The Boys has a massive ensemble cast of supes that mirrors any other superhero universe's roster. While the Seven earns the lion's share of attention, groups like Payback pose problems. The third season of The Boys gave fans a look into the 80s to see Payback's heyday. The previous supergroup lost most members to its most iconic star, but Soldier Boy's sidekick, Gunpowder, suffered a different deadly fate.
Few comic book adaptations have had to work as hard as Eric Kripke's The Boys. The premise was excellent, perfectly suiting the tone and the current state of the genre, but Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's execution was less impressive. Kripke and the writing team deserve praise for keeping their action compelling and their satire sharp without entering the tasteless waters of the source material. Almost every element is handled better in the show than in the comics, and Gunpowder is no exception.
Gunpowder's role in Prime Video's The Boys
Gunpowder was a young supe growing famous in the late 70s and early 80s. His power isn't flashy, but the Compound V in his system grants him superhuman aim and skill with any firearm. That gimmick made him the perfect counterpart for Soldier Boy. At fourteen, he became a young member of Payback and Soldier Boy's sidekick. A few years later, he became one of the few team members to report Soldier Boy's pattern of abusive behavior to human resources. He requested a transfer, but Payback was between shooting schedules for various film projects. Gunpowder traveled with Payback to Nicaragua to participate in Operation Charly. Part of the plan involved killing Soldier Boy, but despite Gunpowder's personal issues with the supe, he was the sole dissenter to the scheme. His bloodlust overwhelmed his moral clarity, causing him to spend the engagement spraying rounds from a mounted emplacement gun and killing whoever happened to be nearby. The Soviets snagged Soldier Boy, ending Payback's days on top.
Gunpowder appears four times in The Boys. After Payback broke up, most of its members left the spotlight. Gunpowder traded the main stage for a sideshow act. He appears on in-universe TV repeatedly. He earns positive press for stopping a mall shooting, then uses the spotlight to argue he wouldn't have to intervene if the patrons were armed. He pops up on Seven on 7 to promote a youth gun training program. His big scene comes after a gun convention he hosts, delivering his political beliefs to an appreciative crowd. He's a niche celebrity, more on the level of an internet conspiracy theorist than the typical supe. Though he isn't as iconic as a member of the Seven, he's financially well-off thanks to several lucrative endorsement contracts with the Vought Rifle Association. His first appearance communicates his place in The Boys' satirical reality:
Good for us, the silent majority, and the Vought Rifle Association, let me tell you something, we are armed and we're ready to fight back. Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget, two-for-one on hollow-points on the way out. Use the promo code "Gunpowder." God bless y'all.
Gunpowder in The Boys comics
Gunpowder is a significantly less notable figure in the comics despite already being a third or fourth-tier talent in the show. He is part of a brief story arc demonstrating the comic's usual level of maturity and creativity. He's a member of a small team called Teenage Kix. He's among the most profitable names in the group, raking in cash from various NRA sponsorships. Teenage Kix wins a battle and celebrates with a sex orgy, which the Boys observe and film surreptitiously. Gunpowder is depicted being sodomized with the barrel of his weapon. Teenage Kix attacks the Boys. Mother's Milk incapacitates Gunpowder, breaking his helmet with his Compound V-enhanced strength. During the brawl, Wee Hughie accidentally kills another member of Teenage Kix with a punch through his torso. Gunpowder's next and final appearance occurs at his teammate's funeral.
What happens to Gunpowder?
All of his appearances in the comics are listed above, but he enjoys slightly more representation in the show. Billy Butcher travels to Gunpowder's gun convention, seeking information about Soldier Boy. He assaults Gunpowder in the men's room, but Gunpowder denies everything, wounds him, and slips away. Butcher strikes again in the parking garage, empowered by V24's temporary superhuman strength. Gunpowder shoots Butcher several times, including three point-blank Desert Eagle rounds to the chest, but Butcher survives. Butcher tortures the information out of Gunpowder, learning the CIA engineered Soldier Boy's death and that Grace Mallory was involved. Butcher savagely beats Gunpowder half to death before obliterating him with his newfound laser vision.
Gunpowder is a minor character in both tellings of this story. In the comics, he represents yet another example of supes' sexual deviancy, which is often treated as a greater crime than any of their violent acts. In the show, he's a critical vector for information, moving the plot along through his testimony and death, conveying Butcher's newfound power. His personality and brief political rant place him in the fascinating world of the show's killer satire, adding more to his depiction than the comics ever did. Gunpowder is The Boys' answer to right-wing political commentators, and that's a hilarious place for a minor 2nd Amendment supe to go.
