Pop-Culturalist.com

The Boys is a refreshingly dark take on the decade-old superhero formula.

Like it or not, the superhero genre has been with us for over ten years. That’s right, a whole decade of spandex-wearing, crime-fighting, larger-than-life superhumans on both the big and small screens. Everything’s been squeaky clean, edited, and cut to fit that PG-13 rating, because you’re not going to take little Timmy to watch something that’ll to scar him for life, are you? I don’t know about you, but that uneasy feeling of superhero fatigue has already crept up from my toes, through my legs, and has settled awkwardly in my chest for the past couple of months. So, when Amazon green-lit The Boys in 2017, I was excited and delighted. Let me explain:

The Boys is based on a 72 issue comic series of the same name written and co-created by Garth Ennis. The reason for my excitement was because of Ennis’ previous works, which include Judge Dredd, Preacher, and Punisher. He’s also well known for his disdain for pop culture superhero portrayals:

“I find most superhero stories completely meaningless. Which is not to say I don’t think there’s potential for the genre…But so long as the industry is geared towards fulfilling audience demand—i.e., for the same brightly colored characters doing the same thing forever—you’re never going to see any real growth. The stories can’t end, so they’ll never mean anything.”

His dislike for them was so great, he actually wrote Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe in which Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, kills—yes, you guess it—every Marvel superhero and super villain. Ultimately, he even kills himself! It’s quite a departure from the usual superhero fanfare.

The Boys is no different. Superheroes, or “Supes” as they’re called, exist not primarily for saving lives, but for maintaining popularity on social media, making buckets of money, and feeding the corporate machine. Homelander (Antony Starr) is the Superman-equivalent here, and while he may be donning the American Flag as a cape and posing for the camera with both hands on his hips, off camera, he’s a sociopathic murderer. He’s killing men, women, and children alike with impunity, so long as it serves his corporate masters and his own public image. This could be said for practically all the Supes in The Seven, a group of heroes akin to the Justice League, stationed in a massive tower right next to the Empire State Building.

The Boys is dark…like, really, really dark. There is a lot of commentary here on sexual harassment, rape, religion, and corrupt politics. F-bombs, C-words, and the like are thrown out and about every couple of minutes. Surprisingly, the heavy material and abrasive dialogue work well here—everything fits together in this world that The Boys presents, and nothing feels forced or out of place.

For example, Homelander tries to rescue a plane over the Atlantic, but due to some on-the-job negligence, the whole rescue mission goes sideways. Instead of saving all the souls on the plane, he calmly reassures everyone onboard that everything will be fine. All the while, he’s casually walking to the back of the plane, ripping out the side exit like a tuna can, and swiftly flying out of the emergency exit. The scene ends with him nonchalantly floating above the ocean, looking on as the plane goes down with the hundreds of screams of emanating from the distance. Morally, it’s unbelievably repulsive what just happened, but logically, in terms of protecting his corporate brand, his public image, and Vought (the corporation responsible for the creation and financial backing of The Seven), it was absolutely the right call. From Homelander’s point of view, what he does makes complete sense. You might hate what he did, but you’d also understand why he did it. It’s a true testament to the writing, directing, and especially Antony Starr’s performance.

Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom all the time. The Boys is chock-full of dark humor as well. From breaking out a dolphin from SeaWorld “Free Willy”-style, only for it to end up as dolphin-pancake roadkill on the highway, to sticking plastic explosives where the sun don’t shine and detonating it to a shower of gore, to the multiple references to the Spice Girls in a motivational speech, the weird twisted humor presented here is absolutely hilarious! Of particular note is Karl Urban’s performance as Billy Butcher; he injects a much-needed comedy and levity to the series. Part con-man, part mercenary, Butcher is personally wronged by Homelander for reasons I won’t spoil here, and his only goal is taking him down along with anyone else that gets in his way. To do so, he recruits a bunch of misfits who have no business going against the Supes.

The Boys is made up of Hughie (Jack Quaid), who lost his girlfriend to a Supe’s collateral damage; Frenchie (Tomer Capon), a street drug connoisseur and chemical weapons expert; Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), an old friend of Butcher’s; and The Female (Karen Fukuhara), a terrorist dosed with superhuman serum. It’s an immensely odd cast of characters and Butcher is the glue that makes The Boys work.

There’s a lot going on in this first season as well. In addition to following Butcher’s beef with Homelander, we also have Hughie’s ongoing pursuit of A-Train, the Supe that killed his girlfriend. Additionally, we follow the Vought corporation’s goal of blackmailing government officials to include The Seven into the military along with its coverup of “Compound V”, a Vought-manufactured drug that gives the Supes their power. The Boys is filled to the brim with subplots, and while they are a joy to see unfold…well, let’s just say that I’m glad this series is already renewed for another season!

The Boys brings a much needed fresh take on the superhero genre. Its social commentary is sharp, on point, and poignant. The characters are wonderfully written; what they do on screen may be horrific, but completely understandable if you follow their train of thought. Props to Karl Urban for being genuinely charismatic and a delight to watch and to Antony Starr for being so easy to hate. The Boys may be too dark for some, but it’s just what I needed to dispel this feeling of superhero fatigue.

★ ★ ★ ★ out of 4

 

You can stream Season 1 of The Boys on Amazon Prime Video.

Photo Credits: Amazon Studios