The Boys is one of the most exciting shows currently available to stream. It’s the right blend of gore, satire, action, comedy, drama, and complex characters--on both sides of the battlefield. The Boys Season 1 was a massive hit for Amazon Prime Video, which means Season 2 has to be even bigger and better. Part of showrunner Eric Kripke’s plans for Season 2 includes adding new characters like Stormfront played by Aya Cash, and this new Supe could be an even bigger villain than Homelander (Antony Starr).
Aya Cash’s last major role was as Gretchen on You’re The Worst, a serues that made Aya Cash very familiar with dark but funny roles. Gretchen was complicated, messy, and a big disaster at times—traits we’re sure Cash will bring to Stormfront, who very much seems like a very sinister character. The Boys excels at dark humor, so we expect Stormfront to be terrible while still bringing many comedic moments to the series.
Let’s get to know this Boys character before she starts yelling white pride throughout Season 2. I’ll be discussing major plot points of The Boys comics and season 1, so expect spoilers.
Stormfront’s Comic Book Origins Tie-In-To Nazi Germany
In The Boys comic, Stormfront’s public fictionalized backstory is that he’s a reincarnation of Vikings. However, in reality, he was created in Nazi Germany around 1938. He was a Hitler Youth that the German government experimented on to make into a super soldier during World War II. He was the first successful Compound V recipient. He became so powerful and dangerous that even Hitler’s adviser wanted him destroyed. Instead, the creator of V decided to take Stormfront to America.
Stormfront’s genetics were used to help create Homelander and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Stormfront was part of a group called Payback. Payback is a group very similar to Marvel’s Avengers, but without the mass popularity. Payback ranks second in popularity in comparison to The Seven, and many of the Payback members tried at one point to join The Seven. Stormfront isn’t the official leader of Payback, but he uses his intimidation skills to control the group.
Stormfront is very racist and still maintains many of the Nazi beliefs: He still worships Hitler, sees himself as part of the superior race, and is a big fan of genocide. The name Stormfront also comes from the neo-Nazi and white nationalist internet forum of the same name.
Comic Book Stormfront And TV Stormfront Are Very Different
Obviously, comic Stormfront and TV Stormfront have very different genders, but the differences don’t end there. Comic Stormfront is considerably older than Homelander and on his same level power wise. However, in an Entertainment Weekly article, Antony Starr revealed that Stormfront has old school beliefs, but very modern. She’s social media savvy and knows how to use that to push her agenda.
Aya Cash also revealed in that interview that Stormfront knows how to challenge Homelander without getting into a physical fight. As Aya Cash puts it:
[He’s] used to everyone being scared of him. She matches him…That’s not to say she doesn’t understand his power and tiptoe around it sometimes, but she’s also willing to challenge him. Ultimately, I think the dynamic between the two is terrifying and will change who Homelander is.
There hasn’t been any mentions yet of any other Payback superheroes appearing in The Boys season 2 cast, so it’s likely that the TV version of the character joins The Seven to make up for one of the members no longer in commission. This would explain why Stormfront would be a direct challenge to Homelander and considered “a nuclear bomb that goes off in the Seven.” She has an agenda that involves pushing Vought more towards their original ideology. Stormfront also doesn’t crave the fame and attention that so many Supes desire.
TV Stormfront won’t have the Nazi origins but instead will be more tied to White Nationalist beliefs and ideas. She uses her social media skills to recruit and manipulate people into her ways of thinking and movement. Stormfront is also a feminist, something that comic Stormfront is definitely not.
There is also some mystery surrounding the character, a similarity shared with the comic version. Vought hid her entire Nazi past from the American public, and now it seems that TV version has a similar veil of secrecy surrounding her. In the EW interview, Cash mentions that Stormfront seems like one thing but viewers discover that she’s another. This possibly means that like with the comics, Stormfront’s ties to White Nationalism is hidden from the public, only for more of those beliefs to slowly be revealed through the course of The Boys Season 2.
Stormfront’s Powers And Abilities Makes Her Similar To Thor
The Boys parodies many Marvel and DC comic characters. It takes a critical look at the comic book world and presents The Boys version of very popular superheroes. Stormfront is similar to Marvel’s Thor and DC’s Shazam, at least in terms of powers and abilities. Stormfront’s powers include super strength, weather manipulation, flight, electricity manipulation, and shoots lightning bolts from the mouth.
We’re not sure if The Boys series will keep these powers or alter them a little to match the character changes, but it’s likely that all the powers connected to Thor and Shazam! will transport over from the comic to the series. We expect manipulation of the weather, electricity, and lightning bolts from the mouth to make up a huge part of Aya Cash’s Stormfront powers.
Stormfront Presents A Challenge To Homelander
The EW article talks mainly about Stormfront being a big problem for Homelander and The Seven. She most likely challenges their authority, but she might also challenge their reputation. The Boys viewers know that Supes, especially The Seven, are very shady and immoral characters. However, the public still sees them as these great powerful superheroes that save the day. We could see Stormfront behaving in ways that hurt the Seven’s reputation, especially if she does join it. She might also use social media to present Homelander in a way that could turn the public against him.
Stormfront’s Appearance May Expand The Boys’ TV World
We have no clue how The Boys plans to use Stormfront, but she may act as a way to expand the series’ universe. The comic book has other subsets of superhero groups. The Seven is like Justice League, Payback is like The Avengers, and The G-Men are like X-Men. If my theory is right about TV Stormfront being part of The Seven, then if she survives into season 3, she might break off from The Seven and build her own group, leading to Payback being added to The Boys and a major set of opponents for the next season.
The TV version of Stormfront and the comic version of the character seem like they’ll have the same DNA, but we’ll meet a more modernized version in Amazon’s The Boys. I really enjoyed Aya Cash on You’re The Worst so I’m intrigue to see what she brings to The Boys world and this character. You can stream the first season of The Boys on Amazon Prime. Season 2 of The Boys is expected to debut in summer 2020.
