The Boys Trailer: Nobodies Take on Corrupt Superheroes in New Amazon Series

Amazon Prime Video has released a full-length trailer for The Boys, its live-action adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic book of the same name, which follows the titular group of vigilantes as they set out to take down corrupt superheroes who have been misusing their outsized celebrity and fame. Karl Urban — best known for appearing in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Star Trek reboot film series — stars in the lead as Billy Butcher, the leader of The Boys, alongside Elisabeth Shue (The Karate Kid), Laz Alonso (Avatar), Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games), Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad), and Tomer Kapon (Fauda).

The Boys trailer opens by setting up “the greatest superhero team the world's ever seen” in The Seven, some of whom clearly seem to be modelled on DC Comics characters, as was the case in the comics. Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) is reminiscent of Wonder Woman, The Homelander (Antony Starr) a parallel to Superman, Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) similar to Batman, A-Train (Jessie Usher) like The Flash, and The Deep (Chace Crawford) its version of Aquaman. It then introduces the aforementioned titular group, and the R-rated violence and humour that feels like a riff on Deadpool in this day and age.

Later in the trailer, Butcher (Urban) extends that flair in a new direction as he uses a Spice Girls analogy to explain to a member of their group who wants to leave: “When they are apart, they are absolute f---ing rubbish. But you put them together, they go and do f---ing Spice Girls. The point is, we need each other, or we are f---ing dead in the water.” The Boys trailer uses that cue to inject the Spice Girls' most well-known song, “Wannabe”, as it moves into a higher gear with a sprinkling of action scenes and a showcase of the myriad powers that The Seven have.

The Boys has been developed by Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen, with the latter two also producing via their banner Point Grey Pictures, alongside Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Television, and Original Film. Goldberg and Rogen also developed Ennis' other comic book series, Preacher, which is due for its fourth and final season later in 2019 on AMC in the US, and on Amazon Prime Video in India.

Here's the official synopsis for The Boys, via Amazon:

“Supes have been committing atrocities, which keep getting swept under the rug because they are revered by the adoring public. Billy Butcher recruits The Boys who have all been wronged by The Seven, the world's most notorious superheroes, to bring them down and stop the corruption. Based on the bestselling comics by Garth Ennis, The Boys is a revenge story where the nobodies take on the somebodies.”

The Boys will release July 26 on Amazon Prime Video worldwide.

Photo Credit: Jan Thijs/Amazon