Lamplighter Is a Character Unlike Any Other on ‘The Boys’
After being referenced throughout the first season, The Boys finally introduced Lamplighter as a character in Season 2, Episode 5, "We Gotta Go Now" and further expanded on him in Season 2, Episode 6, "The Bloody Doors Off."
The character serves his purpose in Season 2—he gets a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end.
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 backstory in the last couple episodes 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 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.
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."
At this point, 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."
Episode 6, "The Bloody Doors Off" expanded on what's happening with Lamplighter in Season 2. We don't know how he got there, but Lamplighter is working as an Orderly in Sage Grove Center for Stormfront, who's giving all sorts of subjects different doses of Compound V. When they don't entirely comply with her requests, as we see Frenchie, MM, and Kimiko observe on the CCTV, Lamplighter uses his lighter and superpower to burn the suspects to a crisp. The 17-year-old Stormfront was referring to is just a kid who doesn't want to be held in captivity anymore.
Stormfront clearly is in the midst of unraveling a big plan (and her reveal to Homelander at the end of Episode 6 is clearly starting to get at that). 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 (the sex scenes late in Episode 5 and early in Episode 6) and we've got ourselves quite the villain for Season 2. Aya Cash is killing it.
What is Lamplighter's power?
You only need to watch Lamplighter in The Boys for a few moments to understand his power: he's the pyro of the gang. His spot in The Seven is considered a parody of Green Lantern, and when you see him in action it's clear what he can do. He's got energy that comes from his hands, and with his trusty "Titty Committee" lighter he basically can function as human flamethrower.
This, in effect, makes Lamplighter not only similar to Green Lantern, but the Human Torch from Fantastic Four (as played in movies by both Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan; surely the MCU will get their own version soon enough).
What is Lamplighter's backstory?
We knew that Lamplighter was part of The Seven, but Episode 6 shows flashbacks to what, exactly, was happening. Frenchie felt guilty and responsible for what happened to Mallory's family, and in a series of scenes we see what exactly happened. Lamplighter seemed to have been blackmailed (or was working on his own volition) to help The Boys get dirt on Homelander and catch him in the act (of anything, really). But the team didn't entirely trust him, and Mallory had Frenchie follow up.
The story forks here; Lamplighter ended up killing Mallory's grandchildren in a bedroom, he describes in the episode, but meant to get Mallory herself. In the present, he's tormented over the fact that he killed children.
Frenchie, meanwhile, has regrets that he didn't stop it. He was tracking Lamplighter, yes, but he went home to his friends Cherie and Jay because Jay was having a drug overdose; Frenchie didn't help, and went back to continue tracking Lamplighter. In the time he was gone, Lamplighter killed Mallory's grandchildren, and while Jay survived this overdose, Frenchie says, he never saw his friend again; Jay died from a different overdose a few months later.
Because of all of this, Mallory, Frenchie, and Lamplighter are forever connected. Thanks to the uprising at Sage Grove Center, Lamplighter and The Boys are basically forced to once again work together, and Lamplighter, at least in the interim, becomes an ally. But at the end of Episode 6, Mallory sees Lamplighter and admits she's not over it; she doesn't end up killing him, but the urge is clearly there. Lamplighter, clearly, cannot live with what he's done—there's one hell of a redemption arc on the horizon here.
Who plays Lamplighter?
A post shared by Shawn Ashmore (@shawnrashmore) on Aug 10, 2020 at 9:18am PDT
In a fun casting easter egg, Lamplighter is 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?
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 working in the Sage Grove Center institution as penance for killing Mallory's family, or some other similar heinous act.
He's also, clearly, basically Stormfront's muscle/mole on the inside. As we find out in Episode 6, Sage Grove Center is a testing facility for Compound V that's moonlighting as a health and wellness center. Vought is planning to perfect Compound V to mass market it, allowing anyone who can pay the price to be able to turn themself into a supe—Sage Grove Center is where it's being tested out. And clearly, things aren't working as planned; from giant mutant penises to acid vomit to Stranger Things-esque telepaths, Sage Grove Center is only making people who are further danger to both society and themselves.
What is Lamplighter's story in the comics?
Based on what we've seen through two episodes of Lamplighter in The Boys, and seen how he intertwines with the stories of Mallory, Frenchie, Stormfront, and The Seven, combined with 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).
Lamplighter seems to be played with much more nuance by Ashmore in the show. Rather than just be a black and white villain (which we're already seeing in droves with Homelander and Stormfront), Lamplighter is conflicted, showing real regret about his past actions. We'll see how this plays out going forward.
What was Lamplighter's plan?
Lamplighter, clearly, was being used. Stormfront was overpowering him, and he even acknowledged that he didn't really know what was happening at the Sage Grove Center—just that he was always asked to burn the evidence and clean up the mess.
It seems fairly clear that Lamplighter does have a conscience, and the fact that Mallory has spared his life despite what he knows he did to hurt her and her family immensely should pay off on something in the future. He's still deeply embedded with Stormfront, which now means he's deeply embedded with Homelander. If Mallory and The Boys use this to their advantage, he could be a really useful asset—if he's game and doesn't betray them once again.
And, well, as we see in Episode 7, the plan was for Lamplighter to testify. But then Starlight had to get taken by Homelander and Stormfront, and Hughie had to drag Lamplighter to Vought tower. And while Lamplighter kind of seemed like he was trying to help, he was really just trying to get back to the tower to do something he was definitely thinking about for a long time. As soon as he saw the spot where his Lamplighter statue used to be, he got really weird for a second—and then set himself on fire, killing himself instantly.
Lamplighter was a really fun character to watch for a few episodes of The Boys, and, like most of the characters in the show, he did horrible things. Still, it's got to be disappointing for viewers to see him bow out before he was able to bring Vought down with him. At least Hughie cut off his charred hand to save himself, Starlight, and Starlight's mom. And anyway, even if Lamplighter ended up testifying, there's a decent chance he would've ended up in the same place he was in anyway.
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