27 Times The Simpsons’ Fans Noticed Small Details In The Show And Created Whole Theories About Homer

In the episode Homer The Heretic (season 4, episode 3) God tells Homer he will die after six months. We don’t see Homer die, but in the 18th episode So It's Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show, he falls into a coma. 

He eventually wakes up, but Reddit user Hardtopickaname believes he never did and that all the episodes after this one were the fruit of Homer’s imagination, the result of his fever dreams. The redditor claims that from this point, the plots became crazier and it could be that they weren’t real in The Simpsons’ world. That also could explain why the family stops celebrating the kid’s birthdays.

What could make this theory fail are the various cultural references that took place after 1993 when Homer had the accident. Hardtopickaname believes Homer hears everything the family talks about when they come to visit, which could be the case as it is known that people’s minds are still conscious even in the state of a coma.

A recurring joke in the Simpsons is that Mr. Burns doesn’t remember Homer’s name. But Reddit user MCmnbvgyuio presented a theory that maybe he does and just pretends not to just to annoy him. 

The redditor suggests that the proof for this is a line said by Mr. Burns in season 2 episode 4, Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish, “Simpson, I shall make it the focus of my remaining years that your dreams will go unfulfilled.” They think that this threat was too tame in comparison to other threats the boss has made and refers to slowly breaking Homer’s spirit by keeping him in a job with no prospects and not even acknowledging him.

Further proof for this is that Mr. Burns always remembers Homer’s family members’ names as well as their roles in his life.

To explain why Mr. Burns also doesn’t know who Homer is even if he's not present in the same room, the redditor suggests that “this is his way of passively erasing Homer in everyone’s minds - he’s making sure that everyone knows he’s not worth remembering.”

There are quite a few people in Springfield that don’t like Homer and his wife’s sisters Patty and Selma are in that category. Reddit user Bteatesthighlander thinks that it might be because they blame themselves that Marge married him.

They were quite cruel to her in their childhood and “drove Marge into the arms of Homer by the way they treated her.” But now they want to make Marge hate Homer because they feel that because of their influence, Marge became the chore-loving, apologetic and undemanding wife she is.

In the Simpsons universe, it seems that everyone has their own vices except for the Flanders family. They are a picture-perfect family that is devoted to God and never sin. According to Anomalocaris, it might be because the show is seen through Ned Flanders’ eyes. 

He considers himself and his family above everyone and Homer is the worst neighbor because he doesn’t follow God’s path. It might be that Homer’s vices are exaggerated because it is a highly religious man’s perspective. Maybe they are not such losers as we have been used to believing because in the end, Lisa becomes the first female president of the US and Homer is taking care of Springfield by working in a safety position he got while campaigning for the city's safety.

In episode 7 of season 7 King-Size Homer, the protagonist gains a lot of weight to be considered disabled so that he can work from home. He does and has to do one thing, which is press the key ‘Y’ which stands for ‘yes’ when the system asks for something.

As Homer is also too lazy to do that, he puts a drinking bird in front of the key to do the job for him. However, it almost ends in a nuclear disaster when Homer leaves for the cinema and sees that the bird has fallen over, which means the accident can be stopped only manually.

How the bird fell over is a mystery and Reddit user motherstep proposes that it could have been Marge before eliminating any other suspect. Their arguments are that Marge and Homer were fighting over him gaining weight and she even told him she wasn’t attracted to him anymore. So to teach him a lesson, Marge may have moved the bird without even knowing what horrible consequences it could bring.

The Simpsons family goes to church every Sunday but in the 3rd episode of the 4th season, Homer the Heretic, the main protagonist of the show, decides that he doesn’t need to do that anymore and he would prefer sleeping in and not experiencing the frost outside. 

The same night, Homer has a dream in which God appears to him and reveals the meaning of life, which only Homer finds out as the scene cuts to the credits without us hearing what God had to say.
Reddit user raysofdavies thinks God told Homer that he is a cartoon character, which makes him believe his actions don’t have consequences. The redditor thinks that Homer's behavior changes after that episode as he becomes more reckless as if he was untouchable, which would support the theory.

In season 6, episode 11, Fear of Flying, the Simpson family gets an opportunity to travel for free by plane, but it turns out that Marge has such a severe fear of flying that she even has a panic attack on the plane.

The trip gets postponed and after Homer’s failed attempt to cure her phobia, Lisa suggests therapy. Homer is really against it, saying that therapy breaks apart families.

Reddit user Pasta-hobo has a pretty convincing argument about this view of his. They remind us that when Homer was little, his parents went to counseling and it actually resulted in them splitting up. Homer’s mom left him and his dad without warning and that is when his dad fell into alcoholism and became his grumpy self seen on the show.

Reddit user WealthyJoker75 is convinced that Homer is actually quite smart when it comes to committing crimes as they don’t remember the character being ever caught. 

In season 8, episode 18, Homer distills his own homemade liquor and nobody knows he’s the Beer Baron until he turns himself in because he wanted to help Wiggum's career. 

In season 25, episode 9, Homer opens up a movie theater in his backyard and shows movies he pirated off the internet. It ends only because Marge sends Hollywood an apology letter for profiting from their work.

In episode 3, season 12, Homer helps Krusty to steal a violin from Fat Tony’s house during a mafia summit and they are successful in their mission.

The redditor thinks these incidents are proof that Homer knows how to carry out a crime without experiencing serious consequences. However, some people in the comments pointed out that the policemen aren't very competent in Springfield, while others supported the theory, saying that it might be genetic as Homer’s mom actually was a successful criminal.

While many people believe that Mr. Burns actually doesn’t remember who Homer is so he doesn’t remember his incompetence, thus not firing him or rehiring him not long after laying him off, Reddit user All_of_it_is_one has another theory.

He believes that Homer’s incompetence is actually benefitial to Mr. Burns because he is incapable of reporting the safety violations and continuing to operate the plant at the lowest possible costs.

The evidence that Mr. Burns didn’t want to lose Homer as the safety inspector is shown in the 3rd episode of season 5, Homer Goes To College, when the boss helped his employee to enroll to Springfield University because otherwise he would have needed to hire someone new.

In season 5, episode 1, it is revealed that Homer once founded a group called the Be Sharps, which was supposed to be a parody of the Beatles. Besides Homer, the band included other well-known characters such as Apu, Skinner and Barney. They were actually quite successful and won a Grammy Award.

Redditor somewherecheap thinks that this venture earned the band a lot of money and this is why Homer can afford to live in a house, has two cars and goes on lavish vacations from time to time. 

To support their theory, the redditor explains the other members’ financial situation. Barney is not rich at all but the redditor believes he just drank his money away. Apu is seen living in a nice house and has a car before his marriage, gives his girlfriend luxurious gifts and has to live more modestly only after having 8 children. Skinner also lives in a big house but shares it with his mom. It is suggested that he probably gives his money to her to invest into projects because the Principal feels guilty for leaving her alone when he served in Vietnam.

In the fictional world where the Simpsons live, a secret organization called The Stone-Cutters exists. To become a member of it, one would have to be the son of a Stone-Cutter or save the life of a Stone-Cutter. 

Reddit user TyPiper93 thinks that maybe Bart entered the organization before Homer did because he actually saved Mr. Burns’ life by donating blood to him and the millionaire is a Stone-Cutter.

The evidence that leads to this belief is seen in episode 12 of season 6, Homer The Great. TyPiper93 says that Bart gives Homer a suspicious wink when his dad starts wondering why Lenny and Carl are getting special treatment from Mr. Burns. Then, when Homer is declared “The Chosen One,” Bart quickly responds to his dad’s order to "Take the girl away!" and even kind of bows to him. Also, Bart never gets severe punishment at school for all his pranks and Principal Skinner belongs to the organization.

The thing that can make this theory dubious is that Bart is never seen at the Stone-Cutter meetings. The Reddit user explains that participating in those meetings is not mandatory and that Bart isn’t the only one not attending.

One of the most memorable episodes in the duration of the Simpsons is episode 25 of season 6, Who Shot Mr. Burns? While nobody was expecting for Maggie to be the shooter, there are more mysteries that need to be solved.

Reddit user diogenes08 speculates that when the writers and animators were made to drop the storyline of Homer and Krusty being the same person, they subtly ignored that. This could be indicated in a scene when the whole town is gathered and Krusty is seen in the crowd; however, he is missing the dark circles under his eyes and has a painted nose instead of a rubber one.

Youtuber Whang! is also convinced that it is Homer who is dressed up as Krusty and not Krusty himself. 

The redditor’s explanation is that the writers and animators of the Simpsons liked the idea of the two characters being the same person so much that they purposefully did this even though one of the writers, Bill Oakley, claimed that the original script didn’t include Homer in the scene as he was one of the prime suspects, so it might have been an accident.

Bart is always getting in trouble at school, after school and at home. There could be several reasons for this, but Reddit user Tryptychal-Orbits theorises that he is following the example of his dad, Homer.

Homer is often seen committing crimes such as stealing, vandalism and some more serious criminal activities. He is not afraid to break the law and his son, seeing such behavior, just steps in the same footsteps.

The Simpson family is seen going on vacations from time to time, they own a big house and two cars, there are three children in the family and a couple of pets. The only breadwinner of the household is Homer, so how can they afford all that?

Reddit user awkwardhipsters reminds us that in season 8, episode 2, You Only Move Twice, Hank Scorpio, the evil genius villain, gave Homer the American football team the Denver Broncos. In 2012, when the redditor who came up with the theory, the Denver Broncos were worth $1.16 billion and in 2022, their worth is $3.75 billion. 

The only problem Not_So_Bad_Andy had with the theory was that there was a whole episode about Homer trying to get tickets to the Falcons-Broncos Super Bowl; however, many then explained this by saying Homer is just stupid or he might have forgotten that he owned the team.

Homer doesn’t take his duties at the power plant very seriously and creates an impression that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. It might be that he actually does and tries to bring the power plant down on purpose because it’s so bad for the environment.

Reddit user IQHigherThanYours noticed a few clues that could indicate that this is true. Firstly, in season 8 episode 23 the power plant hired a new employee, Frank Grimes. He actually does his job and is good at it. The Redditor thinks that Homer purposefully drove Frank to the point of insanity, which almost guarantees death, having in mind they work in a power plant.

Another clue IQHigherThanYours points out is Homer’s conversation with his mom who is kind of disappointed her son doesn’t work for NASA anymore, but his response is, “Well, you'll be happy to know that I don't work very hard. Actually, I'm bringing the plant down from the inside.” Which seems like undeniable evidence for the Redditor that their theory is possible.

Sometimes it may seem that Homer doesn’t really remember that Maggie exists, but we can see how affectionate towards his youngest daughter he is when he plasters her photos in his workplace and covers up the sign ‘you are here forever’ in such a way that it spells ‘do it for her.’

Reddit user doctorsnakelegs thinks that Maggie is also very fond of her father, to the point that she mimics him. The redditor noticed that Maggie sees her dad drinking Duff while he watches TV and copies him by sucking her pacifier. She is actually so attached to her pacifier and it may be the reflection of Homer being addicted to beer.

Also, they think this deep relationship between Homer and Maggie explains why she doesn’t talk as her dad doesn’t say much when they interact, so you could say Maggie is her father’s daughter.

In season 16, episode 19, Thank God, It’s Doomsday, Homer realises that the end of the world is near, so he calculates when the Rapture will take place to save his family and town. Springfield gathers on the Mesa to wait for God to take them to Heaven, but nothing happens.

It appears that Homer made a mistake in the calculations, but this time nobody is listening to him, so he ascends to Heaven alone. He looks down at Earth and sees that his family is suffering, so he causes havoc in Heaven to make God save them. God eventually agrees to turn back time and make everything normal.

Homer wakes up on the mesa and it is suggested that all of the events were just a dream. Redditor StrangeBible disagrees and claims that all of it actually happened and Homer saved Springfield. The user gives a couple of more examples of Homer predicting the future which would make the Apocalypse prediction more believable. 

These examples include season 6, episode 14, when Homer predicts that a comet coming to Earth will just shrink due to erosion and won’t cause any damage, which actually happens. He also predicts how his family’s album would be destroyed in season 18, episode 16. The redditor remembers that there are even more instances of Homer predicting the future, so an Apocalypse could be one of them.

The intuition we have about something is called a gut feeling and that is not a coincidence, because the stomach is lined with a network of neurons that are sometimes called “the little brain.” Its function is to digest food and extract the nutrients and vitamins we need. But the gut feeling or the butterflies in the stomach comes from the little brain in the stomach communicating with the brain in your head.

Knowing this, a Reddit user suggested that because Homer doesn’t have much brain power in his head, he talks with his gut, which has a big say in his life.

Reddit user Agent_700_ has heard theories suggesting Bart is gay and they consider to be them believable as all of Bart’s relationships with girls fail and most of them are more masculine than feminine. He has shown interest in feminine activities and in episode 3 of the 20th season, it is shown that in the future, Bart is married to a female Millhouse, which makes them believe that the childhood friend turned out to be trans. 

Whether Bart understands his feelings or not, the redditor suggests that he is hiding it because of Homer. In season 8, episode 15 Homer sees Bart dancing in a woman’s wig, which makes him think his son is gay, so the father tries to ensure Bart likes girls. In season 13, episode 9, Homer gets angry when Santa's Little Helper was attracted to dogs in the gay parade.

As Homer was seen strangling Bart more than once, the boy might be scared of his father’s reaction, especially knowing his opinion about gay people.

Homer is kind of forgetful and we could explain that by him just being dumb or drinking too much beer. But Reddit user GrandmasterSexay has a slightly different theory and believes Homer could have memory loss. 

They think their theory makes sense because Homer forgets he has a third child on several occasions, and to make himself remember her, he has his whole workstation covered in her photos. The redditor guesses that Homer has a problem with forming new memories and it may have something to do with the crayon stuck in his brain that he chose to leave there.

To further strengthen the theory, GrandmasterSexay points out that Homer has a lot of different versions of the same events and that might be due to the memory loss. Also, his dad is considered to be a little bit crazy and maybe it’s the same condition that Homer is developing.

In episode 9 of season 5, Homer is introduced to Mindy Simmons, a new worker at the plant after the United States Department of Labor orders Mr. Burns to hire at least one woman. She is so beautiful that men can’t keep their eyes off of her and eventually Homer falls in love with her. Later, the man finds out that the two of them have so much in common, which makes Homer like Mindy even more. On top of that, Marge gets sick, so she is not as attractive to her husband. 

They both go to the National Energy Convention in Capital City as representatives of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and this is when Mindy confesses to Homer that she loves him. They kiss and the scene cuts to Marge laying in the same bed that the two coworkers have just been seen on.

Most people interpreted the scene as Homer remaining faithful to his wife, but Reddit user lawangel thinks that Homer gave into the temptation after all and Marge’s presence can be explained by an active imagination. The redditor believed that “Homer, wrestling with both strong attraction and guilt throughout the episode, either imagined Marge in her place, or subsequently chose to pretend it was Marge in the hotel, not Mindy, a memory he could live with.”

For the redditor, it doesn’t make sense that it was actually Marge, because why would Homer take her to the Capital City, how would she get there so quickly and where would she have left the children? Also, they felt it would have been weird if Homer took his wife to the room where he almost cheated on her, thus their conclusion was that Marge’s image was his imagination.

None of the characters in the Simpsons age except for Matt Groening, also excluding the flashback or flash forward episodes where characters are seen as younger or older. Funnily enough, the technology they use still develops and there are references to current pop culture. 

Also, it seems that Homer lives as if he will never have to face any consequences, he tries out different crazy career paths and is never actually severely punished for being lazy at his job.

A Reddit user speculates that it might be “because the state of Springfield is an alternate reality controlled by none other than Homer Simpson,” also citing the fact that nobody knows where Springfield in the cartoon is actually located and compares it to the Westview anomaly from WandaVision.

In season 10, episode 8 Homer buys a baby lobster so he can raise him to grow bigger and have a fancy dinner. But over time, the man grows fond of the lobster, declares him a part of the family and names him Pinchy.

However, in the end, Homer does boil him, which appears to be done by accident, and then eats the lobster by himself. Reddit user dogs_playing_poker suspects that Homer knew exactly what he was doing and put the lobster into boiling water on purpose so he could pretend to be grieving and would be allowed to feast on it alone.

The evidence is in Homer’s knowledge of food preparation and the fact that he has already eaten lobster before. Also, in the episode, Marge told Homer to put the lobster in the boiling water which means he knew how it can be cooked. 

Lastly, dogs_playing_poker speculates that Homer would know how to not burn himself in the shower and that he probably poured boiling water in the tub, as they doubt that tap water could become hot enough to cook a lobster. In conclusion, “Homer was not stupid, he was selfish.”

In season 9, episode 17, Homer’s older daughter Lisa finds out that the Simpsons have a genetic defect that makes them become very stupid starting at the ages of 8 or 9. That really scares the girl as she prides herself in being a good student and a smart kid overall, but she is relieved to find out that the defect only affects males in the family.

Later, in the 12th season, episode 9, we find out that Homer is so dumb because he has a crayon stuck in his brain and once it was removed, the character became incredibly intelligent, but chose to put it back. This contradicts the fact that all males in the Simpson lineage start mentally degrading.

To explain this logical gap, Reddit user Lvl1bidoof suggests that Homer is intersex, meaning he is an intersex cis man with XX male syndrome, which would explain why he doesn’t have the Simpson gene and is naturally intelligent.

Sometimes cartoon characters are interpreted as more than just a person but have more symbolism. For example, a widespread theory is that the main 7 characters of SpongeBob SquarePants represent the 7 deadly sins.

Reddit user Cnidaria45 suggests that each of the Simpson family members can be attributed a decade leading up to the show’s release. Homer is given the '80s because “He's the stereotypical crass consumer standing in for that era, and is usually an absolute idiot, yet has a genuine love for his family nonetheless.”

Episode 14 of the 11th season was unusual because one of the quite well known characters died. Ned Flanders’ wife Maude was killed in an accident during the races. In real life, Maude’s voice actress quit after not being able to negotiate a satisfactory salary.

KingOfVIP thinks that Maude’s death in the cartoon also has a hidden reason. They suggest that Homer meant for Maude to die because he didn’t want her to belong to Ned, but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t have her either. So he purposefully parked in the ambulance zone so that Maude couldn’t get any help. 

The redditor also thinks that because Homer was jealous of Ned, that is why he was always so rude to him as they noticed that after Maude’s death, the neighbors grew closer as according to them, now there was no jealousy poisoning Homer’s judgment and maybe there was a little bit of guilt of leaving two children without a mother as well.

People in the Simpsons universe have a very distinct shade of yellow as their skin color. Maggie, Lisa and Bart also have hair of the same shade. But it might not be skin at all, but fur instead. Redditor samx3i noticed that in season 7, episode 21, when Lisa gets gum stuck in her hair and has her hair shaved off, her scalp is revealed, which is of a light skin tone.
In episode 13, season 22, the kids are all very concerned that they don’t have a visible hairline and can’t understand where their hair starts. So the Reddit user believes that “The only logical explanation is that they are Caucasian with a thin coat of yellow fur which blends in with their yellow hair, or the hair on top of their heads may just be longer yellow hairs and styled.”