The Boys: These Episodes of Animated Series Diabolical Are Canon for Season 3

The Boys Presents: Diabolical is now streaming on Prime Video with the eight-episode anthology series comprised of animated shorts allowing viewers to further explore the universe of The Boys through these different stories set in the same world, but not necessarily directly connecting to the wildly popular live-action series. However, while most of the episodes of The Boys Presents: Diabolical are just stories in the larger setting, there are a couple that serve as actual canon for the upcoming third season of the live-action series — and they may not be the ones you think.

According to The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke, the finale episode of Diabolical is definitely canon for Season 3. The episode, “One Plus One Equals Two”, centers on Homelander (Antony Starr) and his introduction into the Seven. Particularly, the episode focuses on his relationship with Black Noir and how it was forged when the pair cover up an accidental massacre during one of Homelander’s first outings. According to Kripke, the episode, written by Diabolical showrunner Simon Racioppa, turned out so well that it is now canon for the backstory of the two Supes, particularly Homelander.

“The finale is canon, yeah.” Kripke told Variety. “I thought he did such a good job with it. I don’t think we had any specific plans going in for it to for sure be canon. But he just did such a good job writing and directing it, that watching it, I was like, ‘This is for sure what happened.’ There is a certain amount of background setup of really understanding the relationship between Homelander and Black Noir and giving us a deeper understanding before Season 3.”

While that episode may have been an obvious one to serve as The Boys canon, it’s another episode that will have canonical ties that fans may not have expected. That episode is “An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents”. Written by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, the episode sees some reject Supes, upon finding out the truth about Vought, decide to go murder the parents that rejected and abandoned them. According to Kripke, the episode isn’t genuine canon in the same way “One Plus One Equals Two” is but there will be an unexpected tie to Season 3.

“Weirdly, even though it’s not at all canon, obviously, I’ll tease that there’s this kind of unexpected tie-in between Roiland’s episode and Season 3,” Kripke said. “But in a way that I won’t give away. And Roiland’s isn’t canon at all, but there is a connection, and you’ll see.”

The Boys Presents: Diabolical is now streaming on Prime Video. The third season of The Boys premieres on Friday, Jun 3 on Prime Video.