Dib Membrane is an eccentric young boy who is obsessed with the paranormal. He's the older brother of Gaz Membrane and son of Professor Membrane, as well as Zim's greatest nemesis on Earth.
Self-proclaimed "defender of Earth", he attends skool with Zim and is determined to stop him from conquering Earth or expose him as an alien, though almost nobody believes him. He is highly unpopular at school and at home for his said obsession with the paranormal, and is often dismissed as "crazy" or "insane".
Though the main antagonist of the series, Dib is by no means a truly bad or evil person. His intention to protect the Earth from Zim's schemes actually paints him as a somewhat heroic character.
However, he has shown signs of selfishness, such as dreaming of dissecting Zim for fame and lack of compassion for others. Also, since Zim is considered incompetent at his mission, this usually leads to pointless encounters between the two where neither actually advance towards their goal or endgame.
In Issue 0 of the Invader Zim comic "TruthShrieker", it's confirmed that Dib's (and Gaz's) last name is "Membrane". He is the author of an article about Zim's mysterious disappearance, and the article is by "Dib Membrane".
The surname was concreted again when it was quoted in Issue 5. However, before it was confirmed in the comics, the surname was previously mentioned on an entry of Jhonen Vasquez's blog published on March 7, 2010 that was overlooked.[1]
Dib is 12 Earth years old (as confirmed during the opening narration of Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus) and resembles his father Professor Membrane. Both have black, scythe-like hair; in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", Dib's got more jagged and bigger with age. Many people claim that Dib's head is big, a running gag in the show, but it's not visibly bigger. The redesign process God Save the Dib, however, actually gave him a bigger head.
His hair spike seems to be solid, and retains its shape even when getting wet. It took a water balloon of ridiculous proportions dropped from Earth's orbit and a second normal water balloon in order to get it to bend, as seen in "The Wettening".
Dib seems to be able to zip-line with his hair spike (using the spike as the runners), as seen in "Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars" and Issue 17. Likewise, it seems solid enough to punch through a brick wall like any part of his body if Dib is flung hard enough, as seen in "Mortos der Soulstealer".
He wears a pair of round glasses and a trademark black trench coat along with a blue shirt with an unsmiling grey face on it, pulled directly from Squee!, in which the main character, Todd, also known as Squee, wears exactly the same shirt. In some of the comics, the grey face on his shirt is replaced by a ghost. His comic appearance was carried into Enter the Florpus.
Personality
Dib and his "future self".
Dib is separated from the rest of his peers by his exceptional intelligence and determination. Also, Dib continues to seek out the paranormal despite the considerable ridicule he receives from both peers and family.
He considers himself to be the sole defender of Earth against Zim's plans of conquest, and rightly so; he's in fact the only one who knows (or cares) that Zim is an Irken Invader bent on world destruction.
When Zim first landed on Earth, Dib was initially shown to be more antagonistic, obsessed, and desperate, making it his sole goal in life to expose Zim as an alien by any means necessary.
However, he eventually realized that any efforts to reveal Zim would be wasted on his oblivious and mean spirited peers, and Dib eventually lost his obsessive, desperate edge, becoming a more humorous, depressive and more sympathetic character overall. His hatred of Zim eventually becomes real as the Irken takes every opportunity to make his existence even more miserable than it already it is even when unprovoked, making Dib's efforts to beat Zim all the more personal.
Dib in Enter the Florpus.
Dib shares his father's scientific and technological prowess, with skills that far exceed the average human being. He has been known to created advanced technology entirely from scratch (for example, an advanced water balloon-launching apparatus). These skills aren't limited to just Earth-based technology, either. Dib has on multiple occasions proven a keen understanding of Irken technology as well, whether it be hacking into Zim's base, reverse-engineering a rogue Invader's crashed vessel, or remotely flying the Irken flagship itself.
Dib is also obsessed with his favourite television show, Mysterious Mysteries. In "NanoZIM", he tried to send some evidence on Zim he had acquired and even had aspirations to host the show and get "his own episode." Ironically that eventually came true as he later made an appearance on the show in the episode "Mysterious Mysteries" (though he has evidently appeared on it before; that occasion resulted in the host of the show somehow acquiring a scar on his face, though how is unknown).
There's even a large room fittingly named "The Dib Archives" which is full of boxes, crates and bags full of letters and papers sent in by Dib that the producers of the show simply put away most likely without seeing what he sent. Ultimately, in desperation for ratings, the anchor of the show goes through these archives and sees a video disk with Zim and GIR out of disguise.
Despite the overwhelming evidence from this that Dib still tried to use to prove that Zim is an alien, the host still concludes that he's crazy. He also concludes that GIR was "definitely crazy" and that, while he felt bad for the "green kid", states that there was probably a good chance that he was also crazy... but not an alien.
In "Gaz, Taster of Pork", the anchor explains what spelldrives are, and when he gets to the point of introducing Dib, he gets very annoyed, clearly remembering his past experiences with him and probably bitter of the fact that the show most likely had to use further evidence sent by Dib because as his producer told him, "crazy gets good ratings."
Role in Invader Zim
Even though he's antagonistic towards Zim (who's interpreted as an anti-hero), Dib can be considered a hero. This means that while he's technically a hero, he's considered to be an antagonist in Zim's point of view.
He's declared himself "Sole Defender of Earth", and is there to thwart Zim's plans, but the two have teamed up on more than one occasion when it benefits them both (such as in "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" or in "Bolognius Maximus").
Dib is often called "crazy" or "insane" and is constantly mocked for his theories. He even got put in a "Crazy Bucket", a possible alternative to a straitjacket. Overall, most of his classmates try to ignore him.
Dib is also known by NASAPlace and even the FBI for his paranormal-related antics. He's been on the front page of the newspaper twice (shown in "Dark Harvest" and "Mortos der Soulstealer"), so it is likely that a good deal of the city is aware of the trouble he frequently ends up in.
Beliefs
Dib; self proclaimed "Defender of Earth."
He believes Zim and GIR are the "bad guys", while he and Gaz are the "good guys" who are Earth's last hope against the coming alien invaders. He makes every effort to stop the two at every possible turn (although he tends to disregard GIR). This often leads to increased social difficulties at Skool, as they are constantly making a scene in class or in the cafeteria.
While trying to expose Zim in front of his peers, Dib actually only damaged his own reputation even further as the rest of the skoolchildren think of him as a "crazy boy" which ironically helps Zim fool everyone into making Dib look like the "bad guy."
As Agent Mothman
Agent Mothman is Dib's secret agent name for The Swollen Eyeball Network. It is unknown how long he has been a part of the network, but all the other operatives seem to know who he is and his reputation for being crazy. Dib seems on better terms, however, with Agent Darkbootie.
Darkbootie has helped Dib at least once, in "Battle of the Planets", while in "Battle-Dib", an unnamed agent gives him a chance to present the Network with all of his findings on Zim. Dib is also less ridiculed by Agent Tunaghost, who helped him in "Gaz, Taster of Pork", Implying a decent working relationship while the rest of the agents either find him annoying, crazy, or a disgrace to the Network as seen in "Zim Eats Waffles."
"Head" Gag
Dib's giant head!
During the initial production of the show, Nickelodeon wanted to cut Dib from the show outright because they did not think he was funny or interesting enough. As a result, Jhonen Vasquez fought back with a project called God Save the Dib, which involved making slight changes to Dib's character to make him more funny and interesting in order to avoid Nickelodeon cutting him from the show.
One notable change that came out of "God Save the Dib" was making Dib's head bigger than his body, which became a reoccurring joke throughout the series. "In universe", GIR started this running gag in "Door to Door" with the question "Whyyy is his heeead so biiig?" Since then, cracks about Dib's head have been made in just about every episode:
In "Future Dib", when the robot gnomes shove him in the cage, his head doesn't quite fit.
In "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", Zim says that "Despite his large head, the Dib-monkey is quite stupid." Dib protests against this, but Zim doesn't care.
In "Gaz, Taster of Pork", the Mysterious Mysteries anchor describes him as a boy with "the largest head", accompanied by a picture of Dib's head that is captioned with "Still growing?". Later, when Dib is going through a list of spells on his Spelldrive, he says, "Too bad, a smaller head would be cool" and towards the end of the episode the Shadowhog asks if Dib conjured up a Big Head Demon to give him a big head.
In "Mysterious Mysteries", one of Dib's classmates asks "What's up with his head?" (which is ironic, considering the bizarre knot that is located on that particular student's forehead). The anchor in "Gaz, Taster of Pork" also described him as a boy with a "horribly large head", and Dib's introductory slide captioned him as a "large-headed believer."
Massive right on top of your landing-pad-size monster of a head which is disturbingly large!". Dib ran away screaming while saying, "Quit making fun of my head!"
In "Walk for Your Lives", when Dib falls out of Zim's garbage chute and into a neighbor's lap, she says, "Hey, look at that! It's one of them big-head boys!"
In the Latin American version of "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", when Dib asks why he's the only one who can see that Zim is an alien, Gaz comes by and replies with "Por que te sirve esa cabezota" which translates to "Because that big head of yours works" rather than asking "Why do you have to have a head?" as in the English version.
Also in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" the (nonexistent) Meekrob tell Dib that "no one else had a head large enough to accommodate so much power."
In "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom", numerous cracks are made about Dib's head. The nightmare version of himself even tells him his head is big, to which Dib replies, "My head's not big! Why does everyone say that?". Later, when a trick-or-treater shouts "Trick or treat!", Dib randomly shouts out, "My head's not big!" Finally, toward the climax of the episode, he appears to have begun to accept his head's size, thinking, "maybe my head IS big..."
In "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff", GIR's field of vision describes the Dib hologram as "Big Head Boy."
In "Vindicated!", Zim is shown to be thinking ". . . It's the size of a hippo, that head."
In "The Voting of the Doomed", Zim brings up Dib's head as part of his campaign, saying "Just what does [[[Willy]]] plan on doing about the size of Dib's giant head?"
The head gag returns in Issue 8 of the comic series, when Groyna questions why Dib's head is as big as a turkey, trying to push him through a vent. Later in the issue, Ubertrouser mistakes Dib as the leader of Earth, believing that Earth's leader is the one with the largest head.
In Issue 9, Dib posts a video of Zim on the TruthShrieker forums, getting negative feedback, with one of the users complaining that Dib's giant head is slowing their internet connection down.
In Issue 17, Zim comments that humans lack the technology to make a hat big enough to fit on Dib's head. Later, he tells a (clearly false) story about a time Dib's head grew so big it blocked out the sun, and Zim had to change the Earth's rotation to fix the problem. Later still, Dib finishes his own story of saving the world and capturing Zim by stating that everyone loved him and never made fun of his head again.
In Issue 29, when Fizzmitz is beginning to explain the true origin of Poop Cola to Dib, he calls him "little large-head".
In Issue 30, when Dib is late to joining Poopwatch's assault on Nightnubs' lair, one of the wizards tells Fizzmitz that they can't "trust a kid with a head that big".
In Issue 33, upon being apprehended upon breaking into the Conglamo factory, Dib is referred to as a "large-headed kid" by one of the security guards.
Dib doesn't appear in Issue 36, but he is mentioned by Recap Kid, who comments that if they dressed up in a Dib costume they'd have to give it a "big round head".
In Issue 37, a trophy for "Largest Head" can be seen in Dib's room. And during his presentation in class, Zim makes repeated reference to Dib's big head.
In Issue 38, the fact that the head of GIR's Dib costume is so big is used as proof that he's the real Dib.
In one of the stories in Issue 40, it's noted that Dib, or rather the actor playing him in the in-universe play, has a big head.
Several times throughout Issue 42 and Issue 43, the Plim repeatedly reference how big Dib's head is.
Dib on TV in Enter the Florpus
In Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, when Dib confronts Zim on national television, Gaz notes that his head looks huge on TV.
Facts of Doom
Dib listening to "The Great Assigning."
Dib is the first human to make an appearance on the series' premiere "The Nightmare Begins". This is fitting considering he serves as Zim's main rival on Earth.
Dib is among the most antisocial character in the show; he has no friends due to most of the other Skoolchildren ridiculing and bullying him most of the time. The only person who is more antisocial is his own sister, who seems to actively despise humanity because they seem to interfere with her life all the time.
Dib might have OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). This is suggested by one of lines in "Gaz, Taster of Pork": "How did I miss that?! Me, the obsessive-compulsive Dib!!".
The episode "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" seems to suggest that, like his sister Gaz, Dib may have been granted phenomenal powers and abilities far beyond those of normal humans. These abilities may have been given to him by the Meekrob in Dib's dreamlike illusion.
At some point in his life, he tried to raise the dead, as referenced by Professor Membrane twice in "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars". It's inferred that he succeeded, as Membrane shouts "There better not be any walking dead up there!"
Despite his determination, he loses far more battles against Zim than he wins. Even when he wins, his plans don't work out the way he plans them. Before the seventh or so script, his profile on Nick.com said he was never able to win.
As seen in "Lice", Dib seemed to have come across a kindred spirit in Countess von Verminstrasser since she was mocked for believing in the Lice Queen just like Dib is when it comes to Zim being an Irken Invader and other paranormal things.
Dib and Captain Lard Nar are the only known people who have been seen fighting the Irkens and are quite possibly the Empire's smartest enemies.
A misconception of the end of "Future Dib" is that he aged, but he'd been there for a month and the beard was most likely a momentary gag.
The animators took a liking to his unique hairstyle, and in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", they wanted it to grow into a longer, more jagged, lightning-bolt shape.
Dib, like Zim, doesn't know that Zim's mission to Earth was actually meant to be something to keep Zim out of the way while the actual Operation Impending Doom II is in effect. If Dib knew this, he might possibly see Zim differently, but that's just speculation.
Ironically, Zim is the closest thing Dib has to a friend.
Dib and Gaz are the only humans that know of the existence of the Irken Empire.
Although perceived as insane, he's in many ways the most sane and human character in the series to some viewers.
Dib can be just as dangerous as Zim since in "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" he was seen accidentally causing a blackout on the City which resulted in some accidents and its apparently a regular thing, this is something Zim has been known to do quite frequently on entire planets, also, Dib very nearly killed the Tallest when he was driving the Massive in "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars", which was something Zim succeeded in doing as revealed in "The Trial."
His Swollen Eyeball codename may derive from the legend of Mothman, who would appear right before a disaster as a warning.
Whenever he talks to Tak's ship and Zim's Dib Robot (both share Dib's personality), he starts to notice why people see him as obnoxious.
Vasquez has said in an interview that Dib has as much contempt for his fellow human beings as the person he's trying to stop. Because of his intelligence, he's kind of looked down on by most of the other kids and is viewed as a freak; Dib is as much an alien to his own people as Zim is.
Jhonen has also said that Dib has gotten to the point where he's not really a bad person, he's just frustrated. He lacks the patience to explain anything to anyone anymore. He's so used to people not believing him that he goes right into screaming at them. He immediately assumes that they're going to be morons and aren't going to believe him -- and normally they don't.
In the commentary for "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", Jhonen Vasquez jokingly stated that the original idea for the episode was for Zim to kill Dib permanently, and for Dib to be replaced with a new kid named Louie. However, Nickelodeon wouldn't permit it.
He is one of the two characters to have technically died on the show, the second being Skoodge.
Dib wears a shirt that looks exactly like one that Squee wore in certain comics.
Dib had a yellow shirt in the pilot.
On Verizon cable, in the summary for "Mysterious Mysteries", Dib's name is misspelled as "Dub" rather than "Dib".
Dib was first seen in a commercial for Invader Zim before it premiered; the commercial started off seemingly as a typical Nickelodeon bumper, until it was interrupted by Dib, who stated "Zim is coming!"
On Nickelodeon an Invader Zim special aired before the premiere, and at one part they "call" Dib. [2]
Dib is not playable in Nicktoons MLB, but he has a collectible card. The card mentions that he knows that there is 'alien activity' going on in the major leagues and that he is undergoing psychological screening. However, the card does not acknowledge Dib knowing or caring that his sister is partnering with his mortal enemy.
Dib's Japanese voice actress (Ayumi Kida) also voiced Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, and the two characters show some similarities
Jhonen Vasquez may have been aware of this and made a reference in Enter the Florpus, as Dib was seen wearing a lab coat and purple gloves which was Dexter's iconic look.
In the Latin American version of the show Dib has a tendency to scream out planets when surprised, for example "Por Saturno" which would translate to "By Saturn!", this became both a running gag and a sort of catchphrase for him.
Ironically, while on his mission to save the Earth and expose Zim, Dib has committed a few crimes such as breaking and entering, spying and in one occasion nearly killing Zim.
As seen in "A Room with a Moose", Dib is capable of being a bully, as he was seen bullying Zim like all the other skoolchildren, which is ironic, as he is usually the main target of his peers. This is later referenced in "Mysterious Mysteries", as Zim in his version of events makes Dib look like a bully who is after his lunch monies.
According to Eric Trueheart in the "Interview of the Writers" in the DVD, if the show had continued, Dib would go on a quest to find out why his life is so horrible and would have discovered that he was a clone or creation of Professor Membrane's rather than a naturally-produced biological son.
It's never stated in the show how or why Dib is capable of seeing through Zim's terrible disguises. It is also clear that its not his intelligence alone, since neither Professor Membrane or Ms. Bitters realize that Zim is alien despite being smart in their own rights.
According to polls on the Internet, Dib is the most liked character in the show (other than GIR of course) while within the universe of the show he is perhaps the most hated.
Dib's glasses, like many cartoon characters', seem to contort to his facial expression on many an occasion. However, not only do his glasses reflect his expression, but they sometimes disappear when Dib closes his eyes. Also, his glasses don't have earpieces. As a result, the only way to tell when he's wearing glasses or not is if you look for the nose piece, signified as a straight line connecting his eyes.
It can be interpreted that some of the "big head" insults towards Dib might not be literal; since nobody believes Dib's claims of paranormal activity, they may viewing him as arrogant/self-centered, or "big headed".
It should be noted that he joined the Evil Syndicate in the video game Nicktoons: Globs Of Doom, and Zim joined the good guys, so it's possible he did this just to stay away from whatever side Zim was on. But, it should also be noted that the video game is most likely non-canon to the series.
It has been implied that Dib is quite self-loathing, possibly to the point of suicide; in "Dibship Rising", Dib reprograms Tak's ship to have his memories and reflect his personality, and it immediately crashes itself.
Dib also seems to have hair on the back of his head (instead of just on top) in the comics. Jhonen has said this is due to his desire to make Dib seem more his age.
The issue of Dib's eyes changing color in Issue #1 was a layering effect error.
Dib has a new hairstyle in the comics. The sides of his head are no longer shaved. This was done to make him more like a 12 year old boy. [3]
In the intro of Enter the Florpus, Dib called Zim "Invader Zim"; this makes him the only character other than the Tallest and the Control Brains to refer to him by that rank.
Jhonen Vasquez has confirmed that Dib, his sister Gaz, and their father are all Mexicans, however this was not mentioned in the show because it didn't serve the story.[4]
On the Jhonen Vasquez variant cover of Issue 2, Dib is shown wearing an outfit different than his normal blue shirt with a face on it. This time he wears and orange ghost shirt with matching orange boots.
In Issue 8, it's revealed that crying makes Dib uncomfortable.
In Issue 11, it's revealed that Dib is allergic to animal dander.
In Issue 13, when Dib is being transformed into Humungodib by the humungoserum, the face on his shirt changes as well, becoming an angry face.
Issue 18 shows that Dib is a fan of burritos, as he's shown arriving at the Burrito King for some of the free burritos being given away (unaware that Zim is the one giving them away).
In Issue 19, it's suggested that Dib has been repeatedly going to the police to try and expose Zim, and apparently thinks that they're voluntarily working with him. However, it's clear that the police barely know Zim exists, and don't care about him.
Oddly, in Issue 26, Dib is never once shown wearing his glasses.
His name may be a reference to Muad'Dib, an alias used by the main character, Paul Atreides, in Frank Herbert's Dune.
According to Jhonen Vasquez on his blog, Dib has a clubfoot.[5]
Interestingly, despite being a child, Dib is the only one (aside from his sister Gaz) who is capable of stopping Zim's plans and lives to tell the tale, while the Tallest, Sizz-Lorr, or Tak end up nearly getting killed any other time they encounter Zim.
At times, Dib's mission to save the Earth and his distrust of Zim has been seen as a disadvantage. For example, in "Planet Jackers", despite Zim seeking help to confirm whether or not the planet was in danger, Dib was too paranoid to fall for any of Zim's "schemes" and sent the Irken away, while in "Future Dib" Zim counted on Dib trying to stop him on the destruction of a "Perpetual Energy Generator" that he tricked him using a Dib Robot-Spy to trap him and get the boy out of his way.
In Issues 8, 29, and 30, Dib narrates by means of a "paranormal investigator's log", but is never actually shown to be recording into anything. This suggests that he's simply taking mental notes.
Vasquez has stated that the four main characters aren't evil and that Zim and Dib are both "good guys" but on "different sides".
Some people have noted similarities between Dib and Dipper Pines, the protagonist of the animated series Gravity Falls, in that both are investigators in the paranormal who aren't believed by anyone around them.
In Issue 40, it was revealed that across the multiverse, in universes where both Zim and Dib exist, they always end up meeting and are destined to be enemies.
Oddly, Issue 41 depicts Dib's skeleton as having a scythe as part of his skull, indicating that it's a growth rather than just an unusual hair style. This directly contradicts when Issue 31 had him shaved bald and showed a perfectly normal shaped head, suggesting that the skull having a scythe in this issue was just a gag.
Ironically, the unmade finale "Invader Dib" and Issue 43 show Dib being more effective at invading than Zim (albeit accidentally in the latter case).
In the same issue, Dib became the first non-Irken to (accidentally) conquer an alien planet for the Irken Empire, and to the combined frustration of both Zim and Dib, he will also be remembered as "one of the greatest Invaders of all times."
Issue 44 reveals that Dib is awful at skiing, unlike his father and sister, who are both very good at it.
Voice Actor
Dib is portrayed by Andy Berman in the original American version and by Ayumi Kida in the Japanese dub of the show. In the German dub, he is voiced by Tobias Müller, and in the Spanish dub, he is voiced by Carlos Enrique Bonilla and Eduardo Garza on one occasion.[6]
