The Boys | Supes (The Seven, [Homelander, Starlight, Stormfront], Soldier Boy) | Vought International | Godolkin University | Others
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Associates of The Seven
Donna January
Donna January
Portrayed by: Ann Cusack
Annie's mother.
- Abusive Parents: Unintentionally to Annie. In her desperate search for fame and recognition she not only let Vought inject her daughter with V, but spent all her energy pushing Annie to become a star, driving her all over the country for stuff like beauty pageants that Annie had no interest in to begin with.
- The Atoner: During Season 2, she tries to patch things up with her daughter after the history as a Stage Mom. Like The Deep, it's open to question whether she's genuinely repenting or just wants a return to her previous status. For one thing, she's still in contact with Vought and seems to keep them informed of how her relationship with Annie is progressing. Ultimately, it turns out she genuinely is trying to atone for her actions, with her last appearance in Season 2 showing she's on the right path.
- Canon Foreigner: She doesn't exist in the comics (Annie's parents are shown for a single panel signing over their daughter, as they were both permanently blinded by her first accidental use of her light powers).
- Foreshadowing: She adjusts to Vought's Slave to PR status far more quickly than her daughter, hinting at her true motivations.
- Gold Digger: She has been grooming her daughter just for her to become a super and receive the wealth and fame that follows.
- It's All About Me: She suffers from an extreme case of this. It leads her to treat her daughter horribly. It goes straight to the bone with her; when her daughter confronts her about her manipulations, Donna can only talk about how much she's "sacrificed" for Annie.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a standoffish Stage Mom who really messed with Annie's life, but at her core, she does love her daughter.
- Plot Parallel: To The Deep in season 2 — both are figures in Annie's life who are trying to atone for some harm they caused her, but the choices they make to do so make it questionable if they really are remorseful or just putting on a show. While The Deep is ultimately more focused on his image and ends the season exactly where he started, Donna is serious about making amends, and while she still has a long distance to go, by the end of season 2, she's clearly made steps on the right path.
- Redemption Failure: Her efforts in season 2 to make up for what she did to Annie make things much worse. She talks with Stormfront in an attempt to find answers on how to reconcile with her daughter, which made Stormfront implicitly threaten her to get Annie in line. Then her attempts to terminate Annie's contract with Vought to get her some time off backfire when Vought takes the opportunity to capture and imprison them both. Only then does she get the seriousness of the situation, agreeing to go into hiding with her cousin and giving a new cross to Annie as an Apology Gift for messing up her life.
- Stage Mom: She behaves this way towards Starlight, having groomed her from a toddler to be the perfect All-American superheroine. It gets worse with the reveal that she signed Starlight up to be given Compound V as a child - she chose her whole life for her. It's implied "super pageants" are a big thing, with lots of Supe kids likely having pushy parents hoping to make their little darling the next Homelander.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Downplayed. She looks down on Hughie even after he saved her and her daughter from Vought Tower, describing him as "the boy with the moist handshake," but she does accept that Annie has a relationship with him and gives her blessing.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While sincerely trying to fix her relationship with Annie, she calls Vought and tells them Annie will be taking a sabbatical from the company. Unbeknownst to her, Annie has been in hiding from Vought, and Donna just gave them a means to find her. This leads to both of them being imprisoned, and Annie being publicly outed as a traitor to the Seven.
Elena
Elena
Portrayed by: Nicola Correia-Damude
Maeve's ex-girlfriend from years back.
- Broken Pedestal: When she discovers the truth of what happened with Flight 37, she decides to break up with Maeve. However, she gets back together with her after Maeve nearly dies saving everyone from Soldier Boy.
- Brutal Honesty: She does not mince words on how bitter she is about Maeve.
- Damsel in Distress: Indirectly. No physical harm befalls her, but after finding out about their relationship, Homelander hangs the threat of harming her, like he has done to other lovers of hers, over Maeve's head to keep her in line.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Maeve and Elena both suffer, but eventually are able to go into hiding to build a life together after Maeve is presumed dead.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Just like Maeve, her ex-girlfriend, her hair and clothing style is quite feminine. She resists Vought's attempt to make her look butch so she'll fit into traditional gender roles with Maeve.
- The One That Got Away: She serves as this to Maeve, who can't help dropping in on Elena from time to time. However, they eventually get back together and go into hiding.
- Only Sane Woman: She's one of very few normal people seen in the show who just wants a peaceful life with Maeve and is completely uninterested in the war between Vought, the supes and the Boys.
- Pet the Dog: She shows concern when she realizes Maeve is in serious emotional distress after Flight 37, even visiting her at work just to make sure she was alright.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She calls out Maeve's cowardice and refusal to reach out to others for help, saying she hasn't changed one bit even after several years without seeing each other.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: After Maeve nearly sacrifices her life saving everyone from Soldier Boy, Elena forgives her and gets back together with her.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: She is not interested in publicizing her relationship with Maeve, with Vought's offer for compensation driving her further away.Elena: I am not for sale!
- Twofer Token Minority: She's a Latina lesbian, which even gets cited as a symbol of diversity when her ex-girlfriend is Forced Out of the Closet.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Her horrified expression when she sees the footage of Flight 37 is all the condemnation Maeve needs to realize that something is wrong when they discuss ordering in dinner. When they talk about it later, the issue that Elena has is not just that Maeve left people to die out of fear of disobeying Homelander. It's also the fact that Maeve is using this as blackmail material and not seeing it for the moral event horizon that it should be.
Nathan Franklin
Nathan Franklin
Portrayed by: Christian Keyes
A-Train's elder brother and coach.
- Big Brother Instinct: Nathan is always looking out for his little brother's well-being. It's a sign of how far A-Train has fallen when he lies about having given up Compound V, and Nathan busts him. He says that A-Train can't keep taking it, because his heart is growing abnormally and he is one bad day away from cardiac arrest.
- Cassandra Truth: He keeps telling A-Train to stop using Compound V before it kills him to no avail. Nathan is vindicated when A-Train suffers a heart attack in the Season 1 finale.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling to A-Train's foolish sibling. A-Train abuses Compound V and recklessly spends his money to the point where he has mountains of debt while Nathan tries to look out for his brother's well-being and discourages his drug use.
- Get Out!: He tells A-Train to get out of his life and family after his self-satisfied murder of Blue Hawk, which led to the deceased Supe being martyred through the news of him being killed by a Russian radicalized Soldier Boy.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Not to him, but for his younger brother A-Train in regards to how he had Starlight's friend, Supersonic, killed through Homelander, and all the other people he "accidentally" murder for years. When A-Train's attempts to get Blue Hawk to apologize to the African-American community went horribly wrong, Nathan ends up getting injured by collateral to the point where he's unable to walk again.
- Morality Pet: He's the only person keeping A-Train from becoming a full-fledged villain and he is able to convince A-Train to start acting on the behalf of the black community after Blue Hawk kills an innocent black man. His crippling is what it takes for A-Train to finally have a Heel Realization over what a terrible person he is.
- Papa Wolf: He kicks A-Train out of his house after finding out he killed Blue Hawk as he doesn't want a murderer being in the same house as his children.
- Promotion to Parent: After the death of their father and with their mother working two jobs to support them, Nathan had to step up and raise A-Train himself.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He gets fed up with A-Train's constant abuse of Compound V against his advice, and cuts off all contact so he won't watch his brother kill himself.
- Two First Names: Franklin is also used as a given name.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Justified. He shows no gratitude for his younger brother avenging him by personally killing Blue Hawk, as it only provided temporary satisfaction for A-Train, and by pinning the blame on a treacherous Soldier Boy through the news, Blue Hawk's death ends up being martyred instead of him arrested and exposed to the world as a criminal.
US Government
Robert Singer
Robert "Dakota Bob" Singer
Portrayed by: Jim Beaver
The US Secretary of Defense.
- Actor Allusion: Jim Beaver is once again playing a character named Robert Singer.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comic, he's an ex-Halliburton executive who took Dan Quayle's place as George Bush Sr's vice president, before finally becoming president. In the show, he's a Vietnam veteran and a former Lockheed Martin board member, serving as secretary of defense.
- Adaptation Name Change: Owing to Tuckerization, his name is changed from Robert Schaeffer to Robert Singer.
- Brutal Honesty: He isn't afraid to speak his mind about superheroes having no place in the military and Vought being too involved within the government.
- Canon Character All Along: He's introduced with a different job and surname than his comic counterpart, but in season 3 he's running for President and gains the nickname Dakota Bob.
- Everyone Has Standards: Whilst supportive of Vought to the public, he seems to be very uncomfortable around Stan Edgar and Homelander, and is disgusted by Homelander spreading Blatant Lies about Starlight being a criminal.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He hates how the government has become dependent on Vought, but publicly tows the official line.
- No Party Given: Though it's not explicitly stated, it's heavily implied that he's a Democrat.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Secretary Singer is not happy about the new Vought deal, but has to point out the obvious: with the Senate committee that would have nailed Vought for their crimes assassinated, there's no proof that Vought was behind the crime or that they were spreading Compound V with the point of gaining more profit. When Victoria Neuman retorts that it wasn't a supervillain that attacked the hearings because there are no reports of one that could do such a thing, Singer agrees; he knows it was most likely Vought. He tells Victoria that if she can produce proof, he'll support her but it's his job to back the President.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Downplayed but he makes it clear to Edgar his contributions to Singer's campaign won't get him to push for Congress any of those Compound V derivatives into the military.
- Tuckerization: Named for producer and Eric Kripke collaborator Robert Singer. Robert Singer was also the name of Beaver's character in Supernatural, also created by Kripke.
Victoria Neuman
Congresswoman Victoria Neuman / Nadia Khayat
Portrayed by: Claudia Doumit
A Congresswoman and vocal critic of Vought's conduct.
- Abled in the Adaptation: Her comic version is mentally disabled and can barely string a sentence together.
- Adaptational Badass: Her comic counterpart was described as having an IQ that is barely in the double-digits and completely incapable of acting independently, being Vought-American's puppet. Here, Victoria is a critic of theirs that is quickly rallying support against them, even providing The Boys with more legitimate means of combating Vought. She's also a Supe with the power to blow people's heads up, using this power to outmaneuver her opposition.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Her comic counterpart is mentally disabled and has an IQ barely in the double-digits while Victoria is erudite and thoughtful and much, much more independently dangerous.
- Adaptational Job Change: Her comic counterpart was an ex-Vought CEO and the US Vice President at the time of the story.
- Affably Evil: Despite being a Corrupt Politician and a superpowered assassin for Vought, Neuman is genuinely friendly towards Hughie before he figures out her identity, often playfully stealing his food and joking around with him. Post-reveal, she's still a Mama Bear trying to protect her daughter, and she does tell Annie that she genuinely wants to be friends with her and Hughie.
- Ambiguously Brown: She's an olive-skinned woman, although her ethnicity is not stated, and her current last name is of German origin (in many cases used by Ashkenazi Jews) while her birth surname is of Arabic origin. Claudia Doumit is Australian of Italian and Lebanese ancestry. This is made even more ambiguous in Gen V. Marie laments that Vought will probably not believe a Black girl (herself) and a bigender Asian (Jordan)... but they'll probably believe Victoria. It's ambiguous if this is because Victoria is meant to be fully white despite her actress' Middle Eastern background or if this is just in reference to Victoria's social capital, as a high-profile politician.
- Anonymous Benefactor: She secretly pulls strings to guarantee Marie's admission to Godolkin.
- Berserk Button: Don't mess with her daddy Edgar. She was fine cooperating with Alastair until he mentioned his plans to put the screws on Edgar, at which point all bets were off.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: That seemingly Badass Normal that calls out Homelander for carelessly killing civilians and cooks with her daughter? The same one who met with the fugitive Boys in the hopes of getting a star witness for Congressional hearings and not calling the feds on them? She's the same one who killed Susan Raynor for her "Eureka!" Moment, Vogelbaum, and several of her fellow senators before they could start a hearing, Alastair for promising dirt on Supes, and a few innocent bystanders and Supes in support of Vought.
- Bloody Murder: Gen V reveals that her actual superpower is controlling blood, with the head explosion just being one of its applications. She basically has Marie’s abilities with more skill and experience which she demonstrates to Marie herself.
- Broken Pedestal: After working with her for a whole year, during which she gave him a cake for his birthday, Hughie saw Victoria as a friend. After finding out that, not only is she the head exploder, but Stan Edgar's (adopted) daughter as well, Hughie almost if not completely falls into a Despair Event Horizon. It also convinces him that you can't fight Vought "the right way" and he goes right back to Butcher.
- Co-Dragons: While Black Noir handles missions, Victoria is Edgar's most trusted political associate.
- Composite Character: She's adapted from Vic the Veep but takes elements from the comic's version of Little Nina. She's involved in an internal coup with her nation's government and is planning on using Compound V to detonate people's heads to meet her faction's goal. She differs by being a Supe instead of applying laced Compound V onto others, and she's taking control of the U.S. government as opposed to Russia's.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She was adopted by Edgar many years ago, and everything she does is for his sake.
- Deadly Gaze: How her powers work. Whatever she stares at will explode, though she can control the amount of pressure on her target.
- Deadpan Snarker: She quips at Lamplighter that he's the real victim of the Sage Grove affair.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Neuman is responsible for the courtroom massacre and Raynor's death.
- Dragon Ascendant: After betraying Edgar, Victoria is set to carry out her own plans in Season 4 as Dakota Bob's running mate.
- Enemy Mine: She joins forces with Homelander, in Season 3.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- She shows great loyalty to her adoptive father Edgar and almost all her actions seem to be in service of his goals. Unfortunately for him, she loves her daughter more. She's still clearly broken up about having to betray him, though.
- She seemed genuinely remorseful over having to kill her childhood friend Tony.
- She has a daughter named Zoey that she genuinely loves and she's willing to betray her adoptive father for her sake. She sells out Edgar so Homelander will leave her daughter alone, and even gives her a dose of Compound V to make her stronger. She cries when dosing her daughter, hating how much pain it causes her.
- She tells Annie that even though she knows that she and Hughie know about her true identity, she still earnestly wants to be friends with them and wants for them to work together (with Victoria getting Starlight as leader to the Seven and Annie endorsing Victoria as a vice presidential pick). It's just that her viewpoint and goals (which would allow Vought to essentially run the country) are completely against those of the two of them. When Annie refuses her friendship, Victoria seems genuinely hurt for a moment.
- Evil All Along: She positions herself as a benevolent critic of Vought throughout the second season, until the finale where she's revealed to be the one causing heads to explode, including ones who were working against Vought. Essentially, she's just a smokescreen for Vought; she creates the appearance that something is being done to regulate the out-of-control hero industry… but in truth, her agency only really goes after small fish that have Outlived Their Usefulness to Vought, and she always has convenient excuses that allow the big timers to continue running free. Anybody who actually does any real damage to Vought gets their heads exploded.
- Gender Flip: Neuman's a man named Victor in the comic.
- Hypocrite: She tries to convince Starlight to work with her so she can protect her from Homelander and help a lot of daughters. This coming from the same woman who immediately cowed to Homelander when he confronted her and also blew up people in Congress who definitely had children of their own. All to better serve Vought's interests in which many innocent people died because of their machinations. It is clear she doesn't really care what she is saying and just wants Starlight as a pawn for her plans.
- Kick the Morality Pet:
- When her friend Tony meets up with her, she shows genuine affection towards him, but kills him after he reveals he wants to expose what Red River did to them, despite feeling bad about it.
- She hints to do the same to Hughie after figuring out he knows about her true ability.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Her blood powers allow her to essentially blow people apart from the inside. She typically blows up people's heads, resulting in showers of blood and brains.
- The Man Is Sticking It to the Man: She's rallying most of her support thanks to her constant condemnation of Vought and their operations, one of her points being about the damage that Compound V and Supes cause. Unbeknownst to everyone but Edgar, she herself is a Supe and uses her powers to further his agenda.
- The Mole: Her role is controlled opposition of Vought to behalf of Edgar.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- A young, Ambiguously Brown, Democratic party congresswoman from New York, who's noted to have had a dance video online? She's basically The Boys universe's answer to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
- The negative reaction to Neuman's anti-Vought stances also mirrors some incidents involving Ocasio-Cortez, though they also resemble the backlash to the ideologically-similar Representative Ilhan Omar (for instance calls to "Send her back" by the anti-immigration protesters mirror attacks on the Somalian-born naturalized citizen Omar more than the native-born Ocasio-Cortez). She does note a Noodle Incident about rival politicians spreading sexualised deep fakes of her, which is unfortunately reminiscent of a real life frequent experience of AOC being sexualised by right-wing figures.
- Oh, Crap!: She has a big one when Homelander crashes her protest against him because she knows that he's an unhinged maniac.
- Pet the Dog: She reveals that she pulled strings to get Marie into Godolkin University due to their identical powers, seemingly with no outside motive beyond sympathizing with her and her powers.
- Prophet Eyes: She gets these whenever she uses her powers.
- Race Lift: Neuman is changed from white to Ambiguously Brown here.
- The Reveal: She's actually the Supe with the power to blow up anything she stares at that's been working throughout season 2.
- Superpower Lottery: While initially presented as having the power to simply explode people's heads, her powers are gradually clarified as being able to sense and physically control blood. Given that her powers are said to be the same as Marie from Gen V, it's implied that Victoria can also do what Marie does, including reverse or slow massive blood loss, lower someone's blood pressure, detect anomalies and foreign bodies inside a person's blood, and turn blood into whips and projectiles. What makes her so dangerous is that her power is shown to be completely untraceable and undetectable–all she needs is line-of-sight on her victim, and they're doomed..
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Her powers cause these, with the only forewarning being the target getting a nosebleed prior to their heads violently bursting like a ripe tomato out of nowhere, and sometimes not even then. Prior to her identity being revealed, several characters through season 2 were exploded out of the blue, sometimes with Victoria not being visibly present during the scene or having her presence underplayed, highlighting the terror of the characters as this inexplicable force took people's lives with no way to avoid it.
- Transhuman Treachery: She eventually betrays Edgar to Homelander, who is pursuing a blatant Supe supremacist agenda.Homelander: I'm glad you chose your own kind.
- Twofer Token Minority: Neuman is a woman who's Ambiguously Brown in this adaptation instead of a White male.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Even bigger example than other Supes as she is held in high esteem specifically by people who are not fans of Vought and their Supes. Neuman is perceived as the one person in any position of power seeking to challenge them and hold them accountable, yet she's secretly working on Edgar's behalf.
- Walking Spoiler: Her identity as the head exploder and Stan Edgar's adoptive daughter makes her one.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: A champion of advocating Supe accountability, she is revealed to have killed Raynor, Adana, and committed the Vought testimony massacre by way of her concealed mind-blowing powers.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Her entire function as a puppet-opposition group for Vought. Her agency mostly goes after B-List Supes that have already publicly disgraced themselves and therefore are no problem to dispose of, killing two birds with one stone for Edgar; she gets rid of a few potentially problematic employees while creating the public image that somebody is doing something to regulate Vought. Meanwhile, she always has an excuse to not go after more big-time players. She also acts as this in a larger capacity, allowing others to make cases against Vought until they get a little too much ammo; then she assassinates them with Ludicrous Gibs.
- Your Head Asplode: She was actually the super with the power to kill other people by making their head explode just by looking at them. She needs to look directly at her target to do this and her eyes apparently blur when she uses her power. Later, in season 3, it's revealed that she's not limited to just the head but can dispose of an entire body this way, although based on the short struggle with Tony beforehand, it's implied that this is easier to do with a corpse than a live, fighting target.
Susan Raynor
Susan Raynor
Portrayed by: Jennifer Esposito
The CIA Deputy Director for Operations and an old acquaintance of Butcher's.
- Adaptational Badass: In the comic, Billy almost always got the better of her in both arguments and schemes, and she seemed to find their hate-sex-based relationship degrading while he reveled in it. In the show, they are on a considerably more even level when arguing, with both of them scoring some points, and near the end of season one he even ends up having to agree to her terms, even though they didn't include the one thing he wanted most (taking down Homelander), in order to save his team.
- Adaptational Job Change: A minor one, being deputy director rather than the director.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: She and Billy have a messed up sexual relationship in the comics. While they have a sexual history in the show, she's married with a family and she and Billy are more professional toward each other.
- Death by Adaptation: Killed in the season 2 premiere, despite living through the entire comic series.
- Friend on the Force: Billy's contact in the CIA.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Right before her head explodes, she is about to reveal that she has figured out Vought's endgame. She was killed by Neuman after realizing that Vought is infiltrating the government.
- Reasonable Authority Figure When Butcher gives her the proof that Vought is manufacturing supes using Compound V, she puts aside their tenuous relationship to point out that she can meet all his demands except one: deliver Homelander on a platter for criminal prosecution. Because Homelander is a Wild Card and protected by Vought; crossing him is a death sentence. When the DOJ overrules her and turns the Boys into fugitives before she can blackmail Vought into backing down from the military bill, Raynor warns them all and sets them up in a motel safehouse while getting their families into hiding. In season two, she's willing to meet up with the remainder of the team, and reassures Mother's Milk that his daughter is safe. What's more, when Hughie asks politely if M.M. can see his wife and daughter, she agrees to do her best with minimal hesitation. When a Supe makes her head explode, the Boys lose their only chance of normal life, if not for Annie or Butcher.
- Your Head Asplode: After she starts making a connection to Vought and an internal coup.
Grace Mallory
Grace Mallory
Portrayed by: Laila Robins
A former CIA case officer and founder of The Boys.
See tropes under The Boys.
The Church of the Collective
In General
A mysterious and powerful faction introduced in Season 2.
- Arranged Marriage: They audition girls for the Deep's marriage, not unlike a certain Happyology member. The Deep himself has no say in the matter; as Carol puts it, he chooses what they choose.
- Blind Obedience: You either obey what the Church tells you to do, or you get punished with excommunication and more.
- Canon Foreigner: The faction, and their non-supe members, don't appear in the comic.
- Catchphrase: "You want a Fresca?"
- Church of Happyology: A thinly veiled expy of it, down to recruiting celebrities and famous figures for publicity and using blackmail to keep them under their thumbs.
- Doublethink: Members are required to switch their beliefs to whatever is needed of them on a dime. This makes it easy to cut them off from outsiders as they can go from being your friend to hating your guts in less than a second.
- Deal with the Devil: They offer to get Supes back into good graces, on the condition that they join their numbers.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: They take in members of all categories like race in their quest for more power, something Stormfront scorns them for.
- Expy Coexistence: After The Deep leaves and becomes a cult survival activist, he calls himself "the next Leah Remini", insinuating that the famous cult she's a prominent whistleblower of exists in this universe along its expy.
- Internal Affairs: They have an "Internal Research Bureau" that holds dirt on all members, current or past. This includes Stormfront.
- Knowledge Broker: They have an entire room that stores information on their Supe members, and they research into any later Supes and events as needed.
- Manipulative Bastard: Like any good old cult.
- One of their methods is to target Supes down on their luck and then recruit them under the promise of returning them to their glory days.
- They also target homeless people by promising food if they visit their locations, only to give them a Dianetics ripoff instead.
- They punish any and all Supes that try to leave or go against them by airing their dirty laundry, as Eagle the Archer found out.
- They isolate members from their loved ones so they have nowhere else to turn to except deeper in like most real life cults. Eagle the Archer refuses to cut contact with his mother, and is excommunicated for it.
- Members are required to pay for their courses and sign over control over their finances, furthering the dependency on them.
- Path of Inspiration: Naturally for the Church of Happyology. They have a book about self-renewal.
- Persona Non Grata: Those who do not agree with the church's program and leave are shunned and publicly humiliated.
- The Spymaster: They have a very well-connected spy network stretching all the way into Vought's upper echelons.
- Therapy Is for the Weak: Just like its model, the Church has a hatred for psychiatry and outright refuses to use the word therapy.
- Trademark Favorite Food: They love Fresca, and they love offering it to you. It's implied that it's just Alastair pushing his tastes onto everyone else, judging by his hurt reaction when someone states they hate Fresca to his face.
- Unperson: Any member who disobeys even the slightest bit is punished with excommunication, forbidden from interacting with anyone still in the Church.
Alastair Adana
Alastair Adana
Portrayed by: Goran Višnjić
The charismatic and shadowy leader of The Church of the Collective.
- Alliterative Name: Alastair Adana.
- Beard of Evil: He has a sharp beard that gives him a devilish appearance, appropriate enough for someone whose entire business is in Deal with the Devil.
- Big Bad Wannabe: The second season seemed to be setting him up as a new major villain, showing how his powerful Church of Happyology is sinking its claws into the world of supes. He's badly outmaneuvered in his efforts to blackmail Vought when Neuman unceremoniously kills him on Edgar's orders in the final episode.
- Church of Happyology: He's the shadowy head of one, partially modeled after David Miscavige.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's quick with a smile and certainly likes to act benevolent, but it's a thin veneer for the manipulative, power-hungry cult leader he is. The moment people stop dancing to his tune, he resorts to blackmail.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Not spoken but his facial expression spells this. After he was told A-Train and not him was back in The Seven, The Deep insults and rants at Alastair in a fit. Alastair looks completely unmoved by Deep's words and just tells him to leave for being a "toxic personality." Just before leaving, The Deep hurls one last insult at Alastair by saying "Fuck Fresca." Alastair suddenly looks more offended by that last insult than anything else Deep ranted.
- Insistent Terminology: Whenever someone falls out of favor with him, they become a "toxic personality." Eagle's mother was dubbed as such, and when he refused to cut ties with her he too was dubbed a "toxic personality" and excommunicated. Likewise, when The Deep throws a fit with A-Train being reinstated into the Seven instead of him, if he didn't calm down - and meet his monthly payment plan on time - he too would be "toxic" and removed.
- Knowledge Broker: He claims that "the Church knows all kinds of things" when he shows that he has all the dirt on A-Train. He later brags about having enough dirt to bring down several Supes in a plan to drive Edgar from his position as Vought CEO.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: He's introduced dining in a very fancy Church building with its own staff, wearing an expensive suit. Slightly spoofed in that he prefers soft drinks in glasses rather than fancy alcoholic drinks.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- If the Church of the Collective is an expy of the Church of Happyology, then Alistair is an expy of Happyology's current leader, David Miscavige, who dresses in flashy suits, gathers humiliating information on his celebrity members to keep them in line, and used blackmailnote to secure his church's tax-exempt status.
- In season 3 it's implied that he had The Deep branded with his initials, just like recently incarcerated NXIVM leader Keith Raniere
did to his closest followers. It's unclear whether this actually happened and, given the Supes' Healing Factor, The Deep's wounds merely healed over time, or if this was just part of Vought's dramatic retelling of the story.
- Red Herring: His plan to get A-Train back into The Seven aligned with Shockwave's death, and the idea of a cult leader having psychic powers that assassinates those in his way would make sense. Then his head explodes, revealing that it was Victoria all along.
- Shame If Something Happened: He is well-connected enough to know many things, including what could happen if A-Train does not accept his help.
- Smug Snake: He's not lacking in confidence, thanks to having enough influence to get Stan Edgar to sit at his table to discuss matters. He takes it further with his offer to Victoria about bringing Vought down with intel on Supes that he possesses. It doesn't take long for Victoria to show that his confidence is severely misplaced.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He really loves Fresca, which he seems to force on the rest of his church members.
- Unseen No More: He makes an appearance in "We Gotta Go Now" after being referenced to for some time.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Turns out he conspired with Victoria to bring down Stormfront. Rather than making him an ally in further schemes, Victoria simply kills him.
Carol Mannheim
Carol Mannheim
Portrayed by: Jessica Hecht
A Church spokeswoman, Eagle the Archer's "teacher" and therapist who recruited him and later works on Deep.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She disavows Eagle the Archer in her interview, despite being his "teacher" for The Collective.
- Church of Happyology: A high-ranking member of The Church of the Collective.
- The Shrink: Subverted despite her soft voice and desire to psychologically analyse The Deep; she claims therapy is destructive and describes herself as more of a "teacher".
- Spell My Name With An S: What exactly is her last name? The show's subtitles and dialogue calls her Mannheim, but a chryon calls her Manning.
Cassandra Schwartz
Cassandra Schwartz
Portrayed by: Katy Breier
An anthropology professor at Vassar University and member of the Church of the Collective chosen to be The Deep's wife for his Sham Marriage arranged by the Church of the Collective.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Puts on a pleasant front, but she's anything but. This is especially clear when she acts friendly to Starlight, but calls her a bitch behind her back.
- Everyone Has Standards: She's understandably not super-enthralled at the idea of her husband having sex with marine life.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She has seemingly no issue with her husband's long track record of sexual misconduct, nor any of the underhanded, nasty stuff going on at Vought, but she does draw a line when The Deep tries to rope her into a threesome with an octopus.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Putting aside her resentment towards Starlight, but she looks visibly angered to realize Deep was directing his Dirty Talk to an octopus, not her, and later seems to enjoy watching him eat the very same octopus alive at Homelander's beckoning.
- Gold Digger: By Season 3 she's all in for Deep getting back into the Seven no matter what it takes. She leaves him at the end of season 3 due to getting fed up with his behavior, and writes a book about her experiences presumably for more money.
- Irony: Her name is Cassandra, like the trope. Yet, it’s implied that the allegations in her book about her relationship with the Deep will be believed.
- Kick the Dog: She pushes the Deep to eat one of his octopus friends alive.
- Lady Macbeth: The Deep's already an asshole, but she pushes him to be even worse in order to climb the ladder in the Seven.
- She pushes him to eat Timothy.
- She feeds him words to shoot down A-Train's suggestion to confront Blue Hawk, who's been targeting black neighborhoods.
- Lousy Lovers Are Losers: According to The Deep, she gives terrible blowjobs.
- Love Freak: In her interview with The Deep and Carol, she seems to view love with a sort of obsession, citing the Lovers of Valdaro (two skeletons found embracing) as an ideal.
- Sadist: She pushes the Deep to eat a live octopus, causing both stress, and later clearly enjoys seeing Starlight humiliated by being forced to act as Homelander's girlfriend.
- Sham Marriage: She's in one with The Deep.
- Yandere: What The Deep thinks of her, given that she defines love as holding onto something and never letting it go.
Other Characters
Little Nina
Nina Namenko
Portrayed by: Katia Winter
A Russian mob boss and formerly Frenchie's employer.
- Artifact Alias: She's still called "Little Nina", despite being completely average sized unlike her comic counterpart who has dwarfism.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, Nina is exceptionally short with a broad face and an Edna Mode-style bob haircut.
- Abled in the Adaptation: She has dwarfism in the comic, something she lacks in the TV Series.
- The Baroness: Sexpot variety.
- Dirty Coward: Immediately turns tail and flees when Kimiko and Cherie break free from their handcuffs and her bodyguards are killed.
- Second-Face Smoke: She likes to blow her cigarette smoke into other people's faces.
- The Queenpin: She's the female leader of a Russian gang in New York.
Buster Beaver
Voiced by: Eric Bauza
The mascot of a family entertainment center, who is an anthropomorphic cartoon beaver. He also appeared as a hallucination of Black Noir.
- Funny Animal: He's a talking anthropomorphic cartoon beaver. Need we say more?
- Imaginary Friend: A version of him in Black Noir's head gives him a pep talk.
- Speech Impediment: He stutters when he talks.
- So Proud of You: After Homelander fatally wounds Noir, he and the rest of his imaginary friends reassure him in his dying moments that they're proud of him and he's going to heaven.
- Suck E. Cheese's: Buster Beaver's Pizza Restaurant is a parody of Chuck E. Cheeses, with Buster being a parody of Chuck.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Tells Black Noir that he has the courage to stand up against Soldier Boy, despite Noir's reluctance.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Portrayed by: Seth Rogen
An actor associated with Vought.
- Atrocious Alias: His screen name on supe porn is @SIR-CUMS-A-LOT-779.
- Adam Westing: Downplayed. While he is professional during In-Universe televised appearances, during his free time he is a lot more depraved, visiting supe porn sites among other things.
- Creator Cameo: Seth Rogen makes a Once a Season appearance as himself.
- He appears in season 1 promoting a film he’s making with Black Noir.
- In season 2, he appears with Chris Hansen discussing Translucent and Billy Butcher respectively on their own television shows.
- In season 3, he appears as a client of Crimson Countess’s on supeporn.
Soldier Boy's father (Spoilers)
Soldier Boy's father
Portrayed by: N/A
The father of America's greatest soldier, Soldier Boy, and an American tycoon of the early 20th century.
- Abusive Dad: Of the Parental Neglect variety. Ben's father has always verbally expressed his disappointment in his son for failing to live up to his expectations and went as far as disinherited him after flunking boarding school.
- Everyone Has Standards: He may be an emotionally neglectful father to his son, but he does have high expectations regarding financial success (he does own half the steel mills across the state after all) and a sense of integrity regarding the traditional American values of hard work and honor. When Ben uses his name to get into the war department and become Soldier Boy, he makes his disgust clear to him upon his return from World War 2.Soldier Boy: Ah. He said I took a shortcut. That a real man wouldn’t have cheated.
- Fiction 500: It's unknown how wealthy Ben's father was, but according to Soldier Boy, his father owns half the steel mills across the state.
- The Ghost: He's only mentioned by Soldier Boy in the third Season Finale.
- I Have No Son!: Downplayed. He doesn't legally disown Ben but makes it clear that he's given up on all expectations of him, left him out of his will to inherit his massive industry, and prevented him from carrying on his surname.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's not incorrect when calling out his son for "taking a shortcut" in becoming America's greatest soldier, as Ben only became the way he is due to using his father's connections with the war department and undergoing the Compound V trials instead of joining the military normally and proving his own strength and mettle, and through that, he could've been selected to become a Super-Soldier by the higher-ups.
- Not Worth Killing: Deconstructed. According to Soldier Boy, his father finds him so disappointing of a son that he can't be bothered to raise his hand against him. Ben sees this refusal to hurt him as an insult which plays a big role in his horrific abuse of his teammates as Soldier Boy.
- Parental Neglect: He shows little care for his son besides expecting him to meet his expectations. When Ben fails by flunking boarding school, his father practically disowns him emotionally and legacy.
- Posthumous Character: He's long dead by the start of the series given that he's a father and businessman during the early 20th century.
- Unnamed Parent: He's Soldier Boy's father and his name goes unmentioned.
