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The Bowers Gang are the tertiary antagonists of the Stephen King novel and film IT. They are Henry Bowers's minions and bullying rivals of the Lucky Seven whom they cruelly called the "Losers Club".
Nature
The Bowers Gang solely exists to humiliate and bully kids in the town of Derry. Originally, the gang had a code by which they simply attacked kids and left adults alone. However, as the summer holidays progressed and Henry's sanity worsened, they went after adults too, in one case, Henry threw a rock at an old lady's car when she stopped to help Beverly. The Bowers gang is quite perverted and Henry sometimes indicates he wants to rape Beverly.
Most of their actions are driven out of pure spite, for instance, Henry picks on Mike just because Mike is black. Henry is the leader of the gang, while Vic Criss is the second-in-command (secondary leader) and Belch Huggins is the muscle, being bigger than the others at six feet tall (despite being 12 years old). Patrick Hockstetter is the most evil and psychopathic of the gang. Peter Gordon is most likely the most intelligent of the gang after Vic and is mentioned as a kid who likes to act tough but really isn't brave enough to try anything on his own. Moose Sadler and Gard Jagermeyer represent the gang's least intelligent members, Moose being half-retarded and Gard just being plain dumb.
Incidents with the Losers
- Henry ambushes Ben Hanscom outside Derry library with his minions Victor and Belch Huggins, and he threatens to carve his own name into Ben's fat stomach. When Vic and Belch protest in alarm, Henry does so anyway but only gets to H before Ben kicks him in the gut and Ben goes tumbling downhill into the Barrens.
- When on a date with his girlfriend Marcia Fadden, Peter Gordon insults Richie and Beverly. When Beverly tells them to piss off, Marcia gets all cowardly and Peter protects her by telling Richie he'll come to beat him up later. After their date, Peter and Marcia tell Henry how the Losers "bullied" them and thus Henry comes after Richie, Beverly and Ben, almost beating up Ben, but Henry fails.
- One time, Richie got chased through the whole of Derry town by Henry, Vic and Belch, through a fit of Henry's madness.
- Henry got sent a pocket knife from IT at this time. His sanity worsened and Vic actually approached the Losers, asking to defect, and warning them of Henry's insanity.
- Henry attacked Mike when surrounded by all six boys of his gang, including a reluctant Peter Gordon. He chases Mike down to the Barrens and tells him he killed Mike's dog. Mike finds the Losers, joins them, and a Rock Fight begins, with Peter being the first to flee after throwing only one or two rocks. Gard also flees afterwards. Patrick and Vic then flee afterwards and so do Moose and Belch. The Losers humiliate Henry and order him to flee.
- Henry, Patrick, Vic and Belch are witnessed in the Barrens' rubbish dump by Beverly, who first mistakes them for the Losers, but realizes its the Bowers Gang. Beverly sees them light their farts on fire and laugh at the result. When Vic says he has to go for work, Henry spits in contempt. Patrick then tries to perform oral sex on Henry, which leaves Henry disgusted, and Henry threatens to kill Patrick if he does it again. He also says he'll tell police of Patrick's slain animals in the refrigerator. Beverly then watches in alarm as Patrick opens the fridge, and is then eaten to death by IT in the form of a pack of flying leeches.
- Henry ambushes Eddie, surrounded by Vic, Patrick, and Moose and breaks Eddie's arm in revenge for the Rock Fight. Henry says "Like throwing rocks!?!"
- Henry then ambushes Beverly and tries to rape her. He is accompanied as usual by Vic and Belch, who are unaware Henry was brainwashed by IT the night before. Henry has also just killed his father. He ambushes Beverly and almost succeeds in raping her but Beverly yells at an old lady to stop Henry. When the woman is about to do so Henry throws a rock at her car and tells her to get the Hell out. She drives off frightened and Beverly knees Henry in the balls to defend herself and flees to the Barrens.
- Now embittered, Henry chases the Losers into the Barrens, where he follows them into the sewers. In the sewers under Derry, IT attacks, killing Vic and Belch, and leaving Henry traumatized and prematurely ages him. Henry is the only survivor of the Bowers Gang, unless you count Peter, Moose and Gard, who may or may not have survived.
Members
- Henry Bowers (leader)
- Belch Huggins
- Victor Criss (second-in-command)
- Peter Gordon
- Moose Sadler
- Patrick Hockstetter (novel only)
- Gard Jagermeyer (novel only)
- Marcia Fadden (novel only)
Trivia
- Because of her romance with Peter Gordon, Marcia Fadden is sometimes considered a member of the Bowers Gang, at least in the novel anyway.
- Peter Gordon, Vic and Belch were perhaps the most humane of the Gang and the only ones closest to redeeming themselves.
- In fact in the novel, it is suggested if Belch had lived until he was an adult, he may have actually learned to be gentler.
- Henry seems to bind the gang together through manipulation, fear and brutality, even though its mentioned that Vic and Belch really are his best friends, the others only seem to hang about with him through fear of his brutality.
- They are rather similar to the Death Eaters, but more akin to the Death Eaters' juvenile years. The only presumed adult of the Bowers Gang is Henry himself, thus although they have similar beliefs to the Death Eaters none of them manage to become full-fledged criminals.