Symbolically, Starlight is one of the few true beacons of hope in the dark world of The Boys, yet that is almost the only thing about the character that hasn't been changed from the original comics. While both versions of Starlight are idealists who find their beliefs challenged by the reality of corporate superheroism, the Starlight of the Amazon Prime series is a more proactive heroine who fights the system openly and takes on an active role in bringing down the corrupt Vought-American corporation from within.

In the original The Boys comics, Starlight was the point-of-view character for the readers, as the story went behind the friendly facade presented by The Seven, the world's most popular superhero team, and revealed just how depraved the world's finest heroes and their corporate backers were once the cameras were off. Starlight faced continued indignities, ranging from sexual harassment leading to sexual assault at the hands of her co-workers to being forced to don an increasingly skimpy series of costumes provided for her by Vought-American's marketing department. Her disillusionment with everything she thought being a big-time superhero would be is offset by her finding romance with an equally idealistic young man named Hughie Campbell, who, unbeknownst to her, is part of a secret CIA team informally known as The Boys, who were tasked with monitoring superheroes and killing those that got out of control. Hughie remained equally ignorant that his new girlfriend was a superhero, until he was informed as to her secret identity by Billy Butcher.

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Amazon Prime's The Boys series drastically changed Starlight's storyline, making her only suffer sexual harassment from one member of her team, The Deep. In a nod to the #MeToo movement, Starlight refused to passively go along with her assault and eventually went public with what had happened, though the only real change this brought was The Deep being transferred to a much less prominent position in Vought-American's stable of protected cities and her own identity being rebranded as a social justice warrior rather than an innocent girl-next-door. The show also had Hughie and Starlight become aware of each other's secret identities early on, with Starlight now helping The Boys with their mission to shut down Vought-American in The Boys season 2.

The Boys' Starlight Explained

Starlight takes a selfie with a young fan

Known as the Defender of Des Moines, Annie January was an All-American girl who was unknowingly groomed for the spotlight from birth. Though she was told that her powers were a gift from God by her mother, the truth was that her mother was paid handsomely for her daughter to be injected with the super-drug Compound-V by Vought-American and turned into a superhero. As a child, Annie was forced into the superheroine pageant circuit and worked with the Christian superhero organization Capes For Christ, where she spent as much time training as a model as she did mastering her superpowers. A devout Christian who honestly believes in the ideals promoted by most superheroes publicly, Annie quickly became disillusioned when she was recruited to The Seven to replace the hero Lamplighter and realized the team and their corporate backers were more concerned with appearances and selling merchandise than actually helping people.

Annie's background in the comics was slightly different, with Annie's superpowers manifesting when she was born and blinding both her parents and the hospital staff supervising her birth. This led to Annie being sold to Vought-American when her parents proved unable to care for her and themselves and a young Annie being bounced from foster home to foster home and a succession of paid parents, who were only affectionate when she did well at the various contests arranged for aspiring superheroes. Despite this, Annie grew up with a surprisingly positive and down-to-Earth outlook on life, honestly meaning it when she said her biggest dream was to one day save the world.

Starlight's DC Comics Influences

Brec Bassinger as Courtney Whitmore Stargirl Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers Supergirl Arrowverse

Starlight was meant to parody the cliche of the hopeful rookie heroine, best exemplified by characters like Supergirl and Stargirl. With a modest skirt and a symbol on her chest, her original costume seems to be inspired by Mary Marvel, the equally optimistic teen female counterpart of Shazam. However, with a background based in the American Midwest and light-based powers, Starlight seems closer to Stargirl in terms of her abilities and history.

Related: The Boys Soundtrack: Every Song In Season 2

Starlight's Powers Explained

Starlight From The Boys

Starlight's trademark power is that she can absorb the ambient electricity from around her and redirect it. This allows her to blackout a small area before releasing the held energy as focused blasts of light. There is also a concussive element to Starlight's energy blasts, as shown in her audition tape for The Seven, where she accidentally knocked over the camera filming her demonstrating her powers as she unleashed a blinding flash. No limit has been established for how much power Annie can safely absorb or unleash or how long she can contain it, but she was shown to have such fine control of her power that she was able to dim the lights in a hotel room so as to establish a romantic mood when she and Hughie were making love.

Like most superheroes in the world of The Boys, Starlight also has some degree of super-strength and increased durability, being able to strike a brick wall without getting hurt and eventually knock it down with successive punches. She was also able to survive being shot several times with a high-powered rifle by Billy Butcher, though she was in great pain and unable to move afterward. Starlight's main weakness is that her energy powers are dependent on there being an electrical source nearby that she can tap. This may explain why Billy Butcher chose to attack her while she was meeting Hughie in Central Park at the end of the season 1 episode "The Self Preservation Society," as there would be less chance of there being street lamps or breaker boxes she could draw off of. Starlight also seems to be limited in how long she can hold energy before releasing it, meaning she can't hold excess energy for when she might need it later.

Starlight's Story In The Rest Of The Boys Season 2

Starlight looking slightly puzzled in The Boys

The storyline of The Boys series has dramatically shifted away from the source material, particularly in regards to Starlight. This is ironically fitting, as the character also grew beyond the expectations of writer Garth Ennis. Reportedly Ennis had originally intended for the character to serve as a comedic prop, whom he could have fun humiliating as she degraded herself further and further in her efforts to keep her job with The Seven. However, while writing a scene in which Hughie Campbell sat on a park bench mulling over his exposure to the screwed-up secret world of superheroes, Ennis surprised himself by suddenly writing Starlight, in her secret identity of Annie January, sitting down on the same bench and striking up a conversation. The idea of a romance between the two innocents spun out of that unplanned moment and  became one of the core elements of The Boys comics, before being expanded even further in the show.

While the The Boys comics saw Annie quitting The Seven at Hughie's prompting and taking herself out of the action leading into the ultra-violent grand finale between the team and Homelander, the show has given Starlight a more prominent and proactive role, acting as The Boys inside-agent in Vought-American. Beyond being more feminist-friendly, this has also made Starlight into a more interesting and conflicted character, as she honestly does believe she's working for the greater good in helping Hughie and his team but is still hurting from the revelation that he lied to her about who he was and used her connections to further his own goals. It seems likely the two will eventually overcome their issues, but the road ahead will be long and difficult for them both, even ignoring the risk to their lives.

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