WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Season 1 of The Boys, streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
The Amazon Prime adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys has garnered rave reviews for its high-octane first season, in which Karl Urban's Butcher and his crew of CIA misfits waged war on superheroes, namely Vought-America Industries, which turned capes into a marketing product.
However, as relentless as that first season was, several notable changes were made from the comic series, as the show virtually creates a new world war that threatens to tear down the remaining elements of life Butcher and his allies hold dear.
COMPOUND V
In the comic, Compound V was distributed across the United States by Vought, creating B- and C-list supers to be used as pawns. The Boys also took the drug themselves to power up and place them on a level playing field, turning Compound V into the ultimate equalizer in the fight against Vought's version of the Justice League, the Seven.
On the show, Compound V is a drug used by A-Train to enhance his speed. We later learn the chemical is actually what Vought injected into babies across the globe to engineer superheroes, including the Seven. It was secreted to other countries by Homelander to create terrorists so the U.S. military would require superheroes on the frontlines.
ANNIE'S ASSAULT
When Annie/Starlight joined the team in the comics, she's forced to perform sexual favors for Homelander, A-Train and Black Noir. That resulted in PTSD, and drove a wedge between her and Maeve, who didn't offer much support. It also hurt her relationship with Hughie, as they came out to each other and revealed their true identities.
On the Amazon series, Annie is forced into the same situation, but only with Deep, who wasn't a major player in the comics and didn't have the Aquaman-like look. The show then echoes the #MeToo movement by having her out the Deep at a public event, which leads to the super being shamed by Vought as part of a cover-up. Deep is sent into exile, and is sexually assaulted by a fan, while Annie pursues a relationship with Hughie and actually forms a friendship with Maeve, who underwent the same "hazing."
THE FEMALE
In the comics, the Female gained her powers after she was kept at her mother's job in a secret Tokyo lab. She wandered off and ingested some chemical waste, which turned her into a super-killer, and someone Butcher would recruit as the perfect weapon.
The show flips the script by having Frenchie and Mother's Milk find her at a gangster's home on a lead, bringing the wild woman into the fold. Frenchie forms a special bond with the Female, and she officially becomes a member of the squad. However, her background is different here, as she was powered up by Vought as part of their plan to create super-villain terrorists.
THE CAPES
In the source material, the Seven rotated heroes such as Homelander, Maeve, Starlight, Black Noir, Jack from Jupiter, Mister Marathon, Lamplighter, A-Train and the Deep. The show only uses Homelander, Maeve, Starlight, Black Noir, A-Train and the Deep. The new addition, Translucent, is blown up by Hughie, who in the comics instead killed Blarney Cock.
The show also adds in a church cult led by new characters Ezekiel, who can stretch like Mister Fantastic, and Mezmer, who's able to extract people's memories by touching them. Sadly, the show omits Butcher's dog, Terror, although we do see collars, chains and a flashback with the bulldog, alluding to more of the pooch in Season 2.
THE BACKGROUNDS
The comics extensively dived into the backgrounds of the Boys: Mother's Milk's family torn apart after being chemically infected working for Vought, and Frenchie lost his father to superhero negligence, so basically, everyone has a reason to go after Vought and its capes.
The show doesn't expand on the rest, however, focusing on Butcher and Hughie, as both lost the loves of their lives to the capes' activities. Hopefully, the second season will elaborate more on the other members, because all the series portrays them as were mercenaries willing to do whatever Butcher says, with the rare exception being a petty rivalry between Milk and Frenchie.
THE GRATUITOUS SEX
The comics never held back on sex, with graphic orgies involving Teenage Kix (a superhero cell involving Popclaw), the Seven at the Herogasm retreat, and even one with the G-Men when Hughie infiltrated to gather intelligence.
The show dials it down, with the only notable sex scene being between Hughie and Annie, and it's tastefully done. It doesn't focus on their multiple R-rated dalliances or on Butcher's X-rated affair with CIA handler, Rayner, which is chalked up to an old relationship in the show. However, there is one extreme scene with Popclaw (retconned as A-Train's junkie girlfriend), who kills someone during sex, which wasn't in the comic at all.
THE PLANE FIASCO
One of the book's biggest scenes involves Homelander, Maeve and the rest of the heroes trying to stop a hijacked plane. They quickly realize they can't do it, and apart from turning on all the people on board, they try to flee, with Homelander hitting Maeve in the process. He leaves her there, and also inadvertently kills Marathon, leading to a cover-up.
On the show, it's only Homelander and Maeve on this mission, and he actually saves her when she decides to try to rescue the passengers. They bicker, but she sadly has to abandon the plane, which turns out to be he breaking point for them. That causes Maeve to forget about their love affair, and appears to be what will turn her into an informant in Season 2, just like in the comics, as no one else knew they left the plane to crash.
THE ADMIN CREW
The comics had Rayner eventually turning on Butcher and the Boys to advance her political career, while their previous handler, a man named Mallory, mentored Butcher and stayed in the shadows. In the series, Rayner is more altruistic, while Mallory is a woman in the show, portrayed by Laila Robbins as someone who lost her grandchildren in a botched hit by Vought.
Stillwell, Vought's chief, is also changed from a man into a woman, portrayed by Elisabeth Shue. She's also given a new narrative, with a sexual relationship with Homelander and a mysterious baby whose father is unknown. She's killed by Homelander in the finale when he realizes she used him.
BUTCHER'S CAMPAIGN
The comics depicted Butcher going after Homelander & Co. because the Superman-wannabe raped his wife and impregnated her. The super-powered baby killed her during birth, and had to be killed as well. Ennis had a twist, though, as that act was actually committed by Black Noir, a Homelander clone. The "brothers" battled each other, and Butcher finished the job after the dust settled. He then shocked readers by wiping out all of his allies except Hughie, becoming a true villain at the end.
It's expected Butcher's heel turn will arrive later, but the series depicts him in a more virtuous light. In the Season 1 finale, Butcher becomes a more sympathetic figure when the bombshell drops that his wife, Becca, willingly had an affair with Homelander. Without either man knowing, Stillwell hid her away so the child could grow up in a healthy environment. That drastically alters the rivalry between Butcher and Homelander, and also affects the Boys' overall mission as Butcher will have to deal with his wife's infidelity.
The Boys stars Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Chace Crawford as the Deep, Antony Starr as Homelander and Simon Pegg as Hughie's dad.