(content warning: discussions about depictions of sexual violence)
I’ll admit that most of my tastes in superheroes tend to gear more toward the optimistic toned stories. Give me All-Star Superman and the Richard Donner movies over the broodier Superman from Dawn of Justice or whenever Frank Miller tries to write him as a flying government weapon, and the more compassionate Batman from the TMNT crossovers or the silly Lego Batman over the Batman who just glares at and punches people. And I enjoy Watchmen and Miracleman for their attention to detail, but Tom Strong is maybe my favorite work from Alan Moore.
So on paper, I should have would up absolutely hating The Boys, the new and kinda controversial comic book show airing on Amazon Plus. It’s got everything that would normally irritate me- a cynical interpretation of the typical “boy scout heroes” that I love, an excessively gritty and brooding lead, an early “fridging” of a female character that could have had some interesting development, some blatantly obvious messaging at times, gore for the sake of it here and there, and some uncomfortable sexual content.
But this team, helped by Eric Kripke and Seth Rogen (also responsible for adapting Preacher, another Garth Ennis book for television), nevertheless have crafted eight interesting and entertaining episodes that left me more attached to the characters than I was expecting, and excited for the next season thanks to some strong performances and smart scripting.
The titular Boys are a band of vigilantes targeting “The Seven”, a group of corrupt superheroes backed by the mega-corporation Vought International. Karl Urban is their leader Billy Butcher, who doesn’t trust anyone who has supernatural abilities. This is partially fueled by his wife allegedly being raped by one, leading to her mysterious disappearance. Now he’s out to expose the crimefighting team’s illegal activities- fronted by their elusive CEO, Madelyn Stillwell (Elsabeth Shue)- to the FBI.
He’s backed by break-in expert Frenchie (Tomer Capon), the reluctant Marvin/Mother’s Milk (Laz Alanso) who’s concerned about his family getting mixed up in the plan, a mysterious super named Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and the mild-mannered electronics clerk Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid). Hugh is pretty much the audience surrogate, but he’s out on his own revenge mission- his turn against this universe’s heroes begins with the speedster A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) accidentally crashing through and obliterating his girlfriend Robin (Jess Salgueiro).
Against the wishes of his father, he can’t bring himself to sign Vought’s proposed settlement. Billy learns of Hughie’s plight and convinces him to do a little spy job on the Boys’ behalf. But when he winds up in a fight with the vanishing Seven member Translucent (Alex Hassell), as well as falling for the newest, genuinely good-hearted Seven-member Starlight (Erin Moriarty, he officially becomes one of The Boys, working to stop Stillwell’s plot to bring her heroes into the U.S. military.
At first Billy Butcher feels like the usual edgy 2000’s style hero, but the writing staff evolves him in an enjoyable manner over the course of the first season. He spends as much time involved in an interesting discourse with the rest of the cast as he does smashing people’s faces in, though he does plenty of the latter. Most of the fight scenes, while working within a television budget, are generally exciting and feel inventive as they do bloody.
Butcher constantly refers to all superheroes as “fuckin’ diabolical”, and I wish that I could claim that he’s just exaggerating, but no, that’s not a joke. In the very first episode, Starlight runs into an especially sleazy member of The Seven, an Aquaman knockoff named The Deep (Chase Crawford) who flashes her and forces her into sleeping with him. But Starlight’s not willing to stay quiet, and what follows for him is a gradual erosion of his career and public image. His failed attempts to rescue various aquatic creatures from water parks don’t help his brand much, either.
Branding is what the Vought “heroes” are truly all about, moral loopholes be damned. Truer words couldn’t be spoken about Homelander, the Seven’s team leader played by Anthony Starr who steals many scenes throughout the series. Imagine a more sinister, reactionary hybrid of Superman with Captain America, someone charismatic yet violently unstable.
Seeking more power in the Vought company, he commits some pretty horrific atrocities for his public campaign to get the Seven their government funding, all while selling a conservative-tinged true-blue “American Way” image to the public (including some homophobic “Fly Straight” pamphlets while preaching at a Christian rock festival). Starr gives the Homelander character an ominous, twisted confidence, which is well earned because the feds know just how powerful he is, and the damage he could potentially unleash.
But Butcher and Hughie are nothing but determined, despite their frequent clashes and philosophical differences. Actually, there’s a good amount of conflict on both sides. Notably, tension between Mother’s Milk and Frenchie, Seven member Queen Maeve (Dominique McElliot) and her growing unease over Homelander’s rapidly increasing evil-meter, Butcher’s irritation over Starlight and Hugh’s developing relationship, and Starlight’s own turmoil regarding her identity (especially once a crucial secret is revealed about The Seven and Vought). This keeps the story progression extremely compelling, as the show tries to keep the audience on their toes when it comes to what actions each character will take.
The show aims its satire at a variety of targets, including Fox News in how Vought’s network creates shameless propaganda for its lineup, evangelists through the elastic (and also deeply closeted) super Ezekiel played by Shaun Benson, and both Marvel and DC’s cinematic universes through some clever mock advertisements and merchandise (although you’d think the Homelander plushie would be less cheap and shoddy-looking, considering how much money this company is allegedly sitting on).
Basically, if you’re willing to wade through some fairly dark elements by the usual superhero-story standards, Amazon’s The Boys has some nice character development and good plotting to be found, all crafted in a pretty atmospheric world. The whole “what if superheroes were….bad?” concept isn’t a new one by any stretch, but it’s still mostly an enjoyable ride. Not to mention it’s got entertaining performances on the part of Starr, Moriarty and Karl Urban.
Personally while I feel it’s flawed, I liked it, but I can’t recommend it to everyone as it’s definitely an “acquired taste” show for a variety of reasons. Especially not if you’re uncomfortable with some of the more adult aspects (the target audience, as the posters for the show wisely don’t glorify the powered characters lest kids get the wrong idea). This is very angry and moody show in many ways, but it still has a strong core of intelligence to its world, how the superheroes relate to it, and in how its cast progresses.
If you’ve seen The Boys, what did you think, and are you excited for the upcoming second season? Stop my @Official_FAN on Twitter and let us know how you felt about it!