The Boys' lengthy 72-issue, 2006-2012 comics run means there's plenty of lore, twists,
and characters left out or remixed in the show.
So in preparation for the coming season and facts that fans may be unaware of, here's
a complete guide to Amazon's The Boys.
The Boys, based on the comic series of the same name by Irish comic writer Garth Ennis,
was adapted for the screen by veteran TV writer and showrunner Eric Kripke.
Before The Boys, Kripke was most well known as the showrunner of Supernatural.
At first, the two shows don't seem to have a lot in common; Supernatural revolves around
monsters, religion, and other inter-dimensional beings, and The Boys explores the human flaws
of superheroes.
Still, both shows are distinctly "Kripkeian."
Supernatural found success by poking fun at genre conventions, and The Boys is no different.
The dynamic between the leads and the way each episode lovingly mocks superhero tropes
are the best parts of the show.
For good measure, Kripke is an enormous fan of the original comic's run and its creator.
In a 2019 interview, Kripke told Collider,
"I'm a huge Garth Ennis fan.
I'm a big fan of everything the guy writes."
With a genre-tested fan at the helm, it's no surprise The Boys has been such a success.
While the creator is an enormous fan of the series, Eric Kripke has also stated that not
everything from the comics will make it to the small screen... which is probably for
the best.
Ennis' work evaluates the hypocrisy and absurdity of institutions, beliefs, and symbols that
most societies hold dear, from religion to superheroes.
However, Ennis often parodies these sacred ideas with extreme violence, toilet humor,
and every other aspect of "adult content."
It's not exactly TV-friendly.
In other words, there's a price to getting the comics adapted for television.
"The price?
Whatever it is, I'll pay it."
Even with the leniency a platform like Amazon provides, the comics remain far too graphic
to ever be entirely faithfully adapted for TV.
None of this is to say Kripke plans on watering down the gonzo spirit of the comics.
Considering everything we saw in season one, from botched dolphin rescues to an invisible
man getting a shocking surprise in his rear end, it seems Kripke has finally gotten to
let loose.
The audience's surrogate into the world of The Boys is Hughie Campbell, played by Jack
Quaid.
Hughie's quest to avenge the death of his girlfriend, who was accidentally murdered
by A-Train, is a core part of the show's story.
While Quaid does a great job of bringing his character to life on screen, the role on paper
had already been cast.
When creating Hughie, Ennis and illustrator Darick Robertson modeled the character off
actor Simon Pegg.
While Pegg has aged out of the part he inspired, he still appears on the show as Hughie's father,
in a nod to the work that inspired it all.
While Eric Kripke has remained faithful to the energy of the original comics, he also
made several creative decisions to reshape the basic plot of the show.
One of the largest differences between season one of the show and the comics is the Boys'
lack of superpowers.
In Ennis' original run, the members of the team are aware of Compound-V and its power
granting effect from the get-go of the series.
Hughie is injected as soon as he joins the team and the Boys do some serious damage as
a result of their abilities.
They have the compound because, unlike the TV adaptation, they're backed and funded by
the CIA.
Removing that from the television show raises the stakes on the series.
The superheroes they're fighting are a much bigger threat, so the audience empathizes
and roots for its underdog heroes.
It also has kept diehard fans of the original run on their toes, because the Boys have less
protection.
Not to say none of the Boys have power the Female, Kimiko, played by Karen Fukahara,
retains her penchant for violence and Compound V-given powers on the show as well.
Another departure from the comics affects the structure of the series.
Ennis' story arcs often revolve around the Boys infiltrating and blackmailing groups
less powerful and notable than the Seven in an effort to find dirt on Vought's superhero
organization.
The show, on the other hand, has not introduced the audience to other fully formed superhero
teams beyond brief mentions.
While the other superhero teams the Boys encounter in the comics offer humorous takes on popular
franchises, leaving them out of the show streamlines the adaptation.
The individual encounters with each group wouldn't work as well in The Boys' current
eight-episode format.
In the comics, the Boys' battles with different groups last for issues at a time, often only
resulting in major progression for larger overarching stories in the final issues of
a given storyline.
It's a structure that wouldn't translate well to the dramatic satire Kripke's producing
onscreen.
However, Kripke produced plenty of "monster of the week" episodes on Supernatural, so
maybe weekly showdowns with new heroes is in the cards for season two.
Season two's cast is expanding with additional characters, including Butcher's best buddy
and slobber-mouthed English bulldog, Terror.
The most notable newcomer is Aya Cash's Stormfront.
In the comics, Stormfront is a lot like Thor, with abilities including super-strength, flight,
and control over lightning.
Unlike the beloved God of Thunder, however, Stormfront is also a Nazi.
There's already been some theorizing on the internet about how Stormfront's vile beliefs
will be depicted on the show, especially since the creators have opted to gender swap the
character.
Cash hasn't confirmed whether her character will be a Nazi like her illustrated counterpart
or if the show will even include that part of her character.
However, Kripke stated his motivations for the gender swap during a Cable and Telecommunications
Marketing Association virtual panel, telling the audience,
"We wanted to sort of create Homelander's worst nightmare.
And his worst nightmare would be a strong woman who wasn't afraid of him and proceeded
to steal his spotlight."
Adding a character to the Seven who directly challenges the authority of its leader Homelander
is a great way to shake up the second season.
Season two could potentially expand its narrative by exploring the lore of The Boys.
In the comics, the fight between the Boys and the Supes originated in World War II,
when Army Captain Greg Mallory lost his battalion due to the mistakes of untrained superheroes.
The Supes were placed on the frontlines by the Vought Corporation in an effort to gain
a government contract for their superheroes.
After WWII, Mallory joined the CIA and made it his life's mission to monitor the Supes
and prevent Vought from gaining federal support.
Along the way, he assembled the Boys, starting the narrative of the comics.
In the show, Grace Mallory's full origins remain unexplored and Mallory is also gender-swapped.
Like the character she was adapted from, Mallory was a member of the CIA and founder of the
Boys.
However, beyond her motivations for hating the Supes and recruiting Butcher, her actions
before the show remain undisclosed.
Exploring the original iteration of the team, before Hughie joined with Mallory still in
charge, could be a great way for Kripke and company to continue to flesh out the engaging
and brutal world they've created.
While he had a surprisingly complex arc in the first season, the Deep is a very different
character than his inspiration.
And we're not talking about Aquaman.
In Ennis' series, the Deep is a very minor character, and he generally functions as a
punchline because he's the only superhero concerned with accounting.
However, on the show, the Deep is used to explore the abuse of power dynamics and sexual
assault.
Season one's first episode addresses one of the most controversial moments in the comic:
the assault of Starlight.
In both the comic and the show, when Starlight first joins the Seven, she is coerced into
sexual acts.
Kripke and his creative team wisely decided to take the moment and its consequences seriously
for its female lead and follow her as she gains the strength to call out The Deep.
Making the Deep a larger part allowed the storyline the space it needed to be handled
seriously, not just for shock value.
Much has been made of Karl Urban's strong performance as Billy Butcher.
Considering Urban's long career in beloved comics adaptations, it makes sense that the
actor crafted such a strong performance.
Before Butcher, Urban played a CIA agent in the adaptation of Warren Ellis' Red, Skurge
the Executioner in Thor: Ragnarok, and he brought his grizzled chin to the definitive
onscreen version of Judge Dredd.
"I am the law."
Beyond his roles in successful comics adaptations, Urban has also made a career out of appearing
as a character actor in sci-fi franchises.
He played the villainous Vaako in the Riddick series, and he appeared in the Doom adaptation
alongside Dwayne Johnson.
He even nailed the stiff mannerisms of Star Trek's Dr. Bones in J.J. Abrams' franchise
reboot.
All this is to say that Urban's a genre legend, and The Boys is made all the better by giving
this veteran character actor center stage.
Karl Urban's not the only actor on The Boys with a pulpy genre background the man portraying
his nemesis got his career started the same way.
Anthony Starr, whose Homelander performance drew positive notice for the suppressed insanity
he brings to scenes, got his major breakthrough in another not-for-network-TV enterprise called
Banshee.
It tells the story of an escaped criminal, played by Starr, who assumes the identity
of small-town Pennsylvania sheriff Lucas Hood.
Following Hood's exploits as a criminal sheriff, it's one of the most bonkers shows ever committed
to the small screen.
The show delivered ludicrous storylines involving the Russian mafia, CIA, and a particularly
nasty excommunicated Amish drug dealer.
However, it also featured some of the best fight scenes on TV before or since, and a
stellar central performance from Starr, who wisely chose to play Hood against type.
Instead of being a zany criminal or a strong and silent warrior, Hood is a man barely clinging
to reality due to the trauma he's experienced.
Each scene he's in plays like an interaction with a caged animal he's defensive, on edge,
and clearly fighting against the circumstances presented by his current situation.
That experience has worked wonders for him and Kripke on The Boys.
While the comics have plenty of plot twists that the show has yet to reveal, Kripke already
surprised fans of The Boys with the ending of season one.
Spoiler ahead: All season, Butcher, Hughie, and the rest of the black ops couch surfers
operate under the assumption that Butcher is avenging his wife's death.
In Ennis' run, Butcher's wife was assaulted and murdered by one of The Seven.
However, in the show, Kripke pulled the rug out from under his audience: In the final
moments of the first season, it is revealed Butcher's wife Rebecca is still alive and
has Homelander's son.
Both Homelander and Butcher were led to believe Rebecca had perished, and their discovery
upends their arcs in different ways.
Homelander murders his handler, Madelyn Stillwell, and Butcher realizes his sole reason for fighting
the Seven was a lie.
Both characters are left adrift by the revelation, and fans were left clamoring to see the next
season.
They won't have to wait long; season 2 of The Boys premieres on Amazon Prime on September
4.
"This is never gonna stop.
It's just gonna be more blood and awfulness."
"That's the f--king game"
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