The Boys has always served up plenty of sociopolitical commentary/satire with its outrageous violence and debauchery, but season 4 definitely seems to have leaned a little more into paralleling real-world events, and there is a perception that the show has become a more scathing take-down of the far right than it ever was before.
This is certainly debatable (season 2 introduced a literal Nazi as a member of The Seven), but there's no getting around the fact that one character, in particular, seems to be directly inspired by certain conspiracy theory-spouting individuals who make regular appearances on Fox News.
While chatting to Variety, showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed that the idea behind introducing Firecracker came from: "Hey, isn’t Marjorie Taylor Greene scary?”
"And just that type of personality," he went on. "Like, you had Trump, but now you have these Trump spawn that are trying to outdo each other for how outrageous and sexualized and gun-toting and slavishly obedient they can be. And just that idea — it wouldn’t just start and end with Homelander, he would start to create these spores that would grow into these other characters, and she’s a version of that."
Kripke also noted that The Boys does still take the occasional shot at the left.
"The show’s not subtle. It wears its politics on its sleeve. And it’s funny to rip on the madness on the right, and we get some shots in on the left of all the performative wokeness and everything."
We've seen examples of this with the "Girls Get it Done" parody of Avengers: Endgame's A-Force scene, and the show frequently calls out what's known as "Rainbow Capitalism" - when major corporations cynically use an LQBTQ+ banner to sell products.
What do you make of Kripke's comments? You can check out a new Vought-sponsored video featuring Firecracker in action below.
"The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power," reads the official season 4 synopsis. "Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late."
Returning cast members include Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti, along with new recruits Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 will be available to stream from June 13th, with new instalments dropping weekly through to the season finale on July 18.