The Speedster Supe You Forgot About In Amazon's The Boys

In Amazon Prime Video's series The Boys, the character A-Train is the fastest man in the world, but he isn't the first speedster on the roster of the not-so-super superhero team the Seven. Rather, in Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic series of the same name, upon which the streaming show is based, he was preceded by the quick-footed Mister Marathon — basically the Jay Garrick to A-Train's Barry Allen.

In the live-action series, Homelander dismisses A-Train — who's essentially the catalyst to the series' action, as he inadvertently kills Hughie Campbell's girlfriend — from the Seven by Homelander because of his Compound V addiction, and the fact he can no longer run at super-speed without suffering heart problems. The "Supe" is, however, included in the upcoming movie Dawn of the Seven, where his (forced) retirement from the team will be revealed to the world.

This leads to Mister Marathon first being mentioned in the live-action series. 

In the fifth episode of season 2, entitled "We Gotta Go Now," new Senior Vice President of Hero Management Ashley Barrett mentions to A-Train that he served four more years than Mister Marathon. However, eagle-eyed viewers will have caught Mister Marathon depicted two episodes earlier, when Dawn of the Seven director Adam Bourke presents some of the film's storyboards. In the pitch meeting for the blockbuster Seven movie, Mister Marathon is shown as an original member of the Vought International team, alongside Lamplighter, Homelander, Queen Maeve, the Deep, Black Noir, and Translucent. 

Appearing in a red-and-gold costume and wearing a mask resembling Wolverine's, Mister Marathon as a founding member of the Seven is aligned with the comic book's version of the character. Though little is known about his backstory, Mister Marathon is first mentioned in The Boys #19, titled "I Tell You No Lie, G.I., Part One." In that issue, the Legend, an elderly former comic writer and editor who knows everything about Supes, tells Hughie that Mister Marathon was the seventh member of the Seven to be created by Compound V. From there, Mister Marathon appears in a few of the comic book's 72 issues, and is relegated to flashbacks as the Legend shares the origin of the Seven. 

During the comic's version of the September 11 attacks, the Seven attempt to thwart the terrorist takeover of a commercial airplane. Though Mister Marathon is gifted with super-speed, he can't fly, so he has to be carried into the skies for the mission. Then, in The Boys #21, the Seven's rescue mission falls apart. The Deep punches through the aircraft's windshield and Homelander kills the terrorists, but they're left without a pilot to land the plane and are quickly losing altitude. When Homelander seeks to abandon the failed rescue on the plane (similar to the events shown in the season 1 episode "The Female of the Species") and leave the passengers to die, Mister Marathon pleads with the Seven's leader to save him from the imminent crash. Homelander reluctantly acquiesces, allowing Mister Marathon to hold on to him as he flies away. 

However, out of fear that Vought will fire them for fleeing, the speedster convinces Homelander to return to the plane and attempt to save the passengers. Homelander tries to reach the tail of the plane and level it out, but rather than slowing the crashing plane, Homelander approaches the craft too fast and flies through the fuselage — splitting it in two, dooming the passengers, and killing Mister Marathon in the process. It's a pretty gory end, as Mister Marathon's bloody, headless corpse falls to the earth below.

Though Mister Marathon is remembered as a hero according to Vought, A-Train's predecessor is yet another example of the less-than-heroic Supes in The Boys. It remains to be seen if the original Seven speedster will be portrayed on the Amazon Prime Video series, but for the moment, he appears in a blink-and-miss-it moment in those Dawn of Seven storyboards. It's an appropriately fast entrance and exit in keeping with Mister Marathon's powers.