I was really annoyed by this guy. I guess he represents the over-the-top psychotic bullies that popped up in 80's movies a lot who would often do things that could get people killed. He didn't fit and I don't see why he was instantly popular in school or why that would make Steve suddenly a laughing stock.
shareHe just seems like the sort of sociopathic bully type who grows up to be a hard core criminal. He probably wouldn't kill a person intentionally at this point. He might hit them one too many times or just a bit too hard and have it happen by accident though. The Duffer Brothers said in their aftershow segments that they wanted a character who wasn't a murderer but the sort of guy you could see becoming one eventually.
I think Steve felt like more of a laughingstock than he was, most other students still seemed to like him. Not Billy obviously. It was a little hard for Steve to run into a guy who's tougher and more competitive than he is. But hey, there's always someone out there who's better than you are at the thing you love most. It's the big fish in a small pond effect. He'll get over it.
Maybe it was the actor, but it seemed that every scene he was in, he was overly macho and trying way too hard to be cool. I mean, there's a scene where he's lifting weights while smoking, which looked ridiculous. He never intimidated me since he looked like a parody.
shareMost school bullies do act overly macho and try way too hard to be cool. But Billy had that dangerous sociopathic edge to him too. Would he have let his car slam into the boys if Max hadn't grabbed the wheel? Maybe, maybe not, we don't really know. Would he have kept on punching Steve until he had brain damage if not for that shot of sedative? Again, we don't know. He doesn't exactly have good impulse control. Sooner or later he could very well fly off the handle and kill someone.
shareYou're supposed to be annoyed and bothered by him. He's a threat to everyone. A rebel without a cause. Was he a killer? No, he was some high-school kid. Most high-school bullies are not killers.....yet. Get a grip people. He had a short fuse. You could see his father was not really around but when he was he was kinda abusive towards him. Treated like a POS. Granted, his behavior made him deserve it; however, it'd a safe assumption that Billy had a somewhat rough upbringing. Who knows what happened to his mother. His father moved on to another woman and just didn't care too much for him.
So Billy was just looking for trouble and looking for a purpose. His purpose became to be a terror, challenge whoever thought they were big shots. Go after any male friend Max made friends with.
He was instantly popular because he was edgy, tough, and good looking. Good athlete. etc.