Prime Video’s The Boys is openly based on the world of its source material, but the show highlights some major differences between the two media. With The Boys’ season 5’s ending, the show wrapped up after a long-running story in which the titular group tried to free the world from corrupt Supes. Using the premise of the comic books as a jumping-off point, The Boys’ series finale ended up with some big differences from the former’s conclusion, primarily due to the big differences earlier in the show.
Prime Video’s adaptation is its own unique story that took some liberties with Garth Ennis’ original work. Although it retains the comics’ bloody sense of humor and satirical wit, the series scrapped several storylines, reworked many characters, and created entirely new ones of its own. Gen V, for instance, expands the universe as one of The Boys‘ spin-offs featuring an all-new cast; future shows like Vought Rising, centered on Soldier Boy, one of the most different characters between the show and the comics, will only continue this.
It is worth noting that it would be impossible to list every single change made between The Boys comic books and the TV show. With that in mind, we will solely be focusing on the most major, more meaningful alterations to the characters, plot points, and worldbuilding of the franchise. Be it changes to Homelander’s character, major deaths in The Boys season 5, or more niche world-building alterations, here are the biggest differences between Prime Video’s adaptation of The Boys and its source material.
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All The Boys Use Compound V In The Comics
To begin with, the most immediate change between The Boys and its comic book counterpart is the titular group. In the show, Billy Butcher, Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, and, later, Hughie, are a black ops team working for the CIA, but it is made clear they do not stand a chance against Supes in a fair fight. To them, the heroes are nigh-unstoppable monsters they have to exterminate using brains rather than brawn. Only the aid of Supes like Starlight and Kimiko gives The Boys more of a straight-up chance, especially in the show’s earlier seasons.
In the comics, however, The Boys can go toe-to-toe with any of the Seven thanks to Compound V. All of the characters in the comics have Compound V, and thus, superpowers, in their system at the beginning of the story, save for Hughie, who is later injected by Butcher anyway. This is a massive difference, as it makes the group much more of an underdog team in Prime Video’s The Boys. Although season 3 had Butcher and Hughie taking small doses of Temp-V to give them temporary powers, only the former ended the show with powers.
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Hughie’s Appearance & Supe Relationships
Jack Quaid’s Hughie is introduced to The Boys as a mild-mannered man who wants revenge against A-Train for accidentally killing his girlfriend, Robin. This is about where the similarities between him and his comic book counterpart end. In the comics, Hughie is drawn to look like Simon Pegg, who plays Hughie’s father in Prime Video’s The Boys. To state the obvious, Jack Quaid looks very different as Hughie.
Also, in the show, Hughie’s dramatic relationship with A-Train is dragged out over all five seasons. Eventually, this leads to Hughie forgiving A-Train. In the comics, however, Hughie murders A-Train out of revenge for both Robin’s death and the Supe’s sexual assault of Starlight. In Prime Video’s The Boys, Hughie’s first Supe kill is that of Translucent, putting him on a much different path than that of the comics.
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The Development Of Ryan Butcher
Some of The Boys‘ biggest comic book differences were included as early as season 1, explaining why, eventually, the show’s ending changed, too. One of these earlier differences was the character of Ryan Butcher. The son of Becca Butcher and Homelander, Ryan becomes a big character in The Boys as the only natural-born Supe in the world. Moreover, he has the power to defeat Homelander. As shown in season 5, Ryan is instrumental in doing exactly that on behalf of his mother’s memory.
In The Boys’ comic book story, though, Ryan’s birth is much different. He is born, but quickly attacks Billy, forcing the latter to kill the infant with a table lamp. This foregoes all of the development the Prime Video adaptation gives Ryan in favor of shock factor and violence, something the comic books are known to lean into much more heavily.
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The Fate Of Becca Butcher
Stemming from Ryan’s development, another of The Boys’ biggest differences from its source material is the fate of Butcher’s wife, Becca. In The Boys comic, Becky died after giving birth to Homelander’s baby, leading to the aforementioned moment in which Butcher kills the latter. Her sexual assault and death at the hands of Homelander is what fuels Butcher’s hatred for Supes and begins his quest for revenge. While Becca is assaulted by Homelander in the show and disappears, leading Butcher to think she is dead and begin his vendetta, Prime Video’s adaptation makes a key change to this plot line.
In The Boys series, Becca and Ryan both survive. Vought, led by Madelyn Stillwell, hid Becca and her super-powered child from Homelander. This was both as a means of keeping Homelander under Vought’s control and raising a possible contingency should the company fail to do so. Becca’s survival was a big plot point of The Boys‘ season 1 finale, as well as season 2’s story, leading to Ryan’s increasing importance in the show. Nonetheless, Becca still died in The Boys in the finale of season 2, further fuelling Butcher’s quest.
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Transoceanic Flight 37
This airline disaster was a central plot point in season 1 of The Boys, even returning in season 5, to show how selfish, careless, and corrupt Supes are in this world. After failing to save the hijacked Flight 37, Homelander uses the disaster he caused to advance Vought International’s agenda of contracting superheroes to the military. It is later used by Queen Maeve as a way to control Homelander before Starlight leaks it to the world.
In The Boys comics, a flight disaster is also prevalent, but in a different way. As a satirical story of a different era, the comics had The Seven intercept one of the planes headed for the World Trade Centre during the September 11 attacks. The heroes kill the terrorists but fail miserably at everything else, much like in the show, causing the plane to instead crash into the Brooklyn Bridge. Vought did everything to cover this up to make sure the catastrophe never affected its top assets.
Evidently, the flight and its implications were similar between The Boys‘ comics and the show adaptation, but with one massive central difference.
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The Vought Cinematic Universe Doesn’t Exist
One of the most interesting differences between The Boys show and the comics is how they tackle different eras of superheroes in their satire of the genre. The Boys comics feature characters that are clear parodies of the classic comic book characters of the Marvel and DC universes, warped into twisted and deranged new versions within this darker universe. However, as a result of being made post-MCU and DCEU, The Boys show pokes fun at movie franchises based on superheroes.
Of course, The Boys still parodies Marvel and DC heroes, but these are less parodies of comic book heroes and more parodies of comic book movies and their depiction of classic characters. Vought’s Supes even star in superhero movies of their own origin stories, with jokes about the MCU and Snyder Cut making their way into the series. It has helped the show stand out among the superhero genre by commenting directly on it, while also marking a big difference from the satirical jokes of the comics.
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New Superheroes
A much broader difference between The Boys TV show and its comic book source material is that the former added dozens of new superheroes that are not in the latter. Some of these newcomers are integral to season 1, including Ezekiel, Mesmer, and, surprisingly, Translucent. The same can be said for characters in Gen V, like Marie Moreau, who proved vital to the wider universe. Even a big character like Ashley and her superpowers was invented for the show.
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Madelyn Stillwell’s Character & Homelander Relationship
The Seven may be the most powerful superheroes in the world, but they still have to answer to their boss. Their superior in The Boys comics is James Stillwell: an emotionless and sociopathic corporate executive with nothing but Vought’s welfare in his mind. Looking at The Boys comic books in comparison to the show, the Prime Video series replaces James with two distinct characters: Madelyn Stillwell, The Seven’s handler, and Stan Edgar, Vought’s CEO.
Unlike her counterpart in The Boys comic books, Madelyn Stillwell is more human and vulnerable, showing real fear of Homelander, who eventually murders her despite the two having an incredibly strange relationship. Stillwell often used this relationship, specifically Homelander’s Oedipal complex towards her, to control him. Madelyn may prioritize Vought’s dealings, but she’s not as inhuman as James, or, in the show’s case, Stan, who does whatever to keep Vought afloat.
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The Deep’s Character Arc
Much to Starlight’s horror, her idol, The Deep, The Seven’s meathead version of Aquaman, turned out to be a terrible person who sexually abused her early in The Boys TV show. She later exposes his crimes to the world, leading to him becoming a public outcast and beginning his misguided and self-centered search for redemption, which he ultimately, repeatedly, fails. This makes The Deep a much more pathetic, deplorable character throughout the entirety of The Boys, contrasting with his comic book counterpart.
Firstly, what happened to Starlight did not involve The Deep. In the Garth Ennis version of Starlight’s sexual assault, three other heroes, A-Train, Homelander, and Black Noir, pressured her into oral sex. In the comics, The Deep was actually the most mature, business-savvy, and reasonable of The Seven. He even survives the entire story, the only member of The Seven to do so. His live-action incarnation shares none of these traits, making his origins with Starlight and subsequent journey drastically different.
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Kimiko’s Character
From the beginning of The Boys comics, The Female was the most powerful member of The Boys. As a baby, she accidentally ate some Compound V and became a brutal killing machine. Save for Frenchie, no one understands what she’s thinking, but she can be counted on as The Boys’ main source of muscle from beginning to end.
The Boys show, however, makes perhaps its best change yet with The Female, which began by naming her Kimiko. A silent Supe who only speaks in The Boys season 5, also a big difference from the comics, Kimiko was forced to be a child soldier who was injected with Compound V by her guerrilla-fighting captors of the Shining Light Liberation Army. Inadvertently, she was a byproduct of Vought’s plans to create supervillains, as the company shipped the Supe juice to terrorists to bolster the artificial demand for Supes, which only they can satisfy.
Evidently, the live-action version of The Female is much more fleshed out and given an actual character arc. This was furthered when Kimiko came to the States, where she was found by The Boys. In the show, Frenchie is still her main source of translation, expanding into a deep romantic relationship that only flourishes in the comics right at the end of their journey. This, alongside the deeper storylines, her integral role in the show’s ending, and the consistently great performance of Karen Fukuhara, gives Kimiko a much better role in The Boys TV show compared to that of the comics.