Vought International

“

That is our job, our honor. We are Vought. We make heroes super. ―Madelyn Stillwell[src]

”

“

Today's heroes. Tomorrow's future. ―Vought's official slogan[1]

”

Vought International, formerly known as Vought-American, is an American multi-billion^[2] dollar superhero entertainment conglomerate, currently led by Homelander and Sister Sage. The company is famous for founding The Seven and managing the global population of licensed Supes, as well as several other businesses industries including but not limited to TV networks, sports drink companies, music apps and fast-food chains. They are the overarching antagonists of the TV series and it's spin-offs, being an extremely corrupt corporation with aims for world domination.

History[]

“

A world without crime, with liberty and justice for all, that's within our reach, thanks to the 200+ superheroes in the Vought family. We see a bright future ahead, where there is a Vought hero in every town. ―Madelyn Stillwell[3]

”

Foundation[]

Vought American was founded after WW2 by Frederick Vought, a Nazi scientist whom Adolf Hitler himself appointed as the chief physician at the Dachau concentration camp in 1939 where he would perform unethical experimentation on human test subjects in order to develop Compound V to enhance human beings into what are now known as "Supes". Vought eventually created the first dose of Compound V and had his first successful superhero, his own wife, Klara Risinger, however, despite his success, Vought would never use Compound V to help the Nazi Party, since he realized that their defeat was certain. He soon defected from Nazi Germany and the Allied forces smuggled him and his wife to the US, where he would give his newly developed serum to military soldiers to increase their odds against the Nazis (with Soldier Boy being the most notable example).^[4] This prompted President Franklin Roosevelt to pardon him in 1944 and allow him to continue his research on Compound V, a decision that would eventually end with Vought founding is own corporation to further the development of supes as an advanced race of living weapons.

After Vought[]

At some point after Frederick's death, Stan Edgar would take over as CEO and continue the company's unethical practices. Compound V, by this point, is shrouded from the public, who are led to believe that supes are chosen by God. In reality, the serum was shipped across the US to hospitals by Samaritan's Embrace under the guise of medical supplies.

Vought's goal has always been to capitalize on supes, cutting deals with independent cities and states for protection; Madelyn Stillwell tried to offer Nubian Prince at a price of $300 million a year to the Mayor of Baltimore, however the deal was tanked by Homelander.^[3] Another of the company's objectives was to get superheroes integrated into the military as private soldiers so that they can significantly increase their revenue through government contracts, despite the reality that supes are generally incompetent and lacking in discipline.

Due to her good work, it was Edgar's wish that Stillwell replace him as CEO of Vought. However, things begin going awry after Homelander arranges for the creation of Supe Terrorists to create enemies only Vought had the means to combat, which results in Compound V being exposed to military personnel and the higher-ups during raids on terrorist compounds, resulting in major scrutiny towards Vought and Compound V being evaluated by the FDA.^[5] In addition to this, Homelander, due to his growing mental instability, kills Stillwell upon learning that she had deceived him, putting Edgar's plan to retire on hold. After Compound V is exposed to the public, Vought places blame on Stillwell, using her as a scapegoat, but the exposure nonetheless causes Vought's stock to plummet down drastically.

With the growing popularity of Stormfront, Vought incites the public to possible Supe terrorist attacks, which leads to paranoia and xenophobia tainting the culture at large. Through fear-mongering, Vought manages to gain the necessary support to send Compound V supplements to law enforcement all across the country, however, before the first shipments of V can be sent out, Stormfront has her past as a Nazi exposed and leads to further distrust in Vought. After Stormfront is defeated by The Boys, Vought uses the exposed Stormfront as a scapegoat by saying she was the one who framed Starlight as a traitor, and Mr. Edgar announces that the shipments of Compound V have been permanently halted.

After Edgar[]

Despite Edgar's best efforts, his past crimes that he covered up were eventually made public by Victoria Neuman after she was blackmailed by Homelander, and Edgar was arrested as a consequence. With him ousted as CEO, Homelander took over the company for himself, while having Ashley Barrett as a figurehead CEO.

Under Homelander, the company would become more aggressive in their methods and their end goal would change from being merely financial to creating a Supe dictatorship for ideological reasons. To realize his plans, Homelander attempted to use Vice President-elect Victoria Neuman as a mole in the U.S. government with the end goal of killing the elected president and have Victoria become a puppet president through which he could rule over the entire nation as a dictator. While Neuman would end up abandoning the plan and getting herself killed by Billy Butcher, Vought still managed to achieve their goal by framing the elected president for her death, having him ousted from his position and replaced with a pro-Vought puppet president, whom then declared martial law and deputized Homelander, effectively making him the supreme commander-in-chief of the country, and Vought's extra-legal private army of superheroes, working alongside Vought's already existing separate corporate branch of private military contractor and company security forces, effectively transforming them into a government-sanctioned private secret paramilitary police force and with the full support and backing of federal military and police forces with all resources and armed forces/law enforcement personnel including military special forces units at their disposal operating as part of a joint task-force under Homelander's personal authority.^[6]

Prior to Homelander's takeover of the country, he and the Seven decided to purge Vought of any untrustworthy employees, especially those with any dirt on them, to prevent their plans from being ruined by potential traitors. To save herself, Ashley injected herself with Compound V before presumably running away for good, effectively making Homelander and Sage the official leaders of the company.

Company Culture[]

Vought International, in its conduct as a multinational corporation, is highly corrupt, extremely ruthless and willing to do anything if it means pleasing their stockbrokers. Their merciless quest to maintain their vast wealth and power often comes at the cost of the innocent lives they have ruined.

The vast majority of notable Vought employees have been shown to be personally corrupted, egocentric, amoral and nefarious individuals, among the known few people who aren't meekly cowered into submission by a culture of fear and intimidation. While at first glance, the company seems to care about being progressive and inclusive, it is nothing more than a thinly veiled façade. In reality, almost all of the individuals that hold positions of power within the company are either apathetic narcissists or abusive psychopaths.

Despite the company’s corporate “wokeness” that it constantly proclaims in its marketing and products, Vought has serious racial equity and representation issues that it has never bothered to solve, alongside a long history of racism that appears to be persistent to this day (all the more concerning considering the company’s past ties to the Nazi party and its founding by a Nazi scientist). This is shown when it is revealed that 92% of their supes are Caucasian, whereas only 6% are African American and the last 2% are divided between Asians and Latinos, (this even despite Vought's past CEO Stan Edgar being of African ethnicity, he cared little to use his position advance the cause of racial equality for other people like himself, only interested in advancing and maintaining his own personal status).^[7]

In addition to deeply ingrained, historical racial bias and ethnically hegemonic makeup of its collective, assorted lineup of supes, Vought also has notable problems with its unconscious, implied gender bias among its general attitudes towards its female employees, (even with multiple women like Ashley Barrett and Madelyn Stillwell, holding positions of leadership, as both have been shown to be more than willing to undermine and sabotaging other colleagues regardless of gender in order to further advance their own careers and personal interests), and treatment of female superheroines. Even while the company does not seem to have an overt and/or explicit glass ceiling barriers or obstacles that prevents ordinary human employees from attaining positions of power, this doesn't seem to extend to female superheroes, since according to Starlight, there was never a superhero team lead by a woman before she was appointed as the co-leader of The Seven.

Vought has been shown to have a culture of silence and denialism as well, where any criminal evidence their actions or rumors of wrongdoing by the superheroes they own is quickly covered up and quietly swept under the rug by any means necessary, whether it be: bribing victims to prevent them from speaking out,^[3][7] scrubbing video footage off the internet^[8] or even cleaning up crime scenes before the authorities show up and killing the witnesses of such crimes.^[9] This culture also extends to the internal social structure of the company, with many employees (especially the higher-ups) having a decidedly indifferent and blasé attitude towards internal corruption, as seen when Stillwell apparently knew about The Deep's history of sexual misconduct, but decided not to do anything about it until Starlight publicly spoke out against him.

Even though superheroes are expected to uphold the law and maintain public order, almost all of them are morally bankrupt and completely disinterested in helping anyone other than themselves. They are often more concerned about their public image and reputation, as such things have a huge effect on the acting roles and brand deals that are available to them.

The only times Vought seems to care about corruption is when it becomes public knowledge and ends up affecting their stock value. However, the company will often try to find a scapegoat to avoid bad PR and escape the consequences of its actions, as seen when Stan Edgar blamed Kenji Miyashiro for Stormfront's massacre of a predominantly black residential building during a press conference about the incident.^[10]

Members[]

Leaders[]

Current[]

Former[]

Deceased[]

Staff[]

Current[]

• Seth Reed (Public Relations Writer)
• Barbara Findley (Project Director, Scientist)

Former[]

• Stan Edgar (President/CEO; Ousted)
• The Legend (Senior Vice President of Hero Management; Forced to Retired)
• Barbara (Head of Crime Analytics; Forced to Resign)
• Sameer Shah (Head Researcher of R&D, Scientist; Fired)
• Gecko (Research & Development Assistant; Fired)
• Ashley Barrett (Previously demoted to lower-ranking position: Nominal CEO/Figurehead, Former Senior Vice President of Hero Management, Former Director of Talent Relations; Current whereabouts unknown)

Deceased[]

• Frederick Vought † (Founder and Original CEO)
• Madelyn Stillwell † (Senior Vice President of Hero Management)
• Becca Butcher † (Senior Director of Digital Marketing; Declared Dead)
• Martin † (Deputy Project Director, Scientist)
• Jonah Vogelbaum † (Chief Strategy Officer, Scientist; Retired)
• Frank † (Research Scientist)
• Anika † (Crime & Security Analyst)
• Evan Lambert † (Public Relations Writer)
• Doug Friedman † (Lawyer, Assistant)
• Also Ashley † (Development Executive)
• Bill Marsh † (Board of Directors Member)
• Pat Willis † (Board of Directors Member)
• Maureen Nohrenberg † (Board of Directors Member)

Superhero Teams[]

• The Seven
  • Homelander (President/CEO, Leader of the 7)
  • The Deep (Current Member, Former Head of Crime Analytics)
  • Firecracker (Current Member)
  • Black Noir II (Current Member)
  • Sister Sage (Unofficial/Acting CEO, Current Member; Fired/Reinstated)
  • Starlight (Former Co-Leader; Resigned)
  • A-Train (Former Member; Quit)
  • Mister Marathon (Former Member; Retired)
  • Queen Maeve (Former Member; Presumed Dead)
  • Lamplighter † (Former Member; Demoted)
  • Stormfront † (Former Member; Removed)
  • Supersonic †
  • Black Noir †
  • Translucent †
• Teenage Kix
  • A-Train (Former Member; Quit to join the 7)
  • Mesmer † (Former Member)
  • Popclaw † (Former Member)
  • Sister Sage (Former Member; Later joined the 7)
  • Big Game
• G-Men
  • The Devine
  • Groundhawk (Retired)
• Payback (Disbanded)
  • Soldier Boy (Former Leader)
  • Black Noir † (Former Member; Later joined the 7)
  • Crimson Countess † (Former Member)
  • Gunpowder † (Former Sidekick for Soldier Boy)
  • Swatto † (Former Member)
  • Mindstorm † (Former Member)
  • TNT Twins † (Former Member)

Departments[]

• Crime Analytics Department: A subdivision dedicated to the analysis of crime statistics and the tracking and surveillance of specific individuals (especially superheros who have gone missing).^[11] After The Deep was named as the new head, he fired everyone who had tweets that were critical of Homelander, leaving Anika as the only remaining staff. Later on, the Deep is removed from this position by Sage and Anika is killed by Homelander which, in turn, rendered this particular department of the company completely inactive.
• Crisis Management Team: A team whose job is to execute appropriate crisis response procedures whenever the company is under threat. They usually have to deal with the crimes and controversies caused by the irresponsible and careless behavior of the company's “heroes”.
• Digital Marketing Department: A division dedicated to dealing with the company's presence in an online environment. One of their duties is creating social media's accounts and profiles for the many superheroes of Vought.
• Hero Management Department: A department dedicated to managing the many superheroes present in the company. After the death of Madelyn Stillwell and Ashley Barrett's promotion, it is unknown who is in charge of the department.
• Public Relations Department: Vought's PR department, dedicated to managing how information about the company and its employees are disseminated to the public.
• Research and Development Department: Vought's R&D department, dedicated to developing and fabricating Compound V and other pharmaceutical products. Under Homelander, all research and manufacturing of Compound V has been permanently halted and with Homelander's rampage in the laboratory where he grow up, it is unclear how many employees the department still has.^[12]
• Talent Relations Department: A department whose job is to attract and retain high-quality employees for the company. Creating a work environment that fosters professional growth, loyalty and collaboration is also their job.
• Vought Special Services: A secret division of Vought International that specializes in cleaning up the messes left behind by supes, in other words, it's their job to get rid of incriminating evidence that is left behind everytime one of the company's heroes commits a crime.^[9]

Subsidiaries and Products[]

Entertainment[]

Vought's primary source of revenue. By using their "heroes" as part of the advertisement, Vought has expanded their influence across every single form of entertainment, including movies, comics, video games, music and TV shows. Much of this media typically depicts a highly sanitized version of the company’s supes; presenting them as courageous, selfless, noble, and more in line with conventional, pop culture expectations of a superhero, rather than the depressing reality of most Vought-owned supes being either hedonistic celebrities or cold-blooded sociopaths. Stan Edgar had a desire to remove the company out of the entertainment business, since he believed that supes were never meant to be "heroes" and that they should be a "serious company".^[9] However, Edgar’s plan was stopped by Homelander and Victoria after they scapegoated him for Vought’s criminal activities, resulting in him being let go from the company.

Comics and Magazines[]

• V-PLE: A weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news.
• Vought Comics: Responsible for the production and publication of superhero comics.
• Vought Sports: A sports magazine known for its annual Super Swimsuit Spectacular issue. It is a parody of Sports Illustrated.

Movies and TV[]

• Vought Animation: An animation studio owned by Vought.
• Vought Entertainment Television: A fashion and pop-culture channel. It is a parody of Entertainment Tonight.
• Vought Kids: A preschool TV channel for kids.
• Vought News Network: Network news channel, dedicated solely to Vought related news. A parody of both CNN and Fox News.
• Vought Studios: Responsible for the production and release of superhero movies, such as Dawn of the Seven and Invisible Force. It is a parody of both Marvel Studios and DC Studios.
  • Vought Faith: An upcoming evangelical Christian film production company and studio division of Vought Studios.
• Vought+: A streaming service. It streams primarily Vought related content, with a big focus on superhero tv series and movies, though it also has content owned by other companies. It is a parody of Disney+.
• Voughtoons: A series of cartoons, starring heroes and other characters owned by Vought.
• VSPN: Sports channel. It is a parody of the sports channel ESPN.
• VTV: Television for Women: A TV channel directed at women viewers. It is likely a parody of the Lifetime and Hallmark channel.
• Vought Video: A rental store chain.

Music[]

• Vought Records: A music company. Eagle the Archer's new album, Bullseye Beats, was announced to be coming from them.
• Vought Music Group: Another music company. In 2008, they produced the "Rock My Kiss" music video.
• Vought Soul: A music and TV channel directed at members of the black community and other minorities. "A-Train to Africa" is one of the many shows available on this channel. It is a parody of BET.
• Voughtify: A music streaming service. Music videos such as: "Never Truly Vanish", "Faster" and "Bow and Quiver" can be accessed within the service. It is a parody of Spotify.

Gaming[]

• The Middle Passage: An unreleased video game developed by Thinkyard Games. It features A-Train as the main character in a story set during the transatlantic slave trade.
• Tournament of Heroes: A two-player fighting game which involves many heroes, including those from The Seven and from Payback.
• VS4: Also known as the VoughtStation 4, it's a Vought-branded video game console. It's also a parody of the PlayStation and Xbox series of gaming consoles.
• VS5: Also known as the VoughtStation 5, it's another series of the Vought-branded video game console.

Toys[]

• A-Train Comic Con 2016 Limited Edition: A special limited edition A-Train toy made for Comic Con 2016.
• Ezekiel Toy: A toy of Ezekiel. It is sold by Samaritan's Embrace.
• Jr. Seven Kuddle Buddiez: A toy plush line of The Seven.
• The Seven Action Figures: A line of action figures depicting The Seven.

Books[]

• Deeper: An autobiography of The Deep's and his wife's, Cassandra Schwartz's, "harrowing" escape from the Church of the Collective and their influence.
• Vought Coloring Book of Heroes: A brand of coloring books intended for children.
• Vought's American History: A collection of history books published by Vought.

Social Media and Apps[]

• Supe Porn: A pornographic website.
• V: An online social media and social networking service. It is a parody of X (formerly named Twitter).
• Vought International (Youtube Channel): Vought's official youtube channel, dedicated to posting in-universe commercials and other videos.
• Ezekiel's Prayers & Thoughts: An app created through a partnership between Vought International and Ezekiel.

Other[]

• Planet Vought Casino & Resort: A casino resort located in Las Vegas. In 1986, Mindstorm performed live shows called "Mental Magic with Mindstorm" at the establishment.
• Supie Awards: An extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for Vought International's superhero film and television industry.
• V52: An official fan club. It is a parody of D23 of The Walt Disney Company.
  • V52 Expo: An exposition event hosted by V52. It is a parody of D23 Expo.
• VoughtCon: An annual convention hosted by Vought for fans of its superhero-related media. It is a parody of Comic-Con.
• Voughtland: An amusement park themed after Vought's superheroes.
• Cirque du Vought: A circus performance company based in Canada and a parody of Cirque du Soleil.
• Vought on Ice: A series of touring ice shows.

Medical[]

In their early days, Vought was a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the research and development of Compound V and its secret formula. However, despite the source of their success coming from the blue serum, the company started to neglect their original purpose overtime and put their focus on the entertainment industry instead. Under Homelander, Vought has ceased to produce Compound V and all remaining vials have been stored in his apartment.^[13]

• Compound V: An alchemical super serum. While originally created for the purpose of creating super soldiers for Nazi Germany, it is now used by Vought to create their superpowered celebrities which they can profit out of.
  • V24: An experimental, unstable version of Compound V designed to give superpowers for only 24 hours before wearing off.
• Sage Grove Center: A psychiatric facility in New Jersey. Acts as a front for Vought's tests of Compound V on live adult subjects.
• The Woods: A secret underground medical facility where illegal human experiments are conducted on Supes.
• Supe Virus: Also known as the Supe-killing virus, it is a genetically-engineered bioweapon that only targets Supes.
• Global Wellness Center: A therapy service dedicated to helping Supes, especially retired superheroes.
  • Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center: A specialized branch of the Global Wellness Services that acts as a rehabilitation and detention facility for troubled adult Supes.

Housing[]

Vought owns multiple residential institutions and group homes. Said institutions are often used by the company to house their supes, especially those who lack a legal guardian.

• Red River Institute: An adoption center for superpowered children.
• Vought-doption center: Another adoption center for superpowered children.^[14]

Charity[]

Vought owns and funds a variety of non-profit organizations, likely so that they can retain a good reputation.

• Samaritan's Embrace: A charity organization lead by Ezekiel. Acts as a front for the distribution for Compound V to hospitals.
• Starlight House: A non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless and at-risk youth. Later went rogue after Starlight's resignation.
• Timothy Foundation: A nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning the oceans. It is led by The Deep and it was created to honor the memory of Timothy.
• Toys for Voughts: A program which distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. It is a parody of Toys for Tots.
• Believe Expo: A christian charity event.
• #ThinkBrink Foundation: An organization created as a response to Richard Brinkerhoff's death.

Clothing[]

• Homelander Diapers: A brand of diapers owned by Homelander.
• Homelander High-Tops: A brand of high-tops owned by Homelander.
• Starlight Diapers: A brand of diapers owned by Starlight.
• XLR8: A brand of running shoes owned by Shockwave.
• A-Trainers: A brand of running shoes owned by A-Train.
• Vought Backpacks: A brand of backpacks intended for kids.

Beauty Products and Hygiene[]

• Voughtality: A multi-level marketing company and brand of beauty products made by Vought.
• Autumn Breeze: A hygiene wash lotion distributed by Vought Feminine Products.
• Starlight Wish Face Wash: A brand of skin care owned by Starlight.
• Starlight Wish Perfume: A brand of perfumes owned by Starlight.

Food and Consumables[]

Products[]

• A-Train Smooths: A brand of menthol premium cigarettes owned by A-Train.
• Brave Maeve Pride Bars: A brand of snack bars that uses Queen Maeve's image as part of the advertisement. During the holidays, Maeve has donated part of the profits from this snack bars line to sponsor Christmas care packages for New York City's LGBTQ+ homeless population.
• Brave Maeve Rainbow Pops: Queen Maeve-themed ice pop.
• Brave Maeve's Vegetarian Pride Lasagna: Queen Maeve-themed vegetarian lasagna.
• Brave Maeve's Veggie Tacos: Queen Maeve-themed veggie tacos.
• Colombian Black Noir Dark Roast: A brand of coffee named after Black Noir. It was once one of the top-selling coffees in the United States of America.
• Double Whole Milk: Brand of whole milk.
• Frosted A-Trains: A brand of cereal that uses an image of A-Train on its boxes as part of the advertisement. It is a parody of Frosted Flakes.
• Frozen Peas: Brand of frozen peas packs.
• G Fuel Compound V: Compound V flavoured G fuel.
• Speeding Bullet Ale: A brand of beer that uses an image of A-Train on its bottles as part of the advertisement.
• Starlight Pops: Starlight-themed ice pops.
• Turbo Rush: A brand of energy drink that uses A-Train's image on its cans as part of the advertisement.
• Vought Imperial Peach Cognac: A brand of peach-flavored cognac.
• Vought Water: A plastic water bottle brand.

Corporations[]

• Heaven's Harvest: A farming company that was acquired by Vought. It is a beloved Christian-owned organic farm to shelf grocery store chain. The company seems to be going well, pleasing both Vought and Wall Street investors.
• Lean Lady Frozen Dinners: A frozen food company that sells frozen pre-made meals.
• Planet Vought: A restaurant chain. It is a parody of Planet Hollywood.
• Vought Fresh Farms: A frozen food company that sells various vegetable products.
• Vought-A-Burger: A fast-food chain. It is a parody of Whataburger and McDonald's.

Defense and Security[]

Among other subdivisions, Vought also has a defense and arms contractor division, manufacturing military-style weapons, supplies and other such products. Since crime-fighting is part of the work done by Vought's "heroes", the company also has subdivisions dedicated to facilitating such activities.

• GalGear: GalGear tactical firearms for women, commonly referred to as GalGear, are a brand of pink-colored pistols launched by Vought. It is a hot seller with an increase in sales of nearly 200% since their debut. While their target audience are American women, some men have also bought the product.
• VR-15: Vought-made copy or variant of the real-life AR-15 rifles.
• Vought Rifle Association: An organization dedicated to advocating for gun rights. It is a parody of the National Rifle Association.
• Vought's Bulletproof Backpacks: A brand of bulletproof backpacks intended for kids. They contain images of Vought's heroes and were made for the intent of protecting children from Supe-Terrorists and other dangers.

Energy[]

• Vought Petroleum: A gas company with Alaska oil reserves.

Educational[]

• Black Noir Martial Arts Academy: A martial arts school.
• Cirque du Vought Academy: A performance arts school to train Cirque du Vought performers.
• Godolkin University: An university dedicated to teaching Supes how to become heroes.

Other[]

• VoughtCoin: A cryptocurrency created by Vought. It can be used to buy NFTs.
• BROWSER: Vought's own internet browser, created with the help of Opera GX. It is used as an information gathering tool by Vought and Homelander by storing the data of it's users.

Associates[]

Vought has a large number of organizations and companies which they have invested in or have made deals with, among them:

• Capes for Christ: A fundamentalist Christian organization led by Ezekiel; dedicated to spreading Christianity across America using superheroes such as Homelander as their spokespersons. They are affiliated with Vought's charities, including Samaritan's Embrace.
• Chelsea's Angels: A charity organization. They worked on partnership with Queen Maeve in order to help New York City's LGBTQ+ homeless population.
• Church of the Collective: The Collective is a religious movement that tries to recruit members to spread their word and had contracts with Edgar for Supes. Like Godolkin, the Collective recruits graduated Supes and gives them jobs and tasks in the real world.
• G Fuel: A brand of caffeinated drink mix sold by Gamma Labs. They partnered up with Vought to release a new energy drink inspired by Compound V. It sharpens focus, increases energy, and in select cases, gives people super-powers.
• Kirei Shoyu: A Japanese seafood restaurant chain. The Deep has done a commercial for the franchise, advertising its beautiful soy sauce and tasty food. The restaurant chain appears to have an octopus and a flying bottle of soy sauce as its mascots.
• Oceanland: An aquatic zoo sponsored by the Deep. After the accidental death of its previous lead dolphin, during the Deep's failed attempt to free the creature from Oceanland, the Saving Our Seas Aquatic Animal Foundation gave a baby bottlenose dolphin named Dinky to the zoo as a replacement.
• Opera GX: Powered by Opera GX, "V", the social media arm of Vought International, will allow users to interact with profiles of well-known supes such as the members of The Seven. V users can also explore Godolkin University and catch up with some of its most popular students. Users will be able to keep up with Godolkin University’s latest student rankings as students battle for the top position and the opportunity to join The Seven.
• Our Sheet: An American company that makes a great variety of affordable and made in America only products, including bed sheets, 94% cotton triple ply toilet paper and dark roast southern harvest coffee. The Supe Blue Hawk is the spokesmen of this brand. It appears to be a parody of the real-world company MyPillow.
• Saving Our Seas Aquatic Animal Foundation: A non-profit organization dedicated to protecting sea life. It is sponsored by Vought and the organization gave Dinky to Oceanland as a replacement for their previous lead dolphin.
• Liquid Death: A canned-water company. The Deep has done two commercials for the company, one where he advertises the product as an eco-friendly replacement for plastic water bottles (since aluminum cans are more recyclable and are less likely to end up in the oceans) and another one where he states that Liquid Death's canned-water is a preferable alternative to soda as it contains less sugar. While the Deep lost his position as the chief sustainability associate at Liquid Death, due to burning plastic trash and releasing toxic fumes near children, he would eventually manage to renew his partnership with the company and become their health & wellness ambassador.
• Vernon Correctional Services: A private company that owns and manages many private prisons in the United States.
• Hometeamers: A political movement consisting of the fans and supporters of Homelander.
• U.S. Federal Government: The American government has come to serve as one of Vought's main clients as they have become a recognized private military contractor outsourcing their licenced superheroes for the purposes of national defence acting in interests of the military-industrial complex following the congressional approval of the recently introduced legislative bill allowing supes to be integrated into the armed forces and operate in active combat warzones. After the most recent, divisive presidential election and the constitutional coup that took place in its aftermath, Vought International has effectively seized power and taken full control of the U.S. government and their private army of deputized superheroes have been fully authorized after a national declaration of martial law to supress any dissent with complete impunity and take care of any subversive elements like Starlighters deemed to represent a major threat to national security by any means necessary.

Enemies[]

Vought has acquired enemies and rivals over time, among them:

• Bremer and Bremmer Law Firm (B&B Law Firm): A law firm that has a history of filing lawsuits against Vought International on behalf of it's victims.
• Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs (FBSA): A government agency dedicated to dealing with supes who have committed crimes. However, ther mission and purpose was undermined by it's director, Victoria Neuman, who was secretly a double agent and adopted daughter of Vought's CEO Stan Edgar.
• Russia: After the involvement of American superheroes in the Cold War, anti-supe sentiment became very strong in Russia. Unlike the Americans, most Russians see supes in a negative way to the point that graffiti depicting supes as monsters is quite common in the country. Due to Russian hatred of superheroes, Vought products are also considered contraband, however the Russian media is still allowed to talk about superhero related topics. Besides that, the Russian military is also secretly studying Compound V, most likely so that they can gain an advantage over the USA in case of another war.
• CIA: America's premier foreign intelligence service, they had begun and undertook a dedicated effort to covertly weaken, reduce and/or otherwise eliminate Vought's influence on U.S politics through sabotage and other means like attempted assassination after it was revealed and brought to their attention that the V.P candidate was the head-popping Supe secretly working for Homelander.
  • The Boys: A team of vigilantes under the CIA with the mission of bringing down Vought International and The Seven.
• Walt Disney Company: A multi-billion-dollar mass media and entertainment corporation and one of the few remaining rivals that threatens Vought's position as the most powerful company in America.
• Starlighters: An anti-Vought/Homelander countermovement consisting of Starlight's progressive fans. Both before and after taking over America, Homelander began a personal crusade turned government-sponsored crackdown against the Starlighters, declaring them a threat to the whole nation.
• Antifa: A decentralized, anti-fascist political movement of different, loosely affiliated left-wing groups collectively opposed to various forms of discrimination, oppression and authoritarianism. Prior to taking over the country, Homelander tried to use Ryan to create propaganda to convince children to report their families, teachers and friends to the corporate-controlled authorities if they were supposedly a part of Antifa, as part of his efforts to get rid of any opposition to his rule.^[15]

Former Enemies[]

• Chemical Liberation Front: An eco-terrorist group who took a bunch of Cruz Chemical employees' hostage in an effort to stop the chemical plant from polluting their neighborhood with deadly substances. After the death of all the hostage takers that were present in the chemical plant, at the hands of Homelander, the group presumably does not exist anymore.^[16]
• Soviet Union: During the Cold War, Vought's Payback and the CIA-backed Contras took part in a joint-covert mission codenamed: Operation Charly in Nicaragua. The mission ended in failure when the Soviet Spetsnaz and their Sandinistra allies raided the Contra's camp and massacred most of its inhabitants before capturing Soldier Boy who had been incapacitated by his fellow teammates after striking a deal with Stan Edgar to get rid of him. Vought also participated in America's propaganda efforts against the Soviets, producing multiple anti-communist films and even participating in congressional hearings during the Red Scare, with Soldier Boy testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee against numerous purported communists within the US government.
• Nazi Germany: Despite Frederick Vought originating from the country, Vought-American's first superheroes would (allegedly) fight against the German Wehrmacht in the last stages of World War II.
• Walter Milk & Associates: After Soldier Boy accidentally killed Marvin's grandfather, his father would spend years of his life fighting Vought to get proper justice. He believed that no one was above the law, and he would try to use his knowledge as a lawyer to defeat Vought at the court of law. However, he failed at achieving his goal and died at 55.

Trivia[]

• There are a number of differences between the series version of Vought and its comic counterpart.
  • The comic version of Vought was known as Vought-American, whereas the show version is known as Vought International. As a nod to the comics, its revealed in flashbacks that the company was originally called Vought-American; the name was changed at some point between 1984 and the present, likely after the Cold War ended.
  • In the comics Vought was an incompetent arms company that hastily rebranded as a superhero company after recruiting Jonah Vogelbaum. The series version was founded by Nazi scientist-turned-businessman Fredrick Vought and was a 'superhero company' from the start.
  • The series' version is far more sinister then in the comics. While they were already highly amoral in the comics, covering up heroes' vicious actions and willing to kill those who step out of line, the series version was created as a secret Nazi conspiracy to build an 'army of Supermen' to take over the world; and have also been secretly practicing human experimentation for decades. Vought is even willing to experiment on children, as Homelander's origins reveal.
  • The company in the comics existed during World War II, during which time they manufactured aircrafts (similar to the real-world Vought corporation). In the TV series, they are not founded until after the war.
• A real company called Vought existed between the 1920s and the 1960s and was responsible for manufacturing many famous military planes. In the original The Boys comic series by Garth Ennis, one of the planes built by the fictional Vought company is called the F7U; this was also the name of a plane built by the real Vought company.

Commentary[]

• Vought International has many similarities with Veidt Enterprises from the original Watchmen miniseries, as both are international corporate conglomerates with a monopolistic hold on consumer products and mass media. They also coexist within superhero universes where they profit off the names and likenesses of supes through merchandising and entertainment in order to fund large-scale conspiracies (the deadly 11/2 Psychic Shockwave in Manhattan secretly conducted by Adrian Veidt from Watchmen and the true origins of superheroes and the coverup of the numerous crimes and atrocities committed by them on behalf of Vought International).

References[]