The following article contains spoilers for The Boys Season 3, Episode 3, “Barbary Coast,” streaming now on Prime Video.
Season 3 of The Boys opens with one of the most typical follow-ups for a sequel season: a timeskip. Pushing forwards almost a year, it has Hughie working as a high-ranking official of the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. The Boys work under him to crack down on supes as unofficial enforcers, with a new office in the Flatiron Building and a decidedly less lethal approach to handling their prey. The first episode also introduces “V-24,” a fast-acting and temporary version of Compound V, the drug that gives supes their powers.
But despite all these changes, The season’s first few episodes almost feel like a throwback to the status quo of the comics. The Boys served a similar role there, roughing up supes who strayed too far from the Cold War between Vought and the United States secret intelligence services. Their office was even in the very same Flatiron Building. They also had V-24 from the very beginning, which served as the comic’s explanation for why they weren’t instantly pulverized by the almost god-like capes.
The Boys changing these elements up with its first season made sense at the time. It wanted to depict the Boys as scrappy underdogs, constantly in danger and surviving only by their wits and a generous helping of luck. They had to earn their Cold War-esque stalemate over the last few seasons, and even that seems like a fragile construct unlikely to survive for very long. The introduction of V-24 serves its own dual purpose, signaling Vought’s future intentions while also acting as a devil’s bargain for Butcher.
But the push towards the comic’s status quo isn’t just about an altered dynamic. It also lets the show borrow from some of its source material’s original storylines. Take for example, the introduction of congresswoman Victoria Neuman last season. While the character seems a world apart from her counterpart in the comics, Season 3 reveals that she fills a similar role. She’s secretly working for Vought, and represents their eventual end-run around the obstacle presented by American government.
In the comics this was done by getting Neuman into the White House as the vice-president to “Dakota Bob.” Bob has been absent from the show up until now, and Season 3 introduces him as a senator running for president. By using the comics as a roadmap, it seems quite likely that he’ll pick Neuman as his running mate, and that once he’s in office she’ll assassinate him. This would represent an absolute victory for Vought, if not for one fly in the ointment: Homelander.
Vought’s victory in the comics coincides with Homelander going on a massive killing spree, and his increasing instability in the show points in the same direction. Episode 3 of the season even has him give a threatening monologue to Starlight where he indicates his willingness to do so, saying that if she continues to try to blackmail him he’ll “wipe New York off the fucking map.” That same episode also advances the Boys’ quest to find a way to kill Homelander, interrogating Mallory on how Soldier Boy died and ending with a resolution to fly to Russia.
The comics had the Boys find a way to kill powerful supes in Russia, as the show once again draws inspiration from its predecessor. In that case, it was Little Nina who held the key to superhuman downfall: a modified form of Compound V that, if ingested, could cause supes to explode. The show seems to be taking a different tack, as Soldier Boy was killed by “some sort of gun or weapon.” But the destination is the same, as the Boys bundle up for a trip to Russia in hopes of finding a way to end Homelander before it’s too late.
To see if The Boys continues to draw from the comics, new episodes are available Fridays on Prime Video.