Supernatural star Jensen Ackles is set to soon join the cast of successful superhero satire The Boys as Captain America parody Soldier Boy in the upcoming season 4, but the character bears a surprising resemblance to one of the actor’s lesser-known earlier roles. Now heading into its third season, the Amazon Prime series The Boys is one of a slew of new attempts to parody the tropes and conventions of superhero media.
However, where the likes of Birdgirl and Thunder Force poke good-natured fun at superhero tropes, the barbed, dark satire of The Boys is an entirely different beast. Based on the cult comic of the same name by Preacher creator Garth Ennis, The Boys spoofs superheroes as a vehicle for sharp social satire, using “supes” as stand-ins for crooked politicians and vapid public figures whose charming exteriors mask amoral abuses of power.
Season 1 of The Boys established the titular superhero-hunting team of vigilantes and their enemies, the lawless group of superheroes known as the Seven. Season 2 introduced Aya Cash’s seemingly likable new superhero Stormfront, initially presenting the character as a charismatic addition to the superpower line-up before revealing that she shared her monstrous Nazi views with her infamous namesake hate site. Season 3 of The Boys sees the series increase its star power further by introducing Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, a Captain America parody who is all hate and hypocrisy beneath his cheery public veneer. And from the little viewers know about the character, it looks likely that Ackles’ role will take inspiration from his earlier turn in 2009’s slasher remake My Bloody Valentine 3D.
Jensen Ackles’ My Bloody Valentine 3D Role Explained
In the critically maligned 2009 slasher remake My Bloody Valentine 3D, Ackles plays a small-town rich kid who returns to his hometown years after he is one of few teens to survive a bloody massacre in the town’s coal mine. Throughout the action of the whodunit, Ackles’ character is represented as a well-meaning hero who wants to get to the bottom of these gruesome killings—which makes it a brutal shock when the ending reveals that he is the one committing these brutal murders unbeknownst to himself. As proven by the following year’s A Nightmare On Elm Street remake, twist endings are to be expected in slasher fare, but the specific revelation that a seemingly heroic all-American character is a murderous monster is surprisingly similar to Ackles’ upcoming role in The Boys.
Soldier Boy Thinks He’s A Hero
Modeled on the original Captain America, Soldier Boy is a propaganda tool that believes his hype entirely. In the source comics, he is an earnestly patriotic figure who loves America and sincerely thinks he is helping despite the atrocious acts he and other supes frequently commit. This approach allows the comic, and now the television adaptation, to comment on the disconnect between how real-life political authorities and cultural figures see themselves versus how they actually act. The Deep’s season 2 plot already saw the series spoof Scientology and its celebrity representatives, and if he is anything like his comic counterpart Soldier Boy will be a vicious condemnation of war hawks who use patriotism as an excuse to fund constant conflict and violent power grabs. According to showrunner Eric Kripke, “One of the reasons that we’re getting into Soldier Boy [in season 3] and that team, Payback, is… through the history of the supes, we can tell a little bit about the history of America and how we ended up in the current fraught position that we’re in. Soldier Boy gives us an opportunity to do that.” [via EW]
The first promo to feature Ackles’ Soldier Boy sees him smiling his way through a group video where he reassures viewers that supes are still trustworthy, despite Stormfront’s recent outing as a Nazi. The brief teaser proves that the adaptation’s version of Soldier Boy is set to be a face for dangerous, overpowered authorities who makes their misdeeds palatable for the public, a point proven by Kripke’s comments. Per the showrunner, "there’s always been systemic racism and conflict and a lot of ugliness… Certain politicians like to pitch this somehow idyllic ‘good old days’ where everything was perfect and calm [but] it was never that way." Kripke reinforced this idea that Ackles would be playing a morally dubious character at best (his comic counterpart is responsible for numerous instances of mass murder), in another interview. He even laughed off the idea of the actor playing a heroic figure, saying: “I think anyone expecting Jensen to show up and be a good guy, they will be disappointed… He’s from a different era.” [via Variety]
My Bloody Valentine 3D’s Social Commentary
Unlike Wes Craven’s meta-slasher Scream, My Bloody Valentine 3D is no satirical deconstruction of horror tropes (although coincidentally its director Patrick Lussier did edit Scream). However, much like The Boys, My Bloody Valentine 3D does use Ackles’ character to twist audience expectation and comment on social inequality. From the beginning of the remake, Ackles’ character is established as the son of the town’s wealthy mine owner who accidentally causes a disastrous collapse due to negligence, and despite his privilege meaning that he never faces repercussions for this incident, viewers are still encouraged to view him as the movie’s hero until the final twist. Soldier Boy, from Kripke’s description, also sees himself as a hero despite his bloody past and murderous present, and like Ackles’ wealthy My Bloody Valentine 3D character, uses the privilege of being a supe to ensure he avoids consequences for his misdeeds.
How Ackles’ Soldier Boy Differs From His My Bloody Valentine Character
However, despite their similarities, Ackles’ Soldier Boy and his My Bloody Valentine 3D character’s journeys aren’t perfect clones of each other. In the (very) brief glimpse viewers got of Ackles’ Soldier Boy so far, it’s clear from his eye-rolling dismissal of Homelander that he is canny and may be aware of the gap between his idyllic public face and his real self, something that My Bloody Valentine 3D’s unhinged “hero” never comes to comprehend. The show version of The Boys also seems set to establish Soldier Boy as a villain from the outset, possibly to avoid recreating the season 2 twist that revealed comic relief newcomer Stormfront to be a monstrous villain. This approach is very different from My Bloody Valentine 3D, which presents its protagonist as a hero until its twist ending, and this does mean Soldier Boy is likely to be more stable (if no less dangerous) than Ackles’ conflicted slasher villain. However, if Stormfront and Homelander have proven anything, it is that a self-aware, amoral villain can be far more dangerous in the world of The Boys than a more confused killer like Ackles’ My Bloody Valentine 3D character.