History YMMV / TheBoys2019

** A-Train's obsession with and taking extreme measures to maintain his position as the fastest man alive (including abusing Compound V) resembles a great deal of how many real-life professional athletes use performance enhancing substances and push their bodies way past what is healthy, trading serious health problems later in life for a medal or new record today. [[spoiler:Him being kicked off The Seven when these health problems impact his performance, with the additional implication that Vought's speedster superheroes regularly burn out from the physical strain of staying on top after a few years, makes the aesop even more apparent.]]

** Season 3 turns this into a direct plot point that Homelander himself realizes. While he starts the season reestablishing himself as a major threat, [[spoiler:a few episodes in, he realizes that Edgar was right and he can't lead Vought, his public approval is plummeting, his lover killed herself (on his "birthday," no less), and the reappearance of Soldier Boy leaves him ''terrified.'' He starts ''crying'' when he considers that he might not be the strongest man anymore and that he really only does want people to love him. Add Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy humiliating him by actually beating him in a fight, and he can't do anything but run away.]]

** [[FauxActionGirl Starlight]]. Despite her introduction showcasing impressive martial arts skills and raw physical power her threats often fizzle out. This is further hampered by her reliance on external electricity to fuel her powers. The show has a tendency of creating situations where she's pitted against demonstrably stronger Supes where she is not even show putting up a fight at least if she is still gonna lose the fight. The audience complained and made a lot of memes about her confrontation with Soldier Boy, where the dramatic build-up suggests an outcome where Starlight could seriously injure him, yet her supposedly powerful attack only manages to push him back a few meter. As of Season 3, she is seen more as a joke and a wasted potential by the fanbase.

** Creator/AnaSani plays crime analyst Anika, who has a bit of a SweetTooth and is rarely seen without some sort of sugary treat. Two years later, she'd end up voicing the title character of ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake: Berry in the Big City'', a series well-known for having characters named after sweets and candy.

** In the comics, Soldier Boy is a fairly irrelevant character with a silly costume. He is also a massive coward with zero combat prowess who mostly just shows up to be degraded and humiliated in some way. In many ways, he's the complete opposite of what makes Jensen Ackles' portrayal of the character so beloved.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The fact that the series is based off a comic is common knowledge, but the show has reached a level of mainstream success and awareness that the comic never came anywhere near.

* HeartwarminginHindsight: In the first episode of season 3, M.M. is celebrating Janine's birthday, which is supe themed, with her dressed up as Starlight. It's uncomfortable at first, especially with Todd dressed as Homelander. However, in later episodes, M.M. and Starlight have become FireForgedFriends, which makes seeing Janine in Starlight's costume a lot more comfortable to watch.

* Creator/AnaSani plays crime analyst Anika, who has a bit of a SweetTooth and is rarely seen without some sort of sugary treat. Two years later, she'd end up voicing the title character of ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake: Berry in the Big City'', a series well-known for having characters named after sweets and candy.

** Despite Stan Edgar's earlier claims, Soldier Boy's true wartime experience was limited to propaganda stunts according to the Legend. Many fans would have liked to see Ben as an bonafide veteran who was either corrupted by Vought, or had less glorious aspects of his exploits covered up in a deconstruction of the mytholigization of the greatest generation. Him having fought for real, being decoratd and celebrated, and then still rejected by his father as a fraud who had to use a "shortcut" would have also been more poignant then if he was rejected for being a simple fraud. Some fans have even tried to utilize ExactWords to reconcile both Legend and Edgar's accounts.

** The reveal that Soldier Boy is a [[spoiler:PhonyVeteran was clearly grafted on solely to make him less likable with no regards to how it fit the rest of the story. Not only does it make absolutely no logical sense (why ''wouldn't'' the Americans use a NighInvulnerable superhuman in battle?), it contradicts both Soldier Boy's behavior (as he shows clear signs of being a combat veteran in how he fights) and everything said about the character before that episode. Most obviously, Stan Edgar outright told Homelander that Soldier Boy slaughtered Nazis by the dozens in World War II back in season 2, with the context of that conversation being ''specifically'' Stan stripping away Vought's PR campaign to tell Homelander the real story. There's absolutely no reason he'd be lying.]][[note]]It is possible that he didn't take part in the beach-landing but instead took part in other operations.[[/note]]

** [[spoiler: Maeve's survival itself]] is one, as no explanation is given as to how she [[spoiler: wasn't killed by either Soldier Boy's explosive blast or the subsequent several hundred feet drop after being DePowered. The only possible explanation is that her SuperToughness didn't fade until after she was safely on the ground, but this is both unaddressed by the episode itself, and inconsistent with previous depictions of the blast's effect which showed it to be instantaneous. It's also inconsistent with the limits of her own SuperToughness in prior scenes, most obviously how she explicitly would've died in the season 1 plane crash according to Homelander,]][[note]][[spoiler:Which is why she abandoned her morals and allowed Homelander to take her to safety rather than staying with the people.]][[/note]][[spoiler:an event that would be nowhere near as intense and concentrated as literally hugging a large bomb.]]

** Originally introduced during a commercial break of a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPy-1PJKWJk&list=PLJRnAM4juQdGt2YW5o1PakVlBTjVsacWI&index=8 January 2022 episode of Vought News Network]] before debuting in the episode 7 of Season 3, The Buster Beaver's Gang quickly gained their own set of fans due to their cute appearance alongside being Black Noir's only true friends. The most notable is [[SweetSheep Black Sheep Chef]], who not only played the role of Black Noir as the animal gang are reenacting Black Noir's past, but is strongly implied to had been Noir's favorite character of the Buster Beaver's Gang. Some fans even wished on a future spinoff series focused on the Buster Beaver's Gang or a potential short for ''WesternAnimation/TheBoysDiabolical''.

** More broadly, the show developed a notable fanbase of "anti-woke" conservatives in its first two seasons in a manner similar to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', largely due to its skewering of WeCare messaging by corporations trying to appear progressive on social issues. Season three, however, made it clear that the show's own politics were rooted in an earnest embrace of social progressivism, and that its satire was aimed more at disingenuous attempts to latch onto these causes than at the causes themselves, as it made the villainous Homelander into an AngryWhiteMan with shades of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. Needless to say, a lot of these right-wing fans were not happy and railed against the show's creative team for making it "too political", even though the show had worn its politics on its sleeve from the start (what with the criticism of anti-gay fundamentalism in the first season or the alt-right in the second).

* PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: The subtle nature of Becca's reaction to seeing Homelander in the season 1 finale, as well as the overall mystery surrounding her disappearance, had fueled strong speculation that Becca had an affair with Homelander, rather than be his victim. Despite WordOfGod, it wasn't until season 2 that such theories were explicitly disproven.

* SalvagedStory: Season 3 in general did a lot to fix many of the complaints of season 2:

** While [[spoiler:the Deep's rape by a fan]] was praised for not being PlayedForLaughs, the scene has not even been ''mentioned'' since that episode, almost making it a BigLippedAlligatorMoment. The incident hasn't played any role in the Deep's story, and it makes the redemption arc he seems to have been setup for in season 2 feel like it went no where.

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: In-universe, Hughie in season two angrily questions why [[spoiler:Frenchie and M.M. want Butcher's leadership when Butcher would have left them to rot in prison when Hughie risked his life to rescue them. Not to mention that it was kind of Butcher's fault that they all became fugitives. (Kimiko opts to stay out of it as a neutral party.) Frenchie and Mother's Milk both say that Hughie is trying his best but lacks the authority to carry out a meaningful long-term plan. Yes, Butcher is unreliable and a toxic influence but he gets results. For what it's worth, Butcher in the next episode admits that Hughie has every right to be angry with him and strives to make up for his past callousness]].

** The superheroes being an allegory for celebrities and the fact that these celebrities were given superpowers as infants can be a lesson about child actors, "Hollywood is not a healthy environment for children and the children who take part in it are only doing it because they have no choice on the matter due to desperation or due to the involvement of their parents.". As adults, these former child actors are shown to be socially maladjusted, mentally scarred, and spoiled rotten from the fame they received at a young age. Mesmer had no value for his daughter and just wanted to get back in the spotlight, A-Train lived in poverty and values money over human life and empathy, Homelander was raised in a lab and has no value for human life, and when Black Noir was a kid, he apparently and accidentally crippled another kid through his powers, not only that, he grew up in a time where racism was expressed more openly and violently and so it also affected his value of human life.

* MemeticPsychopath: A-Train is frequently portrayed in memes as someone ruining various happy couples by killing the girlfriend. Keep in mind that he only killed ''two'' girlfriends in the show itself: Robin Ward (Hughie's girlfriend), and Popclaw (his own girlfriend).

** Soldier Boy, for actually managing to give Homelander a good fight and even coming close to winning (albeit with help from a [[SuperpowersForADay super-powered Butcher and Hughie]]). That, and the fact that he's basically a [[TestosteronePoisoning walking representation of ultra masculinity]] has caused him to jokingly be deemed a total "giga-chad".

** In "Nothing Like it in the World," Hughie and Annie sing along to "We Didn't Start the Fire" during the road trip to investigate Liberty. The name of the album the song comes from? Storm Front.

* ImprovedSecondAttempt: The comics were heavily criticized for subpar writing, the characters not having that much depth, and how overly disgusting it could be, with many believing that Ennis let his extreme hatred towards superheroes blind him from writing a good story. In contrast, the show has been praised by viewers for changing the story of the comic in the TV show with stronger writing, better character arcs and giving the Supes complexity rather than being one-dimensional villains, resulting in the series achieving international success, spawning a franchise and becoming one of the very rare times where the adaptation is ''way better'' than the source material, along with making Homelander [[LoveToHate one of the best villains in television]].

** As several critics have pointed out, this adaptation works better as a condemnation of modern celebrity culture and the intertwining of corporations and politics than one of modern-day superhero franchises. Amusingly, this was also an opinion of many of the readers of [[ComicBook/TheBoys the comics]] who had felt that the satire against superheroes never entirely hit its targets except as a metaphor for celebrity worship and politics. Both Eric Kripke and Seth Rogen later admitted on the aftershow that, aside from using the series as a means to make deconstructionist counterprogramming to all the superhero shows and movies that were being released around the time, the show was made as commentary on various types of celebrities.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Soldier Boy. Partly due to the fact that many of his misdeeds aren't actually shown like with Homelander and Stormfront, and partly due to ''Creator/JensenAckles'' being really handsome and charismatic. Even after clearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, a lot of fans still see him as more of an anti-hero than a villain. It helps that a lot of his unsympathetic moments are shown to be a result of ValuesDissonance, as opposed to Homelander who displays loads of bigotry and toxic masculinity but doesn't have that same excuse. And Soldier Boy ''does'' have some EvilVirtues that Homelander categorically lacks, making it surprisingly easy to root for everyone to just stand aside and let Soldier Boy get rid of Homelander.

* AwesomeEgo: An ''unintentional'' example is Soldier Boy. He was meant to come across as an arrogant, [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] {{Jerkass}}, much like many of the other Supes in the series, but since it's shown he can actually back up some of his boasts as seen in his fight with [[InvincibleVillain Homelander]], and he's played by the [[EvilIsSexy extremely charismatic and handsome]] Creator/JensenAckles, a lot of fans greatly enjoy his overly macho character instead.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Soldier Boy. Partly due to the fact that many of his misdeeds aren't actually shown like with Homelander and Stormfront, and partly due to ''Creator/JensenAckles'' [[EvilIsSexy being really handsome and charismatic]]. Even after clearly crossing the MoralEventHorizon, a lot of fans still see him as more of an anti-hero than a villain. It helps that a lot of his unsympathetic moments are shown to be a result of ValuesDissonance, as opposed to Homelander who displays loads of bigotry and toxic masculinity but doesn't have that same excuse. And Soldier Boy ''does'' have some EvilVirtues that Homelander categorically lacks, making it surprisingly easy to root for everyone to just stand aside and let Soldier Boy get rid of Homelander.

* {{Adorkable}}: While it's still exceedingly rare in such a CrapsackWorld, once Kimiko finally starts to get out of her shell she begins showing a much more fun and quirky side to her. From her childlike fascination with things she never got to experience as a kid, to a love of musicals and her endearing sense of sarcasm, it's really no wonder Frenchie fell so hard for her.

** A lot of the DeconstructiveParody elements rely on the premise of "What if X character was actually evil", with Homelander being an obvious example as one towards Superman. However, Homelander's primary motivation for his evil nature stems from wholly original flaws with his character, namely his need to be loved, rather than corrupting any of Superman's actual personality traits or flaws, making it less a criticism of Superman as a character and more just a VillainWithGoodPublicity supervillain with Superman's powers.[[note]]For example: Homelander basically lived his entire childhood in a lab, whereas Superman was an alien who had a normal family life. A closer deconstruction would be if Homelander was raised by an abusive family who instilled things into him that run counter to Superman's values.[[/note]] This isn't limited to just Homelander, but most of the CorruptedCharacterCopy supes fail to deconstruct any of the original characters' flaws (for instance, rather than deconstruct any of Aquaman's issues, The Deep is a sexual predator, while Maeve, rather than parodying Wonder Woman's HolierThanThou tendencies, is a drunk and depressed washout), instead choosing to just depict most of the characters as depraved narcissistic hedonists. What makes it more shallow is that both Marvel and DC themselves have done a more accurate job deconstructing their own and each other's characters, with "evil Superman" being such an overused plot point [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny fans have actually gotten sick of it]], and pretty much every superhero having an EvilCounterpart (in some cases, multiple), a BadFuture or AlternateUniverse version of them turning evil, or a SketchySuccessor who shows why it's more than just powers that made TheHero who they were.

** Soldier Boy is a deconstruction of the stereotypically toxic, hyper-masculine badass of decades past. While he's more likable than Homelander, and is a genuine badass and quite likable, by today's standards he's an arrogant bigot who shows disdain for anyone that doesn't match his idea of how people, especially fellow men, are "supposed to be like". His domineering attitude also doesn't make him a strong leader, but rather someone who was secretly despised by his team, ''especially'' his supposed girlfriend, one who regularly subjected teammates like Gunpowder and Black Noir to severe physical abuse to assert his "alpha status". Additionally, his unwillingness to show emotional vulnerability, or even admit something is troubling him literally makes him a ticking time bomb, since his radiation blasts are tied to his emotional state, which is a big issue for a person with severe, unaddressed PTSD who self-medicates with various illegal drugs.

* ImprovedSecondAttempt: While the source material of the show was made by Creator/GarthEnnis, it was heavily criticized for how poorly written it was, the characters not having that much depth, and how overly disgusting it can be, with many believing that Ennis let his extreme hatred towards superheroes blind him from writing a good story. The result of this has many seeing the original comic as as ShallowParody that was written by an edgy teenager. In contrast, Creator/EricKripke has been universally praised by the fanbase for changing the story of the comic in the TV show with strong writing, better character arcs and giving the Supes complexity rather than being one-dimensional villains, resulting in the series achieving international success, spawning a franchise and becoming one of the very rare times where the adaptation is ''way better'' than the source material, along with making Homelander [[LoveToHate one of the best villains in television]]. As a result of this, many fans associate the series with Kripke for the reason the series is so memorable.

*** Fans were puzzled by A-Train somehow being able to run perfectly again despite dealing with a debilitating heart condition throughout Season 2. Season 3 brings back his condition to the forefront of his character as, while he can still use his super speed, he risks his heart exploding every time he does so. As a result, he has stopped racing and has to find a new way to be useful to Vought now that his primary contribution is gone. It also clarifies the confusion as to why Vought brought him back when Homelander expressed doubt that A-Train was even in the top twenty of speedsters, namely that they wouldn't have brought him back if it weren't for the bad PR from Stormfront. [[spoiler: This culminates in him suffering a heart attack when he finally uses his super speed to kill Blue Hawk, a heart attack that would have been fatal had Vought not transplanted Blue Hawk's heart into him.]]

* ShallowParody: While '''vastly''' more nuanced than the original comics, the show does have its issues with how it parodies superheroes and superhero media in a manner that oftentimes seems as if they didn't actually engage with the media. The show ''does'' do a good job at parodying the commercialization of the genre and the unfortunate way it's been in the pocket of major corporate interests, but much of the specific depictions of superheroes fall rather flat.

** The show somewhat falls into the same "all superheroes are [[TheFundamentalist Evangelical Christians]]" trap the comic does. As mentioned in the YMMV page for the comics and the DeadUnicornTrope page, fundamentalist Christian characters are largely limited to supervillain entities like the Purifiers and [[TheMoralSubstitute Moral Substitutes]] like ''Series/{{Bibleman}}''; explicitly religious characters tend to be non-Christians, and the few superheroes who ''are'' Christian are liberal and moderate and would likely consider the type of God-is-good equality-is-Satanic MAGA Christian ''The Boys'' is painting superheroes as to be a bunch of heretical bigoted nutjobs driving decent people away from Jesus' teachings.

** [[spoiler: Maeve's survival itself]] is one, as no explanation is given as to how she [[spoiler: wasn't killed by either Soldier Boy's explosive blast or the subsequent several hundred feet drop after being DePowered. The only possible explanation is that her SuperToughness didn't fade until after she was safely on the ground, but this is both unaddressed by the episode itself, and inconsistent with previous depictions of the blast's effect which showed it to be instantaneous. It's also inconsistent with the limits of her own SuperToughness in prior scenes, most obviously how she explicitly would've died in the season 1 plane crash according to Homelander,[[note]]Which is why she abandoned her morals and allowed Homelander to take her to safety rather than staying with the people.[[/note]] an event that would be nowhere near as intense and concentrated as literally hugging a large bomb.]].