| This article is a stub. Help out this community by adding more information! |
 |
Spoiler Warning!
This article or section reveals details from the fifth season. |
Joshua "Josh" Gunn,[2] portrayed by Anthony B. Jenkins, is a recurring character in the fifth season of Stranger Things.
History
Born between 1977-1978, Josh was presumably raised in Hawkins, Indiana. Beginning in the early 1980s, Josh began attending Hawkins Elementary School, becoming classmates with Holly Wheeler, who secretly harbored a crush on him. By 1986, like the rest of the town, Josh was trapped in Hawkins by the government’s quarantine following a devastating earthquake.
1987
November
By the fall of 1987, Josh had joined Miss Harris’ class. During that time, Josh was approached by a man who presented himself as an imaginary savior named Mr. Henry Whatsit, telling Josh he was sent to save the children of Hawkins from the monsters hatching from the rifts formed from the earthquake.
Thursday, November 5
After the kidnapping of his four classmates - Holly, Roger Ames, Benji Barker, and Valerie, Josh was gathered alongside his classmates by the military. Putting them on a bus, the children were placed in a barrack of the MAC-Z, the town square now transformed into a base. Inside was the epicenter of the earthquake, a portal sealed off with vines and debris.
Inside the barracks, Josh’s attention was caught when Derek Turnbow, the class bully, announced he was sent to gather those who were visited by Mr. Whatsit to prepare for his arrival. Derek soon gathered Josh, Thomas Hall, Mary, Debbie Miller, Rebecca, Glenn Stickler, and Wendy in a circle. Derek had them visually prepare for the paradise Mr. Whatsit would take them to. Soon, Derek rhythmically hit each of his classmates to the barracks’ bathroom. When it was Josh’s turn, he accidentally slipped on the water trailing out of the restroom. Inside, he met Mike Wheeler, Holly's older brother, and Will Byers attempting to fix a broken pipe bursting with water. The boys directed Josh to a hole formed in the stall floor to meet Mr. Whatsit. As Josh descended down it, a nosy student named Ashley Klein walked in to investigate the leaking water. Josh awkwardly jumped down into the hole, meeting Joyce Byers and Lucas Sinclair, the latter helping him and Rebecca navigate the underground tunnel system. As the trio sprinted through the tunnels, they were suddenly stopped when two creatures with petal-like mouths arrived through dimensional portals. Lucas used a shovel to fend off the nine-foot-tall monsters, but one slashed him with its claws, knocking him to the ground. The creatures cornered Josh and Rebecca, grabbing each of them by the ankles. As they were transported back into the portals, Josh hung on to the rift, pleading with Lucas to help, only to be dragged into the portal screaming.
Friday, November 6
Josh awoke alongside his eleven classmates in a field, with Mr. Whatsit waiting for them. He soon led the children to his large mansion, where Holly, the first to be rescued, welcomed her friends. Inside, Henry warns them of a monster plaguing Hawkins - the Black Thing, the evil entity from the book A Wrinkle in Time. He has found a new home for the children to escape to, “the light”, but they can only reach it by activating their dormant powers. Henry has brought them to his home to train them, opening his home to the children as long as they never venture off into the woods beyond the property. The kids clapped and began celebrating around the house, with Josh and Debbie playing tag up the stairwell.
However, things began to take a turn when Derek ventured off into the woods, with Henry and Holly soon disappearing as well. The children soon cornered a spooked Derek when he returned, telling them that Holly was taken by a red-headed girl named Max Mayfield, and Henry went to save her.
Afterward, Henry returned with an unconscious Holly. He gathered the children to tell them that Holly was tricked by Max, who was posing as the Black Thing and wanted to sabotage his plan. Mary was quick to suggest talking to Holly about giving Henry a second chance, mentioning that she and Debbie were her best friends and how much she crushed on Josh. Josh was taken aback as Debbie and Rebecca confirmed Holly’s feelings. The kids soon began to chant that they could get Holly to return to the light.
Upstairs, the children welcomed Holly back, who began to tell them that Max showed her Henry was an evil entity using them, and that the land, Camazotz, was a mind prison. However, the kids remained unmoved, believing Holly to be the brainwashed one. As Holly broke down, she soon grabbed a radio and smacked Mary in the face with it, attempting to escape. But she was soon apprehended as Mary, Thomas, and Rebecca scuffled with her, eventually causing Holly to fall down the stairs and be knocked out.
That evening, the dozen children gathered in the dining room as Henry prepared to bring them to the light. Holding hands, Henry used his powers to cast the children in a trance, their eyes rolling back into their heads as they stood frozen. But soon, Max arrived with her friends, Eleven and Kali Prasad. Eleven, having telekinetic powers, threw Henry out of the window, snapping the kids out of their trance. Max said she could prove that she wasn’t the Black Thing; Kali, having the ability to manipulate vision, put an invisible shield over Max and the children. They watched as El faced off against Henry, who was revealed to indeed be an evil telekinetic monster named Vecna, and his arm transformed into a black, vine-like claw. Vecna, who caused the Hawkins’ earthquake to happen, had trapped the children in his mind, using their bodies as vessels to merge his dimension, the Abyss, into reality, unleashing the dimension’s monsters onto the human race.
Max soon led the children out of the house into the forest while El and Kali faced Vecna. There, El and Kali met up with the group, telling them that Vecna had disappeared before they could kill him. To make matters worse, El, Max, and Kali vanish due to their physical bodies being disturbed. As the kids panicked, Holly took action, telling them that they needed to reach the Rachel Caves, a place Vecna couldn’t enter due to it holding his greatest fear. As the kids filed inside the caves, Holly and Derek narrowly avoided Vecna’s wrath. However, Vecna painfully preserved through the caves, causing Holly to lead her classmates into the desert facing outside the cave. There, she showed them to a bunker, where Holly told them that Camazotz’s locations were Vecna’s memories, meaning what they saw couldn’t hurt them. They passed an rogue doctor, showing that as a boy, Henry discovered a piece of matter from a being named the Mind Flayer, which possessed him and forced him to become the monster he grew to be. Holly led the kids to a pile of rocks, instructing them to worm themselves through the hole to escape. However, the kids were rescued upon Vecna’s physical body being defeated by El and Will, prompting Camazotz to collapse. Josh was awoken as Lucas pulled him out of a spire, his and the other kids’ bodies held inside the Mind Flayer’s form. Regaining consciousness, Josh saw Vecna’s true form impaled on a spike, choking on his own blood. Joyce approached Vecna as she slowly decapitated him with an axe, ending his reign of terror. The Party that rescued the children - Joyce, El, Mike, Dustin Henderson, Lucas, Will, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Steve Harrington, and Robin Buckley - led the children out of the Abyss to the middle ground between the dimensions, the Upside Down. There, they piled into a Bradley’s Big Buy van and descended out of the dimension, the kids celebrating. But as they arrived back into reality through the portal of the MAC-Z, the truck’s tires were punctured. Dr. Kay, the leader of the Hawkins’ military, had her men swarm the van, separating the children as they arrested the Party in search of Eleven. However, El revealed herself standing at the Gate of the Upside Down, seemingly sacrificing herself as the dimension collapsed.
1987-1989
Following Eleven’s “death”, the military ceased its reign on Hawkins, dismantling the MAC-Z and lifting the quarantine. Josh would graduate from Hawkins Elementary and move to Hawkins Middle School, where he joined the school’s baseball team.
1989
Saturday, May 27
In the morning, Josh joined his teammates on the field to play baseball, led by Steve, now an assistant coach.
That evening, Josh arrived at the Wheeler house alongside Debbie, Derek, and Mary to play the game Dungeons & Dragons with Holly. Rushing downstairs to the basement, Josh asked why Holly got to be the Dungeon Master, with Holly explaining that it was because it was her idea and her house. Derek then accused Josh of farting and causing the basement to smell. Josh said the stench was from old pizza, while Derek proclaimed that old pizza didn’t smell like “crusty ass”, causing the group to laugh. Mike, watching the kids play, walked upstairs and shut the door to let them be.
Personality
Compared to his peers, Josh is more reserved and quiet. Similar to his classmates, Josh is naive, being easily manipulated by Vecna, and is stunned to discover Holly having a crush on him, something his female peers are unphased by and knew already.
Appearances
| Season Five appearances | |||
| Sorcerer | |||
| Shock Jock | The Bridge | The Rightside Up | |
Behind the scenes
to be added
Gallery
Trivia
- Joshua is often paired with Lucas in scenes, most likely a nod to their actors, Anthony B. Jenkins and Caleb McLaughlin respectively, co-starring together as brothers in the 2024 Netflix film, The Deliverance.
- In "The Bridge", Holly is revealed to have a "hard-core" crush on Joshua, though whether or not he reciprocates those feelings were never established.
- In "The Rightside Up", Derek and Joshua bickering over who farted is a callback to Dustin and Lucas bickering over the same thing in "The Upside Down".
References
- ↑ Joshua is stated by Dr. Kay to be one of the 9 to 10 year olds targeted next, meaning he has to be born in 1977 or 1978.
- ↑ In an Instagram comment, the character's actor, Anthony B. Jenkins, stated the character's last name was "Gunn," which was on the back of Joshua's jersey in the epilogue.