The Boys Creator Reveals Twisted Version of The Avengers is Coming in Season Three

As if the casting of Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy wasn’t enough of a clue, The Boys creator and showrunner Eric Kripke made it official today, confirming that the series is going to be bringing their version of The Avengers to life in the next season. The writer/producer on the comic adaptation posted the title page for the season three premiere on social media today, revealing that the title of the episode is “Payback.” For readers of the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic series, this name should sound familiar since it’s the comic book’s team that is a direct parody of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

In the pages of the comic series, Ackles’ Soldier Boy is the eventual leader of the group which also includes several other direct riffs on other Marvel comic heroes, even some that have been referenced in the Amazon series. The other members of Payback are Tek-Knight, a Batman/Iron Man like character that was mentioned in season one; Crimson Countess, a Scarlet Witch analogue that was also teased in previous episodes; Swatto, The Boys version of The Wasp; Mind Droid, The Boys version of The Vision; and Eagle the Archer, a parody of Hawkeye that was played by Langston Kerman in season two.

The comic book version of Payback also included none other than Stormfront, the character played in season two by Aya Cash. Her character never mentioned the team throughout the second season, but considering her history of changing heroic identities and locations throughout the years it’s certainly possible that she could have been on the team at some point; and based on what Kripke has said previously about season three it will be about looking through the history of Vought via Soldier Boy’s many years as a supe.

“I can’t say too much about Soldier Boy, played by Jensen Ackles, except he’s going to be swearing a lot and doing a lot of filthy things,” Kripke said. “There may or may not be a little sex involved, and he’s been around since World War II so he’s sort of this mainstay of Vought and so through him we get to see Vought through the decades. But I’m going to stick with the headline that there’s gonna be sex, violence, and swears.”

He continued, “(Homelander) will be threatened (by Soldier Boy). Soldier Boy is pretty close in power to Homelander and was basically Homelander before Homelander and for a much longer period of time. So I think he is really threatened, not just by his strength but that Soldier Boy really is a huge celebrity in part of America.”

The first two seasons of The Boys are streaming now on Amazon Prime video, with season three tentatively scheduled to begin filming in the first part of 2021.