Kyle

Kyle is a regular at Stuart’s comic book store in various universes, often appearing alongside fellow comic book nerd Trevor. Kyle and Trevor’s relationship depends heavily on the universe they are in.

When we meet Kyle in the post-apocalyptic reality of 101 “Spoiler: Gary Dies”, he and Trevor are still regulars at Stuart’s store despite the collapse of civilization and the end of new comic book publishing. He gets into an argument with Trevor over whether Hawkeye deserves to be an Avenger. Trevor questions why a man with a bow and arrow belongs on the same team as Iron Man and Thor, prompting Kyle to grab an arrow from his own quiver and stab Trevor to death.

In this brutal reality, Stuart is less shocked by Trevor’s death than annoyed that he had just mopped the floor. Trying to maintain some sense of order, Stuart tells Kyle that this is strike three and bans him from the Comic Center. Kyle apologizes as he leaves, but insists Trevor started it.

When we meet Kyle in the AI-controlled reality of 102 “Spoiler: Zack’s in This One”, he has a more congenial relationship with Trevor, with the pair arriving at the store together. After Kyle picks up a comic book Trevor wanted to buy, he immediately apologizes and hands it over. Trevor accepts the apology, which Kyle appreciates.

The pair try to calm Stuart and Kripke when they begin arguing about who is responsible for sending them to this distorted reality. After Stuart and Kripke are shocked by their implants for arguing with each other, Kyle and Trevor choose to leave the store together.

When Stuart and Denise land in a reality where magic is real, Kyle and Trevor are once again at odds. Kyle wants to buy the Necronomicon, but Trevor mocks him by saying he cannot handle that level of magic and hands him Alchemy for Dummies instead. Insulted, Kyle casts a spell that causes a snake to emerge from Trevor’s mouth and wrap around his body.

After Stuart orders Kyle to stop, Kyle insists he was not really going to kill Trevor and undoes the spell. When Trevor calls him an asshole, Kyle retaliates with another spell, giving Trevor an anus on his forehead.

When we meet Kyle in 104 “Spoiler: Stuart Makes a Wallet”, he is once again at the comic book store butting heads with Trevor, even in a reality where Stuart does not run the store. The pair are debating whether Thor’s magic obeys the laws of physics and ask Stuart, a stranger to them in this universe, to settle the question. Stuart surprises himself by explaining that Thor and the other inhabitants of Asgard exist outside the paradigm of the physical universe.

When we meet Kyle in 106 “Spoiler: Corn is Delicious”, he is at the comic book store with Trevor in the peaceful reality where humans evolved from cows. In contrast to their counterparts in several other universes, Kyle and Trevor seem to be getting along.

Stuart announces that he and Denise are leaving this universe to continue his mission to prevent the destruction of reality itself, but Kyle and Trevor show little curiosity. Trevor unsuccessfully tries to haggle with Stuart over a water-stained copy of Batman #608. After Stuart activates the quantum device and disappears with Denise and the machine, Kyle remains unfazed. He returns his attention to the comic and tells Trevor, “I think you can just take it.”

When Stuart and his companions return to the war-torn reality in 108 “We're as Confused as You Are”, they land in the comic book store, where Denise notices the bodies of Kyle and Trevor. Stuart quips, “They died how they lived, reading comics they didn’t pay for.”

After Stuart and his companions escape the war zone using the improved quantum device, Kyle and Trevor appear in another version of the comic book store. They receive instructions from the Adversary, a swirling entity of black tendrils with a glowing orange center, which announces that the group’s forward progress has been stopped and tasks the pair with keeping them there. On a nearby display, a comic book titled Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Trapped! depicts Stuart and his friends on its cover, now imprisoned in ink.

Kyle asks what they should do if someone wants to buy that comic book. The Adversary tells them not to sell it. Trevor wonders what they should say, so the Adversary spells it out: “You tell them it’s not for sale.” Trevor replies, “Good. That’s good.” Kyle offers their support to the mysterious entity by saying, “We got your back,” prompting Trevor to add, “Or whatever you have.” Kyle settles on “Your circumference.”

109 “Spoiler: We Couldn't Get Green Lantern”

In 109 “Spoiler: We Couldn't Get Green Lantern”, Kyle and Trevor are in the comic book store following the Adversary’s orders to keep Stuart and his companions trapped in a comic book, which they’ve been instructed not to sell. Filling the time, Kyle argues that Hawkeye is the coolest Avenger, echoing the disagreement that ended with him killing Trevor with an arrow in the post-apocalyptic reality.

Kyle grows nervous when he finds Trevor reading Stuart Fails to Save the Universe TRAPPED!. Trevor argues that “it” only told them not to sell the comic, saying nothing about reading it. Kyle first insists that the Adversary is a “he”. When Trevor challenges that as a “gender-based assumption”, Kyle asks, “When has an omnipotent swirling bowl of shit ever been a girl?” Trevor counters with examples of powerful goddesses, but Kyle tells him to put the comic back. “Narc,” Trevor complains.

Later, Kyle is playing with Batman figurines at the counter when Trevor urgently calls him over. Kyle initially insists that he is busy, but relents when Trevor pleads with him. After Trevor explains that Stuart and his companions are no longer on the cover, Kyle calls him an idiot and asks where they are. Trevor tries to reassure him that there’s no need to panic: “They’re flying to Central City. It’s kind of boring. Denise has diarrhea.”

Kyle frets, “This is bad,” while Trevor begs him not to tell the Adversary. “I don’t need to tell him. He’s all-knowing,” Kyle replies. The swirling entity appears with a startling whoosh and menacingly calls out, “Oh, Trevor”, which Kyle echoes in a resigned tone. Trevor attempts to defend himself by pointing out that reading the comic was not expressly forbidden, but the Adversary cuts his argument off with an energy beam, leaving only the comic and a pair of charred sneakers behind. Kyle tells the entity, “Between you and me, I never liked him.”

Kyle watches nervously as the Adversary summons Mr. Freeze onto the comic’s cover and tells him, “You know what to do.” Attempting to make conversation, Kyle asks whether the entity plans to stay and offers to order Chinese food. The Adversary disappears with another startling whoosh.

After the Flash helps Stuart and his companions escape the comic using his Cosmic Treadmill, Kyle panics at finding them back in the store in person. He returns Bert’s friendly greeting before declaring, “Oh, this is not good. This is so not good.” When Stuart responds, “Nice to see you, too,” Kyle explains that their captor will be angry and looking for someone to blame. “And I already threw Trevor under the bus,” he adds.

Kripke assures Kyle that they are not staying, then heads for the door and nearly steps out into an endless black void. When he calls his companions over to look, Kyle can only stammer nervously. Stuart peers into the darkness and remarks, “This is not Pasadena.” A burst of unexplained audience laughter prompts Kripke to ask, “What the hell was that?”

110 “Spoiler: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience”

In 110 “Spoiler: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience”, Kyle explains that the comic book store is now “nowhere”. The entity that ordered him to keep Stuart and his companions captive, which he describes as a “swirling ball of omnipotent cosmic shit”, moved the whole store there after they escaped the comic. When Bert questions how it can dislike him without knowing him, Kyle explains that it knows everything. As for their location, they are somewhere “which is where we aren’t because it isn’t”.

When Stuart asks why the entity dislikes them, Kyle turns to the Stuart Fails to Save the Universe comics for some show and tell. He explains that fourteen billion years ago, there was nothing apart from a consciousness that their minds perceive as the swirling entity. A comic book illustration of nothing earns a sarcastic response from Kripke. Kyle continues: the consciousness caused the Big Bang but deeply regretted the creation that followed. It hated everything, from the planets and stars to salsa dancing and Vaseline, and missed the peace and silence of infinite nothingness. Kyle warns them not to bring up the Big Bang if they meet it, as it remains a sore subject.

Turning to pages showing Stuart and the quantum device, Kyle explains that breaking the machine opened a crack in reality, giving the consciousness its first opportunity to pull the plug on the whole deal. When Stuart asks whether “the whole deal” means the universe, Kyle clarifies: “Every universe, every molecule, every atom, everything.” Stuart sums up the entity’s plan: “So, it’s trying to keep me from undoing what I did so it could undo what it did?” Kyle describes this tangled summation as “well put”, prompting audience laughter that only Kripke hears. When Denise asks if they are trapped forever, Kyle corrects her: “Forever is a time. We’re here always.”

Later, as Kripke shows Denise and Bert how their adventures are documented in the Stuart Fails to Save the Universe comics, Kyle brings over an issue he describes as a good one. It depicts the group underwater with gills. Denise points out that they have never been underwater, prompting Kyle to suggest, “Maybe it hasn’t happened yet.”

While Stuart searches the comics for a way out, Kyle and the others eat Chinese food. Bert asks whether Kyle can leave the store, but he casually admits that he does not know. When an exasperated Kripke demands to know how he could possibly not know, Kyle offers, “Best guess, willful ignorance.” The resulting audience laughter is the first that Bert hears, although Kyle remains oblivious.

When Bert later questions whether they are aging in a store that exists outside space and time, Kyle offers little help: “Hey, hey, man. I just work here.” Kripke then questions where their Chinese food came from. Kyle checks his container and answers, “Szechuan Palace.” Asked how it reached them, he suggests a service like Uber Eats or DoorDash. An exasperated Kripke demands to know whether those services deliver to comic book stores that exist outside time and space. Untroubled by the seeming contradiction, Kyle offers another possibility: “Maybe Postmates.” More audience laughter follows.

After questioning how Denise can know it is her birthday when she does not even know the day of the week, Kripke asks Bert to tell a joke. Bert’s joke about two peanuts walking down the street triggers laughter that Kyle, Stuart and Denise finally hear. Kripke then shows them an advertisement on the back of a comic for a new CBS comedy titled Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. As Kyle asks what CBS is, Kripke dismisses it as an old TV thing. He explains that they are somehow inside a sitcom.

When Bert notices that a wall of the store is now missing, with gray mist obscuring what lies beyond it, everyone looks to Stuart to investigate. Stuart steps into the mist. When Kripke tells Denise that she is now back on the market, she calls him a creep and follows Stuart. Kripke suggests that it is now just him and Bert, but Bert replies, “Nope,” and follows their friends. Kyle tries the same approach with Kripke, only to receive another “Nope” as Kripke also leaves. “Kind of hurts my feelings,” Kyle remarks, prompting audience laughter.

While Stuart and his companions emerge beside a sitcom set on a soundstage in Los Angeles, Kyle remains in the comic book store. As he tidies up the Chinese food from earlier, the Adversary suddenly reappears, startling him into dropping the trash he is carrying. “I gave you one job,” the entity tells him, prompting another burst of audience laughter.

This page has been updated up to episode 110 Spoiler: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience