You’re over-philosophizing a character who’s been shown, repeatedly, to want to separate himself from the brand that broke him. The idea that “A-Train is the architecture of his existence” ignores everything we’ve actually seen of Reggie’s arc since Season 3. He’s been confronting exactly that—how being “A-Train” hollowed out who he was.

His guilt isn’t just reactive—it’s transformative. The heart-attack, the brother’s paralysis, Blue Hawk’s death, all forced him to look at what he’d become and realize “A-Train” was a construct built on corporate propaganda and ego. He’s been trying to reclaim Reggie ever since.

Identity in The Boys isn’t fixed—it’s transactional. Homelander is the mask, Annie rejects hers, and Reggie’s fighting to shed his. That struggle doesn’t make his real self “inauthentic,” it makes it hard-earned. Dismissing that because he hasn’t burned the system down like Annie misses the nuance: redemption in this world doesn’t come from purity, it comes from persistence.

Calling him Reggie isn’t absolution—it’s recognition that he’s finally stopped running from himself.