When it comes to giving viewers things to talk about, The Boys is often unparalleled, with Season 4 already giving us a nude clone fight, sex inspired by repeated Supe lobotomies, and one of Simon Pegg’s most upsetting career performances. But despite how it may seem, the show’s highlights don’t always involve genitals or impressive blood spatter. For example, Season 4’s "Beware the Jabberwock, My Son" hilariously brought in Vought’s riff on Disney’s D23 expo, right down to an expansive graphic showcasing a wide array of upcoming (fictional) films and phases within the MCU-esque Vought Cinematic Universe.
To be expected, the next four Phases of VCU content are packed with a bizarre assortment of superhero projects that easily outnumbers Marvel’s and DC’s output, though I guess Vought was smart enough not to add dates to anything. From the Oscar bait origin story Training A-Train, which earned The Boys a cameo from Will Ferrell that Eric Kripke told us about, to the movie that introduces the mega-team’s new lineup, The Seven Reborn, it’s a doozie of a faux movie slate, even more so for fans of The Boys comic book.
Specifically, there are two comic references that are fairly prevalent on this list that would make for fantastic limited-run spinoffs, or even just standalone episodes in the fifth and final season. Let’s take a look under the cape and cowl.
The G-Men
In the live-action world of The Boys, The G-Men obviously do exist in some kind of capacity, as proven by the canonical feature G-Men: World War, which Madilyn Sitwell brought up during a Vought conference in Season 1. Elsewhere that season, a news report is shown referring to a supe scandal being called #G-Too, without any big details revealed about what that incident referred to.
But is it possible the imagery above is hinting at more on the way from the sordid comic book squad that is a loose parody of Marvel’s X-Men? After all, a feature appears in three different Phases — G2, G3 and G-Men: Days Past from the Future — so perhaps that build-up of attention will tie into a revamped version of the group being introduced. Or maybe Eric Kripke & Co. will figure out a way to dedicate a separate project to one of the source material’s biggest superhero groups.
Of course, the G-Men are also one of the most depraved and fucked-up groups in all of comic books, much less superhero-filled titles. The group began when John Godolkin — he who founded the university that fans will return to for Gen V Season 2 — kidnapped and subsequently abused and spoiled the shit out of six children, injecting them with V and turning them into the first wave of the G-Men, with members including Nubia, Silver Kincaid, Groundhawk, Five-Oh, The Devine, and Critter.
As a more homegrown version of the superhero archetype, as opposed to the godlike beings in The Seven and Payback, the G-Men quickly gained the population’s support, sympathy, and money, to the point where Godolkin continued the youthful pattern by creating various (and usually younger) G-spinoffs such as G-Style, G-Wiz, G-Coast, G-Brits, and the super-young team Pre-Wiz.
In the comics, The Boys got involved with the group after the death of one of their members, kicking off an investigation that included Hughie joining the G-Wiz under a false persona. Given the way things are heading, with Season 5 meant to really pull everything into the Butcher Vs. Homelander battle, it’s not likely we’ll see the G-Men introduced in the same way, which is why I’m hopeful for a tweaked version of events to get a spinoff special or more.
Teenage Kix
Like the G-Men, the group Teenage Kix served as a parody of other comic book groups, though in this case sent up teen-based factions such as Teen Titans, Young Avengers or even Banshee and Emma Frost’s Generation X squad. And it’s honestly hard to tell whether or not the teens or the adults are the more depraved age group in Garth Ennis and Darick Robinson’s twisted world, which is why we like it.
The live-action version of The Boys, available with an Amazon Prime subscription, has only introduced former members in the form of Season 1’s quickly dispatched Popclaw and former child actor Mesmer (who also appeared in Gen V), as well as Season 4’s Sister Sage, though A-Train made it sound like it was more of a fleeting partnership. Curiously, Jetstreak was mentioned in Season 4 as being a current member, which is possibly why Teenage Kix are showing up for a trio of mocked-up features subtitled Home for Kwanzaa, Ditch Day!, and Sex-Ed.
I know we may never see any of those fake movies in full, but it would be fantastic to get some kind of late ‘90s pastiche episode/spinoff/special that tells the backstory of Teenage Kix, whose comic team featured the aptly named Blarney Cock and DogKnott. The group engaged in frequent orgies and other forms of hedonism, which would likely need to get toned down just a tad for TV, but I have faith in Eric Kripke being able to take teen characters to their most debaucherous extremes. Gen V set the perfect benchmark in that way.
If nothing else, I would truly love to see Teenage Kix leader Big Game showing up on The Boys, as he was the comic’s closest analogy to Nightwing, which would make for some fun live-action moments. Especially if the show’s Tek Knight is an example, since I adore Derek Wilson’s Batman-spoofing portrayal as much as can be. Maybe Big Game could even show up in the TK-centric Episode 6, but I dare not dream such dreams.
New episodes of The Boys are available to stream on Thursdays on Prime Video. Head to our 2024 TV schedule to see what else is popping up on the small screen soon.
