The Boys has developed a reputation for mirroring — and sometimes seemingly forecasting — the strangest moments in US politics.
And there’s been no shortage of those lately.
That uneasy overlap became a real issue with the season four finale, which reportedly came close to being pulled by Amazon because it featured an assassination attempt and was due to air only days after the attempt on Donald Trump’s life.
Speaking at the time, Eric Kripke said: “It created a lot of anxiety because I directed that one. I had a lot of emotional eggs in that basket… All that came back was, ‘Just change the title…'”
So it might not be shocking to hear Kripke suggest the show has brushed up against reality again — this time with season five.
Homelander (Anthony Starr) — the show’s Trump-adjacent villain — has once again found the headlines intruding on the satire, after Trump posted (then quickly deleted) an image depicting himself in a Jesus-like pose.
Eric said: “I am really tired and weary of the world reflecting the show before we get a chance to do it,”
Kripke told Polygon: “I appreciate the marketing. I’m just like, can you just please give us a chance to put some absurd satire out there before you prove that it’s more realistic than we ever intended?”
In The Boys Season 5 episode 3, ‘Every One of You Sons of Bitches’, Homelander experiences a vision of an angelic version of the late Vought International vice president Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue).
In the sequence, Stillwell tells him he’s on the verge of ascending — and that immortality is within reach.
“Who is more loved than Jesus?” she asks. “And why should he have more love than you?”
He continued: “This is the episode where Homelander decides he’s going to be God and 48 hours before it, Trump releases an image of himself as God,
“A month ago when we were talking about marketing, I was like, Homelander saying he’s God is so out there.
“We have to be careful about how we even introduce the idea to the public because they’ll say he’s gone too far and here we are. It’s just really hard to out-satire this world.”
Across the new season, Homelander sets out to manufacture a new American religion, aided by the compromised megachurch leader Oh-Father (Daveed Diggs).
And while Trump is now publicly sparring with the Pope in real life, on The Boys even Oh-Father isn’t powerful enough to stand up to Homelander.