The marketing campaign for The Boys‘ final season seems to be in its final stretch, as the cast and crew of the acclaimed and popular Prime Video superhero satire are giving interviews to different entertainment outlets. One such interview was between ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley and showrunner Eric Kripke, which was published this week.
In that interview, Kripke was asked about the one thing that has been discussed ever since the show premiered seven years ago in 2019: the political relevance of the Prime Video series. Crowley asked Kripke where the canon of the The Boys franchise began and where the real world ended. Crowley asked this question because real-world figures like Elon Musk are name-dropped throughout the franchise. To this, the showrunner answered:
“It’s as absolutely real as possible is the answer. We really try to say it’s absolutely our world in every way we can, but it just happens to have superheroes in it, which f***s it all up, obviously.”
But then, Kripke revealed the one thing that the production team isn’t allowed to do:
“There’s no other superheroes in the world besides the Vought brand. So no Marvel movies. Sometimes it gets tricky because you’re making so many pop culture references and so many pop culture references these days are about Superman, for example. But you’re not allowed to do that. But outside of that, we’ll use every reference we can get our hands on.”
Why does this rule make sense for The Boys?
While the Prime Video series regularly name-drops real-world figures, including celebrities and movies, the show can’t refer to Marvel and DC movies. But that hasn’t stopped The Boys from shout-outs to the Marvel and DC franchises. The devastating Flight 37 scene from season 1 is a clear reference to DC’s Big Blue Boy Scout, Superman.
The Man of Steel has saved a crashing plane twice on the big screen: Superman (1978) and Superman Returns (2006). Homelander, being a clear pastiche of Superman, lets the plane crash. The character’s father, Soldier Boy, was changed from his comic book counterpart, and his backstory is just Steve Rogers’ backstory, where the character was left in suspended animation, and wakes up in the modern day, without aging.
The Boys universe also had a hero similar to Marvel’s iconic hero, Spider-Man, in the form of Webweaver. Therefore, the rule, while restrictive, did force the team to come up with ways to refer to different Marvel and DC franchises.
What’s next for the franchise?
The final season will drop on Prime Video this coming Wednesday. Consisting of eight episodes, the series will conclude on May 20, 2026. After that, we will get a prequel, Vought Rising, which will be headlined by Soldier Boy and the N*zi super from season 2, Stormfront. Eric Kripke and Vought Rising showrunner Paul Grellong described the prequel like this:
“We are excited to bring you the next deranged series from the world of The Boys. It’s a twisted murder mystery about the origins of Vought in the 1950s, the early exploits of Soldier Boy, and the diabolical maneuvers of a Supe known to fans as Stormfront, who was then going by the name Clara Vought. We cannot wait to blow your minds and trouble your souls with this salacious, grisly saga drenched in blood and Compound V.”
The final season will drop on Prime Video on April 8, 2026.
Edited by Ravikumar N