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- NOTE: This article is only for the TV version of A-Train. To see the article for the original version of him, go to A-Train (comics).
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| “ | I'm A-Train. I'm the fastest f*cking man alive! | „ |
| ~ A-Train gloating about himself. |
| “ | You used her! You put her in danger and then you threw her out like she was f*cking garbage! How does this not all start with you, Hughie? The only difference between you and me is that I made a mistake. The shit that you did was on purpose! So who's worse?! | „ |
| ~ A-Train hypocritically ranting to Hughie over the death of his girlfriend Popclaw, whom he killed himself. |
Reginald "Reggie" Franklin, better known as A-Train, is a major antagonist in the 2019 Amazon TV adaptation of the comic book series The Boys and a minor character in its 2023 spin-off series Gen V.
He is a former corrupt speedster and a member of The Seven who is obsessed with maintaining his status as the fastest speedster in the world and is willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the competition. Under orders from Homelander, A-Train also uses his super speed to transport Compound V to terrorists, with him accidentally killing a woman named Robin Ward during one of his deliveries, thus turning Robin's boyfriend, Hughie Campbell, into his archenemy and setting the events of the series into motion.
Developing heart problems from his decision to abuse Compound V, A-Train was kicked out of the Seven due to his declining powers and subsequently recruited into the Church of the Collective. After teaming up with Hughie and Starlight to take down Stormfront, A-Train regained his position in the Seven and attempted to reinvent his image so that he could retain his popularity. However, after feeling remorse for the increasing amount of depraved acts that Homelander forced him to commit and failing to amend his relationship with his brother, A-Train decides to aid the Boys as their informant to start making things right. He eventually blows his cover and reveals himself as a traitor by saving Billy Butcher and Starlight from getting killed by the Deep and Black Noir II, openly siding with the Boys in their fight against the Seven.
He is portrayed by Jessie T. Usher Jr..
Quick Answers
What is A-Train's obsession in the TV series 'The Boys'?
What is the nature of A-Train's heart problem in 'The Boys'?
What makes A-Train a major antagonist in 'The Boys'?
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is known about A-Train's past prior to joining The Seven. He was born in 1987, and it is implied that he grew up poor during his childhood, which explains his ego. At some point, he became a member of Teenage Kix, where he entered into a relationship with another member named Popclaw. During his time in The Seven, he abused a chemical substance called Compound V (also the source of his and all the other superheroes’ powers) to maintain his status as the fastest man alive.
The Boys[]
Season One[]
In the first season, while his abuse of Compound V continues, it causes him to accidentally run through and killed Hughie's girlfriend, Robin. The Vought International covers up the incident, stating at a press conference that A-Train was at a robbery and that Robin was in the middle of the street when she died when, according to Hughie, she was one step off the curb. Vought offers Hughie bribing money to keep A-Train's mistake a secret, but he refuses to take it and, after being approached by Billy Butcher, decides to help him plant a bug on the Vought Tower to spy on The Seven (especially Homelander), staging the operation as a requirement of a personal apology from A-Train for killing his girlfriend.
As A-Train arrives (still covered in blood in Hughie’s mind), he very lazily and half-heartedly “apologizes” to Hughie (obviously not regretting what he did), which Hughie very sarcastically “accepts” and, exchanging a handshake, joyfully stares him down (the operation, in turn, ends in failure and ultimately results in Translucent's death by the hands of Hughie).
A-Train then abuses more Compound V as his race with another speedster, Shockwave, approaches, despite warnings from his girlfriend Popclaw. He wins the race, and Compound V ensures he is, yet again, the fastest man in the world. Despite Vought and his brother Nathan warning A-Train about abusing Compound V, he continues to do so to heal his leg after it was shattered by Kimiko Miyashiro, The Female. However, the abuse leads him to have a heart attack while he is fighting Starlight and Hughie.
Season Two[]
In the second season, he is seen in a hospital bed recovering from the fight and is being overseen by Starlight until he surprises her, making a full recovery. However, it seems that his recovery was not fully completed, as he now suffers from intense heart palpitations when he speeds up. Because of these health issues, Homelander kicks him out of The Seven and replaces him with Shockwave. While on the movie set of "Dawn of the Seven," The Deep approaches and recruits A-Train as a member of the Church of the Collective.
He is then having lunch with The Deep and Alastair Adana at the renewal center. Alastair asks them both about their thoughts, to which Deep reveals that he thought A-Train was jealous of him and wanted to drown him for the longest time, but also admits he doesn't want to feel that way anymore. A-Train starts to freak out and tries to leave but stops once Alastair reveals that he knows about A-Train being kicked out of The Seven, his heart condition, and his abuse of Compound V. He also tells him that Shockwave will be the next A-Train, as A-Train is a brand, and Reggie is "just another nobody from the South Side of Chicago.” Alastair then offers to help A-Train get back into The Seven, but he must let Deep tell him his truths.
A-Train is now a full member of the Church of the Collective and attends Alastair's birthday party. He gives Deep a pet fish as an apology, and he accepts the gift. Alastair arrives and tells him that Eagle the Archer is a traitor. When A-Train asks why he is a traitor, Alastair explains that he refused to comply with the program, leaving him even more suspicious about the religious group. A-Train and Deep are later seen in a bar and watching NNC news, where Eagle states that the Church kicked him out because he refused to cut ties with his mother and claims that they leaked private information to make him look bad. A-Train questions Deep about why he is so quick to turn on his friend, but Deep avoids the question and asks the bartender to change the channel to the Congress hearings. As they watch the hearings, people in the courtroom have their heads explode, shocking both A-Train and Deep watching the massacre.
A-Train ended up helping The Boys by giving them leaked information about Stormfront, which was a big help as The Boys had no other idea on how to defeat her. This might show a redemption arc, but he mainly did it for personal reasons. Shockwave was one of the people killed in the courtroom massacre, so A-Train returns to The Seven.
Season Three[]
Nearly a year following his return to the Seven, A-Train fears for his position due to his heart condition preventing him from using his speed. At the premiere of Dawn of the Seven, he briefly encounters Hughie and mocks him, and later dodges questions from the press about his return to racing. Following the premiere, A-train decides to rebrand himself to remain famous, telling Ashley that he wants to touch his African-American heritage to appeal to the black community. Despite his ideas being rejected, A-Train rebrands his costume to show at Homelander's birthday, where he is further mocked by his team leader for his weight gain. He later witnesses Homelander's rant about his superiority and feeling like a puppet for Vought, which resurges his popularity.
Meeting with his brother, Nathan dares him to confront the supe Blue Hawk for ruthlessly killing an innocent black man in the neighborhood. Though he is initially reluctant, A-Train agrees and meets with Homelander to propose cracking down on Blue Hawk for the incident. However, the Deep intervenes and persuades Homelander to reject it, resulting in A-Train confronting his teammate. After his little scuffle with the Deep, A-Train is greeted by Supersonic, who reveals that he wants him to join in on Starlight's plan to take down Homelander. Following Stan Edgar's removal from Vought, A-Train decides to tell Homelander about Starlight's plans, resulting in Supersonic being killed.
He is later confronted by Starlight for his betrayal, who calls him a coward for trying to impress someone who utterly hates him before leaving. Ashley then speaks with A-Train, revealing that she managed to get Blue Hawk to come in for a meeting to talk about the situation. While Blue Hawk believes that he was just doing his job, A-Train suggests that he make an apology to the black community. Blue Hawk agrees, and A-Train takes him to a local community, where he makes the apology on camera, but several citizens express their anger at his murder of an unarmed black man. A-Train then witnesses Blue Hawk attack Nathan and several others out of anger, but manages to stop him before allowing him to leave when he sees his brother lying unconscious.
Taking Nathan to the hospital, A-Train learns from a doctor that his brother will never walk again and sees an interview with Blue Hawk about how he stood up to Antifa. Angered at what happened to his brother, he meets with Ashley to get charges placed on Blue Hawk, but she refuses and calls him out on his hypocrisy. Despite his realization of his actions, he decides to kill the supe and travels to Herogasm to confront him. At the mansion, A-Train encounters Hughie and gives an apology for killing Robin, but the latter punches him in response. Following this, Soldier Boy destroys the mansion by using his energy blast, leaving many people dead or injured in the process.
A-Train survives the blast and confronts a terrified Blue Hawk outside, grabbing him by the throat before dragging him across the concrete using his superhuman speed. Stopping on the middle road, A-Train succeeds in killing Blue Hawk but suffers from a heart attack before falling unconscious. He survives due to Ashley's assistance, with doctors replacing his heart with Blue Hawk, thus allowing him to run again without complications. After five days in the hospital, A-Train meets with Nathan and denies killing Blue Hawk. Nathan, however, knows that he committed the act and calls him a murderer before telling him to get out.
Returning to the Seven's tower, A-Train, the Deep, and Ashley hear Starlight's warning for them to evacuate the building since Soldier Boy is arriving to kill Homelander. Before they can, Homelander arrives, revealing that he killed Black Noir and chastising A-Train for killing one of their own. Upon making Ashley remove her wig, Homelander reminds the three that they are not his family, and he doesn't need them. Following the confrontation, A-Train remains in the Seven with the Deep as Queen Maeve goes into hiding despite being assumed dead by the public.
Season Four[]
A-Train had been struggling with factors such as his brother Nathan cutting him off, being exposed as a fraud to his nephews who once idolised him, and his loyalty to the Vought only leaving him experiencing frequent bullying, degrading, and force compliance in criminal acts by Homelander, therefore A-Train had fallen into depression.
At a meeting of the Seven, Homelander ordered the Deep to perform fellatio on A-Train, who began to obey with a heavy sense of defeat, although felt no relief when Homelander revealed it was only a test. A-Train solemnly followed Homelander's false flag plot by murdering three Homelander fans to place them at the riot between Starlight's fans and the Seven leader's cultists, although unlike the other's, he doesn't directly kill anyone and even seems to want to spare Todd.
After the murder, Black Noir II - the replacement for the murdered original - approached A-Train to ask if Homelander often made them murder people, and express his distaste in it; Noir II also then quizzed about guidance on how to portray Noir, but A-Train just answered him by telling him to shut up.
His depression became worse as he was forced to act in a humiliating and racist biopic that remakes his working class upbringing as being a drug dealing thug in the hood; it was made worse by his coach, who was his brother Nathan, being replaced as a white saviour trope played by Will Ferrell. After Hughie and Starlight witness his brother telling his nephew's to stay away from him, A-Train leaves. However, he ends up giving them information exonerate two starlighter's from prison (who were framed for killing Todd and the others), feeling grateful they didn't confront him in front of his family.
Due to perceiving A-Train's disdain and noticing how he helped Starlight and Hughie, Mother's Milk makes contact with him with the goal of recruiting him as a mole; while A-Train acted obstinate at first, MM managed to appeal to him, as well as making him realise that his situation in the Seven had only made him miserable, therefore he agreed to be the inside man.
A-Train was unenthused about Homelander recruiting Sister Sage as a new member of the Seven due to his negative experiences with her sociopathy when they were peers in Teenage Kix. Later, A-Train saved Hughie as Homelander was about to kill him, quickly rushing back to avoid being found out.
When Hughie's father suffered a stroke, he tasked A-Train with obtaining a dose of Compound V to save him, with the promise that he would finally forgive him for his late girlfriend Robin's accidental manslaughter. When obtaining the V from a stash in Homelander's apartment, he came across Ashley Barrett who had left an upper decker in Homelander's toilet as a futile act of resistance to her being replaced as Vought CEO by Sage in every way except title; both A-Train and Ashley agree to pretend that neither were there and so they saw nothing.
When A-Train gave the V to Hughie, he noted that Hughie was never going to forgive him for the death; initially, Hughie confirmed this, but then admitted that he was tired of hating him, and didn't want to disgrace Robin's memory with spite, and so Hughie earnestly forgave A-Train, who appeared shocked but relieved.
Sage claimed to know a leak was happening, which panicked A-Train into confiding in Ashley, who was horrified and tempted to out him, although reconsidered it, out of mercy and most likely belief that she would go down with him as an assumed accomplice. Ashley framed Vought propagandist Cameron Coleman as being the leak, thus Homelander had his supe minions beat him to death (except A-Train).
At Tek Knight's party for the right wing elite and important members of the Seven, A-Train was in attendance. When Firecracker expressed admiration for Tek's opulence from his successful film and television career, Tek corrected her by explaining that he was the 11th generation of accumulated wealth. Tek proudly revealed that his ancestor was a slave catcher, and prodded A-Train with this fact as both a joke and way to demean him, leaving the African American supe to uncomfortably smile due to inability to make a scene.
A few of the Boys infiltrate Tek's mansion, including MM, who was spotted by Sage in the library/Tek Cave/sex dungeon entrance; due to Sage revealing knowledge about MM's daughter, and then blaming him for "cursing" the girl with OCD and anger issues, he experienced an anxiety attack. MM shot Sage in the head before he collapsed unconscious from the anxiety attack; A-Train discovered both, and rushed MM to a hospital. A child noticed him place MM on a stretcher outside the hospital, and the child showed a look of genuine awe and admiration that deeply moved A-Train. MM was swiftly able to receive medical care and recovered.
When A-Train met MM later, when the latter was packing due to wanting to flee the country with his family, A-Train chastised him for giving up, especially after so sincerely recruiting him to the cause against Homelander. A-Train explained about the child who looked at him with respect, and revealed that it was not only the first time that he actually felt like a hero, but the first time in years that he didn't hate himself. This appeal helped convince MM to remain in the Boys, while he reluctantly had his family abscond without him.
Homelander and Sage send the Deep and Black Noir II to the base of the Boys to murder them. Only Annie and Butcher are present, thus are assaulted, attempting to defend themselves, although on the weaker side. When Butcher was helpless against Noir II and Annie was being strangled by the Deep, A-Train suddenly rushed in, knocking Deep across the room, while MM used a minigun to repel Noir II. The Deep is shocked at A-Train's betrayal, who not only exposed his double agent status, but confessed about how he had always despised Deep. A-Train pummeled The Deep and Annie was then able to knock him out, while Noir II was pushed out of the window, likely falling asleep again from his narcolepsy.
Now exposed, A-Train ran to Ashley's office to inform her of this fact, which made her hysterical. He invited her to escape with him, pleading to let him save her; Ashley merely vented about how she had the best assistant ever, but fired him to save him from Vought, since she expressed how easy it was to become a monster there, with her also citing her framing of Cameron that caused his death and her guilt about it. A-Train tried again to reason with her, but Ashley confined her fate to Vought Tower, believing that she shouldn't run from her sins; he solemnly and genuinely wished her well before disappearing into super speed, with Ashley reminding him to remove his tracking chip so Homelander wouldn’t be able to find him.
Homelander was distraught over A-Train's defection, but became incensed when Sage revealed that she knew he was the leak the entire time, and allowed it to happen as to only share intelligence that was either minimally helpful or outdated, thus allowing her to indirectly control the actions of the Boys. In response to her withholding this fact, Homelander fired her from the Seven.
Due to A-Train's duplicity being exposed, his brother and his family were relocated to a safe location to protect them from the inevitable retaliation that the spiteful Homelander would enact. While Reggie himself would remain in hiding for the time being.
Despite Homelander firing Sage, she returned arrogantly after a Vought puppet was made US President, with her revealing that her termination was within her calculations, and she was now excited about the next stages of their supe supremacy plan.
Personality[]
| “ | A-Train: I stopped him. For you.
Nathan: Don't say you did that for me. You've only ever been about yourself. |
„ |
| ~ Nathan calling out A-Train for his selfish behavior. |
A-Train, like most superheroes are in secret, is arrogant, narcissistic, hypocritical, ruthless, careless, and immature. He shows little to no remorse for his crimes; for instance, when he accidentally killed Hughie's girlfriend Robin, he joked about her death and later taunted Hughie about it several times. He is very ruthless, brutal, and sadistic in his methods to get what he wants, threatening to brutally kill Hughie’s father if he doesn’t comply, beating the Female within inches of her life, and most gruesomely dragging Blue Hawk across the ground at super-speed, giving him a slow and painful death.
A-Train is utterly obsessed with his fame and fortune and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep them. A-Train actually abused the substance Compound V to make himself as fast as he was in his prime to keep his title as the "fastest man in the world" and stay on the Seven, even though V was going to kill him if he continued to use it. In a further show of A-Train’s greed, he claims that above all the things Starlight does to expose Vought, he is more concerned about the money he will lose. A-Train is also shown to be a cutthroat traitor, as he threw the friendly and benevolent hero Supersonic under the bus and got him murdered by Homelander, all to win the latter’s respect.
Another example of his self-centered attitude is when he tries to exploit his status as an African American by co-opting civil rights imagery to rebuild his own brand; likewise, he had a profound absence of understanding of the real world, since along with African American concepts, he also attempted have a video game based on the Inter-Atlantic slave trade out of greed and misguided attempt to promote African pride to make himself seem like an advocate.
Unlike his comic book counterpart, who was completely irredeemable and remorseless, the TV series A-Train does have many redeeming and humanizing qualities. Behind his arrogant persona, he is quite insecure, constantly stress-eating to cope with the fact he can no longer run like he used to and is losing relevance. He also spared Hughie and Starlight after they saved his life from a heart attack and even helped them expose Stormfront, although he mainly did so out of spite due to her racism.
A-Train looked up to and deeply loved his older brother Nathan, the latter being his mentor and coach and helping him get the fame he has today. He also cares about his nephews and truly wanted to be a person they looked up to. When Nathan was crippled by Blue Hawk, he was utterly enraged and hypocritically demanded that charges be pressed against him, despite the fact that he himself killed several people and never faced justice, something his manager Ashley Barrett called him out for. He also loved his girlfriend Popclaw being heartbroken when Homelander forces him to kill her, but he takes little to no responsibility for her death and instead blames the Boys for blackmailing her into betraying him. A-Train would further spiral into sadness when Nathan disowned him for murdering Blue Hawk, as the latter wanted him to be brought to justice, not killed. Although A-Train finally got back everything he wanted—his fame, recognition, and title as the fastest man—he lost the respect and lives of everyone he ever cared about in return.
Ultimately, when he loses everything he held dear to him, he finally understands the pain he put others through, genuinely apologizes to Hughie for killing Robin, and even breaks his Compound V addiction for good. Overall, A-Train may very likely be on the path to becoming a better person.
As of season 4, A-Train appeared to realise that his fame won't make, nor ever has made, him happy, as he deals with further consequences of being disowned by his brother, who was the person who mattered most to him, which he never appreciated until he was hurt; he also suffers the karmic irony of owing his life to the new heart he received from the violent racist Blue Hawk he murdered in retribution for his brother's disabling. Similarly, another karmic balance for his prior exploitation of African American imagery, he is forced into an erroneous biopic that paints him as a ghetto drug pusher, as well as replacing his brother with a generic white saviour cliche. The desire to atone to his brother, and possibly for his life of constant selfishness and unaccountability, drove A-Train to finally flip to help the Boys - which is likely a rational choice, since his previous loyalties to Homelander only forced him to be a murderer and live a miserable existence under the psychopath's endless abuse and imminent chance of execution for any or no reason.
Even though he was originally so selfish that he'd allow someone to die if it were for his own benefit, after his introspection and connection with his dormant conscience, he would risk his safety to help others, even without a guaranteed reward or advantage to himself. He risked sneaking in Homelander's apartment to steal a dose of Compound V for Hughie, despite the immense danger of doing it, as well as his previously long grudge with Hughie. After he was exposed as the traitor, he again endangered his life by going to Vought Tower to offer Ashley an escape, even though the majority of their working relationship - before they betrayed Homelander - was exceedingly toxic and full of disdain.
Quotes[]
| “ | I can't stop- I can't stop- I can't stop- I can't stop- I can't stop- I can't stop. | „ |
| ~ A-Train upon killing Robin. |
| “ | Maybe I can't turn invisible, but I am the world's fastest man. Like, I can outrun anybody or anything. | „ |
| ~ A-Train to Colby. |
| “ | F--k you, man. | „ |
| ~ A-Train's whispering under his breath to Homelander. |
| “ | You hurt a lot of people. You hurt my brother. You're not gonna get away with it. Not this time. | „ |
| ~ A-Train to Blue Hawk before killing him. |
| “ | Deep, FYI, I have always, always f*cking hated your ass. | „ |
| ~ A-Train telling The Deep he had always hated him after revealing himself as the mole. |
| “ | You know, when I carried your ass to the ER, there was a kid there. His eyes were like "holy shit." Looking at me, like I was a hero. There were no screaming fans, no cameras. Nobody even knew, except for this one kid... That felt better than anything that I had ever done at Vought, 'cause for once, I didn't hate myself. | „ |
| ~ A-Train convincing Mother's Milk to not quit. |
Trivia[]
- A-Train is a villainous parody of The Flash.
- In the comics, A-Train participated in the rape of Starlight and was killed by Hughie. In the show, only The Deep raped Starlight, with A-Train later saving her from Deep and he ends up making peace with Hughie instead after saving his life and giving him compound V to save his father.
- A-Train and The Deep have an inverse arc of each other in the show. Both started the series committing an impactful crime (A-Train killing Robin and Deep raping Starlight), both are kicked out of the Seven before getting back in and both kill their girlfriend's as well. However, The Deep intentionally raped Starlight, was initially remorseful about it but later changed his mind, killed Ambrosius on his own accord and got even worse as the series went on by starting to enjoy mass murder, even abandoning his redeeming quality of loving sea life. A-Train accidentally killed Robin, was initially indifferent but later grew to feel genuinely remorseful about it, was forced to kill Popclaw by Homelander, and became kinder as the show went on, growing to genuinely care for black people after initially only pretending to and later redeeming himself by becoming a real hero and helping The Boys in their fight against Vought and Homelander.
External Links[]
- A-Train on the Heroes Wiki
- A-Train on the Boys Wiki.
