- After being referenced throughout the first season, The Boys finally introduced Lamplighter as a character in Season 2, Episode 5, “We Gotta Go Now.”
- He’s only seen in one brief scene in the episode, but that’s more than enough for us to speculate on what he could be up to for the rest of this season.
- Lamplighter is played by Shawn Ashmore, who ironically is best known for his role as Bobby/Iceman in the X-Men movies.
A familiar name finally got a face in the latest episode of The Boys, as viewers finally got a first glimpse at Lamplighter, the Supe and former member of The Seven who was referenced throughout the show’s first season. As the story goes, Lamplighter was retiring from The Seven, and his spot, as we saw, was taken by Annie/Starlight. And given what we know about why people get “retired” from The Seven—kind of like with The Deep, and even this season with A-Train—it usually means that Supe did something really, really bad.
After initially hearing about Lamplighter in Season 1, the assumptions about his behavior were confirmed in the 8th episode of Season 1, “You Found Me,” when viewers found out that Lamplighter killed the grandchildren of Billy Butcher’s ally and Colonel Grace Mallory (Laila Robbins), leading her to eventually leave her post.
It takes almost a full season to touch on Lamplighter again, but he finally showed up, in the flesh, in Season 2, Episode 5, “We Gotta Go Now,” in a scene on the phone with Stormfront (Aya Cash). It’s a brief scene, and a brief conversation, but there’s a ton to speculate on what, exactly, could be going on. We also hear him referenced in Frenchie’s story—Cherie suggests that Frenchie is constantly making amends, somehow feeling responsible for what ended up happening to Mallory’s family.
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In the phone conversation with Stormfront, we see Lamplighter on the other end of the line, flicking a “Titty Committtee” lighter open and closed. He’s calling Stormfront from a mental facility—his clothing is labeled “Sage Grove Center,” and when he hangs up the phone, walls reveal directions toward different wards within the center. The conversation itself is much more sinister.
“He’s just a kid,” Lamplighter tells her. “17 years old, you don’t even got to look him in the face.”
We don’t know who, or what, they’re talking about. But it doesn’t sound good. “No one ever achieved anything without sacrifice,” Stormfront says on the other end of the phone. “The kid’s a hero! Think of it like that.”
Whatever she’s planning on having Lamplighter do, Stormfront clearly is in the midst of unraveling a big plan. She knows that Starlight leaked the story about Compound V to the media, and doesn’t seem too concerned that Starlight knows about her racist past as Liberty. Combine all that with…whatever it is she’s planning with Homelander (that sex scene at the end of the episode…sheesh!) and we’ve got ourselves quite the villain for Season 2. Aya Cash is killing it.
Who plays Lamplighter?
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Right. Back to Lamplighter. In a fun casting easter egg, he’s actually played by Shawn Ashmore—best known for his role playing Bobby/Iceman in four different X-Men movies. That’s right—the guy who played Iceman is now, basically, Fireman. Full circle!
This is a reference, obviously, that The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke didn’t miss.
“We were thrilled that Shawn—who is, let’s be honest, an OG superhero—wanted to play the crucial part of Lamplighter,” he said in an official statement. “He brings so much depth, menace, and world weary humanity to this former member of the Seven. And Shawn is a really good guy.”
What is Sage Grove Center?
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Just like we’re seeing A-Train being “retired” in real-time, and the way The Seven covered up Translucent’s murder by The Boys and Madelyn Stillwell’s murder at Homelander’s hands, it’s likely that Lamplighter wound up either in the Sage Grove Center institution himself as penance for either killing Mallory’s family, or some other similar heinous act. It’s also possible that he works there, undercover doing something for Stormfront. We’ll have to see what that might be in the future; but whatever he’s doing with basically a built-in flamethrower at his disposal, he’s doing to be a force to be reckoned with.
What is Lamplighter’s story in the comics?
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We haven’t fully seen or heard how it all played out, but based on what we’ve heard about Mallory’s family, and the statement Kripke gave above, it’s clear that Lamplighter is a pivotal character to both the past and present of The Boys.
In the comics, the story of Lamplighter—who’s considered a parody of Green Lantern—plays out a lot differently than what we expect could happen in the show. There, he’s got the same backstory, having killed Mallory’s family, leading to the disbandment of The Boys. The Seven give him up, as a way to prevent a full-out war, which very well could have been what happened in the show. But in the comic, Frenchie and The Female catch up with him and beat him near death before he’s shot in the head by Mallory; he has no involvement with Stormfront (who in the comics is a man).
What could Lamplighter be up to?
So our biggest question, really, is who is the 17-year-old that Stormfront could be talking about? Most likely it’s a character we haven’t seen yet—one who’s death and/or disappearance would make things exceedingly difficult for either Homelander, Starlight, or both. Let’s not forget: Stormfront was hired by Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). As much as she seems to love to spout anti-Vaught rhetoric, she was hired directly by the man in charge himself. It’s much more likely that she’s going against either Annie (who clearly has a problem now) or Homelander (who has been having his own head-butting moments with Vaught all season long so far).
For Lamplighter, too, it seems possible that he really is mentally ill, suffering from delusions of grandeur. Based on the way Stormfront called the target of whatever they’re planning “a hero,” and Lamplighter repeated back “a hero,” to her, it sounds like this sort of “do the right thing” mentality is something that’s a common thought in Lamplighter’s head; something that can be used to convince him to potentially do something bad. Could he have been simply used by someone as a weapon of The Seven, not realizing what he’s doing? It seems like there could be potentially more here than what we’re seeing at the surface level.
With only three episodes left this season, we’ll certainly see more of Lamplighter, and see how the whole story continues to play out for these characters. And the speculating is the best part. We’ll see you next week.
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