Did You Spot These 10 Differences The Show "The Boys" Made From The Comic Book?
⚠️ Spoiler alert: This post covers both The Boys series and comic book. ⚠️
Fair warning if you haven't finished the season or the comics, you might want to turn away now. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
Season 3 of The Boys has wrapped, and hot damn, it was a good one.
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Of course, the big thing comic fans were excited about for this season was Herogasm after showrunner Eric Kripke had tweeted a photo of the script.
From day one, everyone dared me to make this episode. CHALLENGE MET MOTHERFUCKERS#TheBoys #TheBoysTV @TheBoysTV @PrimeVideo @SPTV #SPNFamily @Sethrogen @evandgoldberg
So the show took a decent pivot in changing some things to service this season's story arc, and for me, I think they stuck the landing.
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I figured this would be a perfect time to show some of the major differences this season had from the comics and just what these changes could mean not only for Season 4 but the show in general. Let's get to it.
1.Victoria Neuman
Victoria Neuman is such a far departure from her comic book counterpart in the best way possible.
In the comics, Victor Neuman is Vought's former CEO who eventually becomes Vice President of the United States and bears no powers, unlike in the show.
Victor also is, for lack of a better word — dumb. He is a patsy taking orders from James Stillwell, who is the combination of the show's Stan Edgar and Madelyn Stillwell, though surprisingly, his character is more like Edgar.
Victoria seemingly has more depth in the show and more aspirations as somebody who is trying to protect her daughter and rise in the political game to carry on Vought's agenda for her pseudo-father Stan Edgar.
It seems that she will be the main target for Billy and the gang in Season 4, though who knows? The focus on who's getting taken out is constantly shifting on this show.
2.Soldier Boy
Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy entered The Boys universe with a bang, literally!
This Captain America-like character was the original Homelander in every way you can imagine. He was an abusive comrade to his team, so much that they betrayed him, and he also killed plenty of innocent people, including M.M.'s (Mother's Milk) grandpa, with no regrets.
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Though there are plenty of similarities to the comic, there were some significant changes made to his arc in the show than in the original.
In the comics, Soldier Boy was multiple people, though we only see two, and none were Homelander's father or had radiation blasts that would depower other supes. The first version of Soldier Boy also fought in World War II but had little combat experience. After exposing his platoon's location, he's killed, similar to what happened in Nicaragua in the show. However, Ackles' version was captured by his own team.
The second version of Soldier Boy was introduced in the Herogasm spin-off and was no better than the first; he was a coward who wasn't the leader of Payback and was desperate to get himself into the Seven.
So desperate that he sleeps with Homelander to make his way in, though even after the deed, he still gets rejected. Though he does battle Billy in the comics, his end is a lot different, and honestly, I'm for it. Here's to seeing him in Season 4, hopefully.
3.Queen Maeve
It was good to see Maeve get a happy ending in the show, considering she didn't get one in the comics. Although she sacrificed herself to protect Starlight in the graphic novel, she was easily defeated by Homelander and didn't stand a chance.
It was good to see that in the show, she could hold her own with Homelander and even got the best of him so she could take Soldier Boy outside before he killed The Boys.
Though she is now without her superpowers, I can only wonder if, at one point, she will re-take compound V and restore her powers to take on Homelander one more time when we see his inevitable journey for more power. She did mention in Season 2 how she would expose the monster he is, and it seems his following has reacted the opposite way Maeve would've wanted after his blatant murder of a civilian.
4.A-Train
It's crazy how The Boys will make you somewhat empathetic toward characters you can't stand.
He is a one-note character in the comics, so to see his arc in the show play out as well as it has is refreshing.
For me, A-Train is someone I have turned around on this season. Though you see his selfish actions throughout this season, which for me was just self-preservation against the madman who is Homelander, the tragedy of his brother coupled with Homelander's abuse, and a new heart could be the formula for him to grow a pair and help The Boys finally.
The empathy and sincerity that he shows Hughie at Herogasm is something the comics would've never done because he's that terrible of a character. I can only hope that, like Maeve, he can redeem himself in some fashion.
5.The Deep
Yet another character who has been developed more on the show than in the comics.
The Deep in the comics is more like Black Manta than Aquaman. He is not seen talking to fish and certainly not having any intimate relationships with them either.
The show has also made The Deep more immature and dim-witted than in the comics, making him this pretty-boy-type character, whereas, in the comics, he is seen wearing a full divers helmet and always has a stern look on his face.
He also gets no story arcs in the comics and is a background character many times. It's refreshing to see the show take on this character, similar to A-Train making them be disgusting heroes in Season 1 and then having you feel some empathy after witnessing the abuse and fear they suffer at the hands of Homelander. Though, for The Deep, he has definitely had a lot of it coming.
6.Stan Edgar
Giancarlo Esposito is really at his best when he can play an antagonist in any film or TV series. His portrayal of Stan Edgar, especially this season, has been excellent.
In the comics, James Stillwell is pretty much the same as Esposito's Stan Edgar. Although you might think that Elisabeth Shue's Madelyn Stillwell would've been that character considering the last name, it's Stan who embodies James Stillwell the most.
Stan Edgar is intelligent, ruthless, and the one person at Vought that isn't intimidated by Homelander. He makes calculated moves that will benefit the company and knows exactly how to keep his supes in line. James Stillwell in the comics composes himself in the same way, though with some slight differences.
In the comics, James never had an adopted daughter, although his inside man in the government was Victor Veep, which Victoria Neuman's character is based on. The scene where Homelander confronts Stan after his outing from the company was pretty close to what happens in the comics. However, I dare say that the comics' approach kept you on pins and needles as he goes to kill James but is belittled so much by James that he ends up leaving without doing the deed. That's some true power shown by Stillwell, which I think we will continue to see from Stan in Season 4.
7.Black Noir
It was a huge shock to see Black Noir get disemboweled by Homelander, especially for comic book fans who know just how strong he is in the comics. The show made Black Noir a completely different person who was a part of Payback and was brutally beaten by his former team leader Soldier Boy.
His backstory gave this speechless character some much-needed life seeing as he was always just an intimidating presence with not much else for the show besides knowing he had a tree nut allergy.
In the comics, he's just as strong as Homelander and was made that way to be the fail-safe if Homelander ever went too far off the deep end. He has done horrible things and is a more horrendous supe than the Blonde Superman. It's a shame we don't get more backstory for this mute supe, but the little arc he did have this season was still great.
8.Homelander
If you can believe it, Homelander in the comics is actually worse than the one on the show. The depravity that he shows in the comics is just on another level bad. He is actually the one who sexually assaults Starlight as well as Soldier Boy and is just as detestable as we see in the show, if not more.
The show clearly made it a point to make him bad but dial it back to make his character hated but not as vile as the comics. Ryan isn't around in the comics, so we never get to see his attempt at fatherhood, which I think gives the show's character some depth and vulnerability that we don't see as often in the source material.
The path he seems to be set on for Season 4 might be pretty similar to his path in the comics, though with a spin, seeing as he is a father with another weapon on his side, Ryan. This should be interesting to watch.
9.Herogasm
Welp, it finally happened, the moment that comic fans had been waiting for, and for me, it didn't disappoint.
I never expected them to go the comic book route, considering how the show's rendition of several characters is wildly different than the comics. Still, I was excited to see how they could implement it into this season's plot.
The first significant difference was that in the comic books, Vought is the one backing Herogasm as a way to let their heroes and villains blow some steam through sexual debauchery and lots of drugs.
They make it seem like some intergalactic threat is near, and they must all go and fight to save the planet. In the show, it's more of a C-lister type of event that Soldier Boy and Stormfront (or Liberty, as she used to go by) originally started back in the day.
There's a list of other major differences from the series, which are that Hughie never interacted with A-Train at Herogasm, Soldier Boy and Homelander sleep together, Black Noir assaults Hughie, The Deep wasn't getting pleasured by an octopus, there wasn't a Super Hero award show called "The Supies" and so on. I think the spin that Eric Kripke and his writers put on that episode were fantastic. Although it wasn't exactly like the comics, the ending of that episode was a catalyst to further exposing Vought, which the comic never did.
10.Billy Butcher and Hughie's Powers
Lastly, we have the gruesome twosome of Butcher and Hughie who have a budding adventure in Season 3, and both got powers temporarily. As a comic book fan, I was waiting to see the moment in which these two would be super-powered, seeing that in the comics, not only are they super-powered, but so is M.M.
In this case, we see Butcher and Hughie taking Temp V, which only lasts a day, to take on the supes, though in the comics, both of them took Compound V, which doesn't kill you, but extends your life and gives you permanent power.
In the comics, Hughie and Billy's abilities were more focused on strength and durability, though in the show, they gave them laser eyes and naked teleportation.
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I have to say the show's take on their powers seems like it's setting them up to take some Compound V in Season 4 to make them supes permanently and give Billy Butcher a new lease on life.
Tell us you thought of this season of The Boys? Are you glad the show made some pivots from the comics? What are you excited to see in Season 4? Let us know in the comments below.
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