Amazon has something special with "The Boys," a blistering satire that uses superheroes to skewer things like corporate greed, domestic extremism and, of course, Marvel movies. But it's also imitating the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it grows. Amazon has already released an animated anthology show based on "The Boys," and there's a college-themed spinoff on the way.
Can "The Boys" continue to satirize Marvel even as it turns itself into yet another cinematic superhero universe? However different the two properties are, "The Boys" showrunner Eric Kripke thinks there are things to be learned from the MCU. "The one lesson I'd certainly taken away from Marvel and what a brilliant job Kevin Feige does is he busts his ass to not repeat himself," Kripke told Rolling Stone. "Especially in the early days when there weren't quite as many [projects] but each and every hero had a totally different-feeling movie. You go from a World War II movie, to a political thriller, to a John Hughes movie. And so, if anything, what we're trying to do is that. We have an R-rated universe that's sexually explicit. But what's a totally different show that could live in that universe? And it'd be an interesting experiment to see if people like it. I love it, but we'll see if people love it."
