The Boys Characters & Their Marvel and DC Counterparts

Prime Video’s The Boys, based on the Garth Ennis comic of the same name, features a multitude of superheroes. Some are clear parodies of other comic book heroes, while with others the parallels aren’t quite as obvious. Here are The Boys characters and their Marvel and DC counterparts.

Here’s the Marvel and DC Equivalents for The Boys’ Superheroes

Garth Ennis is not a fan of superheroes, and The Boys wasn’t his first pop at the genre. He also wrote The Pro, about a sex worker who gained superpowers, and the one-shot The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe, where… well, you get the idea.

Prime Video’s The Boys series mixes things up a little, particularly where the lesser supes are concerned, but you still spot which Marvel and DC characters might have inspired each superhero. Here’s the rundown on which superhero matches up to which Marvel or DC character, starting with The Seven.

Homelander is Superman

Homelander is Garth Ennis’s take on Superman, DC’s flagship hero, minus all the heroism. Raised in a lab, not on a Kansas farm, he’s the most powerful superhero in The Boys and he absolutely knows it. Marvel’s Hyperion and Sentry may seem similar, but with the blue and red suit, it’s clear where the inspiration came from.

The Deep is Aquaman

The Deep is the show’s jab at DC’s Aquaman, giving him gills and a suspect relationship with an octopus. In the comics his role is relatively minimal and he’s shown in an old-timey diving helmet; here, his outfit more obviously apes Aquaman.

Black Noir is Batman

The Boys takes Batman and splits him in two. Black Noir is the moody, near-silent vigilante, clad all in black, while Tek-Knight, who we meet later, is the Bruce Wayne aspect of the character. There’s a reason Black Noir is quiet in the comics, though in the show it’s largely down to Vought’s marketing.

Translucent is The Invisible Woman

Translucent, who was absent from the comic, is a gender-flipped version of Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Woman, of the Fantastic Four. There are other Marvel and DC characters with invisibility, but Sue Storm is the person most comic fans will come up with.

Queen Maeve is Wonder Woman

The Seven is The Boys’ take on a Justice League analog, and where would the Justice League be without Wonder Woman? That’s where warrior woman Queen Maeve comes in, though she comes off better on-screen than in the comics. In The Boys comic, she’s permanently drunk, having never quite recovered from the failed airliner rescue.

Starlight is Dazzler

Starlight seems to have been inspired by Marvel’s Dazzler, both in terms of her outfit and her powers. And, while she’s no longer part of the original Seven, she got to belt out a song or two.

A-Train is The Flash

A-Train is The Boys’ version of DC’s Flash. You could compare him to Marvel’s Quicksilver, but, unlike that character, A-Train has been painted as a hero from the beginning. His first appearance also answers the question, “What if a speedster didn’t look where they were going?”

Related: The Boys Prequel Featuring Soldier Boy & Stormfront in the Works

Those are The Seven as we’re introduced to them in the first series. The comic also features Jack from Jupiter, a reference to Martian Manhunter, but we only see his name in the show.

So what about some of the other supes and characters in The Boys? Here’s who we reckon their Marvel and DC equivalents are or, in some cases, the characters they’re an amalgam of.

• Billy Butcher – Manchester Black (DC), The Punisher (Marvel)
• Blindspot – Daredevil (Marvel)
• Crimson Countess – Scarlet Witch (Marvel), Firestar (DC)
• Eagle the Archer – Hawkeye (Marvel), Green Arrow (DC)
• Kimiko/The Female – X-23/Lady Deathstrike (Marvel)
• Lamplighter – Pyro (Marvel). In the comics, he was basically Green Lantern (DC).
• Livewire – Electro (Marvel), Livewire (DC)
• Love Sausage – Crimson Dynamo/Mr. Fantastic (Marvel)
• Mesmer – Professor X (Marvel), Doctor Psycho (DC)
• Popclaw – X-23 (Marvel), Scandal Savage (DC)
• Sister Sage – Lex Luthor (DC), Mr. Fantastic (Marvel)
• Soldier Boy – Captain America (Marvel)
• Splinter – Multiple Man (Marvel)
• Stormfront – The Red Skull/Sin (Marvel)
• Tek Knight – Batman/Bruce Wayne (DC), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Marvel)
• Termite – Ant-Man (Marvel)

Firecracker’s absent from that list, but we don’t have to look to DC or Marvel for her. Showrunner Eric Kripke has said that she’s the Marjorie Taylor Greene to Homelander’s Trump.

And those are The Boys characters and their Marvel and DC counterparts.