An incredibly violent, blackly comedic, foul-mouthed and very R-rated superhero show that intentionally subverts the tropes of the genre, and recently featured a scene where someone with a ten-foot prehensile penis attempts to use it as a murder weapon, hardly screams awards season darling. However, Amazon’s smash hit series The Boys has just made history by securing an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.
Creator and showrunner Eric Kripke’s brainchild is the first-ever comic book adaptation to be shortlisted in the biggest category for recurring small screen projects, cementing its status as one of the biggest and best shows on television. While it seems unlikely to nab the trophy looking at the strength of the competition that pits it against Bridgerton, The Crown, The Handmaid’s Tale, Lovecraft Country, The Mandalorian, Pose and This is Us, it’s a huge deal regardless.
It’s turned out to be a banner year for the comic book genre in general at the Emmys, with a record-breaking 39 nods in total being dished out between The Boys, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Umbrella Academy, Lucifer and Doom Patrol. The fact the gleefully deranged, blood-soaked battle for supremacy between Billy Butcher’s crew and the Supes has managed to gain such recognition is as unexpected as it is welcome.
Season 2 was posting the sort of streaming numbers that would make anyone sit up and take notice, with the ratings regularly matching those of Netflix’s biggest in-house projects, and it appears as though The Boys has officially shed its cult status and gone mainstream. For a show that’s about to adapt a superpowered orgy for its next run of episodes, it truly is a phenomenal achievement.
