What The Boys' Seven Would Look Like As DC Villains
The superheroes of The Seven are beloved by the in-universe public on The Boys. They're not just superpowered beings who save people; they're celebrities, starring in their own movies, working as brand ambassadors, interacting with fans on social media. By all rights, they seem to be the perfect representation of what superheroes "should" be in today's day and age. The audience, however, knows the truth of the matter.
Indeed, most of the members of The Seven — most Supes in general, actually — aren't the pillars of morality they appear to be. Some are self-centered narcissists, some are apathetic alcoholics, some are monsters who don't treat great power with great responsibility. Not all of them are villains, exactly — but then, not many of them can truly be labeled as heroes, either.
Whatever you want to call them, Redditor u/EndlessMorfeus thought it'd be fun to fancast the actors behind The Seven as DC villains. It's an interesting premise, since the heroes are basically Justice League analogues gone wild. Queen Maeve, for example, is based on Wonder Woman, so it's easy to imagine actress Dominique McElligot playing the Amazon princess, but what villain would she work best as? Let's see — for her and the others.
Aya Cash as a Kryptonian warrior
Aya Cash knows what she's doing as Stormfront, the supercharged hero who replaces Translucent (Alex Hassell). The actress perfectly sells the heroine's dual personality: the edgy rebel she presents to the public, and the passive-aggressive bigot she is behind the scenes. There's more to the character than that, but at the end of the day, there's no doubt about her domineering nature and lack of concern for others.
Those same two qualities match up well with Faora, a Kryptonian war criminal often associated with General Zod. Antje Traue plays her in 2013's Man of Steel to terrifying effect, and Cash could likely do so as well. Just like Stormfront, Faora has no qualms about the path of destruction she leaves in her wake — she enjoys it, actually. Cash even has the short, dark hair needed for the role, and is used to wearing a dark costume like Faora's. It's almost too perfect.
Antony Starr as a twisted speedster
Antony Starr will forever be known as the actor who plays Homelander, the de facto leader of The Seven gifted with Superman-like powers (and no weakness). Quite possibly the most disturbing character on The Boys, Homelander is best compared to a spoiled demigod who gets what he wants by virtue of the fact that no one can stop him. The face he presents to the public is much more humble, a true-blue American citizen who loves his country. The dichotomy is horrifying.
Considering the Homelander-Stormfront relationship, it would've been easy to fancast Starr as Zod after making Cash into Faora, but there's a surprising choice in the Kryptonian general's stead: Professor Zoom, nemesis of the Flash. Redditor u/SUPERFRAME edits Starr into Zoom's costume, and it definitely fits. A very different character than Homelander, Zoom nonetheless achieves similar levels of evil, becoming a reckless time-traveling criminal and murdering Barry Allen's mother. The willingness to commit to an evil act is something Starr's honed as Homelander, and could surely pull off as Zoom.
Jessie Usher as a stretchy anti-hero
Jessie Usher's A-Train isn't the best person in the world, but he's more deeply flawed than pure evil like Stormfront or Homelander. He's a Compound V smuggler and abuser, and he's killed people on his path to success — some by accident, others on purpose. Still, it's hard to imagine A-Train deliberately running at super speed through a group of people just because he wants to — he's no sadist. All he really wants is to maintain his title of fastest man in the world no matter how old he gets.
That sort of not-quite-a-villain-but-not-a-great-person schtick somewhat aligns with the sensibilities of Rubberband Man from the animated series Static Shock. As his name would imply, he has the ability to stretch and mold his body to his liking, which he uses to commit crime and enact revenge on a man who plagiarized his music. He eventually turns over a new leaf and begins stopping crime instead, too invested in music and life to stay behind bars. Usher could absolutely make that work.
Shawn Ashmore as a parasitic leech
Shawn Ashmore plays Lamplighter, a retired member of the Seven who's lost all sense of self-worth. Viewers first meet him at Sage Grove Center, where Compound V experiments are conducted and he disposes of the evidence with his pyrokinesis. Sympathizing with a man who burns hospital patients for a living isn't easy, but he's just so pathetic and downtrodden that it's hard not to feel a little bad for the guy.
Parasite's life is almost the opposite, making him an intriguing fancast for Ashmore. Parasite is originally a janitor, cleaning up others' messes in a much less dramatic way than Lamplighter, only to become a thorn in Superman's side later in life. Whereas Lamplighter's life takes a dive and never resurfaces, Parasite starts at the bottom and moves up in the world (in a bad way, but still). All the switching around might be fun for Ashmore — plus, with Parasite's abilities, he'd be absorbing others' powers rather than burning them from existence.
Dominique McElligot as a villainous redhead
Dominique McElligot's Queen Maeve is depressing in a different way than Ashmore's Lamplighter. She's still a part of The Seven — one of its key members, in fact — she just ... doesn't care about the work anymore. "Jaded" isn't enough of a word for how apathetic she's become over the years, and "frightened" doesn't quite capture the totality of her fear of Homelander. Cynicism and alcohol are her only friends, a sad truth when she's an inspiration to girls around the world of The Boys.
McElligot's withdrawn demeanor as Queen Maeve fits Batman villain Poison Ivy in a strange way. Well-known as a seductress who uses special pheromones to lure in just about anyone, Poison Ivy nonetheless hates humanity (males in particular), largely preferring the company of plants. Their aversion to others may stem from different places, but McElligot's aloofness as Queen Maeve could very likely be channeled into depicting Poison Ivy, the reluctant seductress.
Erin Moriarty as a dark clone
Erin Moriarty's Starlight joins The Seven as a bright-eyed youth looking to use her powers to save people and change the world, which doesn't really last long. Hughie finds her at a time when she's particularly resentful about her new job, and the two easily strike up a connection. That connection leads to Starlight aiding the Boys on many occasions, though she is forever a woman of two worlds: restoring some amount of dignity to The Seven, yet working against it all the same.
Starlight and Overgirl have little in common, but Moriarty would work in the role for the one thing they do have in common: their links to legacy heroes. The heroes Starlight looked up to as a child are frauds, monsters, or both, and she walks a different path because of them. Overgirl, on the other hand, is a clone of Overman, an evil Superman from an alternate Earth where the Nazis won World War II. Rather than be disgusted at her "cousin's" actions, Overgirl forms a close connection with him and fights alongside him. Watching Moriarty turn away from Starlight's sense of justice would be interesting indeed.
Chace Crawford as a joke villain
Chace Crawford gets the short end of the stick as The Deep, the Aquaman analogue of The Seven. Relegated to solving water-based crimes and flexing his muscles for the Seven's fanbase, he's never a well-respected member of the team. What little respect he does have is lost completely after it's revealed to the public that he sexually assaulted Starlight, resulting in a one-way ticket off the team. Following a long while in rehab, The Deep believes he's ready to return, only to be sidelined again like the perpetual joke he is.
Kite Man is just as hard to take seriously (with a name like that ... ). The role would be a piece of cake for Crawford considering his experience as The Deep. The difference is that Kite Man is far more sympathetic — he's not a sexual predator, he doesn't obsess over his image, and his family is affected by his crimes. Unlike The Deep, Kite Man also sees some degree of success, and even helps Batman at one point. Playing Kite Man, then, would be a way for Crawford to take a new approach to a joke character.