**Reader Beware: This article contains spoilers to The Boys Season 1, 2 and Diabolical.**
The Boys was originally just a comic book series, written by Garth Ennis. It was initially published by WildStorm (DC Comics). The television series adaptation of The Boys was developed by Eric Kripke, of Supernatural fame, and produced by Seth Rogen, co-founder of Houseplant cannabis, for Amazon Prime Video. It debuted in the Summer of 2019 and remains unlike anything made for mainstream audiences before. The Boys contains all the superhero parodies that serve as an exploration of archetypes that you might see in The Incredibles or The Tick, but with more gore and violence than The Walking Dead. Seth Rogen had adapted another Garth Ennis comic book, Preacher, into a very cool tv series as well that ran for 3 seasons on FX. Preacher was extreme but The Boys dials it up far past 11, so be forewarned. The Boys is set in a fictional reality where superpowered people are recognized as heroes by the general public and work for the powerful corporation Vought International, which markets and monetizes them. Most heroes however, are perverted, arrogant, corrupt, or downright sociopaths. The Boys focuses on 2 groups: the Seven, Vought’s premier superhero team, and the eponymous Boys, the vigilantes whose mission is to bring down Vought and its corrupt superheroes. From here on there will be some spoilers so continue reading at your own risk.
The plot goes something like this: The Seven are led by a violent and narcissistic Superman type called Homelander, and The Boys are led by Billy Butcher, who despises all superpowered people and has a thick cockney accent. Homelander is played creepily well by Anthony Starr, the guy from Banshee and Billy Butcher is played by the always reliable Karl Urban, showing us what The Punisher might look like seen through a Captain Jack Sparrow lens. In the beginning of the series, The Boys are joined by newcomer Hughie Campbell, whose girlfriend is accidentally killed by the drug-addicted speedster member of the Seven named A-Train when he literally runs right through her, while the Seven are joined by Annie January, aka: Starlight, a hopeful young superheroine forced to face the ugly truth about the heroes she grew up admiring. Superpowers in this universe come from a substance called Compound V, a drug originally invented by a nazi scientist and now manufactured by Vought. Hughie and Starlight fall in love, more superheroes, or “supes” as they’re called in the show, are created as well as super villains. Compound V becomes a major plot point and in-universe controversy and characters get killed off a good deal. Unlike Peacemaker, Lucifer or Moon Knight, The Boys doesn’t tie in to any pre established comic book world like properties from DC or Marvel so they have a lot more room for off the rails insanity when it comes to how far off the rails they’re allowed to go when it comes to storytelling. Now in its third season, The Boys has proven very popular and even has an animated mini-series spinoff, The Boys: Diabolical, also available on Prime.
Of course this is Edibles Magazine™ and we always like to highlight any cannabis or related content that makes its way into mainstream entertainment and The Boys has some here and there. On this show it’s a variety of drugs taken on both sides. Compound V gives the supes their powers but it is also used and sometimes abused recreationally, especially by A-Train. Frenchie, the French member of The Boys, often has a joint or cigarette hanging out of his mouth (probably a spliff) and he also takes LSD combined with MDMA (a candy flip) when he gets stressed. You also see Frenchie snorting cocaine occasionally and in a flashback scene he’s using a coffee grinder to make weaponized Xanax. Hughie and Starlight drink beer together, Butcher smokes and drinks, and most important here: Queen Maeve, a Wonder Woman ringer, is seen regularly vaping on a rather large cannabis cartridge pen whenever she’s chilling out by herself. In an Anime inspired episode of The Boys: Diabolical, a young character voiced by the ganja friendly Awkwafina, goes to a street dealer to try and buy twenty dollars worth of marijuana and the transaction gets interrupted by cops and supes. Awkwafina’s character winds up with a vial of Compound V and develops superpowers, powers that allow her to bring poop to life. It’s super ridiculous and she never does get her weed. In another animated episode of Diabolical, The Boys go after OD, voiced by Succession’s Kieran Culkin, a drug dealer who deals directly to the supes, and blackmails him into sabotaging a superhero by giving him a heroin enema spiked with some “purple shit”. There’s also cocaine, adrenochrome and the blood of terminally ill children being sold as a narcotic.
In Season 3 a new variation of Compound V is introduced that gives normal folks superpowers for 24 hours and they’ll also be visiting Herogasm, a drug fueled superhero orgy readers of the comic book will recognize immediately. It’s going to be very interesting to see how that storyline is handled for television audiences. We’ll be watching all of Season 3 at some cannabis infused watch – parties that you’re welcome to join us for remotely.
Check out The Boys on Amazon Prime.
Patrick Ian Moore
