Gary King

"Hey, it is our basic human right to be fuck-ups! This civilization was founded on fuck-ups, and you know what? That makes me proud. What is it they say? To err... (...) To err is human. So... ermm..."

―Gary to The Network

Gary King is the main protagonist of The World's End. He is portrayed by Simon Pegg. A drunkard who refused to grow up after his teen years, he drags his friends into a pub run that leads to catastrophic consequences.

Background
ary was born on the 22nd of March 1973 and attended high school from 1986 to 1990. While at school he became friends with Andrew Knightley, Steven Prince, Oliver Chamberlain, and Peter Page. During his high school years, Gary accidentally injured all of his friends (excluding Oliver) and gave them scars. At the 5th year ball, Gary fell of stage and dislocated his elbow, receiving a metal plate for his injury. After he finished at school on 22 June 1990 he organized an attempt at the "Golden Mile" pub crawl in Newton Haven. However, after getting banned from the third pub and leaving behind Oliver and Peter they decided to give up. He also had sex with Sam in the disabled toilet of The Two Headed Dog, though he dumped her in the next pub.

After this, the group remained in contact with each other until December 1997 when, after overdosing, the also drunken Andrew attempted to drive him to a hospital only to roll the car and almost sever his femoral artery. Although Gary fled from the crash Andrew was left to be arrested after 12 hours of life-saving surgery. Over the years, Gary grew despondent over the way his life turned out and eventually tried to kill himself. Afterward, he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital and joined a support group. He was, however, disappointed in their methods and soon left, after he devised a plan to finally complete The Golden Mile with his childhood friends.

The Pub Crawl
After the accident, Gary didn't see Andy or the others again until he was convinced to organize a reattempt of the "Golden Mile" during a rehabilitation session in October 2013, however, although the others accepted to join him Andy refused to attempt it again leading Gary to lie about his mum's death from cancer to trick him into joining out of sympathy and repay him £600 he had been owing him.

After convincing them Gary arrived late to pick them up from the train station and halfway there stopped so he could go the toilet only to get distracted and end up playing Need for Speed in an arcade. Just as they entered Newton Haven Gary was pulled over by a police officer due to a faulty brake light, when asked for his license he claims he left it in his gym bag at his flat and when asked for his name and address he gives Peter's instead, much to the annoyance of Peter who is told by Gary that he used his name because he registered the car under Peter's name when he bought it from him.

Upon arriving at their B&B, Gary immediately sets off on the crawl and arrives at The First Post, where he is confused at the fact that the bartender doesn't recognize them and is shocked to learn that Andy has been sober since their car wreck in 1997.

After their first pints, Oliver receives a call from his sister Sam, who is at the next pub with her friends the twins, upon hearing this Gary immediately heads for The Old Familiar where he finds and attempts to have sex with Sam due to Gary believing she gave him the signal by saying she was going to the bathroom.

They then proceed on to The Famous Cock only to be kicked out after being told they were barred during their first crawl in 1990, although told they should give up Gary manages to continue by drinking several leftover beers on an outside table.

When they get to The Cross Hands, Gary orders shots for everyone. His friends, however, are already tired and want to go back to the hotel room, much to Gary's disappointment. He goes to the bathroom to relieve himself and tries to talk to a teenager that he saw earlier. Annoyed that the teenager is ignoring him, Gary puts a hand on his shoulder and gets into a scuffle with him, culminating in the teenager accidentally being beheaded when he hits his head on a urinal, revealing himself to be a robot. At that moment, Gary's friends arrive in the bathroom, furious that Gary had lied about his mum dying. Much to everyone's shock, the decapitated teenager gets back up as his friends enter the bathroom as well. Gary's group gets into a fight with the teenagers, emerging victorious. The group decides to continue their pub crawl so as to not arouse suspicion.

They do their best to pretend everything is normal, though the entire town stares at them as they make their way to The Good Companions. They enter the pub and quickly down their beer before moving on. Gary also thinks the drinking will help them if there is a fight against the robots.

They get to The Trusty Servant and order drinks. Gary tries to purchase marijuana from The Reverend Green, but to no avail as the former drug dealer is now serving the robots. The group then discusses how to differentiate between humans and the robots- which they dub "blanks". They are surprised to see Sam once more, who is spending a night out with her friends. Gary pulls her away to the bathroom to explain the situation. Sam is annoyed, thinking Gary is trying to have sex with her once more. Gary assures her this is not the case and explains the situation, though Sam doesn't believe him. This culminates in Sam slapping Gary once more when he tries to seduce her again. Once O-Man returns from the bathroom, the group moves on to the next pub.

At the Two Headed Dog, Gary saves Sam from The Twins. Before he can explain what's going on, Steven arrives and pours his heart out to Sam. The remaining twin attacks once more but the trio managed to defeat her. The group then leaves the pub, now accompanied by Sam.

They arrive at The Mermaid and are surprised to find the three girls from their youth they nicknamed The Marmalade Sandwich (because two of them were blonde and the third was a redhead). Gary, Andy, and Peter dance with the three, with Gary making out with his dance partner. Unbeknownst to them, this was a ploy by the blanks to get their DNA. They are dragged away by Sam and Steven, who obtained more information about the blanks from Basil.

At the Beehive, they are greeted by Guy Shepherd, their old high school teacher. He tries to persuade them to join the blanks. O-Man is revealed to have been replaced by a blank as well, with Andy cracking open his skull when he realized O-Man had his birthmark once more. They get into a fight with a large number of blanks, with Gary trying to finish his beer and constantly being interrupted. He saves Sam once more, this time from Oliver before a new Mr. Shepard arrives with more blanks accompanying him. The group decides to flee, with Gary and Sam getting separated from the rest. He gets Sam to her car and says goodbye before sending his old flame on her way. He then flees to The Smokehouse.

He meets Andy, Steven, and Peter in The Smokehouse. They become suspicious of him, especially since he was the one that convinced them to come to Newton Haven in the first place. They realize that, since blanks are essentially made using a copy of their DNA, they wouldn't have any scars. When the rest of the group show their scars, Gary shows his Sisters of Mercy tattoo. The group doesn't think that's sufficient evidence, so Andy orders him to show his arm since he should have a scar on his elbow. Gary refuses, but as the group begins to turn on him he starts slamming his head against a post in desperation. The group is satisfied, as only the real Gary would be that stupid.

They agree to flee Newton Haven, but as they are sneaking through the park, Pete is surrounded and captured by a large number of blanks. To ensure that Gary won't try to finish the pub crawl, Andy knocks him out and carries him. He is frustrated when he realizes the shortest path takes them through the 10th pub anyway.

Once they reach The Kings Head, Gary comes to his senses and, after drinking a pint, flees from his friends to finish the pub crawl as Andy chases after him.

Both Gary and Andy must push their way past a large number of blanks in the streets. Gary has just poured himself a pint when Andy busts through the door of The Hole in the Wall. Andy is forced to fight against several blanks, but by the time he finishes, Gary has already downed his beer. Suddenly Steven crashes Gary's car through the wall and tells them to get in, but is seemingly captured as Gary flees to reach The World's End, with Andy chasing close behind him.

Gary reaches The World's End and pours himself a pint, but is tackled by Andy before he can drink it. Andy is mad at Gary for letting him down, but Gary wants to be left alone. Andy refuses and the two get into a scuffle. When Andy pins Gary, the latter begs him to let him finish the crawl, as Andy has everything he wants, with his "perfect job, perfect house and perfect wife". Andy reveals that his wife had left him and that he's trying to win her back. Gary agrees that they should fight for what's important. When Andy asks what's so important about the crawl, Gary exclaims that it's all he's got before hopping over the bar to pour himself a beer. He is stopped once more by Andy and, in the ensuing struggle, Gary is revealed to have his wrists bandaged up (implying that he tried to kill himself). Heartbroken, Andy tells Gary that he needs help, but Gary reveals that he got help and it was ineffective. He pours his heart out, revealing that his life never got better than the night they attempted to complete The Golden Mile for the first time. Andy tells Gary that he doesn't need to finish the crawl to feel better, but Gary disagrees and attempts to pour himself another drink. When he pulls the lever on the tap, the pub starts trembling and the bar, along with the two men, descends into the ground.

In the underground complex, Gary and Andy are surrounded by blanks and confronted by The Network. The blanks are revealed to be an intergalactic coalition that aims to civilize planets by introducing new technologies and infiltrating their society by replacing important figures with blanks, in order to steer the said society in the right direction. Newton Haven was one of several infiltration points where a large portion of the population was replaced by blanks while others were coerced into servitude. This was done with the aim to create a model town that would serve as an example to the rest of society. The Network offers Gary the chance to be replaced by a blank of his younger self, to carry on his legacy, apparently believing Gary to be "king of the humans". Gary, however, rejects this offer before twisting the head off his blank self. He and Andy start drunkenly arguing with The Network, angered at the condescension the alien civilization has treated them with. The Network thinks it's actions necessary as Earth is the least civilized planet in the galaxy. Gary asserts that "to err is human" and they continue arguing when they are joined by Steve, who turns out to be alive. They continue arguing against The Network until it finally gives up and decides to retreat from Earth. Unfortunately, this also triggers a meltdown in the complex and the trio, with the help of Sam, is forced to flee the explosion. They end up on the same hill as 23 years ago, looking at the explosion from a distance. Unfortunately, The Network's evacuation also triggered a pulse that wiped out all advanced technology on Earth. Once they reach London, Gary is separated from the rest of the group and they never see him again. Andy speculates that he went back to Newton Haven.

In the epilogue, Gary (dressed like a modern cowboy) is shown to be leading four blanks built as the younger versions of his friends. He enters a pub (The Rising Sun) and orders five waters. The barkeep refuses to serve blanks, but Gary explains that they are attempting to complete The Golden Mile, before demanding the five waters again. The whole pub draws their weapons and the barkeep asks Gary who he thinks he is. Gary responds by saying "they call me the king," and a fight ensues.

Personality
As a teenager, Gary's friends all looked up to and admired him. He liked pub crawls, always wore black, and was a big fan of the Sisters of Mercy. As an adult, Gary has remained almost exactly the same, except he is now a struggling alcoholic, refuses to "grow up and join society," and often thinks of himself as a loser. He is sometimes irresponsible, which is evidenced by how he borrows money from his friends to pay off debts to other friends. Gary often shows a lack of understanding of his friends' reluctance to do the Golden Mile again, but when they accidentally uncover the existence of blanks in Newton Haven, Gary takes on his role as the leader once more. However, he is more concerned with completing the Golden Mile than he is about the safety of his friends. This changes after the World's End. Gary is clean-shaven, sober, and travels around with the blank versions of his younger friends, finally finding his place in the world.

Physical Appearance
Gary has the appearance of a goth as he always wears black. He has very pale skin, dyed charcoal black hair, and light icy blue eyes. He wears a black trench coat, a black shirt, trousers, and shoes. Gary also has a Sisters of Mercy tattoo on his chest and a scar on his arm.

Trivia

 * Simon Pegg also portrayed Shaun in Shaun of the Dead and Nicholas Angel in Hot Fuzz.