The Boys stands as a phenomenal dark superhero show in its own right, but part of its charm is also that it is a parody of Marvel and DC superheroes gone bad. In the original comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys served as a bloody and grossly satirical take on the superhero genre, subverting long-established tropes and toying with readers’ expectations. However, the story also took direct shots at the giants of the comic book world, Marvel and DC. Many of the biggest, most outrageous superheroes in The Boys are parodies of the comic book world’s biggest names.
Amazon’s The Boys follows suit and takes the satirical elements to a new level, ripping on a host of big-name figures from the genre’s more family-friendly output. The series is so popular that it gained a spin-off, Gen V, which takes place at Godolkin University School of Crimefighting, where young supes learn to control their powers. The Boys parody DC the most, particularly in the comic books, but Marvel doesn’t escape unscathed. With that said, most of The Boys parodies are done with a wry smile and a knowing wink, rather than any outright malice, and continue into the spin-off series, Gen V.
America’s favorite Kryptonian is undoubtedly the biggest inspiration behind Homelander. Superman is arguably the most widely-recognized superhero across the globe, and most superhero universes have their own equivalent to act as a ceiling when it comes to power-levels (for example, Omniman in Invincible). DC Comics have toyed with the idea of an evil Superman in storylines like Injustice and Red Son, but no alternate version of Clark Kent comes close to the twisted sadism Homelander represents.
The Boys plays on the DC icon’s God-like status in glorious fashion, giving the leader of the Seven all of Clark Kent’s best powers and abilities including flight, heat vision, and even X-ray vision — an ability The Boys naturally twists into something more sinister. However, there are also elements of Marvel’s Captain America thrown into the mix. Visually, Homelander incorporates Cap’s Stars and Stripes motif and his overt exploitation of patriotism reaches levels Superman could never achieve with his Kryptonian heritage.
DC’s Aquaman and Marvel’s Namor have often been derided as on the silly side as far as superheroes go (at least by fans who only have a casual understanding of the respective characters), but The Boys takes things a step further when it comes to aquatic heroes who can talk to sealife. One of the most direct parodies in The Boys is Chase Crawford’s The Deep, a clear riff on DC’s Aquaman. The Boys take a grim look at the darker side of Aquaman’s fish communication powers and show how aquatic anatomy could be a problem.
The series also plays on the idea that Aquaman has always been derided by comic fans for his looks and relatively odd powers. This was before Jason Momoa gave Aquaman’s reputation a much-needed boost. The Deep is seen attending therapy sessions to discuss his inferiority complex — something Aquaman would’ve no doubt also done had he been aware of his status as a figure of ridicule. While the parody is less obvious, there are also clear parallels to Marvel’s Namor, another underwater hero who talks to fish.
Another clear parallel can be found between Queen Maeve and the female third of DC’s holy trinity, Wonder Woman. Both characters have origins steeped in ancient mythology, with the DC character deriving from Greek lore and Maeve named after a warrior from Irish legend. Highlighting their mythical natures, both characters wear stylized metallic suits of armor with a matching sword, although Maeve’s weapon wouldn’t come close to matching Diana’s in a fight.
Like Wonder Woman, Maeve is also one of the more ethical members of the Seven, acting as a moral compass compared to the debauchery of the other members. There’s something of a meta-commentary when it comes to the similarities between Maeve and Wonder Woman too. Maeve’s sexual orientation becomes a talking point on the news cycle in The Boys, as do her struggles with addiction. This is a clear mirror being held up to certain toxic corners of the real-world superhero fandom, who often unncessarily sexualize and critique female superheroes.
While his story in the comics showed he was not really much like Batman at all, Black Noir in The Boys is clearly supposed to be the Batman to Homelander’s Superman. While Homelander is the face of America for the team, Black Noir stays in the shadows. He gets his hands dirty a little more often than Homelander when it comes to the public eye, and he has a similar fighting ability to the Caped Crusader.
It also appears that the Amazon Prime series will not use the same story that the comics did, so it keeps Black Noir closer to Batman than the source material. The Boys season 3 took the similarities between Batman and Black Noir further too, as it directly showed that Black Noir struggled with existing in Soldier Boy’s shadow. It added tragic elements to Black Noir’s backstory, as well as revealed that he’s quite possibly insane due to his trauma — an observation that’s often leveled at Batman.
Starlight is one of the central characters of The Boys, but her superhero parody is less obvious for casual viewers — she’s loosely based on the DC character Stargirl, who had her own TV series on The CW. Starlight and Stargirl have different superpowers, with the latter wielding a staff to manipulate energy, while also being able to fly and shoot stars. Starlight, on the other hand, generates intense rays of light from her body, similar to Northstar and Aurora from Marvel Comics.
The design and concept of Stargirl seem to heavily inform Starlight in The Boys. Both are Apple Pie American role models and the more innocent faces of their respective superhero teams. Physically, the two heroes share a close resemblance, and Stargirl is known for being somewhat relaxed about revealing her true identity — something The Boys references with Starlight.
Translucent may have died incredibly early on in The Boys, but as one of the members of The Seven with the power of invisibility he’s a clear parody of several well known characters from DC and Marvel. While the most obvious comparison is The Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four, the nature of Translucent’s powers are actually quite specific to some key Marvel and DC characters.
Any number of superheroes from both the DC and Marvel rosters have been able to turn invisible, but Translucent’s carbon-based skin is far more unique, perhaps most commonly associated with Emma Frost from X-Men. Predominantly a psychic, Frost can turn her skin into a carbon-based impenetrable exterior, much like Translucent. Furthermore, Translucent’s comic equivalent in Ennis and Robertson’s The Boys is a character called Jack From Jupiter – a not-so-subtle nod to DC’s Martian Manhunter who, incidentally, could also turn invisible.
Like Translucent, Popclaw was a character on The Boys who wasn’t as prevalent as the likes of Homelander or The Deep, but thanks to the graphic nature of her scenes in the first season she was incredibly memorable. Like her name suggests, Popclaw has retractable claws, powers that any fans of Marvel’s X-Men franchise will instantly recognize.
Perhaps equally indebted to Wolverine, Popclaw’s ability to grow claws through her skin to use as weapons is a trick straight from the X-Men canon. Logan was famous for drawing three prongs through his knuckles, X-23 cut that down to two, and now Popclaw is reduced to one single protrusion from each limb. However, the concept itself is unique enough to trace directly back to Marvel. Since Popclaw is female and younger, she can perhaps be more readily compared to X-23 than Wolverine himself.
While Popclaw has similarities in powers to Wolverine and X-23, Kimiko’s powers are a little different in her comparison to the Marvel Comics icons. However, despite the fact she has no claws, Kimiko is incredibly similar to Wolverine, and her backstory, fighting style, and temperament are all clear nods to Logan.
Kimiko is almost feral at times and only remains under control when working with certain people. She also has a mysterious past that ended up as a puzzle that played out in The Boys. This bears a strong similarity to Wolverine, both in them slipping into their feral states and also their mysterious past and the danger they possess as a result. Kimiko is also willing to hurt people really badly in a fight, something Wolverine has done his entire career as a superhero.
Nubian Prince didn’t feature much in The Boys, though it’s clear who the briefly-mentioned character was a parody of — Marvel Comics’ Black Panther. Just as Black Panther is introduced as the prince of Africa’s fictional state of Wakanda, Nubian Prince is named as the heir to the African region of Nubia (which is not fictional). Furthering the connection, both characters wear sleek black superhero outfits adorned with traditional African design elements.
Much like Queen Maeve, there’s also an element of meta-commentary to Nubian Prince, parodying not just the character of Black Panther but some of the cynical views of him from within the real-life Marvel Comics fanbase. Madelyn Stillwell also cynically describes Nubian Prince as “not too militant, Caucasians love him too,” which could be interpreted as a subtle commentary on the distinct lack of superhero movies starring a Black lead character.