The Boys is the most overtly adult entry in the superhero genre, far more violent and typically R-rated than Deadpool but nowhere near as serious as Logan. Season 3, on the other hand, appears to be pushing the boundaries. Herogasm, a six-issue spin-off of the comic in which some of our heroes, well, get lucky, is one of the topics that the next batch of episodes will investigate. And if everything they’ve shot so far makes it into the final cut, it’ll be the bluest superhero film ever made.
In an interview with The Wrap, showrunner Eric Kripke addresses including the notorious limited series set between issues #30 and #31, which was published in 2009. Homelander (Anthony Starr) and his squad are preparing to combat an alien attack. Instead, they head to a tropical island resort for a weekend of extra-large sex and drugs. When Kripke originally proposed adapting it to Amazon executives, he was treated with a “sigh of resignation,” according to Kripke.
They don’t seem to have disappointed:
“I mean, those dailies are insane … Like, if we showed everything we saw in the dailies, we for sure would be rated X. I can’t even get my head around what we’ve filmed. We’ll make sure that we’re walking the right line and that we’re outrageous, but not exploitive, of course. So there probably will be a lot of self-censorship. But anyone who is a fan of the books and that particular volume of ‘Herogasm,’ I can just tell you, you’re definitely going to get the full ‘Herogasm’ experience. There’s just no question.”
Of course, the X classification hasn’t existed since the late 1980s, and NC-17 hasn’t taken off like it should have. Furthermore, there isn’t much of a rating system in place for streaming TV. But maybe The Boys’ Herogasm stretch will solve it.
In any event, one of the most common criticisms of the Comic Book Industrial Complex in which we live is that the shows and movies, at the very least, are devoid of sex. No one is horny, no one is in love with each other, and no one accomplishes the deed. (Well, Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, did get lucky.) This appears to be a touch of over-correction, but perhaps that is exactly what comic book industry requires.
