Fans Have a Theory About Ben Stiller's Characters in 'Dodgeball' and 'Heavyweights'

Movie fans might have too much time on their hands. They've strung together a theory that connects characters that Ben Stiller plays in both Dodgeball and Heavyweights.

When fans started taking a closer look, the connections between Tony Perkis and White Goodman became glaring. Tony runs a camp for overweight teenagers in Heavyweights while White Goodman is an overly competitive fitness fanatic in Dodgeball.

Immediately, the pair are connected by their personalities. Both of them have a passion for fitness, working out, and high-energy sports. They also both have a bit of a mean bone in them with Tony enjoying exploiting teenagers for cash and White being the villain of Dodgeball.

The fan theory stipulates that Tony and White are actually the same person, starting the timeline with what happens to Tony after Heavyweights. According to the theory, Tony is mortified by the way he acted in 1995 which causes him to spiral out of control.

"After his defeat at Camp Hope, Tony Perkis Sr. swooped in and took the camp away from Tony Perkis Jr. Tony then fell into a depressive, self-pitying state and couldn't cope with the fact that the 'fat kids' bested him. He spent the years after losing Camp Hope getting fat and hating himself," theorized a Reddit user.

When Tony's dad dies, he leaves his fortune to his son who gets into shape and is set to reinvent himself. He opened up Globo Gym to make some money but was worried that his name could be an issue. He didn't want to reinvent the PerkiSystem out of fear that people would connect it back to Camp Hope.

Part of the theory suggests that the name "White Goodman" itself is even more reason to think that Tony and White are the same person. Fans say that the name is so generic because it was made up to "appeal to a wide audience," especially since "good man" is trustworthy. He also renames his dad to Earl rather than Tony Sr.

More signs point to the validity of this theory too. Both Globo Gym and PerkiSystem have the "same cheesy promotional type stuff," according to a fan on TikTok.

Fans also noticed that the logos are similar. Both of them are circular and primarily feature the color purple. Globo Gym features a purple cobra, but the word "Globo" implies a "globe" which is the imagery of the PerkiSystem.

Fans think that this theory only makes the entire story better. "Connecting this all to Dodgeball makes Tony/White a former hero turned villain. Which I think is rather poetic. He tried to help fat people before and got burned so he grew a hatred for them when starting back up again with Globo Gym," one wrote on Reddit. "All he had to do was get out his old Perkisizing method logos and update them for a new business. It connects it all so well."

There is a pretty major debate, though, since some fans disagree on the timeline. "Dodgeball takes place in 1993. Heavyweights takes place in 1995. This is a really nice theory, but the timelines don't hold up," a fan wrote.

Moviegoers seem to debate that actual timeline. The Movies StackExchange seems pretty confident that the timeline of the theory does hold true to canon.