The Boys seemed like a risky proposition for Prime Video, but Eric Kripke somehow managed to convince the streaming service to take a chance on the bloody, made-for-mature-audiences comic book adaptation. The show, based on the comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was about how people with superpowers would almost always turn out to be bad people, and it followed the ordinary men and women who stood up to stop them when they went over the line. Of course, almost no one in The Boys was a good person, and that is what made it such a great series to follow, both in comics and on TV.
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Now, showrunner Eric Kripke, who made his name by creating the fantasy series Supernatural, revealed how he convinced Prime Video to take a chance on The Boys. In a post on X, Kripke shared the season pitch for the series. He starts off by ripping into superheroes and explaining everything wrong with them before revealing what his show would be about. It was perfection.
Eric Kripke Tore Down Superheroes to Tell an Important Story
In his manifesto that Eric Kripke presented to Prime Video, he opens with the profane first paragraph, where he writes “F**k superheroes” and then explains what is wrong with that trope in the first place. He explains these “heroes” have no police or military training, and untrained people with powers would cause “innocent bystanders getting wiped out by the boatload.” He also reveals what The Boys showed, and that is the fact that people with superpowers would become “deviant a**holes.” This plays into the ideas that Ennis and Robertson presented in their comics, as Ennis has long been someone who openly hates the idea of superheroes.
Kripke then said his show would present The Boys as a group of humans who would protect the rest of the world from these superheroes who consider themselves to be gods. He described them as “scruffy UNDERDOGS versus rich, corporate-backed OVERLORDS.” He then said it was “like an early Guy Ritchie movie, meets DEADPOOL, meets INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, meets a Denis Leary rant, meets THE RAID.” He then said if Prime Video was easily offended, they should end the pitch.
While this was how The Boys began, it wasn’t how it ended, as even The Boys became corrupted with power, and only a select few made it out alive. That was where the pitch really hit its stride because Kripke guaranteed this wasn’t a parody, and he said it was about reality. He also promised to deliver a commentary on modern culture with people worshipping politicians, celebrities, athletes, and superheroes to a dangerous level. He finished by writing, “being a hero has f**k all to do with being super.”
The entire series led viewers through moments where the public cheered a villain like Homelander murdering someone who disagreed with him. It led to a giant corporation knowing that people would spend all their money if the heroes they presented were popular enough. It also showed a group of people without powers fighting even their own government to stop these corrupt heroes and save the world, even if that world didn’t want to be saved. There was a lot in the series that showed how corruption can destroy society, and it is that real-world problem Kripke promised from the start that he wanted to tackle.
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