A-Train (TV Series)

Reginald "Reggie" Franklin, better known as A-Train, is a major character in the 2019 Amazon TV adaptation of the comic book series The Boys, serving as a major antagonist in the first three seasons before redeeming himself and becoming a supporting character in season 4. 
He's the former archenemy of Hughie Campbell, a former member of The Seven, and the fastest man alive. He is a former corrupt speedster who was highly paranoid about staying on top and was willing to do whatever it takes to defeat his competition and remain in The Seven, until he realised that he did not get any happiness from it. 
Developing a heart condition due to his Compound V abuse, A-Train was kicked out of the Seven due to his inability to run but was recruited into the Church of the Collective. After teaming up with Hughie and Starlight to take down Stormfront, A-Train regained his position in the Seven and became determined to reinvent his image so he could retain his popularity. After feeling remorse for the increasing amount of depravity he's forced to commit by Homelander, he joins The Boys as an informant to start making things right.
He is portrayed by , who also played Lyle in Level Up, Dylan Dubrow-Hiller in Independence Day: Resurgence and voiced Quinn in Seal Team.
==Biography==
===Background===
Not much is known about A-Train's past prior to joining The Seven. He was born in 1987, and it's implied that he grew up poor during his childhood, which explains his ego. At some point, he became a member of Teenage Kix, where he entered into a relationship with another member named Popclaw. During his time in The Seven, he abused a chemical substance called Compound V (also the source of his and all the other superheroes’ powers) to maintain his status as the fastest man alive.
===The Boys===
====Season One====
In the first season, while his abuse of Compound V continues, it causes him to accidentally run through and killed Hughie's girlfriend, Robin. The Vought International covers up the incident, stating at a press conference that A-Train was at a robbery and that Robin was in the middle of the street when she died when, according to Hughie, she was one step off the curb. Vought offers Hughie bribing money to keep A-Train's mistake a secret, but he refuses to take it and, after being approached by Billy Butcher, decides to help him plant a bug on the Vought Tower to spy on The Seven (especially Homelander), staging the operation as a requirement of a personal apology from A-Train for killing his girlfriend.
As A-Train arrives (still covered in blood in Hughie’s mind), he very lazily and half-heartedly “apologizes” to Hughie (obviously not regretting what he did), which Hughie very sarcastically “accepts” and, exchanging a handshake, joyfully stares him down (the operation, in turn, ends in failure and ultimately results in Translucent's death by the hands of Hughie).
A-Train then abuses more Compound V as his race with another speedster, Shockwave, approaches, despite warnings from his girlfriend Popclaw. He wins the race, and Compound V ensures he is, yet again, the fastest man in the world. Despite Vought and his brother Nathan warning A-Train about abusing Compound V, he continues to do so to heal his leg after it was shattered by Kimiko Miyashiro, The Female. However, the abuse leads him to have a heart attack while he is fighting Starlight and Hughie.
====Season Two====
In the second season, he is seen in a hospital bed recovering from the fight and is being overseen by Starlight until he surprises her, making a full recovery. However, it seems that his recovery was not fully completed, as he now suffers from intense heart palpitations when he speeds up. Because of these health issues, Homelander kicks him out of The Seven and replaces him with Shockwave. While on the movie set of "Dawn of the Seven," The Deep approaches and recruits A-Train as a member of the Church of the Collective.
He is then having lunch with The Deep and Alastair Adana at the renewal center. Alastair asks them both about their thoughts, to which Deep reveals that he thought A-Train was jealous of him and wanted to drown him for the longest time, but also admits he doesn't want to feel that way anymore. A-Train starts to freak out and tries to leave but stops once Alastair reveals that he knows about A-Train being kicked out of The Seven, his heart condition, and his abuse of Compound V. He also tells him that Shockwave will be the next A-Train, as A-Train is a brand, and Reggie is "just another nobody from the South Side of Chicago.” Alastair then offers to help A-Train get back into The Seven, but he must let Deep tell him his truths.
A-Train is now a full member of the Church of the Collective and attends Alastair's birthday party. He gives Deep a pet fish as an apology, and he accepts the gift. Alastair arrives and tells him that Eagle the Archer is a traitor. When A-Train asks why he is a traitor, Alastair explains that he refused to comply with the program, leaving him even more suspicious about the religious group. A-Train and Deep are later seen in a bar and watching NNC news, where Eagle states that the Church kicked him out because he refused to cut ties with his mother and claims that they leaked private information to make him look bad. A-Train questions Deep about why he is so quick to turn on his friend, but Deep avoids the question and asks the bartender to change the channel to the Congress hearings. As they watch the hearings, people in the courtroom have their heads explode, shocking both A-Train and Deep watching the massacre.
A-Train ended up helping The Boys by giving them leaked information about Stormfront, which was a big help as The Boys had no other idea on how to defeat her. This might show a redemption arc, but he mainly did it for personal reasons. Shockwave was one of the people killed in the courtroom massacre, so A-Train returns to The Seven.
====Season Three====
Nearly a year following his return to the Seven, A-Train fears for his position due to his heart condition preventing him from using his speed. At the premiere of Dawn of the Seven, he briefly encounters Hughie and mocks him, and later dodges questions from the press about his return to racing. Following the premiere, A-train decides to rebrand himself to remain famous, telling Ashley that he wants to touch his African-American heritage to appeal to the black community. Despite his ideas being rejected, A-Train rebrands his costume to show at Homelander's birthday, where he is further mocked by his team leader for his weight gain. He later witnesses Homelander's rant about his superiority and feeling like a puppet for Vought, which resurges his popularity.
Meeting with his brother, Nathan dares him to confront the supe Blue Hawk for ruthlessly killing an innocent black man in the neighborhood. Though he is initially reluctant, A-Train agrees and meets with Homelander to propose cracking down on Blue Hawk for the incident. However, the Deep intervenes and persuades Homelander to reject it, resulting in A-Train confronting his teammate. After his little scuffle with the Deep, A-Train is greeted by Supersonic, who reveals that he wants him to join in on Starlight's plan to take down Homelander. Following Stan Edgar's removal from Vought, A-Train decides to tell Homelander about Starlight's plans, resulting in Supersonic being killed.
He is later confronted by Starlight for his betrayal, who calls him a coward for trying to impress someone who utterly hates him before leaving. Ashley then speaks with A-Train, revealing that she managed to get Blue Hawk to come in for a meeting to talk about the situation. While Blue Hawk believes that he was just doing his job, A-Train suggests that he make an apology to the black community. Blue Hawk agrees, and A-Train takes him to a local community, where he makes the apology on camera, but several citizens express their anger at his murder of an unarmed black man. A-Train then witnesses Blue Hawk attack Nathan and several others out of anger, but manages to stop him before allowing him to leave when he sees his brother lying unconscious.
Taking Nathan to the hospital, A-Train learns from a doctor that his brother will never walk again and sees an interview with Blue Hawk about how he stood up to Antifa. Angered at what happened to his brother, he meets with Ashley to get charges placed on Blue Hawk, but she refuses and calls him out on his hypocrisy. Despite his realization of his actions, he decides to kill the supe and travels to Herogasm to confront him. At the mansion, A-Train encounters Hughie and gives an apology for killing Robin, but the latter punches him in response. Following this, Soldier Boy destroys the mansion by using his energy blast, leaving many people dead or injured in the process.
A-Train survives the blast and confronts a terrified Blue Hawk outside, grabbing him by the throat before dragging him across the concrete using his superhuman speed. Stopping on the middle road, A-Train succeeds in killing Blue Hawk but suffers from a heart attack before falling unconscious. He survives due to Ashley's assistance, with doctors replacing his heart with Blue Hawk, thus allowing him to run again without complications. After five days in the hospital, A-Train meets with Nathan and denies killing Blue Hawk. Nathan, however, knows that he committed the act and calls him a murderer before telling him to get out.
Returning to the Seven's tower, A-Train, the Deep, and Ashley hear Starlight's warning for them to evacuate the building since Soldier Boy is arriving to kill Homelander. Before they can, Homelander arrives, revealing that he killed Black Noir and chastising A-Train for killing one of their own. Upon making Ashley remove her wig, much to the shock of A-Train and the other members of The Seven, Homelander reminds the three that they are not his family, and he doesn't need them. Following the confrontation, A-Train remains in the Seven with the Deep as Queen Maeve goes into hiding despite being assumed dead by the public.
====Season Four====
Around 6 months after the finale of season 3, A-Train is still a member of The Seven, although he's more somber and wary around his fellow teammates, especially Homelander. During one meeting, Homelander commands The Deep to "blow A-Train", much to the shock and disgust of both A-Train and The Deep. However, as both are afraid of the possible consequences of disobeying, they reluctantly follow his command, with The Deep getting on his knees and A-Train standing in order to let him. Both quickly show signs of relief when Homelander tells Deep to get off his knees, and the two sit back down as Homelander begins complaining about how no one has the backbone to question or talk back to him. As he leaves, Deep tells A-Train he wasn't going to do it but gets waved off by the latter who doesn't want to hear it.
Later, A-Train is in a building with The Deep and Black Noir II, as well as 3 of Homelander's biggest supporters (which includes Todd) when Sister Sage shows up. A-Train greets her and asks her what she's doing there, to which she responds that Homelander recruited her as he was "tired of being surrounded by morons". After she says this, Homelander himself arrives and gives a short speech thanking his supporters for their "sacrifice" before ordering A-Train, Deep, and Noir to beat them to death with the bats they brought. Noir is the first to act, swinging and instantly killing one of the supporters, followed by Deep who begins to do the same, while A-Train stands there conflicted. Todd tries to run away but A-Train gets in his way, albeit showing reluctance and guilt after Noir kills him. Afterwards, the 3 are sitting around in silence waiting for orders until A-Train is told to bring the bodies to the courthouse where Homelander's trial is being held, which he does. There, a fight is unfolding between Homelander's supporters and Starlight's. When the crowd clears, it appears the Homelander supporters dropped off by A-Train were killed by the Starlighters, thus framing them for murder.
Following this, A-Train is seen filming for a movie that depicts his "origin story". However, he's displeased with this as his brother who helped train him is replaced, and the script is written to make him seem more like a stereotypical person of color who's saved from the ghetto by a white man. As he walks back to his trailer after shooting a scene, he's approached by Black Noir II who tells him that he's conflicted with murdering Homelander's supporters as it was the first time he's actually killed someone. He then states he's "down to ride the wave" but he wants to know what the original Noir's motivation was, to which A-Train responds he was a braindead maniac. He tells Noir II to keep his mouth shut and do what he's told before walking into his trailer.
Another time, A-Train is walking in the park with his nephews, telling them about the time he "saved" a theater full of people from a hostage situation, but is then confronted by Nathan who's still mad at him for murdering Blue Hawk. He then exposes A-Train in front of the boys, telling them that all his saves were scripted and never real before stating he's not a real hero and he doesn't want his nephews anywhere near him before taking them away. Saddened, A-Train then leaves. He heads to The Boys HQ to meet Starlight and Hughie, giving them security footage exonerating the framed Starlighters as thanks for not confronting him at the park in front of his family as he knows the both of them were watching him at the time. Starlight then tells him she would have blasted him if it weren't for Hughie and he would have deserved it, to which he agrees before running out.
At a meeting where Sister Sage is appointed as CEO of Vought, thus replacing Ashley, A-Train is sent a text from "Nathan" who asks to meet up so they can talk. When he goes to meet him, it turns out it was actually Mother's Milk who hijacked Nathan's phone. M.M tells A-Train that he has video of him giving Hughie and Annie the footage that cleared the framed Starlighters and that if he wanted, he can expose him, but states he feels like he doesn't have to as he can tell A-Train is struggling with the guilt of his actions, and thus offers him a chance to make things right by becoming an informant for The Boys. A-Train agrees and tells M.M that Homelander is meeting with Neuman, so M.M and Hughie infiltrate and discover they plan on assassinating Robert Singer. Hughie is discovered by Homelander and almost gets killed, but is saved by A-Train who managed to maintain his cover.
Hughie later contacts A-Train and meets up with him, asking him to get a vial of Compound V in order to save his dad. A-Train a first denies this request as Sage is starting to suspect him of being the one that leaked the footage, but Hughie tells him off saying he owes him after killing Robin and that every terrible thing that happened to them started with him. He relents when Hughie promises that if he does this, they'll be even. A-Train then goes and gets into Homelander's apartment and manages to get a vile of Compound V, but is discovered by Ashley who's also in the apartment. A-Train tells her that they're both in trouble if either one of them is found out by Homelander, so they compromise and make a promise to look out for each other. He meets with Hughie and gives him the Compound V, stating that Hughie lied about being willing forgive him. Hughie admits he's right and he wasn't originally going to, but changed his mind, telling A-Train they're good. He then shakes his hand, thus officially making peace between the two.
At Vought's Fan Festival, A-Train starts to panic when Sage puts even more pressure on him, implying she knows he's the leak. He goes to Ashley and confesses that he's the leak, asking her to somehow get Sage off his back. She refuses at first, saying she doesn't want any part of this, but he tells her they made a promise and they're in this together. If he goes down, he'll make sure she goes down with him. In turn, at a meeting where A-Train sees Sage and Tek Knight secretly talking, Ashley frames Cameron Coleman as the leak which results in The Seven killing him, much to A-Train's horror.
A-Train calls and confides in Mother's Milk, telling him about what happened to Cameron Coleman and expresses terror at the possibility of being found out. After calming down, he tells M.M about seeing Sage and Tek Knight talking, as well as a meet and greet being held at Tek Knight's mansion. When The Boys infiltrate the mansion in order to find out what Tek Knight and Sage are planning, A-Train is coerced by The Female into rushing M.M to the hospital after he experiences a panic attack when shooting Sage. When A-Train does so, a boy sees him and smiles, causing him to smile back in turn before rushing back to Tek Knight's mansion.
After this, A-Train later takes pictures of Sage handing files to someone and sends them to The Boys. He then meets with Ashley in her office where she's drinking in despair while watching a report on Cameron Coleman's death and tells A-Train how she fired her assistant because she wants everyone to get away from Vought for their safety. She then suggests they could run away together, but A-Train declines and tries to get her to focus before leaving. He later sees Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight entering the apartment where Sage gave the files and meets up with M.M to question why he isn't there with them, only to find out M.M plans on going to Belize with his family in order to run away. A-Train gives him a pep talk and tells him how the night he took him to the hospital, he saw that boy who smiled at him and how that felt better than anything he did at Vought because for once he didn't hate himself, saying that's thanks to Mother's Milk. He then says this Supe War isn't going to just stay in the U.S and sooner or later will come to Belize.
Afterwards, A-Train and Mother's Milk go back to The Boys HQ where The Deep and Black Noir II are fighting Butcher and Starlight. A-Train saves Annie, but blows his cover in the process. He then briefly fights with Deep before Annie takes over and pummels him and slams a weight on his face while M.M saves Butcher from Noir by shooting him out the window. After the fight, A-Train immediately leaves and heads to Vought where he meets with Ashely one last time. He tells her how Deep and Noir know he's the leak and that this is their chance to leave before Homelander finds out. She declines to go with him, but reminds A-Train to cut out his tracking chip before he goes. Homelander is informed A-Train was the leak and how no one knows where he or his family is as he's taken them with him.
==Personality==
A-Train, like most superheroes are in secret, was initially arrogant, narcissistic, hypocritical, ruthless, careless, and immature and showed little to no remorse for his crimes. For instance, when he accidentally killed Hughie's girlfriend Robin, he joked about her death and even taunted Hughie about it several times, although there is a possibility this was a form of denial and a way to mentally disassociate himself from what he did. Regardless, he was very ruthless, brutal, and sadistic in his methods to get what he wants, threatening to brutally kill Hughie’s father if he doesn’t comply, beating the Female within inches of her life, and most gruesomely dragging Blue Hawk across the ground at super-speed, giving him a slow and painful death.
Unlike his comic book counterpart however, who was completely irredeemable and remorseless, the TV series A-Train has many redeeming and humanizing qualities. Behind his arrogant persona, he is quite insecure, at one point constantly stress-eating to cope with the fact he could no longer run like he used to and was losing relevance. He also spared Hughie and Starlight after they saved his life from a heart attack and even helped them expose Stormfront, although he mainly did the latter out of spite due to her racism.
A-Train also looked up to and deeply loved his older brother Nathan, the latter being his mentor and coach and helping him get the fame he has today. He also cares about his nephews and truly wanted to be a person they looked up to. When Nathan was crippled by Blue Hawk, he was utterly enraged and hypocritically demanded that charges be pressed against him, despite the fact that he himself killed several people and never faced justice, something his manager Ashely Barrett called him out for. He also loved his girlfriend Popclaw, being heartbroken when Homelander forces him to kill her, but took little to no responsibility for her death and instead blamed The Boys for blackmailing her into betraying him. A-Train would further spiral into sadness when Nathan disowned him for murdering Blue Hawk, as the latter wanted him to be brought to justice, not killed. Although A-Train finally got back everything he wanted—his fame, recognition, and title as the fastest man—he lost the respect and lives of everyone he ever cared about in return.
Ultimately, when he loses everything he held dear to him, he finally understands the pain he put others through, genuinely apologizes to Hughie for killing Robin, and even breaks his Compound V addiction for good, starting the path to becoming a better person.
As of season 4, A-Train is more remorseful than he's ever been before, showing reluctance and guilt in taking part in the deaths of Todd and Cameron Coleman. He's come to realize that his fame won't or ever has helped make him happy. Dealing with the consequences of being disowned by his brother, who was the person who mattered most to him, has deeply affected him, realizing he never truly appreciated him until he was hurt. The desire to atone to his brother and his life of constant selfishness and unaccountability drove A-Train to finally flip and help The Boys, which is likely a rational choice, since his previous loyalties to Homelander only forced him to be a murderer and live a miserable existence under the psychopath's endless abuse and imminent chance of execution for any or no reason. 
As an informant for The Boys, he's gone so far as to save Hughie from Homelander, steal a vial of Compound V for Hughie's dad, and rush Mother's Milk to the hospital, all of which wouldn't have benefited himself in any way. Despite this, A-Train has been shown to start enjoying the feeling of being seen as a true hero. When he took M.M to the hospital, a young boy smiled at him in admiration and he smiled back, telling Mother's Milk that that moment felt better than anything he ever did at Vought despite there being no screaming fans or cameras as for once he didn't hate himself.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*A-Train is a villainous parody of The Flash.
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