The Boys' villainous superhero group, The Seven, is a dark reflection of the Justice League, but there are many more DC references in the Amazon series. Much like the comic it's based on, The Boys is a parody of the superhero genre. The show features multiple nods to both Marvel and DC. As one of the most successful franchises in history, it makes sense for Marvel to be the subject of many of The Boys' references. However, it seems the hit Amazon series pays particular attention to DC Comics and its many media adaptations when it comes to finding material to allude to.
As mentioned, many of the Seven are analogues of DC's biggest heroes, most prominently Homelander, who is an evil version of Superman. Yet, the ties between Amazon's The Boys and the DC Universe go beyond the members of their superhero teams. Eric Kripke's satirical series has made a habit of referencing and parodying DC movies, TV shows, and comics throughout its three seasons. Some nods are easy to recognize, while others require a somewhat deeper knowledge of the company's mythology to notice.
Wonder Woman's Slow Motion
Queen Maeve is Wonder Woman's morally corrupt counterpart, so it's fitting that The Boys furthered the similarities between them with the character's introduction. Wonder Woman and Justice League showed Diana performing pivotal heroic feats in slow motion. Some of the most prominent examples include the No Man's Land sequence in Wonder Woman's origin movie and the attack at the Old Bailey Courthouse in the 2017 team-up film.
The Boys took advantage of Diana's proclivity for slow motion for Maeve's introductory scene. In the show's first episode, "The Name of the Game," as robbers were about to run over two young pedestrians, Maeve jumped in and made the criminals' truck crash against her. The impact was shown in slow motion, serving as both a display of Maeve's superhuman strength and a fittingly over-the-top reference to her DC Comics counterpart.
Homelander's Fake Origin Is A Play On Clark Kent's
In episode 6 of season 1 of The Boys, Homelander recounted his childhood for a special, stating he had grown up on a farm alongside his two loving parents. His younger years were presented as idyllic, with his mother and father acting as moral pillars for him. In reality, the story was a lie meant to mask Homelander's traumatic childhood under Vought. The fake origin story was a satirical version of Superman's beginnings, who was raised on a farm by Jonathan and Martha Kent, whose warmth, kindness, and strong moral conviction shaped him into one of DC's greatest superheroes.
The Deep Is The Personification Of Aquaman Jokes
Aquaman is the head of his own franchise following the financial success of Aquaman in 2018, but the hero didn't always enjoy such status. Before Jason Momoa brought the character to live-action, Arthur Curry was largely considered a joke due to his powers and costume. The Boys' The Deep (Chace Crawford) is a direct reference to that. However, the villain isn't simply an analogue of Arthur Curry's characterization. He is the true embodiment of the years' worth of jokes at his expense. Deep is often belittled and humiliated due to the criticism that his powers are useless.
Yet, unlike Aquaman, the perception of Deep's inadequacy as a super-powered being is largely accurate. While Aquaman has proven his strength in various occasions in comics, TV shows (e.g., Smallville) and movies, Deep's abilities do not appear to be very effective, at least in the way he employs them, as shown during the infamous whale incident in season 2's third episode, "Over the Hill With the Swords of a Thousand Men." His combat skills also seem particularly ineffective, as evidenced by his scuffle with A-Train in The Boys season 3 episode "Glorious Five-Year Plan."
Homelander's Green Lantern-Inspired Movies
In The Boys universe, Homelander is a movie star with multiple blockbusters under his mantle, two of which were references to Green Lantern. In the seventh episode of season 2, "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker," while talking to his son, Ryan, Homelander listed movies based on him. Two of them were Homelander: Darkest Day and Homelander: Brightest Night, a play on the first line of Green Lantern's oath, which states, "In brightest day, in blackest night..." The titles also served as nods to the 2009 Green Lantern-centric event Blackest Night and its 2010 continuation, Brightest Day.
Dawn Of The Seven Is One Big Snyder Cut Reference
Following Zack Snyder's departure from 2017's Justice League, The Avengers director Joss Whedon was hired to finish the film. The movie was heavily restructured, a controversial development that prompted the creation of the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement. In The Boys' second season, Homelander and his superhero teammates filmed a movie called Dawn of the Seven, a parody of Justice League, which played up the satirical commonalities between the Seven and DC's superhero team.
The show used Dawn of the Seven to make fun of Justice League's restructuring in the fifth episode of season 2, "We Gotta Go Now." While speaking to Maeve on the set of their movie, Homelander stated, "This new Joss rewrite really sings, huh?" The Snyder Cut parallel carried over into the series' marketing campaign. To promote its third season, The Boys' Twitter account posted a trailer for Dawn of the Seven: The Bourke Cut, a play on the Snyder Cut of Justice League that prompted a lighthearted reaction from Zack Snyder.
Homelander's Twisted All-Star Superman Moment
All-Star Superman featured a touching sequence in which the Man of Steel comforted a girl attempting to take her own life, convincing her not to go through with it. It was a powerful moment that showed Superman's ability to inspire and be a symbol of hope, even when not using his superpowers. The Boys' season 3 presented a disturbing version of that moment.
Episode 2, "The Only Man in the Sky," saw Homelander begrudgingly trying to stop a young woman named Chelsea from jumping off a building. However, after seeing the news of Stormfront's death, he told Chelsea to jump. She then refused, but Homelander forced her to do so. The scene was a horrifying take on the Superman story that further positioned Homelander as the antithesis of Clark Kent.
Ryan Is A Dark Reflection Of Jon Kent
The similarities between Homelander and Superman don't seem to be limited to their power set, as the former's son, Ryan, appears to be a dark reflection of Jon Kent. Modern Superman stories have put a heavy emphasis on Jon, Clark Kent and Lois Lane's son who inherited his father's powers and eventually became Superman. Much like the Kents did for Clark, the Man of Steel and Lois raised Jon in a loving environment that ultimately gave him the moral tools to become a hero. The Boys offered the exact opposite of that with Ryan (Cameron Crovetti).
The character was initially a good-natured boy who his mother, Rebecca, raised away from Homelander to prevent him from becoming like his father. However, after Rebecca's death and Butcher pushing Ryan away, the boy went to live with Homelander. The Boys' season 3 ending hinted at Ryan's loving upbringing being gradually stripped away by the villain, as he smiled after his father executed a man. Like Jon Kent, Ryan has the same powers as his dad, and him being raised by Homelander could lead to him becoming another evil Superman.
The TNT Twins Are A Parody Of The Wonder Twins
The Wonder Twins, a.k.a. Zan and Jayna, debuted in the 1970s' The All-New Super Friends cartoon, after which they became popular figures in the DC Universe. As arguably two of DC's most lighthearted superheroes, it's unsurprising that The Boys put an unsavory spin on them via Tommy (Jack Doolan) and Tessa (Kristin Booth), a.k.a. The TNT Twins. Former members of Soldier Boy's Payback team, the twins had the ability to create lightning when holding hands and yelling a catchphrase, a play on the Wonder Twins' "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" battle cry.
The TNT Twins provided a cynical outlook on DC's friendly and good-natured superheroes, showing what it would be like if Zan and Jayna were secretly ill-intentioned individuals with an unsettling past. While its iterations of beloved DC characters are grim and often disturbing, The Boys' references to the company perfectly fit its satirical nature. The series is meant to be an absurdist take on superhero universes, and its nods add to its irreverent tone and characters.