Every family has its black sheep. Whether it's your Pinot Grigio aunt or a sister who's a little bit too into Tom Jones; Families aren't full unless they have that one outlier. If nothing else, they're there to make the rest of us feel like we might be normal.

In Olive Oyl's family, the black sheep is her older brother Castor. 

Castor Oyl was introduced to the world in the January 14th, 1920 edition of the Thimble Theater comic strip. He was the creation of Elzie Crisler Segar, who also created Popeye. 

Initially, Castor played a very minor role in the Thimble Theater/Popeye comic strips. The character was defined by his bizarre antics, frequently behaving in ways that contradicted what had already been established. While the media has since become warier of these kinds of flippant diagnoses, other characters at the time frequently alleged that Castor's conduct was the result of his insanity.

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Can you guess the right Popeye cartoon title written in his accent?

There are only so many stories a creator can tell with a character they've defined as "crazy." There aren't too many possible character arcs for someone who behaves so unpredictably. So, as the series evolved into more of a serialized comedy-adventure strip, so too did Castor Oyl develop new personality traits.

Throughout the late '20s, Castor Oyl grew into more of an "everyman" role. His newly-adapted entrepreneurial spirit became the focus of a few stories. The writers and artists had a newer, more clearly-defined player to work with. As such, Castor Oyl became more prominent in Popeye's adventures. So much so that eventually, more characters were introduced as foils (foyls?) to play off of Castor. His wife was launched into the strip, utilizing the thematically appropriate name Cylinda Oyl.

While these new personality traits gave Segar more to hang his hat on, Castor all but disappeared from the comic strip by 1931. After that, he played next to no role in the theatrically released cartoon shorts. His most prominent performance was as a woodwind player in Popeye's orchestra in The Spinach Overture.

Castor fans will be happy to learn that the character was revived for Robert Altman's 1980 Popeye film. The syndicated Popeye comic strip is currently helmed by R. K. Milholland, who reintroduced Castor, Cylinda, and their daughter Deezil in 2022.

Editor's Note: Popeye and Olive Oyl were on-again, off-again boyfriend/girlfriend in the Fleischer Studios shorts. However, the pair are married by the time of the sequel series Popeye and Son. Therefore, it's both less cumbersome and factually accurate to refer to Castor Oyl as Popeye's brother-in-law.

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