Just when you thought you had enough superhero content in your life, Amazon releases ‘The Boys’ on its streaming service.
Supes have been committing atrocities, which keep getting swept under the rug because they are revered by the adoring public. Billy Butcher recruits The Boys who have all been wronged by The Seven, the world’s most notorious superheroes, to bring them down and stop the corruption. Based on the best-selling comics by Garth Ennis, The Boys is a revenge story where the nobodies take on the somebodies.
The Bad A**es of #TheBoysTV pic.twitter.com/jsvZzNY7Jn
— The Boys (@TheBoysTV) July 28, 2019
The Boys is based on a comic of the same name by Garth Ennis, and follows the story close enough for fans to appreciate it, but differently enough to keep some things feeling fresh. Either way, if you are unfamiliar with the source material, you are in for a bloody treat.
The show takes place in a universe paralleled to our own, only with some superhero “supes” that occupy the world, with most, or nearly all, among the U.S. population. What sets these heroes apart from other superhero stories like say, Marvel and DC, is that the heroes of this story are more like celebrities than anything else. They are owned, managed, and marketed by Vought International, a powerful conglomerate that is trying to take the heroes to the next level by getting them clearance to become part of the United States military and defense forces.
Vought does a great job making sure the heroes appeal to the masses and are idolized by the civilians who occupy the nation, capitalizing on merchandise sales and partnerships across the globe. However, the most popular and core supes at the top of the food chain are ‘The Seven’, who are basically like this universe’s Justice League. On the surface, they are kind, powerful, and capable of instilling hope to the people. However, peeling back even the first layer of these “heroes” reveals that they are narcissistic, arrogant, and pretty much the opposite of what their superhero personas stand for. Some of them are even among the villainous, based on their horrible and self-serving actions.
Although the series focuses on ‘The Seven’ in this way, the titular characters, ‘The Boys’ are actually a group of non-super individuals who are bent on taking The Seven down. Led by Billy Butcher, The Boys take on The Seven in an attempt to expose them for their terrible deeds. Among Butcher’s group, is Hughie Campbell, a small town shop clerk who witnesses his girlfriend getting killed by a careless super. Hughie, distraught and emotionally destroyed by his loss, vows to bring her death to justice by the super responsible. Reluctantly joining Butcher and his group, The Boys finds themselves constantly barely making it through the other side of situations that put them in direct conflict with The Seven.
NOW IMAGINE IF SAY, THE KARDASHIANS/JENNERS, OR LOGAN PAUL, OR ANY OTHER PERSON IN THAT CATEGORY HAD SUPERPOWERS.
THAT IS BASICALLY WHAT THE BOYS is all about.
That is about as vague as I can make the synopsis for you without spoiling what makes this show so fun and interesting. Sure, there seems to be a variety of new superhero content flooding your streaming services and theaters almost each and every week, but The Boys is absolutely worth the watch binge.
What I like about the show so much is that it feels directly juxtaposed to our own universe. What it would actually feel like if we had supers in our world. America has done a great job of turning some of the worst people imaginable into super star celebs that you can’t seem to escape. Now imagine if say, the Kardashians/Jenners, or Logan Paul, or any other person in that category had superpowers. That is basically what The Boys highlights. Plus, it being on a streaming service means that there is no absence of brutality, gore, and intense drama that will keep you coming back for more.
The head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, had gone to say that “The Boys have surpassed our predictions for viewing in its first two weeks, and has become one of our most watched Amazon Original series by our Prime Video customers.”
With only 8 episodes, you will blow through the first season rather quickly. But if you are into this type of gritty superhero style, you will likely be aching for more by the time you are through.
