The great irony is that The Boys comic would've worked better if it was set in a futuristic, cyberpunk world where governments barely exist, if at all, and corporations in some cases buy the government or take over the role of the government, like Shinra in Final Fantasy 7, or the Trade Federation in Star Wars. You can have entire swathes of the country ruled directly by Vought corporate magnates, patrolled by Vought soldiers, and Vought superheroes act as the local law enforcement leaders. Then you can have the Boys be a remnant of some old CIA unit that refused to die as the US government fell apart, and they're working against the Vought heroes and the Vought company.
Hard disagree. The world is internally consistent and doesn’t violate its own precepts. A lot of people (once again, who didn’t read the full run) found it confusing because the reader is dropped in halfway through the story when Hughie is recruited. Towards the latter half of the run is where you start learning the backstories of The Boys, their opponents, and where everyone and everything fits in to the greater story arc.
It isn't consistent, from where I see it.
I mean, at the end of the day, the Boys are just another group of Supes dressed in black trenchcoats, picking on lower-level Supes that dress like retards.
But I do agree with the idea that it doesn't violate its own precepts. It's just not consistent with setting in in a world similar to the real world. Taking the story's own precepts only, then yes, it's very consistent. Most Supes outside of the Boys are either useless, pyscopathic, racist, or some other -ist that would make them pariahs if not for Vought running PR for them.
The only thing I would change is that Vought would just be one company among many that field Supes. Many corporations would be fielding their own superhero teams. It'd be like what if the Justice League and the Avengers both exist in the same world, with the former being backed by Wayne Enterprises and the latter by Stark Industries.
Making Vought the only corporation with superheroes just makes zero sense to me, especially in the context of modern American capitalism, where the name of the game is competition.
Vought is enormously powerful, to the point that they are able to insert a VP entirely under their control, and plan the assassination of the (anti-supes-in-defense) President. Their control of most of the supes in the US gives them enormous power in Washington.
That makes zero fucking sense. Especially in a post-Cold War scenario where the US Government was very powerful. Not only that, but VPs are selected by the party of the president, it's not like say, the Philippines, where the VP and Presidential elections are separate things, and an opposing party VP can win the seat and oppose the current president. In the USA, VPs are selected by the presidential candidates, and they only get in if the presidential candidate they support wins.
So if the president fucking hates Supes, then the VP would also be someone who hates Supes. Not only that, but the post-Cold War US Government would've probably nationalized Supes to prevent private parties from controlling them. And if Vought refuses, they'd be labeled enemies of the state. Especially in the post-9/11 world where defying the state on matters of national security (which Supes are inherently involved in, since they're living weapons made to defend the populace) would be tantamount to treason.
It just makes me think that Ennis didn't know how the fuck the US government runs.
They also have a rival, Godolkin, and are able to hire mercs with DU ammo, stinger missiles and flamethrowers to wipe him and his teams out without consequence when he starts training more supes against their wishes.
Last I checked, Godolkin was a subsidiary of Vought, not their rival. During a confrontation between the Godolkin school and the Boys, a squadron of Vought choppers arrived with James Stillwell leading them; John Godolkin tells his men to stand down, expecting James to help them.
Unfortunately, Godolkin found out, too late, that James was there to betray them and slaughter them, not help them. After the Vought troops slaughter the Godolkin Supes, James tells Butcher that "We can clean up our own shit." Implying that the Godolkin school and its mess was of Vought's creation, and Vought had the right of way in dealing with them.
That literally does happen in the comic, though. Russia has a superpower team, Godolkin has multiple rival teams, there’s an orthodox rabbi superhero, etc.
The point is that the US government relies on Vought to keep compound V under wraps and that’s a big part of their leverage over the body politic.
That makes zero fucking sense. If Compound V was that important, the Feds would've nationalized it long ago. It would be a government secret, and they'd have multiple corporations with V. Not just Godolkin, which was a subsidiary of Vought.
Vought would realistically just be one out of many corporations making superheroes for the Feds. Just as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and Anduril work for the government.
And the moment the Vought superheroes pull that "stunt" with them being led by Homelander to take over the government, the Feds won't mobilize the army first; they'll have the superheroes of other corporations try to stop them, with the military held in reserve in the odd case the other superheroes from the other non-Vought corporations fail.
The Boys’ job isn’t to kill supes, it’s to use blackmail to keep them and Vought in line, and keep Supes and Vought out of national defense. They will administer beatdowns or destroy the reputations of Supes who get out of line, but only as a last resort (remember they may be super strong but none of them are super resilient or have super healing). It’s Butcher’s personal crusade to kill Supes and his going ‘off-mission’ is what brings the final confrontation to a head, after The Boys splinter over his leadership (which he intends to happen so they won’t unite to stop him).
Realistically, the Feds wouldn't stop at that. Either they would agree with Butcher and have the Supes as a whole designated as threats to the country and slaughtered like animals, or they'd force Vought to hand over all the formular for Compound V and force all Supes to sign some kind of national registration for all superheroes, and any one of them that acts out of line would immediately be tagged as a hostile and chased down by other Supes and law enforcement or the military.
The Feds realistically wouldn't tolerate Vought having a monopoly on superheroes.
The only way the Vought monopoly on Supes can work is if the entirety of the government is owned by Vought. As in, imagine that most people, including an unbroken succession of presidents, the Supreme Court, and at least over half of Congress, are on Vought's side. Then I can see them working. Then you can have some rogue CIA agents fund the Boys behind closed doors, while the president directly supports Vought and shields them from any criticism.
