The Boys Presents: Diabolical is more diabolical than the live-action show
By Mark Lynch
Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys Presents: Diabolical is even funnier, bloodier and more devilish than the live-action show.
This writer was very excited for Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys Presents: Diabolical animated series as soon as he heard about it. The truth is that some comic book projects work better in animated form. Amazon’s own Invincible is a prime example of this.
Whether or not The Boys works better in animated form is up for debate. However, one thing’s for sure, the animated anthology for The Boys franchise is as diabolical as the title of the show.
On that note, this article will discuss and rate each episode of Amazon Prime’s latest creation.
The Boys Presents: Diabolical episode reviews
Laser Baby’s Day Out
Writer: Evan Goldberg
This episode was the very best way to start this series. An episode with bright and goofy animation, the Animaniacs and Looney Tunes style it went for made the gore even better. And, as bloody as it was, it was a cute episode and, in some ways, sweet. There was even a happy ending. When it comes to The Boys, happy endings are far and few between.
Rating: 8
An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents
Writers: Ben Bayouth, Justin Roiland
Right from the beginning, we saw the negative effects of Compound V. It isn’t just death. Some of the powers are a fate worse than death. For example, there’s Ghost (voiced by Asjha Cooper) who is constantly in a non-corporeal form. And while she doesn’t need to eat, she’s constantly hungry.
This was the silliest episode that this writer has ever seen. All of the random powers and the names given were beyond what some people would think. A few of them are too explicit to name here. Then there was the killing spree. It was brutal and goofy. Maybe the funniest episode of the season.
Rating: 8
I’m Your Pusher
Writer: Garth Ennis
I’m Your Pusher is the closest thing to The Boys comic book that we’ve seen on TV. It helps that it was written by Garth Ennis (creator and writer of the The Boys comic book). We saw Billy Butcher be even better than he is in the live action show. He was cruel, informed, smooth and, unlike the live-action version, completely in control of his actions.
The episode showed one of the random missions that Billy goes on and how smart he truly is. He set up for two of the world’s most popular heroes to be killed publicly and brutally. It was something straight out of the comic book. Since this episode is this good, maybe Garth Ennis will write more episodes in the future (we can certainly hope!).
Rating: 10
Boyd in 3D
Writers: Eliot Glazer, Ilana Glazer
In Boyd in 3D, we saw exactly what it looks like when things go good and when they go wrong when you deal with Vought International. A normal guy just wanted to gain the courage to talk to his neighbor. It led him to Vought International, who then gave him an experimental cream that would make how he feels on the inside match how he looks on the outside. Without spoiling the ending, it doesn’t go his way.
Rating: 7
BFFs
Writers: Awkwafina
Comedian Awkwafina wrote and provided her voice for this episode. She took a young, shy, and bullied character and gave her a story. It was… different. Here was another example of how unpredictable Compound V is. Sky (Awkwafina) drank the Compound V and created a sentient piece of poop. That bowel movement became her best friend, Areola. The Japanimation style helped ensure that everything looked cute and not gross, especially after seeing what she does to The Deep and the girls who bullied her.
Rating: 7
Nubian vs Nubian
Writer: Aisha Tyler
Here we have the business side of Vought International. Two heroes who were put in the same place specifically to beat up a villain. This was something close to The Boys comics. Garth Ennis made fun of how superheroes would meet and become couples. In this world, they’re not done organically and, most of the time, things don’t work out, especially for the “villain” who has mallets instead of hands.
Rating: 7
John and Sun-Hee
Writer: Andy Samberg
If you asked this writer which episode was written by Andy Smberg, it wouldn’t have been this one. This was a very sad episode. Normally, that could be a good thing. However, this was too slow. A 15-minute episode, but it felt much longer. The episode was sweet, the animation was good, but the episode dragged.
Rating: 5
One Plus One Equals Two
Writer: Simon Racioppa
The other episodes of The Boys Presents: Diabolical told tales that we may not have seen on the live-action show. This one was different though. It connects directly into the show, more than likely right into season 3 of The Boys. We saw Homelander at his introductory press conference and on his first mission. More importantly, we saw how and why he became the awful and emotionally stunted person he is.
Some of it had nothing to do with him. We saw flashbacks of Homelander being experimented on, abused, and locked away as a child. He wasn’t trained. Just given powers and told to step up, but never told how. There was also how Black Noir plays into his life and career.
Rating: 10
What do you think, readers? How would you rate The Boys Presents: Diabolical? Let us know in the comment below.