As the superhero craze dies with a whimper rather than a bang following recent big screen disappointments from both Marvel and DC, there’s a certain delicious irony that The Boys, a series predicated on tearing down the myth of the masked vigilante, is still going strong, with the fourth season almost upon us.
When is The Boys season 4 being released in New Zealand?
The Boys season 4 is streaming in New Zealand exclusively on Amazon Prime Video from June 13. We’re getting the first three eps then, with the following five dropping weekly.
The Boys: Season 4
What is The Boys season 4 about?
Adapted from the satirical comic series by Garth Ennis (Preacher—go read that!) and Darrick Robertson (Transmetropolitan—go read that, too, because we’re never, ever getting an adaptation), The Boys posits a universe where superheroes are real, but they’re a bunch of narcissistic celebrities barely controlled by massive megacorp Vought International. Luckily, a black ops unit, the titular Boys, led by Karl Urban’s vengeful Billy Butcher, is on had to keep the capes in line, and they’re not averse to employing lethal sanctions as necessary. Our point of view character is “Wee” Hughie (Jack Quaid), who is recruited to squad when his girlfriend is killed by a careless supe.
As for the upcoming season, the official synopsis tells us: “In season four, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.”
The cast of The Boys season 4
Karl Urban is William “Billy” Butcher; Jack “son of Dennis” Quaid is Hughie Campbell; Antony Starr is psychotic Superman expy Homelander; Erin Moriarty is disillusioned idealist Starlight; Jessie T. Usher is super-speedster A-Train; Laz Alonso is powerhouse Marvin T. “Mother’s” Milk; Keran Fukuhara is silent killing machine The Female; Tomer Capone is Gallic goon Frenchie; and Chace Crawford is Aquaman parody The Deep, whose genuinely bizarre character journey is one of the highlights of the series.
Plus we have Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, Cameron Crovetti, Valorie Curry, and Susan Heyward in support. Simon Pegg is returning as Hughie’s dad, which is a cute bit of casting given he was the likeness model for Hughie in the comics, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, no stranger to deconstructionist superhero fare since his turn in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, is appearing in an as-yet-undisclosed role.
The Boys season 4 trailer
Why we’re excited about The Boys season 4
The Boys came along at the exact moment we needed a merciless satire of the whole superhero thing, and in many ways has surpassed its far more controversial source material. Now that cape operas are on the wain, will the series’ satire still sting as sharply? We don’t have an answer, but we’re keen to find out.
