Satire is an important and powerful tool for any society, but it comes in endless shapes, tones, and levels of maturity. Sometimes a brutal parody of one aspect of society can be shifted and realigned, allowing that critical eye to be pointed at a much more deserving target.
The Boys, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson was the logical apex of Ennis’s long disdain for and mockery of the concept of superheroes. The series focuses on a group of CIA operatives tasked with keeping the famous and powerful superhumans in line. Most of its humor is farmed from tasteless gags at the expense of beloved DC or Marvel characters. The series was set to be adapted to film in 2008, but that project fell through. In 2019, seven years after the comic series' end, they finally madethe jump to the screen, with some significant changes.
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Make no mistake, superheroes behaving badly is still a huge percentage ofAmazon Prime’sThe Boys’runtime. Developed by Eric Kripke, best known for creating and running the first few seasons ofSupernatural, the series maintains much of the same DNA as its source material. The series rearranges the main aspects of the comic book series, reducing the focus on some aspects to put more time into others. Numerous characters were changed dramatically in the adaptation, as were some big events, but the biggest change comes in the explanation of its heroes and villains. The series puts much more emphasis on the illicit machinations of Vought International.
Known as Vought American in the comics, Vought is the global megacorporation that owns The Seven. They own and operate afilm studio, streaming service, news outlet, amusement park, multiple restaurant chains, and much more. Much of the company’s infrastructure serves the sole purpose of pumping Compound V into the bloodstream of the people. As the series goes on, it’s revealed that they created the blue serum, and are responsible forthe rise of supesthroughout the world. Much more focus is put on the marketing, public relations, and celebrity aspects of the supe craze, than in the comics. Though the face often changes, the villain behind the villains is almost always sitting behind a desk in a nice suit. Every new turn that the show takes unveils a little more of the control Vought has over the world.
Vought owns the media, its puppets are inserted into government, its in-house celebrities control the public will, and it treats even its cast of heroes as disposable. They influence public faith by making multi-million dollar films that trick people into seeing supes as heroes regardless of their actions. The first season depicts their comical efforts to appear good-natured and down to Earth, every element of their image is stage-managed. By season two, their Compound V operation is exposed, so they do what every big company does; pivot. They begin seeding the public with lies about super-terrorists to promote dosing cops with Compound V. Theirgoal is to monopolizepublic and private security, along with every other industry on Earth.
Vought is a top-down bullet-pointed takedown of capitalism and the global monstrosities it creates. The main difference between Vought and any major corporation is that Vought can use supes to do its bidding. Vought is a clever mix and match of real modern corporations. The company aided the Nazis and they own politicians. Theyfund discriminatory religious movementsas a front for their policy desires like Hobby Lobby. When someone challenges them, their fans turn them into public enemy number one.
Their profitability is seen by the government, the media, and the average person, as an unmixed moral good. They are powerful on a scale that is beyond imagination, well beyond men who can fly. When someone exposes Vought’s malfeasance, they turn it into a new opportunity for profit. It’s a collaboration of every terrible thing that modern corporations do in plain sight, and the worst part is that it isn’t over the top at all.
Where does that leavethe supes themselves then? They do a little bit of everything, but their main applicability is marketing. They tow the company line, their lives reigned in with the careful specificity of any media campaign manager. They’re allowed to get up to whatever terrible activities suit their fancy, just as long as it doesn’t leak to the public. They are handmade celebrity spokespeople, lab-grown by the company to pretend to do good deeds and earn the public trust. The supes are the fun villains, they’reunpredictable, awful, fun to hate. Vought is the throne and the power behind it.
The thesis statement ofThe Boysis that corporations under late-capitalism own the planet so completely that they might as well have Superman on their payroll. It’s a fun magical twist on the ripped from the headlines nightmare that we all have to live in every day. But there’s no Billy Butcher in the real world to kick in the doors of every corrupt corporation. Satire is a weapon in the fight against foes that can’t be killed in a way that matters. Hopefully, fans can get some satisfaction fromThe Boystaking on their monopoly, without thinking too hard about the show’s owners.
