Who Is Gunpowder in The Boys: Meet Sean Patrick Flanery’s New Character
There are plenty of different new characters that were introduced in season 3 of The Boys, as the latest season has continued to make the series more interesting, regardless of how big or small their roles may be. In that regard, one of the characters that were introduced in this new season was Gunpowder, who had a good part to play in the flow of the narrative of this season. So, who is Gunpowder in The Boys?
Gunpowder is a retired supe that used to be a member of the superhero group called Payback. He used to be Soldier Boy’s personal sidekick in Payback but was often the target of his physical and sexual abuses. Gunpowder was eventually killed in an encounter with a superpowered Billy Butcher.
Even though Gunpowder doesn’t have the biggest role among all of the new supes that were introduced in season 3, he still had an important role to play in the progression of Butcher’s mission to find out more about what killed Soldier Boy. In that regard, let’s get to know more about Gunpowder and what happened to him in The Boys?
Who Is Gunpowder In The Boys?
Season 3 of The Boys introduced a host of new characters to the series as all of these characters were there for a purpose and had played their own roles in the first three episodes of this Amazon Prime superhero series. In that regard, one of the newest characters introduced in season 3 was Gunpowder. So, who is Gunpowder in The Boys?
Gunpowder is actually a supe that used to be a member of the superhero group called Payback before this group was eventually overtaken by The Seven as the newest top superhero group in America. In season 3, Gunpowder had already retired from being a supe but worked as a speaker for a gun advocacy group.
It was revealed that Gunpowder joined Payback at 14 years old as it was Soldier Boy who actually requested him to be his personal sidekick in the group. Of course, there was a good reason why Soldier Boy requested him to be his sidekick, as the superhero actually abused Gunpowder sexually and physically quite often. Gunpowder initially tried to write it off as mere hazing on the part of Payback, but he eventually filed a complaint to get taken off the group, only to be denied.
In his appearance in the series, it can be presumed that his powers are related to his abilities as a marksman. He probably doesn’t have a lot of special powers aside from the fact that he is impressively proficient with guns and has eyesight that allows him to enhance his abilities as a shooter. This was shown in the fact that he could ricochet a bullet off of surfaces to hit his target.
During the flashback scene involving Grace Mallory and her involvement with Payback, it was revealed that Gunpowder was one of the supes that went to Nicaragua together with the entirety of Payback. He was shown assisting Soldier Boy, who was supposed to fire a bazooka before Mallory stopped them. Gunpowder was shown to be one of the survivors that came out of the attack of the Sandinistas and the Russians alive, all while most of the other members of Payback ended up dying.
What Happened to Gunpowder in The Boys?
During the earlier part of The Boys season 3, Billy Butcher had a mission in mind as he was trying to learn more about the weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy because he believed that this weapon could also be strong enough to kill Homelander. As such, he investigated the remaining members of Payback, which included Gunpowder.
Butcher visited Gunpowder in one of his talks about responsible gun use and the Second Amendment. He followed the supe all the way to the washroom to tell him that he was his biggest fan while also trying to extort information out of him using his past. Butcher told Gunpowder that he knows about the abuses that he filed against Soldier Boy in the past as he was trying to get information about what truly happened to the powerful supe and what killed him.
Gunpowder brushed this all off and attempted to kill Billy Butcher in the parking lot but failed to do so. But when Butcher was reinvigorated by Hughie’s decision to return to The Boys, he visited Gunpowder again and met him in the parking lot, just outside of Gunpowder’s car.
As Butcher was trying to get information from Gunpowder again, the supe shot him with his gun straight on the chest. To his surprise, Butcher survived the shot and revealed himself to have the same kind of invulnerability to bullets that Homelander has. It was clear right then and there that Butcher had taken the V24 serum that Queen Maeve gave him so that he could extract information from Gunpowder and the other members of Payback.
Butcher beat Gunpowder to convince him to tell him what he knew about Soldier Boy. Eventually, Gunpowder gave in and told him about Nicaragua and the CIA’s involvement in it. Butcher finished him off by beating him up again and by slicing a part of his head off with his heat vision.
Who Is Gunpowder Based On?
Like a lot of the different characters on The Boys, Gunpowder is simply based on the same character in the comics, but there are a lot of differences between the live-action version and the one in the comic books.
In the comics, Gunpowder is a minor antagonist that became a member of Teenage Kix, which is a corrupt superhero team composed of younger supes. He made his first appearance in the comics when he was in an orgy together with the other members of Teenage Kix.
Eventually, Teenage Kix discovered that The Boys were spying on them, and they set out to attack the group. However, The Boys defeated Teenage Kix using their enhanced strength from the Compound V that they took. It was Mother’s Milk that defeated Gunpowder and smashed his helmet in the process.
When Hughie accidentally killed Blarney Cock, both The Boys and Teenage Kix had to flee the scenes. Gunpowder made his final appearance in the comics when he attended Blarney’s funeral, and he never appeared again after that scene.
In the comics, he has the ability to conjure up weapons out of nowhere and is seemingly the parody of Judge Dredd. However, in the live-action series, he is more of a parody of Deadshot because of his abilities as a marksman.
Who Plays Gunpowder In The Boys?
The actor portraying Gunpowder in The Boys is Sean Patrick Flanery, who has actually been around for a long time as a popular choice for low to mid-budget action movies. He began his career in the late 80s and has since appeared in a lot of different TV shows and movies.
Sean Patrick Flanery rose to fame when he appeared in The Boondock Saints, which already has two movies. In fact, a third movie is set to release in a few years. He also made his name in movies like Powder and Suicide Kings.
