The Boys Season 3 Sets the Internet on Fire as Fans React to Herogasm
The Boys baited its own audience with promises of wild sexual depravity in episode 6 of Season 3, but the orgy in Herogasm was almost background noise in the thrilling episode.
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This article contains The Boys Season 3 “Herogasm” spoilers
All year, Eric Kripke and the producers of The Boys have been hyping up βHerogasmβ as the most shocking episode of season three, a bold claim given the season premiere. βHerogasmβ takes its title fromΒ a six-issue miniseries spinoff fromΒ The BoysΒ comic, one that followed a Vought-sponsored orgy filled with even more nastiness than found in the mainline series.
Make no mistake, the television adaptation has plenty of surprising moments, including an extended (pun intended) look at Love Sausage’s powers and the return of Termite, the shape-changing Supe responsible for that season opener. Mere hours after βHerogasmβ dropped on Amazon Prime Video, fans took to Twitter to make sense of what they saw, registering everything from their sympathies for The Deep actor Chace Crawford, who performed a love scene with an octopus, to praising the showβs parody ofΒ Gal Gadotβs tone-deaf βImagineβ video. The show’s signature violence drew attention, such as the culmination of A-Trainβs feud with Blue Hawk drew attention, with one user comparing the latterβs death to a gnarlyΒ Mortal KombatΒ kill.
But for many fans, the real standout of the episode was not the depraved sex-capades or even a few gory kills. Rather, it was the confrontation between Homelander and Soldier Boy, the recently revived WWII-era Supe. When the rumored weapon to kill Homelander was revealed to be Soldier Boy, some worried that the tyrannical leader of the Seven would continue his reign of terror unabated. But the episode proved that Soldier Boy could not only chase away Black Noir with his mere presence but could also take down Homelander, especially with the help of the superpowered Butcher and Hughie.
βThis is myΒ Infinity War,β gushed one user, while called it, βone of the best fight scenes in CB media.β Another concurred, effusing, βAbsolute masterpiece. What a showdown. Probably the best fight scene in a comic book property for about a decade.β
As these reactions indicate, the scene thrilled fans not just because it was a good fight, but because it upended the always-tenuous balance of power inΒ The BoysΒ universe. For more than two seasons, the series has established Homelander as the ultimate Supe, a threat that was only compounded as he grew increasingly unstable. Rather than take some hope from the fact that Butcher and Hughie were almost able to defeat Homelander with Soldier Boyβs help, viewers recognized that the fight would likely have unintended consequences. It only encourages Hughie and Butcher to keep using V, thus becoming the Supes they hate, and emboldens Soldier Boy, who was directly responsible for the death of M.M.βs family.
Perhaps the most thrilling aspect of the fight was that it pushed Homelander further to the edge, giving Antony Starr another opportunity to show off his range. A Twitter user called for Starr to earn an Emmy award, comparing his performance to that of Willem Dafoe inΒ Spider-Man, while another attributed all of the showβs success to Starrβs abilities.
In short, these reactions remind us once again thatΒ The BoysΒ offers so much more than shocking sex and gore.