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Publication: Miami Student, , Miami University, Miami, OH
Since watching the three available seasons over the past summer, Amazon Prime’s "The Boys" has become one of my favorite ongoing shows. It’s also one I struggle with recommending to anyone else.
A more mature brand of superhero fiction has become increasingly popular in the past decade, especially after the success of the “Deadpool” films. Superpowered individuals are being shown in increasingly bloodier, coarser and more satirical situations in films like “Logan” and “The Suicide Squad” and shows like “Invincible” and “Peacemaker.”
Even with the Marvel Cinematic Universe chugging along as per usual, older teenagers and adults are being offered stories that are more explicit, both in theme and presentation.
And “The Boys” is perhaps the most explicit, in every sense of the word.
Adapted from a comic book series written by Garth Ennis, “The Boys” follows a group of mercenaries as they come into conflict with The Seven, the world’s most famous – and most corrupt – superhero team. This primarily manifests through the show’s main antagonist, the ultra-powerful and completely insane leader of The Seven, Homelander.
The show is dense, enough so to potentially justify several articles exploring each of its individual elements – themes, characters, politics, social commentary – with a fine tooth comb. But there’s one particular aspect that stayed with me after finishing the third and most recent season: the show’s use of violence...