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Capture176 "This is a guest comic, so it's non-canon."

Elements of this article may be declared to be non-canon and not a part of the series' official timeline.

Quote1 Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls. Seriously. Quote2
Stephen Stills

Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

Stephen Stills (b. July 1982)[1] is the lead singer, guitarist, and "talent" of Sex Bob-omb. He is 22 (23 in Volume 4 onwards) years old and is one of the seven main characters in the Scott Pilgrim franchise.

In Sex Bob-omb, Stephen is referred to as "the talent" of the group by most everyone and acts as the group's lead vocalist and guitarist. In Volume 4 however, things change as while helping Kim Pine move into her new apartment with Hollie Hawkes and Joseph, and we learn Joseph has a vast array of recording equipment. Stephen is amazed by this and instantly asks Joseph to help them record an album which he agrees to, only because he finds Stephen attractive. The group eventually does record an album which spans several months of work, both Volumes 4 & 5, though the end product is only 17 minutes long.

Personality[]

Stephen Stills is extremely neurotic and anxious, however he can also take on a serious or even nonchalant demeanour depending on the situation. He cares deeply for his band(s) and expresses the most interest out of any of his fellow bandmates in pursuing a musical career. Stephen appreciates his friends greatly, but also understands his own worth and doesn’t put up with any shenanigans they may cause, especially from Scott. Despite this, he still cares about Scott and offers a helping hand when need be, however he isn’t afraid to move on if necessary. Stephen, especially in the latter half of the comic series, acts very gruff and tired, not being fully invested in Scott’s battles with Ramona’s Evil Exes. He has also been struggling with his sexuality throughout the comic’s run, finding himself in an on again-off again relationship with Julie Powers that never seems to fill the void. During volume 5, Stephen comes to terms with his homosexuality and pursues a relationship with Joseph - this is revealed to Scott in volume 6 however.

History[]

Scott Pilgrim graphic novels[]

In the graphic novels, Stephen is introduced as the lead guitarist and singer of Sex Bob-omb. He went to university with Scott Pilgrim at the University of Toronto, where he played in the band Kid Chameleon with Scott, Envy Adams, and others. He is currently employed at The Happy Avocado vegetarian restaurant as a cook and later helps Scott get a job there as a dish-washer.

Stephen was in a tumultuous relationship with Julie Powers, who at one point suspects that he and Knives Chau may have a mutual attraction to one another, though he breaks up with Julie in Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe and had been dating Joseph for a while by Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour.

Whilst typically laconic, Stephen is known for rare fits of neurosis, (typically over the quality of his band's music compared to others), as well as irritability (usually over Scott's absentmindedness). He is named after the musician Stephen Stills of the group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. For reasons unknown, Scott always refers to him by his full name.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World[]

Box-stephen

Mark Webber as Stephen Stills

Stephen Stills is played by Mark Webber, whose previous works include The Memory Thief, Snow Day, Winter Solstice, and The Laramie Project. He plays a supporting role in the film, spending his time practicing and performing alongside Scott and Kim in their band. Contrary to his comic book counterpart, Stephen is portrayed to be a lot more antsy and worried in the film adaptation, especially when it comes to their band, eventually even leading to Scott slapping some sense into Stills. (On multiple occasions, Scott slaps him once when they are about to perform in the Battle of the Bands, and twice in a row when they are about to do perform against with the Twins). Even though Sex Bob-omb later found out the talent agent "G-Man" Graves was Ramona's 7th Evil Ex, Stephen still accepted the contract for the band (with Young Neil replacing Scott as bassist) to play at his Chaos Theatre. He even peed his pants upon hearing about the contract. At the end of the film, after Scott has defeated Gideon and he explodes into 7,000,000,000 coins, Kim says, "well there goes our (record) deal" and Stephen asks if "they are still getting paid," leading to Kim dryly repeating herself. Stephen begins frantically trying to pick up as many coins as possible. Like Kim and Young Neil, Stephen has a strained friendship with Scott up until the end of the movie, where Scott makes amends to all of them during his redo of his battle with Gideon.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game[]

Steven-Stills

Stephen's main art in the game.

Stephen is one of four characters (seven counting the unlockable Nega Scott, Knives, and Wallace available through DLC) you can choose from in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. When an area is cleared, Stephen exits the field by jumping into a green pipe (an obvious reference to Warp Pipes in the Super Mario series). In his ending, it states that "65,536 people cheered from the crowd!", a reference to video game consoles with 16-bit processors: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom and Sega Genesis (65,536 is the highest number of values a 16-bit integer can hold). Also in Stephen's ending, Sex Bob-omb gets a million dollar record deal and money rains down from the sky but is suggested that it is just a dream. In Kim's ending, he and Scott are shocked when Kim and Knives become a couple. In Knives' ending, Stephen Stills and the rest of Scott's "friends" are at an altar to support a very confused Scott, as he marries his new wife, Knives Pilgrim.

Features in other media[]

Seconds[]

Stephen briefly appears on two occasions in Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2015 graphic novel, Seconds, and can be seen alongside Julie Powers having a meal as Katie imagines what her new restaurant will look like once it's finished.

Later on, he appears along Joseph waiting for a free table in the Seconds restaurant right after the Revision #11 effects.

Relationships[]

Knives[]

Stephen and Knives.

Stephen had a rather friendly relationship with Knives Chau, as seen in Volume 1, where he tells Scott that she "seems nice.” However, he was very disturbed when his roommate Young Neil started dating her, thinking that she must've seduced him, leading to him asking Scott if they should beat Neil up. By Volume 4, Julie suspected that he and Knives are having a mutual attraction to each other, thus taking a hostile approach on the teenager, but eventually apologizes to Stephen for her attitude towards the two. Stephen breaks up (yet again) with Julie and starts hanging out a lot more with Knives, expressing concern on her unending devotion to Scott and annoyance at the latter's manipulative and womanizing ways. Young Neil goes on to say that Knives is obsessed with Stephen nowadays. Despite this, however, any relationship beyond their friendship never came to be, and Stephen had been struggling with his sexuality throughout the series, eventually coming to terms with himself, as seen in Volume 6, when Stephen started dating Joseph. Stephen and Knives didn't ever become a couple, but they remained good friends.

Julie[]

Stephenjulie

Stephen and Julie.

Stephen and Julie have a constant on-again-off-again relationship throughout the series. The two argue a lot over a variety of petty things, and when apart, Julie will do things to spite Stephen and everyone else such as booking Sex Bob-omb to unwanted shows, and dating Kyle & Ken Katayanagi of Ramona's Evil Exes. Despite this, the two always seem to patch things up, only to fall apart again, then to patch things up. Whenever the two break up, everyone seems to respond to this with the line "For the fiftieth time?" Stephen even wrote a song about his and Julie's relationship which she can't stand, despite Knives pointing out the song's underlying tenderness and message of love. Julie spent most of Volume 4 being mad at Stephen, believing him to be attracted to Knives. Later on Stephen discovered that he was gay in the Fifth Volume, which was revealed to the readers (and Scott) in the final volume. During this revelation Scott stupidly/humorously asks if it was Julie's bitchiness that "turned" Stephen gay, much to the chagrin of Stephen and Joseph.

Joseph[]

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In Volume 6, Stephen reveals he's in a relationship with Joseph, who had produced Sex Bob-omb's album. He tells Scott that he came out in Volume 5 but Scott seemed busy so he never mentioned it to him. Scott freaks out a moment while trying to stay cool before asking "So, Julie turned you gay?" to which Joseph suggests Stephen gets new friends. In Volume 4, Julie forgives Stephen for spending so much time with Knives, claiming that he could never leave her for a girl like that, at which point, Stephen nervously agrees, being the first implication of the possibility. Then, in Volume 5, Neil refers to Stephen as "Captain Homo," which would usually be a powerful indicator of the relationship, but was probably dismissed by Scott seeing as this was Neil during his more wayward phase.

Trivia[]

  • Stephen Stills' name comes from singer and guitarist Stephen Arthur Stills who co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Neil Young, and is also known for working with him in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and for his solo career.
  • A character in Bryan Lee O'Malley's Monica Beetle is loosely based on a 70's version of Stephen Stills.
  • Despite being younger than Scott, Stephen Stills has a more rugged look.
  • Because Joseph isn't in the movie, it is implied Stephen Stills was not gay in that version. However, Bryan Lee O'Malley stated that Stephen was still gay in the movie, just not ready to come out yet.
  • Stephen appears to have an attraction to people who treat him rather poorly, as both Julie and Joseph openly insult him nearly every opportunity they get.
  • According to early notes, Stephen Stills is about an inch taller than Scott (same height as Young Neil).
  • The fact that Stephen dresses "like a cowboy from 1972" was inspired by the clothing style of the real Stephen Stills, who is from Texas, and the fact that Bryan Lee O'Malley was obsessed with Gram Parsons when he created the character.
  • His birthday is in the summer.
  • Stephen is also inspired by Bryan Lee O'Malley's friend Joel, "the reluctant leader of our unruly rock band" who also played an acoustic guitar through distortion pedals.
  • In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, the character select screen refers to Stephen's name as Stills.
  • He is referred to as "kind of emo" in an extra from Volume 5: Full Colour edition.
  • His main guitar is an unbranded acoustic guitar, which he uses throughout the comics and most of the movie. However, during the climax of the movie, he can be seen playing an Epiphone ES-335.

Gallery

Sex Bob-omb SPTO 23

Click to view the gallery for Stephen Stills.


 

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