As I write this, The Boys Season 3 is now five episodes Deep, ey – get it? Slowly we are starting to learn more and more about one of the major characters – Soldier Boy. Not only is he a brilliant rapper, dance innovator and games console inventor but he’s now one of the most dangerous Supes in the show.
Who is Soldier Boy?
Played by Jensen Ackles this Captain America parody definitely feels like he could be America’s ass and throughout this post, we’re gonna be breaking down his comic origins, the show differences and what we think could be happening with him.
Jensen is one of the co-leads of Supernatural, the legendary long-running show which ended in 2020 and he has reunited with Supernatural’s creator Eric Kripke who is also behind the boys.
Now Soldier Boy is notable in the comics for having multiple people under the mask and a big moment in Herogasm.
While Homelander and The Seven are a parody of Superman and The Justice League, Soldier Boy and Payback are the Avengers. This is why you see clear parodies of Captain America, Ant-Man, Scarlett Witch and more. He was originally part of a group called The Avenging Squad so, yeah no prizes for getting that.
Soldier Boy Origins
The comics had a modern Soldier Boy in the present day but during issues #52-54, we learned the origin of the character and the first person to take up the mantle.
Just like Captain America in the Marvel Universe, there have been many people that have taken up the shield and we have three versions in total, two of which we meet in the comics.
Now, like Steve Rogers, Soldier Boy was attached to an army unit in the second world war led by Greg Mallory, who in the show is changed up to Grace. The series did away with the multiple versions and shifted the timeline so that Grace encountered him in Nicaragua where he was helping to smuggle narcotics into the US whilst also fighting alongside the locals. The show sort of combined all the versions of the character and in the comics, it was during the Second World War skirmish that the first one died.
However, it should be noted that the version we meet was also around during the Second World War too and, just like Stormfront, he didn’t age due to the Compound V that was created at the time. Typically it’s injected into pregnant mothers or very young children, however, both Stormfront and Soldier Boy got it as adults which is likely why they don’t age like the rest of us.
Whilst Stormfront needed to change her identity in order to hide her immortality, Soldier Boy in the show just kept going. As Liberty she was sent off after being exposed as a racist but because Soldier boy didn’t carry out any crimes that meant he needed a Rebrand he’s stayed the same.
However, both are gonna have awful opinions Jensen has said that Soldier Boy unlike Steve Rogers will have very of-the-time views on social progression. We never really get a taste of this in the comics, but we still learn about his past and the history of the shield.
Supes at War
Because the Supes are pretty much morons across the board they were ill-equipped to be put into a combat scenario but Vought still wanted the PR so they shipped them out to the front line in the Second World War.
Similar to the show, the group ended up signposting their location due to their arrogance and inexperience. This happened during the Battle of the Bulge in the comics, and it caught the attention of a German patrol.
The Battle Of The Bulge is known as one of the great ambushes in recent memory and this surprise attack by the Germans was their last major offensive in the Second World War.
Most of the team of Supes were wiped out including the Crimson Countess, but she survives the skirmish in the show.
Mallory was the sole survivor and he found Soldier Boy at death’s door. Blaming him for having his entire battalion wiped out he tossed a grenade at him, killing him in the process.
Solider Boy & Captain America Links
Now whilst Marvel’s Captain America was frozen in ice to bring him to the modern era, Vought higher-ups used their considerable PR power to rewrite history and make Soldier Boy an immortal legend. In reality, the mantle would be passed on to multiple supes over the decades.
This included the second version who was part of Crime Fighters incorporated, a group that is basically just a rebrand of the previous team. This is only shown to us in a newspaper in the comics and we never meet the character at any point in the run.
Now we get a look at the current holder of the title when he first appears in The Boys spin-off comic, Herogasm. It’s a wild ride of debauchery that would make even Termite blush. Herogasm is basically an annual event held by Vought where they say that the Supes have gone off-world to fight an intergalactic threat. What’s really happened though is that they’ve just gone to an island to do a lot of drugs and have a lot of sex.
The modern Soldier Boy is a coward and all-around useless individual that is supposed to be the leader of Payback. However, he’s very much just the face of it and behind the scenes, Stormfront is the one that’s really pulling the strings.
Soldier Boy doesn’t swear, he wets himself, and he also names US States to keep calm in battle.
This made many theorise that Ryan will end up becoming him but whether that’s the case we don’t know yet.
Now the comic version would end up fighting Billy and The Boys. This led to him having his nose bitten off. Later on he was killed by Billy after Payback engaged them in issues #32-34. We’ll talk about this more in just a bit.
Soldier Boy and The Seven
Soldier Boy is desperate to join The Seven in the comics, which makes him ample pickings for Homelander. He’s tricked into having sex with him as an initiation task but he never becomes a member.
While the comic version is a hilarious take on what would probably really happen with a Captain America, the show as we know has changed quite a lot from the comics and Eric Kripke and co have really made it their own.
Eric mentioned Soldier Boy has been a big part of Vought for decades and we saw this first hand due to his statue in Season 2. In an interview on Micheal Rosenbaum’s podcast, Jensen gave some details on the character that I haven’t really seen touched upon.
Whereas the Winter Soldier allusions to him being experimented on are obvious, Ackles also said that he’s very much a Weapon X…or rather a Wolverine-type character. This is seen in him waking up and pulling tubes out of his body which is supposed to be reminiscent of the Weapon X issue 78 cover.
His suit is undeniably inspired by the MCU Captain America and features green which is the same colour as the 40’s era Soldier Boy costume.
In the comics, Payback was sent to take out Billy’s team as a proxy for Homelander but it failed spectacularly. Billy bit his nose off and blinded Stormfront who then fled and the rest of the group were easy pickings without their true leader. Soldier Boy was then killed but the show does seem to be diverting from this.
In the series he’s referred to as BCL-Red or as I’m guessing it’s called Big Chest Laser.
This is highly radioactive and it seems to be able either completely kill a Supe or at least wipe out their powers. This is why Kimiko can’t heal. It seems to also be uncontrollable to Soldier Boy.
He ends up killing several people in New York though Vought downplays this.
How Will Soldier Boy Return?
I think that just in the same way Captain America came back after some time away that they will try and spin it like he’s been on ice or preserved due to radiation.
They set up a fake Chernobyl-like cover story which could be a way to bring him back into the fold. At the moment he’s currently out to get payback on Payback but I think that Vought might try and take him under their wing once Edgar is back. What the company really needs is someone who can reign Homelander in as at the moment he’s completely off the leash. I think Soldier Boy could be the person to do this and it’s gonna be interesting to see why they got rid of him in the first place. Perhaps he was just becoming too powerful and they wanted him off the board before he got anymore dangerous or perhaps the company made a deal with the Russians. This was during the Cold War but Vought don’t care about sides they just care about money.
I can see Edgar being someone who would still be up for selling weapons to Russia, and it’s gonna be interesting once it’s revealed exactly what’s really going on with the character. He actually seems like the kind of person that could beat Homelander but whether he will remains to be seen.
Anyway, that’s our breakdown and I’d, of course, love to hear your thoughts so make sure you comment below and let me know or over on Twitter.
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