Mr. Underwood is a P.E. teacher at Greg's middle school. He makes appearances throughout the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and is replaced by Coach Eduardo Malone in the original film adaptations of the books, although he has a cameo in the credits of the 2010 film.
History
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Mr. Underwood walks past Fregley as he is using his language. Being unable to decipher his language, he gets confused and gets him a glass of juice. (unaware that Fregley just wants to use the restroom) Greg uses this to demonstrate that the teachers still hadn't caught on to Fregley's antics while his peers have already figured it out by now.[1]
Later, he makes an announcement on a wrestling unit for the boys Physical Education class. Due to the immaturity of his grade level, Greg worries it would cause chaos with the free-for-all in the cafeteria shorty after the announcement supporting his point.[2] During the unit, he uses Greg to demonstrate wrestling moves. He divides everyone into weight groups where each person would go against someone around their size. Greg gets paired up with Fregley who would keep pinning him down signed by the whistle that Mr. Underwood would blow each time.[3]
Greg hopes Mr. Underwood would put him on Skins once he gains some muscle which was partially motivated by his daily matches with Fregley. [4]
The Last Straw
Mr. Underwood is shown shouting at Greg to do a pull-up on the bar, but he can't do it as he has no energy.[5] Later during the Valentine's Day Dance, Mr. Underwood walks around with the principal to mark the students' dancing abilities, which make up 20% of their P.E. grades.[6]
Cabin Fever
Mr. Underwood administers a push-up test where a group of girls gives him a petition, demanding that they can do the same kind of push-ups guys do. Mr. Underwood accepts their offer without putting up a fight which inspires Greg to do a petition for guys but for the contrary however he scraps the idea after seeing the guys who wanted to sign it.
A few weeks before, Greg got cramps while doing push-ups in Phys Ed, so he told Mr. Underwood he would do the rest of the push-ups as homework. Mr. Underwood wanted proof, so Greg got Susan's mascara and drew a fake six-pack of abs on his stomach deceiving Underwood. This inspired the same group of guys who wanted to sign the petition to do the same thing and they were awful makeup artists. However, Greg and the other guys still had Mr. Underwood fooled until they got sweaty, and the mascara wore out.[7]
The Third Wheel
When discussing Ruby Bird, Greg states that her right front tooth ended up in Mr. Underwood's elbow after she bit him.[8]
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film)
When a basketball rolls onto The Cheese during Phys Ed, he shouts at the students to get the ball. Later in the film, when the teenagers force Greg and Rowley to eat the cheese, he scares them off.
Online
In Mr. Underwood's first appearance he plays the same role as he did with the group of kids who gave him a petition to do boy's push-ups except there was no mentions of a test. [9]
Trivia
- In the film, he is known as Coach Malone and is shown to be a little more aggressive when provoked compared to his book counterpart.
- It's possible that Mr. Underwood stopped working at Greg's school at some point after The Third Wheel given the fact that he is not present on page 86 of Big Shot when Greg is talking about Phys Ed and instead is replaced with some unidentified teacher. A possible reason for this is because of the incident with Ruby Bird.
Appearances
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (online)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film) (animated cameo in credits)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film)
Gallery
Online
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
References
- ↑ Diary of a Wimpy Kid, page 29
- ↑ Diary of a Wimpy Kid, pages 76-77
- ↑ Diary of a Wimpy Kid, pages 76-83
- ↑ Diary of a Wimpy Kid, page 87
- ↑ The Last Straw, page 61
- ↑ The Last Straw, page 96
- ↑ Cabin Fever, pages 99-104
- ↑ The Third Wheel, page 60
- ↑ Diary of a Wimpy Kid (online), page 119-120