THE BOYS

‘The Boys’ imagines a universe in which superheroes are actual celebrities – owned, monetised and commercialised by the Vought Corporation– who promote the heroes via their own film franchises (in which they are deified and mythologised), as well as through merchandising and sponsorships – and the heroes exist in a showbiz-like hierarchy - much like celebs do in our world – so there’s A-listers – who are in an ‘Avengers’-like team known as ‘The Seven’. Heading the team is Homelander – who is a combination of Captain America and Superman – he’s quite fascinating in that he’s got very dodgy fascist leanings – almost in the Nietzschean sense of the ‘Ubermensch’ – wanting to dominate and rule humanity like a benevolent dictator who knows what’s best.

When lightning fast Flash-esque superhero ‘A-Train’ accidentally runs through the body of Robin, the girlfriend of Hughie (played by Jack Quaid) it sets off a chain of events that sees CIA operative and deranged vigilante Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban) approach Hughie for help in bringing down the Vought Corporation, which Billy believes is corrupt and dangerous. Of course, Billy has his own reasons for taking aim at the superheroes and we’re off on an anarchic, gorey and very funny adventure, where the ‘normies’ take on the ‘supes’.