Frenchie

Lore & Background

First seen in The Name of the Game, Part One (issue #1), the Frenchman is one of the original Boys and displays a penchant for extreme violence within a few frames of his first appearance. He claims to have served in the French Foreign Legion, though the source material presents this as potentially unreliable. His spoken French often had incorrect phrasing. He takes an immediate liking to "Petit Hughie." He and the Female provide the physical strength of the team, and he is prone to violent outbursts, although he can control them better than the Female. According to Mother's Milk, it is better for the rest of humanity if they are in the team rather than in the outside world. Like Billy and Mother's Milk, Frenchie possesses military experience, particularly in ballistics, to the extent that Butcher defers to him on that matter. The Frenchman is occasionally joked about having a strong sense of smell, but this is not a canonical superpower—it is an exaggeration. Frenchie appears to be quite shy and caring until someone provokes him, particularly with insults towards France and the French. In response he will attack or even kill in a gruesome manner; he batters three American businessmen in a coffee shop for calling him a "Goddamn surrender monkey" and a "fucking cheese-eater." In issue #55, Mallory notes that cruelty to children makes Frenchie "livid," which renders him hard to control when such scenarios are encountered. In The Self-Preservation Society, over issue #37, his origin story is told, though the story may be the Frenchman's delusions. Returning from military service, he is welcomed home by residents in his alleged native town of Franglais (who supposedly refer to him as Frenchie), but he soon learns that his lover has taken off with his childhood rival, Pierre. Renouncing violence, he refuses to confront Pierre. Months later, at a local festival featuring jousting on bicycles with baguettes, Frenchie's father challenged Pierre to restore the family's honor. Pierre, fearing certain defeat, topples the challenger's bicycle with a stale croissant, killing him. Renouncing his newfound pacifism, the Frenchman exacts his revenge on Pierre and starts drifting from place to place, until he gets into a bar fight with an Americ

In Their Own Story

In the comic series, the Frenchman is first seen in The Name of the Game, over issue #2. He serves in the French Foreign Legion and speaks French with incorrect phrasing. He takes an immediate liking to "Petit Hughie." He and the Female provide the physical strength of the team. He possesses military experience in ballistics, and Butcher defers to him on that matter. He has an incredibly strong sense of smell; Butcher says "Frenchie has the better nose for it" when Hughie asks why Terror is not sniffing around. He batters three American businessmen in a coffee shop for calling him a "Goddamn surrender monkey" and a "fucking cheese-eater." In issue #55, Mallory notes that cruelty to children makes Frenchie "livid." In The Self-Preservation Society, over issue #37, his origin story is told, though it may be his delusions. He returns to his alleged native town of Franglais, learns his lover left with his childhood rival Pierre, and refuses to confront him. Months later, at a festival with jousting on bicycles with baguettes, Frenchie's father challenges Pierre; Pierre kills the father with a stale croissant. Frenchie then exacts revenge on Pierre and drifts until Billy Butcher recruits him after a bar fight. Frenchie bonds with the Female by playing games (reverse-strip poker, paintball, scrabble, snowball fights) and is the only person who can safely wake her. In issue #38, he took on humanizing her and was the first to treat her with kindness. In issue #16, he forced the New York Mafia to stop hiring the Female as a hitman, telling her "I'd rather die than not be your friend, and if it has to be by your hand, so be it." In Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men, over issue #63, he loses his right arm in battle and survives due to Vought-American medical treatment, later wearing a Napoleonic hat. In The Bloody Doors Off, over issue #69, he finds a high-yield bomb left by Butcher with a few seconds left, says "Je t'aime. From the first" to the Female, and both are killed in the explosion.

Reader's Guide

In the comic series, the Frenchman is a physically fit former member of the French Foreign Legion later employed by the CIA, provided the enhancement drug Compound V on his recruitment, granting him superhuman strength, super durability, enhanced sense of smell and hearing. In the Amazon Prime Video adaptation, Frenchie is instead depicted as a regular human, opposed to Butcher's use of the temporary superpower-inducing V-24 in the third season. Frenchie is an expert in weapons and explosives. In the show, he has experience in weapon dealing and chemistry. In the television series, Tomer Capone portrays the character. Unlike the comic series, Frenchie is not a Supe, is a fan of polyamory, develops a romantic relationship with the Female (named as "Kimiko Miyashiro") instead of a mentoring/semi-parental relationship, is a former assassin of the Namenko Crime Syndicate, and has the real name of Serge Emilien Les Saintes. He was also brought into Mallory's services after being caught for bank robbery and aggravated assault on a Supe via "weaponized xanax", suffering abuse from his bipolar father, who once attempted to smother him with a Hello Kitty duvet, kidnapped him while evading the police, and forced him to kneel in broken glass, all of which Frenchie attributes to a pathological need to follow someone regardless of who they are.

Did You Know?

• In the comic, the Frenchman's origin story in issue #37 may be his own delusions, according to the source.
• The Frenchman is the only person who can safely wake the Female, and he bonds with her by playing games like reverse-strip poker, paintball, scrabble, and snowball fights.
• In issue #69, the Frenchman finds a high-yield bomb left by Butcher with only seconds left and says 'Je t'aime. From the first' to the Female before both are killed.
• In the television series, Frenchie's real name is Serge Emilien Les Saintes, and he was a former assassin of the Namenko Crime Syndicate.
• Frenchie was brought into Mallory's services after being caught for bank robbery and aggravated assault on a Supe via 'weaponized xanax'.