Stephen Stills

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot/ending details.

"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.

Stephen Stills
Information
Namesake	Stephen Stills
Gender	Male ♂
Also known as	The Talent Captain Homo (by Young Neil)
Species	Human
Age	22 → 23
Friends	Scott Pilgrim (former bandmate) Kim Pine (former bandmate) Julie Powers (former lover) Joseph (current lover) Knives Chau Young Neil (former roommate)
Relatives	None known
Residence	Stephen's House, Toronto, Canada
Occupation	Cook at The Happy Avocado
Status
Status	Alive
Powers	None
Affiliations	Unnamed Band Sex Bob-omb (formerly) Kid Chameleon (formerly) The Happy Avocado
Appearance
Appearances	List of appearances
First appearance	Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (2004)
Last appearance	Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)
Main actor	Mark Webber
Other actors	Anri Katsu (JPN) Óscar Flores (ESP)

Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls. Seriously. — Stephen Stills Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

Stephen Stills (b. July 1982) 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. Stephen keeps the band going, landing them gigs and helping then prepare, though he also expresses doubt towards their talent, albeit not as much as Kim. 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

Too much anxiety for even the simplest decisions. No way could he mastermind a kidnapping. — Julie Powers Ramona Rents a Video

Stephen Stills is presented as a laidback and somewhat stoic and serious man. This contrasts him against the happy-go-lucky Scott and the more sarcasting Kim. He tends to keep to himself and is portrayed as the sort of man who goes with the flow and not wanting to rock the boat for the most part. While he will often make commentary on the situation, he rarely gets involved in matters. However, he does care much for his friends even if he usually doesn't show it and enjoys being around him to maintain a sense of ease. He is also extensively passionate about music, having the biggest interest in making a career out of music. He's the most serious out of his bandmates in regards to music and the most talented out of Sex Bob-Omb.

Stephen's main faults are his neuroticism and anxiety. Stephen is a deeply anxious man that, while hiding it well for the most part, motivates him to making plenty of questionable decisions. While he will chide his bandmates (mainly Scott) when their issues begin to affect their performance, he also becomes anxious and panicky when it's to perform (as seen when he pukes in a toliet in the comics or against the twins in the film.) This trait also seems to have him act mildly unsympathetic to his friends and even hypocritical at times. Additionally, it's heavily implied this anxiety is what motivates his choice in romantic partners, that in being assertive and even aggessive individuals who have no hesitation in even badmouthing him or his friends. This along with how O'Malley describes him as "emo" seems to imply a lack of self-worth and may explain why he prefers letting his romantic partners make the big decisions.

We later learn that he has been struggling his sexuality throughout the comic’s run, finding himself in an on again-off again relationship with Julie Powers. 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

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

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

Scott Pilgrim

Scott and Stephen have a close if somewhat casual relationship. Having met in college as roommates, the two would form their first band together over in "Kid Chameleon" and would remain friends even after the fallout of the band. Stephen doesn't critique Scott as much as the others do, but is still isn't afraid to go and still do so nonetheless. Despite this, he does still a lot for Scott such as helping him out with a job and also being there for Scott when it came to brutal end of his and Envy's relationship. At the same time, Stephen isn't able to do much regarding Scott's issues over with the Evil Exes and the two slightly drift apart for awhile before Scott returns from his sabbatical. Despite this, the two remain friends and Stephen was among those that were horrified at seeing Scott get stabbed over by Gideon.

Interestingly enough, Stephen's anxiety is one of the few things that can genuinely ire Scott... or more accurately, Stephen's hypocrisy with it; in the film, when Stephen's anxiety was causing him to choke, Scott had to slap sense into him, telling him that he (Scott) "put his problems aside for the music." This seems to imply that Scott becomes annoyed at Stephen asking others to put their problems aside for the band yet is unable to follow his own advice.

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 (he seems unaware of Knives' reason for doing so). 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. 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

Stephen and Julie.

Stephen and Julie have a constant on-again-off-again relationship throughout the series. The two met in college and began dating off and on ever since. However, the two's relationship is not a healthy one and both are well-aware of the other's faults. However, both of them still end up getting together as often as they break up. While it's unknown what Julie likes in Stephen, Stephen seems to be genuinely drawn to Julie's acerbic and sharp-tongued behavior and it's implied he often let her take the leadership role in their romantic relationship. That said, it is implied that a level of familiarity is what draws them in closer.

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

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.

Quotes

Click to view quotes said by Stephen Stills.

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.
• Stephen is the only character to have two cameos in Seconds.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Stephen Stills.