Payback vs. The Seven: Which Supes Team from The Boys Is Stronger?

Season 3 of The Boys allowed us to see more of Payback, which was a group of supes that used to be the top team in the entire universe of The Boys. We saw this group in a flashback story by Grace Mallory. But we already are aware that the top supe team in The Boys right now is The Seven. So, which between Payback and The Seven is the stronger supes team in the universe of The Seven?

The Seven has the better and stronger supes. Homelander alone is already stronger than all of the members of Payback and may even be able to take all of them on his own. However, Payback has the experience and chemistry on its side because they have been together for a long time.

There is no doubt that Payback used to be a very good team that was on top before The Seven rose up to take over. Then again, there is a good reason why The Seven is the strongest supes team in the world as this group has some of the strongest supes in the history of The Boys. That said, let’s look at why The Seven is going to win a battle against Payback.

Payback

What Is Payback?

One of the most popular superhero teams in the history of The Boys is Payback, as it was active throughout the 80s and was the best group in the entire world until it fell off due to the apparent death of its leader, Soldier Boy. It was revealed during the events of season 3 of The Boys that Payback took part in a CIA operation in Nicaragua, where the Americans were assisting the Contra forces in their fight against the Sandinistas and the Russians.

During that visit to Nicaragua in the middle of the 80s, the Sandinistas and Russians attacked the Contra base and ended up killing most of the members of Payback. While it wasn’t shown onscreen, Soldier Boy was supposedly killed by the Russians using a powerful weapon that could kill a strong supe like him.

Payback is supposedly the parody version of Marvel’s Avengers. In fact, the names of the superhero groups are so similar as paying back basically means avenging. As such, Payback is the counterpart of the Avengers in the universe of The Boys.

Members

Payback was composed of eight supes that each had their own powers. Their leader was Soldier Boy, whose second in command was the Crimson Countess. Meanwhile, he had a sidekick called Gunpowder. The other members of Payback include Swatto, Mindstorm, Black Noir, and the TNT Twins. 

During the Nicaraguan operation, Swatto was killed onscreen while it was presumed that Soldier Boy had been killed when the Russians used a secret weapon on him and carried his corpse away. 

Meanwhile, Gunpowder was killed by Billy Butcher during the present day. As of this writing, not much is known about the status of the other members of Payback aside from the Crimson Countess, who was seen alive in season 3 of The Boys.

Powers

The most powerful member of Payback is Soldier Boy, who is said to have been around since World War II and actually participated in the war. Not much is known about Soldier Boy’s powers except for the fact that he has enhanced physical abilities to the point that he is said to be almost as strong as Homelander himself. That’s why Billy Butcher believes that whatever was supposed to have killed Soldier Boy could also be powerful enough to kill Homelander.

Crimson Countess, meanwhile, has the power to create explosive fireballs whenever she joins her hands. These fireballs, upon making contact, can cause an explosion that could immediately kill a person. However, she needs to join her hands to create these fireballs, as she is basically useless without them.

Gunpowder is a powerful and durable supe that has enhanced marksmanship abilities that allow him to excel as a gunner. He can use almost any kind of weapon almost perfectly, as there was a point where he ricocheted a bullet off of several surfaces to hit Billy Butcher’s leg.

Black Noir is a strong supe with enhanced physical abilities that allow him to play the role of a ninja almost perfectly. That means that he is super strong and has the speed, reflexes, and durability of almost any other powerful supe. He also has a healing factor that allows him to recover from wounds faster than most other supes.

Not much was shown about Swatto’s abilities, but it was shown that he has dragonfly-like wings that allow him to fly. Aside from that, his other abilities were not shown because he was killed by a Sandinista missile. As to the TNT Twins and Mindstorm, their abilities are yet to be shown, but they are probably powerful enough to be members of one of the strongest superhero groups in history.

The Seven

What Is The Seven?

The Seven is the strongest superhero group in the universe of The Boys as only the strongest, most popular, and most capable supes under the employment of Vought International are allowed to join this group.

It can be presumed that The Seven is fairly new as it hasn’t had a lot of members throughout its history. On top of that, its members aren’t also quite old and are somewhere between 30 to 50 years old, give or take. The Seven has been one of the main antagonists of The Boys, but not all of them are as corrupt as the other members.

For example, both Starlight and Queen Maeve are portrayed to be good heroes in their own right. Meanwhile, the Deep may not exactly be a good guy, but he isn’t exactly a bad guy as well. He just has his own issues.

The Seven is basically the Justice League counterpart of The Boys. This can be seen not only from the fact that most of the members of The Seven are copied from the Justice League but also from the fact that the Justice League had seven founding members.

Members

As the name of the group suggests, The Seven is composed of seven of the strongest supes that are under the employment of Vought. However, throughout the three seasons of The Boys, the composition of The Seven has changed.

The mainstays of The Seven are Homelander, Queen Maeve, Black Noir (joined after he left Payback), and A-Train. Meanwhile, other members have joined and left the group since season 1. Lamplighter was the first to leave the group when he was demoted, as it was Starlight who took his place.

Meanwhile, during the events of the first season, Translucent was the first The Seven supe that they killed. The Deep was demoted from The Seven and was transferred after some of his mistakes during the first season. In season 2, Stormfront was brought in to fill in one of the vacant positions.

Season 3 of The Boys showed that The Seven hosted a reality show competition called American Heroes, where supes were brought in to compete for the final two spots of The Seven. At the end of the competition, Supersonic won one of the slots, while the final slot went to the Deep, who returned to The Seven. 

Powers

The members of The Seven are supposedly the most powerful supes in the world as only those who are strong enough are actually brought in to have a chance at becoming members of Vought’s top supe group.

Of course, the cream of the crop of The Seven is Homelander, who is said to be the most powerful man in the entire world. He has powers that are similar to DC’s Superman as he was based on Clark Kent, albeit a morally corrupt version of him. In fact, Homelander is probably powerful enough to take on all of the members of The Seven.

Queen Maeve used to be the second-strongest being on the planet before Stormfront arrived and showcased that she is almost just as strong as Homelander. Nevertheless, Maeve’s strength, durability, speed, and combat skills are near the very top.

The Seven’s version of Black Noir is basically the same one on Payback. However, this Black Noir is much more experienced and has become stoic and silent due to the injuries she suffered in Nicaragua.

A-Train, at his peak, was the fastest man alive and could use his super-speed to his advantage when fighting different types of opponents. However, he has recently lost his abilities due to his addiction to Compound V.

The Deep has proven himself to be quite powerful as well and has the strength and durability of most supes. However, his best attribute is his ability to communicate with aquatic lifeforms. 

Finally, Starlight herself is quite strong and has all of the enhanced physical abilities of all supes. However, she also has the capability of using light to her advantage by absorbing the powers of any light source and by using it against her opponents.

Payback vs. The Seven: Which Supes Team From The Boys Is Stronger?

The members of Payback are quite powerful and exceptional in their own way, especially when you look at the powers that they possess. Soldier Boy alone could be stronger than any of the other members of The Seven, except for Homelander. And because Payback doesn’t have the internal problems that The Seven has, this supe group probably has better chemistry.

However, we all know that The Seven is composed of some of the strongest supes in the world. They may not be great at working with one another and have their own individual issues. However, the individual members of The Seven are already powerful on their own, as it is quite possible that Homelander, on his own, could solo Payback. As such, The Seven is no doubt stronger than Payback, and there’s a reason why this group was able to supplant them as the newest top group under Vought’s employment.