Mr. Burns is the most evil person in Springfield. Where he's known as the richest man in town, and owns the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and the boss of Homer. He has a rather loyal assistant named Waylon Smithers Jr. He has a massive desire to increase his wealth. Though he vows to constantly ruin Homer's life and make sure that bad things happen to him, he's never really able to remember his name. Burns is also incredibly weak, in that it goes far enough for him to not be able to crush a paper cup.

Burns was at one point in the Army under Sargeant Abraham Simpson, as a member of the Flying Hellfish, in 3F19 - Raging Abe Simpson and his Grumbling Grandson in the Curse of the Flying Hellfish, he becomes one of the two last surviving members of the troop, along side Simpson, so Burns, wanting to get his hands on the Hellfish treasure, tries to kill Grampa, but is foiled and discharged.

Burns's age has been many times called into question where is social security number is a simple 2. And when forming a softball team in 8F13 - Homer at the Bat he wanted to build a professional softball team out of players that have been dead for 150 years, and also that when Lisa was researching her own family for a project, Burns overheard her talk about Colonel Burns from 1860 which happens to be his father in MABF06 - The Colour Yellow, Smithers informs him that his PIN number for his ATM card is his age, and goes on to type four numbers (though the first could simply have been a zero).

In 1F01 - Rosebud it is revealed that as a child, he had a teddy bear Bobo that he wouldn't part with until he was given the prospect of living with a billionare. Later Bobo was found by Bart and given to Maggie. As much as Burns wanted the Teddy, Maggie wanted it more, so Burns gave up trying to get it back, feeling sorry for him, Maggie gave the bear to Burns, the next season in 2F16 - Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One), Maggie would later shoot him.