Women Take Spotlight In Amazon’s Anti-Hero Series ‘The Boys’ – Comic-Con
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Before moderator Aisha Tyler kicked things off for Amazon’s The Boys panel she called out anyone who brought their kids to Ballroom 20 for the panel because it is a very “adult” anti-hero superhero series — and she dropped an F-bomb for good measure.
The series is based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities – abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It’s the powerless against the super-powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven.
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The is adaptation executive produced by Seth Rogen and Eric Kripke and they joined Tyler on the Comic-Con dais along with series stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, and Elisabeth Shue to talk about the new series. And right off the bat, Rogen and Kripke revealed that they are in the middle of shooting season two — which obviously means it has been renewed. They also confirmed that Aya Cash will be joining the cast as Stormfront.
In a series called The Boys, Tyler pointed out that the women standout as the badasses, subverting typical female roles. Shue plays Madelyn Stillwell, who was originally a man in the comics. Corporate and formidable, Madelyn is the Vice President of Hero Management for Vought, in charge of the public persona as well as the assignments of the Superheroes. Madelyn is a tough negotiator who rides roughshod over public relations dilemmas, such as when Superhero A-Train accidentally kills an innocent bystander and damage control needs to be done at any price, or when a city Mayor requests a Superhero for his own beleaguered town.
“She’s awesome. She’s so powerful and she loves her power — she’s drunk with power,” she laughs.
She waited for a beat and then proclaimed: “It’s much more interesting being a woman.”
In addition, Erin Moriarty plays the character of Starlight, a midwestern superhero who believes in doing the right thing, but when she gets thrown into the mix, her moral compass is tested. In the pilot, Moriarty says something happens to Starlight that many young women to relate to. She adds that Starlight has a “very unconventional arc and its not what you expect.”
“I’m tired of the young ingenue role,” Moriarty continued. “We have been oversaturated by that. You think that’s what my character is going to be — and she’s not.”
Then there is The Female played by Karen Fukuhara. She is animalistic, feral and is wildly violent when it comes to fighting. In other words, she is a living weapon. As Tyler said, The Female is one of the most badass characters.
Fukuhara admitted, “It’s really exciting ripping people’s eyes open.” She later said that she was attracted to the project because of “how different it was from what we’ve been watching.”
And in another bout of gender flipping roles, Aya Cash’s aforementioned character of Stormfront is a man in the comics — further adding to the series inclusivity.
The Boys hails from Sony Pictures TV Studios, which co-produces with Amazon and Neal H. Moritz’s studio-based Original Films. The series debuts on July 26.
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