Did A-Train survive Herogasm?

The Boys S3E6, Herogasm, was an instant hit among fans after it aired on June 24. Despite the wildly graphic imagery and language, one question towers over all the shit that went down. What happens to A-Train?

A-Train’s journey has been filled with potholes this entire season. Though he gained re-entry into The Seven, he has been trying to make a comeback in Homelander’s graces and the eyes of the public, but nothing seems to be going his way.

The speedster even sacrificed what could have been his redemption arc, selling out Supersonic and Starlight, which led to Homelander brutally murdering Supersonic. But that still did not earn him the favor he needed, so he tried to get back on the horse with a different tactic.

According to A-Train’s brother Nathan, Blue Hawk had been wrongly over-policing the African-American communities. A-Train talked it over with him at Vought and arranged for a public apology to the community, but everything went south almost immediately.

Blue-Hawk’s apology was just another publicity stunt to clear his name, and when the people rose up against him, the bigoted Supe lost his anger and attacked innocent people. In the aftermath, A-Train found his brother Nathan lying unconscious, the doctors declaring that his body was now paralyzed and that he may never walk again.

Enraged, A-Train made his way to the office of Ashley, the new CEO of Vought, to ask for retribution. But Ashley reminded him that he was only getting worked up about this because his brother was the Supe casualty this time. She reminded A-train that not so long ago. he had blown through Robin, Hughie’s girlfriend, back in Season 1, and had not given it a second thought. Regret and guilt washed over A-Train, but he still wanted to exact revenge upon Blue Hawk.

His opportunity to get hold of Blue Hawk presented itself sooner and easier than he would have thought. Soldier Boy’s old team, Payback, had betrayed him and given him up to the Russians in Nicaragua. Upon making his escape from Russia with the help of Billy Butcher and his team, Soldier Boy had vowed to hunt down his former team members, exacting his own vengeance.

The TNT Twins, who were a part of Payback back in the day, were now just a couple of C-list Supes looking for ways to keep their lavish lifestyle alive. They arranged the perfect place for the revenge plans of Soldier Boy and A-Train—Herogasm. And when Soldier Boy makes a commotion by blowing up half the party while taking out the twins, A-Train gets his window to drag Blue Hawk out.

A-Train tries to make Blue Hawk apologize, but Blue Hawk seems more aggravated than remorseful, sending A-Train’s rage into a frenzy. A-Train drags Blue Hawk against the graveled road at superspeed, turning his head and much of his body into mush and effectively killing him.

But as seen in Season 2, A-Train’s abuse of Compound V has left his heart weak, rendering his powers unusable. Previously warned after his first heart failure, A-Train knew that his next run could probably be his last. But driven by rage and vengeance, A-Train blindly threw caution to the wind.

A-Train’s heart proves to be a possible fatality as he falls to the ground clutching his chest, and as the camera pans out, he seems to breathe his last. So, is this the end of A-Train?

Judging by the history of Supe deaths in The Boys, they have never left the suspense hanging, so there might be a possibility that A-Train will survive. As the recent ambiguity surrounding Queen Maeve’s possible death after Supersonic’s obvious demise is shown almost flippantly, fans still have some hope of seeing both A-Train and Queen Maeve alive.

Though at the same time, a character wrapping up his unfinished business and making last amends is a great writers’ move to redeem the death of a character such as A-Train. After witnessing Ashley and Blue Hawk’s attitude toward Nathan’s paralysis, A-Train sincerely apologizes to Hughie for being so dismissive and cold towards his part in Robin’s death.

Though nothing can be said with surety about A-Train’s fate in the show, we certainly hope to see more of his good side. Maybe we’ll know the answer in Episode 7 or maybe we won’t, but for now, we’ll just hang on to some hope.

About The Boys

The Boys is an American satirical superhero streaming television series developed by Eric Kripke for Prime Video. Based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, which was originally published by DC Comics under their Wildstorm imprint before moving to Dynamite Entertainment, it follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities.

The show is a satirical take on the superhero genre and showcases a world where superheroes are corporatized and controlled by companies. What happens when these superheroes step out of line and rub some boys the wrong way, is the story. 

Source: Prime Videos