Reflection on The Boys and the Realistic Superhero genre.

In recent decades, a number of films, TV shows, and comic books have attempted to depict a Realistic Superhero story. There have been so many now that it could almost be called a genre – or at least a subgenre. Even conventional superhero stories are starting to explore the realistic setting. And I’m not complaining. I love comic books and am also interested in economics and politics. A Realistic Superhero genre that attempts to combine the two is right up my street. Recently, the most notable entry to this genre is probably The Boys. We’re a few episodes into its latest season now, and as much as I am enjoying it, it has gotten me thinking. Because, as great as The Boys is, I don’t think that’s how a Realistic Superhero story would play out. (I do acknowledge that a show like The Boys requires a certain suspension of disbelief, and I’m not criticising. I like the show. I just find this stuff fun to think about.)

It’s worth saying here that the Realistic Superhero genre contains two subgenres: 1) powerless heroes – in which ordinary people start putting on costumes to fight crime (like in Kick-Ass); 2) powered heroes – in which superpowered individuals exist in a realistic and morally grey setting and the consequences are explored (as in The Boys). It’s the second of these two subgenres that I want to talk about. What would actually happen if superpowers existed were real?

In The Boys, superpowers are acquired via an initially secret substance called Compound V, over which the superhero company Vought has an apparent monopoly. That initial secrecy is my first point of departure. There’s no way a substance that turns people into unstoppable living weapons would remain a secret for long. Maybe for a few years, but not more than seventy (as in the show). A lot of people would have to be sworn to eternal silence for that. And not just the Vought employees either, but the parents of the superheroes as well. That’s a pretty substantial conspiracy of silence to maintain for the better part of a century!

Nor would V be unique and under the control of a single corporation. I get that companies do enforce their patents, but there is undoubtedly a limit to that! The real-world equivalent to V would be if a single corporation, by itself, invented the Atomic bomb and then refused to share it with the US government. In that very specific situation, the government would probably put patent law to one side. Moreover, other corporations would be trying to develop their own versions – not to mention other governments. In the show, Compound V was invented by a Nazi scientist who defected to the Americans, which means it existed during the Cold War. It’s a practical certainty then that the USSR would have learnt about it and then discovered how to make it – as it did with nuclear weapons. They would not simply concede the superpower arms race.

Superpower substances would have many competitors, be reasonably common across the economy (as in The Boys comic), and be predominantly controlled by various governments. Their existence would also be common knowledge. If the superheroes tried to stage a coup, meanwhile, the government would make more superheroes to fight them while also developing other countermeasures (The Boys comic gets pretty close to what I think would happen – superpowered CIA operatives).

The alternative to ‘superpower pharmaceuticals’ within the Realistic Superhero genre is for superpowers to emerge naturally. This is the case in most superhero media; there’s often a recessive gene or something that allows people to develop powers in response to a stressful or life-threatening situation. Personally, I prefer this ‘natural and random’ explanation to the ‘engineered artificial’ superpowers. Because where artificial powers (under government control) would primarily maintain existing power hierarchies, natural and random powers would pose an inherent threat to those hierarchies. You can tell an interesting story about artificial powers, and The Boys does. But a story about an encroaching superpowered popular revolution and the desperate attempts of the conventionally powerful to stop or delay it is a story I want to see. The X-Men actually gets reasonably close to what I think real life superheroes would be like, but not completely.

In practice, there would likely be a few broad groups of superpowered individuals (with several sub-groups). First are the heroes. In The Boys comic and show, superheroes are narcissistic and incompetent amateurs who work in corporate-backed teams and get treated as celebrities. This would absolutely happen in real life. Wealthy people would spend a fortune learning who was born with superpowers and would then raise them as celebrities, because superpeople won’t be a threat to the system if they become beneficiaries of the system. In The Boys TV show, superheroes routinely star in big blockbuster movies (presumably a reference to the MCU). I don’t think this particular point would happen in real life, it would effectively require the superheroes to have two full-time jobs, but some superheroes would probably have reality TV shows. There would also be brand deals and publicity stunts. Beyond this, my one change to The Boys’ depiction of superheroes is that various governments would maintain their own teams of actually competent superheroes (like the Guardians of the Globe in Invincible). There would likely be some rivalry between celebrity heroes and government heroes. But, for protecting the status quo, the media would label them all as heroes.

Still, some superpowered individuals would fall through the net and fail to be identified by governments and wealthy people alike. Organised crime groups would likely hire a few. But many, similar to the X-Men, would genuinely try to use their powers for good and these would be the villains! That is, anyone who used their powers to challenge the injustices of existing power hierarchies would be labelled by those hierarchies (and the media companies they own) as supervillains. This is the group I’m primarily interested in when I talk about the superpowered revolution. Although, this group would almost certainly be split along ideological lines. Regardless, I think in real life the ‘heroes’ would be the super individuals who protected the rich and the ‘villains’ would be the super individuals who dared to question them. At least according to media. Similar characterisations have, no doubt, been done before (the X-Men come to mind again), but it still is, I think, the key to a Realistic Superhero story.

I could say more about this, but I want to keep it short. I reckon that one day I might try to write my own Realistic Superhero story, but for now, I’m going to go watch The Boys again.

-Dexter