How ‘The Boys’ gave its oblivious Black superhero a long-overdue awakening
Jessie T. Usher knows what you think of A-Train, his character on Amazon Prime Video’s hit series “The Boys.” And he agrees: For someone so fast on his feet, A-Train is a little slow on the uptake:“I’ve been waiting for his brain to catch up to his legs … this whole time.”
A-Train is the only visibly Black member of the Seven, a superpowered group whose mantra seems to be “want, take, have.” The conglomerate for which the group works has used him and his likeness to shill products to the Black community: beer, sugary cereal, energy drinks. You get the picture.
“The Boys” is back for Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video. And whether you’re a super-skeptic or a Marvel fanatic, its blistering cultural satire is for you.
The confused A-Train just, ahem, runs along. And in one bloody moment, he speeds right through a woman and into the first of many jaw-dropping scenes in “The Boys.” The woman’s boyfriend, Hughie (Jack Quaid), is left holding nothing but her hands. Enter William Butcher (Karl Urban), who was already trying to rid the world of supers because of his own loss, and a series is kicked off.
“We see the weight of A-Train’s actions in Season 1 still being played out in Season 3,” Usher said. “I can almost imagine this incredibly huge cloud that has just been growing behind him. In Season 4, it’s going to be really interesting to see what his fight-or-flight instincts are now that he’s finally been able to turn and face the monster over his shoulder.”
A-Train is a selfish young man with blinders on, his actions colored by his need to keep his status. That includes addiction to a substance that keeps him fast, faster, fastest, which leads to heart problems and an injury with the potential to cut his Seven career short.
Fans were vocal about their feelings toward the character who kowtows to nihilistic leader Homelander (Antony Starr) at every turn: sellout.
“It’s interesting to see how those conversations have changed over time,” Usher said with a smile. “Everyone always says, ‘Look, I hated him at first, and then I started to like him, then I didn’t really understand him. But like, now, I kinda understand him. And I’m not really sure if I like him.’ But I think the whys are kind of getting cleared up.”
But just when you thought all hope is lost — audible eye rolls as A-Train is suddenly into performative social justice, such as trading his blue costume for one with a stew of African print — he’s offered a kind of redemption arc. It’s late in the recently concluded third season that A-Train seems to notice, well, anything beyond his place on the team, most notably how one cop-like super brutalizes the Black community. (Spoiler alert if you‘re still catching up.) That sound you heard was a collective cheer when the racist Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler) messed around and found out.
Usher spoke with The Times about A-Train’s motivation, his hopes for Season 4 and how “The Boys” will be boys.
Karl Urban, of Amazon’s “The Boys,” has played a convention’s worth of sci-fi, fantasy and comic-book roles. He says it “speaks volumes” about the industry.
On my geek timeline, there was antipathy like, “Man. Yeah, I’m with him. But I’m not with him.” Like he wasn’t representative enough. Then, when his brain caught up, suddenly there was love. Were you able to watch that in realtime?
Yes, I engaged in social media, but also just from being out and walking around. … The thing is no one can relate to the decisions that A-Train had been making, and you can’t just say, “Oh, he’s crazy.” … There’s never been a definite thing to justify who he was. And it’s kind of always just been a process. I think the love that A-Train is getting now is just from people being able to finally understand it.
It was a big step when A-Train sincerely says “I’m sorry” to Hughie. So what do you envision going forward?
I just envision a different perspective. Finally. He has been the same person no matter what’s happened, which is crazy. It was that moment in “Herogasm” where he has that final breaking point with Hughie that I think is the reason why he was willing to die to make sure Blue Hawk is finished. I think he showed up to the house thinking, “I’m gonna get this guy to apologize … I’m gonna feel good about it, and then I’m gonna leave.” But he never thought, “I’m gonna run this guy into the ground and die.” But he had the heart attack that would have killed him. It was so much going on that he actually forgot about self-preservation for the first time since we met him.
While it became personal for A-Train, it also was reminiscent of James Byrd and how he was dragged from the back of a pickup. … Did you think about how it would play out in the wider scope of the conversations that are going on now?
From the moment I realized where A-Train’s story was going, I started considering the bigger picture. And the picture just kept growing; the weight of it got bigger and bigger and bigger. But it then allowed us to amplify both sides. It allowed me as A-Train to be even more pro-Black. It allowed him to speak with more of a purpose. For every scene that was involved in the storyline, it just puts more weight on it. There was a version where I anticipated Blue Hawk being a little bit sneakier and sly and not so in-your-face racist, but the weight of what that moment was supposed to be was so large that it almost had to be in your face. And it just built to this huge crescendo. Like I said before, it had to come to an end. It could not end off of an “All right, man.” [Slaps his hand.] It was life or death.
Why do you think it took a lot to happen for A-Train to get to this point?
This is the reason why I’ve almost been able to excuse a lot of the things that he’s done: A-Train a lot of the time has had the right intention. He just has not thought things through enough. So from the moment that I’ve met him, from the moment that the audience has met him, he has been in a lesser-of-the-two-evils situation. And no matter which direction he went, it was a lose-lose. So he’s just choosing the smaller loss. But it’s his own fault. And it’s not until he loses everything that he’s able to see things differently. He’s finally made the decision to do the right thing, regardless of the outcome. Somehow, some way, he’s woken up with a second chance.
Bloody beatdowns and exploding penises? Showrunner Eric Kripke puts gonzo moments on the “front of the cereal box” to get you to the fiber within.
You have to think too that it’s hard being first. Black Noir is a Black man, but as we see in flashback scenes, he was required to wear his helmet because it “wouldn’t play below the Mason Dixon Line” otherwise. So here comes A-Train having to almost blaze a trail because you can see his face.
It would be interesting to see if they ever had that moment in the past. Because that kind of still lives with Black Noir. I would pay to see that scene.
I want an entire episode. We’re sitting here writing a side story like in the comics.
[Laughs] We’re writing Season 4 right now.
Maybe we’ll strategically drop this recording somewhere.
Yeah, straight into [showrunner] Eric Kripke’s inbox.
At what point in the show’s run did it make you say, “I have to check out the source material”?
It was early after the pilot script. Because here’s the thing. I got sides first. So I just got a few scenes that A-Train was in. I booked the show on those scenes. I hadn’t read anything else. I just knew I loved Eric’s vision. And then you read the script, and I’m like, “Wait a minute. [Laughs] What are we doing?” I spent pretty much Christmas break just reading the source material. I was like, “I have to know where we’re coming from here.”
Is anyone winning on “The Boys”?
I just think everyone is losing at a different pace. People ask me, “Do you think A-Train’s character is redeemable entirely?” I don’t know. He’d have to wake up and choose it every day. He still might not win, but it would be interesting to see him lose at a slower pace. And it’s the same thing for everyone. That’s just life. We are all just dying slowly. [Laughs] We don’t want to admit it but it’s true.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
