Much has changed since we last checked in on Billy Butcher and co. The Boys is no longer the only game in town when it comes to gory, superpowered-beings-gone-bad content: the brightly animated Invincible did not skimp on the blood-soaked gruesomeness, and both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker featured their fair share of over-the-top fatalities. But any concerns that The Boys’ capacity to shock has dimmed in the context of its new counterparts are emphatically blown out of the water within the first ten minutes, thanks to an Ant-Man riff so completely outrageous that it really has to be seen to be believed.
Shocking for very different reasons is legendary Supe-hater Butcher (Karl Urban) acquiring powers of his own after taking super-serum Compound V. Such a shift in thinking underlines the big questions that multiple characters have to continually ask themselves this season: how far are you willing to go to get the job done, and what are you willing to give up to get it? Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) desire not to feel weak, for instance, puts a strain on his relationship with Starlight (Erin Moriarty), while Marvin (Laz Alonso) has to weigh spending quality time with his daughter against getting justice for his family. Through it all, the moral murkiness and messy consequences are never less than compelling in a season that blurs the line between the good guys and the bad guys more than ever before. It’s not just a question of who will still be standing when all is said and done, but what state they will be in if they are.
Homelander’s unpredictable nature has always been The Boys’ trump card in relation to other contemporary superhero content.
Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) is a bit shortchanged by the material in early episodes, but other subplots are heartfelt. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) are even more of a fun, sweet pairing now that the latter has learned sign language — an unlikely dance number they enjoy is a riot — and some welcome backstory for the duplicitous Victoria is all the more effective for Claudia Doumit’s affecting performance. The satirical elements remain just as sharp too, ranging from A-Train’s (Jessie T. Usher) performative stance on racism and the Black Lives Matter movement to a ‘Dawn Of The Seven’ movie that is an entertaining riff on The Snyder Cut.
At the centre of it all is Homelander (Antony Starr). The Boys’ second season showed how far he would go to remain beloved by his unsuspecting fans. But what happens when that’s no longer a consideration? It’s just one more thing that numbers him among the scariest superpowered characters we’ve ever seen on screen, and Starr plays him to perfection. Indeed, Homelander’s unpredictable nature has always been The Boys’ trump card in relation to other contemporary superhero content. You never know when he might snap — no-one ever feels truly safe. It’s a big reason why, three seasons in, The Boys remains so riveting to watch.
