The Boys has previously gestured at the similarities between American idealism and Nazism, most obviously in the reveal that Clara Vought was Klara Risinger, wife of Nazi geneticist and inventor of Compound V, Frederick Vought. Frederick gave his wife the compound, and when they immigrated to the U.S. as part of Operation Paperclip, Clara became the patriotic superhero Liberty. After her racist crimes were exposed, Liberty went into hiding, only to reemerge decades later as Stormfront, using a codename derived from white supremacist jargon.

By looking at the Eisenhower Era, Vought Rising allows The Boys to remind viewers that the problems of the present day aren’t new, that even in its best moments, the U.S. flirts with fascism and authoritarianism.

The trailer hints at another way Vought Rising will critique America’s past, by following the perspective of Black characters. Although we don’t get much about KiKi Layne’s character, other than her connection to Soldier Boy, we do see a character played by Jorden Myrie getting injected with Compound V and gaining superpowers.

Surely, Myrie’s character will be involved in this universe’s version of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and other forms of medical apartheid in the United States, in which American scientists performed experiments on Black people. Not only will this plot point allow the series to draw stronger connections between the United States and Nazi Germany, but also explore a different side of the American superhero myth.

Unless some historian releases a new book that totally changes the way we think about the 1950s, Kripke won’t have to worry about the news one-upping the stories in Vought Rising. Instead, he’ll just have to worry about the greatest threat with any Boys series: people who don’t get the joke, and refuse to learn the lessons of the satires.

Vought Rising streams on Prime Video in 2027.