Who has stolen Dean Winchester's precious Impala over the course of Supernatural? It goes without saying that Sam and Dean Winchester are the heart and soul of Supernatural, but the brothers have been joined by the likes of Castiel, Crowley and Jack along the way, all of whom have been elevated to main character status. But there's one Supernatural stalwart who often goes unappreciated, despite being as important to the series as the Winchesters themselves. That character is, of course, Baby.
The 1967 Chevrolet Impala was originally the vehicle of John Winchester (picked out by Dean because time travel) and passed onto the eldest Winchester to use on his own hunting adventures. An ever-faithful companion, the Impala is kitted out with some paranormal modifications, including a small arsenal in a trunk and devil's traps to keep out unwanted demons. Dean is besotted with the Impala, otherwise known as Baby, and regularly prioritizes the vehicle before actual living people. This is partly due to the history associated with the car and partly because the Impala is a lasting reminder of the Winchesters' father.
Naturally, the perils of hunting ghosts and monsters have resulted in a few scrapes over the years. The Impala has essentially been rebuilt on a number of occasions, bouncing back better than ever each time. Dean is notoriously fussy over who gets to drive Baby, but this attitude hasn't prevented the car being stolen on a surprisingly high number of occasions. Here's every Supernatural character who has stolen the Impala.
It didn't take long for a Supernatural villain to steal the Impala - Constance Welch managed to do so in the very first episode. Also known as the Woman in White, Constance is a ghost who lures young men to their deaths by hitchhiking and asking for a ride home. After seducing her targets, Constance would kill these randy chauffeurs for being unfaithful to their partners. Fortunately, the Winchesters laid the ghost of the Woman in White to rest before she could murder any more prospective cheaters, but the spirit didn't go down without a fight.
Constance took a particular liking to the Impala and commandeered it forcefully on several occasions during Supernatural's pilot. When the Winchester brothers first find the ghost at her favorite haunting spot, she takes control of the Impala and tries to run the brothers over with it. Later on, Constance enters the car and demands to be taken home, just as she did with previous victims. When Sam and Dean refuse, the Woman in White drives the car for them.
In Supernatural season 2's "Simon Said," the Winchesters encounter a psychic teenager mixing mind-powers with raging hormones to devastating effect. Andy was subjected to the same demonic steroid treatment as Sam Winchester, and the brothers suspect he's involved in a spate of local deaths. Sam and Dean split up, with Dean following Andy in the Impala, but the youngster notices he's being tailed, calmly gets out and approaches Dean. After complimenting the Impala, Andy asks whether he can have it, to which Dean happily agrees and hands over the keys, watching Andy drive off into the distance.
As Dean later tells Sam, Andy "Obi-Wan-ed" him into giving up the Impala, and Dean is visibly distraught that he gave Baby away so easily. Luckily, Andy's joyride doesn't end as badly as it could've - the Winchester brothers soon find their car abandoned by the roadside with the keys still present. Andy's twin brother turns out to be the cause of the trouble, and Dean, a little surprisingly, seems to forgive Andy for using his mind-powers to steal the Impala.
One character Dean is less willing to forgive is the demon Meg. Debuting in Supernatural's first season, Meg commits a host of crimes during her Supernatural career, but Sam, Dean and Bobby manage to send her back to hell via exorcism. Meg returns with a vengeance in season 2, desperate to punish the Winchesters. To achieve this, she possesses Sam, knocks out Dean, and drives off with the Impala to cause even more havoc, planning to force Dean into killing Sam. Meg drives the Impala from the Winchesters' motel room to Minnesota where she kidnaps fellow hunter and number one Dean Winchester fan, Jo Harvelle.
After Dean catches up and frees Jo, Meg drives on to Bobby's house, since he too was involved in her original exorcism. What the demon doesn't know is that Dean has already made plans, and Bobby subdues Meg with a holy water-laced beer. Together, they manage to wrestle Meg from Sam, and the Impala falls back into the possession of the Winchesters.
Once again, the Impala is stolen by Sam Winchester whilst under the possession of an enemy, although this time it's an angel instead of a demon. Dean allows Gadreel to possess his near-death brother since it's the only way to heal the injuries Sam incurred as part of the Trials. But Gadreel is ultimately revealed to have lied about his motives and identity, and soon takes full control of the younger Winchester brother. As with Meg, this involves stealing the Impala and leaving Dean high and dry.
Gadreel drives to meet with Metatron and continues to carry out the arch-villain's wishes. Meanwhile, Dean teams up with Castiel and Crowley and is forced to find a less glamorous mode of transport. The trio catch up with Gadreel in the house of Abner, an angel Metatron demanded his henchman kill, and it's here that Dean manages to capture Gadreel (still in Sam's body) and safely reclaim the Impala.
Charlie Bradbury is one of precious few characters that Dean Winchester probably wouldn't mind loaning the Impala to, being the honorary Winchester sister. The same can't be said for Charlie's evil counterpart, who commits several crimes against Baby in season 10's "There's No Place Like Home." When the Winchester brothers first encounter this dark, alternate Charlie, she slashes the Impala's tires so as to not be followed. This was her first strike.
Sam and Dean are later joined by the good half of Charlie, and the trio find out their enemy's intended target - the drunk driver who killed Charlie's parents. Even though Dean finds arrives first, Evil Charlie kills the driver and flees the scene, this time stealing the Winchesters' car instead of damaging it. Strike two. During their final confrontation with the Wizard of Oz (which is as weird as it sounds), Dean physically pummels Evil Charlie until her two halves are able to be reunited.
Recognizing Baby's importance to Supernatural, the Impala was afforded its own dedicated episode in season 11, and this story sees a string of relative strangers seize control of the Impala without permission. The first thief is a valet called Jessie who drives off in Baby while Sam and Dean are frequenting a local diner. Leaving the Winchesters none the wiser, Jessie takes the Impala for a ride with her friend before delivering it back to Dean without a scratch.
Later in the episode, Dean encounters a pair of Nachzeher - Lily Markham and Deputy Donelly, both of whom hijack the Impala. Lily is first, taking Dean by surprise and knocking him out before driving somewhere quiet to reattach Donelly's severed head to his body. After the impromptu surgery, Donelly himself takes the wheel and speeds off with Lily as a passenger and Dean still unconscious in the back. Naturally, Dean comes to his senses and defeats Donelly, relieving him of his head once again using the door of the Impala.
Loyalties were divided in Supernatural season 12, and considering the human Kelly Kline was pregnant with Lucifer's nephilim offspring, that's hardly a surprise. The Winchester brothers wanted to remove the angelic grace from Kelly's unborn child, but the mother-to-be had other ideas, believing that Jack would use his great power to one day save the world. While Sam and Dean continue to debate the potentially world-ending baby, Castiel and Kelly get in the Impala ready to leave, but Kelly grabs Dean's keys and drives off with the angel in tow, leaving Sam and Dean with only a broken down truck. After the group reunite at the gate of heaven, the Winchester brothers get their Impala back and Castiel sees Jack's future for himself, driving off with Kelly in the repaired truck.
Supernatural season 13 sees Sam and Dean collecting the necessary ingredients to cross into a parallel dimension, and this spooky shopping list includes the "blood of a most holy man." Not exactly something you can pick up at the local Wal-Mart, the Winchesters are forced to deal with a collector of religious relics, Richard Greenstreet. In exchange for the blood, Greenstreet requests the Winchesters steal the skull of St. Peter from a mob boss called Santino Scarpatti. After attempting and failing to acquire the skull, Sam and Dean are confronted by Scarpatti's men, who demand the keys to the Impala at gunpoint and use it to drive the Winchesters to their Don.
Supernatural season 14's "Lebanon" is rightly remembered as the episode in which Jeffrey Dean Morgan made his long-awaited return as John Winchester, but the offering also features a poignant subplot about a group of kids who come to know Sam and Dean after stealing the Impala. Similar to Jessie in season 11, Max jacks the Impala simply to show off, riding the car to a creepy abandoned house doubling as a hangout for the local delinquents. Stealing the Impala is ill-advisable at the best of times, but Max just so happened to swipe the car when it was stacked with paranormal paraphernalia, and the teenagers accidentally release a host of nasty spirits.
Sam and Dean soon catch up to the car thief, deal with the escaped monsters and give the kids their well-practiced "talk" about monsters being real. The brothers go easy on Max and the others, proving that as much as Dean loves his Baby and promises swift vengeance on anyone who takes her, he can also be a soft touch with the right person.
Is it really stealing if Dean Winchester takes the Impala from himself? In season 15's "Destiny's Child," God is systematically deleting every parallel world he creating, honing his focus upon the original Sam and Dean. Apparently, the Winchesters are survival experts even in alternate realities, as one version of Sam and Dean manage to escape their world's destruction and find their way to the real world. These brothers are glorified hipster hunters who, along with their still-living father, created an entire hunting corporation.
The genuine Sam and Dean realize they can use these doppelgangers as an advantage against Chuck, and ask the alt-Winchesters to act as stand-ins while they go out and investigate free from God's ever-watching eye. The arrangement proves successful, but just as the two sets of brothers are saying their goodbyes, the parallel Sam and Dean reveal they took the Impala out for a little spin, much to the original Dean's annoyance.
Supernatural season 15 is currently on hiatus.
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June 17, 2020 at 04:12AM
