Today is the bitter and often dirty Superhero satire The Boys is a global phenomenon and one of the most watched Amazon series, which is currently in its fourth season and is heading towards an epic finale in the already ordered fifth season. But it could have all turned out very differently. 11 years before Homelander (Antony Starr) and Butcher (Karl Urban) became series favorites, Hollywood wanted to adapt the comic book for the cinema.
Long before Amazon: The Boys was supposed to be a film trilogy
The Boys comics are not only the creation of author Garth Ennis, but also of illustrator Darick Robertson. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Robertson revealed the ambitious plans for a failed film adaptation that was to be put in place by director Adam McKay (The Big Short and Netflix’s Don’t Look Up):
For a while, director Adam McKay tried to make The Boys into a film trilogy – the first film even had a finished script and demo animations of scenes – but it didn’t get the green light in Hollywood before the MCU.
The film plans for The Boys were first announced in 2008, the same year that Iron Man laid the foundation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”I think they just weren’t ready for it yet“, Robertson sums up the lack of interest in actually bringing a The Boys trilogy to the big screen.
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The Seven as cinema heroes?
As a refreshing counterpoint and a tough answer to the superhero oversaturation in the mainstream, The Boys became a mega-success. In retrospect, the project might not have been as successful at a time when the MCU was still in its infancy. The fact that the original is not stingy with violence and sex was probably another factor that made the studios see too great a risk.
The cinema trilogy would also have been drastically different from what characterizes The Boys todayThe comic book, which first appeared in 2006, was set in the Bush era and looked at the USA in the aftermath of September 11th through the lens of a dark superhero story. This historical context is no longer found in the Amazon adaptation. Instead, Amazon’s The Boys takes a satirical look at the political, social and pop-cultural developments in Trump’s America.
The Boys almost became a crazy DC reckoning with perverted Superman
Darick Robertson not only looks back at the abandoned film plans, but also at the history of the graphic novel, which was first published by Wildstorm, a sub-label of DC Comics. An early version was even supposed to feature real DC superheroes:
[Garth Ennis] imagined the Boys as a team of anti-superhero investigators in the current DC Comics universe, where the stories hint, without ever saying it openly, that Figures like Superman and Batman are secretly evil and perverse are.
Ultimately, The Boys creators decided to go with a parody that would instead feature Justice League heroes like Superman, Aquaman, The Flash and Wonder Woman the Seven members Homelander, Deep, A-Train and Queen Maeve presented.
DC Comics was nevertheless bitterly offended by this parody. After only six issues, The Boys was canceled prematurely. Fortunately, a new publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, was found shortly afterwards and gave The Boys a second chance. And the rest is comic history.
More news about The Boys:
The Boys Season 4: When will the remaining episodes come to Amazon?
The fourth season of The Boys has been running on Amazon Prime Video since June 13, 2024. The eight episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. It continues with episode 5 on June 27, 2024before the season finale is available to stream from July 18th.
Podcast: The 10 best series in June on Netflix, Amazon & Co.
Do you need more fresh streaming tips? We present the most exciting series in June that Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Co. have to offer in the monthly overview:
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Among the 10 series highlights in June you will not only find the return of the Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon, but also unusual Netflix superheroes, Amazon’s reunion with The Boys and the new Star Wars live-action series on Disney+.