Production on Amazon Prime’s popular superhero satireThe Boyshas officially begun. Series creator Eric Kripke confirmed the news when he tweeted out a very ‘suggestive’ photo from the set with the hashtag reading, “InProduction.”
The photo, taken from a rather risque angle, reveals a gold-plated statue of a superhero. At first glance, the statue appears to be modeled afterHomelander (Anthony Starr), a sociopathic and terrifying dark mirror to DC comics' Superman, and the leader of the corporate-funded superhero team The Seven. However, upon closer inspection, this golden statue may actually be based on the character known as Soldier Boy, a new addition to the series played bySupernatural’s Jensen Ackles. Soldier Boy has been mentioned in the show before, but the third season will mark his first live-action appearance. His statue is seen on display in the season two episode, “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker.”
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In the comics, Soldier Boy is a clear parody ofMarvel Comics' Captain America, as they are both overtly patriotic superheroes who fought the Nazis in the Second World War. However, unlike good ole' Steve Rogers, Soldier Boy is portrayed as weak-willed and cowardly, which fits with the show’s consistent theme of the dichotomy between superhero identities and their public personas. He is also the leader of another superhero team known as Payback, who were actually contracted at one point by the Vought Corporation to fight The Seven. This did not go well, with most of the team either getting killed or severely injured. Payback is also the title of the season three premiere.
How Soldier Boy and Payback will play into this season ofThe Boysremains a mystery. Despitethe series drawing heavily from the comics, it’s also taken many liberties with the property. For instance, the season 2 character Stormfront (Aya Cash), who was revealed to be a Nazi dating back to the Third Reich, was actually a member of Payback in the comics. However, it’s very possible that the character would have worked alongside Soldier Boy back when she went by her previous superhero identity, Liberty. Considering that season two ofThe Boysalso revealed that the Vought Corporation has pretty deep Nazi ties, it will be interesting to see how Soldier Boy plays into all that. Kripke has gone on record to say that his version of Soldier Boy will be much stronger and more menacing than the version seen in the comics. He’s also stated that the character will be able to go toe-to-toe with Homelander, even describing him as “Homelander before Homelander.”
Series star Karl Urban, who plays the foul-mouthed anti-superhero vigilante Billy Butcher, also recently teased the start of production with a photo on Instagram. Urban posted a picture of himself in costume as Butcher with a caption thanking Amazon Prime Video and the cast and crew for taking all the necessary safety and precautions. He followed this up with “Stay tuned. We got some real goodies lined up for ya!”
The Boysseasons one and two are now available on Amazon Prime Video.
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