The Boys: 10 R-Rated Fights From The Comics That Can Never Air on TV
Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Boys!Any fan of Amazon’s The Boys knows that the show has gotten away with a lot of fight scenes that are bloody, brutal, and just plain cringe-inducing. However, some moments from the source material go further than the live-action show would ever dream.
From the very first issue, The Boys’ subversive takedown of the superhero genre is filled with scenes and fights that will have most turning their heads. And while the fan-favorite TV show has done its best to keep the spirit of the comic alive, the following ten moments are simply too over-the-top to ever been adapted faithfully.
The following list contains mentions of graphic deaths.
10 The Boys' Attack on the Maverickz Was Just Bone-Chilling
As Seen In: The Boys #31
The Maverikz aren’t the most well-known team in The Boys, but their fight is certainly one to be remembered. The team is looking to impress Vought-American and is meeting with the Boys to prove their worth. However, Butcher and his squad have come to make the Maverikz’s leader and his team pay for killing a sex worker. The Boys arrive and while the Maverikz have spirit, the fight barely lasts a few seconds.
Butcher beats a Supe with a crowbar while Mother’s Milk and Frenchie hit other Supes with baseball bats. The Female slices off one Supe’s face and takes another one’s hands clean off. Even the normally chill Hughie repeatedly cracks a Supe’s head over and over until stopped by his teammates. A normal day in the Boys’ life, but a shocking fight nonetheless.
9 Hughie's First Fight Was a Shock to Himself and the Reader
As Seen In: The Boys #7
The Boys hits the ground running when it comes to its violent and graphic content, but it’s not until the series’ seventh issue that readers get to see Hughie do some real damage in the middle of a fight. After being juiced up with Compound V, the same chemical that gives Supes their powers, Hughie and his new comrades get in a battle with the teen team, the Teenage Kix. The Boys’ more experienced members fight back against the Supes, but Hughie is a bit reluctant.
However, Hughie is confronted by miscreant hero Blarney Cock. As the Supe throttles Hughie, the young man panics and punches Blarney. But due to Hughie’s newfound strength, he punches a hole straight through Blarney Cock’s stomach. In the show, Hughie is equally out of his depth at the beginning, but the comic has him go through a serious trial by fire.
8 The Boys Curbstomping Stormfront Was More Brutal in the Comic
As Seen In: The Boys #34
To be fair, this is a moment that was presented in the Amazon series, specifically the finale of Season 2, “What I Know”. But the moment that the Boys brutally beat down Stormfront is so much more vicious than the “Girls Get It Done” moment in the show. In The Boys #34, Stormfront’s attempt to kill Billy Butcher is squashed when he’s ambushed by Mother’s Milk, who cracks him in the back of the skull with a baseball bat. But that’s just the beginning of Stormfront’s final, painful moments.
The Boys take turns whacking him with blunt objects before Russian hero Love Sausage joins in, knocking Stormfront out cold. Hughie watches aghast as Butcher, Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, and Love Sausage curbstomp Stormfront’s body until he’s dead. It’s violent, unpleasant, and honestly, very stomach-turning to watch, but if anyone deserves it, it’s Stormfront.
7 Female Eviscerated the Children of Stormfront
As Seen In: The Boys: Dead Becky #4
The Boys: Dear Becky was a follow-up miniseries that shed some light on unseen adventures during the titular team’s heyday. Midway through the series, a group known as the Children of Stormfront are sent to take out Billy Butcher. While nowhere near as powerful as the Supe that inspired their group name, they’re an intimidating bunch. But none of them are a match for the Boys' secret weapon, the Female.
In the fourth issue, the Female bludgeons one with an air conditioner and tears a hole in his chest. She then snaps the neck of another member before throwing his body at a third, breaking his back. All the while, Butcher intimidates the team’s leader. While it's far from the most violent attack seen in The Boys’ franchise, it's definitely a shocking and powerful fight.
6 Butcher Stalked and Killed Payback Like Animals
As Seen In: The Boys #33
While Payback isn’t taken as seriously as the Seven in The Boys, they were tasked with the major responsibility of killing Butcher for Vought-American. In The Boys #33, Stormfront, Soldier Boy, Mind-Droid, and Swatto arrive in a warehouse to kill Butcher, but he’s waiting for them and blinds Stormfront with shattered glass, causing the most powerful member to hightail it. Solider Boy tries to retreat, but Mind-Droid insists that they can take Butcher.
Unfortunately for them, Swatto is taken out under the cover of darkness, as Butcher drives a pickaxe through his mouth. As the remaining two panic, Butcher sneaks up and clobbers them with a shovel. Butcher decapitates Mind-Droid and takes Soldier Boy hostage to interrogate him about Vought-American, only to kill him off later. It’s an effective and tense fight that’s as tense as it is gruesome.
5 The Original Payback's Deaths Were Also More Horrifying in the Comic
As Seen In: The Boys #53
The fates of the modern-day Payback pale in comparison to what the very first incarnation went through. The Boys #53 reveals the first Payback team (originally known as The Avenging Squad) was created by Vought to assist Western efforts during World War II. While the team is affable and eager to help the soldiers to victory, their lack of real experience in the field results in a series of deadly events. Eagle the Archer, is spotted as he’s flying by German soldiers, who track him down to the American base.
Numerous soldiers and Supes are riddled with bullets. Several are blown up by explosives, and Eagle the archer flies straight into the propellers of an American plane. Soldier Boy survived, albeit mutilated by the attack, and he was killed by the future Boys’ leader, Greg Mallory. While elements of this event were adapted in the show’s third season, it was nowhere near as brutal as the comics.
4 Butcher Literally Roasted Malchemical
As Seen In: The Boys #43
One character the show has yet to introduce is Malchemical, a demented and predatory version of the beloved hero Metamorpho. Following being booted from Team Titans, Malchemical is reassigned the friendly and naive crew of Supes, Super Duper. The Boys have Hughie infiltrate the team to observe and gain intel on Malchemical, only to discover how devious the Supe actually was. In The Boys #43, Malchemical attempts to assault his teammates, causing Hughie to step in.
Despite his best intentions, Hughie is woefully outmatched by Malchemical, who lashes at Hughie with spiked tentacles. However, while shape-shifting, Malchemical turns into a gaseous state just as Butcher comes in, who uses his lighter to ignite Malchemical. It’s a harrowing scene and one that’s just a little too perturbing to be seen in The Boys' television adaptation.
3 Frenchie and Female Ripped Team Titanic to Shreds
As Seen In: The Boys #63
Team Titanic is a lesser-known superhero team that lampoons the fan-favorite heroes, the Titans. In The Boys’ universe, they’re a bunch of former sidekicks who have aged out of their place in the company. However, in The Boys #63, James Stillwell has Team Titanic protect himself and Jessica Bradley. But the team is woefully unprepared when their hiding place is infiltrated by Frenchie and the Female, who massacre nearly the entire team without breaking a sweat.
The duo easily tear through the Supes, ripping off one’s head while breaking another one’s neck. Frenchie does suffer his own loss by losing his right arm. But the Female avenges her comrade by pulling out one Supe’s rib cage. It’s a gruesome battle that ends with blood and viscera spread everywhere, far too much for even The Boys’ live-action adaptation to show.
2 Vought-American Eliminated the G-Men Without Prejudice
As Seen In: The Boys #29
The G-Men, The Boys’ extremely wild take on the X-Men, is known for a lot of things in the story, particularly the actions of their criminal leader, John Godolkin. But one of the most extreme and violent deaths in the series comes at the end of the “We Gotta Go Now” arc. In The Boys #29, Vought-American has had it with Godolkin and his increasing instability, including his desire to keep reanimating G-Men for his own uses.
Stillwell arrives with military contractors, Red River, and the G-Men stand down, thinking they’re there to deal with the Boys. However, the soldiers open fire and massacre every single G-Men member, along with Godolkin. Stillwell also has several young G-Men recruits no older than kindergartners killed to keep Godolkin’s actions a secret. The entire arc as well as its shocking twists have yet to be adapted in The Boys’ franchise (and for good reason).
1 The Show Simply Couldn't Adapt How Butcher Handled Becca's Child
As Seen In: The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #4
One of the biggest changes in the live-action show was how it handled Butcher’s wife Becca. In the show, Becca is assaulted by Homelander and becomes pregnant with his child, later giving birth to a boy she raises in secret. This is a major deviation from the comic, where Becca died much earlier in the series’ timeline, and Butcher's wife was actually killed by her superhuman offspring.
In The Boys: Butcher, Backer, Candlestickmaker #4, Billy wakes up one night to discover Becca is dead, killed by the Supe fetus that has torn itself from her body. Butcher barely has time to react before the fetus attacks him with laser vision, forcing The Boys' leader to beat it to death with a lamp. The show rarely balks from violent scenes, but this one was way too dark to ever be adapted 1:1.
The Boys
- Created by
- Eric Kripke, Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson
- First TV Show
- The Boys
- Latest TV Show
- Gen V
- Upcoming TV Shows
- The Boys, Gen V
- First Episode Air Date
- July 26, 2019
- Cast
- Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Jensen Ackles
The Boys franchise is a satirical and dark superhero series based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. It explores a world where superheroes, or "Supes," are corrupt, violent, and morally bankrupt, all controlled by the powerful corporation Vought International. The story centers around two opposing groups: The Boys, a vigilante team aiming to expose and defeat the corrupt heroes, and The Seven, Vought's elite team of Supes led by the ruthless Homelander.
