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Vought International was one of the biggest corporations to exist in the world with it having its hands in so many businesses that it was rare to see a product without their logo on it. And one of the biggest things they have are The Seven, a group of the greatest and most legendary of the “Supes” they helped create.
Now things hadn't always gone their way with one of their main competitors – Wayne Enterprises – having somehow been able to catch up and surpass them in many of their business ventures. Making superhumans is something that the other company couldn't do, but it didn't try to. Much like another company that competes with the other two in many fields, LexCorp.
Unfortunately, recent events have started to cause problems for the PR Department of Vought.
Somehow, unregistered superhumans had begun to pop up around the world with some becoming heroes fighting criminals while others became villains. Not only was the number of these unregistered individuals growing day by day, but Vought was having trouble keeping track of them.
Their first known interaction with such a hero was a speedster who met up with A-Train and had a chat with him. The speedster – calling himself “The Flash” – didn't seem interested in any membership with Vought and actually saw potential in his fellow speedster. A-Train did start meeting him on a regular basis, but nothing really came of it outside of helping the Supe in his work.
Many more interactions happened after that, but one stood out to Vought as one of the biggest headaches they faced.
It seemed like a normal routine of letting Blue Hawk go to a city which many at Vought had little interest in when it came to the superhumans department. Gotham City, considered one of the most dangerous and crime invested cities in the United States with its only redeeming feature being the home of Wayne Enterprises.
So off Blue Hawk went to do his thing only for Vought International to suddenly get word that he was imprisoned and having charges pressed. The suits went to do their thing, but came back without their Supe and instead the key piece of evidence against him.
Turns out, someone had filmed Blue Hawk attacking a couple of black teenagers in one of the more run down areas of Gotham City. The attack was soon stopped as someone wearing a costume and cape jumped in and fought Blue Hawk back. As two other people also in costumes came to help the teens, the first costumed figure laid a beat down on the Supe until he was knocked out and handcuffed.
Vought quickly looked into things and found the name of Blue Hawk's attacker: Batman.
A vigilante who decided to take matters into his own hands, Batman had been operating in Gotham for many years and had several known sidekicks who grew into their own – Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin. He also had several foes of his own, most of which seemed like normal people though others were of concern like Poison Ivy and her control of plants.
As it turned out, Blue Hawk had too much evidence against him and the Gotham Police simply weren't letting him off the hook on this one. Not helped that the head of Wayne Enterprises – a man apply named Bruce Wayne – refused to let a person claiming to be a hero mistreat the people of the city.
In order for them to try getting their Supe off the hook, Vought decided to send out one of their best minds in the business – Tek Knight. They wanted him to get anything on Bruce Wayne that he could so that Vought can tank his image and knock his company out of the way for their ventures.
Under his alias of Robert Vernon, the Supe was able to get two meetings out of Mr. Wayne before being rejected from ever seeing him again. It didn't take long for Robert Vernon to get a visit from Batman, who seemed to have figured out much about the man including his family lineage. Not helped that Nightwing and Robin had joined him on this occasion, the latter actually considering breaking Vernon's knees.
Yet their Supe soon had what he needed and made a public announcement that he'll do his show The Whole Truth in Gotham City as a special. For he knew Batman's identity and was going to reveal it live on national television.
Unfortunately, that was the last time Tek Knight was ever seen alive by the public.
Not long after, Robert Vernon went missing with police finding his body a few days after the original air date of his special. His body was completely fine, but his face had been twisted into a hideous smile which remained on his face after death.
The cause of the twisted image was soon revealed as, during the time slot for The Whole Truth, a recording of what happened was aired without anyone able to stop it. It showed a clown figure going by “The Joker” having kidnapped Robert Vernon and tied him up to a chair as the Supe told them that he knew the identity of Batman. Yet that only made the Joker more determined to kill him to “stop you from ruining my fun” and sprayed him with a green gas.
Within seconds of exposure, Robert Vernon – the famed detective Tek Knight – began laughing himself to death as the Joker joined in with his own crazed laughter.
The death of Tek Knight quickly caused a problem for Vought, as one of their heroes – who were supposed to be far more durable to the average person – was killed by a poisonous gas created by a crazed lunatic. And when Blue Hawk's trial began with his crimes and who he truly was being revealed, the company decided to wash their hands of him. He was publicly denounced and everything that he had done for the company pulled from circulation.
Gotham City became a black mark for Vought International, a place where all Supes were not to go under any circumstances.
Yet time and again, events took place that made it more and more difficult for Vought to operate its superhuman division.
The Deep having a nasty encounter with a man of similar power but vastly stronger than him. Somehow he had only gotten off with a warning and his foe – called Aquaman – simply told him to stay away from the deeper parts of the ocean.
Stormfront fought an Amazon who managed to snag her in a magic lasso that made her speak the truth. Unable to resist, Stormfront spilled her bigoted views and Nazi ideals which earned her a swift removal from anything related to Vought.
Teenage Kix tried to do their hero work, but were quickly out shined by the Teen Titans led by – of all people – Nightwing. Their interactions were nothing short of hostile with Nightwing often having his team keeping the cooler head – making things worse for the Teenage Kix.
And the more things happened, the more Vought were unable to rectify the issue which kept building day by day. Many of these heroes even out shined The Seven for goodness sake, which pissed off one person in particular.
Homelander is, to say the least, the most livid at all of this.
He was raised by Vought to be the strongest superhuman in the entire world and spend every moment of his life training to be where he is today. He's the leader of The Seven, the strongest hero that the world has ever seen, and the only one that can do the impossible.
Which makes it worse that he could not for the life of him understand how others could be besting even those on his team! True the Deep wasn't that strong, but for goodness sake he was bested by a knock off! Even Stormfront – someone who he had considered for The Seven – was humiliated by a woman from some unknown island that no one's ever heard of!
And the more things happened, the more pissed he gets.
Which leads to this moment, with him sitting at the main table of The Seven looking at a newspaper that one of the aides brought to him. Just seeing the picture of a man (not him) saving a plane on the front page set him off, yet that is nothing compared to the headline written right above it.
Homelander Causes Air Disaster!
Despite the rage he feels, he went about reading the article to see what it said with him reading that Transoceanic Flight 37 was saved by another superhero. A “Superman” – whatever that meant – had caught the plane and flew it safely to a nearby airport where he helped the passengers get off. Many had lost their hearing, but some had their hearing saved thanks to surgery and there was the talk of lawsuits from these people due to the health problems and trauma.
Having folded up the paper, Homelander stares at the front page with his eyes glancing up at the publisher and reading it. After a few moments, he looks up to the aide with a calmness that belies the fury within him.
“Tell me,” Homelander says in a quiet tone, “Where is this...Daily Planet located?”
In the heart of the city of Metropolis, everyone is busy with their day much like anyone would be working the nine to five. Some are chatting, some are at their desks typing away on computers, and others are looking at photos reviewing them for the papers. The news organization is operating on all cylinders, getting the reports and writing up the articles to place in their newspapers to inform the public.
Which means that a wall suddenly exploding inward on one of the higher floors throws a wrench into everything.
“Great Caesar's ghost!” Perry White exclaims as he stands up and leaves his office, “Who thinks that it's a good idea to smash down the walls of my offices?!”
As the smoke clears revealing the rubble and (thankfully) no bodies, Homelander lands and walks into the room with a deceiving calmness. Everyone is looking at him with some moving back while others stay where they are – either out of shock or some sort of brave front is hard to tell. Yet Perry White just stares at him with a scowl on his face.
“Hello sir,” Homelander says, “I'd like to talk with you about an article your paper printed.”
“Go to the lobby and set up the appointment like everyone else,” Perry White instant snaps, “I've got a busy schedule and now you've made it worse by smashing down a wall to the outside. That can kill the people working here and cost us a lot to repair.”
A soft laugh comes from Homelander as he smiles and says, “I don't think you understand who you're talking to, sir.”
“I know exactly who I'm talking to and you're wasting my time,” Perry White tells him, “And if all of this was to get a retraction, that won't happen. The Daily Planet tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you don't like that, you can read a different paper.”
Homelander takes a deep breath and swallows, trying his hardest to keep his calm facade going despite how much he wanted to kill this man. Yet unseen by even him, one of the reporters slips away with a surprising burst of speed only seen in speedsters.
“Perhaps you might need to be convinced,” Homelander states with a thinly veiled anger, his eyes glowing with power, “I'm going to count to ten and use my heat vision unless you decide to sit down with me and talk.”
“You can make it a count to three and I won't budge,” Perry White quickly shoots back, folding his arms across his chest.
“Then perhaps I should just do it and find someone willing to do the retraction,” Homelander replies with a soft growl to his voice as his eyes grow brighter.
“I won't suggest it, sir.”
Instantly, Homelander blinks his heat vision away at the new voice and turns around to see what looks like a different version of himself. The man with black hair floating outside of the building wears a blue and blue suit with a yellow belt around his waist and a red cape flowing from the wind. On his chest is a badge outlined in red, with a red stylized “S” on a yellow background.
The man – obviously a superhuman – looks at Homelander without any fear as he states, “You caused a lot of problems with Transoceanic 37 and what you did to those people. Terrorizing those reporting on it won't help you get out of it.”
It takes a moment for Homelander to do anything with him letting out a soft chuckle. So he's dealing with a Supe whose dressed up like him – making him a copy cat – and thinks he can boss him around because of it.
“Oh...you want me to pick on someone my own size?” Homelander asks, smirking as he looks at the other superhero.
“I'd rather you calm down and talk things out,” said superhero answers.
“You should listen to Superman,” Perry White remarks without hesitation.
Superman, huh? Well, guess he found the person who ensured that his reputation would be ruined if left unchecked.
Without hesitation, Homelander flies forward and tackles Superman as they fly out of the Daily Planet towards another building. Yet the hero quickly stops them just by placing his feet on that building, preventing any collateral damages before pushing off it as both fly into the sky. The two head higher into the air with Superman quickly spinning and throwing Homelander off him who comes to a stop instantly.
“Oh, haven't been up here too often,” Homelander remarks with a dark chuckle, “What, don't want to be seen being beaten by your superior?”
“No, just didn't want to harm others,” Superman answers calmly.
Homelander flies forward as he throws a punch, but Superman seemingly vanishes making him look to his right and left. Then, he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns while using his heat vision which hits hits the hero directly in the chest. Yet the heat vision barely does anything and Superman quickly gives a punch to the Supe.
Instantly, Homelander is sent flying miles away before Superman catches up to him and gives him another punch that sends him further. Punch after punch sends the Supe further and further away from their starting point until he finally lands with a roll across an icy floor.
Homelander shakes his head and looks around at his surroundings, seeing himself in a fortress of some kind with great walls composed of massive crystals. The ground remains frozen and cold – barely registering it himself – as he slowly stands up in shock. How did Vought not know of a place like this and why weren't they already trying to take control of it.
“I know you must have many questions,” Superman says, making Homelander turn and see him standing fifteen feet away, “And if you calm down, I could answer a couple of them.”
The Supe – seeing that no one else is here – snarls as he looks at the hero and shouts, “You think you can send me flying to this place and think you're superior to me?! I'm the fucking Homelander, the strongest Supe in the business! When I'm done with you, I'm going to flash fry that shit news building and set an example for the rest of the world to show what happens when you fuck with Vought!”
Yet Superman looks on unimpressed as he cross his arms and stares at Homelander with utter disappointment.
“You think that just because you have all that power you can do as you please,” Superman starts to say, his voice laced with frustration, “You realized you couldn't be stopped and decided to become a bully because it made you feel powerful. You let the power take control and twist your mind into a person who'd let a jet liner full of innocent people fall into the ocean to cover up your mess.”
Homelander shakes in rage as he looks at the hero who continues to speak.
“Yet with my powers, I saved that jet liner and brought those people to safety. I did it because it was the right thing to do, not because it made me feel powerful. The true strength behind all that power is using it to better the lives of others – something I do each and every day because it's what I should do. And the fact that you decided that you can choose who lives or dies because of how you feel...it makes me sick.”
“I don't have any more time to waste listening to you,” Homelander coldly states with a growl, “So...ready to get your ass kicked once and for all?”
A small smile comes over the hero's face as he says, “Actually, you're right where we want you to be.”
Homelander blinks upon hearing that until he hears something and turns his head towards his left to see someone standing there. Yet before he can do anything, a white beam of light strikes him with the Supe crying out as he becomes a black silhouette within the white light. Then his form shrinks as the black silhouette is sucked in with the white beam back into the devise the person is holding.
By the time the beam of light vanishes back into the Phantom Zone Projector, Batman looks at the screen on his end to see Homelander trapped within it. Looking up to Superman, he says, “This should keep him contained until we've got things set up to house him on Earth.”
“STAR Labs are already working on the containment,” Superman replies as he walks over to Batman, “I just hope that we can find a way to rehabilitate him.”
“One can only hope,” Batman states.
Once the recording of Homelander and Superman in the Fortress of Solitude came out, Vought was left trying to stop the dropping of their stock. Not helped by the legal troubles brought about due to Homelander's actions from both having to cover repairs to the Daily Planet and compensate for those affected in the Transoceanic 37 incident. It was a miracle that they just narrowly avoided being bought out by LexCorp due to a well timed PR campaign done by Starlight.
Helped greatly by her assisting Superman who actually vouched for her as a true superhero.
That sent a big message to the higher ups at Vought International: if they were to survive, they had to adapt or be left behind. They started to crack down on the more unsavory heroes who either had to clean up their image or be shown the door. The focus of advertisement turned from trying to market the superhumans to having them actually live up to heights they spoke about.
It was no longer about making superhumans a product to be sold. It was about showing that the superhumans they made were actually heroes.
It did take time, but things did change for the better and Vought were able to slowly rebound from their lowest point. Starlight led the way for more heroes to come, for the Teenage Kix to actually get better and become peers with the Teen Titans. A-Train became a member of the Flash Family with him maintaining good relations with Central City and even helping his predecessor, Mister Marathon, get cleaned up.
For Vought, the future began to look bright as they began to make their superhumans into actual superheroes.
Oh, and The Deep? He was the first of many Supes to be kicked out due to his problematic behavior and his refusal to change. Last anyone heard, he went to have a rematch with Aquaman and began swimming his way to the underwater city of Atlantis.
When asked, Aquaman has been on record stating, “He didn't make it past the guards.”