Firecracker

Misty Tucker Gray, better known as Firecracker, is a major antagonist in Season Four of the Amazon series The Boys.
She is an exhibitionist and a hated rival of Starlight, whom she despises for insulting her in a show during her childhood and seeks revenge on her. Eventually, Firecracker entered The Seven and sought to form a sexual relationship with Homelander.
==Background==
Misty was born in around 1995, possibly in the Southern United States due to her strong accent. Shortly after Firecracker's birth, her parents accepted Vought's offer to inject her with Compound V, subsequently transforming her into a Supe and granting her superhuman powers and abilities. 
As revealed by Firecracker, she initially used the moniker "Sparkler" in her early career, participating in Supe pageants. Firecracker described her family as very poor, with no backyard for her to practice her routines, which she diligently worked to perfect. 
For three years, she competed in the same Supe pageants as Starlight. Despite her hard work, she was never able to win against Starlight. However, at the age of 13, Sparkler managed to make it into the top two alongside Starlight. Just before the final competition, Starlight spread a salacious rumor that Sparkler had only made it to the finals by sexually servicing all the judges, claiming that was the only reason someone like her could advance so far. When Sparkler confronted Starlight about the rumor, Starlight cruelly responded that she doesn't speak to "fat sluts."
As a result of this rumor, Sparkler lost the pageant and was forced to drop out of the pageant circuit altogether. The false rumor continued to follow her, ruining her reputation and life. Since then, Firecracker has held a deep grudge against Starlight.
When she was 28 years old, Firecracker worked at as a Counselor at the Capes for Christ Bible Camp in Davie, Florida. While working there, she engaged in sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy, in an incident that was caught on camera, though Vought were able to use their resources to drop Firecracker's statutory charges and sweep the incident under the rug.
==The Boys Series==
===The Boys: Season 4===
===="Department of Dirty Tricks"====
Firecracker is briefly seen, hosting a far-right InfoWars-esque show called The Truth Bomb. She seems just lovely: “‘An eye for an eye’ might be in the Jew section of the Bible, but it is still in the Bible.”
===="Life Among the Septics"====
Firecracker participates in the Truth-Con with her friend Splinter, where she holds a panel. When Sister Sage introduces herself as Homelander's ally, Firecracker assists in her plot in order to join The Seven. After a brawl with Kimiko -- in which she wins by shooting the latter in the head -- she is knocked unconscious by Butcher. Upon waking up to witness Splinter dying, she runs away.
===="We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here"====
Firecracker is hired in The Seven alongside Sister Sage, where she presents an enthusiastic energy and modern point of views, akin to Stormfront. Prior to a meeting, Firecracker makes a risqué advance towards Homelander. She delivers harsh commentaries on Starlight on her podcast which Annie confronts her about. Firecracker reveals to Starlight her previous identity as Sparkler, in which she was viciously bullied by the latter, and hints at her road to vengeance.
===="Wisdom of the Ages"====
Sister Sage arranges a televised special of The Truthbomb with Firecracker close by the Annie House. During a break, Firecracker is confronted by Butcher and M.M., threatening to release her predatory relationship should she not reveal Sage's intentions. However, Firecracker releases it herself and uses her political and religious views to dismiss it, which proves successful. Following this, Firecracker continues to attack Starlight with a story about blinding a mother held hostage during a rescue and aborting after six weeks of pregnancy. Starlight brutally beats Firecracker before leaving.
===="Beware the Jabberwock, My Son"====
Firecracker, beaten and bent out of shape, appears on her latest VNN show, declaring she'll press charges against Starlight for the live TV beatdown. She also announces a hunting season on Starlighters (Starlight's fans), and her followers destroy Starlight's safe house.
===="Dirty Business"====
Firecracker takes over Cameron Coleman's VNN timeslot, spreading wild conspiracy theories. She claims Coleman is on sabbatical, though she was involved in his murder. Firecracker attends Tek Knight's gala along with Homelander, Ryan, Sister Sage, and A-Train. Firecracker, feeling insecure and dismissed by Sage and Homelander, bumps into Starlight after leaving the bathroom. Starlight says that she is not there for her, but Firecracker retorts that she does not care and threatens to call Homelander to kill Starlight, forcing the latter to summon and fail at mustering light from her hands to silence Firecracker with. And noticing that Starlight is at a disadvantage, power-wise, Firecracker advances menacingly on her and daring Starlight to try smacking her now like she did at The Truthbomb, confident that she will be able to defeat Starlight this time around. Realizing that she is cornered, for although she may be able to brutalize Firecracker for a second time but not without alerting the other guests at the mansion, a cautiously back-stepping Starlight then starts to apologize for childhood bullying, but then stabs Firecracker in the neck with a tranquilizer. Firecracker stumbles and slur her words as the sedative starts to knock her out. She curses her nemesis before passing out, with her unconscious body being dragged away by Starlight. 
The next day, Homelander questions Firecracker about her sudden disappearance at the gala. She reveals Starlight attacked her and believes she killed Tek Knight. She accuses Sister Sage of lying about the leak and criticizes her competence. Homelander suspects Firecracker might be the leak, which she denies, expressing her loyalty to him and Vought, she tells he is "everything to her." She begins to unzip her costume, but Homelander rejects her, saying he's not sexually attracted to her. Firecracker insists it's about loyalty, not sex, and then she squirts breast milk in his face. She says she medically prepared her body to lactate, just for him. “I’ll do anything for you. Anything.” She reveals she's been taking drugs to produce milk for Homelander and starts to breastfeed him.
===="The Insider"====
Firecracker will appear in this episode.
===="Assassination Run"====
Firecracker will appear in this episode.
== Personality ==
Firecracker is an uninhibited exhibitionistic, determined and enterprising young woman. She has no problem posting her controversial and inflammatory political opinions on the Internet and social media. However, Firecracker admitted to not really believing a lot of her own conspiracy theories and was selling "purposes" to the community to give them some hope and faith or just to manipulate and profit off as many desperate people as possible. Firecracker's need to be loved and supported is highlighted by her constant attempt to be approved by Homelander, despite it being clear that he is indifferent towards her. She is also self-centered, judging by her room full of paintings and photos depicting her in heroic poses and deeds.
In general, Firecracker has a Black and White view of the world. Her hatred towards Starlight shows that Firecracker is easily resentful and vengeful, believing that people are incapable of changing after she was deeply traumatized and hurt during her childhood. Firecracker's inability to overcome her traumas caused by Starlight makes her an inflexible person. Evidence of this can be seen in her conversation with Sister Sage after she had been beaten publicly by Starlight, Firecracker was angry at her for having set up the whole thing, despite it validating and ultimately assisting her vendetta against Starlight, Firecracker did not appreciate being manipulated by Sage and later accused her of only seeing her as “poor white trash”, despite the latter making clear she didn’t think she was poor, this shows that Firecracker never really got over her childhood trauma. Despite her hatred for Starlight, she did appear to pause and listen when Annie apologised sincerely, though she immediately insulted Annie when she was sedated by her.
She is also shown to have racist behavior towards non-white people, such as when she referred to Kimiko as Chinese in a derogatory tone despite her being Japanese. Or her when she insulted Sage by telling her she was a little mouthy or uppity in a racist subtext. Later she also said that Sage is “one of the good ones.” She's also xenophobic towards white foreigners, calling Frenchie a surrender monkey and telling Butcher to "speak American" when he uses British slang. She's later revealed to have predatory behavior and has taken advantage of underage boys in the past.
Firecracker has also shown to have a sexual attraction to Homelander, repeatedly expressing how she was willing to do anything for him. Despite Homelander making it clear he wasn’t interested in her, Firecracker continued to cling to him and act sycophantly. Later, after her live beating in TV to ruin Starlight’s reputation and Sister Sage making it clear that this was the sole reason why she recruited her, Firecracker was noted to have become even more obsessed and fixated on Homelander. Firecracker later showcased the full depth of desperation and fixation on Homelander when she even went as far as taking drugs in order to make her body lactate and produce breastmilk in order to prey on Homelander’s oedipus complex, breastfeeding him and acting maternally towards him. With her later successfully worming her way as his new second-in-command.
Despite being a murderer herself, Firecracker was horrified by the brutal way Homelander killed Webweaver.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Spark Generation: Firecracker possesses the ability to generate sparks by snapping her fingers. When she demonstrated this power to Sister Sage, Sage dismissed it as "lackluster." Firecracker, in turn, hinted that her true strength lies in her physical power, suggesting that this spark generation might not be particularly useful in combat.Life Among the Septics Hence, why her costume includes an ammunition-filled bandoleer.
*Superhuman Strength: Firecracker possesses superhuman strength, which makes her stronger than humans and some Supes. She can fight other Supes such as Kimiko Miyashiro, equally matching her in strength. She was also one of the Supes who beat Cameron Coleman to death with just a few blows.Beware the Jabberwock, My Son And despite having been beaten senseless by Starlight from earlier, Firecracker seemed confident that she will be able to best the former in a brawl after seeing that Starlight cannot access her light-generation powers at the time.
*Superhuman Durability: Firecracker boasts exceptional superhuman durability, exceeding that of ordinary humans and even some superpowered individuals. She can withstand intense blunt-force attacks, including Kimiko’s enhanced punches, and survive being slammed through solid walls. Although severely injured, Firecracker also survived a beating from Starlight.Wisdom of the Ages
*Regenerative Healing Factor: Firecracker has a healing factor that allows her to recover faster compared to ordinary humans as shown when she recovers in just one day from the injuries Starlight caused.
*Superhuman Hearing: Firecracker possesses superhuman hearing, allowing her to hear better than humans. Like all Supes, she can hear higher frequencies that humans cannot.Bob in First Day: "Did you know Supes have a wider range of hearing than us? Like dogs."
====Abilities====
*Charisma: Before joining The Seven, Firecracker hosted an relatively small podcast called Truthbomb, with initially only a few hundred followers on average, however after she ended up becoming a member of the aforementioned team, it became very successful to the point that when it started being broadcasted to a larger audience of viewers on the Vought News Network, she would eventually take over as the main host after Cameron Coleman's untimely demise, gaining millions of supporters of herself and her conspiracy theories in the process. When Butcher and Mother's Milk attempted to blackmail Firecracker with her previous arrest for statutory rape, she instead posted it herself and managed to spin the story as evidence of her commitment to God and her redemption, even managing to successfully attack Starlight in the same speech. She is also able to successfully sway and influence Homelander by appealing ego in order to gain his favour and forward her personal agenda of pursuing a romantic relationship with him through acting motherly and fawning towards him and sexual manipulating him via breastfeeding.
*Marksmanship: To compensate for her lackluster fire powers, Firecracker usually carries at least a glock at all times.
==Equipment==
*Hero Costume: Like most supes, Firecracker has her own superhero uniform. Similar to Homelander, her uniform uses mostly the colors of the American flag to reinforce her image as a patriotic hero.
**Glock-17: Firecracker is frequently seen with a holstered Glock-17, which she uses in combat.
==Weaknesses==
===Biological===
*Brute Force/Limited Durability: Despite being more durable than humans, Firecracker can still be stunned, knocked unconscious, and killed by extreme force. Butcher knocks her unconscious by hitting her in the head with a crowbar. 
*Anaesthetics: Firecracker is vulnerable to anaesthetics, as Annie was able to sedate her with a syringe filled with anaesthesia, possibly halothane. 
*High Frequencies: Due to being a Supe, Firecracker is susceptible to high frequencies. When a high frequency is playing, it can induce immense pain and temporarily neutralize her.
*Lack of Combat Expertise: Firecracker has little to no combat abilities beyond basic marksmanships, as when Kimiko easily overpowered her during their fight and was forced to run away from The Boys when Splinter died. She also had no defense against Starlight when she violently lashed out on her for revealing Starlight's abortion on live TV.
*Worsening Health Condition: Firecracker has started suffering medical side effects from the artificial breastmilk lactation medication she has been taking in order to produce milk to breastfeed or pump the milk into bottles for Homelander, including growing heart palpitations, coughing fits and shortness of breath.
==Relationships==
===Allies===
*Splinter † - Friend
*Vought International
**Ashley Barrett
**Ryan Butcher
**The Seven - Colleagues
***Homelander - Leader and Sexual Partner
***The Deep
***Black Noir II 
*Godolkin University
**Cate Dunlap
**Sam Riordan
*Tek Knight †
*Capes for Christ
**Ezekiel †
*Victoria Neuman †
*Sister Sage - Former Colleague
===Enemies===
*The Boys
**Starlight - Rival
**Frenchie
**Kimiko Miyashiro
**Billy Butcher
**Mother's Milk
*A-Train - Former Colleague
===Victims===
*Cameron Coleman † (Intentional; beaten to death)
*Webweaver † - Indirect Victim (Intentional; led Homelander to kill him)
==Trivia==
*Firecracker is likely a parody of Marvel's Jubilee.
*Unlike most Supes, Firecracker is one of the few to be seen using or carrying a firearm, the other being Gunpowder and Soldier Boy.
*Its been implied that Firecracker might have faced harassment and persecution due to the rumor started by Starlight, with her stating that “the more you deny it, the more people believe it”. 
*Firecracker is a burlesque of Southern American culture. She has a strong Southern accent, carries a pistol in open view on her hips, and is dressed in revealing clothing adorned in traditional American colors.
*Firecracker is a far-right ideologue who evokes real-world right-wing political pundits like , , , and .
**Eric Kripke says she was based on Republican politician, , and her real name Misty Tucker Gray has the same initials as MTG.
**Her slogan is "Jesus, Guns, Babies.", which was the exact campaign slogan for a far-right gubernatorial politician in Georgia named . 
*In many ways, Firecracker serves as a dark foil to Starlight. Both grew up in poor environments and participated in Supe Beauty Pageants, having light-based powers, grew disillusioned with the Supe lifestyle, and have an incredible following of loyal fans. However, while Starlight became disillusioned with the Supe lifestyle and continued to help others, Firecracker became more extreme and radicalized after being kicked off the Pageant circuit, using her charm and passion to manipulate rather than help others.
== Behind the Scenes ==
* On August 1st, 2022, The Boys' Instagram announced Valorie Curry as Firecracker.
* Firecracker was featured in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III as a playable operator.
==References==
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