It’s reasonable to assume that ‘Herogasm’ has been in the works for quite some time. In a sense. Indeed, The Boys has been teasing this iconic comic-book scene for almost as long as the program has been on the air. And now, as season three approaches, the anticipation for that sweet, sweet Herogasm climax has reached almost intolerable proportions.
Back in January, Jack Quaid told The Wrap that the upcoming season is “more screwed up” than ever before, and Jensen Ackles has subsequently revealed horror tales of a “troubled” camera operator who saw some disturbing things on the Herogasm set.
But, now that Herogasm has squirted into our lives, is it as problematic and contentious as fans anticipated? If flying dildos, blazing dicks, and lightning nipples aren’t enough, how about octopus fucking, exploding cum, and the burnt-up remnants of that “love sausage”?
It’s a lot to absorb, to be sure. But if The Boys had stayed loyal to the original material, we could have gotten something even more stunning than all of that.
In the comics, Herogasm is still a super-powered orgy, but the heroes get down and dirty in a secret tropical resort funded by Vought. The essence of it all, though, remains the same. In both versions, sex workers are nonetheless paid a lot to participate in horrible, even deadly orgies that provide a little more bang for their dollars due to the inclusion of superpowers.
Marvel was responsible for The Boys’ explosive sex scene.
Many disturbing scenes did make it to the screen, but two especially disturbing instances were cut. The first is when Black Noir sexually abuses Hughie with his thumb. And, if you read between the lines, it’s clear that more occurred between them.
This would not have worked on the show since Hughie’s plot in this episode is now related to Starlight, and he also needed to be part in the struggle against Homelander. Furthermore, a comparable arc has previously played out between The Deep and Starlight, so The Boys would have required an extraordinarily compelling reason to replicate those plot beats.
But what about the comic book scene in which Soldier Boy has sex with Homelander? Yes, had the show’s interpretation of Herogasm been more faithful to the comics, we could have seen Antony Starr and Jensen Ackles visit Pound Town. It certainly is the stuff of dreams, but alas, it was not meant to be.
Homelander instructs Soldier Boy to create the beast with two backs in the comics because he knows how hard Soldier Boy wants to join The Seven. Homelander uses his naïve do-gooder mentality to make it seem like an audition, but the only one who benefits from this is [redacted] taking [redacted] up the [redacted].
Except there’s nothing wonderful about this since it’s all rather awful. Homelander has no intention of allowing Soldier Boy to join The Seven, so he is only being exploited for sex in a nasty and uncaring manner.
Before Herogasm’s spectacular premiere, showrunner Eric Kripke told EW that a version of this sequence was discussed, but “it contradicted with a lot of the other things we were trying to create with Soldier Boy.”
The Boys and Stranger Things both have the same issue.
It’s easy to understand why The Boys crew arrived to that decision so fast. Because, in the program, Soldier Boy is a genuine danger to Homelander. He is not someone who can be intimidated or pressured into doing anything for the approval of others. That’s simply not going to work.
It’s also worth noting that this reinvented Soldier Boy is highly conservative, so even if he had affections for other guys, he’d bury them much deeper than Termite did in that guy’s penis. That’s rather profound.
Homelander has also made it clear that he is opposed to anything gay, as seen by his horrible reaction to Queen Maeve’s bisexuality. And if you asked Homelander about his dirty hijinks with Doppelganger in season two, he’d probably compare it to masturbation, since he’s practically doing it with himself.
Soldier Boy and Homelander don’t end up pouncing on one other’s poles in Herogasm on screen for all of these reasons and more. Instead, the pair’s physical interaction is homoerotic rather than gay in character. Even when Butcher and Hughie join in.
And in some respects, that’s probably for the best, since the makeup crew ran out of sperm during shooting episode six, according to Karl Urban.
Knowing how long Herogasm would last, you’d think they’d stock up more.
