As The Boys gears up for its forthcoming spinoff, is a shared universe on the horizon, and what would this mean for Amazon's most atrocious superheroes? Adapting the controversial comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Roberson, Amazon was always taking a risk with The Boys. Graphic source material, an expectant fan base, and a dark superhero twist meant The Boys looked likely to land harder than Ryan Butcher during a flying lesson but, fortunately, the reality proved very different. The Boys season 1 became a huge success for Amazon, and season 2 followed suit, taking Homelander and Billy Butcher mainstream without compromising on authenticity to the comics.
In a world where streaming is becoming increasingly important to the entertainment industry, it was only a matter of time until Amazon sought more mileage from The Boys, and in September 2020, the first spin-off was confirmed. Currently untitled, the new project is set in a supe college - a parody of Charles Xavier's mansion in X-Men. With Craig Rosenberg as showrunner, the spinoff also boasts involvement from other members of The Boys' creative team including Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, as well as Ennis and Robertson. Confirmed cast members include young names Lizzie Broadway, Jaz Sinclair, and Reina Hardesty.
While The Boys' achievements made a spinoff inevitable, the more intriguing question is whether Amazon will stop at just one. Shared universe are all the rage right now, especially where superheroes are concerned, and there could be a temptation to develop 2 series into 3 or 4, perhaps adding feature-length movies into the mix also. Before you know it, Amazon could have its very own VCU.
The Boys' College Spinoff Will Test Shared Universe Potential
Amazon's confirmed spinoff is a fantastic test for whether The Boys has enough gas for a full-on shared universe - largely because the college premise has absolutely nothing to do with the main series. A Homelander spinoff or a Billy Butcher prequel would be almost too easy, capitalizing on the existing popularity of those characters and dining out directly on what The Boys fans already know. But Eric Kripke has already confirmed that, despite being set within The Boys' universe, the new show won't cross streams with the existing series... straight away, at least. This means an entirely new cast, a fresh premise, and an unfamiliar setting. Rather than exploiting the popularity of a single character, the college spinoff can only rely upon the humor, style and concept of The Boys, entertaining viewers in its own unique way. This provides a great barometer for how hungry fans are for more stories inside The Boys' realm.
If viewership lands anywhere even close to the main series, this will come as very good news for Amazon indeed. It's easy to look toward the MCU as a shining example of shared universe success, but in TV terms, the Arrowverse reigns supreme. After Arrow proved its worth, The Flash eventually followed, then Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and more gradually joined.
Along the same lines, The Boys and its college G-Men spinoff coexisting profitably would automatically swing open the door for more. The streaming model adopted by Amazon, Netflix, etc. demands vast quantities of content distributed directly to subscribers and, therefore, allows for more risks than ordinary network television. Producing more of The Boys is a no-brainer, so long as the quality doesn't deteriorate. Indeed, to have two successful products set within The Boys' universe and not branch out would be leaving money on the table. Of course, if the college-set series fares terribly, audiences obviously just want to see Homelander laser people and Butcher find creative uses for the English language, and nothing more.
Why A Shared Universe Works For The Boys
The Boys doesn't possess a comic history as detailed or extensive as the companies it parodies, but the manner in which Stormfront and Soldier Boy emerge from Vought's shadows in seasons 2 and 3 goes to show how many deep, dark corners of The Boys remain uncharted. The main series resolves almost exclusively around The Seven - the top of the Vought tree, and the spinoff goes in entirely the other direction by taking the action to university. But there are stories in between too. We know heroes have existed since World War II with the likes of Liberty and Soldier Boy, but very little of this period has been covered so far. There's certainly scope to reach back a few decades and join the superheroes of the 1960s or 1970s in a prequel spinoff, when the antics of Payback and other teams were probably even more debauched and hedonistic than The Seven. We've also seen Vought send less prominent heroes such as Nubian Prince (and The Deep following his exile) to protect specific towns, which paves the way for a spinoff in the style of a Smallville parody, where a powerful hero is assigned to watch over a rural backwater locale.
As proven with the Arrowverse, creating an abundance of compelling superheroes drives desire to see them all cross over. Though The Boys' shared universe is but a twinkle in Amazon's eye at present, there's a huge amount of potential in members of The Seven or The Boys mixing it up in supe college (Butcher and MM do 21 Jump Street, anyone?), or one of Vought's lower-ranking heroes defending his town against a big-hitter from The Seven.
The Boys' satirical take on the superhero genre also offers a more meta route for a future shared universe. Eric Kripke has lightly teased that a script for Vought's fictional "Dawn of the Seven" movie actually exists. Amazon's The Boys franchise could take the bold step of incorporating in-universe fiction to supplement the actual canon, beginning with a feature-length "Dawn of the Seven" that spends 2 glorious hours satirizing Marvel and DC in brutal fashion.
Amazon Needs A Shared Universe Franchise
Amazon recently made waves with an $8.45 billion purchase of MGM which, by the standards of most, is paying well over the odds. The intention behind the purchase, however, is clear - boosting the amount of content available for Prime Video subscribers, and continuing to compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+ in the increasingly lucrative streaming game. But even with MGM in the bag, The Boys remains arguably Amazon's biggest original series - and certainly the one with most room for expansion.
In such a competitive TV landscape, brand name shared universes are rapidly becoming the weapon of choice for streaming platforms and cable networks alike. Disney+ has more Star Wars projects in the pipeline than Anakin Skywalker has lightsaber repair bills, HBO is churning out Game of Thrones spinoffs for fun, and Paramount+ is hedging all its bets on Star Trek. AMC is even turning The Walking Dead into a shared universe with upward of 5 different TV projects and a Rick Grimes movie. Amazon needs an equivalent, and of all the many properties currently under its umbrella, The Boys shows the greatest promise.
Is A Boys Shared Universe Hypocritical?
From the Vought Cinematic Universe and its 54 (probably) different Homelander movies, to The Deep's "everyone loves a team-up" line in season 1, The Boys has relentlessly mocked Marvel and DC for their unyielding streams of superhero adaptations and endless spinoffs. Might it be a little hypocritical were The Boys to follow the very same route? Well, yes. A bit. But that doesn't mean a shared universe for The Boys can't still work.
In 22 Jump Street, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill satirize themselves for heading down the sequel route, ending with the famous reel of posters all the way up to 2121 Jump Street in outer space. In doing so, they proved the importance of self-awareness, and The Boys would require a similar approach, acknowledging how the franchise became exactly what it used to point and laugh at. Also worth drawing inspiration from is the MCU, which proves a franchise can release as many movies and TV shows as it likes, so long as the quality remains consistently good. As long as Butcher and the gang are brave enough to laugh at themselves, and maintain the mixture of fascinating characters and superhero shenanigans audiences expect, there's no reason to hold off on a The Boys shared universe. Amazon will develop one anyway if it makes money - might as well embrace it.