When it comes to superhero movies, The Boys have taken a conventional approach and twisted it inside out. Based on the comic book series of the same name written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the blockbuster Prime Video series presents its “heroes” as malevolent supes who would stop at nothing to get their way. They’re called The Seven, and they’re led by the most heinous one of them all, The Homelander (Antony Starr). Frustrated at the manner in which they act and the pain they bring to innocent people, the titular “Boys”are a group lead by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) who make it their life’s aim to take down Homelander, investigating every available route to do so.
Whilst the series pulls most of its visuals and plots from the comics, there a few important modifications the show makers thought necessary to make. Let’s take a look at some of these alterations and how they’ve impacted the landscape of Ennis’ original tale.
Ryan’s Story
Onscreen we meet Ryan, the first natural-born supe. A result of a severe sexual attack by Homelander on Butcher’s wife Rebecca, Ryan is hidden away with Rebecca out of reach of Homelander and Butcher. Both rivals are originally persuaded to believe that mother and kid died due to a traumatic childbirth, but it soon comes to light they were alive and well in a Vought complex. While Ryan appears to be an ordinary kid at first, it soon becomes evident that he was born with special abilities that he keeps hidden out of obedience to Rebecca’s wishes.
Ryan’s whole life is a stark contradiction to the comics, where he was slain at birth in a fit of wrath from Butcher. There are a couple of reasons the show runners may have made this alteration. First and foremost, it adds a fresh chapter to the rivalry between Butcher and Homelander, giving the conflict a more personal tone and giving Butcher a deeper sense of purpose. Further to this, Butcher is someone we root for. It’s no secret he’s not the most morally sound character, but for the most part he has good intentions. Because a cold-blooded murder of a newborn didn’t exactly suit with this story, making the switch from paper to film was necessary.
Black Noir
In the series, we haven’t learned too much about Noir’s identity. He was Homelander’s clone in the comics, hence he had the same level of power. Not only does he have all of Homelander’s powers and features, he has a nasty side and is way even more murderous than the individual he was cloned from. Despite comic book readers’ initial excitement, it became evident in Season 2 that he is not a Homelander clone due to the fact that he is Black. Season 3 adds included flashbacks to his backstory, however he is not shown to be related to Homelander. This is quite a huge shift; in the comics Noir was just as strong, if not stronger, than the Seven’s commander, whereas in the series there is nobody so far who can compare.
Victoria Neuman
In one of a few gender switched roles, Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) actually appears in the comics as Victor Neuman. “Vic the Veep,” as he is also known, is a high ranking political person who operates as an inside man for Vought. Like Victoria (Giancarlo Esposito), the CEO of Vought, who is also a politician, this isn’t all that different. Beyond the obvious differences of being a woman on screen and being called “The Headpopper” by her peers, Victoria is shown to be a superpowered entity. This is unique to the TV series, and undoubtedly adds a fascinating dimension.
Flight 37:
The historic aircraft event, where Homelander and a reluctant Queen Maeve abandoned all the passengers as the plane fell into the water, had completely different roots. The comic’s version of events involved the September 11 attacks. In order to avoid another calamity, the supes diverted one of the attacking planes to the Brooklyn Bridge. This recounting of the narrative serves more to highlight the recklessness of The Seven, whereas onscreen it illustrates how Homelander is not much of a hero at all. In addition, the original plot line would have been inconsistent with the show’s timeline, which is set in the near future.
Simon Pegg as Hughie
Ennis and illustrator Darick Robertson originally modeled Hughie Campbell on Simon Pegg, which is shockingly obvious in their representations of him throughout. Pegg was too old to play Hughie when the series was translated for television, so the studio cast Jack Quaid, who does an excellent job. Of course, Pegg does appear in the series as Hughie’s dad, Hugh, which is a nice reference to the actor and his inspiration for the character.
Mother’s Milk
As much as the show emphasizes Ryan’s natural-born superhuman abilities, this isn’t the case while reading the comics. A child named Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) was born with superhuman abilities due to the fact that his mother worked in a plant that had been polluted by Compound V. He doesn’t have many powers, and perhaps that’s why he isn’t really regarded much of a supe, but he does have extraordinary strength. It’s unfortunate for him that his surname is a byproduct of this taint. He will not be able to live without the constant nursing he receives from his mother. There’s no hint of this being introduced into the onscreen world of The Boys, it would surely be an odd addition, but who knows what could happen?
The Deep
Chace Crawford is mesmerizing as The Deep, but if the series had stuck to the comics we would have scarcely seen his face at all. That’s because the original iteration of the character was cursed and had to always wear a helmet. His role in the storyline was minimal at best, and he didn’t have much of an impact on the main plot. Starlight’s sexual assault was arguably the most important storyline in The Deep, but in the comics it was considerably more evil and involved no The Deep at all. The assailants were Homelander, Black Noir, and A-Train. The Deep had more of a professional character in the comics and was one of the least evil of The Seven.
Kimiko
The only member of The Boys with permanent abilities is the Female, or Kimiko as she is known in the live-action series. However, the origins of her abilities are different in the two versions. The Shining Light terrorist group enlists her as a young soldier, and we see this on television. Here, as part of Vought’s goal to create supervillains all across the world, she was given Compound V. In the comic’s version of events, she ate some V as a young child, which gave her the capabilities she has, including her regeneration skills. She is also suffering from selective-mutism in the comics, and at one point does speak. In the show, her mutism is explained away as a result of the stress of witnessing the murder of her parents, but she has yet to speak in the show.
Stormfront
Season 2 of The Boys developed Stormfront (Aya Cash), and enlightened the viewers to her Nazi allegiances. Her background and powers in the comics are quite similar, but that’s about where the likeness stops. In the original version of The Boys, Stormfront is first and primarily a man. The gender swaps in the series are rather a pleasant shift, as they allow for greater female representation in what would otherwise be a largely male narrative. In addition, Stormfront was the initial leader of Payback, a group that competed with The Seven. We learn about Payback in Season 3, although there’s no glimpse of Stormfront, and they are instead headed by Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) (Jensen Ackles). It’s also a departure from the comics, where the male Stormfront character really goes after Queen Maeve.
The Nazi allegiances of Stormfront developed in the comics were definitely an excellent starting point for the show runners to put in a new enemy, but they have taken a lot of creative license with the character and modified her to advance the complexities of Homelander’s arc.
