The Boys is an American superhero streaming television series developed by Eric Kripke for Prime Video. Based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the series follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they fight back against superpowered individuals who abuse their abilities.
The Boys has received critical acclaim for its subversion of traditional superhero tropes, dark humor, social commentary, and graphic violence and sexuality. As a result, the show carries an 18+ age rating due to its frequent profanity, sex, nudity, and extreme violence.
What is The Boys about?
The Boys takes place in a universe where superpowered people are recognized as heroes by the general public and work for the powerful corporation Vought International, which markets and monetizes them. Outside of their heroic personas, most are arrogant and corrupt.
The series primarily focuses on two groups:
- The Boys – A group of vigilantes led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who aim to keep the corrupted heroes under control.
- The Seven – Vought International’s premier superhero team, considered as “the best of the best”.
When a reckless Supe unintentionally kills Hughie Campbell’s (Jack Quaid) girlfriend, he joins forces with the Boys to take down Vought and the Supes.
Why is it rated 18+?
There are several factors that contribute to The Boys’ 18+ age rating:
Extreme graphic violence
The Boys features intense, bloody violence throughout the series. Supes use their powers in creatively grotesque ways to kill and mutilate people. Heads explode, bodies are dismembered, and blood splatters frequently occur.
Strong language
Characters use very strong and coarse language throughout the show. “F***” is used extensively, along with creative combinations of expletives.
Explicit sexual content
The Boys contains nudity and graphic sex scenes, including orgies. Certain characters use their powers in sexually deviant ways.
Mature themes
The show explores complex mature themes like corruption, sexual assault, racism, and more. The darkly satirical tone and moral ambiguity of characters adds to the show’s maturity.
An in-depth look at factors contributing to the 18+ rating
Let’s analyze the main factors that make The Boys TV-MA in more detail:
Violence
Violence is pervasive throughout The Boys, both by Supes and the vigilante team. Supes use their powers to gruesomely kill criminals and bystanders alike:
- Homelander lasers people into chunks of flesh
- Translucent suffocates people with his translucence
- A-Train runs through people, leaving bloody smears
- Popclaw graphically kills people with her super strength
The Boys respond in kind, blackmailing Supes and fighting back with guns, bombs, and more. Hughie brutally kills Translucent by detonating a C4 bomb inside him. Billy Butcher is particularly violent, at one point beating a Supe to death with a crowbar.
In one of the most gruesome scenes, Popclaw uses her powers to pull a man apart, ripping his skin off and splattering blood everywhere.
Language
The dialogue in The Boys is littered with very coarse language, especially the word “f***”:
- “I’m gonna f***ing find that f***ing c***sucker.” – Billy Butcher
- “Shut the f*** up before I f***ing laser you.” – Homelander
- “You f***ing piece of s***.” – Hughie
Characters regularly use creative combos of expletives for emphasis. The constant cursing contributes to the show’s gritty tone.
Nudity
The Boys contains extensive female and male nudity throughout its episodes.
- Starlight is forced to strip naked and stands in front of The Seven.
- Queen Maeve and Elena have multiple lesbian sex scenes.
- Homelander masturbates alone high above New York City.
- Supes often relax in a communal dressing room nude.
The nudity often highlights the vulnerability and humanity of the Supes when they are not in costume.
Sex/Sexuality
In addition to nudity, The Boys depicts graphic sexual situations:
- An orgy scene with Homelander, Queen Maeve, and other Supes.
- The Deep attempts to sexually assault Starlight.
- Homelander forces Stillwell to have sex by threatening her baby.
- Homelander masturbates while floating outside an office window.
The sex scenes are often used to portray the deviant sides of characters and highlight their abuses of power.
Adult themes
Beyond the graphic content, The Boys handles very mature themes in a darkly satirical way:
- Corruption and greed of Vought as a corporation.
- Failures of capitalism and monetization of Supes.
- Racism and prejudice experienced by certain characters.
- Morally ambiguous protagonists that use unethical methods.
- Sexual harassment/assault and #MeToo commentary.
Younger viewers may have trouble grasping the nuance with which these adult themes are handled.
How The Boys compares to other superhero shows
The Boys aims to subvert traditional superhero tropes by injecting realism, graphic content, and moral ambiguity. Let’s see how it stacks up against other shows in the genre:
| Show | Typical rating | Violence level | Language | Sexual content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Boys | TV-MA | Extremely graphic | Constant harsh language | Frequent nudity/explicit scenes |
| The Umbrella Academy | TV-14 | Moderate action violence | Infrequent mild language | Suggestive scenes |
| The Flash | TV-14 | Moderate fantasy violence | Mild language | Mild suggestive scenes |
| Daredevil | TV-MA | Frequent intense violence | Harsh language | Some nudity |
The Boys distinguishes itself with a TV-MA rating due to unrelenting graphic content and themes. Other adult-oriented superhero shows like Daredevil seem tame in comparison. Mainstream programs stay safely in the TV-14 range. This highlights how extreme the mature content in The Boys is even for the genre.
Reasons for the graphic content
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke and comic creator Garth Ennis use the extreme content to:
- Subvert common superhero tropes.
- Inject a level of realism and rawness into the genre.
- Explore mature real-world themes.
- Highlight absolute corruption and abuse of power.
- Introduce moral ambiguity.
The graphic violence, sex, language, etc. help establish the tone, themes, and feel of The Boys’ world.
Conclusion
The Boys carries an 18+ age rating due to near constant graphic violence, coarse language, nudity, and sexual situations. It pushes the boundaries of sexual and violent content further than most other TV-MA superhero shows.
The mature rating helps the showrunners subvert superhero genre conventions and tell a raw, realistically gritty story exploring the dark side of humans with superpowers. It allows them to highlight themes like power corruption, prejudice, greed, and abuse in a uniquely cynical way.
The Boys is certainly not a family friendly superhero show. The constant profanity, gore, sex, and adult themes make it exclusively appropriate for mature audiences who can appreciate its brutal but satirical take on the genre.