Stan Edgar

The Guy from Vought, also known as the Vought Guy, is a fiction character in the comic book series The Boys and the resulting franchise who is an executive officer (and unofficial CEO) of the defense contractor/pharmaceutical company Vought-American Consolidated (V.A.C.). The company publicly owns superhero team the Seven, several smaller teams and their related franchises, and privately is responsible for the creation and distribution of the superpower-inducing drug Compound V. The most prominent normal human antagonist in the series, whom Homelander often unsuccessfully seeks to impress/cause to fear him, the Guy from Vought is an apparent high-functioning sociopath and practical embodiment of VA (his legal name, James Stillwell, only revealed at the conclusion of The Bloody Doors Off), working only in the corporate interest, including orchestrating/ordering: the near-coup of the Russian government, the massacre of the G-Men teams, Payback's ambush of the Boys, and the takeover of the White House via idiot puppet ruler U.S. Vice President Vic the Veep.

In the Amazon Prime Video streaming television adaptation, the Guy from Vought was adapted as two different characters: Madelyn Stillwell, portrayed by Elisabeth Shue, and Stan Edgar, portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito and Justiin Davis, and named for the Guy from Vought's boss in the comic book series, with the latter character adapting the vast majority of the Guy from Vought's role, and referred to in the second season as "The Man From Vought"; Shue and Esposito also play the characters in the spin-off series The Boys Presents: Diabolical and Gen V.

The Guy from Vought is Vought-American's major presence in the series, regularly sitting in on the Seven's meetings. His real name, James Stillwell, is first mentioned early on, but not explicitly confirmed to refer to him until he identifies himself to Billy Butcher. Before that, he is presented solely as the embodiment of the company, also known as "the Vought Guy". An apparent high-functioning sociopath, the Guy from Vought aims to make a profit at the expense of others, suffering no remorse for any actions. He is highly methodical and considers nothing as unimportant during planning. He also freely admits that Vought-American are gambling that Homelander will be controllable until they have won, and if he's not they can only "try not to be there at the time". Two major developments occur by sheer accident: the death of VA's CEO by a heart attack, and the President being killed by a rabid animal. When the latter happens, the Guy from Vought said he felt "cheated". It is revealed in a conversation during the Herogasm event he had come up under Vought's recently deceased CEO Mr. Edgar, and Vought minutes from 1989 mentioning 'Stillwell' as a "keen" young man working in then-executive Edgar's office.

His calm exterior is in contrast to the superhero teams he oversees: he never shows any concern in the Seven's meetings or around the Homelander, despite their powers, nor around Russian mob boss Little Nina. At one point, Starlight describes him to Homelander as 'the world's most patient kindergarten nurse', to which Homelander merely replies that it is true and indeed how the man sees 'supes'. He is also utterly ruthless: after ordering the slaughter of every member of the G-Men to prevent the truth of Professor Godolkin's activities getting out (which he'd previously covered up), he then arranges for Pre-Wiz, the children Godolkin was training and sexually abusing, to be kidnapped, locked into a large crate and finally dropped from an aircraft over the sea. Each of these acts are carried out by different groups of Red River operatives, as he thought that even Red River personnel might find the outright murder of children to be too much. Jack from Jupiter considers the Guy from Vought to be worse than the Seven, and has said he used to have nightmares about the sort of things the executive might have had done; Homelander has shown signs of wanting to kill him, but always stops himself and seemed genuinely scared of him (or the true power he wields) when confronting him during the Herogasm event.