Vought Rising trailer arrives to remind us superheroes were awful long before social media (video).
There are few things more comforting in modern television than discovering that humanity has always been dreadful. Not just ordinary dreadful either. Not “forgot to return the shopping trolley” dreadful. We’re talking full-strength corporate fascism wrapped in a patriotic cape and sold with breakfast cereal dreadful.
Which brings us neatly to Vought Rising, the latest blood-soaked branch sprouting from the increasingly mutant family tree of The Boys. Amazon has dropped the first trailer for the 2027 prequel series and, true to form, it looks like somebody fed 1950s America into a blender alongside Cold War paranoia, celebrity worship, CIA black projects, and several gallons of industrial-strength sarcasm.
In short: business as usual for the Vought corporation.
The series winds the clock back to the Eisenhower era, where shiny smiles, anti-communist hysteria, and suspiciously square-jawed men ruled the airwaves. Behind the polished smiles, however, lurks the birth of the same monstrous superhero-industrial complex that eventually gave us Homelander, collapsing aeroplanes, and enough casual war crimes to keep several Hague tribunals occupied until the heat death of the universe.
Returning to the chaos are Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy and Aya Cash as Stormfront, which feels rather like inviting two venomous cobras to host a family picnic. Soldier Boy appears younger, cockier, and somehow even more likely to punch somebody through a wall after three bourbons and a patriotic speech. Meanwhile Stormfront, decades before becoming the internet’s worst nightmare with laser eyes, already seems to be radiating enough sinister energy to curdle nearby milk.
The trailer leans heavily into retro Americana aesthetics. Tailored military uniforms. Chrome-heavy cars. Smoky jazz clubs. Government men lurking in corridors lit like nicotine-stained nightmares. It resembles Mad Men if Don Draper occasionally exploded a journalist with his bare hands.
And honestly? It looks glorious.
One of the cleverest things about The Boys franchise has always been its understanding that superheroes are essentially celebrities merged with defence contractors. The original show took aim at influencer culture, giant corporations, and American exceptionalism with the subtlety of a chainsaw through a wedding cake. Vought Rising appears ready to show where all that rot began.
According to creator Eric Kripke, the new series explores the moment superheroes stopped being military assets and became consumer products. Which makes horrifying sense. Somewhere between fighting wars and selling fizzy drinks, the Supes evolved into walking brand mascots with body counts.
There’s also apparently a murder mystery threaded through the series because no noir-flavoured 1950s thriller is complete without somebody discovering a corpse while trumpets moan mournfully in the background. The first episode is titled Red Scare, which suggests the show intends to poke enthusiastically at Cold War hysteria while setting fire to American mythology for warmth.
As ever with The Boys, expect violence so excessive it briefly crosses the border into abstract art. The trailer contains enough explosions, punches, screaming civilians, and grim facial expressions to suggest nobody involved has enjoyed a healthy work-life balance in decades.
Still, beneath the exploding skulls and satirical napalm, there’s usually a point to all this carnage. The franchise works because it understands a simple truth: superheroes are terrifying if you remove the comforting morality. Give immense power to corporations, governments, narcissists, racists, or fame addicts and you don’t get Superman. You get a PR department desperately trying to explain why Cleveland is now on fire.
The really worrying thing? In today’s climate, Vought Rising may end up feeling less like exaggerated satire and more like a documentary with better costumes.
Which is perhaps the most The Boys thing imaginable.
