‘The Boys’: What Is V-1, which characters have it, and why it’s important in the series finale
Episode 3 of the final season of ‘The Boys’ slows down the action to focus on V-1, the original compound that explains the cliffhanger and could change Homelander’s fate.
The third episode of the fifth and final season of ‘The Boys’ features more dialogue and less action than the first two, but for good reason. The end of the second episode left us with a cliffhanger that is explained by the existence of the V-1, a key concept we’ll explain below. We’ll also discover which characters are involved and what implications this has for the future of the five episodes remaining until the series finale.
The following contains spoilers for the fifth season of ‘The Boys’
What is V-1?
Created by scientist Frederick Vought in the 1940s, V-1 is the first version of Compound V, which grants superpowers to humans, turning them into superhumans. It was tested on civilians and soldiers during World War II, and although it killed many of them, it also granted powers to others, in addition to making them immortal and immune to the passage of time. Some of the characters who were injected with this first version include Stormfront, Soldier Boy, Bombsight, Torpedo, and Private Angel, who will star in the upcoming spin-off of ‘The Boys,’ ‘Vought Rising.’
V-1 was 10 times more powerful than the final version of Compound V, but it was also much more unstable, which is why its development was eventually abandoned. This new version would be mass-produced and injected into babies across the country, and that was the origin of A-Train, The Deep, and Starlight. Homelander is especially powerful because Compound V was injected directly into his embryo, not after he was born.
In the third episode, Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) reassures the group by saying that it’s not entirely clear whether any V-1 strains remain, since Vought made sure to destroy them all. With him and Godolkin dead, it’s uncertain whether anyone else could develop more, which means Homelander might be left without his desired dose.
However, it’s not certain that the V-1 will have the effect on Homelander that he desires. In fact, rather than granting him more powers—it’s hard to be any more powerful than he already is—it could kill him due to its instability. Furthermore, while he doesn’t know for sure, the V-1 might already be coursing through his veins, since it was created in a laboratory using Soldier Boy’s sperm.
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In any case, we’ll still have to wait and see how things ultimately play out. What’s certain is that the existence of the V-1 has taken the series in a new and unexpected direction, which provides a solid justification for Soldier Boy’s return in this fifth season.
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