The Boys
WildStorm Comics’The Boyshas become improbably popular in the last few years , owe to the popularity of the Amazon Prime television show of the same name - but one quirk about both the show and the comics ca n’t be overlooked : The Boys use the Justice Leagueas a service line . The superheroes in the serial , known as Supes , are almost universally awful ; they are criminals , have God complex , and are all beholden to a mega - corporation who report up their crimes . They are also model after DC superheroes more than Marvel - but there ’s a very skilful grounds why .
The series , spanning 72 issues , revolves around Hughie , Billy Butcher , and the other members of the nominal boy as they undertake to bring down the Supes who affect to be public ideal while in reality are violent psychopath . The baddie of the piece are doubtless the members of " The Seven " : a seven - hard superhero team that is quite transparently modeled after DC ’s Justice League . The members includean Aquaman analogue ( The Deep ) , a Wonder Woman - esque character ( Queen Maeve ) and a version of Superman in the kind of the ill-famed Homelander .
connect : The Boys Reveals The Sad Origin Of Homelander ’s Catchphrase
In the comic strip , The Seven even encounter on a floating base in the sky that serves as a stand - in for the Watchtower ( but they in the main utter about marketing and promotion or else of really fight supervillains ) . The question remains : why does The Boys attack DC with their parodies but rarely Marvel ? The answer has nothing to do with the well - known classic Golden Age DC characters and everything to dowith the Silver Age Marvel heroes- and the elbow room they were written .
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’sfamous Fantastic Four serieswas radical , but not simply because the heroes had no secret identities or brother . Each member of the mathematical group had significant impuissance - and they werecharacterflaws rather than alien green rocks or an unfitness to fight the coloring yellow . near every Marvel part has well - defined eccentric flaws , and half of the characters ' conflict is about overcoming their flaw . While DC type certainly have character flaws of their own , they observably didnothave them during the Golden Age - and The Boys uses these versions of the persona to sendup .
Thus , A Train is a showboating celebrity , Black Noir is a violent brute who drink down without hesitation , and Homelander - the Superman analogue- has a God complex and a hair - trigger temper . The mirthful serial was dead subject of parodying Marvel heroes , but said heroes already had an inner darkness that they overcame in their own stories . For that reason above all others , The Boysuses the Justice League ’s Golden Age champion and takes them to their red extremum .
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Next : The Boys Antony Starr Teases Homelander ’s Story For Future Seasons
