Having recently returned for a second season, The Boys has continued to receive critical acclaim for the jet black deconstruction of the superhero genre that doubles as one of the most purely entertaining shows on television, provided you have the stomach to handle the gruesome violence and bizarre segues that are a core part of the appeal.
Some fans might not have been happy with Amazon’s decision to release the final five episodes on a weekly basis, but review bombing one of your favorite series because you can’t binge it all at once hardly counts as constructive criticism. As a result, showrunner Eric Kripke addressed both the reasoning behind the slower rollout and the subsequent backlash in a fashion befitting The Boys.
The latest target of the comic book adaptation’s wrath, though, is Joss Whedon, who found himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after widespread accusations of misconduct dating back to his days on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the fifth episode, we see the corporate sponsored superheroes shooting dark and gritty blockbuster Dawn of the Seven, a thinly-veiled jab at Zack Snyder’s time at the helm of the DCEU. And it’s here that we also get the Joss Whedon joke.
As ComicBook.com explains:
In the scene, Maeve is looking for punky sidekick character caught among the rubble. After recovering her and the pink-haired hacker saying she’s not much of a hero, Maeve replies: “You are a hero in lots of ways…You’re not afraid to live your life. To be who you really are. Me, I’m I’m afraid to …to show the world who I am.” When asked what she means, Maeve says, “I’m a lot like you. I’m gay.” The pair go for a kiss, but it’s interrupted by an explosion. At that time the director calls cut and Maeve walks off set in a hurry. She quickly approaches Homelander who is watching the scene on a monitor, who ads the line: “This new Joss rewrite really sings, huh?” This is a clear jab at screenwriter/director Joss Whedon who not only famously re-wrote the Justice League movie but has a history of writing gay characters and hamfisted dialogue.
As you can see, not only is this a shot at the widespread belief that Whedon’s Justice League reshoots only served to make the film worse, but it also pokes fun at the often cloying and on the nose manner in which he scripts his characters to reveal major plot points or personal information.
Of course, in a show like The Boys, a throwaway joke is getting off lightly, and viewers no doubt loved the fleeting reference to one of the most turbulent and maligned superhero blockbusters in history.