Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as the old saying goes and that concept lays the foundation for ‘The Boys’, a gritty superhero satire comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson that is now coming to Amazon Prime. In the world of ‘The Boys’, the seemingly altruistic Vought International corporation is behind the rise of superheroes, most of whom bear more than a passing resemblance to better known characters from DC and Marvel Comics. The preeminent team of champions, The Seven, are introduced in a new promotional video, hosted by Madelyn Stillwell, Senior Vice-President of Hero Management for the company. But at the end of the video, we see that a certain group of operatives aren’t buying what Stillwell (played by Elisabeth Shue) is selling.
Check out the promo below:
“The Boys centers on a group of vigilantes known informally as The Boys, who set out to take down
corrupt superheroes with no more than their blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty … It’s the
powerless against the super powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about
The Seven, and Vought — the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that manages these superheroes.”
It’s unclear how large a role The Seven will play on ‘The Boys’. A couple of them, Homelander and Starlight play VERY large roles in the comic book. On the series, Antony Starr plays Homelander, who is essentially this group’s equivalent of Superman, with a Captain America-style patriotic flourish. He is supported by Chace Crawford as The Deep, Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir, and Jessie T. Usher as A-Train. There also appears to be an invisible member, who may or may not be the comic book character Jack From Jupiter, a Martian Manhunter parody that isn’t a real alien.
Erin Moriarty plays Annie January/Starlight, a virginal Christian young hero who is horrified when she joins The Seven to replace Lamplighter (their take on Green Lantern) and discovers that these hedonistic creeps are not the heroes she thought they were.
What other characters can viewers expect? The show’s creator, Eric Kripke stated that the Wolverine-like Popclaw would appear, but changed considerably. Kripke described the show’s Popclaw as a “Lindsay Lohan-esque superhero” who is an actor who stars in a movie called ‘Terminal Beauty 3’.
“We called Billy Zane and were like, ‘Billy Zane, can you fly out and film a scene in Terminal Beauty 3?’ And to his credit, Billy Zane was like, ‘I’m totally gonna fly out and film a scene from Terminal Beauty 3.”
Kripke added:
“The superhero metaphor works for certain politicians, it works for certain celebrities, it works for professional athletes, it works for our media-saturated culture. The world now reflects the world of The Boys way more than when Garth wrote it. And even though it’s a superhero-action show, I really truly believe we’re making the most topical show on television.”
‘The Boys’ premiers on Amazon Prime in 2019.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
