| “ | These kids are more on the ball than the sheriff. | ” |
Archie and the Gang is the nickname for the five characters — Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, and Kevin Keller. They serve as the main protagonists on Riverdale.
Over the years the gang expanded by welcoming some classmates, boyfriends and girlfriends including some formerly enemies such as ex-mean girl Cheryl Blossom, jock Reggie Mantle, Southside Serpents Toni Topaz and Fangs Fogarty, and Tabitha Tate, the new owner of Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, one of the gang's favorite places.
The gang experienced the "triumphs and defeats, the highs and lows of high school"[1] together such as doing community service together [2], exchanging Christmas presents [3] and performing several musicals at the annual Variety Show. The major fraction between the kids was about their different opinions about welcoming Southsiders.[4] Friendship eventually won, and the gang went to great length for each other, including breaking the law, [5] and their friendship continues into their adult lives.
History[]
Making a Murder: Jason Blossom[]
Discovering Jason's murderer
The gang that is made up of Archie and his childhood friends Betty, Jughead, and Kevin is expanded with the inclusion of Veronica, the new girl in town. Veronica's arrival coincides with the investigation into Jason Blossom's murder and the gang is involved to varying degrees in parallel investigations. Betty and Jughead's investigative spirit is the driving force behind the gang's investigations. With her parents running the local newspaper and his ties to the Southside Serpents are useful resources. Betty also has a personal reason to investigate: her sister Polly was Jason's girlfriend, and was sent away at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy to hide her pregnancy.
Kevin, who is the sheriff's son, offers useful information from his dad's reports, and his contribution is greater when he starts dating a Serpent, Joaquin strangely related to Jason's disappearance. Archie and Veronica, on the other hand, find themselves involved with the Blossom family through their friendship with Cheryl. They also discover the connection of FP Jones, Hiram Lodge, and Clifford Blossom in the town's criminal underground. The team work of Archie and the gang leads them to discover the identity of Jason's killer. His father, Clifford. FP Jones and Joaquin were instead involved in the concealment of the corpse.
During the time spent together, various love stories blossom, including the relationship between Betty and Jughead, and Archie and Veronica.
Black Hood and Gang Jackets[]
Northside vs. Southside
Archie and the gang are shocked by the attack of a masked assailant who shoots Fred Andrews at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe in front of his son. Fortunately Fred survives, but Archie is deeply scarred by the event. Meanwhile, Jughead descends further into the Southside Serpents underground and is initiated into the gang, finding new allies - Toni Topaz, Fangs Fogarty, and Sweet Pea - but also inheriting the gang's enemies. The Southside gang clashes with the Northsiders, creating a fraction in the group. Radicalized by prejudices and fears exacerbated by the Black Hood, Archie, Reggie and Kevin give life to the Dark Circle, a vigilante group made up mostly of Bulldogs who are in open hostility against the Southsiders. This rivalry ends with a violent rumble. The Black Hood's reign of terror is actively investigated by Archie and the gang. After an initial red herring where they thought the school janitor Joseph Svenson was the Black Hood, they discover Hal Cooper, Betty's dad, is actually hiding under the hood.
Farmies, Gryphons, and Gargoyles[]
The gang rescues Archie
The gang is put to the test when Archie is sent to juvie for Cassidy Bullock's murder, and his friends go to great lengths to get him out. Reggie becomes an active part of the group, especially after he starts working with Veronica at her speakeasy and the two fall in love. Josie McCoy also helps from time to time, especially after she and Kevin become step-siblings. The kids are now experts in escapism and Toni, Veronica, and Kevin save Cheryl from conversion therapy at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Once outside, however, Archie and the gang have to deal with Gryphons and Gargoyles, a diabolical board game that is claiming victims among the townfolks, including some of their schoolmates. When some of them also start the game to uncover clues, the stakes become very high leading to new leads involving some enemies from the past, but also drug dealing and a mysterious cult that further separates the gang. Betty saves the day when she thwarts Edgar Evernever's plan and his cult, the Farm that is harvesting organs behind the pretense of a holistic New Age group.
The Perfect Murder[]
Arrested for Jughead's murder
The gang is dishartened by Jughead's death following his move to Stonewall Prep, a prestigious private school. Archie, Betty, and Veronica become the main suspects and must find evidence that clears them but also find clues to discover the real culprits. They soon discover that the culprits are Jughead's new schoolmates – Bret, Donna, Joan, and Jonathan. Influenced by Francis DuPont, the sinister teacher behind the Baxter Brothers book franchise, they wanted to commit the perfect murder. However, Jughead outsmarted them by faking his own death. The culprits except DuPont who commits suicide are consigned to the law, but the problems are not over. The new principal of Riverdale High, Mr. Honey, is immediately disliked by Cheryl and Kevin for his strict rules, and the two organize different ways to take revenge, also helped by Reggie who wants to end the last year with the perfect prank. More seriously, a mysterious individual sends anonymous tapes to everyone in town. The tapes range from house registrations at various times of the day, to more grisly re-enactments of murder and violence. Betty and Jughead discover that this mysterious Auteur was none other than Jughead's little sister Jellybean and her friends, corrupted by the evil seeped into town.
Saving Riverdale[]
Graduation Day!
Seven years after graduating from high school, Riverdale has become a ghost town due to Hiram Lodge's masterplan. The Southside Serpents Toni Topaz, Fangs Fogarty and Sweet Pea turned the speakeasy into the new Whyte Wyrm, a bar and safe haven for those still in town. With Archie backs from the war, he calls back his friends Betty, Veronica and Jughead to save their precious town. Reggie, instead, is working for Hiram and is now the coach of the Stonewall Stallions before having a change of heart and rejoins his friends working with Veronica.
As the gang tries to rebuild their community, Betty and Kevin team up with Alice, Tabitha Tate and Sheriff Keller to investigate mysterious murders on the Lonely Highway after Polly goes missing. Turns out that Hiram's goal is to mine palladium, a precious metal worth more than gold that is rumored to be under several places in town, including Blossom Maple groves. As if the gang wasn't in enough trouble, Penelope Blossom starts a new cult to cleanse the town of its sinful past based around the worship of her late son, Jason. Cheryl soon takes over the cult.
Super Teens[]
Riverdale Super Teens
Following an explosion at the Andrews house, Archie and the gang begin to develop supernatural powers. Archie becomes invulnerable and super strong, Betty can see auras, Cheryl is pyrokinetic, Jughead can read thoughts (following hearing loss), Tabitha is a time traveler, and Veronica is poisonous. They are named "Super Teens" in a comic strip that made Jughead Jones' fame in Rivervale, a parallel universe. The gang is challenged by Percival Pickens, an immortal intra-dimensional sorcerer who has sworn revenge against the descendants of the early settlers of Sweetwater Village, now Rivervale. He soon rise the ladder of Riverdale's public offices first as councilman then as mayor while mind controlling majority of Riverdalians, including some members of the gang and their parents.
In the meantime, Cheryl develops her witchcraft with the help of her ex-girlfriend Heather and Sabrina Spellman, witches from the neighboring town of Greendale and uses her abilities to bring back the people killed by Percival with a curse, and some others she found in The Sweet Hereafter. Unfortunately for the Super Teens, before being dragged to Hell by Louis Cypher, Percival casts a curse on Bailey's Comet, which was previously supposed to pass over town but will now crash into it. The gang uses Veronica's powers to give all of their abilities to Cheryl, giving her power boost to destroy the comet before it hits town. In the process, a blast causes a turn back in time, back to the 1950s!
Back to 1955[]
Following the explosion caused by the comet's impact on Riverdale, Tabitha uses all her strength to send her friends to a parallel timeline in the past. Initially Jughead retains memories of his real life but Tabitha makes him forget as she untangles the different timelines. Meanwhile, Archie and the gang navigate the highs and lows of junior high as students in 1955, having no memory of their previous -- future -- lives. Eventually, Tabitha returns, having decided to stabilize the multiverse by solidifying the 1950s timeline. While she cannot return any of her friends to the present, she does give Archie and the gang their memories back. Most elected to only remember the good times, though Jughead and Betty choose to keep all of their memories. The gang stayed good friends through their high school graduation. Decades later, 86-year-old Betty learned of Jughead's death - she was now the last member of the group alive. Upon being greeted by Jughead's spirit, he offers to let her relive one last day with her friends. Betty chooses to go to the day of the senior yearbook signing, which she had originally missed due to being sick. She cherishes each precious moment before being returned to the present. Betty has her granddaughter Alice drive her back to Riverdale, but passes away when the car pulls up to Pop's. As a teenager in the afterlife, Betty enters The Sweet Hereafter, which manifests itself as Pop's, where Archie and the gang are waiting for her.
Members[]
- Archie Andrews
- Betty Cooper
- Veronica Lodge
- Jughead Jones
- Tabitha Tate
- Kevin Keller
- Cheryl Blossom
- Reggie Mantle
Allies[]
- Fred Andrews †
- Mary Andrews
- Alice Smith
- Polly Cooper
- FP Jones
- Joaquin DeSantos †
- Ethel Muggs
- Hermione Lodge
- Sierra McCoy
- Josie McCoy
- Moose Mason
- Toni Topaz
- Fangs Fogarty
- Sweet Pea
- Heather
- Clay Walker
Enemies[]
- Hiram Lodge
- Percival Pickens
- Hal Cooper †
- Alice Smith (formerly)
- Clifford Blossom †
- Penelope Blossom
- Chuck Clayton (formerly)
- Nick St. Clair
- Black Hood †
- Malachai
- Ghoulies
- Penny Peabody
- Claudius Blossom †
- Michael Minetta †
- Gargoyle King †
- Evelyn Evernever
- Bret Weston Wallis †
- Donna Sweett
- Holden Honey
- Twyla Twyst
- Sister Woodhouse
- Kurtz
- Gargoyles
- Francis DuPont
- Auteur
- Felix Featherhead
- Fredrich Werthers
- Chic
- Charles Smith
Notes[]
- In the Archie Comics, Archie and the Gang is the official name given to the group formed by Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and Dilton. Moose, Midge and Kevin appear in newer iterations as part of the main group.
- The "gang" also appears in the 1968 animated series The Archie Show and 1999 Archie's Weird Mysteries, where Reggie, Moose and Dilton have a more relevant role.
- Archie and the Gang have had several enemies turned friends in the comics, for example Fangs Fogarty.
- In the comics focused on Archie's music career, the gang is often referred to as The Archies, which is the name of the band that's either rival or friend with Josie and the Pussycats.
- The Archies are featured in "Chapter Seventy-Four: Wicked Little Town".
- The smaller group consisting of Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica is known as the "Core Four."
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Grassi, Michael (writer) & Woolnough, Jeff (director) (October 17, 2018). "Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fortune and Men's Eyes". Riverdale. Season 3. Episode 2. The CW.
- ↑ Williams, Tessa Leigh & Anderson, Arabella (writers) & Kiley, Maggie (director) (November 15, 2017). "Chapter Nineteen: Death Proof". Riverdale. Season 2. Episode 6. The CW.
- ↑ Boucher, Shepard (writer) & Seidenglanz, Rob (director) (December 13, 2017). "Chapter Twenty-Two: Silent Night, Deadly Night". Riverdale. Season 2. Episode 9. The CW.
- ↑ Lundin, Britta & Paterson, Brian E. (writers) & Hunter, Tim (director) (January 17, 2018). "Chapter Twenty-Three: The Blackboard Jungle". Riverdale. Season 2. Episode 10. The CW.
- ↑ Murray, Greg & Hasan, Ace (writers) & Romanowsky, Pam (director) (November 14, 2018). "Chapter Forty: The Great Escape". Riverdale. Season 3. Episode 5. The CW.