Last August, a special announcement was made about Amazon Studios’ The Boys, shortly following the exciting confirmation of the show’s season 3 renewal. Fans learned — via a cheeky Instagram post — that Supernatural‘s Jensen Ackles was slated to join the cast of the superhero series in its third season. Showrunner Eric Kripke has included quite a few alums from his past projects in The Boys already, and so this announcement was a promising balm for Dean Winchester fans in light of the end of the aforementioned The CW series.
Ackles is primed to join the ranks of the diabolical Supes, as he will be taking on the role of Soldier Boy. In the comics, Soldier Boy — who’s akin to a spoof of Captain America — is the leader of a team called Payback (think The Seven, but Great Value brand!). His mantle has functioned as a legacy title, meaning that there were several Soldier Boys over the years, so it remains to be seen if and how this will factor into the show. Thus far, we’ve heard Stan Edgar make mention of the character’s exploits in the 1940s during a season 2 conversation with Homelander. Furthermore, according to Kripke, it appears that we can expect the live-action Soldier Boy to be a much darker version of the man found on the pages of the comics.
Fans have been eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of Ackles in the Soldier Boy suit, which has been teased time and time again by the cast and crew on social media. Up until now, we’ve seen but a snippet of Ackles “in character” as Soldier Boy in the humorous The Boys PSA video released last October.
But today, our collective patience has finally paid off after a shield-esque teaser yesterday afternoon. We now finally have our first official look at Ackles in all of his Supe glory!
The Boys is based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and it’s set in a world where superheroes exist. The catch? Most of them are dicks. Many of the worst can be found among the celebrity dream team The Seven, who are controlled by the secretly villainous corporation Vought. The Boys, on the other hand, are a ragtag group of wayward vigilantes fighting to take down the Supes and Vought once and for all (if they don’t die trying, that is).
Season 2 saw the arrival of a gender-swapped version of a villain from the comics, Stormfront, who also happens to be member of Payback as well. We’ve met or heard mention of several other members of the team on the show thus far, too, such as Eagle the Archer, Tek Knight, and Crimson Countess. Season 3 will explore the history of Payback and its members, and the title of the first episode of the season aptly shares its name with the aforementioned team.
The Boys stars Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Jack Quaid, Laz Alonso, Erin Moriarty, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, and more.
Season 3 of The Boys is currently in production in and around Toronto, Ontario. The planned release date is currently unknown, but you can stream seasons 1 and 2 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video now. In the meantime, make sure to check out our ranking of Billy Butcher’s shirts and review of his most diabolical one-liners from season 1. You can also brush up on all of our season 2 recaps here.
