| “ | This is serious shit, okay? I'm older than you. And something you learn is that there's a certain type of people in this world, that you stay away from. And that kid Max - that kid is one of them. You stay away from that kid you hear? Stay away. | „ |
| ~ Billy Hargrove. |
| “ | He can't hear you. You shouldn't have looked for me. Because now, I see you. Now we can all see you. You let us in. And now, you, are going to have to let us stay. Don't you see? All this time, we've been building it, we've been building it, for you. All that work, all that pain, all of it. For you. And now it's time. Time to end it. And we are going to end you, and when you are gone, we are going to end your friends. (Eleven: NO!) And then, we are going to end… everyone. | „ |
| ~ Billy threatening Eleven while possessed by the Mind Flayer. |
| “ | I'm sorry. | „ |
| ~ Billy's final words to Max. |
William "Billy" Hargrove is a major antagonist in the Netflix series Stranger Things. He is the older stepbrother of Max Mayfield, the son of Neil and Susan Hargrove and the archenemy of Steve Harrington. Originally a familial abuser who hated his stepsister and wanted to make her life miserable, he later becomes an ally of the heroes and stops the Mind Flayer to save the world from its wrath.
He was portrayed by Dacre Montgomery.
What Makes Him a Shonen Villain?[]
- Villainous/Anti-Villainous: He abuses Max on various occasions (like squeezing her wrist to the point she cried and breaking her friend's arm to prove she wasn't "easy"), tried to run over Dustin, Lucas and Mike in a car just to get on his little sister's nerves and nearly beat Steve to death out of sheer pettiness.
- Powerful/Skillful: He is very strong in terms of physical attributes, being able to beat people to a pulp.
- Power-Hungry: He seeks to victimize his sister at all times and will do anything to keep her under his control, even preventing her from being friends with Lucas just for being black.
- Pursues a Big-End Goal: His main goal is to break Max's will and keep tormenting her and her friends for fun.
- Arrogant: He thought he was going to succeed in beating Steve during their fight before Max stopped him.
- Cold-Hearted/Ruthless: He is a nasty guy who will hurt anyone to mentally break his stepsister.
- Short-Tempered: He is extremely wrathful and blows up countless times throughout the series.
- Narcissistic: He sees himself as above women, even viewing the high school girls as "cows".
- Sadistic: He thinks it's okay to hurt his sister and doesn't care if his cruelty upsets her.
- Tragic Past: In Season 2, it is revealed that he became evil due to being abused by his father Neil, which eventually caused his mother Susan to abandon him.
- Serves as a Foil to the Hero/Protagonist: He is the evil counterpart of both Max and Steve due to them wanting to help people whereas Billy just wants to harm others.
- Bloodthirsty: He displays a homicidal side, trying to run 3 kids off the road and almost killing the party before Max saved their lives.
- Has Black Air Force Energy: He is shockingly aggressive and constantly breaks the rules, beating people up publicly and calling them derogatory words.
- Immature: He cried when he got in trouble for not taking care of Max when his parents were late coming home.