Summary
Warning: contains spoilers forThe Boysseason 4 and theThe Boyscomic series.Amazon’sThe Boysadaptation just wrapped up its fourth season, ending withHomelander taking a position of major political power. As the Supe takes control, fans are left waiting until season five to see “Homelander’s America” writ large. However, while there are many differences between Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic series and the Amazon adaptation, one thing the comicscando for TV fans is show them exactly how bad things can get.
In the originalThe Boyscomics, Homelander gradually grows more and more irritated with his existence as a celebrity superhero, chafing under the disdain in which he’s held by the Vought-America corporation. Having engaged in increasIng acts of depravity,Homelander eventually decides to engage in a Supe coup d’état, leading an army of loyal Supes in an attack on key targets including the White House and the Pentagon.
While Homelander kills the president and installs himself in the White House, his reign is mercifully brief - Black Noir quickly appears, revealing his years-long plan to push Homelander into such extreme action that Vought will sanction his execution. However, beforeBlack Noir gets his long-awaited green lightto kill Homelander,The Boysdoes offer a glimpse at America under Supe-rule.
While Homelander’s coup doesn’t succeed in the comics, the series makes sure that fans get to see the world it would have created.
The Boys' Ending Proves Homelander Shouldn’t Have Been Their Main Target (& It’s Not Black Noir Either)
Butcher and his team spend most of The Boys' storyline trying to kill Homelander, but Hughie admits they should have been looking elsewhere.
The Boys Invokes Real-World Imagery to Communicate Homelander’s Endgame
During its original comics run,The Boyssometimes used its cover art to reveal unseen moments that are only referenced in the story, such as Butcher faking the murder of Jonah Vogelbaum andStormfront learning that Queen Maeve’s baby isn’t his. In this spirit, the covers toThe Boys #61and#64(both drawn by Robertson, with the interior comics by Ennis and Russel Braun), show Homelander’s horrifying endgame should his coup actually succeed.The cover toThe Boys #61shows a line of humans being driven towards an ominous building, as billowing black smoke and whip-wielding Supes line the skies in imagery which evokes the Holocaust.It’s no coincidence that inThe Boys #64, Stillwell calls Homelander’s atrocities"a spoiled child’s personal Auschwitz."
Meanwhile, the cover forThe Boys #64shows a gang of Supes flying above the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, which has been painted blood red by the dozens of dead marines at its base,slaughtered by Homelander’s troops. This imagery could be taken as either set during Homelander’s hypothetical reign or his actual coup, but either way again evokes the imagery of America being conquered by an invading force. Similar imagery is present beyond just the cover art -as Butcher approaches the White House for his showdown with Homelander, an army of silent Supes silently stand guard in the sky above.
The Boys' Homelander Only Considers 1 Other Person a True “Superhuman”
The whole point of Homelander is that there’s no-one in the world of The Boys who can hold a candle to him, but there is one “superhuman” he respects.
These images of Homelander’s intended rule is valuable to the story ofThe Boysbecause it reveals Homelander’s endgame without actually having it come to pass. Homelander’s coup is a petulant, ill-planned act of rebellion against his Vought paymasters, and he doesn’t have many stated goals beyond being able to do whatever he wants.The Boys' artwork shows that despite this lack of any specific vision, Homelander’s fascistic impulses will lead to very familiar horrors, and that as playful and kitsch as Vought’s marketing around Supes has been, ultimately there’s nothing new about the powerful seeking to subjugate those who can’t fight back.
While describing his take on Batman forBatman: Reptilian, Ennis asserted that the Dark Knight is"a billionaire aristocrat who beats up poor people, as well as the mentally ill."
The Boys Ends with a Classic Critique of the Superhero ‘Power Fantasy’
Ennis' Comics Echo Alan Moore’s Damning Criticism of Superheroes
The Boys' final imagery of the Supes downplays their colorful costumes with grays, browns and blacks, revealing them as living propaganda - a group of superbeings standing far above their lessers as literalübermensch. The idea thatsuperhero media is tied to political power fantasiesis a well-worn criticism of the genre, and shines through intheBoyscomics which (more than the TV show) genuinely critique pop culture’s love of costumed crime-fighters. Throughout Ennis' work, he’s often taken pains to paint superheroes in the worst possible light, and has often spoken publicly about his dislike of the genre.
The Boys' Writer Dislikes Stan Lee’s Writing So Much, He’s Never Finished Any of His Comics (Despite Trying To)
In an interview, Garth Ennis – creator of “The Boys” – declared that he has never read one Stan Lee comics “cover to cover,” despite having tried.
Even while being interviewed around the release of hisBatman: Reptilianminiseries with Liam Sharp, Ennis toldComic Book Resourcesthat Batman was essentially"a billionaire aristocrat who beats up poor people, as well as the mentally ill.“Ennis has also citedThe Boys' genuinely disdainful approach to superheroes as the reason it wascanceled by its original publisher DC, claiming the publisher was too uneasy about the series' genuinely anti-superhero tone. It therefore makes sense that in taking the ‘evil Superman’ idea to its extreme, Ennis landed on imagery of real-world genocide and fascistic overthrow of democracy.
The imagery of Homelander’s coup evokes the same themes as expressed byWatchmenandV for Vendettawriter Alan Moore, who in arecent interview with Screen Rantsaid:
…Another way superheroes are insidious is that their values seem to seep into the real world. Everybody wants to be a superhero. That Elon Musk used to sort of glory in the idea that he was the real life Tony Stark I believe, as his admirers called him. That even when Donald Trump released his non-fungible tokens a few weeks ago, I saw that he’d got one of them with himself as a superhero with eyebeams, looking like something out of The Boys. The “superhero dream” is a dangerous thing, because essentially it’s fascism.
“The Worst Idea in History”: The Boys' Creator Hates His Original Idea for Butcher’s Powers (That Would Have Ruined Homelander)
Garth Ennis called his original idea for the Boys' powers “the worst idea in history” - but there’s a reason it was part of the franchise’s pitch.
Ennis' long catalog of war stories don’t seem like they have much to do withThe Boysuntil the very end, when ideas of fascism and genocide arrive in force.
The Boys Uses Real-World Imagery for More Than Shock Value
Ennis' Long History of War Stories Informs The Boys' Ending
While many superhero creators and fans have always disagreed with this reading of superhero media asinherentlyfascist,The Boyscertainly exemplifies how the two ideas can comment on each other.The Boysputs a lot of focus onhow incompetent and petulant Homelander is, emphasizing the incredible danger that is posed when power is unjustly placed in the hands of those who have no instinct to use it responsibly. InThe Boys, that power starts off as superstrength and laser vision, but by the series' end, it is framed in far more militaristic terms.
That’s no surprise, given that Ennis has spent most of his career working on war stories, with titles such asWar Stories,Johnny Red,Fury MAX,Battle ActionandRogue Trooper: Blighty Valleytelling stories set in real-world conflicts.The Boysis a very different work right until the end, but by the final issues, the visual language of Homelander’s invasion is the same Ennis has drawn on elsewhere to depict WWII.
“They Use You, You May as Well Use Them”: The Boys Creator Garth Ennis Offers Advice on Working for Marvel & DC
Prolific, boundary-pushing comic writer Garth Ennis spoke at the Lucca Comics & Games con recently; Variety reported on his advice to newer artists.
It’s one ofThe Boys' genuine triumphs that it manages to depict a villain draped in the flag and with incredible superhuman powers without losing sight of his pettiness and insecurity.
Homelander’s Ending Refuses to Respect Him (But Acknowledges He’s Still Dangerous)
The Boys Makes Sure Homelander Is Stripped of Anything That Could Make Him Cool
One of the most noteworthy aspects of Homelander’s coup is how little concern he has for any larger political goals. Homelander beginsThe Boysas a brutal bully, but one who is prosaic in his abuses of power. It’s only onceBlack Noir starts gaslighting him- making him believe he’s committed atrocities he’d never even considered - that he begins to get worse. This is coupled with Homelander’s growing frustration towards his pseudo-father figure, Vought’s James Stillwell, who expresses constant disinterest in Homelander despite his immense fame and power.
Even inThe Boys' final issues, Ennis makes space to show thatHomelander is essentially ‘acting out,’ and doesn’t have any grand vision for his Supe ‘uprising’ other than gaining the status he believes he deserves(unlike the Amazon adaptation, thecomics don’t explore Homelander’s traumatic childhoodin detail, and in fact emphasize the idea that he represents a normal, everyday bully given limitless power, rather than being a uniquely twisted villain.) This is consistent with how Garth Ennis has depicted real-world fascism in works includingPreacher,MidnighterandHellblazer. The throughline of Ennis' commentary on dictators is best summed up by a moment inMidnighter #4(with Peter Snejbjerg and Karl Story), where a time-cop responsible for stopping time travelers from assassinating history’s monsters says:
It’s always some pathetic little man. I seen ninety percent of the greatest scumbags in history up close, an' I can tell you: Khan, Pot, Caligula, Torquemada, whoever, you look at any one of these worms an' you wonder how people didn’t spot ‘em a mile off.
Homelander’s use of superheroic imagery obscures his true nature at the beginning ofThe Boys, but his death - which sees him humiliated and killed only hours into his attempted coup - brings home the reality that he is indeed"some pathetic little man.“It’s one ofThe Boys’ genuine triumphs that it manages to depict a villain draped in the flag and with incredible superhuman powers without losing sight of his pettiness and insecurity.However, in showing the dark endgame of Homelander’s planned coup and linking it to real-world atrocities,The Boysalso drives home thatthese flaws don’t make Homelander any less dangerousas a dictator - asMidnighter’s time cop observes, being a"pathetic little man"isn’t mutually exclusive to being able to instigate a genocide.
For Better or Worse, The Boys Is the Last Great Gen X Franchise
In many ways, Garth Ennis' frequently provocative superhero satire “The Boys” distills the essence of the best and worst of Generation X art.
Amazon’sThe Boysincludes many changes to the comics, including giving Homelander a more fleshed-out political perspective. However, hopefully it won’t blunt the original comics' marriage of these two vital ideas: that Homelander’s rage and petulance make him laughable as an individual, but that his use of immense power in service of these personal motivations also makes him truly dangerous to the culture in which he exists. It’s one of the biggest ways Ennis' war stories informed his anti-superhero opusThe Boys, and an idea thatHomelanderembodies better than almost any other villain in modern pop culture.
The Boys
Cast
The Boys is a gritty and subversive take on the superhero genre, focusing on a group of vigilantes who confront powerful superheroes abusing their abilities, exploring themes of corruption and moral ambiguity in a world where heroes are not always what they seem.
