Prime Video's adaptation of The Boys has been a huge hit with superhero fans, as it explores characters based on popular heroes like Superman and The Flash with a much darker twist. With the premiere for Season 3 coming closer and closer, viewers have been given sneak peeks into new characters and storylines from the creators of the Prime Video show.
Some of the new characters that have been teased so far -- Gunpowder, Crimson Countess and Soldier Boy -- are characters from a superhero team called Payback in The Boys comics. Payback is an obvious parody of the Avengers from Marvel Comics. The introduction of these new characters implies that there will be a fight between Payback and The Seven, which is a parody of the Justice League from DC Comics. Even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe are not planning on giving their audiences a battle between the real Avengers and Justice League anytime soon, superhero fans will be able to see something of a similar scale in The Boys.
The reputations of the DCEU and MCU must be taken into account in this discussion, as the showrunners of The Boys will most likely try to use these reputations to poke fun at The Seven and Payback. The DCEU has been criticized for being too dark and gritty, while the MCU has been criticized for being too light and sappy. The grim nature of the DCEU can definitely be seen in the portrayal of The Seven, as its heroes violently kill people and get killed on-screen. However, it is difficult to imagine the light-hearted tone of the Avengers movies working with The Boys. Despite this, Payback has commonly been portrayed as a substandard team in comparison to The Seven in The Boys comics.
Most of the Payback characters are obvious spoofs of characters from the Avengers. Soldier Boy is a parody of Captain America -- in the show, Stan Edgar tells Homelander that Soldier Boy was a hero who fought in World War II. In the comics, Soldier Boy is also the original superhero created by Vought. Crimson Countess is a parody of Scarlet Witch and has flight and heat generation powers in the comics. Gunpowder is The Boys' parody of Judge Dredd -- in Nov. 7's Seven on 7, there was a story about Gunpowder's new Junior Shooting Programme, which had been created in association with Vought Rifle Association. In the comics, Gunpowder has multiple gun manipulation powers. Additionally, the true leader of Payback in the comics is Stormfront, who is a parody of Thor. It will be interesting to see how the Prime Video showrunners choose to adapt this after Stormfront's gory fate at the end of Season 2.
DC and Marvel fans were recently debating who would win in an Avengers vs. Justice League fight on Twitter. Comparing this to the superhero teams in The Boys is interesting -- however, it is worth mentioning that Payback is missing a crucial Avengers parody character in the comics. While they do have Crimson Countess and Mind-Droid, who is a spoof of The Vision, they are missing an equivalent for The Hulk. Without the sheer power of a Hulk-like character, Payback would struggle to fight against some of the stronger members of The Seven like Homelander and Queen Maeve. The fact that Stormfront is currently out of the picture also makes things more difficult for Payback. When the confirmed Prime Video characters are compared with each other, it becomes clear that The Seven would easily win against Payback as it stands right now.
A legitimate Avengers vs. Justice League on-screen fight doesn't appear to be in the cards for now, as neither Marvel nor DC have announced anything like this recently. An Avengers vs. Justice League crossover would require a lot of cooperation and planning between two giant comic book corporations that haven't always agreed with each other's creations. For now, superhero fans can fuel their interest in an Avengers vs. Justice League fight by keeping up with The Boys on Prime Video and watching as more Payback members are introduced to the show.
Seasons 1 and 2 of The Boys are currently available on Prime Video. Season 3 has not yet received a release date.
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