Julie powers

Julie Powers (b. July, 1981) is the social glue binding most of the characters in the series together, though she herself is a comparatively unimportant character.

Julie is known to frequently hosts parties, introduce characters to each other, and is known to be a full-time bitch and a half.

Biography

Little is known about Julie's prior to college though in the continuity of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Julie was in high school (West Ferris) with Gordon Goose in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

She attended the University of Toronto with Stephen and Scott and was roommates with Envy during their first year. She was an art student and apparently cooked for Stephen and Scott frequently. Despite being on terms with Envy back as dormmates, she refers to Envy as "my best friend" in Volume 2 and tries (unsuccessfully) to get back in Envy's good graces once she has become famous.

She was also friends with Ramona before she and Scott began dating; something she told him not to do, believing him to be a loser. Her character is described as "bitchy and obnoxious" and she frequently fights/argues with other characters, even befriending Kyle & Ken Katayanagi as they attempt to fight Scott.

At one point, she suspects that Stephen and Knives may have a mutual attraction, causing her to react toward Knives with hostility, and eventually to break up with Stephen.

During Volume 5 she begins holding regular themed parties at her new loft apartment, with themes ranging from Halloween, "Underwater Pimp and Ho Party," and "Canadian Politics Circa 1972 but You're Secretly Batman Party", and a Mexican Day of the Dead party.

In the final volume, it is revealed that Stephen was in a homosexual relationship with Joseph, to which Scott replied, "So Julie turned you gay??", believing that due to Julie's constant bitchiness, Stephen Stills was turned gay. Young Neil had also revealed earlier in final volume that Julie had moved to Montreal. Portrayal in adaptions

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Julie-film-01 Aubrey Plaza as Julie Powers in the film adaptation Julie Powers is played by Aubrey Plaza, whose previous works include roles in Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Mystery Team, and Funny People.

In the film, Julie is everything like her comic book version. A main difference was when she starts cussing Scott out after he ignored her warning of hooking up with Ramona. She was first seen in the record store where Knives and Scott were. A black bar and ZX Spectrum-like censor beep stops her swear words. When Scott asks "How are you doing that with your mouth?", she responds, "Never ████ing mind how I'm doing it!". After The Clash at Demonhead show, Julie tells Scott and the band that Envy has invited them all backstage. She constantly tries to strike up a friendly conversation with Envy, who coldly rebuffs her to confront Ramona. After Scott headbutts Todd Ingram and defeats him, Julie says to Envy: "For the record, I am so pissed off for you right now", to which Envy responds "Shut the ████ up, Julie".

In an deleted scene at the end, Julie is heard gossiping over the phone with Stacey about how Scott kicked Gideon's head off.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

Julie appears as one of the many background characters in the video game adaptation. She is seen as a store clerk in World 1 and later in front of the stairs at the Halloween party.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Julie (voiced by Aubrey Plaza; Yū Kobayashi in the Japanese dub) is portrayed mostly the same, though it is revealed she went to school with Gideon Graves back in North Bay. After Gideon gets defeated by Matthew Patel and loses everything, he ends up crashing at Julie's house. It is later revealed that Julie is attracted to Gideon's evil side, and it is implied that the two of them are in a relationship (or in the very least working closely together).

In other media

Seconds

Julie Powers makes a cameo appearance in another Bryan Lee O'Malley comic, Seconds, Julie can be seen along Stephen Stills having a meal as Katie imagines what her new restaurant will look like once it's finished.

Personality and traits

Temperamental, sassy and acerbic, Julie Powers is descrbed as a bitch by many of her aquaintances and those within her inner circle. Being the most assertive and outspoken of the group, she will often make her opinion known and not hold back on what she thinks of people. A woman of somewhat short temper, she ends up rubbing people the wrong way as a result. Ironically enough, she is also quite a social expert as she hosts many of the parties that the group ends up attending.

Despite this harshness, she can have her moments of being happy and kind. For all of the complaints and irritation in regard to her inner circle (especially Scott), she still hangs around with them quite frequently and enjoys her time with them. All of them are with her over on her birthday and during Scott's birthday, is also enjoying herself and bringing out the birthday cake.

One interesting note is that she was an art student in college, indicating an interest in the subject. Additionally, her desire to suck up to Envy along with general frustration at work indicates a desire to reach fame and fortune, possibly through her creative endeavors, not unlike Envy or even Stephen. Her willingness to repeatedly take Stephen back romantically despite their fights shows some sense of care in him. Additionally, there seems to be elements of bitterness within the young woman over the path her life has taken and may even serve as the source of her acerbic behavior.

Ramona FLowers

Ramona presents a tough, independent exterior and behaves like a free-spirit (as evidenced by her constant dying of her hair). She does not hesitate to impose her views on Scott (such as criticizing the apartment he and Wallace live in) and can be quite bossy at times (such as telling Scott to get a job so that she does not have to travel through his lame dreams when she is at work). She also maintains a mysterious guise, telling Scott very little about herself, at least initially. Contrary to that, she strives to learn as much as possible about Scott's past relationships, nearly to the point of being intrusive. She is also rather humorous, quick-witted, and sarcastic. However, she is also a friendly and caring person in her own right. Despite her disdain for Envy Adams, she ultimately feels bad for her with the revelation of Todd cheating on her, even going to check up on her and telling Scott that she (Envy) needs to be comforted. She enjoys her relationship with Scott and noting that she likes that he is a "pleasant and simple-minded" person notes that she desires an earnest and caring partner.

However, Ramona's "mysterious" nature and tough exterior are really just to cover for her own insecurities. At the heart of things, Ramona is a runner. She fears commitment, describing it as "being stuck," which was a huge factor of why so many of her relationships have failed. Additionally, while Scott's relationship failures could be attributed to immaturity and fear of confrontation, Ramona's was a lot more out of her own short-sightedness and selfishness. Her relationship with Patel came from how he was the only non-jock minority at the school, how she quickly dumped Lucas for Todd just for "coolness", her somewhat downplaying the emotional attachment with Roxie and even two-timing the Katayanagi twins with each other. And that does not even account for her and Gideon Graves (though granted, she was right to leave him, but it was still telling he ended up with her in the first place).

Additionally, she is also rather hypocritical. Beyond her relationship follies being a lot worse than Scott's mistakes, she will be accusatory of someone (usually Scott) of certain actions that she is doing (if she isn't doing worse.) She accused Scott of treating his Exes poorly (particularly the naive Knives Chau) when she did noticably worse with her Exes (in particular, cheating on Lucas with Todd and dating the Twins behind their backs). This is somewhat pointed out when near the end of the story, we learn she spent her time separated from Scott like he did: moping around over in misery. Their friends couldn't help but note these similarities and how it made them perfect for the other. Deep down, Ramona is unhappy with the kind of person she is, and does not think she can change. As a result, she carries her baggage with her through most of the series.

Besides her relationship follies, Ramona enjoys being with her friends and does whatever she can to support her friendships and keep them. She was initially shy about dating Scott, but his wit and charm resulted in her doubts going away. She was quick to form bonds with all of his friends, in particular with Kim and Wallace. Ramona enjoys spending time with her friends, even if she doesn't know them as well, such as Stephen and Neil. Ramona enjoys her time with Scott, which highlights many fun moments, such as: their date at Hillcrest Park, a dinner at his shared apartment, ditching one of Envy's challenges in exchange for spending time with her and having lunch at her place. Ramona's closest friends remain Kim and Wallace. In Volume 3, she and Wallace officially became friends over a mutual hatred towards Envy Adams and when she fought her, he encouraged from the sidelines. Ramona also enjoys Kim's company, with the two first meeting over the making of a vegan shepherd's pie. When Kim revealed she lied about having a scrapbook, Ramona was relieved that they could keep being friends. Kim offers Ramona a sense of comfort when she isn't with Scott, shown by their bonding session at Lee's Palace and their hangouts in Volume 5. Kim feels a lot more open around Ramona, opening up about her relationship with Scott and her breakup with Jason after he cheated on her with Hollie and also seems willing to help Ramona and Scott (mainly Scott) out in bad situations and such as relationship turmoils and offering them a place to crash.

Ramona cherishes her friendships and her relationship with Scott. Both Scott and Ramona serve as the driving force behind their will and determination. When Scott was facing a losing battle with the Twins, Kim gave him false encouragement by telling him Ramona texted her, and when he was about to lose to Nega Scott, Scott suddenly remembered Ramona. This burst of memory resulted in Scott's determination to pursue their relationship and be a better person for the both of them. Ramona, seeing how bad she been towards her own Exes, sought to do this too, but was unsure if it would have the same effect and tells him that she's scared of running from the relationship she's had the most fun with and wants to maintain. Scott's encouragement pushed her to practice hard, telling her how their path forward will never be easy, but they won't face it alone if their love and commitment towards each other keeps them together no matter how bad it will get. With this encouragement, Ramona is more optimistic and pledges to follow it.

At the end of the series, Ramona is still uncertain if she can change, but with Scott's encouragement, she is willing to try.

Scott Pilgrim

Scott is a cheerful and laid-back individual who is pretty open and friendly to most people. He is quite content with his current situation in life and while he does not show much motivation to better himself unless need be, he also is mostly unburdened by the same sort of neuroses or issues that his friends have. Furthermore, he does possess an odd form of charisma; despite the complaints and issues of his friends with his faults, they do generally enjoy spending time with him and being his friend, even the stoic Stephen and dour Kim, showing that he serves as something of a bright spot in their lives. As noted by Ramona above, his pleasant and simple-minded nature means he is rather easy to be around and get along with, especially since he tends to be rather earnest and authentic.

However, beneath his cheerful exterior, he has his own inner troubles. Around the start of the story, a dream show him feeling alone and craving emotional intimacy, but also seems afraid of being able to approach people for it. This appears to have been the result of the fallout between him and Envy. Regarding his faults, he is lackadaisical and even a bit naïve on certain matters. He has a bad tendency to stick his foot in his mouth and not consider the consequences of his words or choices. However, this behavior is not out of malice, but rather a sort of discomfort in confrontational situations (or at least those that can't be solved by fighting) and immaturity. As such, he learns to confront and better handle the unpleasant and complicated aspects that arise from life and relationships.

When it comes to romantic relationships, Scott is ultimately a well-intentioned, supportive and caring partner. He enjoys spending time with his girlfriends and is usually filled with smiles and jokes. He legitimately cares about each one of his girlfriends and views them and the relationships they had as all equal to one another. Best noted in his second dream where he is in a band alongside Envy, Kim and most notably Knives, which show that despite the jabs of him dating her as a rebound, he saw her and their relationship just as valid and real as his relationships with Kim and Envy. From first glance, he doesn't appear to do anything wrong in his relationships and seems to be supported by seeing the interactions with others. It's likely why he considered himself a "paragon of virtue."

However, he is still human and thus prone to self-centered or selfish behavior. This has been the main reason for the failures in his romantic relationships. However, said failures manifest in a rather peculiar manner: his inability to take the initiative to end relationships. Scott shows great reluctance and discomfort at being confronted with the thought of having to break-up with a girl (this is never explained why though given his proclamation on not fighting girls, it's likely this is due to how he was raised as such along with the fear of confrontation.) As such, he will avoid the issue or try to sidestep it until the external factors that have been pushing him to do so instead cause the relationship to collapse with both parties being hurt (which was the last thing he wanted in the first place.)

While his romantic relationship with Kim would be forced to end because he and his family would be moving, his mistake was in getting Lisa to tell her rather than do it himself. Kim would be hurt by this and when confronted, Scott could only look away ashamed at it. With his relationship with Knives, it was because he did not break up with her soon after his "hook-up" with Ramona (which was due to him becoming a bit obsessed with her after she violated his mental space). This is a reflection of his naivety and selfishness of not wanting to confront unpleasant aspects of relationships and do what is to be needed. His fallout with Envy is a variation of this. While Envy is the one who dumped Scott, it's eventually revealed that the breakup was instigated from a big fight on New Years he had with Envy after he got drunk (presumably based on all the frustrations and problems that were formed from her changes in behavior and decisions on the band over the choices of the others). However, given how Wallace would recommend to Scott that he dump her upon first meeting her, the implications are that Scott should've ended his relationship with Envy sooner and done so intentionally. Instead, the negative emotions built up and once drunk, Scott let them out and instigated the fight.

Scott initially failed to notice this, presumably because there were other, more obvious factors that led to the relationships ending (him moving when with Kim and Envy' change in behavior). When he is forced to speak on his and Kim's relationship, he doesn't blame either one of them (though there's the implication he doesn't like talking about it out of guilt for how it went down and possibly because Kim usually doesn't bring it up.) With him and Envy, the relationship failing was an extensively difficult time for him and he laments on what happened to the nice girl she used to be. This hints that he viewed her changing as the main reason for their relationship failing (though this opinion is shared among the others, especially Wallace). With him and Knives, he would admit that he was not a good boyfriend in terms of how he handled the falling out (even prior to Ramona's intrusion, he seemed uncertain on how to handle Knives' growing infatuation with him.) He would be forced to confront the issue in the form of the Nega Scott, who manifested after Scott was infected with the Glow. He also became rather intimidated at the thought of doing so, likely due to the non-confrontational aspect of facing his faults (though also at taking it at face value the idea of having to fight a malicious-looking doppelganger.)

With Kim's encouragement though, he does fuse with Nega Scott, as a form of accepting his mistakes, which makes him regain his memory of all past events of his failed relationships. This makes his confrontation with Gideon more meaningful as when it comes to relationships, Gideon is a dark reflection of Scott. Both are rooted in selfishness, but while Scott's is unintentional, roundabout and ultimately to accept his shortcomings, Gideon's is intentional, bluntly straightforward and he does not acknowledge it as a flaw. Additionally, Scott genuinely cared for each one of his girlfriends as individuals, Gideon saw them as extensions of himself to fawn over him.

Apparently, Scott used to be a frequent drunk. He repeatedly denies this, outright repeatedly saying that he doesn't drink. He stopped drinking after his break-up with Envy Adams (thus, what Stephen Stills said about Scott having been drunk the night Envy broke up with him was true), after which he always denies his history as a drinker whenever it comes up. This is why everyone always says "Oh right" when Scott says he doesn't drink. While he does come to admit that he sometimes drinks after his development, he is never seen to be enjoying it.[3]

Scott has a set of "moral high-grounds". One is that he doesn't like to (or see other people) smoke cigarettes. Aside from smoking being bad for your health, he considers smoking to be an act of "evil". He was shocked to learn that Ramona smoked through her high school years, before quitting in college. This shock was seen again, when it's revealed that she does still smoke, just on special occasions or if she is drinking. He was also shocked to learn that Lisa is also a smoker. The other of his "moral high-grounds" is that does not like to hit girls. This was never explained why, though given how Scott went to a Catholic high school and having a younger sister, it's likely due to being raised by their parents in a certain way. When asked about this issue by Roxie, she and Ramona told him that refusing to hit girls doesn't give Scott the moral high-ground. Scott was forced to break this high ground when he accidentally hit Roxie in the boob (attempting to puke after realizing what he had done) and had to fight her at the end of Volume 4.

While not having been confirmed, some have noted that Scott shows signs of being neurodivergent. He often has trouble understanding sarcasm along with other difficulties/failures regarding social cues, resulting in often putting his foot in his mouth. Additionally, he doesn't often seem to be on the same wavelength as the others. He doesn't seem to be as aware of the more magical realistic elements of the story (such as his reaction to seeing a 1-Up). When he does put his mind onto trying to do something, he does so with a very intense determination, along with the emphasis on his hobbies. Lastly and most notably, there's the presence of the Subspace Tunnel through his head. It's not known if this tunnel is a potential symptom or signifier of being neuroatypical or perhaps it is the cause of it in the first place. As such, it has been speculated he may be (or is at least coded as) on the autistic spectrum or a form of ADHD or possibly both of them.

The events in the book and movie are mostly seen through Scott's worldview. This is clear from Volume 1 with his presentation tag: "Scott Pilgrim... Rating: Awesome". In addition, this places the accuracy of the flashbacks, and even the entire series, into question, as Scott can be considered an unreliable narrator.