The Boys is a show full of superhero parodies, many of which exist to mercilessly poke fun at the DC Universe. While some, like Homelander, the show’s version of the Evil Superman trope, wear their influence on their sleeve, other satirical takes on DC characters may not be so obvious. Some of these hidden DC analogs have names or costumes that, on the surface, bear more of a Marvel influence. Others are only mentioned or appear in blink-and-you-will-miss-them cameos. Luckily, we’re here to sort through the various joke characters on The Boys to let you know which ones are secretly a dig at Marvel’s “Distinguished Competition.”
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We dug deep and found the characters that go beyond aping The Man of Steel and The Dark Knight. We’re talking obscure characters based on equally obscure DC staples. Little Easter Eggs, the creative team behind The Boys, threw in for the hardcore disciples of Detective Comics. Without further ado, here are 10 The Boys characters you didn’t realize were having a laugh at DC’s expense.
1) Tek Knight is NSFW Batman
Some people think that Black Noir is The Boys‘ version of Batman, but he’s actually much closer to G.I. Joe’s resident ninja Snake Eyes. The show’s real Dark Knight analog is the appropriately named Tek Knight. Tek Knight is essentially Batman if all the rumors about him and Robin were true. Everything about Tek Knight, from his secret underground lair to his doting butler, is meant to evoke the spirit of the Caped Crusader … and then take said spirit and drown it in perversion and sexual deviance.
2) Laddio is the Physical Embodiment of Every Robin Joke
In 1954, Fredric Wertham released a book titled Seduction of the Innocent detailing, among other things, how Batman and Robin were “more than friends,” so to speak. Fans have been making jokes about The Dynamic Duo being secret lovers ever since. The Boys took that rumor and cranked it to 11, making Tek Knight a depraved pervert and reducing his “Robin” Laddio to a leather-clad sex slave.
Laddio makes his one and only appearance in The Boys Season 4, “Dirty Business,” wearing a full-on gimp suit complete with a ball gag and choke collar. The Pulp Fiction-inspired look shows just how little respect most creators still have for The Boy Wonder all these years after Wertham’s book.
3) Translucent’s Powers are Straight out of the Martian Manhunter Playbook
In the original The Boys comic, there is a member of The Seven named Jack from Jupiter, who is an obvious jab at DC’s J’onn J’onzz. When it came time to adapt The Boys for television, Jack from Jupiter was swapped out for Translucent, an equally obvious jab at Marvel’s Invisible Woman — or is he?
While Translucent may have dropped his comic counterpart’s alien schtick, his powers are still closest to those of the Martian Manhunter. Both can turn invisible at will thanks to their genetic makeup, and both can manipulate their density to the point where they become invulnerable to most physical attacks, save for one primary element — electricity for Translucent, while Martian Manhunter’s weakness is fire.
4) Payback’s TNT Twins are Just the Wonder Twins Without the Pet Monkey
A pair of twins that activate their powers via physical contact and a catchphrase? There’s really no one else the TNT Twins could be making fun of other than the Wonder Twins. Originally created for DC’s popular Super Friends cartoon, the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, were an inept comic relief duo that eventually made their way into the DC Universe proper. The TNT Twins Tommy and Tessa were similarly created specifically for The Boys TV show and served a similar role in Season 3, albeit with a much cruder tone than their family-friendly counterparts.
5) Supersonic Gives Off a Familiar Vibe
DC’s Vibe isn’t exactly an A-list hero in terms of name recognition. The Mexican-American superhero — arguably the first ever — with the power to create devastating shockwaves was created in 1984 and killed off twice before being brought back with greater purpose as part of DC’s The New 52 company-wide reboot in 2012. As a Mexican-American supe with the same powerset, Supersonic pays homage to his inspiration by getting killed off after only four episodes.
6) Blue Hawk is a Racist Version of Gangbuster
While most people think of Superman when they hear the name Metropolis, he’s not the only DC hero to reside there. Gangbuster is a lesser-known Metropolis vigilante who dresses in riot gear and smacks criminals upside the head with a pair of nunchucks. Blue Hawk takes the riot police/vigilante concept and gives it a culturally relevant twist. While the less grounded Gangbuster has the luxury of being unbiased when it comes to what gangs he goes after, the more realistic Blue Hawk patrols minority neighborhoods exclusively as part of The Boys‘ commentary on the brutality and racial bias experienced by many people of color at the hands of law enforcement.
7) Big Chief Apache is a Satirical Take on the Already Problematic Apache Chief
Apache Chief was a Native American superhero who, like the Wonder Twins, was created specifically for the Super Friends cartoon. Unlike the Twins, Apache Chief wasn’t intentionally meant to be comic relief but rather a tone-deaf attempt to make the Super Friends roster a little more diverse. We say tone-deaf because Apache Chief voiced exclusively by white men doing a stereotypical Hollywood Native American accent.
How fitting then that Big Chief Apache from The Boys should be portrayed as a white supe pretending to be Native American. Shown briefly via footage from an anti-littering PSA, Big Chief Apache pulled double duty as a way of making fun of not only Apache Chief but also infamous Italian-American actor Iron Eyes Cody, a similar real-life PSA star.
8) Gunpowder Really Hits the Mark as a Deadshot Parody
There are many superheroes and villains with the gimmick of perfect aim, but only one wears a helmet and dual-wields pistols: Deadshot. While Gunpowder’s headgear looks more like it was inspired by trigger-happy comic book psychopath Judge Dredd than Deadshot, his twin Desert Eagles and ability to hit everything he aims at perfectly every time match perfectly with the DC assassin.
Like the other entries on this list, Gunpowder takes the qualities of his DC blueprint and stretches them to an exaggerated degree. Gunpowder isn’t just a skilled marksman, he eats, breathes, and sleeps guns. He’s such a gun nut that were Gunpowder to ever meet his inspiration, we’re pretty sure Deadshot would tell him to chill out a bit with the firearms.
9) Sister Sage Bears More Than a Striking Resemblance to Ozymandius from Watchmen
At first glance, Sister Sage looks like she has about as much in common with Ozymandius as she does Rorschach. Go a little deeper, though, and you start to realize that there’s no one else The Boys’ smartest woman on Earth could be based on than Watchmen’s smartest man on the planet. Not only do the two super-geniuses enact complex plots that only they know the true meaning of, but they both do so by manipulating the most powerful superheroes alive.
If you need any more convincing, check out the Eye of Horus on Sister Sage’s costume, an Egyptian symbol also worn by — you guessed it — Ozymandias.
10) Butcher is the Spitting Image of Manchester Black
English accent? Check. Black Trenchcoat? Check. Ultraviolent approach to conflict resolution? Double check. Billy Butcher and Manchester Black are like two peas in a pod. Both characters started as antiheroes before eventually evolving into villains, and both were created explicitly to terrorize their respective Supermen.
Butcher’s actions are at least somewhat justified since his version of Superman is essentially Hitler in a cape. Black, on the other hand, exists solely to make the real Superman look better to modern audiences by showing them the ugly alternative.
