The Boys is a great antithesis of the golden age of superheroes: it dives deep into a world where superheroes are adored by the masses, humanizing characters who were previously more one note in the source material.
Most of the superheroes are douchebags or markedly indifferent, and that’s why a group of foul-mouthed hooligans have taken up arms against them.
The Boys starts off when tech salesman Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) girlfriend is blown into smithereens by a speedster hooked up on a performance enhancer. Soon, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) recruits him into taking revenge against the ‘Supes’. Halfway through the show, Butcher puts his team back together, going up directly against the Seven, this world’s version of the Justice League.
One of the reasons this adaptation is so compelling is because we get a better window into the superheroes world through the character of Starlight (Erin Moriarty). She’s a newcomer who fullys buys into the naivety and goodness of her mission. However, she is soon propositioned by one of the more popular superheroes, which sets her on a path of disillusionment.
Most of the actors on the series are on point. Although Karl Urban’s British accent often slips into his native New Zealander accent, he does a good job balancing the intensity and ruggedness of Billy Butcher. The rest of the Boys play off well against each other, with the Frenchie and Mother’s Milk bringing different expertise (and attitude) into the team. A new member, the Female, joins them after the halfway mark, and although she shows promise, she isn’t used as much as she could have been.
Anthony Starr, who plays his opposite as the Homelander (a mix of Superman and Captain America) is fantastic as a narcissistic, distant figure who is suffering due to a lack of connections throughout his whole life. The Homelander does a lot of unpleasant things throughout the show, but we always get a glance into his psyche as he goes about doing these things.
One of the hallmarks of the original comic (and the show) is how much corporate management influences the lifestyle and conduct of the heroes. Vought operates around 200 superheroes throughout the US, and it lobbies for even greater power, pushing a bill through Congress that will allow superheroes to participate in military operations.
Vought is mostly represented by Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), a company workhorse who is always maneuvering situations for Vought’s benefit. She also has a strange relationship with the Homelander, which straddles the line between love and motherhood. Then there’s the Deep (Chace Crawford), who’s at once horrible and sad. There are several scenes where he talks to marine animals and tries to help them out, but that never goes according to plan.
Showrunner Eric Kripke (Supernatural) does a great job adapting the source material.
Obviously, it’s nowhere near as dark or absurd as Garth Ennis’ comic, but it’s an adaptation that nicely complements the original story.
Instead of the depravity, the show focuses on the complete corporatization of superheroes, with ESPN covering a speedster race and marketing and branding experts persuading Starlight to wear a more revealing costume, stating that it was empowering to do so. Vought makes it a point to show superheroes interacting with normal people or reminiscing about their childhoods (even when said childhood is manufactured for the sake of TV ratings).
The show’s pacing is decent, although it does take a while for the Boys to come together. Thankfully, there’s an important plot thread surrounding a substance called Compound V that runs through the season, which stands nicely against both the Boys investigating the supers and the Seven’s attempts at superheroing. There’s a harrowing scene early on where the Homelander and Queen Maeeve botch a rescue mission, and Homelander smartly takes advantage of the situation to hammer home Vought’s pitch on putting the superheroes into the military. The budding relationship between Hughie and Starlight also works as a nice antidote to all the vileness happening around them.
Is this the best superhero series yet? Definitely not. Daredevil’s third season is still a high watermark for the genre, and FX’s Legion leads the race when it comes to highly ambitious artistic narratives. However, the Boys is a lot of fun, and hopefully, we will get several seasons of the show in the next couple of years. It’s a nice reprieve from the barrage of cookie-cutter CW shows, and with good writing and stewardship, the show can develop into something greater over time.