The Boys’ 7 Best Copycat Heroes, Ranked

The Boys TV show was a cultural phenomenon that, after five seasons, finally ended. Released during the height of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s chokehold on the superhero market, this story drew an audience because it didn’t portray superheroes as saviors and defenders, but as selfish, hedonistic jerks who had been corrupted by their own power. Most of the characters were clear analogues to other famous superheroes, which only added to the parody and impact of its cold, often-disgusting direction. Of course, the TV show was based on the comic of the same name, and many, many things were changed in the adaptation.

The Boys comic is what originally imagined these knock-off copycats of famous heroes, and sometimes, the comics did it way better than the show. Today, we’re taking a look at seven of the comic’s best characters that are clear copycats of other established characters, and ranking them by how well they worked. Some of these characters are great spoofs, while others are played much more straight. With all that said, let’s dissect the comic book’s best copycat characters.

7) Jack from Jupiter / Martian Manhunter

Jack from Jupiter’s cover story was that he was an alien refugee, and his power was to conjure an indestructible force field by muttering a word. He’s also a little bit of Captain Marvel, with the magic word and all. He was the most innocuous member of the team, but not because he was a good person. Jack simply wasn’t as terrible as the others, but he didn’t do anything to stop them from pursuing their sick lifestyles, either. Frankly, he’s just kind of pathetic, being a hedonistic jerk above all else.

6) The Deep / Aquaman

The Deep was one of Vought’s many lab-grown supes, with his fabricated backstory being that he was the king of the seas and cursed by Atlantean magic to never remove his diving suit. What makes the Deep interesting is that he’s the member of the Seven that bought his own hype. He was so deep into character that he started to believe he truly was cursed and never actually removed his suit. He genuinely believed in what Vought pursued, even trying to guide A-Train along that same path and being the only member of the Seven to stay with Vought when Homelander attempted his coup. The Deep was perhaps the most consistent member of the team, and his delusion is truly fascinating.

5) Black Noir / Batman

Black Noir, at first, seemed like the Seven’s Batman, being the stealthy ninja. Of course, it was later revealed that he was a clone of Homelander, created to kill the original if he ever went rogue. He was the comic’s true villain, manipulating everything so that he would have the go-ahead to murder Homelander and complete his purpose. This was a shocking, potentially interesting twist with foreshadowing, but while it makes for a very cool villain, it doesn’t play into the Batman packaging very well. Black Noir is only loosely based on Batman, and he only really gets interesting when he completely throws off that comparison, anyway.

4) Queen Maeve / Wonder Woman

Maeve started as the most idealistic of the Seven, looking down on her teammates’ hedonistic lifestyles. However, after their tragic failure to stop 9/11, she slipped into nihilism and alcoholism. She only stayed with the team to fund her lifestyle and out of fear of Homelander, though she eventually grew angry enough to betray the Seven, working with the Boys to bug the Seven’s base. She was more of an anti-hero than straight-up villain, like the rest of the Seven. She wasn’t as evil as the others, instead being disillusioned by her trauma and status as the resident Barbie doll. Her rebellion definitely gave her a new angle, at the very least.

3) Starlight / Mary Marvel

Although it’s most common to compare Starlight to Stargirl, which is definitely fair given her idealism and name, her design and connection to a cult are clearly modeled after Mary Marvel. She was the only true superhero in the Seven, always trying to do the right thing, even as her teammates’ degradation and villainy slowly corrupted her. In the end, she stayed true to her ideals, which makes her unique in the series. Her relationship with Hughie was the source of some of the best tension in the series, and the only true way towards a happy ending. She grew from a sex object and joke into one of the most nuanced characters in the series.

2) Homelander / Superman

In the TV show, Homelander is easily the best character in the show, but in the comic, he’s very different. He’s still a hedonistic, selfish, incredibly corrupt villain who does whatever he wants, but he didn’t start as a loose cannon who tried to take over the world. He started as a pervert who didn’t care about people, sure, but his true descent into madness didn’t start until Black Noir framed him for ever-escalating horrific crimes. Homelander is a look into absolute power corrupting absolutely, but not in the way that anyone expected. For most of his life, he was a menace, but he didn’t become a worldwide threat until he was manipulated into it. Still, Homelander is a monstrous look into what ultimate corporate control could do if they could make their own Superman.

1) Billy Butcher / The Punisher

Garth Ennis dislikes most superheroes, but he’s a very big fan of the Punisher. In the series where he makes fun of practically every hero under the sun, it only makes sense that one of the main characters would be modeled after one of the few Marvel characters he actually likes. Butcher’s past and reason for his endless revenge quest are very much Punisher-coded, right down to how Ennis portrays him as a man too broken to want anything more than revenge. Butcher slowly corrupting the Boys, and Hughie especially, is a central conflict that gradually builds to a fantastic conclusion. Butcher is practically an exact clone of Frank, albeit just a little more hinged, somehow.

Which of The Boys’s copycat characters do you enjoy the most? Leave a Comment below and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!

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