| “ | You're my greatest failure.
―Vogelbaum to Homelander[src]
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” |
Jonah Vogelbaum is a retired Vought scientist. During his time at Vought, he oversaw the creation of Homelander, as well as being one of the scientists involved in Becca Butcher's pregnancy with Homelander's child.
After he retired from Vought, Vogelbaum began to question his methods that resulted in the behavior of his creations, especially his involvement in creating Homelander. Realizing that despite how perfect a creation can be, it isn't enough. That without a mother, a subject can become violent, aggressive, and downright hateful. Despite these realizations, it's too little, too late to fix any of it. Now he's just an old man thinking about his mistakes.
The Boys Series
Testing phase
Vogelbaum first appears in a flashback Homelander has when staring at his old childhood blanket. Vogelbaum is seen looking through a window into a testing lab room. He proceeds to make faces at a young Homelander cheering him up. Despite the simple positive gesture, the scene reveals how isolated Homelander was in his early life, and what laid the foundation for the person he is today.
The Visit
When Homelander pays him a visit to uncover the truth about what Vought has kept hidden from him, Vogelbaum reveals that Becca Butcher was pregnant with Homelander's child. Saying "(the baby) Lived all of 10 seconds. Drowned in its mother's blood." Vogelbaum then proceeded to express his regret towards being responsible for making John into Homelander. Despite Vogelbaum's attempt to apologize, Homelander thinks otherwise, believing himself to be the world's greatest superhero.
Later on, in You Found Me, When Homelander was confronting Billy Butcher, it was revealed that after Homelander got Stillwell's side of the story that he went back to Vogelbaum and pressed (and possibly tortured or killed) him for information. It's unknown what became of Vogelbaum after this.
Season 2
It was confirmed in a news article that Vogelbaum was paralyzed by an accident and retired from CSO of Vought as a result (whether it was true that an accident is the reason he retired, or another lie about Homelander "squeezing the truth" from him is currently unknown). [It is confirmed in the episode Trivia for Episode 202 that Vogelbaum will appear again in this Season.]
In the Comics
Jonah Vogelbaum is a Jewish scientist that invented Compound V, originally as a super-soldier serum for Nazi Germany. Fearing for his life, Vogelbaum fled to the United States with the formula and a young Stormfront, who was the only surviving test subject. Once in the U.S., Vogelbaum started working for Vought. All supes, including the Seven, were created by being exposed to Compound V. Vogelbaum continued working for Vought until Mallory organized his kidnapping. While Mallory was originally just going to kill Vogelbaum, he changed his mind and made him work for the C.I.A. instead. Under Mallory's instructions, Vogelbaum created the Compound V shots that all members of the Boys are injected with, while deliberately making it so expensive the C.I.A. couldn't start a super-soldier program of its own. Mallory eventually tasked Butcher with assassinating the scientist. Unbeknownst to Mallory, Butcher actually spared Vogelbaum and made him work on a way to exterminate everyone that was ever exposed to Compound V. When Vogelbaum finally succeeded in creating a Compound V strain capable of this, Butcher murdered him so he wouldn't be able to undo his work.