Vought International

Biodata

Organization and Operations

The Seven

• Vought runs The Seven, its most famous superhero team. It also has hundreds of heroes working with law enforcement around the world 11 12.
• The company builds heroes’ popularity through publicity, endorsements, merchandise, and movies. Ryan describes it as having earned hundreds of billions of dollars from movies and merchandise rights 5 11.
• Madelyn is Vought’s vice president and makes decisions about recruitment and the company’s wider plans 11 17 22 39.
• Ashley heads Talent and Relations and handles superhero publicity, including Starlight’s costume and reputation 21 22 39.
• Edgar is a senior executive who oversees responses to threats and reputational crises. Ryan describes him as the man at Vought’s helm 63 124 126 134.

Publicity and Reputation

• Vought stages a live harbor “crime-fighting” broadcast for The Deep using actors, a script, and a camera crew 9.
• After A-Train kills Robin, Vought offers Hughie money and a misleading public account. Its legal team later instructs A-Train to apologize 13 20 21.
• Ashley pressures Starlight to wear a revealing costume chosen for its appeal to fans. When an edited video makes Starlight look like an aggressor, Vought works on a public response 21 22 39.
• Vought presents Ryan and Homelander’s destructive aerial fight as a superhero exercise, sends staff to address the damage, and plans to use the fight as Ryan’s public debut 28.
• After Ryan’s disappearance, Starlight requests Vought’s records of him but finds only a handful of group photographs. When Ryan returns and stops Homelander’s destructive rampage, Edgar plans to attribute the damage to a fictional alien enemy to protect Homelander’s reputation and Vought’s share price 127 134.
• Vought receives numerous interview requests for Ryan after he drives back Zod. Ryan delegates the appearances to one of the company’s shapeshifters 135.

Superhuman Research

• Madelyn tells Ryan that, unlike him, the other superheroes were created through science rather than born with their powers 39.
• Vought gives the captive Kimiko Compound V, turning her into a supe. According to Kimiko, the company is also creating supervillains so that both sides of future hero–villain conflicts will answer to it 45.
• Madelyn identifies Ryan’s inherited powers as valuable to Vought’s future. When he refuses her demand that he father superpowered children, she has Black Noir attack him; she describes Noir as a copy of Homelander 39 40.
• Dr. Baum, a former Vought researcher involved in Homelander’s laboratory upbringing, later agrees to work with Ryan on a new version of Compound V. Ryan proposes widening access to powers and collecting supes’ blood and genetic data to improve the drug 63.
• Stormfront recruits people to become supes, increasing the number available for study. A new version of Compound V developed by Baum has no apparent effect when Ryan tests it; he continues studying the drug in Baum’s laboratory 76.
• After Zod’s defeat, Ryan asks Stormfront about research into Zod’s remains and spacecraft, hoping Kryptonian biology might offer another way to grow stronger 135.

History

Vought first draws Ryan’s attention through a superhero book in which it is an investor. He recognizes its heroes as celebrities whose public image supports a lucrative business 5. He later witnesses the company filming The Deep in a scripted confrontation with supposed smugglers 9.

Madelyn visits Ryan and Becca’s secluded home to recruit Ryan into The Seven. She says Vought wants someone capable of keeping Homelander in check. Ryan agrees to join, and Madelyn takes him to Seven Tower 11 12. Vought also recruits Annie, later known as Starlight, and arranges for Ryan to bring her to the tower 17 18.

The company’s ambitions extend beyond entertainment. Homelander says Madelyn has bought off lawmakers to advance a proposal allowing superhumans into the military; Madelyn later expects the bill to pass 31 32. When a congressman opposes the plan, she directs Homelander to destroy his passenger flight over the ocean without survivors. Ryan intercepts Homelander before he can attack the plane 47 49 50.

When an unfamiliar spacecraft appears near Earth, authorities ask Vought and its supes to monitor it 76. Later, as Doomsday threatens the world, Edgar handles the fallout from a bomb that nearly killed Ryan. After Doomsday escapes containment, Edgar prepares to shelter in a stocked submarine and invites Ryan to join him; Ryan refuses to abandon Homelander and Becca 124 126. Doomsday attacks Seven Tower during Translucent’s funeral. Ryan and Doomsday disappear after their battle, and Homelander begins destroying buildings in his grief 126 127. Ryan’s return calms Homelander, while Edgar prepares a false account of the damage 134.

Relationships

• The Seven — Vought’s flagship superhero team and principal public-facing asset 5 11 12.
• Madelyn — Vice president who directs recruitment, political strategy, and efforts to control powerful supes 11 39 40 47.
• Ashley — Talent and Relations chief responsible for publicity and managing heroes’ public images 21 22 39.
• Edgar — Senior executive concerned with the company’s survival, Homelander’s reputation, and the effect of crises on its share price 63 126 134.
• Ryan — Recruited to help restrain Homelander; later resists Vought’s attempt to control his future. His prominence makes him a subject of public attention and company publicity 11 39 40 124 135.
• Homelander — Star attraction and leader of The Seven, though Vought cannot reliably control his actions. Edgar considers his public image especially important to the company’s value 10 11 26 134.
• Stormfront — Works on recruiting new supes and advises Edgar during the crisis following Ryan’s disappearance 76 127.
• Dr. Baum — Former researcher involved in raising Homelander in Vought’s laboratory; later collaborates with Ryan on Compound V research 63 76.
• Kimiko — Captive given Compound V as part of Vought’s superhuman program 45.
• Hughie — Robin’s bereaved boyfriend, to whom Vought offers money after A-Train kills her. He later joins an agency established to oppose the company 13 20 135.