What exactly can fans expect from the upcoming second season of The Boys?
Who would have thought that The Boys would be a hit? The comic book has a ton of vulgar moments and tons of brutality. Granted, there’s a message hidden in the story if you’re willing to pay attention, but some people won’t. Adapting it to as a TV series without watering it down seemed like a challenge. That challenge was accepted and met, as audiences loved it. It’s a fresh take on superheroes. Like the Joker movie, people are looking for something new from their comic book projects, and The Boys delivered that. They started filming season 2 before 1 even premiered and season 2 has finished filming. Jack Quaid (who plays Hughie) says:
"“Oh man, no one is ready for Season 2. It’s just absolutely bonkers. I’ll just put it this way, the scale is a lot bigger. I think we’ve topped season one, in terms of insane moments that make you say ‘What the hell?’ I’ve done things this season that are definite firsts for me in my career, and I probably won’t do them again since. Definitely a moment… I can’t give it away, but when you see it, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”"
If you’ve seen season one, you know that’s a bold statement. We saw everything from the atrocious to dolphin erotica. However, if you’ve read the comic, you know this is only the tip of the iceberg. Considering that one of the creators of Supernatural serves as showrunner, the show is in good hands. Things are going to be revved up, but it’ll all make sense. There are going to be shocking moments, but that’s only part of what makes this show great. Here are some things we should expect from season 2 of The Boys.
More deplorable “heroes”
The Deep may have been the most hated character on The Boys. He forced Starlight to do something despicable in order for her to join The Seven and not lose her good name. Sure, Homelander killed some people, but he hasn’t done that (yet). We’ve seen what the superheroes (or supes) get into during their downtime and how hypocritical and repulsive they can be. Well, brace yourself, because this is just the beginning.
Aya Cash (You’re the Worst) has been cast to play the only person close to Homelander in terms of power. She’ll be playing Stormfront, who is a product of compound V created by the Germans in World War II. We know what some of them were into at that time, but that kind of thinking continued with Stomfront well into the present-day. He kept his opinions in check in order to keep his money coming in.
With everything going on in America today, The Boys may be aiming to make a statement about how they feel about racism, and Stormfront may be the way in which they do it. She most likely won’t be a full-on Nazi but maybe something close to it. And Stormfront won’t be the only outrageous character we see. There’s still Tek Knight, Swingwing, and so many others. Word of advice, never be surprised by what the “heroes” get into.
More changes from Starlight
Annie January (Starlight) started as a young woman with powers who just wanted to help people. She would listen to the police scanner and help in any way she could. Annie always wanted to be a superhero, and she got the call to join the premier team The Seven. As we saw, The Deep forced him on herself. To make it worse, he was her hero growing up. That changed the way she looked at heroes and her life in general, and there will be more changes to come.
Rightfully so, Starlight is going to continue to have trust issues. Every time Starlight is vulnerable, she’s been let down. It’s doubtful that anything that’s happened is going to give her a more optimistic view of people. She’s most likely going to become a darker character. In the comics, she gave up on religion altogether and leaned on Hughie for support. With everything that happened between the two of them at the end of season one, it may be a while before she can go to him for support of any kind. Hughie has his own troubles, and he’s been keeping secrets from her. They’ll almost certainly be together at some point sometime around episode six.
Butcher will be Butcher but better
Karl Urban has fully embraced his character Billy Butcher, and it shows. He seems to constantly be on social media posting about the show. For example, he took to Instagram, saying that he just filmed “next level f**kd up sh*t that’ll put your jaw on the floor.” When an actor is into a role, it makes the performance better.
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The last time we saw Butcher, he was with Homelander and Butcher’s wife, who he thought was dead. The real painful part was that she had Homelander’s son. We don’t know if the sex was consensual or not. Either way, Butcher’s anger towards Homelander is going to get worse. He’ll also have to deal with the emotional torture of knowing his wife kept a secret from him. What’s next for Butcher? More of the same, but with a twist.
We found out that Butcher’s mission is more important to him than even his teammates. He’s going to have to eat a lot of crow for the rest of his team to trust him. Then again, how much did they trust him to begin with? Even money would say that Butcher is going to put himself in danger to make up for what he did to M.M., The Frenchman, The Female, and Hughie. It will look like growth, but it won’t be. Butcher will only do it so he can use them again later.
Herogasm
Herogasm is easily the most infamous series from The Boys comic. It’s a story arc about how the supes take a week off to unwind. But instead of maybe getting a massage or unwinding with a book, they dive into debauchery, drugs, and more. It’s a week where they can do whatever they want — without being watched by civilians or the media. Earlier this year, The Boys co-creator Eric Kripke said he figured out a way to bring this risqué series to the show:
"“We JUST figured out how to do Herogasm!! It’ll come in Season 3 maybe (if we get picked up for Season 3). I’ve really wanted to do it, but needed to figure out our twist on it, so it’s not just an hour of hardcore porn. But I think we got it!! Super excited about that.”"
Everyone should fully expect to hear Herogasm brought up more than a few times. There will be random comments about how much fun they had in prior years and Starlight will have a confused look on her face. Then there’s Queen Maeve. After her relationship ended, she may be looking for to Herogasm, as well. Or maybe that’s where she and Homelander first hooked up.
There’s going to be a plethora of references to Herogasm throughout the show. The title alone is enough to get people interested. The more they hear about it the more the anticipation will build. It wouldn’t be surprising if the season ended with them going to or landing in Herogasm.
Blood, sex, and violence
This is one of the biggest draws of the show. Sure, the story in The Boys is good, the character development is done well, and the episodes flow like water. But the action and adult content are their bread and butter. It’s one of the reasons why you’re hit with so much in the first episode. Hughie’s girlfriend Robin dies in a bloody and unforgettable way. We see the superhero club where all sorts of things go on. Then there’s the random nudity throughout, too. What makes all of these moments so special is that they’re done in creative ways.
Do you remember when Mortal Kombat first introduced fatalities? We all thought that was as gory as it could get. As time went on, the moves became more creative and ridiculous. That’s what’s about to happen. Fully expect all of that to reach a new level. We haven’t seen the worst of it yet. Some of the insane things the superheroes can do are going to be shown. A-Train running through someone or Homelander shooting down a plane is going to seem like Mario jumping on a turtle by the end of the season. Just remember, when it happens, you heard it here first.
No sophomore slump
A lot of shows, movies, and albums suffer from the sophomore slump. Sometimes the creative team will shy away from what made things good in the first place and, when this happens, the project usually suffers. That won’t happen here, though. Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen are dependable, and they have a lot of material to work with. The Boys comic book went 72 issues. If they stick to the comic from here on in, they’d have enough to keep the fans engrossed. Since we know some things will be changed to fit into the television format and make it palatable for viewers, they’ll have more than enough material to keep things intriguing.
This new season of The Boys is going to start and end with a bang. There are a lot of things that haven’t been introduced. Will The Boys get a shot of compound V to get stronger? How is Butcher going to react to his wife being alive? Will the Female talk (probably not until the final episode)? All of that, and we haven’t met the Legend yet or seen the story of Mallory. Karl Urban was right. This season is going to be, “Bloody diabolical.”
What are you looking forward to seeing in The Boys? Let us know in the comments below.