The Boys is a series quite ambitious in its extensions. On the one hand, it firmly presses on the classic who-watches-the-watchmen concern. On the other hand, the show is also trying something new. It is not enough for the TV show to demonstrate superheroism as conservative viciousness or as a state tool of repression. Instead, it attempts to represent a complicated superhero industrial complex that permeates almost all of mass culture and social life. So The Boys' superheroes, corrupt and arrogant as they are, become at the same time the most unexpectedly realistic as their actions are intertwined with business interests, advertisers, sponsorships, rights, fan culture, public presence and public order.
The Boys has the virtue of attempting to see superhero culture as a whole, as an industry and as an ideology. The series cuts through the simplistic superhero ethics of good and evil, the absence of complexity and the culture of collateral damage while balancing the themes it conveys with compelling and rich characters. In conclusion The Boys is a TV series that points to an increasingly diverse, demanding and multifaceted television superhero future. Even if the MCUs and DCUs fall into the cliché, it seems that a superhero door has opened on television that is not going to close any time soon.
The Boys has the virtue of attempting to see superhero culture as a whole, as an industry and as an ideology. The series cuts through the simplistic superhero ethics of good and evil, the absence of complexity and the culture of collateral damage while balancing the themes it conveys with compelling and rich characters. In conclusion The Boys is a TV series that points to an increasingly diverse, demanding and multifaceted television superhero future. Even if the MCUs and DCUs fall into the cliché, it seems that a superhero door has opened on television that is not going to close any time soon.