Annie January

Season one (2019)

As a child, Annie's mother Donna (Ann Cusack) agreed to allow Vought to infuse her with Compound V after birth, but raised her to believe that her powers were a gift from God. Disagreeing with what happened to his daughter, Annie's father left, with her mother telling her that he had left after losing their savings through bad investments. Annie was raised as a conservative Christian in a hyper-religious environment, an upbringing that continues to influence her, and attended superhero pageants as part of her mother's efforts to groom her as a candidate for membership in the Seven.

At the start of season 1, Annie is sexually assaulted by the Deep after being introduced as the newest member of the Seven. After preventing a rape and initially being reprimanded by Vought for doing so whilst out of costume, Annie is coerced by Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) to wear a revealing costume supposedly representing female empowerment similarly to the golden age of feminist movement's revolution. After attending a Capes for Christ event, she begins questioning its approach to faith when she witnesses inherent homophobia, religious intolerance and too much focus on opposition to premarital sex, eventually revealing the Deep's sexual assault on live television. She also enters a romantic relationship with Hughie, with him finding out her identity as Starlight, though the relationship becomes strained when she learns of his involvement with the Boys and subsequently the truth about Compound V and its role in the creation of Supes.

Season two (2020)

Annie becomes a spy for the Boys and helps them leak the truth of Compound V to the press. She continues her relationship with Hughie, but temporarily ends it out of fear of reprisal from Vought and Homelander should they learn of him. Stormfront and Homelander later catch her and imprison her for secretly aiding the Boys, but Hughie helps her escape. Despite her actions, Annie is pardoned by Vought and re-admitted to the Seven by the season finale, with the events of the season being blamed on Stormfront in light of her Nazi past being exposed. The first episode of the season depicts Annie as Starlight singing "Never Truly Vanish" at Translucent's televised funeral, with Erin Moriarty providing her own vocals for the recording.

The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022)

While not personally appearing in The Boys Presents: Diabolical, imagery of Annie January / Starlight is used in promotional marketing produced by Vought International in the anthology series. A poster of her was seen on the Vought-a-Burger promotion for this show.

Season three (2022)

One year after the events of season 2, Annie is appointed by Vought CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) as the new co-captain of the Seven, partly to repair Vought's public image, partly to moderate Homelander's behavior. Hoping to use her new position to effect positive change and to recruit allies in a plot to kill Homelander, she is forced to abandon her plans and to accept a new public persona as Homelander's lover after he kills Supersonic, Annie's ex-boyfriend (formerly known as Drummer Boy). Annie becomes estranged from Hughie when he and Butcher take up use of Temp-V (a temporary version of Compound V) and partner with Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) against Homelander, with her allying with Mother's Milk (who refused to take Temp-V and had a personal vendetta against Soldier Boy), Frenchie and Kimiko. After Homelander has Black Noir hide away Maeve, and Soldier Boy kills or severely injures most of the attendants at Herogasm whilst taking revenge against the TNT Twins, Annie makes an Instagram post with MM's help intended to ruin the public images of Homelander and Vought, alert the public of Soldier Boy's return, and retiring from her Starlight persona saying: "I'm not Starlight anymore. My name is Annie January and I fucking quit."

This results in a smear campaign by Vought's news media wing, accusing her of being heartbroken after being dumped by Homelander, of being connected to the Shining Light Liberation Army (due to Kimiko), and engaging in human trafficking via her charitable foundation Starlight House. She later infiltrates Seven Tower to obtain Compound V for Kimiko, where she manages to trick Homelander into confessing to Supersonic's murder on an Instagram livestream, and also discovers that Temp-V will cause brain lesions and ultimately death after three to five doses. Annie frantically calls Butcher to warn Hughie as he is not returning her calls. After Butcher knocks Hughie unconscious and abandons him in a gas station bathroom, Annie picks him up, at which point he apologizes to her for not knowing what strength was and gives her permission to cathartically yell "I told you so" at him. Whilst fighting Soldier Boy at Seven Tower, Annie demonstrates a hitherto unknown ability to fly after Hughie turns up several studio lights to help her. After Soldier Boy is defeated, she bids a now-depowered Maggie Shaw goodbye, ceremonially throws her Starlight costume in the incinerator, and is officially welcomed as a member of the Boys.

Season four (2024)

After abandoning her "Starlight" persona, considering it to be a misrepresentation of herself, Annie has continued to manage Starlight House (now separate from Vought but still smeared by its news outlets as a front for human trafficking). She is tasked with investigating the newest member of the Seven, Firecracker. She remembers Firecracker as a childhood acquaintance, whose life she had ruined by spreading a rumor about her during her child pageant days, creating a lifelong resentment towards herself. Firecracker publicly broadcasts Annie's private sensitive information, such as when she accidentally blinded a hostage during her early hero days and that she had an abortion. This incites Annie and she violently beats Firecracker on live television, soiling her reputation and public image and results in the collapse of Starlight House. The stress of the situation leads Annie into an identity crisis, and as a result is incapable of using her powers. Whilst being lambasted by her mother for having an abortion, she reveals that Hughie fished her Starlight costume out of the trash in case she ever wanted to reassume her Supe identity.

Annie is briefly kidnapped by Shifter, a shapeshifting Supe, who takes her form in order to delete files that Hughie had stolen from the Red River facility which prove that Vice-President-elect Victoria Neuman is a corrupt Supe, and to assassinate President-elect Robert "Dakota Bob" Singer to elevate Neuman to the presidency. Having the ability to read people's minds, Shifter taunts Annie by having sex with and proposing to Hughie, for believing herself to be a blameless "main character in [her] own story". After escaping confinement (by pulling her hands through her restraints), she saves Singer's life and kills Shifter. Furious with Hughie for having slept with and becoming engaged with Shifter (although Hughie defends himself by saying that he thought that Shifter was her), she stays with him, insisting that he get himself tested for sexually transmitted infections.

Following Butcher's assassination of Neuman, Singer is framed for her death and House Speaker Calhoun is elevated to the presidency, who declares martial law and deputizes Homelander and Vought to maintain law and order. Because of this, the Boys assume fake identities and go on the run, with Annie and Hughie staying together. Before being intercepted by Cindy and Vought Troopers whilst en route to Canada, Annie regains her powers, allowing her to escape by flying away whilst Hughie is apprehended.

Gen V

Annie appears in the season two premiere episode of Gen V, "New Year, New U". She tracks down Marie Moreau, who is in hiding, and saves her from Dogknott, a Vought Supe, who she knocks unconscious with her powers. Safe from harm, Annie encourages Marie to go back to Godolkin University, so that she can work as an informer, and also tells her about the Odessa Project. By the end of the season, Annie reappears with A-Train, who both recruit Marie and her friends as part of the "resistance".

Season five (2026)

One year after escaping Vought, Annie infiltrates a Vought shareholders meeting and leaks the video of Homelander causing the crash of Flight 37 and refusing to save the passengers, damaging trust in Homelander. She then reteams with Butcher and Kimiko to save Hughie, Mother's Milk and Frenchie from a Vought "freedom camp", and during the escape she uses her powers to blind Homelander to let the rest of the group escape and save more prisoners.

After Butcher reveals that he is in possession of a virus that can kill Supes, the Boys decide to test it on Hard Rock, a disgraced and reclusive member of Teenage Kix. Annie is dismayed that a Starlighter cell in St. Louis was discovered, blaming herself for the deaths of those fighting Vought and Homelander in the belief that she would have saved them, although Frenchie reassures her not to blame herself. After discovering that Teenage Kix member Countess Crow is at their headquarters, Annie reluctantly decides to test the virus on her as well (although Mother's Milk allows her to escape). After Butcher, Hughie, and Kimiko are ambushed by Soldier Boy, Sheline and Jetstream, Annie saves Hughie after he is dropped from a great height by Jetstream.

Learning about an early variant of Compound V that could make Homelander immortal and immune to the virus, Annie leads the group to Stan Edgar's bunker to learn where this "V-1" could be found. After a confrontation with a group of Vought Supes, Annie is upset that Hughie almost got killed and flies away from the group. She decides to visit her father, recovering some will to fight. After confronting a policeman, who arrived on a call from Annie's half-brother, she flies back to the Boys' base and embraces Hughie.

Along with Hughie, Annie attempts to plant a vial of a virus lethal to Supes in a church refurbished to worship Homelander, only to be thwarted by Oh Father, a preacher Supe who Annie used to respect in her youth. When the Boys infiltrate Vought Studios, Annie and Mother's Milk save a test audience from being executed for their negative response to a film promoting Homelander's godhood.

During the Boys' final stand against Homelander, infiltrating the White House while he delivers a televised speech from the Oval Office, they encounter the Deep. He tells Annie that he is going to kill her; unfazed, Annie charges at him and flies them to a beach. There, Annie calms Deep down and suggests that he take responsibility for his actions, but Deep refuses and a fight ensues. Eventually, Annie propels Deep into the ocean and witnesses him being surrounded by revolted sea animals, who blame Deep for the Alaskan pipeline genocide caused by Black Noir II, and he is ultimately impaled and killed by a giant octopus.

Months after Homelander's death and memorializing Butcher, Annie is pregnant with a daughter to be named Robin, after Hughie's deceased girlfriend. She helps Hughie run his electronics shop while also listening to the police frequency to continue her superhero work independently.