Soldier Boy

alias

-Ben -Soldier Boy -America's Son (by the public) -BCL RED (by the Russians) -Hero of Heroes (by Homelander) -Traitor (by the public)

occupation

-Former soldier of the United States Armed Forces -Former superhero -Former leader of Payback -Former actor -Former associate of The Boys -Super terrorist (slandered by Vought International)

Family

(Name unknown) - Father John - Genetic Son Ryan Butcher - Genetic Grandson

Age

105 years old (cannot age due to his powers)

Real name

Benjamin (hates being called by his real name if he is not an acquaintance or family member)

Little mini story of the character

Benjamin, better known as Soldier Boy, is one of the two main antagonists (along with Stan Edgar) of the Amazon series The Boys, where he served as one of the two main antagonists (along with Homelander) of season 3 and the main antagonist of season 4. He was America's first and greatest superhero before Homelander and the former leader of the superhero team Payback. As a young man, Soldier Boy aided in the triumph of good over evil in World War II. However, it is unclear how much of that is true, as The Legend claimed his involvement in the war was Vought propaganda, while Stan Edgar actually claims the opposite by stating that he killed Germans by the dozens. With his superhero team Payback at his side, he was said to have fought for liberty and justice for all until his demise during a failed military operation in Nicaragua, with the cover story being that he heroically sacrificed his own life to save the United States from a nuclear power plant meltdown in 1984. In reality, Soldier Boy was betrayed by his team for his aggressive behavior towards them and (with Vought's approval) was sold to the Russians, who would then perform dozens of agonizing experiments on him over the next 3 decades. Like Homelander, Soldier Boy was beloved by the public, but due to the news, Starlight's recent exposure of his recent actions, and Vought's slanderous lies, his fame and reputation crumbled.

more story about soldier boy

Benjamin, also nicknamed "Ben", was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1919. The official story of Soldier Boy, according to Vought, is that he was born poor and learned the values ​​of hard work, tenacity, and bravery while growing up on the streets. In reality, Benjamin was born into a wealthy home with his distant, critical, and overbearing father, a major industrial magnate who owned half of the state's steel mills. Despite his personal wealth, Ben's father verbally abused and neglected him, but never physically beat him because he saw him as such a failure that he didn't consider him worth the effort, and Ben recalls that he used to sneak around drinking his father's cocktails to try to cope with his father's mistreatment. His father sent him to boarding school at a young age; not to make him a better person, but to get rid of him, which left Ben feeling abandoned. Unfortunately, Benjamin struggled at boarding school and eventually failed, causing his father to consider him a disappointment and declare him unworthy of bearing his name.

Early years in the American infantry

To make his father proud, Benjamin enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and approached the war department using his father's contacts to volunteer among other human subjects to be experimented on with Dr. Frederick Vought's field-tested Compound V. The experiment was successful, and he became one of the world's first and strongest survivors. He earned the nickname "Soldier Boy" and became America's first superhero, a popular sex symbol and mascot for Vought-American and the U.S. Army who reportedly fought in World War II and supposedly led the 116th Infantry Regiment on Omaha Beach to victory. However, according to Legend's claims, Vought-American used Soldier Boy primarily for wartime propaganda films and publicity shoots rather than deploying him to fight the Nazis, presumably due to how much he was worth to the company and refused to risk endangering its most valuable asset by overstepping its boundaries. For example, his appearance at a photo shoot in Normandy supposedly came two weeks after D-Day in 1944, despite Stan Edgar's claims of direct involvement in the landings. Consequently, it remains uncertain how much actual combat he experienced during the war, despite his own claims of active participation, which might be valid given his exceptional combat skills, which could also have come from the U.S. military's superhero combat training program or from Vought.

After the Second World War

In 1945, following the end of World War II, an executive order was drafted, presumably by President Harry S. Truman, to establish the date of April 28 as Child Soldier Day as a way to honor their heroic efforts during the war. However, Ben intervened and decided that the day be known as National Superhero Day as a way to honor all superheroes. [1] Ben returned home and was welcomed as a hero, with parades held across the country in his honor. Despite all he had accomplished, his father again expressed his displeasure towards his son, calling him a "cheater" who took a "shortcut" like he had done by using Compound V, something a "real man" would never do. Soldier Boy remained a major superhero for Vought for decades. In 1951, Vought released a pseudo-biographical film about Soldier Boy titled The Soldier Boy Story. It was nominated for Best Picture at the 24th Academy Awards but lost to An American in Paris. Despite this, Ben was able to have anal sex with Jane Wyman in the cloakroom. At some point, he met Stormfront during her time as Liberty, as the two founded Herogasm together in 1952. [2] Around this time, Soldier Boy was also involved in the Red Scare and testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Soldier Boy carried out several covert operations and atrocities for Vought and the US government throughout the 1960s and 1970s. For example, he brutalized and silenced civil rights activists with fire hoses during the Birmingham protests of 1963, massacred several anti-war protesters during the Kent State shootings in 1970, and was even rumored to be the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. During the 1970s, Soldier Boy would also become the leader of the superhero team Payback.

After starting his superhero team, his story as an actor

On July 12, 1982, in Queens, New York, Soldier Boy and Swatto allegedly assaulted a homeless man in a park. The homeless man wanted to press charges against the two, but then mysteriously disappeared. In 1982, Soldier Boy starred in the classic film Ghosts of Hanoi.[4] In 1983, Soldier Boy starred in the classic film Red Thunder about the Soviet-Afghan War.[5] In 1984, Soldier Boy filmed an anti-drug advertisement that was approved by the Vought Ad Council. In the advertisement, Ben warned people against drug use, stating that "anyone who does drugs is a loser." [6] However, he ran into several complications on set due to his bratty attitude and short temper, and also commented on his hypocrisy in making an anti-drug video despite the fact that he was an addict himself.

betrayal and discovery

In the same year, despite being publicly anti-drugs, Vought had Soldier Boy and the rest of Payback participate in Operation Charly, a clandestine CIA military operation that was funded by illegal cocaine trafficking and which sought to back the right-wing Nicaraguan Contras against the communist, Soviet-backed Sandinistas. During the operation, Soldier Boy displayed a carefree yet arrogant and misogynistic attitude towards the handling officer, then-Army Lieutenant Colonel Grace Mallory. He would make numerous passes at Mallory before she eventually rejected him and reacted by calling her homophobic slurs. Later, due to Swatto's carelessness, the Sandinistas and their Soviet allies were able to launch a surprise attack on Mallory's base. This, coupled with Payback's incompetence and lack of training, led to the deaths of 116 of Mallory's men and allowed the Soviets to somehow neutralize Soldier Boy, whom they then captured and transported to a secret military compound in the USSR. Despite presenting themselves as a close-knit team, the truth was that Ben was hated by the other members of Payback as he sabotaged any efforts of theirs to advance their careers and frequently physically abused them (at one point delivering a severe beating to Black Noir who had complained about Soldier Boy ruining his chance to appear on Beverly Hills Cop). One day, Stan Edgar approached Noir and told him that they felt it was time to "retire" Soldier Boy, as Vought had created a child who they believed to be more powerful and useful to the company. Noir agreed, knowing that the rest of the team (besides Gunpowder) would be more than willing to help take down their hated leader.

Betrayal and discovery part 2

Payback took the Soviet attack as an opportunity to betray Soldier Boy. After fighting off swarms of enemies, Benjamin soon found himself ambushed by his teammates who launched a brutal attack on him. Though Ben put up a good fight, even managing to burn off part of Noir's face with a burning car and cause brain damage with his shield, the team managed to render Soldier Boy unconscious using Novichok gas and then handed him over to the Russians. Vought covered up his "death", by claiming that Soldier Boy had died a hero by sacrificing himself to stop a nuclear meltdown in Ohio.

Laboratory rats

What no one in the United States knew was that the Russians had decided not to kill Soldier Boy, or perhaps they had discovered that they couldn't kill him. So instead, the Soviet Union decided to see what would kill Soldier Boy. On January 24, 1986, Russian scientists performed an experiment on Soldier Boy that involved inserting radioactive material into his body and would cause him to emit high levels of radiation from then on. It was also recorded and experimented on by Russian scientists on June 8, 1986. In this video, a scientist claims that the subject has extremely tough skin, even internally, and that it still shows high amounts of radiation. He prepares to see if the same is true of his cornea by raising a blade to his eye; however, Ben escapes his restraints and kills the scientist. In an attempt to escape, he runs for the door, but is immediately knocked unconscious when the Russians flood the room with Novichok. There is additional video footage from June 8, 1990 of the Russians performing experiments on Soldier Boy (but this could be a continuity error). In the video, the scientists fire an AK-47 into Soldier Boy's mouth and burn him with a blowtorch, but neither manages to harm him. Other mentioned experiments intended to harm Soldier Boy included sulfuric acid cocktails and other poisonous concoctions, presumably along with various other exploratory procedures.

wake up

On a mission in Russia, The Boys broke into a military facility where they were searching for the supposed superweapon to kill Homelander. Butcher opened a sealed pod and found Soldier Boy inside, alive and connected to several outlets. Soldier Boy woke up with a confused look as he broke free from his restraints. He burst out of the pod as The Boys watched in shock. As Frenchie attempted to reassure Ben, the latter's chest began to glow. Sensing what happens next, Kimiko pushed Frenchie aside before Soldier Boy unintentionally released a blast of fiery energy from his torso towards Kimiko, launching her through the nearby wall. While they were distracted with Kimiko, Soldier Boy burst through the hole and escaped the facility, ignoring further contact with The Boys.

return

Having fled the Russian facility, Soldier Boy stole a couple of clothes and eventually sneaked into an airport and illegally boarded a passenger plane bound for America. Ben arrives and wanders the streets of modern-day New York City in confusion, no longer recognizing the society he was estranged from for decades. While walking down the street in Manhattan, Soldier Boy hears Russian music on a nearby radio and begins to recall the torture and experiments he endured in Russia. Overwhelmed by his trauma, Soldier Boy's powers activate and he releases a deadly burst of radiation, killing 19 civilians and damaging several nearby buildings. With nowhere to go, Soldier Boy visits The Legend to retrieve his old suit and gain information on his girlfriend, the Crimson Countess. Before they reach his trailer, The Boys intercept their plan and tie up Countess. Soldier Boy then arrives in his suit and speaks to Butcher. Billy bargains with Soldier Boy, allowing him to confront the bound Countess in exchange for teaming up. Soldier Boy seemingly agrees and enters the trailer. Countess is shocked to see Benjamin alive before he confronts her for betraying him and letting the Russians capture him. Shocked to hear that he wasn't paid to do so, Soldier Boy laments his love for her and that despite his torture, he always held out hope that she would rescue him. Countess reveals that she never loved him and that the entire team hated him. Enraged and heartbroken, Soldier Boy releases an energy blast that kills Countess and destroys her trailer. Soldier Boy emerges from the rubble and walks away with Butcher and Hughie following behind.

Hair color

Brown

personality

In his cover story and in the eyes of the public, Soldier Boy is a patriotic hero who represents the values ​​of bravery, diligence, sacrifice, and American exceptionalism, displaying humility when congratulated for his exploits in World War II. However, in reality he is an arrogant, pompous, and chauvinistic individual, but still had a certain level of humility in his early days as he turned a holiday based on himself into a holiday that honors all superheroes. In other words, he started out as a man with noble intentions to protect and serve his country, but later descended into villainy due to power. In his childhood and youth, Soldier Boy, whose real name is Benjamin, was a troubled child, with an extremely wealthy but neglectful father, who paid little attention to his son. Undisciplined and irresponsible, he was sent to boarding school, but was kicked out for being a self-confessed "cowboy". In response, his indifferent father labeled him a disappointment and deemed him unworthy of carrying the family name. This treatment caused Benjamin to become insecure and desperate to make his father proud, and thus, in order to prove himself, he went so far as to contact his father's connections with the military to enlist in the Compound V trials run by Frederick Vought. The experiment was successful, and led to Ben becoming the world's strongest Supe. After being named Soldier Boy and returning to a hero's welcome after World War II, his father showed disgust at the fact that Ben used Compound V to become strong, and that a "real man" would not have cheated and taken the easy way out. The weight of those words left a deep mark on Ben's personality, leaving him insecure and bitter about his father's neglect. Out to spite his father and prove him wrong.