The Boys: The Biggest Weakness Of Every Member Of The Seven Explained
"The Boys" takes the idea of the heroic Justice League superheroes and turns them into psychopathic, overpowered thugs called The Seven. Instead of fighting for truth and justice, they are run by a power-hungry corporation named Vought. The series does a spectacular job of taking real-life events and placing them in the hands of these heroes who are meant to protect and serve the public. With "Supernatural" creator Eric Kripke at the helm, "The Boys" has enjoyed three successful seasons thus far, with a fourth on its way. And while the series does differ slightly from its original source material, "The Boys" is still a widely celebrated series.
In "The Boys," the lines of good versus evil are so often blurred. Take Karl Urban's Butcher for example — he's made it his vendetta to stop superheroes, otherwise known as supes, and the Vought corporation. However, he's by no means a 'good' guy as he uses brutality and abuses the loyalty of his men to get what he wants. By the end of Season 3, Butcher has been taking V-24, a compound that temporarily gives him superhero powers. The power begins to go to his head, as Butcher slowly becomes the one thing he hates the most — a supe. He even works with one of the worst superheroes out there in order to get revenge on those who have wronged him. But can we blame him? It's tough to take down The Seven without any powers of his own.
Luckily, each member of The Seven has a weakness that Butcher and his boys could utilize to their advantage. Just in case you want to gear up with them to fight against the supes, we're breaking down each one below.
Homelander
Portrayed to perfection by Antony Starr, Homelander is "The Boys" version of Superman. He's portrayed as an all-American man who stands up for what's right. He's the strongest of The Seven as he can fly, shoot lasers out of his eyes, and is practically invulnerable. Unlike Superman, he's completely unhinged. No one is strong enough to defeat Homelander — and he knows it. In fact, it's because of this that he sees himself as a god walking among men. He's likely right, as he doesn't have a kryptonite weakness like Superman. However, there is just one small thing that will likely be his downfall — his need for love and approval.
Homelander was raised in a lab from the DNA of the original strongest supe, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). Because of this, he experienced little to no human affection which caused a serious lack of empathy. With his morals so out of whack, Homelander grew up to desperately crave adoration. This is why he loves the admiration he receives from his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti). When Homelander learns that Soldier Boy is actually his father, he badly wants the three of them to become a superpowered family — and it almost costs him his life, as Soldier Boy nearly kills him and removes his powers.
The need for love and approval may just be his downfall.
Starlight
Annie January (Erin Moriarty), aka Starlight, is a supe who gets the chance of a lifetime when she joins the celebrity superhero team, The Seven. However, once she becomes the newest member of the team, she quickly learns that its members aren't the amazing supes that she's looked up to. Throughout the first season, Starlight discovers that every member fears Homelander, that Vought is corrupt, and that her life is in danger if she doesn't comply with every demand.
Eventually, Starlight aligns herself with Butcher and the boys, which results in a relationship between her and the young naive Hughie (Jack Quaid). She accompanies the boys on a mission acting as backup. Unfortunately for the team, Starlight is stopped by another supe with an EMP power. He uses his ability to stop her from absorbing any electricity, which renders her powerless. This is because of Starlight's definitive weakness — she needs to access electricity to power up. Without it, she's incapable of using her abilities. However, once she does, Starlight is able to absorb electric energy and blast it out into a powerful bright light. And while she does have superhuman strength, it's not very comparable to other supes on this list.
Queen Maeve
Dominique McElligott portrays Queen Maeve, aka Maggie Shaw. Initially, Maeve is depicted as an extremely powerful member of The Seven. Before Starlight and Stormfront join, she is the only female member of the team and easily one of the strongest. She's shown to be close with Homelander, which just solidifies her role as a force to be reckoned with. Her character seems to be modeled after DCs Wonder Woman, as Queen Maeve seems to be a wonder indeed.
However, that persona is quickly shattered as audiences discover that Maeve has all but given up on her dreams to protect the innocent. In fact, she's so disillusioned with being a superhero that she tries to distance herself from the real world as she knows what Homelander is capable of. Her fear of him and urge to help the innocent is a major weakness for Maeve, and one that Homelander exploits to have her bend to his will.
Luckily, this is something that she tries to overcome in Season 3 as she trains herself to go toe-to-toe with her biggest fear — Homelander. Unfortunately, her training is not enough and Maeve loses her powers and an eye as a result. In the end, Maeve fakes her death and goes into hiding, with her fate left unknown until Season 4.
A-Train
Similar to DC's The Flash, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is the fastest man alive. Well ... kind of, as he was once the fastest speedster, a title that solidified his position in The Seven. However, in order to keep it, he must prove himself worthy against all other speedsters that challenge him. And now that he's older, there are newer runners coming up who can dethrone him. Therefore, A-Train takes performance-enhancing drugs to stay in the lead.
And while you'd think that's his major weakness, it's not. In fact, it's not his extremely high calorie requirements (which he once stated needed to be 3,000 calories an hour), nor even his lack of fighting skills. Instead, it's his ego. It makes A-Train do just about anything to stay at the top as the best. He doesn't care what he needs to do in order to win, and who he needs to betray to make that happen.
For example, when A-Train takes Compound V to make himself faster it ends up causing him major health problems. Doctors even warn him that if he uses his powers to run again, his heart might give out.
It's his careless nature with his own body that has placed A-Train in this position. In fact, it's what kicked off the events of "The Boys" to begin with. In Season 1, A-Train is on drugs and accidentally runs right through Hughie's girlfriend Robin — leaving her as a pile of blood and guts. This careless attitude continues straight through until Season 3 when audiences see that he's still making foolish choices just to serve his ego.
The Deep
The Deep (Chace Crawford) is a poor man's Aquaman. Sorry, there's no kinder way of saying that — he's one of the weaker members of The Seven — and he knows it. That's why The Deep goes out of his way to make himself seem more important to the team and to Homelander. This need for self-importance is why he assaults Starlight on her first day as part of The Seven. He wants to make himself feel like a crucial member of the team, and the only way he knows how is by bringing someone down. Especially when they don't know him, or see how the other members treat him.
While The Deep is not as strong or smart as the other members of The Seven, his biggest weakness is his gills. "The Boys" has pointed out several occasions when The Deep has been in severe pain when people come into contact with them. For example, when A-Train hits him right where his gills are, The Deep shows his vulnerability by wincing in pain. However, one of the most notable scenes for The Deep takes place in Season 1 episode 7 of "The Boys." The Deep invites a woman over and she forcibly puts her fingers in his gills. The assault causes him an extreme amount of pain, with actor Chace Crawford tellingMTV that it was "the most uncomfortable scene ever," as it made him feel "nauseous" while filming.
Black Noir
Black Noir aka Earving (Nathan Mitchell) has gone through major changes from his comic book counterpart. However, with this version of Noir's death in Season 3, and the announcement of the character's return for Season 4, there's a potential for parts of his comic book storyline to make a comeback. However, until then, this list will strictly look at the weaknesses displayed by Black Noir from Seasons 1 to 3.
Initially, Black Noir was a character shrouded in mystery. However, as the series unraveled, more and more about his character began to form. Prior to his work with The Seven, Noir was part of Soldier Boy's group Payback in the 80s. It was during this time that he was severely attacked which would result in him suffering from brain damage. This didn't seem to impact his abilities, as Noir is often described as having the skill of a ninja.
His weakness was revealed in Season 2 when Maeve stops him from killing Starlight. Instead of trying to fight this seemingly unstoppable fighting machine, she opts to use his allergy against him. Maeve pops an almond joy into his mouth to temporarily incapacitate him as he has a tree nut allergy. Noir is a character with advanced healing capabilities, super strength (although not comparable to the likes of Homelander), and ages at a slow rate — tree nuts are really his only weakness.
Stormfront
Introduced in Season 2 of "The Boys" Stormfront (Aya Cash) became a major antagonist for the characters. It's revealed that she was born in 1919 and was part of the Nazi party. She was married to Vought's founder Frederick Vought who was the creator of Compound V — the drug that created all supes. He decided to test it on her, resulting in Stormfront becoming the first-ever superhero. Due to her inability to age, Stormfront would take time away from the spotlight before returning years later when no one would recognize who she was before. It's because of this that she was previously called Liberty when she worked as a superhero back in the 1950s.
Stormfront was an incredibly powerful character. She was strong, had healing abilities, and could manipulate electrokinesis which resulted in her ability to fly. Most weapons could not penetrate her skin as she was bulletproof. The only thing that could stop her was a knife. Stormfront's ultimate downfall was taking a knife to her eye, as they were the one part of her body that was extremely vulnerable. Following that, she was left on life support in a Vought medical facility where she decided to take her own life.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Supersonic
Debuting in Season 3, Supersonic aka Alex (Miles Gaston Villanueva) is a new supe that is introduced to audiences. He takes part in a televised competition (much like "American Idol") as The Seven looks for its newest members to replace Stormfront and The Deep. Supersonic was a friend and ex-boyfriend of Starlights and is selected as one of the replacements for the team. Starlight is concerned about his safety, urging him not to accept a place in The Seven. However, he declines as he wants to do right by her and act as an ally against Homelander and Vought.
Unfortunately for him, Supersonic was far too trusting as he tries to recruit A-Team to their cause, and instead of joining them, A-Team reports back to Homelander who kills Supersonic as a warning to Starlight. His trusting nature was a major weakness for the character and one that ultimately gets him killed.
Aside from having superhuman strength like most supes, Supersonic has a sonic clap that can generate powerful sound waves. Seemingly, the only downside to this is that he must physically clap his hands in order to activate his powers. This works as a serious weakness for the character, as anyone could simply tie his hands behind his back to make him powerless.
Lamplighter
Portrayed by Shawn Ashmore, best known for "X-Men", Lamplighter was a former member of The Seven. Much like his name suggests, his powers revolved around pyrokinesis — aka fire. He was able to control fire with his mind as he could enhance or decrease it with just a fleeting thought. He was so powerful that he could use something as small as a lighter to create a massive flame to burn down metal doors.
Prior to Starlight joining The Seven, Lamplighter was one of the members. In fact, he was revealed to be a founding member of the team and a good friend of The Deep. After he was forced to leave The Seven, the boys find Lamplighter working at a psychiatric hospital under Vought's orders. He was stationed there to cover up any experiments that the company conducted on civilians — many of which had dire results. Eventually, he decides to work with the boys as Hughie convinces Lamplighter to help him save Starlight who's locked up at Vought. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse as Lamplighter takes that as an opportunity to set himself on fire in front of The Seven mural — which he is no longer shown in.
This moment is crucial for Lamplighter as it details his weakness of not being fireproof. That's a massive oversight for a character that uses fire constantly, as he could have had his own flames used against him. Plus, he couldn't even generate his own fire, as he always needed a spark to start the flame.
Translucent
Translucent (Alex Hassell) is the first superhero to be killed thanks to Butcher and the boys. He's a member of The Seven and was seemingly good friends with Homelander. While he wasn't in the series for a long time, Translucent was seen as a massive creep. He would skulk around the Vought tower, spying on his teammates and getting dirt on the Vought employees. "The Boys" makes it clear that he was the worst, so it makes sense that he would be buddies with Homelander.
Apart from having the ability to go translucent, his skin is also reinforced with carbon, creating "diamond-hard" skin. This makes him incredibly powerful as most people aren't strong enough to hurt him — or even see him for that matter. However, much like Stormfront, not all of him was impenetrable, as the boys discover that his insides can be hurt. Therefore, they decide to plant a bomb in his butt, and when it explodes it takes Translucent with it.
Another weakness is Translucent's inability to turn anything else invisible. This includes his clothes, objects that he's holding, and even his blood. Plus, he's extremely vulnerable to electricity due to his highly conductive carbon skin. This is how the boys are able to knock him out and place the bomb.
Yikes.