The Boys: The Church of the Collective History & Stormfront Connection Explained

What’s the history behind The Church of the Collective in The Boys, and what’s the nature of Stormfront’s connection to the organization? The Boys season 2 introduced The Church of the Collective, a notorious cult known for indoctrinating members for furthering their own teachings and covert agendas. Throughout season 2 of The Boys, The Church is seen administering classic manipulation and brainwashing techniques to recruit supes like The Deep, along with test patients.

On the other hand, Stormfront is a prime example of the wide gulf between appearance and reality, as she initially comes across as an endearing, edgy character, but is later relieved to be a violent, ruthless bigot. Apart from taking pleasure in taking lives, it is revealed that she had committed a horrific, racially-motivated murder, and used to be the wife of Frederick Vought – the Nazi scientist who created Compound V.

The Boys also reveals that Stormfront used to be a member of The Church of the Collective a long time back, when the latter unabashedly stood for white supremacy, and perhaps, much more. What is Stormfront’s exact connection to the Church, and what are the greater motivations behind the organization’s machinations?

The History & Motivations of The Church of the Collective

In the initial episodes of The Boys season 2, The Deep is at rock-bottom after having been sent on a Sabbatical by Vought, after which, Eagle the Archer offers to help him build his reputation back. This is when The Church of the Collective steps in, offering Deep a rehabilitation trajectory in order to help him discover his true self. This commences his indoctrination process, as The Church decides to step in when The Deep is most vulnerable, allowing them to mold his psyche with the aid of psychedelic and psychological mind control. It is also interesting to note that The Church is a parody of The Church of Scientology, with former chairman Alastair Adana being a caricature of Scientology cult-leader, David Miscavige. Much like Scientology, The Church enlists members with the promise of career comebacks and exposes ex-members with the aid of sensitive private information garnered over the years — all while taking hefty “donations” from its members.

Stan Edgar reveals that The Church was founded by Alastair’s grandfather, tracing back their existence to roughly five to eight decades. It is possible that during the time it was founded, The Church was only open to “pure” members, hinting that only all-white, racially “pure” ideologies dominated the organization’s agendas and teachings. Later on, The Church changed its indoctrination tactics by offering a more inclusive membership, which is the primary reason why Stormfront rejected it, as she considers it an affront to her Nazi ideals of racial purity and dehumanizing the “other.” Under Alastair’s reign, The Church was able to garner a huge network of contacts through the recruitment of several influential figures, while following a capitalist model of hierarchical power and infiltrating socio-political groups for insider information.

Stormfront’s Connection to The Church of the Collective Explained

Born as Klara Risinger, Stormfront’s past is mostly shrouded in mystery, which is exacerbated by the fact that she physically ages at a much slower rate than humans, making it difficult to trace back her trajectory. It is known that Stormfront was born in Berlin in 1919, and was later an active member of the Nazi Party while associating with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. After her former husband gives her the first successful injection of Compound V, she is made into the first “Supe” in the history. Shortly after, Stormfront joined The Church of the Collective but left after the latter shed its racist and bigoted ways. In season 2, she reveals to Homelander, Vought’s most famous Supe, that her plan was to create an army of Aryan ubermensch, with Homelander being the one to lead them in a race war to “fight back” against the other races, who she believes, “are wearing humanity down.”

The Church keeps an extensive data archive of the personal information and the history of its members since its inception. Taking advantage of this, A-Train gains access to Stormfront’s files that reveal her as a closet Nazi and her horrific, murderous past. This revelation shatters her righteous and empowered public image, exposing her hidden motivations to utilize her position as a member of The Seven to promote her white supremacist agendas. With Stormfront’s true motivations outed, Vought was forced to withdraw their long-term plans of introducing supes to the military, and Victoria Neuman was appointed the leader of the Office of Superhuman Affairs. However, the tussle between Stormfront and The Church could be far from over yet, as character motivations and trajectories are subject to unpredictable change in a show like The Boys, with season 3 positing new players in the game.

About The Author

Debopriyaa Dutta
(328 Articles Published)

See also  10 Horror Movie Logic Memes That Are Too Hilarious For Words

Apart from being a features writer and critic at ScreenRant, Debopriyaa is a news writer at /Film. She is also a contributor to High on Films & Fansided, and an editor at Digital Mafia Talkies. Her poetry has been published in a wide array of journals, such as Gideon Poetry, White Noise Magazine, and Literaria. Find her on Twitter @angelusatani.

More From Debopriyaa Dutta