Nelson Muntz
Wikipedia
The Simpsons Character Guide
Nelson Muntz is a fictional character and the lead school bully from the animated television series The Simpsons, best known for his signature mocking laugh "Ha-ha!".
Nelson is a 12-year-old student and bully at Springfield Elementary School. He is known to have terrorized virtually every child in Springfield at one point or another. Most often, however, it is the school nerds and less popular students, such as Milhouse and Martin, who are the subject of his cruelty. Nelson shows the occasional glimpse of humanity, though, and other characters have occasionally warmed to him; Lisa dates him briefly in "Lisa's Date with Density", Marge informally adopts him in "Sleeping with the Enemy", and Bart is shown as a friend to him several times, such as in "The Haw-Hawed Couple".
His family life is dysfunctional. While some early episodes offer inconsistent histories, the story that has evolved is that he lives in a dilapidated house with his mother, who works as a waitress.
It is shown in many episodes that Nelson's father abandoned him and his mother at an early age when he went to pick up some Pop-Tarts. In the fourth-season episode "Brother from the Same Planet", Nelson's father is the children's soccer coach who awards Nelson with a free trip to Pele's Soccer and Acting Camp. Nelson's father also appears briefly in the sixth-season episode "Bart's Girlfriend", depicted capturing Nelson with a leash as the children run through the cornfields in an attempt to avoid attending church. He also appears in the ninth-season episode "Bart Star" to congratulate Nelson after a football game victory.
Nelson's father returns in the sixteenth-season episode "Sleeping with the Enemy". It turns out that he did not leave Nelson deliberately; he bit into a chocolate bar, not knowing it had peanuts and had an allergic reaction, covering 90% of his body with large tumors. He ran out of the store and encountered a circus that made him a part of its freak show. At performances, circus attendees threw peanuts at him, which perpetuated his reaction, preventing him from returning to normal. When the circus came through Springfield, Bart recognized him and brought him home to rid himself of Nelson.
Nelson is also a natural athlete. In the episode "Bart Star", Nelson almost singlehandedly carries the entire Springfield Pee-Wee football team. As the team quarterback, he also on one occasion catches his own pass and plows through the opposing team with extreme ease.
In various episodes, he gives out the impression that he is a lot smarter than he may first appear. Nelson often points out painfully obvious things to adults and kids alike that take them longer to grasp. Another example is a running joke where Nelson does a class assignment that is implied to be of high quality. However, he is always brushed off by the teachers before he gets to show them his work. In later episodes, Nelson shows signs of being a tormented artist type, even submitting a film to the Sundance Film Festival about his life as a child living in poverty with a single, unfit mother and no strong father figure. He memorably says in the documentary, "I like to cry at the ocean, because only there do my tears seem small."
In his debut episode, Lisa was the initial target of Nelson's bullying, which prompted Bart to defend her. Bart's actions resulted in frequent beatings by Nelson and his gang, but finally ended when Bart received help from Herman, who came up with the idea of standing up to Nelson and his gang by pelting them with water balloons. From that point on, Nelson shows a grudging respect for Bart, though he occasionally reverts to his past behavior towards him.
Although still prone to violence, Nelson hangs out with Bart and his less popular friends, such as Milhouse Van Houten and occasionally even common bullying target Martin Prince. In "The Debarted", it is shown that Nelson has become Bart's other best friend, along with Milhouse.
Nelson has many other moments where he displays his hidden good nature, such as his brief amorous relationship with Lisa. Although he cannot control his delinquent tendencies, he treats her with respect and even tries to change for her, although both of them realize that he is not being true to himself by doing so. In "Lisa's Date with Density", Nelson kisses Lisa, only to be berated by Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph.
He also punishes Sherri and Terri for tormenting Lisa. Another curious example of his good side is with Martin, a boy whom Nelson picks on perhaps more so than any other kid in town. Despite the utter cruelty, there are occasional hints that Nelson does not harbor any real hatred towards Martin and only does so to maintain his tough guy reputation. In "Dial N for Nerder", when it is believed that Martin has died, Nelson endeavors to learn the truth and find Martin's killers. When it is revealed that Martin is alive, Nelson mocks and punches him, but also states that he is glad Martin is not dead. In another episode, it is revealed that both Martin and Nelson went to space camp, and that Nelson was a loyal officer to Martin. ("I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can")
In "Loan-a Lisa", Lisa uses $50 to help Nelson fund his bicycle company, which becomes a success. When Nelson almost drops out of school to spend more time on the company, Lisa is saddened and attempts to stop him from doing so, but eventually respects his decision. Nelson eventually decides not to drop out after all and takes Lisa skating to make it up to her.
Though Nelson is often said to not really have friends aside from his on-and-off friendship with Bart and the others, Nelson sometimes hangs out with his fellow school bullies Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney. Though only seen with them occasionally, Nelson is also ironically the leader of the school bullies.
Nelson is a 12-year-old student and bully at Springfield Elementary School. He is known to have terrorized virtually every child in Springfield at one point or another. Most often, however, it is the school nerds and less popular students, such as Milhouse and Martin, who are the subject of his cruelty. Nelson shows the occasional glimpse of humanity, though, and other characters have occasionally warmed to him; Lisa dates him briefly in "Lisa's Date with Density", Marge informally adopts him in "Sleeping with the Enemy", and Bart is shown as a friend to him several times, such as in "The Haw-Hawed Couple".
His family life is dysfunctional. While some early episodes offer inconsistent histories, the story that has evolved is that he lives in a dilapidated house with his mother, who works as a waitress.
It is shown in many episodes that Nelson's father abandoned him and his mother at an early age when he went to pick up some Pop-Tarts. In the fourth-season episode "Brother from the Same Planet", Nelson's father is the children's soccer coach who awards Nelson with a free trip to Pele's Soccer and Acting Camp. Nelson's father also appears briefly in the sixth-season episode "Bart's Girlfriend", depicted capturing Nelson with a leash as the children run through the cornfields in an attempt to avoid attending church. He also appears in the ninth-season episode "Bart Star" to congratulate Nelson after a football game victory.
Nelson's father returns in the sixteenth-season episode "Sleeping with the Enemy". It turns out that he did not leave Nelson deliberately; he bit into a chocolate bar, not knowing it had peanuts and had an allergic reaction, covering 90% of his body with large tumors. He ran out of the store and encountered a circus that made him a part of its freak show. At performances, circus attendees threw peanuts at him, which perpetuated his reaction, preventing him from returning to normal. When the circus came through Springfield, Bart recognized him and brought him home to rid himself of Nelson.
Nelson is also a natural athlete. In the episode "Bart Star", Nelson almost singlehandedly carries the entire Springfield Pee-Wee football team. As the team quarterback, he also on one occasion catches his own pass and plows through the opposing team with extreme ease.
In various episodes, he gives out the impression that he is a lot smarter than he may first appear. Nelson often points out painfully obvious things to adults and kids alike that take them longer to grasp. Another example is a running joke where Nelson does a class assignment that is implied to be of high quality. However, he is always brushed off by the teachers before he gets to show them his work. In later episodes, Nelson shows signs of being a tormented artist type, even submitting a film to the Sundance Film Festival about his life as a child living in poverty with a single, unfit mother and no strong father figure. He memorably says in the documentary, "I like to cry at the ocean, because only there do my tears seem small."
In his debut episode, Lisa was the initial target of Nelson's bullying, which prompted Bart to defend her. Bart's actions resulted in frequent beatings by Nelson and his gang, but finally ended when Bart received help from Herman, who came up with the idea of standing up to Nelson and his gang by pelting them with water balloons. From that point on, Nelson shows a grudging respect for Bart, though he occasionally reverts to his past behavior towards him.
Although still prone to violence, Nelson hangs out with Bart and his less popular friends, such as Milhouse Van Houten and occasionally even common bullying target Martin Prince. In "The Debarted", it is shown that Nelson has become Bart's other best friend, along with Milhouse.
Nelson has many other moments where he displays his hidden good nature, such as his brief amorous relationship with Lisa. Although he cannot control his delinquent tendencies, he treats her with respect and even tries to change for her, although both of them realize that he is not being true to himself by doing so. In "Lisa's Date with Density", Nelson kisses Lisa, only to be berated by Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph.
He also punishes Sherri and Terri for tormenting Lisa. Another curious example of his good side is with Martin, a boy whom Nelson picks on perhaps more so than any other kid in town. Despite the utter cruelty, there are occasional hints that Nelson does not harbor any real hatred towards Martin and only does so to maintain his tough guy reputation. In "Dial N for Nerder", when it is believed that Martin has died, Nelson endeavors to learn the truth and find Martin's killers. When it is revealed that Martin is alive, Nelson mocks and punches him, but also states that he is glad Martin is not dead. In another episode, it is revealed that both Martin and Nelson went to space camp, and that Nelson was a loyal officer to Martin. ("I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can")
In "Loan-a Lisa", Lisa uses $50 to help Nelson fund his bicycle company, which becomes a success. When Nelson almost drops out of school to spend more time on the company, Lisa is saddened and attempts to stop him from doing so, but eventually respects his decision. Nelson eventually decides not to drop out after all and takes Lisa skating to make it up to her.
Though Nelson is often said to not really have friends aside from his on-and-off friendship with Bart and the others, Nelson sometimes hangs out with his fellow school bullies Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney. Though only seen with them occasionally, Nelson is also ironically the leader of the school bullies.