For the Dynamite version of the character, see Starlight/Comics.
“
You're right. This whole place. I'm so fucking tired... of listening to people to tell me I need to be shitty in order to win. Fuck you. And fuck Homelander, and fuck Vought and this "whatever it takes" crap. You're just gonna end up sitting on the steaming pile of shit that you built. I'm done. I'm fucking done. I'm not doing it anymore. So, either pop my head or get the hell out.
Annie January, formerly known as Starlight, is the deuteragonist of the Amazon series The Boys. Serving as the tritagonist of both Season 1 and Season 2, and the deuteragonist of Season 3.
Annie January is as down-to-earth and sincere as they come, the girl next door with superpowers. And as Starlight, "The Defender of Des Moines", all she's ever wanted to do is save the world — and while a lot of people say that as a corny catchphrase, she actually means it. So, when she's selected to join The Seven, it's every dream she's ever had come true.
However, that dream becomes her worst nightmare when this fresh-faced Midwesterner arrives in New York and learns that the old adage is true: never meet your heroes.
Annie January was born somewhere around 1996-1997 as the only child of Donna January and an unnamed man. Desiring for their child to be special, Annie's parents decided to take Vought's offer to injected with Compound V and be turned into a supe. Afterwards, Annie would be groomed by her parents to become a superhero and would grow up in a hyper-religious home. When she would ask about the origins of her powers, her parents would lie and tell her that God gave them to her, further reinforcing her faith in Christianity.
Despite Donna and her husband both agreeing to turn Annie into a supe, Annie's father would come to regret his decision due to the guilt of having to lie to his daughter. The guilt would eventually make him leave both his wife and daughter.
Despite losing her husband, Donna would continue to train her daughter so that she could become a famous superhero one day. To achieve said objective, she would force Annie to participate in dancing contests, such as "little miss hero pageant". Annie would join up be the Capes for Christ, and eventually, Young Americans, where she met Supersonic, whom she dated for quite a while.
Starlight has had a history of being in the spotlight, often attending superhero events as a child. She is selected to be a member of The Seven after interviewing following Lamplighter's retirement. She is at first overjoyed at being selected, wanting to use her position as a superhero to help people and make the world a better place. These dreams are suddenly dashed, however, when Starlight is later sexually assaulted and left feeling humiliated after the Deep extorts her into performing oral sex on him at Seven Tower during "The Name of the Game" in order for her to stay on the team, telling her lies that he is the second most important person in the group after Homelander while exaggerating his power and influence.
As Starlight gets to experience more and more of how the Seven actually operate, she bitterly learns that her membership with The Seven comes with a price as she is forced to disregard her own values and morals in return for Vought International profit as well as remaining with the company. She initially disregards Vought's attitude towards fighting criminals, dismayed at having her patrols arranged for her in "Cherry", and was coerced into wearing a skimpy and more sexualized version of her costume designed by the female costume designer of Vought who had also designed the Homelander's suit. She deviates from the path after saving a woman from two assailants — much to Vought's initial anger; however, she is praised after her act gains positive publicity for The Seven.
Starlight eventually strays from her path as a member of The Seven during the Believe Expo, in which she expresses her anger at Vought and the world in general, disillusioned by the harsh reality of being a superhero. It also where Starlight made her account of sexual assault by The Deep (though not named) public. As Starlight becomes more outspoken, she also soon realizes that going against Vought's corporate line and trying to be a genuine hero within The Seven is fraught with dire consequences, following threats and warnings from Homelander.
Relationship with Hughie[]
Hughie and Starlight form a close relationship shortly after the former's girlfriend's death. Initially, Hughie engages in the relationship to plant a bug on Starlight's phone; however, the relationship develops into a romantic/sexual one. Starlight is angry and upset that Hughie begins using her to get tickets into the Believe Expo in Good for the Soul, and again to gain information on Naqib. The relationship between the two does fix itself to a degree, however, with Starlight rescuing Hughie from A-Train in "You Found Me".
In the second season, Starlight works closely with The Boys to help bring down Vought. She even steals a sample of Compound V to have proof that Supes aren't born, they're made. Homelander and Stormfront are on to her, and eventually Annie gets denounced as a criminal and publicly announced as a traitor of The Seven. She gets imprisoned in Vought Tower, but Hughie helps break her out and they start to bond again.
At the end of the season, Annie fights Stormfront after helping to reveal her Nazi past. She gets reinstated into The Seven and cleared of criminal charges once the world realized that Stormfront was the bad guy and Annie was just trying to help.
Annie and Hughie reconnect and kiss at the end of the season. It is implied that they're in a relationship again.
Starlight was featured in a music video titled Never Truly Vanish and in various segments, interviews and advertisements across the VNN channel, including reports of her ex-boyfriend Supersonic making a name for himself again after their former relationship (when his name was Drummer Boy.) In the October 7, 2021, segment, Coleman reported that Starlight was rebuilding her image and has donned her old costume, which prompted Halloween sales to reach Homelander's levels of popularity. In the December 7, 2021, segment, Coleman reported that she was a guest at Vought's Christmas benefit, recognized as Hero of the Year.
On January 7, 2022, Coleman reported that Starlight was exclusively looking for new members of the Seven to join their team and would be a host of the reality competition show American Hero.
In Season Three, Annie's ratings are off the charts for her work in The Seven. Her wholesome appearance is well received, and Stan Edgar notices. He makes her co-captain of The Seven, with Homelander, and Annie is very hesitant at first. She thinks she could be a role model for young girls around the world, but she also knows that Homelander is slowly becoming more deranged and might possibly murder her if she moves in on his leadership role. Annie decides to take the position in the end despite the risks.
Annie is in a strong and stable relationship with Hughie - they are also in a public relationship. However, Homelander (in an attempt to embarrass her) announces that he and Starlight are actually together, and Annie keeps up the charade to keep Homelander happy.
Her ex-boyfriend, Supersonic, joins The Seven, and they strike up a friendship again. Soon after being selected into the Seven, Annie tells Supersonic to decline membership, warning him about Homelander's mental instability and numerous murders, as well as the general corruption of Vought's "superheroes". She also tells Supersonic that if he were to stay with The Seven any longer, he could probably wind up dead. He agrees to help her try and take down Homelander because he knows she needs an ally. However, A-Train betrays Supersonic when he tells him the plan and Homelander kills him. Homelander flies Annie to the rooftop where he killed Supersonic, and he shows her that if she keeps plotting against him that the same gruesome death will happen to Hughie. Annie tells him she understands.
Not too long after, Starlight, Homelander, and her assistant Ashley go over the reports of a Supe causing an explosion that left a hole in a building and at least 19 people dead. Starlight wants to find and stop the attacker, but a scared Homelander tells her that he must tell the public that everything is fine and the attack is a hoax, much to her outrage.
Annie later tells Hughie about Supersonic's death, which he reveals that the Boys unleashed Soldier Boy back in Russia, as well as Hughie having taking Temp V and acquired teleportation powers, much to her shock. The couple argue, with Hughie expressing relief that he can finally fight, but Annie expresses her outrage of him using an untested drug on himself and not wanting to lose him to the power rush.
MM calls her one night, telling her to come to Crimson Countess' location. There, she finds him knocked out by a sedative given by Butcher, with Hughie surprised that she's there. Taken away by Hughie, Annie is shocked by Hughie's display of powers, saying that he promised not to do it again earlier. He tells her that he wants no more secrets between them, but soon after, they are interrupted by an explosion coming from Crimson Countess' trailer. The two rush over to find Soldier Boy emerging from the ruins, his former team member and lover burnt to a crisp. She is stopped by Hughie before trying to blast Soldier Boy, to which she realizes that he and Butcher are working with the former hero to finally take down Homelander. Annie conveys to Hughie that Soldier Boy has killed people, but he refuses to listen, and leaves Annie alone with Soldier Boy and Butcher.
Annie keeps teaming up with MM and argues with Hughie who is trying to use Soldier Boy. After Victoria Neuman asks Annie to team up, Annie decides she's done with playing dirty. She decides to record a live message on social media, quitting The Seven, calling out Homelander, and telling the public the truth about Soldier Boy and the threat he poses.
Annie goes with The Boys to fight Soldier Boy. Hughie turns on all the lights in the building to give Annie more power as she fights against him. After the fight, Annie throws away her Starlight costume and officially joins The Boys.
Personality[]
At her core, Annie is an idealist and one of the very few "Supers" who truly care about helping others and doing what she believes is right. She cares little for publicity, being uncomfortable with the amount of attention she gets from the media as well as being pressured to change her costume to be an over-sexualized role model for young girls. She also suffered from imposter syndrome during her early time as a member of the Seven, as she had yet to perform any notable heroic acts.
She is also outspoken, fun-loving, friendly and charismatic, which is seen in moments where she feels relaxed and comfortable most notably when she's with people she cares about like Hughie and M.M. This is also shown in her love of things like candy such as Almond Joy's.
After being sexually assaulted by The Deep, Annie felt disgusted with herself due to doing things she never considered part of herself or any superhero would do and began to doubt about the image she used to see of herself, but after a conversation with Hughie she regains her self-confidence and begins to be braver being capable of confronting others, like when she threatened The Deep to stay away from her otherwise she would use her powers against him. She also starts to defy orders from her superiors, refusing to accept her new costume going against Madelyn Stillwell, Annie also doesn't stay quiet anymore and begins to be herself and not following orders. However, when she finds out about the existence of Compound V and that Hughie initially wanted to get information she feels completely betrayed, disappointed, frustrated and pissed off because he was the only real good thing that happened to her in her time at The Seven, she is also angry with her mother due to lying her about the truth behind her superpowers stating her whole life has been a complete lie. But she eventually leaves those feelings behind and decides to do what she believes is correct by rescuing The Boys and helping them to take down Vought working as an informant and ally. When she fights A-Train and he suffers a heart attack, Starlight takes care of him and in all his time hospitalized she visits him almost daily and is seen concern about his health, this shows that she didn't have nothing against him (unlike others such as Homelander or Deep).
With the passage of time, Annie develops a hardened, more cynical personality, having been exposed to the unethical dealings with Vought and the dark side of the Supe world. She is willing to use methods she would have previously not tolerated in her vendetta against Vought. Without any hesitation, she blackmailed A-Train by threatening to disclose his murder of Popclaw and his abuse of Compound V. She also blackmailed Gecko, who believed she was a friend, to get a sample of Compound V. When she accidentally killed Dennis, she confessed that in the past she would've cried, but at that moment she only was pissed off at him because he was in their way. Despite this, Annie never becomes as corrupted as her teammates in The Seven and still adheres to her ideals.
Annie was Christian but is not extreme in her beliefs as shown when she attends a Christian carnival and is disillusioned by the homophobic propaganda. This led to her questioning her faith and not caring about it as much.
In season 3, Annie still continues helping The Boys to take down Vought. However, she's been shown to feel very terrified with Homelander noticing his mental stability is now more deranged than ever as seen when he arranged the return of The Deep, falsely claimed that he and Annie are "in love of each other" and when he killed Supersonic. Annie knows he has to be stopped somehow, but she also doesn't want to lose Hughie, feeling completely cornered with no clue how to escape from that position. These feelings have become worse after realizing Hughie is taking V24 and he lied to her about using Crimson Countess as a bait to ally with Soldier Boy and use him to kill Homelander, straining their relationship.
After this Annie begins to feel exhausted of doing unethical things to defeat Vought due to having witnessed how people around her suffer the consequences of helping her such as Supersonic, Maeve or even Hughie. After the fight of Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie against Homelander at Herogasm, Annie decides to do what she believes she should've done before: to tell the truth about everything to social media, without hiding anything anymore.
Annie's trademark power is that she can absorb the ambient electricity from her surroundings in order to fuel her powers. This allows her to blackout a small area before releasing the held energy as focused blasts of light. Currently, there is no limit which has been established for how much power Annie can safely absorb or how long she can contain it within.[1]
Light Generation: After absorbing enough electricity, Annie can turn the accumulated energy into blasts of intensely bright light. It is unclear if these blasts are made out of plasma or pure light energy. These blasts can only be fired from her hands, and they can manifest as either heat, concussive force or blinding light. As light, her energy is capable of blinding anyone, either temporary or permanently. Using her energy as heat, she has burned through a section of metal fence and has also used it to cauterize wounds with her touch. As concussive force, she has knocked grown men off their feet and even blasted a six-feet thick metal door of its hinges. Additionally, these blasts were capable of affecting supes the likes of Black Noir and even stunning Stormfront momentarily. Upon absorbing a greater amount of electricity than normal, Annie was even able to floor Soldier Boy for a brief moment, stunning him long enough for the Boys to temporarily overpower him.
Bioluminescence:
Starlight's bioluminescence
She is also able to make her eyes and hands glow on command. Annie unintentionally exhibits glowing eyes when she feels intense pleasure, as well. Upon absorbing a larger amount of electricity, Annie's eyes glowed to the point that they were no longer visible.
Electrical Siphoning: When absorbing ambient electricity, Starlight can control which source of energy she will absorb. This allows her to target a specific electronic device, while letting the other sources of energy untouched. She can crack an LCD screen on purpose and as seen during her break in into Vought's labs to steal Compound V for Kimiko, Annie can cause security cameras to malfunction by remotely siphoning its electricity.
Photokinetic Flight: After absorbing a substantial amount of electricity, Annie started to levitate off of the ground. It's possible that this is not an inherent power. After she released her built-up electricity, Annie immediately fell to the floor.
“
You know how you have this... image of yourself? Like, I thought I was strong. You know? Like, made of steel. A fighter.
Superhuman Strength: Annie has enhanced strength which allows her to easily perform one-handed chin-ups, punch holes in brick walls, lift the backs of cars, and overwhelm her opponents. In her backyard, she was able to lift the back of a car weighing between 3,567-3,591 pounds (1,617.96-1,628.85 kilograms/1.78-1.8 tons) through the engine in front of the car as it was more easily for her to lift in the back.[2][3] Even more impressive, this is over three times what Popclaw could lift while on Compound V, as well as over 32 times her own bodyweight. She was also strong enough that her punches and kicks could cause significant harm to Stormfront, herself an extremely durable Supe. A further testament to her strength was her ability to effectively restrain Soldier Boy, the second most powerful Supe of all time, with the help of Kimiko. Starlight demonstrates precise control over her super strength, enabling her to moderate its intensity to avoid causing fatal harm to more delicate targets with physical blows.
Superhuman Durability:
Starlight getting up after being shot by a .50 caliber
Annie has enhanced durability, which allowed her to withstand .50 caliber bullets. While she felt great pain from the bullets, they did not go through her body and she recovered relatively quickly, appearing unharmed a day later.[4] Her skin is tough enough that it requires a diamond edged saw with a substantial amount of force to penetrate. Starlight easily survived being smashed through concrete walls and columns by Black Noir, with no apparent signs of injury, even engaging in normal conversation seconds later. Starlight was also able to survive being struck by Soldier Boy, the second most powerful Supe of all time.
Superhuman Reflexes: She is fast enough to dodge things thrown swiftly at her; however, she is not fast enough to dodge A-Train when he is using his super speed.
Superhuman Hearing: Starlight, being a supe, has better hearing beyond that of ordinary humans, capable of hearing certain frequencies.[5]
Regenerative Healing Factor: Starlight recovers from injuries very quickly, even after getting shot by high caliber bullets and having her skin penetrated by a diamond drill, Starlight only needed one day to completely heal her injuries.
Abilities[]
Martial Arts: Annie is proficient in taekwondo, boxing and kickboxing. With her hand-to-hand combat skills and superpowers, Annie can easily defeat ordinary humans, including two men who were sexually assaulting a girl in a park lot and a contingent of Vought's armed mercenaries. She can even stand up against Soldier Boy, one of the most powerful supes in the world and a former soldier, however she was not strong enough to cause him significant injury.
Singing: Starlight is also a capable singer. She performed the song, "Never Truly Vanish" at the memorial service for Translucent and later sang along to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire".
Dancing: Starlight is also a talented dancer. When she was young, she won the "little miss hero pageant".
Acting: Starlight has participated in the movie Dawn of the Seven. She also managed to hide that she was a double agent working for The Boys for a considerable amount of time.
Social Media: Since she joined The Seven, Annie has grown her popularity with social media. In season 3 it is mentioned that she has currently 193 million followers on Instagram; this would make her the 21st most followed account on the platform, with more followers than Miley Cyrus.
Physician: Starlight has some knowledge about basic first aid proven when she takes care of Kimiko and helps her to recover providing her medical attention.
Charisma: Annie is a charismatic person. This comes from being honest and staying to her true self, always saying what she thinks and never letting anyone tell her how to act in front of others. And while some may find her awkward, this trait of her makes her popular with the media, specially among teen girls, as a result she is one of the most popular supes in the series, to the point of being as popular as Homelander, or even surpassing him in that area.
“
Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere.
Indominable Will: Starlight is full of determination. Ever since entering and becoming a member of The Seven, she has been forced to deal with great obstacles and situations that most people would not be able to handle. Her being sexually assaulted is only the tip of the iceberg of the subsequent events that she would have to face throughout the show. Her will to do the right thing and help the people gives Starlight the courage to move straight ahead and never stop until accomplish her goal despite looking impossible or suicidal.
Weaknesses[]
Biological[]
Lack of Electricity: If there is no source of electricity for Annie to absorb, she has no power to harness. When locked in the prison in Vought Tower, she was powerless due to the lack of any lights or electrical sources in the room. When she was out on a mission with The Boys, any power source for her to use had been depleted by the EMP Supe, rendering her unable to use her electricity powers.
Blunt Force/Limited Durability: Supes such as Homelander, Soldier Boy, Black Noir, Queen Maeve, and Stormfront possess strength greater than hers and can overpower and even kill her. Also, her skin is not completely indestructible, since Frenchie was able to pierce through her skin with a diamond cutting drill. High caliber bullets are powerful enough to stun her.
Psychological[]
Former Weaknesses
Pain: When Starlight was a little girl, her powers hurt her whenever she tried to use them, such as at the Little Miss Hero Pageant. However, as she got older and gained more control over her powers, they stopped hurting her.
Several Vought guards † - (Intentional; in order to rescue The Boys)
Dennis † - Victim (Accidental; Head cracked after being knocked back by a kinetic blast)
Trivia[]
Annie weighs 110 pounds and is 5'6".
Starlight is the first female Supe to hold any position of authority in any Supe team when Stan Edgar appointed her co-leader of The Seven.
Annie is 23 years old during Season 1, this makes her birth year either 1996 or 1997.
Annie is the first member of The Seven to have resigned from the group.
Annie's Starlight appearance, especially her original costume, is based on the DC heroine Mary Marvel. While there are many superheroes and villains who have light-based powers in comics, Starlight most closely resembles Marvel Comics' Dazzler, who can also generate light and use it as both heat and concussive force.
Just as Dazzler must draw upon ambient sonic vibrations to fuel her light-generating abilities, Starlight draws upon ambient electricity to fuel hers. Both can also levitate, should their external energy sources be sufficiently intense.
Both Dazzler and Starlight are accomplished singers and use their light-generating abilities to enhance their vocal performances.
The scantily clad costume that Vought's marketing team forced her to wear on a couple of occasions is inspired by DC's Power Girl, as well as in general; a direct send up of the countless highly sexualized female superhero costumes found in many comic book narratives.
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