The Boys should take a page from the Supernatural fandom in their portrayal of Soldier Boy. Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester in Supernatural and is preparing to take on the role of Soldier Boy in The Boys season 3, has amassed a crowd of adoring fans over the years. Here's why The Boys would be smart to parody the Supernatural fandom in Soldier Boy.

The Supernatural star announced that he'd be joining the Amazon Prime series in August 2020. Supernatural was preparing to end at the time, and many of Ackles's fans were looking for any hint on his next project. Ackles's character, Soldier Boy, is a super-soldier parody of Captain America. After Compound V was tested on soldiers in World War II, super-soldiers like Soldier Boy were born. In the comics, Soldier Boy is viewed as a naive and cowardly hero, desperate to do anything that would gain Homelander's approval.

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In The Boys, the supes play their roles — they have their public hero personas and their personal personas, where they frequently rebel from the golden image to party and relax from the stresses of their jobs. These public roles are frequently idolized and placed on a pedestal, removing the humanity of their flaws and deifying the fictional character they portray. Of course, their fictional personas aren't truly who they are, creating a dichotomy of personalities within one body. After 15 seasons of Supernatural, a sect of the show's fans has risen Ackles to this idolized level. To some, Dean Winchester and Jensen Ackles are inextricable; the adoration of the Supernatural fandom has blended the two together until Jensen became Dean Winchester in their eyes. When Jensen and Jared Padalecki, his Supernatural co-star, had conflict over the new Supernatural spin-off, some lamented over “Sam and Dean” fighting.

Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy in The Boys

This kind of idolization would work well for Soldier Boy because he has two, very distinct personas — the brave, patriotic super-soldier who helped to win WWII, and a cowardly hero who gravels at Homelander’s feet, as Soldier Boy is desperate to join The Seven. It’s the idolization of his fans that allows him to maintain his false persona — through the worship of a fandom, the Soldier Boy he’s trying to portray would be brought to life. Parodying the Supernatural fandom would highlight the dichotomy of Soldier Boy’s personalities, as well as how fans idolize a person for the fictional character they represent, and not for who they really are underneath.

Parodying the fandom wouldn't be maliciously mocking Supernatural, either. Firstly, Eric Kripke has written both series — The Boys and Supernatural also share quite a number of actors — and it wouldn't be the first time Kripke took a playful jab at the Supernatural fandom. In Supernatural season 6 episode 15, “The French Mistake,” where Sam and Dean find they’re two men named Jared and Jensen in a show titled Supernatural. The episode is sprinkled with comments poking fun at its own fans — but it’s all in good nature. Characters like Becky Rosen, Supernatural's biggest in-show fan, were designed to parody Supernatural fans who idolized Jensen and Jared for their roles as Sam and Dean - meaning The Boys would arguably be following in the footsteps of the show by highlighting some of the issues with celebrity culture.

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