The Muffin Man is the creator and "father" of Gingy and Mongo. He first appears in Shrek 2.
Appearances[]
Shrek[]
Gingy mentions the Muffin Man while being interrogated by Lord Farquaad, who had just threatened to remove one of his gumdrop buttons. But the interrogation gets cut off shortly upon the arrival of the Magic Mirror.
Shrek 2[]
Shrek has an idea to break into the Far Far Away palace to stop the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming, and has Gingy take him, Donkey and Puss to the Muffin Man who bakes them a giant gingerbread man, named Mongo.
Shrek the Third[]
The Muffin Man appears in Gingy's memories. Gingy recalls when he first came out of the oven, the Muffin Man cries "Gingy!", to which Gingy replies "Papa!".
Shrek Forever After[]
He makes a cake for Shrek and presents it to him. After the Three Little Pigs eat it, he easily makes another. Once Shrek smashes the second cake, he and Gingy stare and Gingy's pants fall down in shock. In the universe where Shrek doesn't exist, he creates the warrior Gingy.
Scared Shrekless[]
Muffin Man in the comics
In The Bride of Gingy, he makes Gingy a new girlfriend named Sugar. He tells Gingy that she contains the most sugar ever put in a cookie and warns him about the side effects. But since Gingy made the story up, its not known if she was even real.
Shrek Comics[]
The Muffin Man makes a cameo as one of the judges for the "Happy Endings Fitness Tournament".
Shrek Thriller Night[]
He appears in the background of the theater with Mabel on his shoulder when Shrek wakes from his nightmare. He and Mabel may be in a relationship.
Physical Appearance[]
The Muffin Man is depicted as an old man with grey hair, moustache, beard and wears a pair of glasses. He wears a tall white chef hat and apron, as well as a red scarf and a badge with his initials on it in gold. In Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever after, he doesn't have his glasses.
Trivia[]
- The Muffin Man is the only nursery rhyme character (aside from The Three Blind Mice and "Big" Jack Horner) to be prominently featured in the series. Others either had split second cameos or small mentions.
- Considering how he created Sugar in Scared Shrekless, it's possible that he could also be a scientist. It might even hint that Gingy and Mongo were creations of science and not magic.
- The Muffin Man's method of creating sentient cookies might involve a combination of meteorology (science of weather) and alchemy (medieval equivalent to chemistry).
- He speaks with a French-like accent.
- In the original Czech dub, the mention of the Muffin Man and his rhyme is replaced by one to Maya the Bee and her theme song. This is because the Muffin Man song is not commonly known to children in the Czech Republic.