Watchmen and The Boys: A Comparison and Analysis of the Superhero Satires, Part 1
/Over the summer, I watched a new Amazon TV series called The Boys. Having never heard of the show, or the Dynamite comic book series that it was named after, I was both shocked and impressed with how adult and dark the themes were. I had never seen anything quite like this before.
However, one thing I did notice was the show’s similarities to another famous graphic novel, Watchmen. In fact, the day after I had finished watching the show, I decided to go back and revisit Watchmen. To do this, I both re-watched the movie and re-read the Graphic Novel. As I delved back into Alan Moore's world of costumed conspiracies and masked outlaws, I thought about the similarities between these two stories and, after finishing with Watchmen, I decided that I would like to do a comparison of these two stories.
That leads us to where we are now. With this in mind, I went to the nearest bookstore and purchased volume 1 of The Boys. Since there is a lot of ground to cover, this will be part one of my comparison of these two stories. With that said, let's jump into this analysis of superhero satire. Also, minor spoilers ahead if you haven’t read or watched either story.
Short Summaries
Before I get started, here is a quick summary of each story without giving too much away.
Watchmen
Image via Source. Image courtesy of comicsbeat.com. Art by Dan Gibbons. Published by DC Comics.
The year is 1985, and the golden age of costumed crime fighters is at an end. Masked heroes and vigilantes are outlaws, and the world stands on the brink of World War 3. When a retired masked crime fighter is brutally murdered in his own home, our protagonist, masked outlaw and vigilante Rorschach, launches an investigation into the former hero’s death. As shocking secrets and old rivalries are brought into the spotlight, Rorschach comes to suspect that someone is targeting former costumed heroes and is determined to find the person responsible, no matter what the cost.
The Boys
Image via Source. Image courtesy of Screencrush.com, Art by Darick Robertson. Published by Dynamite Entertainment.
In a world where superheroes are controlled as much by their own greed, vices and corruption as by the corporations that own and control them, someone needs to keep the “Supes” in line. When our protagonist Hughie witnesses the accidental death of his girlfriend Robin at the hands of super-powered speedster A-Train, he is set on a path that leads him to meet Billy Butcher, the leader of a secret, government backed team of people dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous power in the world: Superpower.
Similarities
Both Watchmen and The Boys have the same idea on the surface. Each asks us a question about the validity of the Superheroes we have come to love. Whether it’s Marvel Characters like Captain America, Spider-Man or X-Men… or DC characters like Batman, Wonder Woman or Superman, all these superheroes still act largely the same. Despite the vast differences in character, they all tend to do the right thing when the chips are down.
Another part of the worlds that these characters live in that is rarely explored is how the ordinary people of these worlds raise up these heroes on a pedestal, trusting and depending on them to protect and defend their interests.
What both stories do is break down this belief that superheroes know what's best. To be fair, characters from both Marvel and DC have flaws, occasionally doing bad things or making mistakes. However, at the end of the day, they are still that: heroes. While there is nothing wrong with this depiction of superheroes, it is still refreshing to see new takes on what characters like this could be like. The two stories each address some of the same base issues with superheroes in a “real” setting.
The worlds that each of these stories take place in have a few things in common. In both stories, the history of the world has progressed differently due to the presence of Superheroes. In Watchmen, for example, due to the presence of Doctor Manhattan and other “heroes”, the U.S. wins the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal is never uncovered and Nixon gets elected for a third term. In The Boys, superheroes are part of celebrity culture and the government is considering using superheroes in the Military, which would privatize warfare. Each narrative does its best to flesh out the worlds that these characters live in.
The Seven of The Boys. Image via Source. Image courtesy of comicvine.gamespot.com. Art by Darick Robertson. Published by Dynamite Entertainment.
Another similarity between both is that the characters used within each story are parodies of pre-existing characters from other comic books. In Watchmen, Rorschach is a parody of DC’s The Question, Nite Owl of Batman, and Silk Spectre, Black Canary. In The Boys, the superhero team The Seven is an obvious parody of the Justice League, with several members even serving as parodies of their mainstream counterparts. Homelander is obviously Superman, and Queen Maeve and Black Noir are obviously meant to serve as Wonder Woman and Batman respectively.
The Crimebusters of Watchmen. Image via Source. Image courtesy of comicvine.gamespot.com. Art by Dave Gibbons. Published by DC Comics
So now that we know how these are similar, it is time to observe the differences between them. Stay tuned – I’ll cover this in my next post.
Ryan Trigger
Growing up as a huge fan of comic books, Ryan has read everything from DC and Marvel titles like Batman, Daredevil and Moon Knight to independent titles like Spawn and The Boys. while his knowledge of comic books is vast, he promises to make his posts easy to read.
