The Boys: Who is Laddio? Tek Knight “sidekick” explained 

Tek Knight returns in The Boys Season 4 Episode 6, and while we won’t spoil what goes down, we know you’ll be curious about Laddio, his sidekick in the comics.

Much like Invincible, The Boys was once a niche comic book property. Now its heroes and villains are household names, whether it’s Homelander, Butcher, or Starlight.

Still, the show handpicks obscure characters from Garth Ennis’ source material from time to time; for example, Love Sausage, Supersonic, and Webweaver, its parody of Spider-Man.

While appearing incredibly briefly, Laddio does show up in The Boys Season 4 Episode 6 (again, no spoilers for now) – so here’s what you should know about him.

Who is Laddio?

In The Boys comics, Laddio is Tek Knight’s sidekick and a parody of Batman’s Robin. It’s a role rather than a specific character, so different people have fought alongside the supe.

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While Tek Knight’s name was revealed to be Robert Vernon in Issue #9, the true identities behind his Laddios have never been disclosed.

Here’s the thing, though: the Laddio moniker predates Tek Knight. The first person to hold the title fought with Steel Knight in World War II, but they were both killed by a German airstrike in their first mission.

Things get a bit weird between the two supes in the comics. Tek Knight and Laddio both fell for the Talon, a villain they befriended and slept with… together.

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This caused a bit of tension between the pair, but Tek Knight had another problem: just as we saw in Gen V, he developed an uncontrollable urge to have sex with anyone and anything, including supes, coffee cups, and cats.

For example, as Payback flew back to headquarters, he tried to instigate sex with Mind-Droid on the plane. To protect himself and Laddio, he sent his sidekick on a mission to “prove himself to be a man.”

Laddio went on to become SwingWing, a parody of DC’s Nightwing. He didn’t have a successful superhero career, later caught by Butcher and Hughie before being crushed to death by the Staten Island Ferry.

Laddio powers

It’s unclear exactly which powers Laddio has in the show, but he doesn’t have any superhuman abilities in The Boys comics.

When he takes on the SwingWing mantle, he nearly loses his jaw in a fight with Hughie, who’s jacked up on Compound V.

Following Tek Knight’s appearance, check how the Gen V timeline fits in and what’s going on with Gen V Season 2. We’ve also got The Boys Season 4’s most shocking moments so far, whether Kimiko dies, or other new TV shows streaming this month.