"Mature Content Warning!" |
“ | Just so you know. We can clean up our own shit. | „ |
~ James Stillwell to the Boys after slaughtering the G-Men. |
James Stillwell is the overarching antagonist of the comic book series The Boys. He is the de facto leader of Vought-American, the megacorporation that created, sponsors, profits off and cleans up after the setting's "superheroes".
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- As the de facto leader of Vought-American, he is both directly and indirectly responsible for many of the organization's crimes, including mass unethical experimentation, involvement with government corruption, public endangerment, and facilitating the corrupt superheroes' vices.
- When John Godolkin, one of Vought's proxies, and his superhero team, the G-Men, become troublesome, Stillwell has them all killed by his mercenaries (although Godolkin deserved it).
- Later, Stillwell has the Pre-Wiz, the children Godolkin was training and sexually abusing, to be kidnapped, locked into a large crate and finally dropped from an aircraft over the sea, killing them to prevent the affair from going public.
- James then takes on Jessica Bradley as a protégé and confidant. The two of them also enter a romantic and sexual relationship with one another. However, James never cared for her in the slightest as it was revealed he had only cultivated a relationship with her so he could use her as a scapegoat for when Homelander ultimately went rogue and sank the reputation of Vought, which James does without a second thought.
- He spearheaded Vought's plan to infiltrate the government, including selling superhumans to the military as living weapons and attempting to kill the president.
- Later, when Homelander is attempting a coup against the United States government, James orders The Boys to be killed, only backing down when he realizes that Homelander had tricked them into conflict.
- James's final scene has him shown as the head of a superhero company even after the massive scandal with Vought, showing he spares no thought to the mass destruction his business has caused in the past.
- In the sequel miniseries Dear Becky, it is revealed he has given up modern corporate life and became a harmless (albeit deranged) hermit who now spends all of his time farming pineapples while quoting economists and rambling about how he once sold very bad product. However, he still showed no signs of remorse for his crimes and his insanity is not played for sympathy.
- Different from many of the story's evil characters, Stillwell has no tragedy, loved ones, or remorse, being consistently portrayed as a high-functioning sociopath with little to no humanity. While he often shows a level of disgust towards the superheroes' crimes and depravity, it often comes from pragmatism or avarice and not real standards-the superheroes' wrong acts are just bad for business for him.
- Although his fate of going mad due to his business failure and becoming a homeless madman is shocking, it is not seen as heartbreaking, but rather as karma for his previous actions.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He fails the Heinous Standards to Billy Butcher, who attempted genocide against all Supes, and Little Nina, who tried to capitulate the Russian government by giving criminals amped up on Compound V free reign to wreak havoc in the country.
- He also has a genuine Pet the Dog moment where he offers the Frenchman medical treatment after he is injured during a conflict between Vought and the Boys.
Trivia[]
- Alongside Little Nina, he is one of the two The Boys Near Pure Evils to come from the comics.
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Comics James Stillwell | Little Nina TV Series |