King Neptune

King Neptune (born July 5, 2990 BC, 5,001 years old), is the series' depiction of Neptune, the Roman God of the sea. In the universe of SpongeBob SquarePants, Neptune is the god and supreme ruler of the sea. His name is often used in place of God's, with phrases such as "Dear Neptune" and "Neptune preserve her!". However, he has never explicitly been shown to be worshiped by the creatures of the sea. King Neptune first appeared in the episode "Neptune's Spatula", while a completely different looking Neptune appeared in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Then the same Neptune from Neptune's Spatula appeared in Clash of The Triton. Neptune is voiced by John O'Hurley in the TV series, and by Jeffrey Tambor in the movie. His greek counterpart is Poseidon. He was 5,000 in The Clash of Triton, and he is now 5,001 years old.

Appearances

King Neptune first appeared in the season one episode "Neptune's Spatula", where he appears after SpongeBob pulls the Golden Spatula from the ancient grease, making him Neptune's royal fry cook. However, Neptune refuses to accept such a lowly creature as SpongeBob as the chosen one, and challenges him to a cook-off where, if SpongeBob wins, he will become a god in Atlantis, but if he loses, he must give up fry cooking forever. The challenge is held at the "Poseidome", where the first one to make 1,000 patties wins. Using his godlike powers, Neptune wins the challenge just as SpongeBob finishes his first patty. To celebrate his victory, he gives the patties to the audience, who hate it. Neptune then tastes SpongeBob's patty, and loves it. He declares SpongeBob the winner and makes him a god. However, when SpongeBob learns that his friends can't join him in Atlantis, he does not want to go, and instead makes Neptune his "trainee" at the Krusty Krab. In this episode, Neptune is blue, and has fairly realistic human features, has hair, a mustache, a beard, thick fingers, is very muscular, and has no crown. This version of Neptune also appears in Battle for Bikini Bottom, where he summons SpongeBob and Patrick to the Poseidome to defeat a robot version of Sandy.
In the live-action Patchy the Pirate segment of "Party Pooper Pants", a live-action version of Neptune is at Patchy's party.
Neptune plays a central part in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The movie also introduces Neptune's daughter, Princess Mindy. This version of Neptune is green-skinned and far more cartoony than the version in "Neptune's Spatula". He is also explicitly portrayed as a king rather than a god, and lives in a palace just outside of Bikini Bottom rather than Atlantis. This Neptune is very brutish and tyrannical, which he tells his daughter is necessary for him to be respected as a ruler. His crown is very important to him, not only because it is a symbol of his power, but because it covers his "thinning" (bald) head. When the crown is stolen by Plankton Neptune attempts to execute Mr. Krabs, who is framed for the crime. In SpongeHenge , Shubie denies Neptune's existence when an anchovy tells her that Neptune must be mad, saying, "Everyone knows Poseidon is the ruler of the undersea."