The following contains spoilers for The Boys Season 3, Episode 7, “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” available on Prime Video.
In Season 3 of The Boys, A-Train’s journey has been an oscillating one filled with turbulent emotions. He’s glad Homelander called him back to The Seven, but he’s still deathly afraid of the tyrant. To make it worse, he’s been on edge with The Deep, knowing that the goofy Aquaman pastiche could slip Homelander info about A-Train’s involvement in exposing Stormfront’s Nazism, which led to her eventual death.
However, A-Train had more personal issues to deal with when the racist vigilante, Blue Hawk, kept beating on Black people in his neighborhood. Sadly, A-Train’s brother, Nate, got paralyzed in one tragic incident, which culminated in A-Train brutally murdering the cape. This shifted A-Train’s gears to that of redemption, but thanks to a nasty, unsolicited act from Vought International, his story might have taken a dark Suicide Squad twist due to his health problems.
The theory stems from A-Train suffering a heart attack after killing Blue Hawk, which was due to his abuse of Compound V. He’d been warned not to use his powers, but he felt revenge was worth it. It wasn’t just about Nate, though, because A-Train harbored guilt over killing innocents like Robin (Hughie’s girlfriend) in past accidents, so this was a way of atoning.
He woke up at a Vought hospital, grateful to be alive after he collapsed on the street. Ashley, the acting CEO and Homelander’s lackey, made it clear, however, he was only alive because they put Blue Hawk’s heart in him, which left A-Train sickened. It was all that remained after A-Train dragged the bigot through the streets at lightning-fast speed. Ashley subtly hinted he should appreciate this second chance and fall in line against traitors like Starlight. But rather than being a veiled threat, given how sinister Vought, and especially Homelander can be, it’s easy to envision the boss wiring A-Train to make him a puppet via the very transplant that saved him.
Due to his super-hearing and the constant bickering between The Deep and A-Train, Homelander may well know A-Train betrayed him, explaining why he’s been bullying A-Train all season long. Thus, just like how he imprisoned Maeve to harvest her eggs, he could have waited all season long for a moment of revenge, which can now present itself in wiring a bomb to A-Train’s new heart. In that sense, Homelander would be following DC’s Amanda Waller, who used explosive implants in the heads of her Suicide Squad members.
Once they got out of line, Waller blew them up in many comics, cartoons and movies, so Homelander can offer the same deal to his speedster, reiterating the bigot is indeed the ultimate puppet master. With Homelander cutting a white supremacist figure as of late, it’d be a meta statement on systematic racism, given A-Train’s a Black man who stood up for his community, only to be ridiculed by his boss. Ultimately, if this theory holds out, the sadistic act would be mental and physical oppression, sticking true to Homelander’s brand and how much he loves lording power and control to keep folks in line.
The Boys Season 3 is available to stream now on Prime Video. The Season 3 finale, “The Instant White-Hot Wild,” airs July 8.