Who is Gunpowder? Comic origin of antagonist from Boys Season 3 explored

Gunpowder made his official debut in Season 3 of The Boys. The villain, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, appeared in the second episode of the third season. He appears at this point in the episode because Butcher is looking for members of the superhero group Payback in order to find the weapon that can kill a supe.

Gunpowder in the comics was very different from the version in the show. Both versions feature substantial differences, to the point where you're not sure if they're really the same characters. So, with that said, let's look into Gunpowder's origins in comic books.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Boys Season 3

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Exploring comic book origins of Gunpowder amidst debut in The Boys Season 3

Gunpowder is a very minor antagonist in The Boys comics. Created by Garth Ennis, the character made his live-action debut in the third season of The Boys where he appeared in one episode of the show. He was previously referenced in other seasons as well.

In the comics, he is a member of the Teenage Kix superhero team, a corrupt superhero team, like every other in The Boys universe. Gunpowder made quite the first appearance in the comics.

He made his first appearance in quite the risqué way. Appearing in an orgy with his fellow teammates, he was spotted by Hughie who was spying on the group.

When the Teenage Kix discovered that The Boys were on their track, they set out to attack them. During the skirmish, they were outclassed because they were unable to match The Boys' strength, with Billy Butcher headbutting their leader and Mother's Milk flooring Gunpowder and smashing his helmet in the process.

During the fight, Hughie accidentally kills Blarney Cock, a member of their team, which shocks everyone, and they all flee from there. Gunpowder would subsequently make his final appearance in the comics when he attended Blarney's funeral, and he would never appear again after that.

Gunpowder is a skilled marksman. He is a firearms expert who knows everything there is to know about them. In a similar vein, he can also manifest weapons, making him a dangerous foe. He is an all-in-all parody of Judge Dredd.

Sean Patrick Flanery plays him on the show, and he is a member of the superhero team The Payback. The show implies that him and Soldier Boy shared a very close albeit quite a creepy relationship. Although not explicitly shown, he has quite the back and forth about this with Butcher during their scene.

In the second episode, he is shown greeting fans and selling guns at a gun show convention when he is approached by Butcher, who questions him about Soldier Boy. This irritates Gun Powder, who tells Butcher to leave before something awful happens, which Butcher does.

However, Gunpowder then attacks Butcher, who successfully escapes from him, but returns back with powers after taking the V-24, something that endows upon him temporary superpowers. Butcher gets the job done quickly, and Gunpowder ends up talking about Soldier Boy. After losing his temper, Butcher ends up killing Gunpowder before fleeing the scene.

Well, it looks like that's all we will be seeing of Gunpowder, although a younger version of him does appear in the trailer for the series.

Anyway, if you want to see the supervillain mentioned above, you can watch The Boys Season 3 which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video right now.