The Boys: Stormfront’s True Origin & Vought’s Goal Explained

The Boys season 2 has finally laid out the truth about Stormfront and Vought, and it’s not pretty. From the very beginning, Vought has been the source of all evil in The Boys, but the villainous company always seemed motivated by profit and reputation, squeezing their superheroes for every last dollar, and paying no mind to any innocent folks who become collateral damage along the way. By the end of The Boys season 1, Homelander looked every inch the man in charge, but season 2 proves who the real puppet masters are. Vought’s CEO, Giancarlo Esposito’s Stan Edgar, has taken a more prominent role in The Boys, and personally added Stormfront to The Seven as an official replacement for Translucent.

Since her arrival, Stormfront has been somewhat of an enigma. Initially coming across like a breath of fresh, straight-talking air among the commercially-minded Vought mob, Stormfront displayed her true colors during The Seven’s mission to catch Kenji – she’s a violent, ruthless racist who derives carnal pleasure from taking lives. The Boys season 2 already revealed one Stormfront mystery in a previous episode: The Seven’s newest member is ageless, and used to go by the name Liberty. She committed a horrific, unprovoked, racially-motivated murder and, according to Hughie, has been “moved around” by Vought ever since.

Despite this insight into Stormfront’s history, the truly important details remained unknown until The Boys season 2’s “The Bloody Doors Off.” In this episode, viewers finally learn what Stormfront’s true intentions are, and by extension, the real goal of Vought as a company. And it’s enough to make the hairs on Billy Butcher’s beard curl.

Stormfront’s True Identity (Not Just Liberty)

Petulant and love-struck, Homelander begins to tire of his new “superhero with benefits” and demands the truth from Stormfront, perhaps not anticipating the magnitude of her secret. The audience already knew that Stormfront was plenty older than Aya Cash’s youthful looks implied, so it was no surprise when she held out a photograph of herself with an older woman and revealed this was her daughter, presumably sending Homelander’s Oedipus fantasies into overdrive. Stormfront goes on to reveal that was she born in 1919 in Berlin, Germany, putting her at an impressive 101 years young.

The shocks keep coming, as Stormfront reveals herself to be the former wife of Frederick Vought himself – the man who founded the eponymous company and invented Compound V. Earlier in The Boys season 2, Edgar explained that Vought was a Nazi scientist who defected to the United States once the tides of World War II turned, but before he made the trip Stateside, he was betrothed to the young woman now known as Stormfront. More than just a spouse, however, Stormfront was Frederick’s first successful Compound V subject, making her the original superhero. This explains several unanswered questions about Stormfront. Previously, it seemed odd that such a powerful superhero wasn’t already in The Seven, but being the progenitor of all supes accounts for both her near-unrivaled strength, and her existence outside of The Seven. Stormfront’s purpose lies elsewhere.

Stormfront’s real identity in Amazon’s TV adaptation of The Boys is a semi-faithful spin on the comic books. The character is male in the source material, but was both an ageless former Nazi and the first successful subject of Frederick Vought. Although the pair weren’t married or romantically involved (this is 1940s Nazi Germany, remember), Stormfront’s transition from a test subject under Hitler to an asset of the United States’ superhero roster directly follows the original comic books.

Despite almost a century passing since Stormfront was first turned into a Compound V success story, she is still fully indoctrinated in her ex-husband’s mindset, revering Frederick Vought as a god-like genius. This perhaps explains Stormfront’s recent rallies and protests outside Vought tower, where she criticizes the company’s commercialism and targets their movie releases. Vought’s ideals were far loftier than mere profit and capitalism, they were rooted (however wrongly) in a broader view of human evolution. To see her beloved husband’s name used to sell cheap merchandise and terrible movies rewritten by Joss Whedon must’ve been a challenge for Stormfront to endure. It’s clear now that her snarky attitude during interviews and script meetings wasn’t a rebellion against Vought’s greed, but disdain against the company for shifting away from its original purpose.

The Purpose Of Vought

The Boys season 2 has already dropped several hints to suggest that Vought’s endgame isn’t just about movie sequels and a presence in the military. During their tense confrontation in the season premiere, Stan Edgar quietly assures Homelander that Vought aren’t in “the superhero business” and made it perfectly clear that the company possessed higher priorities than The Seven, despite Homelander’s firm belief to the contrary. Then, shortly before her death, Raynor told The Boys that Vought were planning “a coup from the inside” but her head popped like a ripe zit before she could explain the accusation further. After much speculation, Stormfront finally reveals to Homelander what Vought are really trying to do in The Boys.

Stormfront describes an ongoing war “for the culture” before accusing “other races” of taking what isn’t rightfully theirs. This, of course, alludes to the Nazi party’s real-world history; their belief that the Aryan race were genetically superior to all others, leading to the inhuman treatment and, ultimately, genocide of groups who were deemed lesser. While Stormfront has certainly displayed racist attitudes, her words put the Nazi party’s philosophy in the context of The Boys – those imbued with Compound V are the master race, and everyone else is beneath them.

Stormfront directly addresses Vought’s “destiny,” which she claims is to create a new race of super-powered individuals and seize control of, presumably, the world. As the wife of Frederick Vought, Stormfront is perhaps best placed to know what the company’s founding ambitions originally were. The creator of Compound V might’ve abandoned Hitler once he foresaw the end of the war, but that doesn’t mean Vought suddenly found his morality and dropped his vision of creating a super race. The real question is whether Vought in The Boys‘ timeline still holds those ideals, or whether the company has become entirely consumed by consumerism. Stan Edgar is in on Stormfront’s plan, but which of them is really in charge?

While the rest of his employees fret about the Compound V scandal, and which taglines score better with the 18-45 demographic, Edgar has maintained a cool menace. The CEO successfully got Vought’s foot in the door of the U.S. military and is responsible for putting Stormfront in The Seven. Furthermore, Edgar pointedly told Homelander about Frederick Vought’s Nazi origins when the superhero was flexing his considerable ego in the Vought chief’s office. Every indication points to Stormfront and Stan Edgar somehow being in cahoots with regards to Vought’s true goal, but we still don’t know who is calling the shots.

Stormfront & Vought’s Plan In The Boys Season 2

Stormfront hopes to create a world dominated by her late husband’s evolved humans, but how does she aim to instigate the Übermensch revolution? In hindsight, Stormfront’s plan has been in motion ever since her introduction to The Boys. Convincing the U.S. government to allow superheroes into the military was the first step, as this gives Vought a foothold in the government, beyond being just a private corporation. Perhaps this explains why Edgar is only now bringing Stormfront into The Seven – to commence phase 2. Even before joining The Boys‘ premier superhero team, Stormfront had built a loyal social media following, adapting with the times to create a populist base of supporters, but that influence is magnified exponentially after her promotion to The Seven.

Homelander’s plan to create super terrorists in The Boys season 1 doesn’t seem orchestrated by anyone but John himself, but Stormfront has certainly seized on the opportunity. By whipping up a fear of invading, super-powered foreigners, Stormfront has created a groundswell of support for people wanting more superheroes. Take a glance at the placards on display during her protests, and people are demanding more supes on the streets, or even asking to be given Compound V themselves as a means of protection. Stormfront has successfully convinced people that they need a Vought-controlled superhero army, and that more supes is the only line of defense against the new terrorist threat.

When she’s not manipulating the political climate, Stormfront has been busy trying to make her superhero Third Reich a scientific reality. Previously, The Boys has established that Compound V is rarely effective on adult subjects, but that’s going to have to change if Stormfront wants her army. Collaborating with a reluctant Lamplighter, Stormfront has set up a base of operations at the Sage Grove mental institution, taking unwell patients, using them as lab rats, and having Lamplighter burn the evidence. The e-mails uncovered by Starlight show that Sage Grove now has an 88% success rate creating adult superheroes through Compound V.

One more super-terrorist incident in The Boys will surely be enough to rally more people to Stormfront’s side, and the calls for a superhero response will be deafening. Regular citizens will be lining up for their Compound V injections, and Stormfront will obviously be ensuring that only the “right” candidates are given the treatment. Thus, Vought will control an unstoppable army of super-powered individuals, with Homelander, the greatest creation of Frederick Vought, at the fore. After that, it will only be a matter of time until the supes take control – can The Boys put a stop to Stormfront’s evil designs?

About The Author

Craig Elvy
(3630 Articles Published)

Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig’s interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.
Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS.

Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer.
Jim Carrey is Craig’s top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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