Why The Boys Fans Are Concerned About A-Train
The Boys takes its very human view of superheroes to some interesting heights, including giving some of their supes substance abuse issues, mental health disorders, and chronic health problems. This goes directly against the near-infallible nature of superheroes that we see in most comic book universes and gives us a new path, for better or worse, by which to connect with characters that would otherwise be beyond our empathy. On that note, the character A-Train is just about as flawed as they come.
At the beginning of the series, A-Train is a member of the Seven, the most powerful group of supes on the planet. Each member has their own unique set of powers. As for A-Train, he's a Flash-type who blurs the roads with his super-speed, but that power is where the similarities between the two heroes start and end. A-Train abuses the superhero-creating drug Compound V to keep his powers at their fastest so he can secure his place in the Seven. There's a lot of competition for his spot, and if he doesn't stay at the top of his game, there's sure to be a new "fastest man in the world."
Naturally, A-Train's drug use is discovered, and Compound V's side effects lead to a him getting dropped from Vought's varsity supe team and into the little leagues. A-Train is readmitted to the Seven in The Boys' season 2 finale, but fans aren't sure he's ready for it.
Can the old ticker handle it?
The primary reason A-Train was kicked from the Seven wasn't directly his drug use. Vought International doesn't seem to care what their supes get up to behind the scenes as long as they can perform and keep company shares rising. A-Train was kicked because Compound V led to a heart problem that diminished his powers.
The main focus of one The Boys subreddit thread titled "A train all unhealthy S2Ep3 literally 5 episodes later" seems to be whether or not A-Train's heart can handle the stress of pushing his powers to the limit, questioning how he could go from devastating heart problems to healthy in just five episodes. "I think he's still slower than he used to be. 3hrs for 1 neighborhood is really nothing by superhero standard," says u/justkarn.
The general consensus in the thread is that A-Train laid off the sauce and rested up to get back into pro form, and as u/Bossbaby63 points out, he does have "superhero Regen powers."
When it comes to the question of whether A-Train will be able to perform like he did when he was on Compound V, u/peachesandonions cites a scene in the first season in which the user claims Butcher says that it only takes the speeder a half hour to search all of Manhattan, but that was while he was still juiced. In the season 2 finale, after he's kicked his drug problems, A-Train says he can cover the burrows in three hours. "Three hours for all five boroughs is consistent, if not mind-bendingly fast. And if he searched every building of every borough, three hours is still pretty fast," u/peachesandonions comments. Maybe there's nothing to worry about after all.