Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys has become one of the most celebrated comic book adaptations today, but the series could have ended up being a whole trilogy of movies that came out on the big screen.
As it turns out, there was actually a plan to make a whole trilogy based on The Boys around the same time that Iron Man came out; but development didn’t push through, and fans got the show that’s currently streaming on Prime.
According to Rolling Stone, director Adam McKay (The Other Guys, Don’t Look Up) was actually developing an adaptation of The Boys which they were planning to turn into a trilogy of films. Development apparently went as far as a finished screenplay and demo animatics, but it never got the greenlight because it was ‘pre-MCU Hollywood’.
Despite the movie trilogy not getting the greenlight, artist Darick Robertson, who had worked on the comic, says, “I wouldn’t change how it worked out… because the show is amazing. But [McKay] was doing really cool stuff. It just came down to it being 2008, not 2018. I just don’t think they were ready for it yet.”
The original Boys comic came out back in 2006 and ran publication until 2012. It’s not clear what McKay’s plans were for the movies originally, but they probably would have pushed forward with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) playing the part of Hughie. It was by said that Hughie in the comics is actually based off of Pegg in Shaun and Hot Fuzz, but by the time the ball got rolling for the series, Pegg was too old to play the part of the would-be supe killer. As a compromise, Pegg plays Hughie’s dad in the live-action show, and he was asked to voice the part of an alternate Hughie in the animated anthology series The Boys Presents: Diabolical.
As for McKay, he has since moved on to do more serious social commentary movies like Vice and The Big Short, but around the ‘00s, he was the king of raunchy comedies including Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and The Other Guys. No doubt The Boys would have had the same kind of humor and tone, but it probably wouldn’t have been as violent or sexual as the actual show since theatrically released movies tend to prefer that PG-13 rating for maximum audience reach.
Going back to the actual series, the show is considered to be one of the best-reviewed on Amazon’s playlist, and fans love the sharp commentary on actual superhero franchises and ruthless money-hungry companies. The Boys probably wouldn’t have made as big of an impact it had today if it released earlier, but at least producers Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg have managed to release the show at a pop-culture sweet spot.
Some even say that Zack Snyder’s Watchmen could have been a bigger success if it released in the latter 2010s, but it came out in 2009 to mixed reviews. Now people consider it ‘ahead of its time.’
Catch The Boys Season 4 now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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