Amazon's The Boys season 3 will explore United States history through the lens of the superheroes at the show's center. The satirical superhero show has not shied away from much during its two season run, riffing on the genre with a no-holds-barred attitude. While much of season 1 was spent establishing the world of Vought, The Seven, and the group of people trying to take them down, season 2 took a new approach. Aya Cash came onboard as Stormfront, a new hero to The Seven with a past filled with violence. It was eventually revealed that Stormfront (formerly known as Liberty) was a sadistic Nazi who used her virtuous persona as a front.
Although Cash may not return as Stormfront for The Boys season 3, there's a new hero coming onboard to rival her. Jensen Ackles has been cast as Soldier Boy, a riff on Captain America who has his own evil history. Not much is known about Ackles' role in season 3, but its presumed that Soldier Boy will at least have a similar history to the one in the comics. Now, showrunner Eric Kripke has confirmed as much in a new interview.
Speaking to Deadline, Kripke revealed that The Boys season 3 will explore "what it means to be in America, really." Not only does this involve politics, which have always been central to the show, but it also includes mining the history present in the comics, including flashbacks to World War II and the Vietnam War. A vehicle for that will be Ackles' Soldier Boy, who was the first Vought superhero and a World War II veteran.
We’ve been certainly a political and satirical show. We were really interested in exploring both the recent history of Vought, the company in the show, but also through that the recent history of the United States… We got really interested in the myths we tell ourselves, to feel that we’re righteous, really exploring America itself as a myth.
A big element of the comics actually are flashbacks to World War II and Vietnam. I always really loved it because you got to see how the superhero phenomenon didn’t just affect the present, but how it affected parts of the past as well. And so we have this character, Soldier Boy, played by Jensen Ackles, and he’s been around since World War II and was the first Vought superhero. Through him and through his story, we’re able to explore a lot of the history of the country, really.
I’d say in previous seasons the boogeyman for you to be scared of used to be, “The terrorists are coming to get you.” And now it’s sort of metastasized into, I think, a much more ominous, “Your neighbor is coming to get you.” And that’s scary to me, how politics are turning us on each other. So, we want to explore what it means to be in America, really.
It sounds like Soldier Boy will not only be integral to the main plot of The Boys season 3, but also in fleshing out the history that Kripke mentions. In exploring Stormfront's character, The Boys reached into the more recent past, exploring the character's violent racism and how that informed her actions in season 2. Soldier Boy may be taking on a similar role, albeit with some slight differences personality wise, as he's portrayed as more naive and less confident in the comics.
Regardless of what angle the show takes, it will be interesting see The Boys flesh out the in-universe history through the show. There have been hints about the show's past, but not much has been explicitly said about the wider world. With The Boys expanding the scope of the show in multiple ways, season 3 is shaping up to be its biggest and bloodiest season yet and audiences better buckle up because it's bound to be a wild ride.
Source: Deadline