While the rest of the genre suffers diminishing returns, The Boys’ sharp satire of superhero fiction might keep audiences interested.
One of the reasons the moviegoing public has to discuss superhero fatigue is that the people who own all the costumed crime fighters are risk-averse cowards. Trends come and go, but a concept as broad as superheroes should grow and change with time. As the Marvel and DC multiverses struggle to maintain their iron-fisted hold on pop culture, The Boys season four could offer a satirical push toward engaging new horizons for the genre.
The closest recent comparison to superhero fatigue is the zombie craze that consumed pop culture for most of the 2000s and 2010s. Fans of the undead saw them shamble into every medium, tone, and genre a hundred times until they were sick of them. Though they’re considerably less ubiquitous today, zombies never went anywhere. The hoard no longer batters down every door, but the occasional walking corpse wanders onto the screen. If superhero fatigue kills the genre, it won’t stay dead.
The Boys season 4 could address superhero fatigue directly
Since its debut, The Boys has critiqued every element of the superhero genre. Its obvious target was fictional. The show addressed the consistent failure point in stories about optimistic paragons of righteousness. If empowered individuals existed in the capitalist hellscape humanity currently calls home, the show suggests, they wouldn’t be heroes. The supes of The Boys are celebrities with all the worship and terrible behavior that the term implies. Their owners, a global megacorporation called Vought International, are the power behind their untouchable reign of terror. That straightforward satire of the underlying thesis of superhero fiction exists alongside a critique of the studios that create other examples. The Boys‘ in-universe film franchise, Dawn of the Seven, pokes fun at Marvel and DC with hilarious results. Their superhero films, like ours, are soullessly engineered corporate propaganda. In and out of their blockbusters, their satirical take on the genre they occupy remains sharp.
What does superhero fatigue look like in The Boys universe?
As in reality, superheroes are the dominant cultural force in The Boys universe. The average citizen sees them on the news, at the theater, on their phones, local billboards, and everywhere else on any given day. Most are excited to celebrate the figures that seemingly save their world daily. Vought’s bottom line is contingent on the public loving their heroes. However, the ubiquity of superheroes in advertising and entertainment has made them less popular here in the real world.
2023 brought fans three massive blockbusters that outperformed expectations partially because they were unconnected to the dwindling comic book fad. Constant exposure could have the same effect on the audiences in The Boys. As terrible news floods every social media feed and Vought’s corporate narrative suffers constant setbacks, enjoying superheroes will gradually become more challenging. People rarely enjoy having to consider the downside of their hobbies. Though the supes could lose favor, having exhausted their audience into a newfound fatigue, Vought might already have a convenient pivot.
Gen V is the college spin-off that dropped between The Boys season 3 and season 4. One of the show’s central plot threads involves the secret creation of a virus that can infect and kill supes. As the season ends, the virus’s creators are dead. Victoria Neuman, the burgeoning antagonist of the upcoming fourth season, walks away with a sample of the lethal concoction. Neuman ended The Boys season 3 by striking a deal with Homelander. She becomes a promising Vice Presidential candidate while Vought loses its stable leader. Homelander is off his leash, and supes are rising against humanity. The company could soon decide that the supes are more trouble than they’re worth, changing the narrative to shy away from superheroes.
What else does The Boys Season 4 need to address?
The obvious target for The Boys season 4 is the omnipresent multiverse concept. That’s not to say that The Boys should introduce alternate realities, but that its targets keep falling back on the idea. The series can poke fun at the comical panic every cinematic universe demonstrates by expanding into new dimensions. It can also pull strings and mock the constant need to bring back old performers. They could reintroduce heroes from earlier eras who are old and incompetent as a gag at the expense of The Flash’s CGI cameos or Marvel’s potential plan to resurrect Tony Stark. They’ve taken on studio drama and complicated behavior before, so they’ll likely incorporate some commentary surrounding Johnathan Majors’ situation. Every season of The Boys has a target-rich environment.
The Boys season 4 might not fix superhero fatigue, but it will likely offer a pressure valve to allow fans to make fun of it. There’s something cathartic in seeing the fans’ frustrations born out through another example of the material. The Boys season 4 can wink at its audience, admitting to being part of superhero fatigue while offering the only suitable avenue to address it. Maybe fans will soon become as sick of supes as Billy Butcher, but at least he’s prepared to do something about it.
