rule the world once he steals the Krabby Patty formula and becomes more successful. He teamed up with Man Ray in "Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!" and claimed he will rule the world with him, and in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie he enslaved the entirety of Bikini Bottom and created a dictatorship.
He has a minuscule size and overcompensates by being evil and manipulative. He has tried everything from constructing an evil robot to hiring an assassin to kill SpongeBob and Patrick, but all his plans end up failing in the long run.
Plankton's restaurant, the Chum Bucket, has always been extremely unsuccessful, not only because of competition from the Krusty Krab and Plankton's rude and cruel treatment of the people in Bikini Bottom but also due to the extremely poor quality of the food and Plankton's constant failure to clean the place up. As its name implies, the Chum Bucket serves chum-based foods, all of which are shown to taste terrible. In "Plankton's Regular," the Krusty Krab adds chum to its menu in an attempt to steal Plankton's single regular customer.
The customer is disgusted by their chum and says that it is the second foulest thing he has ever tasted. This implies that chum is inherently disgusting, and cannot be made to taste good, although this is shown to be false in the episodes "Greasy Buffoons" and "Chum Fricassee." In the former, Plankton uses excess grease from the Krusty Krab's grease trap that was dumped near the Chum Bucket, to make his sales skyrocket, a goal which he succeeded in. However, his business is lost when the health inspector comes to investigate both the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket due to the grease trend.
It should be noted that in real life, chum is made of grounded-up fish parts that are inedible to humans, such as heads and guts, and is used as bait for sharks and similar creatures. This would mean that Plankton is killing fish, or at least collecting dead fish, and serving their remains to other fish, thus promoting cannibalism. This has only ever been touched upon in "The Krabby Kronicle," where SpongeBob prints a story claiming this. However, SpongeBob was being tricked by Mr. Krabs into printing absurd lies to appeal to customers, so this story was supposedly false. As mentioned in the episode "Spongicus," Plankton uses many odd things to spice up his chum.
Plankton has no regular employees, and runs the Chum Bucket entirely by himself, although he spends most of his time in his laboratory, due to having no customers. Plankton runs the restaurant only when he has potential customers, but is shown to be a failure fast-food owner. Also, when he does have customers, he uses artificially intelligent machines to cover the other positions.
Plankton is also highly intelligent and is one of, if not, the smartest citizen in Bikini Bottom, with his intellect being on par with only Sandy. Unfortunately, he often shows himself to be short-sighted and impulsive, and often lacking common sense. This is shown when all his plans of obtaining the Krabby Patty formula often fail, usually due to oversights, and he doesn't think beforehand of what might go wrong. He also seems unaware the biggest barrier to his success is his insistence on serving food nobody wants to eat, rather than serving something appetizing.
Despite being a villain, Plankton is shown to have a soft side, as he cares deeply about his wife Karen, his pet Spot and his son Chip. In "Plankton's Pet," Plankton adopts an amoeba which he named "Spot" and takes the time to train it, take care of it, etc. and was genuinely sad when it ran away, only to be reunited with it later thanks to SpongeBob.
Plankton has an expansive history of deception and committing misdemeanors, all while attempting to obtain the Krabby Patty recipe and do away with Mr. Krabs' business. He has been arrested five times: in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, "Krabby Road," "Sweet and Sour Squid," "Fiasco!," and "Call the Cops." Plankton's personality traits and actions that came from those include, but are not limited to:
Deception: Plankton has engaged in many unusual acts of kindness in the name of personal gain:
In "F.U.N.," Plankton pretends to be in a friendship with SpongeBob to obtain the formula from him.
In "Walking Small," Plankton deceives SpongeBob in believing that berating the beach attendants is done with kindness so he can make an unauthorized development to the property.
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton acts disloyally to the king of Bikini Bottom by stealing his crown and eventually enslaving him with a mind-control helmet. Additionally, he betrays the town of Bikini Bottom by renaming it to suit himself and making the city revolve purely around him.
In "Krabs vs. Plankton," Plankton fakes his injuries in an attempt to sue Krabs.
In "New Leaf," Plankton claims he's changed his ways and showcases that by turning the Chum Bucket into a gift shop, but this was just a way of deceiving Mr. Krabs.
In "Krabby Road," Plankton forms a band with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward with the intent to obtain the secret formula.
Plankton has used many people's identities to steal the formula, namely, Krabs in "Imitation Krabs," Sandy in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy," SpongeBob's great grandmother in "Gramma's Secret Recipe," and Gary in "Shellback Shenanigans."
As a means of deception, Plankton has posed under many job titles without having the license required or official permission to hold such occupations; he impersonates a therapist in "Fear of a Krabby Patty," a salesman in "Shellback Shenanigans," and a Girl Scout in "Pineapple Invasion."
Plankton has disguised himself under many fake identities to deceive others and obtain the formula; he uses the identity "robot game show host" in "Imitation Krabs" and "Cashina Krabs" in "Married to Money."
Taking advantage of others: When Plankton enslaves Bikini Bottom in the first movie, he forces Gary to pull a several-ton block of stone. In "Walking Small" Plankton uses SpongeBob for unauthorized land development and manipulates him into following his orders, deceiving him in believing that they are acts of kindness.
The need for power: As well as wanting the Krabby Patty secret formula, Plankton had a personality based on wanting power over others.
In the video game Battle for Bikini Bottom, Plankton creates a spade of robots to vandalize and threaten Bikini Bottom to increase his possibility of stealing the formula.
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton brainwashes the citizens into worshiping him; once SpongeBob frees all the citizens from the bucket helmets, the police discover his motive and deal with him.
In "Chum Caverns," Plankton enslaves a group of cave dwellers.
In "Jailbreak!" his chum is used by criminals as knockout gas and disguises, both for robbery.
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, to prevent SpongeBob and Patrick from making it to Shell City, Plankton hires an agent by the name of Dennis to deal with the duo. Dennis is eventually hit by a boat.
In "Spongicus," Plankton arranges for Patrick to be eaten by a group of lions for the entertainment of others.
Getting what he wants no matter what: Plankton breaks into SpongeBob's house in "Plankton!" to enter his brain. He also invades Patrick's house in "Salsa Imbecilicus" to get a copy of his DNA.
Plankton escapes from jail in the episodes "Krabby Road" and "Jailbreak!"
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, he finally gets a hold on the Krabby Patty formula.
He also steals Sandy's fur pelt in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy" and—albeit unintentionally—a piece of famous art in "Fiasco!," the latter instance of which lands him in jail with Squidward.
Cutting corners: Plankton has poisoned his customers with his chum in numerous episodes, such as in "Plankton's Regular," "Spongicus," and "For Here or to Go."
In "Friend or Foe" he and Mr. Krabs poisoned Old Man Jenkins with their Plabs Burger.
Disturbing the peace: In "Sweet and Sour Squid," Plankton is arrested for playing clarinet that caused a disturbance throughout the town, even though it is Squidward's fault.
Trivia[]
According to "Bottle Burglars," Plankton has a dimple on his chin.
Though he does not have a visible nose, he is capable of smelling.
In "It Came From Goo Lagoon," Plankton is called a "creepy bacteria" by Sandy.
Although absent from the final product, Plankton appears in a deleted scene from "Sandy's Rocket," where he is captured by SpongeBob and Patrick when trying to sneak into the Krusty Krab. In a chapter book adaptation of the episode, which was based on the original script, this scene is used.[1]
There is a running gag in many episodes he appears in where he is squished by a person.
Another running gag is him being projected through the air back to the Chum Bucket, typically by Mr. Krabs, often screaming a sentence or a prolonged word meanwhile.
It is revealed in "Single Cell Anniversary" that Plankton is not green; his outfit is. Karen removes the green and the viewer sees an underwear-clad pink Plankton embarrassed by his nakedness. He also has a rack with identical green suits.
In "Fear of a Krabby Patty," it is revealed that Plankton has a phone.
Plankton and Mr. Krabs were born exactly on the same date, as revealed in "Friend or Foe."
Plankton appears in the United Plankton Pictures logo, which is typically displayed at the end of an episode's credits.
He is called "Shelly", short for Sheldon by Mr. Krabs in "SpongeBob's Last Stand."
Plankton is college-educated, which has become a running gag throughout the series, as he would usually shout "I went to college!"
Plankton is afraid of whales in "One Coarse Meal" and "The Ghost of Plankton", but not in "The Algae's Always Greener," "Jailbreak!," or "Married to Money."
Out of his whole family, he is the smartest, as the rest of his family is shown to be clueless and unintelligent.
Plankton's family is made up of hillbillies, and he appears to have forgotten their stereotype after all these years, as in their episode, he believes they are "criminal masterminds" but when he sees them, he is shocked and says "I've been away from home longer than I thought."
As of "Truth or Square," Plankton has made 1,003 failed attempts to steal the formula.
At two inches tall, Plankton is gigantic for his kind. The creators did this to make viewers see him on the screen after the first episode where the audience could only see him when the camera zoomed.
Plankton actually should be half the size of SpongeBob, as the latter is four inches tall.
Plankton is probably the smallest citizen of Bikini Bottom.
In "Plankton!," he has a lab, which is just a real Labrador.
In "Single Cell Anniversary" and "The Main Drain," when SpongeBob holds Plankton in his hand, he is bigger or SpongeBob's hand is smaller, unlike in "Plankton!"
In "The Main Drain," Plankton is unusually bigger than he is in other episodes. This also happens in "Sweet and Sour Squid."
He and Mr. Krabs are the only members in their families to ever make friends with each other; their predecessors are enemies.
In several episodes from late-season 4 to early season 5, the inside of his mouth is purple. It was corrected back to red in later episodes.
Season 2 is the season with the least amount of appearances by Plankton, with only 5 appearances.
Plankton has inventions for equipment in contrast to Mr. Krabs' spy technology.
As seen in "Evil Spatula," Plankton is revealed to have a room full of spatulas in the Chum Bucket.
In "Plankton's Special Sinister Commentary" Plankton reveals that Squidward freaks him out.
The episode "Plankton's Army" reveals that Plankton's full name is Sheldon Plankton.
In the episode "Sweet and Sour Squid" Plankton is revealed to have ears.
Plankton finds Mr. Krabs' life to be worse than his life when he experiences it in "The Algae's Always Greener" and "Spy Buddies." In the former episode, he found numerous reasons that make Mr. Krabs' life difficult:
SpongeBob is always asking him for a Weekly Performance Review on Tuesday and throws a minor temper tantrum if Plankton refuses. He also suffers nervous breakdowns when finding guilty of minor errors, such as using too much sauce on a Krabby Patty or giving a customer a large drink when a medium-sized one was ordered.
Squidward complains to Plankton that he does not want to work with SpongeBob. Later, when Plankton puts him in charge of fry cooking, a customer gets mad because the Krabby Patty that Squidward cooked is unappetizing.
Pearl, his virtual reality daughter, throws a big temper tantrum because she doesn't get more than $1.
Mr. Krabs tries to steal the Krabby Patty formula while naked, with an annoying persistence that finally convinces Plankton that Mr. Krabs' life is intolerable.
In all but one of Plankton's appearances in season 5, he plays a major role, the exception being "Stanley S. SquarePants."
He learns about teamwork in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
The analysis of what is inside Plankton changes. Karen's screen in "Plankton!" shows he is 1% evil and 99% hot gas. In "Plankton Gets the Boot," he is 30% mean guy, 20% spiteful monster, and 50% evil butt-head, totaling to 100% big jerk.
Plankton's phone number is 1-800-328-2486 or 1-800-EAT-CHUM according to the episode "Gary's New Toy."
Plankton once had an official SpongeBob Twitter account, at @SheldonPlankton, but it was suspended. It can still be seen at an archive.
Tweets mentioning the @SheldonPlankton account from Karen's and Mr. Krabs' Twitter accounts are still up. Examples here and here.
According to the episode "Pineapple Invasion," Plankton does not like the taste of pineapple.
So far, "Banned in Bikini Bottom" and "Free Samples" are the only episodes where SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are unaware of Plankton's plans, nor do they ever see him.
Errors[]
Plankton's sizes drastically vary in the episodes: in some episodes, he is the size of a jelly bean (e.g. "F.U.N."); in others, he is the size of a Krabby Patty (e.g. "For Here or to Go)", and in others, it is difficult to see him without a magnifying glass (e.g. "Plankton!").
Sometimes, his size even changes within an episode. The only consistency is his being small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand.
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