The Boys' Vought Prequel: 10 Things I Want To Happen In The New Spinoff

I am excited to see how The Boys‘ universe will continue to expand with the live-action spinoff series Vought Rising, which was announced at San Diego Comic-Con. Taking place in the 1950s, the prequel will explore the origins of the Vought corporation and feature the familiar characters of Soldier Boy and Stormfront, the latter of whom was known as Clara Vought at the time. The plot will revolve around a murder mystery related to the corporation’s rise to power, although further details are being kept under wraps.

With the animated anthology series, The Boys Presents: Diabolical, Gen V season 2, and the previously announced The Boys: Mexico, Vought Rising is not the first Boys‘ spinoff series, but it will take place at the earliest point in the timeline. I am intrigued by the possibilities that this presents, as it not only allows for further exploration of older supes like Soldier Boy and Stormfront, but can show how Vought became so powerful in the first place, and how they first normalized supes. The period can also compellingly incorporate important historical events.

10 Frederick Vought’s Backstory

How The Inventor Of Compound V Rose To Power

Frederick Vought has been mentioned in The Boys as the inventor of Compound V and the founder of the Vought corporation. Much of what is known about him is communicated through Stormfront in The Boys season 2, as she was married to him, and shared his ideology. Vought was a Nazi scientist who defected to the Allies once it became clear that Nazi Germany was going to lose World War II, but he never abandoned his twisted belief that a master race of superior beings should control the world.

Vought Rising can feature the villainous Vought while he is still alive and reveal more about his backstory. A Nazi scientist developing a drug that gives the recipient superpowers, along with founding an American corporation, all while the public is ignorant of his Nazi ties, is a fascinating and disturbing story in its own right and is only one of numerous storylines that Vought Rising will be balancing. The series can show his dynamic with Stormfront and how his bigotry unleashed consequences that would forever endanger the world.

9 How Supes Were Perceived By The Public In The 1950s

Supes Were Relatively New At This Time

By the time of The Boys, supes are generally revered and viewed as benevolent fixtures in modern society. This was not always the case, though, as in the 1950s, Compound V was a relatively new invention, with Stormfront and Soldier Boy being among the first supes to exist. The public will not learn of Compound V, as that does not become public knowledge until The Boys season 2, and supes are believed to be born with their superpowers.

Even without widespread knowledge of Compound V, I am still intrigued by how supes were perceived by the public in the 1950s. I imagine that there may not be the same level of trust and admiration as there is in The Boys, as humans with superpowers will still be a new concept that the public is still getting used to and that they have to accept as part of their reality. Vought Rising can show how supes were able to win over the public despite some initial mistrust and skepticism.

8 The Korean War From Vought’s Perspective

Did Soldier Boy Fight in The Korean War?

Lasting from 1950-1953, the Korean War was one of the major conflicts of the 1950s. If Vought Rising takes place during these years, it will likely incorporate the Korean War into the story, much like how The Boys incorporates real-world events and topical issues. As Vought works to establish its brand in the United States of America and across the globe, the corporation will likely look for ways to use the Korean War in its favor.

There are numerous references in The Boys of Soldier Boy having fought the Nazis during World War II, even though the Legend claims it was purely propaganda. Whether he actually fights in the Korean War or is merely used as wartime propaganda, the conflict is a way for Vought to expand Soldier Boy’s brand as an American soldier fighting for patriotic values. This can also help set the stage for Vought’s attempts to put supes into the U.S. military decades later.

7 Vought And Supes Getting Involved With The Space Race

Vought Would Want To Be Part Of It

The 1950s saw the beginning of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, including the launch of the satellite known as Sputnik 1 into space. Following the triumph of successfully creating superhumans, I can see Vought’s greed and ambition likely drawing their attention to the space race, with the corporation determined to conquer the final frontier and to be the first to put their own man, ideally a supe, on the moon.

I would love to see Vought scrambling to try and make Soldier Boy or another one of their supes an astronaut. Part of why I want to see this is that it is one area where I know Vought is doomed to fail, as they are never shown to have any foothold in space by the time of The Boys, with the extent of their power being bound to Earth. While Vought Rising will be about the corporation’s successful rise to power, they need to have some failures along the way as well.

6 The First Vought Studios Movie

Vought Begins Making Movies In The 1950s

In addition to Compound V and the supes it creates, Vought also becomes a leading source in entertainment. In The Boys, Vought has its own cinematic universe (the VCU), comprised of an endless stream of films and television series meant to parody the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each member of the Seven has their own fair share of projects, from solo ventures like The Deep: Rising Tide and Black Noir: Insurrection to the highly publicized Dawn of the Seven.

Vought Rising can show the release of the first Vought Studios movie and explore how the corporation founded by a former Nazi scientist became a thriving entertainment company. Snippets can be shown from the Academy Award-nominated The Soldier Boy Story and the offensive The Curse of Fu Manchu throughout the series. These movies will likely be part of Vought’s strategy to get the public to be more invested in supes, along with being able to push their political agenda.

5 A Young Jonah Vogelbaum

He Can Already Be Working At Vought

The 1950s time period limits established The Boys characters who can appear, as most of them will not have been born yet. One exception to this is Jonah Vogelbaum, the Vought scientist who oversaw the training and development of a young Homelander. To be given oversight of such an important task that would determine Vought’s future, Vogelbaum will likely have been involved with the corporation since its earliest days, with Vought Rising potentially showing a young Vogelbaum gaining a reputation and working his way up through the company.

Much of Frederick Vought’s backstory in the television series is similar to Vogelbaum’s backstory in the comics. It would be fitting to feature Vogelbaum and Vought together in the prequel series. Since Vogelbaum is shown to have some morality at the end of his life, realizing what he did with Homelander was wrong, and ultimately agreeing to testify in front of Congress, I would like to see that morality beaten out of him, possibly by Vought himself, in Vought Rising.

4 Mother’s Milk’s Father And Grandfather

They Would Be Great Cameos

None of the Boys are alive at the time of Vought Rising, but Mother’s Milk’s father and grandfather, who he has mentioned in The Boys, would be alive. According to Mother’s Milk’s backstory, his grandfather died when Soldier Boy hurled a car at the brownstone building where they were living. His father dedicated the rest of his life and his profession as a lawyer trying to hold Vought accountable for this tragedy, but he died at the age of 55, having worked himself to death in a fight he could not win.

I do not expect Mother’s Milk’s father and grandfather to be prominent characters in Vought Rising, but I would enjoy seeing them, even as brief cameos. It was mentioned at San Diego Comic-Con that the prequel is not only set in the 1950s, but is set in New York City specifically, and with Mother’s Milk’s family living in Harlem, his father and grandfather appearing would not be a stretch. Their appearances would be a great way to give a nod to the Boys, especially with Soldier Boy also being in the series.

3 The First Herogasm

The Boys Already Set This Up

It is mentioned in The Boys season 3 that in 1952, when Stormfront was still known as Liberty, she and Soldier Boy founded the first Herogasm. Between the year, both these characters being in Vought Rising, and the well-known connection to one of The Boys‘ best episodes, I would be shocked if this was not incorporated into Vought Rising. I am curious to see how Soldier Boy and Stormfront even started talking about this in the first place, as it is not exactly a natural conversation topic.

Seeing the first Herogasm can provide more weight behind Soldier Boy arriving at the event many decades later in The Boys season 3, where he hunts down former members of his Payback team, and has his first confrontation with Homelander, who he does not know at the time is his son. Given the connections that have already been cemented, not featuring the first Herogasm in the prequel series would feel like a missed opportunity. The creation of the annual event can also provide further insight into the relationship between Soldier Boy and Stormfront, as little about it is currently known.

2 The McCarthy Hearings And The Impact It Had On Supes

Soldier Boy Has A Connection To This

The 1950s were largely defined by the spread of communism and the resistance against it. In the United States, this led to the McCarthy hearings and the Red Scare, in which the nation was gripped by fear of communism, and there were legal investigations into whether specific individuals were secretly engaged in communist activities. This has already been mentioned in The Boys, with Soldier Boy having testified about not being a communist.

In addition to potentially seeing this testimony in Vought Rising, I have no doubt that Vought will weaponize the fear and paranoia caused by the McCarthy hearings and the Red Scare, and the corporation will likely use this phenomenon as propaganda to prove why Soldier Boy and other supes are needed to combat communism. This could also explain why two of the prominent supes of the time, Soldier Boy and Liberty, are so blatantly patriotic. The Red Scare can help Vought develop a template for how to use fearmongering to their advantage.

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1 Who Challenged Supes And Vought Before The Boys?

New Power And Authority Is Always Met With Resistance

Vought Rising has to pivot Vought and supes into the powerful position they will hold for many decades to come, but they should still be faced with resistance. Without the Boys, someone or something else will need to challenge them, which will likely relate to the murder mystery that the series revolves around. I would like to see a group of individuals who see Vought and the supes for what they are, and who try to combat them nobly, only to fail.

This can prove that playing by the rules will never be enough to defeat Vought, the supes who work for them, and the culmination of what this looks like with Homelander in charge years later. They are too powerful, too corrupt, and too cutthroat to be taken down any other way. The Boys‘ Vought Rising prequel has the potential to explore the precursor to the Boys and explain how their failure made Vought and its supes overconfident that no one would ever be a viable challenge to their authority ever again.

The Boys

The Boys is a superhero/dark comedy satire series created by Eric Kripke based on the comic series of the same name. Set in a “what-if” world that reveres superheroes as celebrities and gods who experience minimal repercussions for their actions. However, one group of vigilantes headed by a vengeance-obsessed man named Billy Butcher will fight back against these super-charged “heroes” to expose them for what they are.

Seasons

4

Writers

Eric Kripke

Showrunner

Eric Kripke

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From San Diego Comic-Con 2024