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Quote1 This is Gideon. When would it be convenient for you to die? Quote2
Gideon, to Scott

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe

Gideon Gordon Graves (b. 1973[1]) is Ramona Flowers' seventh and final evil ex, the leader and founder of the League of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends, and the overarching antagonist of the Scott Pilgrim series.

Gideon isn't seen much throughout the series, except for a blurry picture taken by Wallace Wells, and briefly in the shadows at the end of Volume 3. He also appears in the fourth volume in the form of a mysterious shadowy figure, and in Volume 5, though he's not actually seen. He finally appears in Volume 6 as the main antagonist.

History[]

Scott Pilgrim graphic novels[]

While his comic origins are unknown, we do know that Gideon made his fortune by setting up a successful career as a music mogul, at which point he took the alias of "G-Man". Gideon once claimed the Glow is what has made him his millions. It is not clear, though, if this means he sold the Glow to other people, or if he used the Glow to manipulate people into buying his company's products. The latter is more likely, since Gideon is the only one who knows how to fully control the Glow.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off[]

According to the anime series, born as Gordon Goose in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. Gordon was in the same high school (West Ferris) and year as Julie. As a teen he was weird, his glasses were too big for his face, his clothes fit funny and even his hair looked wrong. All the kids called him "Fearless" because he wore those "No Fear" t-shirts every day. After building the confidence to ask a popular girl out on a date with a twelve-point business plan, the whole school watched and laughed at Gordon. He moved away after that, but Julie never forgot about him[2]

Relationship with Ramona[]

Gideon first met Ramona at a party in New York and the two quickly formed a relationship. Despite Ramona's feelings for him, Gideon saw his relationship with Ramona purely as an experiment, during which he inflicted Ramona with The Glow. Fed up with him constantly pushing her away, Ramona decided to leave Gideon, leaving nothing except a letter. Unfortunately for Ramona, Gideon walked in on her just as she finished the letter. Ramona, filled with intense emotions, became overwhelmed by The Glow and vanished into Subspace, taking the letter with her. After Ramona left, Gideon got totally wasted out of his mind and put up a huge drunken rant on Craigslist about her. This got the attention of Ramona's other six evil exes who contacted him. Gideon used this opportunity to form the League of Ramona's Evil Exes, which he would use to control the future of Ramona's love life.

Memory manipulation and observation[]

At some point in between Volume 1 and 2 (most likely soon after Matthew Patel's defeat), Gideon started spying on Scott and Ramona through Scott's Subspace. Whilst there, Gideon altered some of Scott's memories, adding his likeness to Simon Lee, Kim's ex and "enemy" of Scott's.

Gideon Graves

"No comment." Gideon appearing at a Sex Bob-Omb show to observe Scott.

In Volume 3, during Scott's battle with Todd Ingram, Ramona's third Evil Ex, Todd has a mental breakdown while overwhelmed by his own vegan powers and a series of flashbacks as the pair battle/race through Honest Ed's department store. The largest of the three flashbacks, right after his own father and Lynette Guycott, is Gideon saying, "Just use your vegan powers or whatever, he'll never know what hit him, right?"

He also appears again at the end during Sex Bob-omb's performance telling the recording crew following The Clash At Demonhead "No comment" and giving us a darkened profile view of him. It's safe to assume Gideon didn't come to see the show, but to size up Scott while he fought Todd. Judging from his response, he is not impressed.

In Volume 4, Gideon is referenced to by Roxie Richter when Scott leads Knives' father, bent on killing him, into Ramona's house, and the two face off with katanas. Roxanne's first line upon seeing him is "Did Gideon send you?" which sends her into a rage believing no one has any faith in her, starting the fight. This is the same question Ramona asks when first attacked by Knives in Volume 2, possibly suggesting that Gideon often hires assassins.

Also, in Volume 4 and 5, Scott accidentally intrudes upon Ramona's head and finds her kneeling beside a sinister dark figure sitting on a throne. Though the shadowy figure's face is never revealed, it can be assumed this was Gideon, or at least a manifestation of him representing the part of Ramona still attached to him.

At the end of Volume 5, Scott receives a phone call from Gideon to taunt him, asking when a convenient time for him would be to die.

Encounter with Scott[]

Scottpilgrim 06 174-175

Scott, fighting Gideon's monstrous, god-like form inside Ramona's head.

In Volume 6, Scott encounters Gideon on the street while he and Envy Adams are talking about their past. Scott is so frightened by Gideon's presence; he immediately runs away.

Later, after confronting his mistakes by merging with Nega Scott, Scott goes to the Chaos Theater to confront Gideon once and for all. Gideon ends up stealing the Power of Love from Scott and impaling him with it. Scott returns to life thanks to the 1-Up he gained from defeating Todd Ingram, and he and Ramona begin to fight Gideon. It is then revealed that Gideon is keeping six of his other ex-girlfriends suspended in cryogenic stasis on the ceiling of Chaos Theater, enabling him to thaw and date any one of them at any time of his choosing, and desired to add Ramona to the final capsule.

Using The Glow, Gideon manipulates their emotions, causing them to argue with each other. Ramona tries to leave through Subspace, but Gideon stops her escape by impaling her, and then teleports himself into her mind. Scott then enters Subspace through Ramona's Subspace Suitcase to enter Ramona's mind, where he finds that Gideon has transformed himself into a powerful God form and is lording over Ramona. Scott headbutts him, giving Gideon the Glow and transforms him back to his original size, releasing Ramona from his influence in the process. Infuriated, Gideon tries to kill Scott with his sword, but Ramona enters her own Mind Subspace and casts the three of them back into the real world where she blocks the attack with her Subspace Suitcase, causing it to explode whilst disarming Gideon. Ramona then takes the Power of Love, which heals her wounds allowing her to continue fighting. During this time, Envy asks Gideon if he is OK. Gideon coldly rebuffs her in response.

After realizing that he and Gideon are more similar than he thought, Scott earns a new sword - the Power of Understanding and begins the final battle alongside Ramona. Gideon takes his backup sword (installed in the back of Envy's dress) and begins to fight. Gideon reveals during the battle that he was spying on Scott and Ramona through Scott's head via the subspace highway, "spicing up" some of Scott's boring memories along the way. This has further increased the memory problems Scott has throughout the series and prompts Ramona to exclaim "His brain doesn't need any extra damage from you!" Infuriated even more, Ramona disarms Gideon once again, leaving him at the mercy of the duo.

Defeat[]

SP&RFXStrike

Gideon's demise.

Before his final defeat, Gideon claims that getting rid of him won't solve anything and that both Scott and Ramona are their own worst enemies based on their past actions throughout their lives. They soon deny this, however, and reply that Gideon himself is much worse due to his own actions. Having said this, Scott uses the Power of Understanding while Ramona simultaneously uses the Power of Love on Gideon and perform an X-Strike, creating a X-shaped slash mark in his chest. Gideon then explodes into $7,777,777 worth of coins which fall (very painfully) all over the onlookers below.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World[]

Screenshot 2024-01-20 195936

Gideon and Ramona look at Scott.

The role of Gideon takes on two-fold in the movie. He plays the role of the leader of the league of evil exes naturally, but also is a music mogul who, looking for talent, hosts the band tournament Sex Bob-omb enters. Scott Pilgrim doesn't know this initially (nor does anyone else) as he's at first referred to as "Mr. G", "G-man Graves" and simply "G-Man." 

Screenshot 2024-02-02 215130

Gideon watches Scott arrive at the Chaos Theatre.

Gideon uses a Katana hidden in his cane to fight against Scott in the final battle. A slash with this sword from Gideon is able to completely shatter the Power of Love. Gideon then tries to kill Scott, but loses his sword when Knives kicks it out of his hand. While Knives attacks Ramona, Gideon and Scott fight in hand-to-hand combat. Scott eventually throws Gideon off the pyramid steps so he can stop Ramona and Knives' fight. However, while he's trying to explain things to them, Gideon impales Scott in the back with his katana, and utters the words "Game Over", as Scott falls to the floor, dead.

Vlcsnap-2010-11-23-20h28m32s76

Scott defeats Gideon, kicking him in the face causing his body to shatter into coins.

When Scott retries the stage (after revival from the Extra Life), the Power of Self-Respect overpowers Gideon, causing him to be knocked down, earning Scott an even 7000 points. After Scott settles things with Ramona and Knives, Gideon gets back up and impatiently demands that Scott fight him. He then summons his Pixel Katana and renews the battle. Even though he shatters the Power of Self-Respect, he is still overwhelmed by the combined forces of Scott and Knives Chau who use moves from Ninja Ninja Revolution to defeat him.

As he dies, he chides Scott that it took him two hours to get Ramona's exes' contact information in order to form the League, and then tries to once more hope for some last moment villainish demoralization, but instead, Scott boots him in the head shattering him. Coins shower all over the theatre netting Scott another 7,000,000,000 points. Realizing that Sex Bob-omb's deal with Gideon is over, Stephen Stills hastily begins grabbing as much of the reward money as possible.

Even though he's physically destroyed, Gideon appears to live on through his stylish hipster glasses and once picked up, introduces Scott to Nega Scott before being finally discarded.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game[]

Phase 1[]

Gideon-Graves

Artwork for Gideon Graves in the game

Gideon is the final boss of the game and is fought in World 7. He appears in three different forms; the first appears after you make it down the elevator shaft to the Chaos Theatre. In this form, he is known as Super Gideon, and is extremely buff. His moves are similar to those of Gill, the final boss of the Street Fighter III games; he can melee-attack, rush at the player in an angel like form, throw fireballs, and rain down meteors on the player. After being knocked down, he is likely to become invincible, glowing white and rushing about the battlefield. After you defeat him in this form, you are forced to enter a Subspace Highway from a glowing blue star-shaped hole in his chest and make your way across a narrow glass walkway, while drops of blood fall in spots, waiting to knock you down, Mega Man style. Not to mention those Medusa heads, hailing from Castlevania and doing what they do best, knocking you off ledges and mid-air jumps.

Phase 2[]

Super-Gideon

Artwork for Super Gideon in the game.

Once you reach the end of the Subspace Highway, you find the Power of Love embedded in a cloud. Moving forward, you fight Gigadeon Graves, a grotesque form of Gideon made up of the faces of the six exes and his body. In this form, he is known as Gigadeon Graves (a reference to Kefka Palazzo from Final Fantasy VI). You fight the faces first which send out energy orbs in the order they were defeated in (Matthew Patel, Lucas Lee, Todd Ingram, Roxie Richter and the Katayanagi Twins.) and can shock you. Once they're beaten you face the body form of Gideon who can also shock you as well as constantly punch you to the end of the screen, rain down lightning and fire red skulls from his heart and spitting the skulls out of his mouth. When he's not blocking his heart, he will break off parts of the stage. This will send the player flying away from him, making him a major dick to fight.

Phase 3[]

Gigadeon-Graves

Artwork for Gigadeon Graves in the game.

After you defeat him in this form, you fight your way through Techno Base, until you finally reach him in his normal form. In this form, he uses a sword which can send pixelated shock waves at you. Once this form is beaten, the arena fades to darkness, and it is then revealed that the final fight was in a fake arena generated by a machine inside the Chaos Theater by the real Gideon, and that what you just defeated was actually a robot. After the generator deactivates, Gideon comes out from behind the controls, begging for mercy on his knees. (a reference to Dr. Wily's defeat in Mega Man 2) One final hit defeat him for good, causing him to burst into $35.95. You then run from the premises as it explodes around you. Then near the end of the end credits, it is revealed that he is trapped in subspace but may have found a way out through a subspace door.

Game Informer, in their top 50 games of 2010 article, listed Gideon Graves as #10 on the year's Top Ten Video Game Villains, with a description that says, "Even if you don't like the Scott Pilgrim series, you will hate Gideon Graves for all the right reasons." 

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off[]

Screenshot 2024-02-10 133849

Gideon smirks as he seeks vengeance on Scott.

Gideon first appears in the first episode of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life" where he is seen observing Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers out on a date at Hillcrest Park. As he watches on, he smirks and calls for Matthew Patel, citing that "the game has begun". After bringing Matthew to the lair, he fills him in on who Scott is and sends him out to defeat Scott in order to stop him from dating Ramona.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 134928

Gideon fights Matthew.

In "A League of Their Own", after Scott is "defeated" at the hands of Matthew, Gideon receives a mysterious letter which invites him to a "very special evening" in his own lair, he questions to himself whether he was responsible for this. After the other Evil Exes arrive, who have received the same invitation, they ask Gideon why he invited them, Gideon responds by saying that he didn't, and the person who was responsible had remained a mystery. Matthew Patel is later revealed to be the person who sent the invites. After defeating Scott, Matthew claims to Gideon that there is a fatal flaw in the League and that he should replace him as leader of the league. Afterwards, a battle commences which sees Gideon get defeated by Matthew and the Demon Hipster Chicks, forcing Gideon to sign everything that Gideon owns, over to Matthew. Gideon tries to plea with the other exes, but they disown him. Gideon is left with nothing.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 135217

A defeated Gideon loses everything.

In "Ramona Rents a Video", Gideon wanders around Julie's House in Toronto, travelling all the way from New York City after losing everything to Matthew in the fight. Julie remembers who Gideon is, Gordon "Fearless" Goose. Julie then invites Gideon to stay with her.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 143741

Gideon plots a sinister move.

In "WHODIDIT", Ramona goes to visit Julie, whilst she and Julie go out, Lucas Lee calls Gideon and they both hang out. They both watch television, do baking and skateboard. Julie tells Ramona about Gideon's backstory, where she revealed that they knew each other in high school. Julie reveals that Gideon was known as "Fearless" and one day embarrassed himself after he asked out a girl. After falling to knees, crying, Julie watched on from afar. After returning to the house after 90 minutes, Julie arrives to her house which has turned into a mess following Gideon and Lucas' actions. Ramona stops Julie from hurting Gideon and Lucas, and tells Gideon to treat Julie properly. After Lucas leaves, Gideon plots a sinister move.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 144816

Gideon is choked by Even Older Scott Pilgrim.

In "2 Scott 2 Pilgrim", Gideon and Julie arrive at the premiere of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Musical, where Gideon pushes his glasses up as he walks in.

In "The World Vs Scott Pilgrim", Gideon entering the theatre with Julie, is confronted by Scott who questions them if they were behind the A-K Field which made Scott and Ramona unable to kiss. Gideon denies any involvement and tells Scott that he is with Julie now. Whilst in the theatre, he, along with the other exes, tease Scott by telling him to kiss Ramona. What others are unaware of though is that Gideon plans to blow up the theatre during the performance, however just as he is about to hit the button mid-way during the musical, Gideon, along with Julie, is transported to the Dream Desert.

Screenshot 2024-02-10 145050

Gideon is captured for his plans to blow up the theatre.

At the Dream Desert, he is strangled by Even Older Scott and joins in the fightback against him. After being returned to the theatre, Gideon cheers as Scott and Ramona kiss each other after they themselves are returned to the theatre by Super Ramona.

After the performance, Gideon and Julie are caught by the Demon Hipster Chicks. Matthew confronts both of them and asks them why. Matthew later gives Gideon's assets back to him, as both of them, along with Julie laugh sinisterly.

Screenshot 2024-01-21 191231

Gideon returns to his lair as he begins another plan with Julie by his side.

In the epilogue, Gideon is seen back in his lair, now with Julie, he proclaims that "the real game has just begun" as he observes Scott and Ramona, moments before the series ends.

Powers and abilities[]

GItGlow

Gideon spreading The Glow in a powerful beam.

Subspace control

Gideon still holding control over Ramona's mind through Subspace.

Gideon is an epic mastermind, genius and inventor having created The Glow: a powerful, psychological weapon described as "emotional warfare" that causes those who are affected to be overwhelmed by their own personal traumas and mental hang-ups; effectively sealing them within their own minds. It accomplishes this by manipulating the Subspace within the minds of those who contract the Glow. Gideon claims that he cannot be affected by the Glow as he's "been locked in his head since the day he was born."

Using the Glow, Gideon can also manipulate Subspace and used his abilities to remain in control of Ramona's head even after the two broke up, he also used his abilities to alter some of Scott's high school memories. Whilst in Ramona's head, Gideon was able to transform himself into a grotesque, God-like form, adored by all his exes.

Gideon is also shown to be a competent fighter, as he was able to quite easily beat Scott into submission. During the fight, Gideon removes the Power Of Love from Scott's chest, leveling him down. With the Power of Love, Gideon shows himself to be very proficient with swords, as he uses the sword with great skill. Considering this, along with the fact that he hid a sword in Envy's dress, it can be assumed that swords are Gideon's weapon of choice.

Personality and traits[]

Quote1 You need to face reality, Scott. He's not even a bad guy. Quote2
Envy Adams.

As a villain, Gideon is portrayed as a stereotypical evil mastermind. He is rich, intelligent, and extremely arrogant. He is normally cool and collected and tends to plan ahead greatly. He's easily angered when his plans don't come to fruition, monologues, and is generally conniving and calmly insults his enemies, pointing out their personal flaws. He is also a highly manipulative and charismatic puppet master who stays in the shadows throughout much of the story, while sending the other Evil Exes to fight Scott for him. Gideon is also quite sadistic, as demonstrated by his psychotic grin when he stabs Scott, and later Ramona.

In many ways Gideon is a typical case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder: he possesses a highly grandiose, idealized and very unrealistic view of himself, and reacts with extreme anger and defensiveness whenever reality even slightly contradicts his illusions. His entire perception of the world is filtered through his ego, and this extends to his relationships, which are emotionally abusive, over-demanding, and devoid of any real affection. Instead, he views the girls he dates as accessories to his greatness, giving them the bare minimum emotional attention and otherwise neglecting and exhausting them, yet his messed-up ego causes him to react violently when they dump him, wanting to punish them for suggesting he is anything less than amazing.

When it comes to relationships, Gideon serves as a dark reflection of Scott, taking Scott's flaws and amplifying them to a darker degree without any positive nuance. While Scott can be unintentionally insensitive or inconsiderate to his partners, Gideon is purposely manipulative and neglectful. One of the ten secrets Bryan Lee O'Malley revealed to Schwartzman about the character was that "Gideon is very passive aggressive, and so he’s not overtly evil. He smiles a lot, just kind of “kill ‘em with kindness,” but you can feel that it’s not sincere almost instantly." Schwartzman also stated that he really liked learning about this aspect of the character. Fascinatingly enough, this is another dark parallel to Scott, as Scott is relatively nonconfrontational in his relationships, meaning that he can come across as a bit wimpy and in relationships, unwilling to make painful decisions. Both of them also do not take rejection or being dumped well though for different reasons. In Scott's case, it's because of legitimate pain to himself and the other (and in fact, it's likely this is why he avoids being the one to instigate the break-up) while Gideon does it out of a selfish sense of egotism, though both still focus on it being in them.

In general, Gideon is ruthless and completely uncaring about the people around him (including the other members of the League and even Ramona herself). When Ramona leaves him, he loses control of himself, gets drunk, and posts an inflammatory rant on Craigslist, leading to the creation of the League of Evil Exes. His motivations for wanting to control the future of Ramona's love life stem not from any feelings he may have had for her, but rather out of a need to maintain his own ego. Gideon himself confesses that he was trapped in his head since birth and given his general ruthlessness, charismatic manipulation and intelligence, this also paints Gideon as a textbook example of high functioning sociopath.

Quotes

ScottPilgrimSaysQuotePages

Click to view quotes said by Gideon Graves.

Gallery

Sex Bob-omb SPTO 23

Click to view the gallery for Gideon Graves.


Trivia[]

  • In Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Gideon's real name is "Gordon Goose". However, since it's been established that Takes Off takes place in a different universe, this fact is non-canon.
  • Gideon is played by Jason Schwartzman (and voiced by Eduardo Garza in the Latin American Spanish dub) who has also starred in Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited. Jason has also done a variety of music for films including Funny People, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Marc Pease Experience.
  • When Ramona first arrives in Toronto from New York, Julie Powers infers that Ramona has had "a big breakup" because "she just keeps mentioning some guy named Gideon." (Vol. 1)
  • Ramona says she moved to Toronto because her employer, Amazon, needed someone there "and Gideon always says Toronto is one of the great cities, so ..." (Volume 1)
  • Gideon's main hangout in New York is a venue called Chaos Theatre, which he duplicates in Toronto. (Envy, Vol. 3)
  • He has a habit of calling Scott "buddy".
  • Gideon dresses in an attire of black, square frame glasses, and varying black and white dress coats. This is the iconic look for a number of hipster archetypes. (Vol. 3)
  • It is suggested that Gideon doesn't really love Ramona, but she's come to believe this from what little attention he gives her. (Vol. 6)
  • It is possible that Ramona may still had some (if not very little) feelings towards Gideon as she was with him in her mind (Volume 4 and 6) and agreed that part of her does still belong to him, but it is unknown whether it was due to manipulation from the Glow, his power over Subspace, or simply leftover affection for her ex.
  • He formed the League of Evil Exes after posting an embarrassing drunken rant on Craigslist when he realized Ramona wasn't coming back.
  • Gideon's name comes from the Hebrew name meaning "Destroyer," "Mighty Warrior," or "Feller (of trees)."
  • His company's logo is three triangular "G"s pointing downward in the shape of a triangle, an inverted tribute to the Triforce from the Legend of Zelda series, though the shape can also be rotated into a position where the Gs appear as three stylized 7s.
  • Gideon has many references to the number 7, such as the letter "G" being the 7th letter of the alphabet, having 7 ex-girlfriends, being 31 making him older than Ramona and Scott by 7 years, every hit against him is worth 700 points, he gets x7 stats when he summons the Pixel Katana, and when he is defeated he gives a reward of $7,777,777 in coins (the number 7,777,777 also has seven digits). When Gideon swallows his gum in the movie, he claims that it will stay inside his digestive tract for 7 years, which is a popular urban legend. Another possible reference could be when Scott gets impaled in the chest by Gideon's katana in the film after fighting him for the first time, which is almost identical to Aeris' death in Final Fantasy VII, where she was stabbed in the 7th thoracic vertebrae.
  • Gideon's God form is based on Kefka's final from Final Fantasy VI, also the background in the battle against Gideon looks like the background in the battle against Kefka in Final Fantasy VI seeing as they are both in their God forms, battling in a cloudy dimension.[3]
  • Ramona owns a cat, whom she named "Gideon", as a way to help her deal with the break-up.
  • Despite his age being revealed as 31 in Volume 6, in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, Gideon's age is listed as "unknown".
  • Gideon's full name "Gideon Gordon Graves" has 6 letters in each word. This forms the number 666, a number that is known as the "mark of the Beast." His full name also is spoken in 6 syllables. The three G's in the beginning of each word also look similar to the number 6. Other instances of the 6 theme with him is how he is the sixth evil ex-boyfriend of Ramona's that Scott has to face along with being the villain of the sixth and final book.
  • Super Gideon may be a reference to 100% Full Power Frieza from the Dragon Ball series, due to how he bulks up as the fight begins.
  • The nickname "G-man" might be a reference to the Half-Life series of games, which have a character of the same name who also has somewhat of an antagonistic role.
  • In the graphic novels, Gideon was born in 1973, which means in 2024, he would be 51 years old.
  • Gideon in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off went to the same school as Julie Powers and they were both attending the school at the same time. If this was the case then Gideon would have instead been born in the year of 1982 which is the same year Julie was born, instead of 1973 which was the year he was born according to the novels.
  • In the novels, anime and film, his hair is black, but in the game, his hair is known to be purple.

Quotes

ScottPilgrimSaysQuotePages

Click to view quotes said by Gideon Graves.


References[]

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