Popverse's top stories of the day

• Marvel has an unpublished Star-Lord story by Star Wars' Thrawn creator Timothy Zahn. The author isn’t sure it will ever be released.
• Rings of Power just reached one of Lord of the Rings' most consequential battles... with huge diferences from how J.R.R. Tolkien wrote it
• The Grinch returns! Dr. Seuss's holiday hater turns vacation villain in new kids graphic novel

Sometimes a movie just needs to do exactly what it says in the title. In the case of Dog Man, we're getting a police officer who, after an explosion nearly kills him, has his dog’s head transplanted on his body. The Captain Underpants spin-off has been in various stages of development since 2020, but we’ve finally got a release date for Dog Man.

We got our first glimpse of the character in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, but we’ll get to see Dog Man in his own solo film in theaters on January 31, 2025. This will be more than four years after the movie was initially announced by DreamWorks Animation. After an explosion injures a police officer and his dog, doctors have no choice but to sew them back together and hope for the best. Thus Dog Man was born!

If you’re wondering how the studio is going to stretch the simple concept of a police officer with the head of a dog along for a full movie, you need to remember that Dav Pilkey has managed to write 12 graphic novels about the character. The most recent was released in March 2024, so he doesn’t show any signs of stopping. The books are exactly as silly as the concept implies, leaning heavily into purely dog-based adventures such as Dog Man getting skunked and needing to be bathed in tomato juice to remove the smell.

When a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses the two of them together and Dog Man is born. Dog Man is sworn to protect and serve—and fetch, sit and roll over.  

The plot sees Dog Man embracing his new identity as he attempts to to impress his Chief (Lil Rel Howery). Therefore, he must put a halt to Petey the Cat's (Pete Davidson) evil machinations. Petey's plan involves creating a clone of himself, Lil Petey, to assist with his crimes. However, the plan is compromised when Lil Petey befriends Dog Man.

However, when a common enemy kidnaps Lil Petey, Dog Man reluctantly teams-up with Petey to rescue the kitten.

Additional cast includes:

• Isla Fisher as Sarah Hatoff
• Poppy Liu as Butler
• Stephen Root as Grampa
• Billy Boyd as Seamus
• Ricky Gervais as Flippy the fish

Dog Man is set to be released in US theaters on January 31, 2025. Peter Hastings, who helped develop The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants for Netflix, is directing the film.

Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out our guides to upcoming movies, upcoming TV shows, upcoming comics, and upcoming comic conventions. If you're looking for specific franchises or genres, we have all the upcoming MCU, upcoming Star Wars, upcoming Star Trek, and upcoming DC movies & TV for you. If you're a fan of superheroes and not specific to just Marvel or DC, we have overall guides to all the upcoming superhero movies and upcoming superhero TV shows (and new seasons) as well.