'The Boys' Season 5 quietly teases 'Vought Rising' prequel in ways we're sure you missed
The fifth and final season of 'The Boys' will eventually come to an end, but not before it teases the upcoming prequel 'Vought Rising' to a considerable degree. Over the years, the popularity of the flagship show has caused the franchise to branch out with shows such as 'Gen V.' Whereas the said spinoff was set during the supes' college years, 'Vought Rising' will illustrate the dawn of the superhero culture, set against the backdrop of 1950s New York City, while chronicling the rise of Vought Corporation. The early exploits of Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and Aya Cash's Stormfront will be prominently featured as well in the prequel, and 'The Boys' made sure to tease its fans with some references.
The third episode of the ongoing season of 'The Boys' referenced several characters who will come to play a determining role in the spinoff, such as Mason Dye's Bombsight, Will Hochman's Torpedo, and Elizabeth Posey's Private Angel. Moreover, it also featured Dr. Sameer Shah and Sister Sage explain that Soldier Boy, Vought founder Frederick Vought's wife Clara Vought, Private Angel, Bombsight, and Torpedo were among the first batch on whom V1 was successfully tested, proving to be the first iteration of Compound V. Fans would also remember that the fifth and sixth episodes of the flagship show included vintage posters and old advertisements from the 'Vought Rising' era.
An old cigarette ad featured Silver Kincaid, while Bombsight appeared in an old black-and-white diet pill commercial. 'The Boys' creator Eric Kripke recently addressed the nods to the prequel when he remarked in an interview with EW, "We started with 'Homelander wants to be a god.' Well, there are immortal characters in the show. That's Soldier Boy, that's Stormfront, there's these characters who got these early doses of Compound V. So what was that? Let's go back to the very beginning of what Vought was starting, which was not a huge concern of the storylines in Vought Rising, but we just thought it was interesting. So it all happened organically." On the other hand, Kripke teased that the Soldier Boy portrayed on the flagship show is very different from the one featured in the prequel. Most notably, the rivalry between Soldier Boy and his brother will be explored in 'Vought Rising.'
When asked about the tonality of the prequel show, Kripke explained, "It's a murder-mystery," he said of the show that's spearheaded by Paul Grellong, "and it's got that noir-ish — not Black Noir, but actual noir — movin' through the streets and femme fatales and detectives, but also heroin dens and gay bars and pill-popping and famous people. So it's got a real, learned, fun, pulpy vibe that gives it its own energy. It feels like a Pulp Fiction-y kind of mystery story." 'The Boys' Season 5 airs new episodes every Tuesday on Prime Video.
