When “The Boys” premiered several years ago, it was an underdog taking aim at satirizing the superhero film genre. It worked because what it was doing at that time hadn’t really been done before. But now, years later, “The Boys” is threatening to become the very thing it was trying to take down. And this is something that worries the showrunner, Eric Kripke.
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In a new interview with Collider, Eric Kripke talked about his fear that “The Boys” is turning into a big corporate superhero franchise that it was originally set out to satirize. How does he believe the show can survive the criticism that it’s becoming exactly what it was poking fun at all this time? With high quality shows. 
“I live in absolute terror of becoming the thing we’ve been satirizing for five years,” said Kripke. “The thing about ‘The Boys’ is that it’s punk rock, and it hurts extra hard when punk rockers sell out. I’m really working hard to not sell out.”
He continued, “We do these shows because we really care about them and we’re passionate about them, and they can tell fresh stories that we can’t tell in ‘The Boys’ and not just be about rapid expansion but be very careful and mindful about the choices we’re making and being able to defend why we’re making them. I worry about that every single day.”Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free
For those who don’t watch “The Boys,” the show follows the story of a group of rebels who aim to take down the real-life superheroes of its world. You see, the superheroes of this world aren’t the sweet heroes who save the day out of the kindness of their hearts. These “heroes” are selfish and work under a major corporation, Vought. Imagine if the Avengers were real but were actually owned by Disney. It’s that sort of thing.
There is definitely an argument to be made about “The Boys” becoming its own superhero franchise run by a major corporation. Keep in mind, this is a show that is part of Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. Amazon is pretty close to the in-show evil company, Vought, in terms of size and ambition. Not only that, the show is now starting to make spinoffs and a connected superhero universe, which is exactly what Marvel and DC are aiming to do. So, we have “The Boys,” airing on a major corporation’s streaming service with multiple spinoffs already happening. You don’t have to make a major leap to see what Kripke is saying. “The Boys” is threatening to definitely sell out.
Can “The Boys” continue to fight that label of “sell out” by producing top notch storytelling? That’s the big question. As of now, it’s working. Fingers crossed that it continues to succeed.