The Boys
Summary
While it ’s trueThe Boys(by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson ) is an established and widely successful series with its own robust lore and challenging , original characters , its existence is also rooted in burlesque , as the comic series not - so - subtly insults and corrupts belovedDCandMarvel Comicscharacters in every one of its 72 issues and spin - off miniseries .
Not only are there a plethora of character who are direct parodies of Marvel and DC superheroes , The Boysalso finds ways to poke fun the two publishers in other , more creative ways . From bemock entire superhero teams and educational programs with an uncomfortable level of uncurbed autonomy , to the very nature of superhero obsession and idolisation itself in the more meta sense , The Boysdoesn’t support back in its unfavorable judgment of the total superhero genre . Here are10 timesThe Boysroasted Marvel and DC ( with good cause ) .
The Boys is renowned for twisting and corrupting iconic superheroes , including those within Marvel Comics . Here are the Top 10 most insulting ones !
10Homelander Is DC’s ‘Evil Superman’ Trope Come To Life
The Boys#1
More than a few times , DC has really leaned into the thought of Superman being vicious , which was something that was cool and interesting the first few times , but has now become deadening and repetitive . There ’s Lord Superman , Red Son Superman , Cyborg Superman , Bizzaro Superman , and Injustice Superman - just to name a few . So , if DC is this comfortable corrupting the supposedly incorruptible Man of Steel , why can’tThe Boysdo it ?
Homelander is n’t just another ‘ evil Superman’to add to the listing ( which DC itself create ) , but rather he ’s a parody of the integral ‘ evil Superman ’ trope . A subsist admonisher of every metre Superman betray his own fiber by becoming malign .
9The Boys Calls Out The Underlying Creepiness Of Marvel Comics’ X-Men
The Boys#24
The Godolkin Institute is a unmediated takeoff of Marvel Comics ’ Xavier ’s School for Gifted Youngsters , complete with a schoolmaster who exploits minor . Charles Xavier take aim teenagers to struggle international , superpowered terrorists like Magneto , all to push his own political agenda . While Xavier confessedly is n’t as defective as Godolkin , who is a paedophile that sexually assaults his students regularly , there was a meter when he was n’t too far off . In the originalX - Mencomics , Xavier was in passion with Jean Grey , who was a few yr shy of eighteen years old at the time , which is actually something that was re - confirmed in the ‘ 90s during the Onslaught plot line .
Godolkin was an extreme adaptation of Xavier , but not by too far a stretch , which is why Marvel Comics deserve every bit of that harsh comparability .
8Black Noir’s Existence Openly Mocks DC’s ‘Batman v Superman’ Matchups
The Boys#65
Black Noir was a mockery of Batman inThe Boysall the way up until the present moment it was bring out he was just a knockoff of Homelander who was always destined to obliterate him . At that point , Black Noir became much more than simply a mockery of Batman , but the very pith of Batman ’s ‘ VERSUS ’ battle against Superman in DC continuity . It ’s no secret that fans love a well Batman v Superman match-up ( indeed , there ’s an intact movie with that literally as its title ) , and the test copy is in the DC cartoon strip themselves . One could fence it ’s a chip exploitatory of the character , serving a narrow-minded , action - heavy event where these decades - long friend fight within a plot line written specifically with this fan - service match-up in mind .
So , what doesThe Boysdo ? It crafts an entire grapheme whosewhole purpose in life is this ‘ Batman v Superman’-esque engagement . And given how many times DC has gone back to this especial well , Black Noir is a parody that ’s well - earned .
7Groundhawk Reduces Wolverine To A Mindless Beast (Just Like Marvel)
Marvel Comics has done a good job of fleshing out Wolverine ’s passing complicated character over the years , specially consider his origins as aHulkvillain - of - the - week . However , there was a moment in the 90 when Marvel reduced Wolverine to a inane savagewho was literally transform into a savage wolf - man without a nose . This era of Wolverine ’s life is the most notorious in his integral Marvel Comics career , andThe Boysdoesn’t let Marvel blank out it with its ownparody of Wolverine : Groundhawk .
A supe with pound for custody , Groundhawk can barely draw a sentence together , just muttering “ Gon na ” over and over as a eternal menace to everyone around him that he ’s on the brink of flying off the handgrip at any moment . The Boysignores Wolverine ’s challenging past with its Groundhawk pasquinade , just like Marvel did with ‘ noseless Wolverine ’ .
6The Boys Hilariously Mocks The Ultra-Hardcore Style Marvel & DC Clung To In The ‘90s
The Boys#61
The ‘ 90s was a strange prison term for DC and Marvel Comics . Modern characters were being created , and sure-enough ones were being revamped , and all of them were ultra hardcore - usually with some cybernetic enhancements , big heftiness , and even bigger gun . Cable , Azrael , and Cyborg Superman are prime examples of this admittedly cringe - desirable phenomenon in Marvel and DC , andThe Boysaptly mocked it with its own extremist - hardcore team of cybernetic heroes : Paralactic .
While the team ’s time inThe Boyswas brief , their mere show was enough to get the point across , as the thingThe Boyswas justly mocking was the esthetic Marvel and DC both clung to for some reason in the ‘ 90s .
5The Boys’ Stormfront Criticizes Marvel’s Use Of Real-World Symbolism
The Boys#7
Stormfront is the first supe create within the continuity ofThe Boys , and he was created by the Nazis . Even after renouncing the Nazi political party in public , Stormfront still wore Nazi symbols and iconography . However , as pointed out in Garth Ennis ’ run on Thor ( Thor : Vikings ) , the swastika was once seen as a Triskele , which had a completely different significance than the one the Nazis portion to the symbolic representation . This play up how veridical - world symbols and their substance change over meter , and how something that was n’t originally offensive could become extremely unsavoury , and vice versa .
This character and their usage of these symbols was a direct criticism of Marvel Comics ’ Thor , who is wrapped in Viking imaging that could be misinterpreted by the ever - change meanings of literal reality symbols that are co - opt by funny Book and their characters , making Stormfront an extreme yet accurate comparability .
4The Boys’ Superhero Resurrections Are A Grim Answer To Those In Marvel & DC
The Boys#19
Both Marvel and DC are famous for kill off their superheroes and then recover increasingly intricate and bizarre way to revive them . From the Lazarus Pit inBatmancontinuity to the Five ’s Christ’s Resurrection fuel pod inX - man , Marvel and DC have been kill and resurrecting their heroes from the scratch line , with no plans to stop anytime soon - andThe Boysmocked that brilliantly . Rather than using superhero resurrections as a way to bring back dear character , The Boysdoes this to show the unnatural and fantastic outcome of jerk a fictional character from their own death and slapping them back in a superhero costume .
The supe who experience the resurrection discussion inThe Boyswas Lamplighter , who come up back as a subhuman zombie cover in his own feces , barely able to call himself alive . A unfeignedly grim solvent to the resurrections that have grown rampant in Marvel and DC .
3The Boys Contributed To The Avengers vs Justice League Fan Debate
The Boys#1-72
Since the dawn of DC and Marvel , the argumentation has bait within the collective comic book fandom over which one has the unspoiled superhero team : DC ’s Justice League or Marvel ’s Avengers - andThe Boysdecided to call forth up that public debate with its own mocking stimulation . The Boyshas a version of both the Avengers and Justice League with Payback and the Seven , and it ’s made extremely exonerated that the Seven is the premier superhero squad in this world , and Payback is a definitive second .
The Boyscasually throw the Marvel and DC fandom into a tizzy by basically tell the Justice League is better than the Avengers , which is more of an vilification to the fans of Marvel and DC rather than the publishing company themselves , since anyone who ’d be anger by this assertion would effectively become the butt ofThe Boys ’ joke .
2Hughie Campbell Is The Living Antithesis Of Marvel & DC’s ‘Hero’s Journey’
There ’s no better affront to the foundations of Marvel and DC than to create a main protagonist that stand as the antithesis of practically every undivided other protagonist in comic Scripture story , and that ’s exactly whatThe Boysdid with Hughie Campbell . Hughie ’s stemma was similar to most supporter : horrifying disaster becomes his call to escapade and ultimate victory . However , Hughie did not go through the veritable ‘ sub ’s journey’as shown in a standard Marvel or DC comedian . Hughie killed A - gearing , emotionally abused the woman he purportedly loves , and allow Butcher and the Boys to misdirect him for the sake of the ‘ greater good ’ .
Hughie prove to be fair epic when it counted , but he is far from a ‘ grinder ’ in the same signified as those in Marvel and DC . But , honestly , that ’s a unspoilt matter . Even if there ’s a call to adventure later on , sometimes tragedies do n’t create superheroes or supervillains , just blemished mass who are strain to do the best they can with the site they ’re give .
1The Boys Had A Definitive Ending, Rejecting Marvel & DC’s Never-Ending Canons
The Boys#72
The very completion ofThe Boyswas , in itself , a dig at Marvel and DC . The two publishers are notorious for never permit their stories or characters to finish . The Boys , in direct contrast , did nothing but convey stories and characters to an end- including and especially the wide storyline ofThe Boyscomic series . ThroughoutThe Boys , theatrical role were buy the farm lead and right , including main quality like Homelander ( who died almost ten event before the series finale ) and Butcher ( who died during the serial publication finale ) . No storyline continuations ( aside from one overture and one epilogue miniseries ) , and no meaningful resurrections .
WhenThe Boysended a graphic symbol or storyline , it stay that way , which - when the series itself amount to an closing - prove to be the final knock ofDCandMarvel Comics .
