No more HEROES

Corrupt superhero Homelander faces a power struggle as dark comic-book satire The Boys returns

- JUDY EWENS, SEAN MARLAND, STEVEN PERKINS

When it launched last summer, fantasy series The Boys punctured all the usual tropes of superhero shows by portraying its ‘heroes’ as mostly narcissistic and self-serving, under the thumb of corrupt organisation Vought International.

In response to their villainous crimes, a group of vigilantes called The Boys, led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), ran a covert mission to expose the hypocrisy of the superheroes known as The Seven. But after being framed for the murder of Vought vice-president Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), The Boys are now in hiding.

Meanwhile, The Seven’s leader Homelander (Antony Starr), the real killer of Stillwell, exploits the power vacuum created by her death.