Vought-American

## **History**

Vought American is an American Megacorporation involved in Superheroes, Pharmaceuticals, military contracts, entertainment, food and others. Vought began in the 1930’s, Frederick Vought was a German scientist and businessman, who initially worked with Abraham Erskine on Nazi Superhuman projects following the rise of Hynkel. Erskine was jewish and realizing he was at danger of being purged, fled with other scientists including Jacob Barnhardt to the US. Vought remained and was tasked with continuing his notes. Johann Schmidt, the first successful test subject from Erskine’s research, funded the project. While Erskine’s formula was bight blue in color, Vought’s was Bright Red, leading it to be nicknamed Woden’s Blood. Allegedly a crystalline compound based on the Philosopher’s Stone was used in its creation which was likely made at the cost of many humans lives. The first successful trial was on Vought’s own wife Klara Risinger and while this was a success, the Nazis were unwilling to use women beyond serving as Spies, running Concentration Camps, and experiments. Risinger’s gender was deemed unsuitable for propaganda purposes. Instead the second success was used. Albrecht Krieger, Vought and Risinger’s own adopted son was that second success. Taking on the identity of Captain Nazi, though also known as Master Man. He was created in Late 1941, intentionally intended to parallel Captain America.

Krieger’s first act was to attack a ship taking UK Prime Minister Rupert Catskill to Washington. He was intercepted by Captain America, Bucky, the Human Torch, Toro and the Sub-Mariner, who repelled him but his strength meant that none could defeat him alone. It was Rupert Catskill who suggested they remain a team and referred to them as the Invaders. They went off to search for Krieger after he was lost at sea. A boat containing Jacob Freeman and his grandson Freddy Freeman found Krieger. His costume had been torn, o they did not know his allegiances. He awoke and killed Jacob Freeman. His attack crippled Freddy Freeman when Captain Marvel arrived on the scene. Marvel was forced to share his powers with Freddy Freeman to save his life, transforming him into Captain Marvel Jr while also giving Krieger time to escape just as the Invaders arrived.

Krieger clashed with many allied superhumans, not only American Superheroes  but the Soviet Superheroes of the original Red Guardian Aleksey Lebedev and Starfire(Not to be confused the with later Teen Titans member of the same name). Risinger was given a propaganda identity as Warrior Woman, which she appeared as, surprising the Invaders and leading to their defeat during a battle against Captain Nazi. Hynkel insisted on a wedding between the two, their true relationship not publicly known and ignored by Hynkel, who wanted to send the message that they were the beginning of a new superior race. Both were disgusted at this as was Vought. The Invaders broke free and the wedding called off. This greatly angered, Vought, Risinger and Krieger. Vought now wanted to leave the Nazi Party. He saw the tide turning. Vought’s fellow scientist Josef Merkwurdgliebe calculated the Nazis could not possibly win at that stage and suggested they defect. The two made contact with agent Marie Fischer who passed this onto the Strategic Science Reserve. Merkwurdfliebe, Vought, Risinger, and Krieger successfully defected. Nazi Propaganda had their work cut out for them, making the very figure they had promoted now an enemy of the state. To many it was a clear sign of the end. The Aryan Ubermensch had abandoned them. Evidently the Superman was American.

Defecting in 1942, Vought was surprised and saddened to learn of Erskine’s death, but nonetheless agreed to work towards recreating his research. Captain America was suspicious of Krieger, but the SSR agreed to keep an eye on him, surprisingly he did not act out and neither did Risinger but the Allies refused to just send them back out onto the field either for obvious reasons. Vought requested the experimental compound be tested on African Americans just as it had been tested on Jewish people. The result was the now infamous experiments at Camp Cathcart, which were allowed to happen largely due to Vought meeting businessman Clarence Potter, who provided them with funding from his bank in Bedford Falls. While there were a handful of survivors and successful super soldiers, they were deployed and many killed with the exception of Isaiah Bradley. Bradley raided enemy lines and while he was rescued, he remained in Europe until the end of the war. Bradley was never officially called a Superhero, though he wore a Captain America uniform he made himself.  Vought’s first true attempt at recreating the Captain America serum was appropriately named Citizen V(Real Name: John Watkins). Vought also had some knowledge of Nazi experiments of Trioxin, which helped to counter the release of such weapons. Vought promoted another hero, Soldier Boy as Citizen V’s Sidekick, the Bucky to Citizen V’s Captain America. Soldier Boy, actually a volunteer named William Burnside, had no powers of his own, at least at first. He and Citizen V had photoshoots on the site of real battles such as D-Day and the liberation of Concentration Camps. Then in 1944, a group of Vought Sponsored superheroes, “The Avenging Squad” met with Greg Mallory. An unauthorized scouting mission resulted in the German forces learning their position, precipitating the Battle of the Bulge. The untrained Superheroes were killed, Citizen V was still alive with half his body missing when Greg Mallory found him and finished him off with a grenade, more out of blaming him for the massacre than a mercy kill. Greg Mallory reported the event to his superiors, gaining a disgust for Superheroes which he would pass on to his daughter Grace. Vought came under fire for this, especially when the word got out to the public and Citizen V’s name became synonymous with Superheroes meeting bad ends during the war, his fate repeated as a warning to cocky superheroes. Captain America and others often warned that it is not enough to have abilities and jump into a war zone. You must be trained as well, pointing out that many heroes started off with small crimes and thugs, or had martial arts training, including himself. It did result in one thing and that was the promotion of Soldier Boy from sidekick to the main role, after he received the experimental Compound V and survived. A chance meeting with Captain America convinced him to break away from his propaganda tour to become an actual hero like the Captain had, which caused him to eclipse Citizen V in popularity and become the biggest Vought success story to date. By the end of the war, Citizen V had been largely forgotten in favor of Soldier Boy.

Near the end of the War, Captain America had disappeared, presumed dead and Soldier Boy was popular enough to be declared his successor by the government, though he retained his normal identity. Mike Thingmaker suggested declaring April 28 Captain America Day in honor of the thought dead hero but Solider Boy intervened and insisted it instead be “National Superhero Day” which was granted. Many Heroes agreed that despite not liking Soldier Boy as a person, that this was something Captain America would have done, though he may have wanted to make it a celebration of all Heroes.

Post-War, Most Nazi Scientists were given the option of joining Operation Paper Clip, which Merkwurdgliebe accepted. Vought declined and instead decided to pursue a potential industry, inspired to do so by Clarence Potter. Vought appealed to Galtists such as Andrew Ryan and Howard Roark with the idea that Compound V could help bring about their envisioned Utopia. This resulted in the creation of the company Vought Pharmaceuticals.

Ryan’s undersea City of Rapture was under construction and Vought had a shipment of Compound V delivered, the Soviet Union, fearing an attack from Rapture, intercepted the shipment and sank it, resulting in the seabed mutating and producing a substance called ADAM which became commonplace in Rapture once it was discovered. They therefore denied more Compound V in favor of studying this new mutation. Vought himself politely declined a place at Rapture, claiming his work was not yet done on the surface. He began to look into other ventures. At this time, Superheroes had come under fire due to accusations of Communism beginning in 1945 and leading to the Superhero Relocation Program in 1948. This led many superheroes, especially the Vought created and owned, to retire, though many operated in secret such as Klara Risinger as the heroine Liberty, Soldier Boy and Albrecht Krieger now in the identity of Stormfront. Vought had the foresight to label his company a Pharmaceutical Company and fell back on this. The company did produce the motion picture *The Soldier Boy Story*, which nearly won Best Picture in 1951 but lost. The cost of making the film and the critical backlash from the government who accused it of being un-American just as they were accusing costumed heroes of the same thing soured Vought on the motion picture business and he vowed to never make another film again, retreating instead to producing medicine. The result was the disastrous Vitameatavegamin, said to contain all the nutrition of Vitamins, Meat, Vegetables and Minerals. It also contained 23% Alcohol and tasted awful, which contributed to its failure in 1952. That same year, Soldier Boy and Risinger under the guise of Liberty founded the event Herogasm, where many of the then retired superheroes participated in acts of hedonistic pleasure. This was kept hidden but supported by Vought and continued after the ban was lifted.

A Failing Company, Vought’s time to return came in 1960 when Winston Deavor came onto the scenes. Deavor’s father had owned DevTech, a small electronics company bought out by Vought, which helped to provide the gadgets of many heroes during the Golden Age. He had a direct line to a handful of heroes(Symbolically represented by a red phone, a common tradition of such lines) which he attempted to use during a break in at his home. Since it was during the ban, no heroes arrived and he was murdered. Winston believed that had the ban not occurred he would have been saved. When he saw a family of Supers in action, later called the Incredibles, he decided to help promote Heroes again, beginning with Elastigirl. This attempt was largely successful and Vought began to return as the proud sponsor of these heroes, this time working to push legislation to remove the ban. Winston’s own sister attempted to sabotage this effort by brainwashing several heroes with DevTech as the villainous Screenslaver, but was defeated and arrested. Despite this clear impact, the act was passed. The assault ironically having the opposite effect. For his efforts, Winston was promoted to Senior Vice President of Hero Management. His time in that position saw the lowest rate of corruption in the company’s history and helped bring in the new age of Heroes. The company sponsored existing heroes as well as making their own, which in most cases were less impressive due to the random nature of Compound V. Vought also bought out Comic Companies, reviving the Superhero genre by touting them as true stories of the heroic exploits of the real people, though some details varied such as depicting Spider-Man as a monster or the X-Men as a government black ops team for fear of insulting the Mutantphobic population. Before this, in the absence of Heroes, pirate and horror stories had been popular and now they shared the limelight. Of course this resurgence led to entirely fictional heroes debuting as well in the pages. Vought and Deavor hired the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency to better promote their heroes.

It was in conversation with Edward “Eddie” Mannix, a former “Fixer” for Capitol Pictures who had worked with Joey Drew that the idea of expanding into film was suggested. While Deavor loved that idea and recalled many old Superhero animation such as the Fleischman Superman Shorts which played in movie theaters well into the 50’s due to Superman working for the government, and a cancelled Mr.Incredible animated pilot which Deavor bought the rights to and had Mr.Incredible and Frozone record a commentary track for. Vought himself vetoed the idea due to the negative reception toward The Soldier Boy Story, claiming that the company would not make another movie as long as he lived. This would turn out to be quite literally true.

Unknown to Deavor, a sort of internal group formed within Vought. This began when Vought decided to attempt to recreate the event that created the original Fantastic Four earlier the same year. While Deavor approved this, the astronauts were internally chosen and all had Nazi connections due to Vought and Risinger’s influence. They were led by Randall Dowling, and included Kim Suskind, the initially non powered daughter of Klara Risinger, William Leather, and Jacob Greene. Instead of being bombarded by cosmic ray, “The Four” as they were known, made contact with another universe ruled by Superhumans. They returned with powers but had vowed to limit earth’s technology and superheroes to make them easier for conquest by the Superhumans. They concealed their allegiance but sabotaged the Soviet Artemis craft and built the hidden Science City Zero to further their goals. They would bring more and more members of Vought in their conspiracy without Deavor knowing for decades.

In the late 1960’s, Frederick Vought pushed to gain a Government contract to all Trioxin, pointing out his important role in countering the use of the weapon in World War II. They clashed with another Pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals over the contract. Founded in 1968, Umbrella won out when founders Dr. Oswell E. Spencer and James Marcus provided evidence of the origin of trioxin, Solanum, and proof that it came from a flower, along with studying the original undead Virus, called the Progenitor. A break-in by a beatnik group in a a resulted in the 1968 trioxin outbreak, seen as the first of the modern age. While some theories say Umbrella triggered the outbreak to turn things in their favor when they turned things around, this has been deemed unlikely. It is instead more likely that the outbreak led to the founding of Umbrella to study the effects and the timing supports this.

In 1974, Vought introduced Homelander, which would rise to become on their most popular heroes. Created in a lab, Homelander was an unstable concoction of DNA from Captain America, Soldier Boy, Superman and Lex Luthor. This would result in a split personality called “The Void” which Homelander mentally believed to be his archnemesis. His first mission alone was a hostage situation which went horribly wrong. This caused him to bring out “The Void” for the first time and attack another Vought hero Black Noir, an event which was covered up by Black Noir himself, a hero that Winston Deavor supported. Believing Homelander to be dangerous after this, Vought looked into ways of controlling him, including strapping a nuclear bomb to his back and working on an intentionally less intelligent but no less powerful clone. The plan was that the clone could impersonate Black Noir, whom Homelander had grown to trust after he helped cover up his murders, to get close to kill him. Black Noir’s suit became lead lined for this express purpose.

Frederick Vought died in 1983. With his death Vought entered the entertainment industry, as many of the board members were eager and he had been the lone voice to object(some believe he was murdered but this remains only a conspiracy theory). Activities of Superheroes being covered up also became more frequent. An example is when Soldier Boy threw a Celeste-Benefactor Car into the nearby home of the Milk Family, though he insisted the car collided with him and he redirected it. Deavor placed Soldier Boy on a team hoping to keep him in check after this, forming the team Payback. Soldier Boy remained popular and appeared on several shows, such as Solid Gold and performed songs. He starred in the film King of Kings and met many celebrities. He starred in the 1983 Action film Red Thunder, now considered a classic and in 1984 did several anti-drug PSAs. Another film followed starring Crimson Countess titled simply “Crimson”. Deavor produced the film and hired the openly gay director Roger De Bris for the film. In 1984, Soldier Boy and Payback, consisting of Gunpowder, Black Noir, Crimson Countess, The TNT Twins, Mindstorm and Swatto aided a military operation in Val Verde led by Grace Mallory, who had been intentionally chosen due to distrust of Vought by the government. A surprise attack resulted in the death of Swatto. This was actually a planned operation to hand Soldier Boy over to the Soviets. Stan Edgar had been making a power move which required taking out the old guard of Vought: Soldier Boy and Deavor. Soldier Boy was ambushed but put up a fight. He badly burned and left Black Noir with brain damage but was captured and declared dead. A hostile takeover led to Deavor being forced to resign soon after. He was replaced with Madelyn Stillwell, who began promoting Homelander more and more. Payback disbanded soon after though some of the heroes shifted to different roles in the company. As a result, the Seven became Vought’s premiere Superhero team, though a blatant imitation of the Justice League. The team was originally called the Seven Guns, but the name did not test well due to alluding to violence. The name was reused for a paramilitary Vought Sponsored group led by scientist Tom Noir, real name Tom Watson, brother of Irving Watson AKA Black Noir. Also in 1984, Vought opened their own theme park Vought Land, to compete with the likes of Thrillville, Wallyworld and Pacific Playland, as well as opening a school for their own superheroes led by John Godolkin, the Goldolkin University with its own team known as the G-Men to compete with the Xavier Institute, Sky High and Whateley Academy.

There are some theories that Vought, as part of the plan of the Four, worked with Adrian Veidt to devastate Metropolis but this cannot be confirmed, though they did absorb much of Veidt’s company in the aftermath. Homelander’s actions at this time however, would have serious repercussions years later. Vought sponsored Jenny Johnson, who gained superhuman abilities from a meteorite at 15 and became the heroine G-Girl in 1985. In 1986, the same year Vought began sponsoring Superhero Booster Gold after he saved President Johnny Cyclops’s life, the Homelander clone broke out of containment. The conspiracy couldn’t mount too great a search effort without revealing his meant to be secret existence. He had stolen a Homelander costume. William Butcher and his wife Becca were vacationing in Vice City, Columbiana when the clone saved several people. They thought nothing of it but Becca disappeared for some time and then appeared again, visibly distressed. She did not answer Butcher’s questions and he believed that he had hurt her in some way. Then one night, a superhuman fetus burst out of her stomach. It attacked William with heat vision. His military training kicking in, he strangled the fetus with its own umbilical cord before beating it with a desk lamp until he believed it was dead. He passed out soon after. Vought had been tracking the clone, and dealt with the situation by impersonating paramedics, getting Becca medical attention as well as the fetus. When William Butcher awoke he was told they were both dead. He believed this but became angered when Vought Lawyers attempted to force his silence. Butcher was approached by Greg Mallory, who revealed Becca’s Diary mentioning her rape by Homelander and fear that Butcher’s violent nature would lead him to be killed trying to fight Homelander in revenge. Butcher joined the CEA. Grace Mallory also met with the now retired Deavor, who was still fondly remembered by the Superhero Community. He was shocked and horrified at what had been going on under his nose but still had connections which he used to supply information to the CEA, within which he became known under the nickname “The Legend”. The clone remained on the run and took the identity of Robert Reynolds. Having inherited Homelander’s dual personality, Reynolds wanted to do good despite his dark side and while he acted under the identity of the hero The Sentry, he also realized he was dangerous and willingly committed himself to an insane asylum to protect others. Contributing to this, he had some of Homelander’s memories but remembered those events as the Sentry and claimed to have killed his wife despite him being married as Reynolds and his wife being alive, in actuality he was vaguely remembering hearing of Becca’s death. Because of his very public persona and interaction with other public superheroes including the Hulk, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Vought couldn’t make a move to reclaim him without suspicion. Of course, Homelander met him and noted the similarity. He immediately suspected Vought and had the truth reluctantly told to him, being initially mad, but he supposed nothing could be done now and Reynolds committed to the asylum full time removed him from the public eye. Vought did contact the SCP Foundation to warn of the danger posed by the Sentry and develop procedures to possibly contain or kill Homelander now that there were two equally as strong Superhumans active. Vought also began to sponsor the Superhero team Youngblood at this point in the hopes of driving attention away. Superman at this point had faked his death and largely disappeared from the public eye, allowing Homelander to attempt to fill the void.

The Four had met with greater resistance from the Hero group Planetary, which had become aware of their intentions. Stan Edgar grew to distrust The Four and cut off all ties with them. Wanting to create another counterpart to the Fantastic Four, Edgar had Vought and Lexcorp work on the Excalibur Space Shuttle to allow the crew to gain powers in 1990 by intentional cosmic radiation exposure, but a Solar flare devastated the ship. Most of the crew died horrific deaths being unable to control their abilities, but Hank Henshaw and his wife Terri Henshaw survived. Henshaw’s body deteriorated but he found he could transfer his body into machines, possessing a Superman Robot within the Fortress of Solitude before departing. In Media, Vought began airing the show The Mesmerizer about a child who could read minds and solved crimes that year. Vought films also began to outgross contenders like the McBane franchise.

In 1992, Superman died, and while Vought payed their respects, they also began promoting Homelander, who made his speech at the funeral claiming that Superman had made him promise to step up and be his successor, which was met with scorn from the Superhero community. There was even a Seven animated Series launched at this time that ran until 1997. Homelander painting himself as Superman’s successor met with resistance from Hank Henshaw as Cyborg Superman, who claimed to be Superman reborn. Donald Davenport left the Vought board when he discovered Henshaw’s cyborg nature but was forced into keeping quiet, leading him to form his own company Davenport Industries with his brother Douglas Davenport until they clashed over his intentions and he left with several bionic children. When Cyborg Superman devastated Coast City and Superman returned to life, Homelander feigned being brainwashed to battle both Superman and the Sentry but was defeated. Most of the heroes present were skeptical of this claim. Vought's heroes face competition from the likes of the Sailor Senshi, The Power Rangers, Captain Future, and the Powerpuff Girls. During the Eugenics Wars Vought heroes did less fighting than was implied by propaganda and this also applies to the 1996 wave of alien invasions from the Harvesters to the Martians. Vought heroes did fight in the conflict and many were killed but for the most part Vought intentionally avoided sending them out unless they knew for certain that they would easily defeat the enemy or if it was an important and public battle. The Four were finally defeated, its members killed or arrested by Planetary in 1997.

Vought began what would come to be known as the Vought Cinematic Universe, or the VCU. This began with Homelander: Origins, depicting the fictional story based on Superman’s origins that Vought spouted about Homelander. This would be followed by three Sequels by 2005, Homelander: Rise of a Hero, a further prequel, Homelander: Darkest Day, and Homelander: Brightest Night. Lamplighter starred in a film, Y2KOS, about the Y2K disaster.

In 2001, the Shiawise Supreme Court Decision led by Chief Justice Thomas Brankin allowed to greater freedom of Megacorporations including Vought. One of the darkest days for Vought and the Seven was also one of the darkest days for America. The Seven actively attempted to stop the September 11 terrorist attacks. Everything that could go wrong did. The intense noise from the plane they were pursuing made communication impossible and it rammed into some of the members. Black Noir was dropped as were most of the members that couldn’t fly. Homelander broke the door of the plane and entered, causing a child to be sucked out. He then use this heat vision on the terrorists, frying the console. The noise from the crowd angered him enough to release a sonic scream that burst several ear drums. He decided to leave while Queen Maeve insisted that they continue trying by lifting the plane. Homelander had done such a thing before but never on his own and previously had the Sentry helping to counter balance. He flew out to give it a shot, carrying the team Speedster Marathon on his back. He charged the plane but accidentally split it in half. Marathon was also accidentally decapitated by the speed. The destroyed plane hit the tower but also the Brooklyn Bridge due to breaking up, Thanks to another superhero Mitchell Hundred, the second plane did not hit its target. The entire incident was an embarrassment.

Vought immediately moved to try and cover up the entire incident by stating the Seven arrived shortly after the crash. The Deep, the team’s aquatic mutant, obtained a phone recording from one of the casualties which Queen Maeve would use to blackmail Homelander, who had become aggressive towards anyone she was seen getting close to besides him. Despite Vought’s efforts, evidence of what happened fell into the hands of Greg Mallory’s division, nicknamed “The Boys” by team leader William “Billy” Butcher and now joined by Marvin T. Milk also known as “Mother’s Milk” and “Frenchie”(A criminal recruited after improvising a bomb made of sleeping pills that managed to calm the Hulk down enough for Frenchie to escape). The group blackmailed the Seven and especially member Lamplighter in secret to serve as their mole. Frenchie was tasked with keeping an eye on Lamplighter while he was attending the red carpet premiere of his solo film: Light and Shadow: Journey into Night. but received a phone call saying his friend Jay was dying of an overdose and stopped shadowing Lamplighter to help him. Lamplighter took advantage of this moment to attack the Mallory family, killing Greg Mallory and his family. Grace Mallory took over her father’s role and Lamplighter went into hiding to avoid repercussions.

After the death of Greg Mallory, The Boys decided to disband in 2002. However, they realized that their disbanding would leave Vought unopposed and they decided they would need a show of force to make the company fear their potential return. The group, in an act of revenge for not getting Lamplighter, lured Albrecht Krieger, still acting as Stormfront into a booby trapped area built to weaken his super senses. By unknown means, the group was able to successfully kill him and send his body back to Vought as a warning, doing something that neither the Invaders nor the Marvel Family were able to do. In his memory, Klara Risinger would come out of retirement and adopt the identity of Stormfront. Many Supers within Vought believed that the Boys had help killing Stormfront, mainly the aid of another superhero such as Black Adam or Omni-Man. Homelander  reportedly confronted Omni-Man at his home to try to intimidate him, believing him responsible. Homelander returned badly bruised in both body and ego.

In 2003, when Omni-Man began to secretly murder groups of Heroes to prepare for a Viltrumite invasion, Vought was strangely untouched and Homelander was criticized for calling the murdered Guardians of the Globe “Too weak.” Vought did celebrate the downfall of their rival Umbrella. Leading up into the 2004 Presidential Election and anticipating a republican victory, Vought supported George Sears, and attempted to get someone loyal to them into the cabinet along with Senator Robert "Yankton Bob" Shaefer. They chose Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, herself a secret metahuman. The hired Maggie Morris to protect them from investigation.

Vought Cinematic Universe films released prior to 2005 include Queen Meave: Her majesty. A-Train’s film Rapid transit. The Deep’s “Rising Tide”,  The Low budget Terminal Beauty trilogy starring Pop Claw, and Translucent’s Invisible Force, which did just well enough for a sequel. In 2005, Black Noir: Insurrection was released. Dawn of the Seven began its Long and troubled production. A Romantic Comedy called Pocket Love starring Termite was released which involved a lonely store manager named Dolly finding Termite on an undercover mission hiding among a bunch of action figures and the ensuing romance.  G-Men: World War grossed 1.7 Billion Worldwide. Translucent: Invisible Force 2, would be released posthumously. This year, the original Superman retreated into the sun to help restore it to full power after it was corrupted by Solaris the tyrant sun. This once more led to Homelander being further promoted.

Annie January, also known as Starlight joined the Seven and soon after admitted to being sexually assaulted by the Deep. The Scandal would cause his removal from the team. A TV Show based on the event: Citizen Starlight, was released, along with a new show 7 on Seven by Cameron Coleman, which included the Cameron Coleman Hour. Along with the investigation show A Closer Look. As well as Super in America.

That same year, Homelander began a plot to introduce Compound V to terrorists, intentionally creating supervillains for Vought’s heroes to fight, as well as hoping to create a threat which Vought would be called on to deal with, providing aid to the Counter Terrorist Unit. During a delivery, A-Train accidentally killed Robin Ward, girlfriend of Hugh “Hughie “ Campbell Jr. A-Train went unpunished with Vought Lawyers attempting to legally bind Hughie Jr to remain silent, which his father Hugh Campbell Sr, encouraged. Hughie was approached by William Butcher and recruited into placing a tracker in Seven Tower, but was seen and followed by Translucent. Butcher and Hughie were able to knock out translucent and kill him with help from “Frenchie”. Hughie also met and began dating Annie January, who he quickly learned was Starlight. Homelander began investigating William Butcher and learned that Becca Butcher was alive as was her now 19 year old son. With both of them in hiding. Homelander murdered Senior Vice President Madelyn Stillwell and took Butcher to where Becca was just to taunt him.

In 2006, Vought helped conceal G-girl’s harassment of her ex boyfriend Matt Saunders. Exposure to the same meteorite that granted her powers led to Hannah Lewis gaining abilities as well. Vought also Began promoting the new hero Captain Hammer. The Vought film Tek Knight Lives debuted while the film Dawn of the Seven entered a troubled production. The film began with a scene of the Seven coming together to stop the drug lord Martinez with the rest of the film covering the Seven fighting an alien invasion in the present. The new member Stormfront (Klara Risinger) joined the Seven under Stan Edgar’s orders. Homelander and Stormfront began a relationship. An investigation by the Boys not only led to Compound V’s existence being revealed publicly but also led to the discovery of a facility housing Supes of which Lamplighter was an employee. A breakout took place, fortunately one of the hostages was the former Soviet Hero love Sausage, who knew the Boys and helped them escape. Lamplighter agreed to testify against Vought but later committed suicide by self immolation. Another attempt was sabotaged when Victoria Neuman used her abilities to cause multiple deaths in secret during a Senate Hearing on the matter. An attempt to rescue Becca and Ryan from Vought resulted in Becca’s death and Stormfront being left severely injured, later committing suicide. Dawn of the Seven was rewritten due to several developments such as A-Train remaining on and Stormfront being revealed as a Nazi, made a traitor in the film.

The Reality Show American Hero was launched to determine who would join the Seven after the Deep’s scandal and Stormfront’s identity as a Nazi being revealed. Soldier Boy was discovered by the Boys in Russia and released, pursuing revenge on and killing his former teammates in Payback. Another show Red, White, & Blue Justice was promoted but cancelled. It was intended to be a true crime drama starring the police hero Blue Hawk, but his death at that year’s Herogasm at the hands of an angry A-Train for injuring his brother during a meeting, led to its cancellation as well as the event itself when Soldier Boy killed many Supes present. Soldier Boy was defeated and placed in cryogenic stasis by the government. Butcher also recruited Hughie Campbell Sr to infiltrate Godolkin University at this time, which led to criminal activity including Godolkin’s pedophilia being uncovered and Vought sending Supers to kill off Godolkin and the G-Men.

Homelander, having had less of his power suppressed by Vought after the removal of Stan Edgar, launched a coup on the White House led by Vought Heroes including Seven Guns Member John Horus. President John Blutarsky was murdered by Horus. The Sentry arrived at the confrontation between Homelander and William Butcher and revealed he was the one who impregnated Becca. A three way fight ensued in which the Sentry was killed and Butcher finished off a weakened Homelander. Victoria Neuman was also among the deaths. By the end most of the Vought Supes were killed. The Seven Guns, John Horus’s team, became fugitives while also trying to hunt him down along with the rest of the superhuman community.

Vought’s reputation was tarnished beyond repair. Butcher would seemingly turn on and kill most of his team before seemingly killed by Hughie Campbell, who blackmailed Vought with the remaining evidence of their crimes, though some evidence suggests that Butcher did not betray and kill his team but had them fake their deaths. Vought attempted to salvage themselves by sponsoring the Superhomeys.

In 2008, Ray Embry, a Public relations specialist received the unenviable task of improving Vought’s fledgeling reputation, was rescued by the Hero John Hancock, an amnesiac Eternal. He set about improving the alcoholic Hancock’s reputation and in the process working to save Vought’s own reputation, becoming the company’s new CEO. Captain Hammer was mortally injured during confrontation with his nemesis Dr.Horrible which was the first time he felt pain in his life and suffered a mental breakdown, an incident which led to Dr.Horrible being accepted into the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Vought’s reputation had shifted from downright vile Heroes masquerading as great, to heroes which genuinely wanted to do good but were held back by their own shortcomings. Later on Vought introduced a new Homelander-esque hero named Public Spirit, who disappeared into space on a mission but was fondly remembered. He would eventually return years later but due to insanity be killed by the US Government after being deemed a liability. Vought supported the campaign of David Jefferson Adams in 2008, as well, though he did not win.

In 2010, the company worked to redeem the villain Megamind’s public image after their own hero Metro Man faked his death and Megamind reformed. In 2012, Donald Davenport introduced his team of bionic children after long having left Vought. Vought supported Nehemiah Scudder and the Sons of Jacob, which ended in failure as it had with Adams. Vought staged several battles with the Furons in 2015, the brief annexation of Earth by the insectoid Federation and brief take over by Victor Von Doom, which led to backlash against them. There are rumors that in 2019, several Vought Heroes including members of the Superhomeys killed trying to stop Brandon Breyer’s rampage. Vought finally met its end when the Sons of Jacob launched a coup in the early 2020's which Vought strongly supported at the time before it ended in failure. The threat of a potential repeat of the tragedy nearly 20 years before led to Hughie Campbell exposing his evidence on the company, causing it to crash in burn over night. By the distant future of 2123, the Superhero Captain Vyom visited the year 1998 and had never even heard of Vought.

## **Notes**

-References include: Vought-American- The Boys, Marvel Comics, The Great Dictator, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Uber, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS, DC Comics, Men Like Gods, Dr. Strangelove, Call of Duty, Timeline-191, It's a Wonderful Life, Return of the Living Dead, Mess Mend, BioShock, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, The Incredibles, I Love Lucy, The Incredibles 2, Mad Men, Hail Ceasar!, Bendy and the Ink Machine, The Real Ghosbusters, Planetary, Resident Evil, Black Dossier: Volume II, Mafia, Grand Theft Auto, The Producers, Predator, Black Summer, Thrillville, Zombieland, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sky High, Whateley Universe, Watchmen, My Super Ex Girlfriend, Whoops Apocaylpse, Pioneer, Go Home!, The President's Analyst, SCP Foundation, Youngblood, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The Simpsons, Lab Rats, Sailor Moon, Power Rangers, Captain Future, The Powerpuff Girls, Star Trek, Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, Shadowrun, First Monday, Deus Ex Machina, Invincible, Metal Gear Solid, K Street, DC One Million, 24, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Animal House, Empowered, Hancock, The Venture Brothers, Megamind, Shattered Union, Marshal Law, The Handmaid’s Tale, Destroy All Humans, XCOM, Rick and Morty, Spiderman: Life Story, Brightburn, Captain Vyom,