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| “ | All democracies, they fail because people are f**king stupid. You don't need an army of Supermen like Nazi Bae wanted… so German. If you crush the masses, who builds your monuments? Who tongues your taint? The people will tear it apart themselves, just got to nudge ’em a little. Then you get to swoop in, be the one saving it. Like Caesar. | „ |
| ~ Sister Sage to Homelander. |
| “ | Sage: I could cure cancer, reverse global warming, but what's the point? Humans are animals. And the lines at Voughtland are too long as it is. Neuman: Why are you telling me this? Sage: Because you remember what it's like, being a little girl who no one f**king listens to. And because f**k them all. The only way women like us have ever gotten what we deserved… one hand in their pockets while the other slits their f**king throats. |
„ |
| ~ Sage to Victoria Neuman. |
Jessica Bradley, better known as Sister Sage or simply Sage, is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Homelander) of Season 4 of the 2019 Amazon TV adaptation of the comic book series The Boys.
She is a misanthropic former member of Teenage Kix and an old colleague of A-Train with the power of super-intelligence. Recruited into The Seven to act as Homelander's right-hand advisor, Sage seeks to test the limits of her ingenuity and by toppling the American government and creating a new world ruled by superhumans.
She is portrayed by Susan Heyward.
Biography[]
Background[]
Just like every other Supe, Jessica's parents allowed her to be subjected to a dose of Compound V by Vought International just after her birth, which granted her the ability of having an absurdly high intellect, as well as a moderate regenerative factor.
When Jessica was 11, her grandmother - an old ex-Black Panther - was diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, which had quickly claimed her health and deteriorated her to the point she became frail and weak. She quickly became bed-ridden, and the doctors didn't care about saving her enough and told her parents that nothing could be done. Upon the face of this hopelessness, Jessica remained hopeful and, knowing that she could use her intelligence to save her grandma, stayed up the next three nights and discovered a cure to the disease, presenting her research to the researchers the next day, but they only found her achievements "adorable" and patted her on the head. Her grandma eventually died screaming in pain because of their incompetence. From this moment onward, Jessica's hope for humanity had been fully lost.
According to Jessica, early into her career she actually chose the moniker "Sage", but Vought forced her to add the "Sister" part because they needed to add a racial qualifier.
It's also known that she was once part of the Teenage Kix at around the same time as A-Train, but her stay was cut short by barely a year before she was canned, presumably because of her annoying her teammates with her intelligence.
Season Four[]
Due to failing to understand how to run a company, weariness of sycophants, and fear of failure, Homelander sought Jessica out to invite her to the Seven. To avoid attention, it was the first time he wore civilian clothes, rather than his costume in public; she is mildly surprised, but indifferent to his presence, while he expressed a judgmental shock about her squalid living conditions.
When Homelander invited her, she initially refused, so he insisted; Jessica agreed, but with the terms that she be allowed to speak her mind without repercussion, would remain out of the public eye, insisted that her Supe name wasn't "Sister" Sage, but only Sage, and she refused to wear a costume that culturally appropriated African tribal iconography, which Homelander accepted.
Sage explained to Homelander that conquering the world by force was foolish, since despite hating humanity, they need them for their worship and to build their monuments. Therefore, she revealed an idea about enabling chaos that would make humanity turn against itself, slaughtering each other, until the Seven swoop in to "save" them; instead of murderers, they'd be heroes who would be allowed to do anything without ever needing to face accountability of any form ever again.
Homelander introduced Sage to the Seven and Vought CEO Ashley Barrett, and explained that Sage would now be in charge of all company operations; when Ashley questioned about what her job would be now, which Homelander answered as nothing, just a figure head - with her adding that she was essentially a mascot now, a conclusion he confirmed.
As part of Homelander's desire to enforce Super supremacy, she invited three random Homelander fans, including Todd, the step-father of MM's daughter. The three fans are beaten to death by the Deep, Black Noir II, and a reluctant A-Train; meanwhile, Sage went undercover as a Starlighter on their side of the tension-building crowds, supporting Starlight and Homelander respectively, outside the courthouse where he is facing possible consequences for his public manslaughter. Sage threw a drink container, which triggered a riot. Homelander made A-Train drop the bodies on the ground between the fighting crowds, thereby framing Starlighters for the deaths.
During a meeting, Sage corrected a mistake Homelander made, and partially insulted his intelligence or lack thereof. In retaliation, Homelander forced her to attend a public presentation, introducing her on stage as a new member of the Seven known as Sister Sage, wearing a costume that culturally appropriated African tribal iconography. Afterwards, Sage expressed irritation at his childish reaction to her for just doing the job he brought her for, although isn't surprised.
At a convention for alt-right conspiracy theorists, Sage scouted bigoted blogger, Firecracker, inviting her to join the Seven.
Due to A-Train's brother, Nathan, being hurt in Blue Hawk's racist rampage that he caused by inviting him, A-Train was struggling with his conscience and finally understanding all of the horrible things he had done; as such, MM was able to convince the speedster to be their mole. A-Train agreed, becoming an information leak without Homelander or Vought knowing, however, Sage evidently knew from the beginning, so allowed it to happen and ensure that only mildly helpful or incorrect information was leaked.
In an elevator, the Deep suggested another terrible idea, which Ashley harshly insulted before leaving; Sage then told the Deep that he shouldn't let a mere human speak like to him because as a Supe he is one of the master race. Later, when Sage is eating greasy fast food and watching television, the Deep apologised for his initial unfriendliness, and thanking her for the confidence boost. Due to Homelander forcing members of the Seven on a strict diets, Deep is drawn to the fast food, which Sage offered, while also strangely seducing him, so they have sex while eating deep fried food.
Due to knowing about Firecracker's adolescent grudge against Starlight for her spreading of a rumour that ruined her teen beauty pageant career, Sage allowed Firecracker to undertake her typical internet rants about Starlight on Vought's mainstream news station. Firecracker spends hours degrading and insulting Starlight, while levying false accusations of drug addiction, embezzlement, pedophilia, and using her charity as a front for child prostitution; Sage likely gave the one true piece of information to Firecracker, which were medical records that revealed Starlight had an abortion.
Firecracker unveiled the one fact, which - after relentless character assassination - exposing Starlight's private decision and framing it as infanticide, provoked Starlight to storm the stage. While Firecracker smugly believed Starlight had arrived to debate, the latter actually began brutally beating her; the cameras are focused on the attack, which was halted by MM who made Starlight realise how poorly her actions would appear, so they left. However, the damage was done, since the attack made her appear like a violent maniac. The subsequent day, Firecracker angrily accused Sage for setting her up as bait, although Sage didn't deny it, merely insulting the redneck for being dumb enough to fall for it.
Homelander and Sage enlist Tek Knight, as his company had the largest collection of private sector prisons in the world, and they intended to eventually convert the prisons into internment camps for humans. Tek held a party for the ultra wealthy right wing billionaires, relevant members of the Seven, and Victoria Neuman. Since Neuman is publicly considered a left leaning socialist, she questioned Sage about why she was even invited; Sage shared her childhood trauma of how her grandmother had cancer, but Sage discovered the cure for cancer, only to be dismissed by doctors because - she believed - she was a woman of colour. Sage then revealed that she could cure all diseases and even reverse climate change, but she won't because she believed humanity didn't deserve it and was already too populous. Sage invited Neuman to join her in continuing to be friendly and loyal, but ultimately murder all people not like them.
Some of the Boys infiltrate Tek's mansion, but in the library entrance to the Tek Cave, Sage comes across MM. She is threatened to remain still with a gun, but she instead disclosed that she held private family information, revealing that she knows recent disciplinary issues his daughter had; she also condemned MM for his anger problems and OCD, which she claimed he had "cursed" upon his daughter. This triggers an anxiety attack, but MM is able to shoot Sage in the head before passing out. A-Train is able to immediately take MM to a hospital.
Sage's regenerating brain tissue restored her to consciousness, but it hadn't been completely healed, thus she had the mentality of a small child. Since Sage is unable to deliver the speech to the billionaires, Homelander tried to do it instead, however, his vagueness and lack of comprehension failed to sway the elite. The pitch is salvaged by Neuman who delivered a long-winded, but subtly pandering speech that successfully recruited the gathered right wingers - although, Homelander was upset since he felt upstaged.
Homelander and Sage order the Deep and Black Noir II to murder the Boys; they are thwarted due to the Boys' stronger defense, as well as A-Train's timely assistance, although the act exposed his betrayal, so he and his family are sent to secure locations. Homelander is heartbroken upon learning of A-Train's defection. Firecracker accused Sage of incompetence, but Sage revealed that she already knew of A-Train becoming a double agent, and how she ensured that no information too damaging was leaked. Despite this, Homelander fired Sage and vented that she should be grateful that it is only an employment termination he is giving her.
Sage appeared upset as she left through the hallway, passing Deep and Noir II. She explained that she was fired and so is leaving, but Noir II pleads with her to stay because he loved her, revealing that he was also in a sexual relationship with her during her time at Vought. The request is denied without word.
As Robert Singer won the Presidential election, Homelander aimed to elevate fellow Supe Neuman to the Oval Office, so that she can enact all of his deranged ambitions. On Firecracker's show Truthbomb, Homelander and Neuman are guests; before the regular schedule goes underway, Homelander exposed that Neuman was a Supe. She deflected the label as only a compliment, but he reinforced the fact by using his heat vision on her face, which caused zero injury; Firecracker then claimed that Neuman was a hero aiming to destroy the evil "deep state." Neuman, however, is horrified about being exposed, so left in a panic. Homelander delayed Neuman, but she furiously criticised him for revealing a secret she had managed to keep for her whole life, although he unsympathetically countered that she should be grateful for the freedom.
President-elect Singer held a press conference, claiming to not know of Neuman's Supe status, and declaring that shortly another election will be held, so he can have a VP candidate who isn't deceptive. On a phonecall, Homelander insisted that Neuman will be President, as he already had an assassination plan underway; he also threatened horrific torture and dismemberment on her daughter, Zoe, if she doesn't obey his demands.
The Shapeshifter managed to infiltrate the Presidential bunker, although failed to kill him as Starlight killed the changeling instead. Due to Homelander's threats, Neuman defected to the Boys, thus he lost access to the political power necessary to turn humanity against itself; unbeknownst to him, Billy Butcher's V24/Compound V powered tumour had mutated to turn him into a Pseudo-Supe, and he murdered Neuman due to his dissociate personality, Kessler, empowering his negative traits, thereby making him refuse any deals.
While Homelander watched his cracked television in depression, a civilian-dressed Sage confidently entered his room. He asked why she was there, and he lamented that the plan had thoroughly failed. However, Sage explained that these events, even with the complications, *were* the plan, directing his attention to the news, which revealed Neuman's death had been discovered. Another twist was that the Shapeshifter had a hidden camera that recorded President-elect Singer's annoyance about the failure to assassinate Neuman, as well as indicating his complicity in it. The 25th Amendment is activated, removing Singer from office, and elevating Speaker of the House, Calhoun, into the role of President of the United States of America. Sage bluntly explained that Neuman was never going to work as a pawn, since she was too intelligent and individualistic, whereas Calhoun - who had attended Tek Knight's party for the elite - is a mindlessly loyal minion.
Homelander asked why she continued to help him, considering that he had turned against her and fired her, but Sage claimed that the plan was always going to turn out this way because of and in spite of Homelander's incompetence, insecurity, and ignorance. Homelander was still curious, so she explained that her motivation was merely to see if she could do it; Sage extended a sincere gratitude for the opportunity, admitting that she had a lot of fun, while also revealing that the next step of her schemes would shortly begin. Homelander was surprised that there was more, but she happily confirmed that there was still a lot left before they succeed.
Sage possibly arranged Neuman's daughter, Zoe, to be interred at the Red River Orphanage, the front for a scientific facility that experimented on Supe children, which had included her late mother, who suffered such horrors that she never recovered. Sage most likely executed the strategy for separate teams of obedient Supes, supported by black ops troopers, to hunt down the separate members of the Boys, managing to capture all except Starlight and Butcher.
Personality[]
| “ | A-Train: Sister Sage? Hell no. She was with me in Teenage Kix for, like, barely a year, before they canned her ass. The Deep: What's her power? A-Train: She's the world's smartest person. She's not smart enough to know when to shut her mouth. |
„ |
| ~ A-Train and The Deep. |
Due to her immense intellect, she is extremely arrogant, narcissistic, self-serving, and rational. She holds pride in her African American heritage, so understandably despises when it is used as a gimmick for Vought's marketing; while she claims to despise racism she faces, when it is against others, she doesn't care and is selectively oblivious (e.g. includes Neo from The Matrix in a list of "white male saviors" even though Keanu Reeves is mixed race). She holds a seemingly strong threshold for insults, with the exception of remarks about her below average height.
Despite her intelligence, she was content to live in near-squalid conditions, surviving on the bare minimum of expenses. The largest factor behind this seems to be her dislike for public attention, as she prefers to work behind the scenes in the shadows, as opposed to in front of crowds; as such, she becomes visibly unnerved and loses her stoic attitude when forced to face large audiences. Another reason for her humble dwelling before being recruited could be inferred by A-Train's comment about how she didn't know when to be quiet, so she likely antagonized one too many colleagues and executives within the Vought hierarchy, therefore leaving her no options.
Sage is one of the few people who isn't afraid of Homelander, based on the fact he sought her out, thereby she knows she holds value to him, and he can't kill her without sabotaging himself again. She talks to him directly and doesn't mince her words as to provide the most pragmatic provision of her time; while they had agreed he wouldn't retaliate with childish consequences to her criticisms, she is frustrated yet unsurprised when it happens anyway. Nevertheless, she continues to call out Homelander's mistakes and impulsiveness, without indication of fear or intimidation.
She claims to abhor bigotry yet is willing to recruit and even empower racist conspiracy theorists if it enables the advancement of her own plans. Likewise, she is revealed to be a complete hypocrite since she believes in, promotes, and works to enforce supe supremacy, as she deems humans as lower lifeforms that deserve to be subjugated and possibly exterminated. Another sign of her hypocrisy is that she helps the Deep, a misogynist rapist, rebuild his confidence, but based on cruelty and elitism; despite her open hatred for people with lower intellects than hers, she willingly seduced the Deep, who is easily the dumbest member of the Seven. It was likely for the progression of her own agenda, yet it still indicates how she is an amoral, manipulative, and an opportunistic snake.
Like most villainous supes, she has extremely peculiar sexual kinks. Her intellect seems to make her unable to enjoy sensory experiences, thus voluntarily endures transorbital lobotomies, which significantly lowers her intelligence, but also allows to feel sexual pleasure - with the lobotomy itself seeming to provide her erotic relief. Despite typically holding the Deep in contempt, with her artificially induced idiocy makes her enjoy his relative attractiveness, regardless of his moronic mind and selfish personality. After her brain regenerates, her smarts are restored, as does her contempt for her choice in sexual partners, however, she habitually follows the same pattern to indulge her limitless lust. Although, she also coordinated a sexual relationship with Black Noir II, which either lacked the lobotomy aspect or he wasn't aware she did it; the former seemed more likely considering she has contempt for the Deep, necessitating brain damage for her to enjoy his body.
Her manipulation and deception strengths made her a convincing actor, too. When Homelander fired her from the Seven, she acted offended and outraged, however, after President Calhoun - a Vought puppet - is sworn in, she returned to Homelander, nonchalantly boasting about her plan's success because of and in spite of his ineptitude. Despite Homelander's fragile mental state, she insulted him and remained confident, which managed to calm him due to her claims that everything had gone according to her designs, and how she didn't care that he betrayed her. While she may hold supe supremacist inclinations, she admitted to him that the reason she executed the scheme was only to see if she could do it. She finished with uncharacteristic glee, while darkly noting that she will now commence phase 2 of her plan.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Enhanced Brain Capabilities: Sister Sage's main ability stems from the fact that Compound V has functionally 'evolved' her brain to the point that she is regarded as the smartest person on the planet. This extends not only to regular intelligence, but also an increase in all cognitive capabilities, including but not limited to: perception, information processing, and, of course, knowledge attainment. At the short age of 11, Sage was able to successfully device a cure for stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in just three days, which would have been fully functional if actually fabricated. She claims that she is fully capable of solving world problems, such as completely reversing climate change and cure the rest of types of cancer, should she actually want to. But because of her lack of faith in humanity and how she sees them as inferior beings, she decided to simply lean back and watch how society crumbles down.
- Cold Reading: Sage has an advanced understanding of human psychology and physiology, and thus is able to read those around her's emotions and intentions with major ease. An example of it being how she deduced that Homelander's body was leaving its prime and was having a crisis about it just by looking at him, despite presumably never meeting him in person before.
- Master Manipulator: She has ambition matching her intelligence. She is shown to be a ruthless master strategist, swiftly eliminating anybody who dares to get in the way of her plans, while maintaining total secrecy. With only having surface level knowledge about Mother's Milk, she was able to quickly infer his insecurities about his OCD and how that would affect his daughter, Janine, to the point that it caused him a severe panic attack. She also refrained from telling Homelander that A-Train was the leak to avoid getting him killed to further spread misinformation to The Boys, and, as it turns out, she even planned getting fired once he found out, instead turning the Shapeshifter Assassin into a martyr to get Homelander into power after Victoria Neuman's death by framing the President-elect, Robert Singer, for her assassination.
- Healing Factor: Sage's brain (and, her skull and skin) is capable of regenerating itself at a moderate pace from any kind of damage, including those that would otherwise be lethal or permanently scarring. Sage herself consistently lobotomizes herself to temporarily inhibit her intelligence, akin to getting high, with the effects only lasting a few hours. She's also shown to have recovered from a headshot that went through her entire head within minutes, though the injury temporarily reduced her mental state to a childlike level.
- Cold Reading: Sage has an advanced understanding of human psychology and physiology, and thus is able to read those around her's emotions and intentions with major ease. An example of it being how she deduced that Homelander's body was leaving its prime and was having a crisis about it just by looking at him, despite presumably never meeting him in person before.
Quotes[]
| “ | This spandex is. Up my ass and in a camel toe. The whole point was for me to stay behind the scenes. You’re clearly punishing me for openly disagreeing with you, which you said you could handle but clearly you can't! | „ |
| ~ Sister Sage to Homelander, complaining about the discomfort of her costume and Homelander's inability to not make it personal when he is contradicted. |
| “ | How’s that for “uppity,” cracker? | „ |
| ~ Sage mocking Firecracker being beaten up by Starlight. |
| “ | Sage: Hmm. Is this your angry look, or did Starlight fuck up your face? Firecracker: You know, if you weren’t Homelander’s right-hand bitch, I’d take you out behind the woodshed and whup your ass. Sage: Mm, sounds on-brand. Firecracker: You set me up to get my ass beat. Sage: And you fell for it. But, hey, now you don’t have to play a victim. You can really be one. Firecracker: Y’all just think I’m stupid poor white trash. Sage: I don’t think you’re poor. Firecracker: Underestimate me all you want. Makes it that much easier to stick a fucking shiv in your back. |
„ |
| ~ Sage and Firecracker arguing. |
| “ | Sage: All I have to do is scream. M.M.: Be the last thing you do. You’re smart, but you ain’t bulletproof. Sage: But if you kill me, you’d have to look Janine in the eye. M.M.: I said stop fucking moving. Sage: Doesn’t she have enough problems? Expelled. Told a boy to “eat a bag of dicks” and then broke his arm? M.M.: You’ve been watching my daughter? Sage: I mean, she gets that from you. Chip off the old block. M.M.: Shut the fuck up. Sage: She has anger issues. Early signs of OCD. You see that, right? M.M.: I said shut up. Sage: You’ve cursed the poor girl. |
„ |
| ~ Sage provokes Mother's Milk by insinuating that he is the cause of his daughter's decadence, before Mother's Milk ends up shooting her in the head. |
| “ | Fine, surround yourself with people like her. Then you can systematically eliminate anyone who gets in your way, but there's one person you will never, ever defeat. Good luck without me. | „ |
| ~ Sage getting kicked out of the Seven by Homelander. |
| “ | Homelander: Everything's turned to shit. Plan's dead. Sage: This IS the plan. I mean, sure, a few curveballs. But, uh, we got here. Just had to keep a few bits to myself, y'know, the bits you'd fuck up by... y'know, being you. Neuman would've been a shit patsy, stubborn, too many ideas, so I went another way. |
„ |
| ~ Sister Sage reveals her ultimate gambit to rise Homelander to power. |
| “ | Homelander: I threw you out like... like garbage. Why would you do this? Sage: To see if I could. Thank you, this was... so much fun! Just, y'know, next time, listen to me. |
„ |
| ~ Sage revealing Homelander why she agreed to help him. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Sister Sage was inspired by Lex Luthor and Ozymandias.
- Her label of "the world's smartest person" was also inspired by the similar description of Ozymandias.
- She is named after the character Jessica Bradley, the personal assistant to James Stillwell in the comics who goes insane from the stress of her job; in the show, this characterization was given to Ashley Barrett.
