I agree entirely with your recent post about Mike either being an incel (if he is meant to be heterosexual) or, if he's queer, still being extremely misogynistic and self-centered, and undeserving of Will.
One thing I wanted to add is that I'm glad he ended the show single. Based on the way he always prioritized himself, his extreme low self-esteem, and the way he mistreated both El and Will throughout the series, it's very likely that he would have ended up being abusive if he had romantic access to a partner. This is especially true if he would have been able to move El to an isolated location, where she was away from all of her family and friends and unable to contact them.
Mike never loved El. Throughout the series, he consistently mistreated her. His relationship with her was something that he used for validation (and to show off to the other boys, particularly Will) but he never treated her well. He was constantly shown to lie to her, yell at her, and punish her whenever she failed to live up to his ideals of her as a "superhero." He prioritized his own comfort and feelings over El at every single opportunity. He wouldn't tell her that he loved her when she was sobbing and begging him to in season 4. And in season 5, he refused to even tell her he loved her when she was dying.
Now just imagine a scenario where El is alone in another country. She doesn't speak the language, she doesn't have her friends or family near her, and she can't get a job to earn her own money or even be seen much in public, because there's too much risk. She's completely dependent on a man who already has a history of isolating her*, mistreating her, and punishing her. But now she has literally no one else to turn to.
Mike's descent into learned helplessness and apathy towards his future when El dies is also strongly indicative of the character being a reflection of incel ideology. Many young men do not value women as people, but they do depend on them for validation, emotional support, and domestic labor. Mike indulges in self-pity because he no longer has a girlfriend to take care of him, and he does not believe that he will ever be able to get another woman to date him on his own merit. After all, we hear this from the horse's mouth in season 4 - Mike was just lucky that superman landed on his doorstep. The odds of him happening upon another young woman who grew up in an isolated environment away from society are slim. And no one who has a full understanding of themselves and their choices is ever going to voluntarily choose him.
*( When I say that Mike has a history of isolating El, what I'm referring to is his behavior in season 3. El is unable to leave the cabin, but she is able to have visitors there. Mike chooses not to bring any of the other kids to visit her. This is even confirmed towards the end of the season, when Mike states that he "just wanted her all to himself."
Kids say and do stupid things, and of course they can learn from their mistakes. But Mike is a character who the audience consistently sees acknowledge his shortcomings and things that he's done wrong, without ever actually putting in the effort to grow or improve. It's not a stretch to imagine that these types of behaviors would not be ones that he would grow out of, considering the fact that he not only benefits from continuing to do them, but there would be no one there to force him to make any changes.)
YESS OH MY GOD THIS IS EXACTLY IT. And something I want to add to this is an argument I see Bylers make a lot: that Mike is a shitty boyfriend to Jane because he doesn’t love her, but would be a great boyfriend to Will because of his true feelings. Mike does not have the framework to be a good boyfriend. He does not understand boundaries ( ex. Jane not wanting to be called a superhero), or friendships that exist outside of a romantic relationship (s3 platonic elmax and byler).
Now, we already know that he treats Will differently from everyone else (the ‘Will’ voice, for example), but that is something he could very easily brush off as his platonic love for Will, and let’s be honest, if questioned he definitely would do that.
What if, god forbid, that he and Will do get together? If it is sometime right after the finale, Mike would be very flighty and skittish about their relationship. He’d ask Will to keep it a secret from, probably, everyone they know, including their friends. He’d play up his heterosexuality, possibly making Will worried or self conscious.
If they get together years and years later, I still find myself disliking it. I, personally, think that Will has enough self respect to move on from Mike’s bum ass and find a guy who respects him as well as loves him. And Mike should not expect Will to wait around for him for however long it takes.
And some people may want to argue that Mike is just a teenager navigating his feelings. Well, so is Will. And so is Jane. One is a gay kid in the 80s, and the other escaped from a lab and does not understand proper human interaction and socialization. Neither of them are pretending to be in love with someone and getting mad when that someone wants to have a life outside of them.
And, let’s not forget about Mike repeatedly screaming ‘what is wrong with you’ at Jane. Or ‘it’s not my fault you don’t like girls’ when Will is trying to hold their friendship together. Or reminding Jane of her abusive father after she had a very valid reaction to Angela’s bullying. Or ‘I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods’ right in front of Will, who’s life got extremely traumatic and fucked up that very day. or Mike refusing to tell Jane he loves her especially when she’s about to die. Or ‘friends? No thanks. Best friends 😁’.
And let’s definitely not forget that none of those things had a satisfying conclusion where Mike apologized or realised why what he said/did was so fucked up.
