The Supe Detail That The Boys Fans Just Can't Buy Into
Amazon's "The Boys" explores a world where superheroes are a commercial commodity run by an insidious company, Vought International, while Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and the gang try to uncover all the depraved things these so-called "heroes" get up to in their spare time. It's based on the comics of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and it really stays true to the bloody carnage that unfolds within the original pages. Because superhero media is the biggest it's ever been at the moment thanks to the likes of Marvel and DC, "The Boys" takes an effective satirical approach to costumed crusaders.
The show has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score, so clearly, the first two seasons have really hit the mark — which is good since Season 3 is also on the way. There are a few more heroes joining the ranks of the Seven in the next batch of episodes, including Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden). When speaking to Michael Rosenbaum's "Inside of You" podcast, Ackles said that despite his good looks, Soldier Boy is a grumpy old man.
According to Ackles, Soldier Boy is actually a bigoted, curmudgeonly World War II veteran. "He doesn't age, so he's this young, 40-year-old superhero who's really 80 years old or 90 years old," he explained. "There's just so much material there, you'll see what I mean when you see the show but he has a taste for people who were of his era."
That said, there's an interesting detail about Supes and World War II that has left fans scratching their heads because there should be a lot more heroes (and villains) across the world.
There should be more international Supes
Although the world of "The Boys" is similar to ours, it differs back in World War II when Frederick Vought first developed Compound V — testing it on his wife Klara (Aya Cash) who later becomes Stormfront. But a discussion on Reddit pointed out that there should be a lot more Supes out in the world because of the after-effects of World War II. As original poster u/matan_vil explained, "First, if Fredrick Vought was a Nazi then like with everything related to Project Paperclip IRL there have must been some people in the project that have gone to the USSR to develop Сомроциъ З. I guess the Soviet Compound V might have ended like the N1 rocket."
Project Paperclip was a real program run by the United States that recruited around 1,600 scientists to ensure their intelligence was used to better America's weapons and resources ahead of the Cold War. Scientists like Werner Von Braun even worked for NASA, creating the Saturn V launch vehicle (via History). But the Redditor suggests that Vought's desire to get Supes into the military would also mean having to share Compound V with organizations like NATO.
"And if Vought want Supes in the military they might need to send some V to NATO members," the OP continued. "A British Supe would bring a lot of merch from the Union Jack. The French might reject it for being an American invention. And being an American company Vought must have tried to do a Canadian off-shot Supe just for the money."
There are a few international Supes in the comics, like Season 2's Love Sausage (yes, really), so maybe we'll start to see more Supes from around the world when Season 3 starts on June 3, 2022.