THE BOYS

“The Boys” is a superhero series created by Eric Kripke (who created also “Supernatural”) for Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming platform. This series is based on the comic book of the same name written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and published by DC Comics between 2006 and 2012. What the Amazon version of “The Boys” did perfectly was update the original message to contemporaneity. The idea of Ennis's comic was to show superheroes as creatures without morality; products that under a false cloak of goodness hide a corrupt ideology. The series, instead, puts an accent on the sinister corporation, Vought, that presents an absolutely inhuman capitalist morality.

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“The Boys” shows us the world where heroes work for the powerful corporation Vought International, which markets and monetizes them. The series is focused on two groups: The Seven, superhero team, and the Boys, who want to bring down Vought and superheroes. The Boys are led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a former CIA agent who wants to carry out a personal vendetta against the most powerful and respected of heroes, Homelander (Antony Starr), who is narcissistic and violent leader of the Seven. While Homelander conspire to receive government support for superheroes, the Boys attempt to stop them by uncovering Vought's secrets. 

At the begining of the series, The Boys are joined by Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), a young man who lost his girlfriend in an accident caused by an irresponsible superhero, while the Seven are joined by Annie January, a young and hopeful heroine forced to face the truth about those she admires. Other members of the Seven are Queen Maeve, A-Train, the Deep, Black Noir and Stormfront. The Boys are rounded out by Mother's Milk, weapons specialist Frenchie, and superpowered Kimiko. 

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“The Boys” is so much more than a parody of the genre. Although the comic is more brutal, the Amazon series is not only overwhelming in terms of violence, but it’s also much more savage in conceptual terms. It shows really credible superheroes. I would say, looking at our world and the direction it has taken, that if there were superheroes in our planet, it would be a disaster like in “The Boys”: full of authentic terror and chaos. This series also discuss the importance of the marketing, television image, the hidden scripts behind "spontaneous actions", false smiles and charity events to evade taxes.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the show is Compound V, very expensive substance created by scientists from Nazi Germany that can alter the DNA. If it’s consumed in considerable quantities, it can even turn any human into a superhero. If used in moderate doses it can be a dangerous drug or it can, in a controlled way, give someone superhuman strength for a limited time. It all depends on the quality of the product and how it is controlled.

The fact of transporting superheroes to real life, also means transporting them to a real historical context. Unfortunately, Amazon downplayed this essential aspect of “The Boys” because of the fear of touching the history of American trauma. One of the most revolutionary aspects of the comics is that they rewrite the history of 9/11 and blame the superheroes for an even bigger disaster than what happened historically. The series didn’t show this iconic moment.