The Boys Theory The Church & Neuman Planned To Take Down Stormfront

The Boys Theory: The Church & Neuman Planned To Take Down Stormfront

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The Boys’ season 2 finale suggested a partnership between Victoria Neuman and Alastair Adana to expose Stormfront, but how far did the conspiracy go?

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The Boys Theory The Church & Neuman Planned To Take Down Stormfront

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Boys season 2 finale.

The Boys’ season 2 finale saw Stormfront’s Nazi past exposed to the public, thanks to the intelligence gathered by the Church of the Collective and political firebrand Victoria Neuman. However, the final moments of the episode hinted at a deeper partnership between Neuman and the Church’s charismatic leader Alastair Adana; one that had been working to bring down Stormfront for some time.

The Church of the Collective has been one of the most interesting original elements introduced into the reality of the Amazon Prime series. Parodying the public perception of Scientology, the Church of the Collective mostly seemed to minister to fallen celebrities and superheroes in need of a makeover. Likewise, the Church’s leader, Alastair Adana, seemed to be modeled on a number of prominent megachurch leaders and prosperity gospel televangelists, who promise to save your soul and your public image in exchange for a generous tithe to the Church.

Victoria Neuman was another new addition to the world of The Boys in season 2. Unlike the Church of the Collective, Neuman did have a connection to the original comics, being a gender-flipped version of a politician and former Vought CEO named Victor Neuman. However, Victoria was the polar opposite of “Vic The Veep,” whom writer Garth Ennis painted as a child-like buffoon from a conservative old money family. Victoria Neuman, by contrast, was a sharp self-made woman, modeled on real-world American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Church and Neuman seem like unlikely allies given that, but they did share one common enemy: Stormfront.

How Alistair Adana Set Up A-Train To Leak Stormfront Info

The Boys Theory The Church & Neuman Planned To Take Down Stormfront

One subplot of The Boys season 2 focused on disgraced Aquaman parody The Deep and his efforts to reclaim a space on The Seven after joining the Church of the Collective. He found an unlikely ally in the speedster A-Train, whom The Seven fired — partly due to him no longer being the fastest man in the world and partly because Stormfront was secretly leveraging the power granted by her popularity to pressure Vought-International into replacing A-Train with a white speedster. The Deep recruited A-Train into the Church and the two began working to improve their respective images and stage a comeback together.

The Boys’ season 2 finale saw the Church of the Collective leader Alastair Adana hold a private luncheon meeting with Vought-International CEO Stan Edgar to discuss the matter of The Deep and A-Train rejoining The Seven, pointing to their increased popularity since joining the Church. (This seemed to confirm an earlier theory that there was some kind of partnership between the Church and Vought in The Boys.) Edgar allowed that he’d be willing to consider bringing The Deep back, but not A-Train, admitting that Stormfront had issues with A-Train and that, at the moment, he needed to indulge her. Adana pressed Edgar for details, but Edgar said only that the internal research bureau of the Church should know what Stormfront’s problem with A-Train was, since she used to be a member of the Church when it was founded by Adana’s grandfather. Unbeknownst to Edgar, A-Train was in the next room and heard every word of the conversation.

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This led to A-Train raiding the Church’s archives and giving the Church’s files on Stormfront to Hughie Campbell and Starlight, who were later revealed to have passed the files on to Victoria Neuman. Adana later had a private meeting with The Deep and A-Train, telling them about the theft and hinting that, while there was no evidence to prove it, he knew A-Train was responsible. Far from being displeased, however, Adana said that A-Train showed initiative and that he had put in a word with Stan Edgar to get him reinstated to The Seven.

The Church of the Collective and Neuman’s Plan Explained

The Boys Theory The Church & Neuman Planned To Take Down Stormfront

Later in The Boys season 2 finale, Alastair Adana called Victoria Neuman to congratulate her on her recent good fortune. As the episode opened, Neuman’s political career was in jeopardy, as the up-and-coming Congresswoman had been a vocal critic of Vought-International and pushed the House Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into which employees of the company knew the truth about Compound V and might have engaged in illegal activities. The hearing ended in confusion and violence, with the heads of several people mysteriously exploding, including the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, A-Train’s rival Shockwave and former Vought-International scientist Jonah Vogelbaum. This was immediately cited as proof of the threat of supervillain terrorism and one more reason why the United States needed superhumans serving in the military, which was a key component of Stormfront’s plan to take over the United States with a fascist government backed by an army of Vought’s Aryan super soldiers.

With Stormfront outed as a Nazi, Vought-International was forced to curtail their own long-term plans to introduce superhumans into the American military as a means of acquiring more money and power through contracts with the Defense Department and adopt a strict stance against the policies Stormfront had been promoting. This led to the establishment of an Office of Superhuman Affairs, which Victoria Neuman was appointed to lead. The scandal also boosted Neuman’s status with the public, having been Stormfront’s most visible critic and unafraid to speak against her when most of her colleagues were flocking behind the popular superhero.

The phone conversation between Adana and Neuman hinted at collusion between the two, with Neuman saying she knew that the files proving Stormfront was a Nazi had come from the Church. Adana did not deny the implication in contrast to his earlier refusal to confirm or deny to Stan Edgar that the Church kept files. Adana was also quick to volunteer that he had files on a dozen Supes and that he’d be willing to hand them over in exchange for Neuman helping to expedite his efforts to have the Church recognized as a legitimate religion and given tax-exempt status. It seems unlikely Adana would be so forthcoming with a potential ally rather than someone with whom he’d already formed an alliance. Unfortunately for Adana, he never got the chance to discuss the matter with Neuman in person, as his head exploded just after he got off the phone with her. It was then revealed that Neuman was standing outside his office and that she was the Supe with the power to make heads explode that had been killing people throughout season 2.

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This revelation indirectly revealed another bit of evidence that Adana and Neuman had been working together for some time. Consider all of the Supes in the room at the Judiciary hearing and the fact that despite there being a number of notable targets, only Shockwave, the rival of A-Train, died. This directly benefited the Church, as it cleared the way for A-Train to be reassigned to The Seven, giving them a spokesman on the most popular superhero team in the world — once Stormfront was out of the way — and someone with a less problematic reputation than The Deep.

Why Victoria Neuman Kills Alistair At The End

All of these facts raise one big question: why did Victoria Neuman kill Alistair Adana at the end of the episode? Had the Church of the Collective outlived its usefulness to her plans now that she was overseeing a government group that monitored all superhumans? Or did she have another agenda and another partner who would benefit from the chaos that would surely arise once word got out that Adana was dead?

The obvious implication is that Neuman exploited Adana to her benefit and killed him off as a loose end. Adana was a master manipulator who built his base of power on blackmail. It would be foolish for Neuman to agree to any quid pro quo situation Adana suggested, as he’d be sure to have a paper trail to prove her corruption in case she ever turned against him. Even if Adana legitimately hated every Vought-created Supe (as he seemed to believe Neuman did) and didn’t mind throwing his superhuman followers under the bus for reasons other than his own benefit, it would be perfectly in character for Adana to keep blackmail material on an ally, just in case he needed it later.

A more devious idea is that Neuman is a Vought-International operative, who killed Adana after he confessed to being ready and able to expose Supes that were still employed by Vought-International that were viewed favorably by the public. Given that every known Supe in the world was a product of Vought-International’s science, the chances that Victoria Neuman is a natural-born Supe or that she acquired her powers independent of Vought-International are next to nothing. It would, however, be perfectly within Vought-International’s standard business practices for them to create an enemy in the public arena for their heroes to rally against. And what better enemy for a superheroine arguing in favor of a superpowered army than an anti-establishment politician?

Again, careful consideration of the list of Neuman’s victims seems to confirm that Victoria Neuman was a Vought-International plant. She was clearly responsible for killing Susan Raynor, The Boys’ CIA contact, in the season 2 premiere; a death that benefited Vought-International as it limited The Boys’ options for causing trouble. She didn’t attack any superheroes except Shockwave at the Judiciary hearing and the only Vought-International employees said to have died were assistants of little importance. Neuman killed her own aide to throw suspicion off herself, as well as the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, so nobody noticed that the first person to die was the star witness against Vought-International. It’s possible, however, that Neuman has developed her own agenda and gone rogue, despite her past affiliation with Vought-International. In either case, it seems clear that Victoria Neuman will be the chief villain of The Boys season 3.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/boys-church-collective-neuman-plot-vought-stormfront-theory/

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