50 Facts From The Hit Amazon Prime Show The Boys

A film adaptation was planned in 2008 that would’ve starred Simon Pegg as Hughie and Russel Crow as Butcher. Hughie in the comics strongly resembles Pegg who loved the idea and also wrote the introduction for the 1st volume. The film project was scrapped and a TV adaptation became the path forward in 2016. The Boys premiered on Amazon Prime in 2019 and Pegg was still able to secure a role in which he portrayed Hughie’s father during the 1st season. 

Homelander, Maeve, A-Train, The Deep, and Black Noir appear to be inspired by Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Batman respectively. Starlight was inspired by the X-Men character Jubilee, both being the youngest on the team with light-based powers, and Soldier Boy appears to be influenced by both Captain America and Winter Soldier. 

The MCU has yet to release an R-rated film and DC’s R-rated films can still be considered family-friendly. The Boys leans hard into its adult ratings and does so in spectacular fashion. Its extreme depictions of violence, drugs, and sex are enough for a parent to agree with, not to mention the heavy use of profanity. These themes were much more graphic in the comics which would have never been approved by any TV network.

The show takes place in New York City but a majority of the show is actually filmed in Toronto, Canada. One of the most distinguished landmarks that you can notice is the Roy Thompson concert hall which is used as the base of the Vought building. The concert hall is a frequently used location in film and television that has been used multiple times since its construction; it was also used in X-Men (2000) which can be recognized more easily.  

Arch nemeses Butcher and Homelander are portrayed by Karl Urban and Antony Starr respectively, the men were practically neighbors as they share their hometown of Wellington, New Zealand. Though it seems the two met after their acting careers took off, both actors also appeared in the TV series Xena: The Warrior Princess. Urban played multiple characters including Cupid, Julius Caesar, Kor, and Mael while Starr played David and Mesas.

The comics included several male characters that were altered into women for the Amazon Prime adaptation. Madelyn Stillwell portrayed by Elisabeth Shue is James Stillwell, Grace Mallory portrayed by Laila Robins is Greg Mallory, Victoria Newman portrayed by Claudia Dormit is Victor Newman and Stormfront portrayed by Aya Cash was a male in the comic series.

The live-action show features characters like Translucent from season 1 who replaced the comic book character Jack From Jupiter. Blue Hawk, Blindspot, Doppelganger, Ezekiel, Mesmer, and Shockwave were also created for the live-action Amazon Prime series that didn’t exist in the comic books. And who knows what other new characters are planned to be brought to the silver screen. 

One of the biggest personality upgrades was for Victoria Newman, portrayed by Claudia Doumit. Victor is known in the comics as Vic the Veep and is a far cry in comparison to his female variant. Victor is spineless in the comics, he makes idiotic decisions and serves as Vought’s puppet which makes him look like a joke most times. Victoria on the other hand seems to have it all together and has a much stronger personality, not to mention being a supe and being able to hide her abilities as a public figure is one of the biggest twists of season 2.

He wasn’t around much in the comics and barely even spoke, he would normally be off doing whatever fish things he had going on, but there wasn’t any focus on any of those missions. As far as looks are concerned, in the comics, he permanently wore an old-timey divers helmet due to a curse from Poseidon, while in the TV adaptation his only curse is his actions. Amazon Prime's The Deep is quite spineless and demands all but respect from the audience. The Deep is the biggest joke in The Seven which is made apparent in the series debut.  

His character is technically new for the series as his storyline in the comics is merely backstory and much more tragic; he was killed as a baby in the comics by Billy Butcher. Amazon Prime sees to it that he not only survives his first year but he’s now a child who’s developing his powers and is expected to meet and possibly exceed the strength of his father, which is proven when he disables the powerful villain Stormfront, which leads to her defeat in season 2. 

Hughie serves as a punching bag in the comics and seems to struggle with standing up for himself. He isn’t even able to make eye contact with Butcher in half of their interactions. He does begin to show some backbone eventually in the comics, and live-action Hughie has been growing more and more into his role as one of The Boys as the show continues to progress. 

In the comics, she doesn’t have a name and is only known as “The Female” who accidentally ate Compound V which granted her powers in contrast to being corporate collateral damage in the TV series. She’s definitely stronger mentally in the TV series as well, being able to communicate with others better than in the comics and has more conviction in her emotions.

The live-action counterpart is much more charming and cunning which leads to his unpredictability being a bit more terrifying, especially when his gaze is as fierce as the lasers he produces. He doesn’t have any of the relationships on the show as they never existed in the comics, his dynamics with Stillwell and Ryan definitely brought more growth to the character than the original pages ever did. 

With more of his humane side being seen on screen, you wouldn’t expect his comic counterpart to have acted opposite in many situations, primarily, the reason Ryan had essentially no storyline in the comics is that Butcher murdered him after he was born. In the comics, Butcher also consumed a temporary form of Compound V regularly to battle against the supes along with the other members of The Boys.  

Annie and Hughie both had a commanding presence in the TV show when they took a stand when faced with their adversities. Hughie was a bit clueless about Annie’s secret identity and when he was confronted by Butcher, he became suspicious of trying to sell out The Boys in the comics, instead of Hughie manipulating Annie against Vought as he does in the show. 

Kimiko only communicated with Frenchie in the comics much as she does on the show, with only a secret language between the two of them. They also had a different dynamic of a relationship in which Frenchie was more of a father figure and served more as a protector. On the show, you see more of the possibility of romance between them as they work to cope with their abusive pasts together. 

While The Boys aren't wielding superpowers, they still use genius intellect to take down their foes. This change makes the story more gripping than just panels of Butcher and the gang just throwing hands. With the way the seasons have been unfolding though it's only a matter of time before we see Compound V in the hands of The Boys. 

His name hasn’t been expounded upon on the show and you may be shocked to learn of its origin. In the comics, MM was born with superpowers due to his mother using Compound V and the transfer of the serum through her milk, which he has to keep drinking in order to maintain his abilities. MM in the comics also gave powers to his daughter which led to her hating him, but he has a strong relationship with her in the TV show.

A-Train was a white man in the comics and changed to star Jessie T. Usher for the TV series which came with a brother who didn’t exist in the comics. Another difference is the origin story for Hughie which was still the death of his girlfriend but it was caused by A-Train throwing a monster he was fighting that collided with her. He’s just as self-centered in the comics and is often disrespected by his peers and almost everyone else around him. Hopefully, he makes better decisions in later episodes.

Noir is one of the most intimidating of The Seven next to Homelander and is rumored to be equally as powerful in the TV series, which leads to the character's biggest change. In the comics, Black Noir is actually a clone of Homelander who is undercover and is essentially in place to defeat Homelander if he ever went off the rails. He revealed his identity after defeating Homelander and admitted that he was the true father of Ryan after pretending to be Homelander when he assaulted Becca Butcher. 

In the comics, Starlight takes much more time to grow into the strong woman she becomes early in season 1 while having to endure abuse from most of The Seven as well as The Boys through her comic run. She had a similar relationship with Queen Maeve in both the comics and the TV show, garnering her respect through her actions. The TV series began with her being sexually assaulted by The Deep but in the comics, it was much worse, that assault was inflicted by every male in The Seven. 

Terror is Butcher’s bulldog who only makes a cameo in the TV series while he’s by Butcher’s side throughout the comics. Thanks to this major difference, you only really get to see Terror relaxing in his brief appearances in a flashback and at Butcher’s aunt’s home where he currently resides on the TV show. The comics will show you Terror present in battle and ready to urinate on his downed foes, amongst other extreme actions he’s taken. 

Her existence in the show was a surprise to comic book fans due to her tragic backstory and death before the series began. The show and series parallel the assault she endured that led to the birth of Ryan at the hands of Homelander, but in the comics, it was the birth of Ryan that killed her thanks to his super strength, as he burst through his mother to come to life. Becca being alive on the live-action show served as a fantastic character arc that shows just how different the story could’ve been compared to the comics.

For starters, his uniform is entirely different, and instead of the tired, scruffy look of the live-action, the comic book variant is clean-shaven with long blond hair. They share the backstory of killing Mallory’s grandchildren but the live-action Lamplighter killed them by accident, whereas the comic book Lamplighter killed them on purpose out of revenge. Ashmore ironically portrayed Iceman in the X-Men series but shares the exact same ability as his rival Pyro, who also uses a lighter to manipulate fire. 

In the comics, she’s often inebriated, out of sight, and sulking away about her life until she decides to step up to help Starlight. Granted, we do see Maeve acting out this way during the series, but it was just built up rather than being already established as her hate for Homelander continues to grow. She is in a relationship on the live-action show that isn’t apparent in the comics as well, which leads to her being afraid for her girlfriend’s life if Homelander were to discover her. 

Frenchie is the most violent of The Boys in the comics and is the quickest to act upon it while his live-action counterpart is more strategic with his attacks and is often the slowest to violence out of his teammates. His past being riddled with abuse parallels between the show and the comics but on the show, he shows more emotional awareness. He also shows a clear intelligence on the show with his ability to create supe killing weapons, while in the comics, he rarely shows his intelligence in meaningful ways. 

He experiences an incredible upgrade from his comic backstory as well, in which he pretends to be who he is on the TV show. He’s been depicted as cowardly and a bootlicker throughout the series so it was refreshing to see him being true to form in his live-action appearance. Soldier Boy's powers are relatively the same but the TV show introduces his Compound V killing blast that has struck the fear of God into Homelander.

Stormfront was formerly known as Liberty and shares a majority of the same backstory as the comics, in which she is secretly a Nazi who was a part of the initial foundation that created Vought, as she was married to Frederick Vought. The only differences from the comics can be considered major, as she was a male in the comics who served as an enforcer for Vought.

In fact, Edgar never appears in the comics and is only mentioned by name, his surprise appearance was only multiplied by seeing his portrayal. He was the man behind the scenes until later in season 1 when he appeared after Stillwell’s death. Edgar holds a commanding presence as well being one of the only people who are completely unphased by Homelander and shows no intimidation when showing him exactly how the chess pieces will move.

"We bought the first issue of The Boys when it came out and we were like, 'Oh my god, this would make a great movie. Regular people fighting superheroes”, Rogen stated in an interview. Rogen has owned the rights for over a decade now and has spent most of those years shopping the series as a movie to multiple companies. Ironically, they were never selected to write or produce on the show or any of the series before it was picked up by Amazon. 

Producer Adam Mckay picked up The Boys to make a movie in 2010 but was unable to make anything solid so he let it go. Then it was picked up in 2012 by Paramount Pictures where the series met the same fate. The project was finally picked up by Amazon Studios in 2017 and finally began airing on Prime Video in 2019. 

Kripke has brought over talent from both of his previous shows to also appear in The Boys. Claudia Doumit, Goran Visnjic, Malcolm Barrett, and Shantel VanSanten were all regulars on Timeless and now portray Victoria Neuman, Alastair Adana, Seth Reed, and Becca Butcher respectively. Soldier Boy actor Jensen Ackles served as the lead, Dean Winchester, on Supernatural.

The comics focus on the Bush-era and feature many sociopolitical issues that have been the focal point for change through the last decade, and also began during the boom of superhero content in every form of media. By the time the show began airing, issues like the Me-too and alt-right movements were underway and the nearly 20-year-old series was more relevant than ever. 

One of those millions of fans is former president Barack Obama who listed the show as one of his favorite shows that he’s currently watching. He stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that, “they turn superhero conventions on their heads to lay bare issues of race, capitalism, and the distorting effects of corporate power and mass media.” He also stated that he’s a fan of The Watchmen, which is a superhero series that covers similar themes and also features an alternate version of the Justice League. 

He spoke about how he read The Boys and instantly fell in love with it and wanted to work with Garth Ennis to make the live-action adaptation into a real thing. While the road was a difficult one, they were still able to persevere and make it happen, much like they did with Preacher, which was also a comic book series created by Ennis. Rogen and his partner, Evan Goldberg, both worked as producers on Preacher as well and it's clear with how the graphic scenes, violence, and themes of both shows are portrayed.

The Seven HQ in the comics is similar to the Justice League satellite, both facilities are housed high above the citizens they protect while overlooking their horizons. The TV series building is more reflective of Marvel’s Avengers Tower, especially since both skyscrapers call New York City home. The Seven did have celebrity status in the comics but it was nothing compared to the show with the supes being seen everywhere from street corners to movie screens.

Whenever they’re wearing a T-Shirt there is always a musician or movement being shown. Many times the shirt's themes could be omens, like when Hughie wore a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers shirt moments before his girlfriend Robin was killed. MM’s shirts often feature artists whose themes can be radical and monuments to activism that he fights for. This is also true for MM in the comics as he dresses the same way, one of the few design choices that remained true to the comics from the TV show. 

Compound V will either give you powers or kill you on the show and it has to be taken by injection on the show. While in the comics, the former is true but it can also be taken with drugs to give a temporary effect. The comics also have some horrible side effects for anyone that takes Compound V while the show only has those side effects in the temporary version. Comic book supes can also never die because the body affected by Compound V cannot die even though their mental facilities will, supes will essentially turn into zombies. 

The show has used an estimated 50 gallons of fake blood and plans to use 3x the amount during the 3rd season! Laz Alonzo spoke in an interview that so much blood was being used that it would be stuck to them for weeks at a time. One of those instances was with The Deep and the whale which had Jack Quaid drenched in blood for hours in 100-degree weather. The 1st season of course had the least amount of blood but by the 2nd season, everyone was swimming in it.

We learn during season 2 that she has a brother with whom she has a secret form of sign language that they use to speak to each other. This sign language was created specifically for these characters but actor Karen Fukuhara learned sign language in real life and is now fluent. Fukuhara said that she took classes with ASL expert Amanda Richer in order to bring authenticity to her character and get more into the mindset of Kimiko.

He eventually gets taken out when fighting Queen Maeve when she makes him eat an Almond Joy which triggers his reaction. This little detail isn’t something that existed in the comics either. The writers added the detail because the real-life actor, Nathan Mitchell, actually shares the same allergy. Art truly imitates life when you see decisions like this, but perhaps it’s also a sign of admiration for Mitchell.

Erin Moriarty said that she shares a conservative attitude like Starlight in that she would normally not dress in a revealing fashion, much like the newer suit she was given in season 1. She also spoke about how tight and padded the suit was that it made scenes extremely uncomfortable. It would take two people to help her get in and out of the suit and would make trips to the bathroom that much more difficult, an issue that occurred in both of the original variations of the suit.

It's an age-old tale that actors have had some temperature issues in their suits and that problem followed The Boys as well. Homelander’s suit particularly is one that’s very elaborate and made with dense material that can lead to overheating actor Antony Starr. The design team installed a cooling system in the suit that attaches to an air conditioning unit that Starr uses in between takes, and he is even partially undressed while shooting some scenes.

Quaid signed on to do some of his own stunts and this one, in particular, required sitting in the front of a speeding boat. Quaid had a safeword for when he felt unsafe but the high speeds of the boat, splashing waves, and nearby helicopter that was used for filming made it impossible for anyone on the boat to hear him. As it turned out, he had been screaming throughout the shoot and his face was white as snow from his ongoing terror.

You wouldn’t expect The Boys and Billy Madison to have this connection but they do. The Madison Estate is actually known as the Parkwood Estate in Oshawa, Canada, and has been used in a number of films and TV series throughout the years. The estate was used on The Boys as the home for Jonah Vogelbaum, the Vought scientist that raised Homelander.  

This was something that occurred in the comics as well but slightly different. The event itself is based on 9/11 in the comics and saw Homelander, Maeve, and Lamplighter attempting to thwart the assailants. While they were able to keep the plane from crashing into the Twin Towers, it still crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge and still caused mass casualties. Just like the TV show, the comics saw Vought doing everything they could to cover up their heroes’ failures.

In a scene that shows Homelander losing it and fantasizing about mowing down a crowd of protestors, many locals saw this and it reminded them of an attack that took place at the filming location in 2018. This led to actual protestors showing up at the film set who did not want to see this being made and production was halted when Councillor John Fillion answered their calls and stepped in to shut it down.

The scene takes a turn for the worst when Butcher decides to ram the boat into the whale that sends The Deep flying and knocks him out. The scene was incredibly gruesome and realistic but fortunately, no whales were hurt to produce it. The scene took a week to film and the whale took five months to create out of silicone and Styrofoam, there were also tubes and pumps to make the muscles move and blood spurt while filming inside

Of course, everything has its limits and we get to actively see just how close to the boundary Amazon Prime will allow. Except for one scene that showed Homelander masturbating above the city skyline during season 2 that was planned for season 1 but was deemed too extreme by Amazon reps who had it cut, only to have a change of heart.

Season 3 was announced before season 2 was released and season 4 was announced during season 3 which means we can probably expect the same of the 5th season. There are also 2 planned spinoff series being planned with The Boys: Diabolical already airing its first season. The second show hasn’t been announced yet but we already know to expect it to be as wild and crazy as the franchise has proven itself to be.