Conservatives are just starting to clock-on to the fact that they are the butt of most of the jokes in the hit Prime Video series The Boys.
The show has been running for four seasons, and creator Eric Kripke has publicly stated that next season will be it’s fifth and final instalment.
The story is set in a world where superheroes are far from the infallible beings other franchises make them out to be, and are instead highly corrupt, with a group named The Boys working to expose said corruption and take down the nefarious company managing the ‘supes’ – Vought – as well as the psychopathic big bad character, Homelander.
Kripke expertly uses the character of Homelander to expose the unabashed populism of disgraced US president Donald Trump, much to the unawareness of ‘Honest Don’s’ supporters.
In an infamous episode of season one of The Boys, the caped “hero” intervenes in an airline hijacking by Islamist terrorists, vapourising the attackers only to leave the passengers to plummet to their deaths once he realises that the pilot has already been executed and calculates that the hostages’ lives are not worth his time to save.
Rather than grieving their loss or confessing his cowardice, Homelander instead sees an opportunity, telling the news media the tragedy could have been averted if superheroes were accepted into the US military hierarchy and given prominence within its chain of command.
The actions of Homelander are reminiscent of the callous disregard, insensitivity and naked self-interest that Trump has exhibited on multiple occasions.
In 2022, a subreddit centred around the show fell into chaos around one particular character’s politics.
Under a post titled Was really liking Blue Hawk until the end of his speech, one user wrote: “Not surprising since it seems the writers of this show don’t do anything but browse Twitter. But he was extremely based until they took the cliché route.”
Series three introduces us to Blue Hawk, a white ‘supe’ accused of racism after over-patrolling Black neighbourhoods and killing an unarmed Black man.
After delivering a half-hearted apology to a community centre following the incident, where one heckler responded with “Black lives matter”, the superhero responded with “all lives matter”.
Again, this was reflective of the behaviours of Trump supporters and several right-wing factions of American politics in recent years, and not everyone clocked on to the satire.
Now, after four seasons, the right-wingers whom the show has been consistently taking aim at, are finally coming to the realisation that their favourite show is mocking them.
The overt satire of reactionary conservatism has caught up with them, and they’re unleasing their fury online.
One user commented: “The Boys Season 4 got a woke jab right through the heart. I’m not sure it can survive this level of overt corporate idiocy.”
Another posted: “The Boys is a good show but watching people on here figure out The Boys was making fun of them the whole time is an even better show.”
One other user wrote: “It took some people 4 seasons to realize The Boys was making fun of them the whole time.”
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