The Boys is an original Amazon Prime series that seems to ask a simple question: "What if superheroes actually existed in today's world?"
This is a fantastic premise for a new take on the superhero genre!
There is a built-in flaw to superhero shows, as well as some fantasy and sci-fi genre movies. If there are no rules in place and no connection to the life that regular people live and see all around them, then ultimately the shows boil down to pure escapism and spectacle, where bigger and bigger extravaganzas of explosions, superpowers, fireballs, magic space crystals, tentacles, or whatever are needed to entertain. It's what leads to the More Is More extremes of Thor's flying caterpillar pooping out flying killer robots, or whatever was going on in the "everyone you've ever heard of and them some vs. Thanos" movies. It's also why humans have to always rebuild Tokyo, NYC, and LA fast AF because they get obliterated every few months. From a visual standpoint, this can be pretty entertaining, but from a narrative standpoint, 4 seconds per character leaves something to be desired.
I'm not advocating that every sci-fi movie should be like The Martian where we watch a guy grow potatoes for 3 hours, but it is the restrictions and rules that you place on genre fiction that makes it magical to watch or read.
The Boys puts superheroes in today's world of self-obsessed influencers and frighteningly powerful corporations. Superheroes become celebrities working for The Man, driven by PR, personal branding, and grim bottom line profit motives.
This fascinating premise follows its logic to reasonable yet surprising conclusions. I won't give away any spoilers, but just think about what creative writers would do with two ideas. 1. We let celebrities and rich people get away with all sorts of horrible shit already...imagine what they could get away with if they shot lasers from their eyes. 2. Imagine that as powerful as these superheroes are they are still nothing without their marketing and corporate sponsors. I think you can see how many cool possibilities there are for the psychological lives of the characters to go beyond the well-worn superhero ruminations on power, rivalries, and childhood traumas.
The Boys is sort of outrageous across the board. Outrageous humor. Outrageous explosions and violence. Outrageous superhero names (there is a character whose name is, and I am not making this up, Mother's Milk. I mean, what's not to love?). You see how even fairly sympathetic superheroes are tempted to abuse their powers, and how good ones may be corrupted by the system.
I encourage you to check it out if you have access to Amazon Prime - the first season in particular is such a fresh take that I think you will wish all superhero shows would bring a little more cynical realism to the genre. Far from reducing the magic, it enhances the impact and appeal.