12 Insane Physiological Facts About Soldier Boy That Makes Him One Of The Most Powerful Supes

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Hello, I'm Soldier Boy.

[00:00:02]Real [bell] heroes don't use drugs.

[00:00:06]12 insane psychological facts about Soldier Boy. I remember the first time Soldier Boy popped up on the screen. The man who literally came out of a cryosleep but war reformed from the moment he opened his eyes. I guess casting Jensen Ackles for the role assured that. Anyway, we know that Butcher and crew went out on a limb to free Soldier Boy from Russian captivity fully knowing how dangerous that move could be. But back then, he was their ultimate weapon against Homelander and they went ahead with it. But why? I mean, the gang definitely studied a lot about his physiology to know what kind of powers he had to put him up against Homelander.

[00:00:41]>> [music] >> So, without any further delay, let's find out 12 insane physiological facts about Soldier Boy that made him the perfect suit to bring down Homelander.

[00:00:52]But before I begin, here's a heads-up.

[00:00:54]I'm just going to focus on Soldier Boy's depiction in the series since Kripke has given him a greater spotlight than any of his versions ever got in the comics.

[00:01:04]Let's begin. 4th of July.

[00:01:07]>> Let's light them up, Soldier Boy. Please put that down.

[00:01:10]>> [music] >> No. How was Soldier Boy created? Yes, Garth Ennis and Derek Robertson created him to show the finger to Captain America. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm here to dig up the reason Vought International manufactured this Soldier Boy as America's first successful superhero. Frederick Vought was actually on the side of the Germans during World War II but soon shifted his alliance and moved to the US. And now, he had to prove his worth and mastery of national defense by giving America a leader who would bring the nation both victory and glory. Enter Benjamin, who grew up with a father who always ridiculed him. And what better way to make your father say, "I'm proud of you." than to serve the nation. That's exactly what Ben did when he enlisted in the army. But for Vought, he was a lottery ticket. He tested his first generation Compound V on many subjects but the first and strongest result was Benjamin. However, what happened to him biologically had nothing to do with his patriotism because when Compound V entered his system, it integrated and changed only his cellular structure.

[00:02:14]Before him, early trials had already shown what usually happens when human bodies can't handle. Cells break down and the systems collapse. In short, people don't survive but Benjamin did.

[00:02:25]His body accepted the compound allowing the serum to rewrite how his tissues functioned and the resulting strength and invulnerability became side effects of a body that was no longer governed by normal human rules. Vought quickly gave him the moniker of Soldier Boy, who allegedly led the Americans to victory and became a national sex symbol.

[00:02:44]Basically, an IP that Vought milked for decades, which barely had anything to do with his sense of nationalism. Now, why am I discussing his backstory? Because it's important to understand how being Vought's guinea pig made him Soldier Boy. He's not actually a patriot. Why does Soldier Boy refuse to die? Yeah, that's the latest update we got on this shield-wielding suit thanks to the latest season of The Boys. Turns out, since his body successfully accepted the first generation V, he's virtually immortal. That explains how he hasn't aged a day since the '50s and is still in peak physical form. As Samier explained, the molecular structure of V was totally different from the later renditions and those few who survived the V1 injections are practically unkillable. We already knew that Soldier Boy wasn't someone you could defeat in physical combat. Even Homelander couldn't back in season 3 of The Boys when the two got into a couple physical altercations. Sure, he punched him and all but knocking him down was not easy.

[00:03:41]In fact, he barely even got injured.

[00:03:42]Moreover, even when the Russian scientists subjected him to brutal experiments for over four decades, they couldn't kill him. They did everything.

[00:03:50]Shooting inside his mouth, burning him with a blowtorch but nothing worked.

[00:03:54]Soldier Boy was up and strong on his feet as soon as The Boys released him from a state of suspended animation.

[00:03:59]Yeah, that's basically the best you can do to control it. Use lethal amounts of Novichok to subdue it. In fact, other potent nerve agents like halothane, which worked on supes like Kimiko, had no effect on Soldier Boy. And now it all adds up. It's not possible to terminate Soldier Boy until Butcher and his gang come up with evolved variants of the supe-killing virus, which can break the V1 and kill him. So, yeah, till then, he's invulnerable.

[00:04:25]>> [panting] >> How did Soldier Boy overpower everyone so easily? Sure, that's the basic perk of being a superhero but there's nothing basic about Soldier Boy. In fact, if you remember, he's so damn powerful that as soon as Butcher woke him up, his radiation was powerful enough to launch Kimiko through a concrete wall shattering it. Even during Operation Charlie, he just threw a soldier into the sky who we never really see falling down. Meaning, Soldier Boy has enough strength to possibly throw someone into space. Also, when a Russian scientist tried testing whether Boy's cornea was durable enough and poking into his pupil, the superhero managed to bat his eyelids and flip the tool into his neck.

[00:05:08]It's even said that Soldier Boy's shield is extremely heavy for any ordinary human to even move it. Yet, he wields it with just one hand. And a couple of episodes later, we witnessed that even picking up a car is a piece of cake for him. The second episode of The Boys season 5 showed how Butcher, who's now a supe, hurled a full-size vehicle at Soldier Boy who just lifted it back and tossed it aside like it's a damn toy.

[00:05:30]Mind you, he again just got out of the cryogenic chamber. Even Homelander, who's supposed to be the strongest of them all, was low-key concerned about Soldier Boy's strength. Understandable.

[00:05:40]The man literally pulled him off his cape and threw him at the wall. So, yeah, Soldier Boy's strength is absolutely [music] a different ballgame.

[00:05:52]Soldier Boy's body is practically a ticking time bomb. Not only did he give the Russian scientists a hard time while they were playing all sorts of silly scientific games on him, he actually benefited from it. When we saw Soldier Boy for the first time, he could radiate massive surges of energy from his chest.

[00:06:08]But how? Well, it wasn't actually one of his base powers. Rather, when the Russians exposed him to high levels of radiation, his physiology actually ended up imbibing them and integrated it into his system. Which means, once his body could take in and survive the V1 injection, it rewired the cells and tissues in a manner. Soldier Boy ended up becoming a machine that could physically acknowledge anything the world threw at him. And the Russians just pushed it further turning him into a living, breathing nuclear reactor who could emit high levels of radiation and fused energy blasts at any time.

[00:06:40]However, the intensity of the radiation depended on his emotional state. That's exactly why it was overwhelming during his final fight with Homelander in the final episode of The Boys season 3. But that's effectively a downside, too.

[00:06:53]Whenever Soldier Boy's trauma kicks in, he completely loses control which makes him catastrophic. We're talking explosions powerful enough to wipe out entire city blocks like it's nothing.

[00:07:04]This happened when The Boys tried to put him back to sleep reigniting his fear being locked up again. His body thus went into overdrive and the radiation spiked so violently that he was literally smoking. Soldier Boy's radiation levels are so insanely high that even his cryogenic pod had to be kept at -190° C just to stabilize him and stop him from going nuclear. However, this radiation can work against him, too, allowing The Boys to detect him by using radiation detectors. And MM actually did so by using a Geiger counter. Why doesn't anything ever leave a mark on Soldier Boy? If you notice the fight scene between Butcher and Soldier Boy during the season finale of the third season, you'd notice that after being subjected to prolonged heat vision blasts from Butcher, he did get a cut on his cheek. It was a pretty noticeable wound but it didn't affect him in any way. Meaning, Soldier Boy's pain tolerance is extremely high. But what's even more interesting is when Mallory was putting him back into the cryo chamber, [music] his face did not have any injury. No scar, nothing. That brings us to one conclusion. Soldier Boy's body heals at an extremely fast pace. And now, we even have better proof in case some of you believed that to be an a continuity error. The supe-killing virus does affect Soldier Boy temporarily and he passes out with blisters all over his face. However, it could keep him down for only a couple hours at max. Who not only rose up from his apparent death but also appeared in the next episode without a single mark on his face. I mean, a pimple takes longer to heal than Soldier Boy's entire blistered face. So, what does it mean for Soldier Boy to be a walking flesh of radiation? I talked about how he could project massive energy surges from his body but the obvious question is, does it affect him? One word answer, no. With Soldier Boy met Crimson Countess after a long time, the woman he had loved for all those decades and she told him that she hated him. It both hurt him and made him furious. Unable to handle his emotions, he let go of all restraint and detonated. Yet, it didn't injure him because he was able to control the detonation in a way that didn't affect him. Another moment that really proves he's more than just a walking bomb and someone who can actually control it is when Soldier Boy's about to detonate inside Vought Tower. That blast would have easily torn through the entire skyscraper and wiped out almost everyone inside. Yet, he was still holding it in right on the edge. Essentially, since Soldier Boy is the one creating it, he's immune to its effects. Think of it this way. A torch doesn't burn its own handle if that helps. What effect does Soldier Boy's radiation have on other supes? But one blast from Soldier Boy puts her in the hospital and when she tries lifting something heavy, she can't. Meaning, Kimiko loses her powers. She only gets her powers back after Annie January gets her more [music] Compound V. So, what does that tell us about Soldier Boy's radiation? Simple. It can disempower a supe by burning the Compound V out of their system and turning them back into normal human being. Now, sure, it doesn't happen instantly. As we saw, Kimiko was still able to survive being slammed through multiple walls, but over time it catches up. Same goes for Queen Maeve. When Annie visits her, we learn she's been disempowered, [music] and she even says she's going to recover slowly and painfully like any other powerless schmuck in America, all because of Soldier Boy's radiation blast inside Vought Tower. And yet, she was still durable enough to survive that fall.

[00:10:17]Now, the real question is, would this have ever worked on Homelander? Probably not. If Kimiko can get her powers back using more Compound V, then technically so can Homelander. But, here's the catch. He might not need extra V to regain his powers because for him it's literally part of his DNA. Homelander is a born Supe, and Soldier Boy's radiation is unlikely to strip him of his abilities permanently. No toxin seems to stick to Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy also appears to be extremely resistant to drugs and toxin. He himself mentions drinking one of Bill Cosby's roofied drinks, and instead of getting knocked out, he just assumed it was a very strong drink. To quote him, "Holy [ __ ] you make some strong drinks." And yeah, of course, no nerve agent is strong enough to kill him, and as I mentioned earlier, Novichok can only hold him down at best. In fact, he's such a boss that when MM threw a halothane gas can at him, he actually picked it up and smoked it like a cigarette. But, here's where it gets interesting. The man is even immune to sulfuric acid. Yeah, when MM and Butcher were going through the footage of Soldier Boy being tortured in Russia, Butcher couldn't help but exclaim how he was still breathing after being fed sulfuric acid cocktails. And in his words, Soldier Boy had more or less Genadol shoved up his ass. And now, Samir's virus has failed, too. So, the V1, coupled with Russian scientific experiments, rendered a superhero who is ideally impenetrable. How enhanced are Soldier Boy's senses? Coming to Soldier Boy's awareness and reaction time, dude is playing a totally different game.

[00:11:43]You'll notice first in the flashback sequence during Grace's group attack, he reacts instantly the moment things go south and raises his shield even before the enemy fully opens fire. He's kind of like the dog in a horror movie who first sees the ghost before anyone else. And no, working on pure instinct is not just a one-off thing. I told you how Homelander couldn't overthrow it. Well, apart from his immense strength, it's also because of how well he dodges blows and counterattacks. He's solid there, too, proving that his reflexes are combat adaptive. Actually, he is a skilled combatant and a fighter due to his military training. True, it's been notched up to a higher level when his superhuman senses are put to work, but his body somehow always knows how to deal with danger. We see the same thing again when he clashes with the boys.

[00:12:27]Having obtained the Novichok gas, Kimiko tries to ambush him during the final fight with Homelander in the third season's finale. But, he grabs her by the neck mid-attempt without even looking at it. I mean, can he smell a threat or what? On top of that, Soldier Boy also has superhuman hearing like most other Supes. So, he can pick up higher frequencies that humans can, which further makes his reactions accurate to help him in detecting movement. I guess the dog analogy wasn't that far-fetched after all, huh? How does substance abuse affect Soldier Boy's powers? Soldier Boy loves using substances. The first thing that Butcher had to get him after he woke up was a bottle of alcohol and drugs. Now, the thing is, we don't know whether substance abuse affects his powers directly. However, we do know that no matter how powerful he is, all those years of torture and trauma has made him dependent on drugs. He even has a very strong trigger point. Whenever the Russian song Escape is played, he gets uncontrollably agitated because of the scientists. They were sadistic enough to play a song titled Escape while locking up a person and experimenting on it.

[00:13:28]That means the instability is indeed tied to his [music] psychological conditioning, and drinking or snorting is the only way that he's been able to stay sane. Well, whatever sanity means to him. Yeah, Soldier Boy's mental state does affect his ability to generate radiation, but as of now, we haven't seen any external abuse affecting that.

[00:13:46]So, if anything, it's not substance [music] abuse affecting his powers, it's his trauma. What are the advantages of Soldier Boy's towering presence? Jensen Ackles has recently shared in an interview with the Hindustan Times that everyone is trying to survive, and everyone has a set of tools that they've developed over years that they employ to survive. For Soldier Boy, these tools are his superpowers, which amplify his toxicity. And this further helps us understand why he always maintains an intimidating persona to keep everyone around him on their toes. He's fed the idea that his body is excellent and it makes him superior to everyone else.

[00:14:21]Sadly, this perpetuates the idea of toxic masculinity, making people around him uncomfortable and helpless. If you go back to the point where Butcher freed him, you'll notice everyone, including Butcher himself, just freezes. [music] Even Mother's Milk starts visibly sweating while memories of his family's death at Soldier Boy's hands comes rushing back. Yet, his towering structure was something that kept the boys stunned for at least a few minutes, and they only reacted when he got violent. And this reputation of Soldier Boy goes way back. When he led Payback, most of his own teammates were terrified of him. It was more about how he treated them than his own brute strength. The abuse and dominance turned him into someone even his own squad couldn't trust. Funnily enough, even after nearly 40 years, that fear has not faded. Yeah, Soldier Boy's presence is so damn unsettling that the second people realize he's back, they try to avoid it.

[00:15:10]Black Noir immediately removes his tracking device and goes into hiding rather than risk facing him, while the TNT twins and Crimson Countess are visibly shaken when they see him again after Nicaragua. What this really shows is that Soldier Boy is feared not for what he can do, but for what he represents physically, and his body itself has become a symbol of authority.

[00:15:32]How mentally strong is Soldier Boy, really? I'm sure you guys have noticed how Soldier Boy is unperturbed by almost everything. In fact, deep down, the real reason he could survive the Russians' torture was his indomitable willpower.

[00:15:44]Yeah, I know the V is in his blood and did his work, but without infallible mental strength, I don't [music] think it would have been possible for him to go through anything and everything. In fact, there's a scene where he tells Hughie, "You know what I do when I'm sad or scared? Nothing, cuz I'm not a pussy." And now, the fearlessness has become an ingrained part of his psyche.

[00:16:01]I mean, you would see moments where Homelander is visibly disturbed even if he doesn't admit it. But, Soldier Boy?

[00:16:06]No, never. All he knows is to present himself as this unshakable hero. The thing is, this man has been active for over a century and fought in actual wartime combat. So, that same old-school soldier mindset has been carved into his identity, and that's exactly how he trained his mind and body to behave in a manner that fears absolutely nothing. In essence, Soldier Boy is mentally hardened by his lived experiences, and that directly ties into how effectively his powers operate. Just as a side note, though, I can't believe it's the same actor who did this.

[00:16:40]I can't stop laughing. All right, guys, that's all for today. Soldier Boy's body is nothing less than an ultimate weapon, and as I stated in the beginning, his powers have never really had anything to do with his love for the nation. For Vought, it was a merchandise in form. It was just a show of dominance. Yeah, it's definitely true that probably no Supe or tool [music] is still strong enough to overpower Soldier Boy. Do let us know your thoughts about him in the comments below, and share your theories about how his and Homelander's dynamic would be portrayed in this season. And if you like this video, don't forget to like it and share it with fellow Boys fans. I'll see you in the next one. Bye-bye.