Mr. Ratburn's Secret Identity

Official summary
Arthur and his friends learn not to jump to conclusions when they wonder if Mr. Ratburn is a superhero.

Plot
In the introduction, Buster and Arthur exit the Loring movie theater after watching the movie "Dark Bunny Reborn Again". Arthur remarks that it was a cool movie, although he questions why no one understands that Bionic Bunny is really billionaire Deuce Dwayne. Buster admits that it was a good point and was kind of unbelievable. Suddenly a piano falls from the sky, but a woman flies high like a superhero to stop it. Buster absentmindedly asks Arthur if he wants a gumdrop. Arthur takes a gumdrop and continues, saying that it strange that Deuce has really bulging muscles. Buster and Arthur don't realize that they are about to walk over an open hole, but then a man secretly ducks his body over the hole to prevent Buster and Arthur from falling. Buster says that it strange that Deuce ducks into a supply closet whenever danger appears. Arthur replies that Deuce looks exactly like Dark Bunny. Buster finally says maybe other people don't notice these chain of events. Arthur says that statement is true and mentions that not everyone is as observant as him and Buster. Then a fire truck crashes into a fire hose from where water blasts out. However a baby that was sitting in a cradle turned into a superhero and sucked up all the water and then let it go into the drain. Buster says that is for sure and if there was a superhero masquerading as a normal person in Elwood City, they would be able to find out.

The story starts out at Lakewood Elementary School where Mr. Ratburn greets, "Good morning, everyone" and states that nothing starts the day out better than a bracing pop quiz. The kids then groan. Suddenly a cell phone rings. Mr. Ratburn is furious at whoever brought a cell phone unmuted to class. Then he realizes that it was his cell phone that was ringing and then remarks, "How embarrassing". Mr. Ratburn speaks to Principal Haney and says, "Merciful Mikado, I must leap into action!" He stated before he left the class to forgive him and states that duty calls. He says that the principal will take care while he is absent. The last thing that Mr. Ratburn tells them is to forget the pop quiz and instead to watch an entertaining film. However, the film talked about there being about 6,000 species in the freshwater mollusk which was completely ironic to what Mr. Ratburn said about the film.

While Buster eats at the lunch table along with Arthur and Ladonna, he states that he is shocked that Mr. Ratburn said to forget the quiz. Arthur then says what did Mr. Ratburn mean by duty calls. Ladonna responded to Arthur's comment by saying that Mr. Ratburns maybe a volunteer fireman. Arthur says that he doesn't believe Ladonna's assumption. Ladonna makes another assumption that maybe he is a chef for a fireman who steps in when the normal chef is out because his cat is sick. Buster and Arthur just stare at Ladonna. She hits back by saying "What, it's possible."

Buster then steps into the assumptions and says that he has the perfect one. Arthur sighs and says that he knows Buster is going to say: Mr. Ratburn has been replaced by an alien. Buster responds furiously and says that he was to say that Mr. Ratburn escaped from aliens and uses their advanced technology to fight crime as a superhero. Ladonna asks Buster how he figures that out. Buster tells her that Mr. Ratburn has a Rat Phone and when trouble appears, he gets the distress call and then away he goes to fight crime. Arthur hits out at Buster by saying that Mr. Ratburn is not a superhero and that there must be a logical reason behind his leaving the classroom and compares like he isn't a nail-eating vampire. Ladonna asks in bemusement, "A nail-eating vampire"? Buster explains that when they met Mr. Ratburn, they were convinced that he was a vampire. However, they soon discovered that he was an amateur puppeteer. Buster states that this incident is different and asks Arthur that he heard that call. Arthur explains Buster that that was just one call and they need much more proof than that.

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Ladonna Compson
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Maria Pappas
 * Alex
 * The Brain
 * Binky Barnes
 * Fern Walters
 * George Lundgren
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Trivia

 * Mr. Ratburn having a secret identity was a major theme of "Arthur's Teacher Trouble".
 * Dwuce Dwane, Dark Bunny's secret idenity, is a parody of Bruce Wayne, Batman's idenity.
 * Jodie Resther (the voice of Francine Frensky) sings the theme song in Arthur's fantasy sequence.

Cultural connections

 * Mr. Ratburn performs Major General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance.