Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are semi-retired superheroes in the fictional city of Bikini Bottom. Within the show's fictional universe, they are real superheroes. In addition to fighting crime, the duo has been extensively franchised throughout Bikini Bottom, including the television series The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, a long-running comic book series, trading cards, and kids' meals at the Krusty Krab. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy currently reside at Shady Shoals Retirement Home. However, their two biggest fans, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, convinced them to come out of retirement.

Mermaid Man

Mermaid Man is portrayed as a stereotypical elder, and appears to suffer from slight memory loss as he is easily confused by others' behavior, though this also could be partly credited to his hearing loss. As opposed to his sidekick, Barnacle Boy, he is slightly less grouchy and somewhat more tolerant of SpongeBob's ecstatic optimism, but only to a certain extent as SpongeBob's slips or mistakes have triggered serious consequences before in the past, and his partner seems annoyed with Mermaid Man's absentminded tendencies. Despite this, Mermaid Man has maintained some of his abilities as a skilled crime-fighter, though some of them have comically been shifted in a fashion more appropriate with stereotypes commonly associated with his age; however, few of his admirers seem particularly bothered by this. It was revealed that through a series of meticulous and intricate events he and his friend were suddenly equipped with aquatically themed superpowers in their youth, and chose to dedicate their lives to brawling undersea crime as a result (it is implied that the backstory behind the duo's powers as described in Bikini Bottom media was in fact far different from the presumably actual backstory Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy remembered from differing perspectives).

Barnacle Boy

Barnacle Boy is depicted as being the undercredited and underappreciated younger sidekick of Mermaid Man. Grumpy and slightly ill-tempered, Barnacle Boy is notable for his brooding, moody disposition and exasperation with his partner's absentminded behavior as a result of old age, and even into his golden years, Barnacle Boy is still treated in a juvenile fashion, coddled in an infantile way.

Development

SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg began creating cartoons and caricatures of tide pool-dwelling sea life while teaching marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point, California, from 1984 to 1987. In 1987, Hillenburg left the institute to pursue his dream of becoming an animator.

Voice

Series creator Hillenburg described the guest appearances of Borgnine and Conway as "so fantastic." He said "From the very beginning, the first real guest stars were [Ernest] Borgnine and [Tim] Conway[...] When you have a guest artist, you don't know how it's going to turn out. But Borgnine is the most animated guy on the planet."

According to casting supervisor Jennie Monica Hammond, Hillenburg and Derek Drymon, the show's creative director, already knew that they wanted Borgnine and Conway to provide the voices when they were voice casting for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. They were on top of the list of actors they wanted to cast, and Hillenburg and Drymon were known to like them from their roles in McHale's Navy. Hillenburg and Drymon directly approached Borgnine and Conway, and the actors both accepted.

Mermaid Man

On casting the voice for Mermaid Man, Ernest Borgnine's voice cracked when he was giving the "EVIL!" voice. In an interview with the Archive of American Television, Borgnine said "By golly! We started something... and we kept it [the voice] in." Borgnine described the voice-over as it is like "stealing money" whereas "your voice becomes the actor... you make that character come alive through your voice."

On July 8, 2012, Borgnine died of kidney failure at the age of 95. Following Borgnine's death, Nickelodeon honored him with a two-hour SpongeBob SquarePants marathon. Joe Whyte portrayed Mermaid Man in place of Borgnine for the video games SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month and SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom.

The young Mermaid Man was voiced by Tom Kenny in the first season episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy", and by Adam West in the seventh season episode "Back to the Past."

Joe Alaskey voiced Mermaid Man for the video games SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! and SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab.

Barnacle Boy

Barnacle Boy is voiced by Emmy award-winning comedian and actor Tim Conway, who co-starred with Borgnine in the sitcom McHale's Navy. In 2010, Burt Ward, together with Adam West as Mermaid Man, guest starred as the young Barnacle Boy in the episode "Back to the Past".