Here's how powerful The Deep (Chase Crawford) is in The Boys. Amazon's hit comic book show debuted its first season in 2019, introducing Prime Video subscribers to the superhero satire world. The Boys follows Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) after his girlfriend is killed by a member of The Seven, the world's most famous superhero team, and his decision to team up with Billy Butcher and The Boys to try and take them down.
Homelander leads The Seven, and Starlight served as the newest addition to the roster in season 1 before leaving in season 3. But, the team also includes Queen Maeve, Black Noir, A-Train, and The Deep. The latter is The Boys' equivalent to DC's Aquaman or Marvel's Namor: a superpowered person with the ability to talk to fish (and other sea life). He was incredibly popular on social media at the beginning of season 1, before he became the center of a sexual assault scandal involving Starlight. Although he wasn't adequately used as a member of The Seven, The Boys has shown just how powerful he can be.
The Deep's primary powers consist of talking to sea creatures, being an expert swimmer, and breathing underwater thanks to his gills. These gills also provide a weakness for The Deep, as they are extremely sensitive, so anything going inside of them is painful. The Boys season 1 didn't do too much with The Deep's actual superpowers, but his status with The Seven helped make him more powerful. His rank within the team as the self-proclaimed #2 of the group put him in a position where he thought he could get away with anything, including assaulting Starlight. With this power gone, The Deep's abilities appear to have increased for The Boys season 3.
The Deep Has More Powers In The Comics
In The Boys season 2, The Deep was in control of the ocean like never before. One scene shows The Boys speeding through the water with dozens of sharks chasing after them – the result of The Deep, who then appears on the back of a whale. After talking to lobsters, dolphins, and other sea creatures, season 2 increased what The Deep is capable of. He's now commanding multiple sea creatures at once, but this display of his powers will once again lead to the harm of his sea allies.
The abilities that The Deep has in The Boys compare to the comics' presentation of his skillset, but there are also a few other powers from the comics he has yet to develop. Like most superheroes, The Deep has increased strength and durability. So far, The Boys hasn't shown The Deep using these powers, but that could change in the future, possibly from taking more Compound V or Temp V to make himself a more well-rounded "hero" and fighter. The Deep also has the ability to fly in the comics, so The Boys could give him this power boost. But at this point in the show, it'd seem jarring.
The Deep's True Power Is Being Pathetic
The Deep's introduction in The Boys season 1 paints him as a despicable and overindulgent predator with few redeeming qualities — but his downward arc on the show dares viewers to feel sorry for him. After getting kicked out of the Seven, although it seemed like justice was adequately served to The Deep, The Boys decided to continue his storyline. The majority of his life through seasons 1 and 2 focused on the hero trying to wriggle his way back into the Seven with some humiliating consequences, such as having his gills abused and assaulted. When given the chance to rejoin the superhero team, Homelander subjected him to further degradation by making him eat an octopus, and the series humiliated him further with that octopus scene during "Herogasm." The Boys is daring (and deliberately failing) to attempt The Deep's transformation into a sympathetic figure.
It's easy to forget that his introduction on the show was sexually assaulting Starlight when viewers have to watch him suffer innumerable demeaning acts throughout seasons 1-3. While this could be seen as due justice for his acts of sexual violence in The Boys season 1, The Deep's true superpower on The Boys might be how he's been able to rejoin The Seven despite (and perhaps because of) how pathetic he is. He serves as a tool used by Homelander to make Starlight extremely uncomfortable as a co-captain of The Seven, and his willingness to do whatever it takes to regain the validation he lost after his expulsion from the team makes him a useful patsy for Homelander's appalling ends. This is evidenced by his new role as Head of Crime Analytics despite his complete ineptitude at the task. He's not actually used his superpowers outside of seducing cephalopods for some time in the show – and that's a deliberate choice. The viewers see him punished constantly, but those in The Boys' twisted, predatory world see him prosper regardless – he just doesn't get to experience any dignity while he succeeds.