The Boys Is Shaming Marvel & DC By Doing THEIR OWN JOB!

This is how you make superhero stories…ironically. The Boys universe and Amazon is utterly slapping Marvel and DC away with critical and audience appeal with the shows they’ve put out of late given how they are actually telling interesting, unique stories.

It’s ironic that an ironic parody universe of superheroes is actually being more nuanced than the major superhero stories themselves, but here we are.

Despite being a pretty on-the-nose ironic parody of Marvel, DC, and their iconic superheroes, The Boys, Amazon, and the ever-growing universe of The Boys has actually become the forefront storyteller and creative IP enterprise in the entertainment industry as the traditional superhero pillars have become far too stale and rigid. And, to be honest, I think this is perfect for all parties involved.

Okay, I know (well, at least I think I do) that The Boys will never, ever be as successful or commercially successful as Marvel and DC as the two juggernauts not only have history, classic characters, and dozens of high-profile, extremely loyal (and huge) fanbases behind them, but it’s also just a parody of far more established superheroes and comic-book lines.

And, whether you like it or not, a parody can only be as successful as the thing it’s parodying was in the past/present. So, thinking that The Boys can ever overtake DC or Marvel in comic-book sales continuously or become a more powerful cinematic juggernaut is akin to living in dreamland. It’s just not happening…but that doesn’t mean The Boys can suppress Marvel and DC for a while, which is happening right now.

As most of you guys reading this probably know, The Boys just released its first major spinoff show, Gen V, to establish itself as a major Hollywood entertainment franchise and IP. And, seeing how it’s currently sitting at an 8.1/10 on IMDb with over 8.5k audience reviews, that should show how this series has been a great success for Amazon and The Boys thus far.

Of course, it’s still really early in the spinoff’s airtime and the next 4-5 episodes could dramatically shift my perspective about this franchise and show if they’re bad, but that’s really beside the point as The Boys, Amazon, and everyone else who works on “alternative superhero” projects has already won.

The Boys Is Shaming Marvel & DC By Doing THEIR OWN JOB!(Amazon Prime Video-Gen V-Teaser Trailer) — The Boys Is Shaming Marvel & DC By Doing THEIR OWN JOB!
(Amazon Prime Video-Gen V-Teaser Trailer)

They have proven that the problem is not a “superhero fatigue” with audiences as many critics will say, btu rather there’s a “fatigue” with the cookie-cutter superheroes, movies, and shows Marvel and DC have released over the last three years.

Seriously, in Marvel’s case, ever since Endgame, the MCU has been dragged down and curb stomped in the mud by a sludge of boring, bland, cookie-cutter superheroes (in their MCU adaptation forms), such as The Eternals, She-Hulk, Falcon as Captain America, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Monica Rambeau, Moon Knight, everyone new character from Secret Invasion, etc., Phase 1-3 superheroes who have reverted into a shell of their former selves, such as Nick Fury, Thor, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Wanda, etc., and all the piss-poor projects these characters have been attached to.

Yes, there was success, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Wandavision, and Loki, but they have been far and few between, and the MCU as a whole hasn’t been the same since they lost Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor as a serious character, and Nick Fury to the sense of his mysterious, central operating figure.

Essentially, all of Phase 4 and everything in Phase 5 so far has been about tearing down the central, compelling pillars of the MCU and replacing them with inferior, useless, incompetent, and downright boring characters/projects in their wake.

And the DCEU has just been a trainwreck for DC ever since its inception.

The only good things DC has released in the last ten twenty years has been The Dark Knight trilogy, The Batman, Joker, and V for Vendetta. And NONE OF THESE MOVIES have anything to do with the DCEU or the last ten or so years of DC storytelling!

So, with all of this studio chaos, creative stagnation from the franchises, apathy from fans, the place for an ironic parody of these films was born in the form of The Boys and its initial success.

The Boys Is Shaming Marvel & DC By Doing THEIR OWN JOB!(Amazon Prime Video-The Boys-Final Trailer Season 1) — The Boys Is Shaming Marvel & DC By Doing THEIR OWN JOB!
(Amazon Prime Video-The Boys-Final Trailer Season 1)

Yet, if The Boys was just a like-for-like spoof of Marvel and DC, it’s wouldn’t have lasted for 4+ seasons (a 4th season has been confirmed, but I’m not sure about a 5th one yet) and allowed Amazon to create a successful third superhero franchise as The Boys has ironically had what DC and Marvel hasn’t in the last three years: nuance and creativity.

Again, I know it’s really graphic and cynical, but you can’t argue that the story of The Boys is creative, original, and filled to the brim with compelling, likeable, relatable, dynamic, and compelling characters (such as Homelander, Soldier Boy, Starlight, Hughie, Butcher, Frenchy, M.M., Kimiko, Stan Edgar, Black Noir, The Deep, A-Train, Victoria Neuman, Queen Maeve, Ashley, etc.).

Every single one of these character triumphs anything Marvel and DC has put out in their latest films, and I’d even argue they rival the classic heroes, such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Black Widow, in terms of their compelling, interesting, relatable, and dynamic character qualities.

They’re just that good in the show, which is where The Boys comics failed to capture when spoofing Marvel and DC’s comics (but that’s a story for another day).

Anyways, all I’m trying to say is that good, unique, and memorable stories mixed with compelling, likeable (or hateable), relatable, dynamic characters will always interest audiences, while boring, bland, and lethargic stories and characters will turn them away.