Superheroes are all the rage nowadays on the big screen and small screen alike, and a whole bunch of new TV shows are in the works thanks to Marvel on the Disney streaming service and DC on DC Universe. With The Boys, Amazon is adapting a group of unconventional heroes that fewer people will recognize than Captain America or Superman but could be a fantastically entertaining change of pace in the superhero genre. In the first trailer, the titular Boys are giving the middle finger to the shining and beautiful superheroes we've come to expect from our comic adaptations. Take a look!
In case you were thinking that the lead characters of The Boys were going to be the heroes standing tall and proud in their capes and supersuits, looking as clean-cut and respectable as we might expect out of a superhero project, the final moments of the trailer proved you very wrong. No, The Boys (one of which is actually a woman) are a group of vigilantes who aren't afraid to fight dirty and use their blue-collar "grit" to take down the corrupt. In this case, it just so happens that the corrupt are the glamorous superheroes, who many viewers will likely recognize as looking awfully similar to Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and more.
Yes, in The Boys, superheroes have lost their sense of righteousness due to the fame and perks of life as a celebrity so worshipped that they're practically gods to their followers. Why use their superpowers to fight evil when there are more self-promoting ways to use them? As is clear in the commercial that makes up most of the trailer, the heroes are supported by a multi-billion dollar company by the name of Vought that manages them. As is even more clear by the end of the trailer, The Boys do not have billions of dollars at their disposal. Their powerless quest to expose the venerated heroes will be an uphill battle, and probably as entertaining as it is gritty.
The Boys stars Karl Urban as Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Laz Alonso Mother's Milk, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, and Karen Fukuhara as The Female, all as the titular Boys. Vought's Vice President of Hero Management (and therefore probably a villain) is Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue, and she manages corrupt superheroes The Deep (Chase Crawford), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), Homelander (Antony Starr), Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). It was announced on October 5 at New York Comic Con (via TVLine) that Simon Pegg is on board to play Hughie's dad. Jennifer Esposito's role remains a mystery.
Created by Seth Rogan and a long time in the making, The Boys is based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. If Rogan's success with Preacher is any sign, The Boys could be a hit for Amazon. We'll have to wait and see. The Boys won't debut until 2019, so we'll have to content ourselves with all the superhero offerings currently slated for release this fall.
