WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Guardians of Justice, streaming now on Netflix.
Marvel movies may dominate the box office in the comic book cinema wars but the gods and monsters of the DC universe remain as the most iconic cast of primary characters among the two content behemoths. So much so in fact, that thinly veiled alternates are constantly referenced without any need to supply an expositional framework. It was clear in the 2019 film Brightburn, directed by David Yarovesky, written by Mark Gunn and Brian Gunn, and produced by James Gunn, who the young boy from an alien planet was meant to evoke, despite it's horrific tone.
It was just as transparent in Invincible as the Guardians of the Globe were slaughtered by their version of Superman, but there are two shows that take those references and subvert them to a whole new level. The Boys, based on the comic created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, is also a television series on Amazon Prime that reimagines the Justice League as a corporate sponsored coterie of addicts, rapists and sadists. As bleak as the series is in its depictions of its "heroes," it doesn't hold a candle to Adi Shankar's The Guardians of Justice.
Injustice is a DC storyline, and now a film on HBO Max, revolving around the all too familiar premise of Superman using all of his godly might and powers toward selfish pursuits, leading to morally questionable actions and ultimately outright evil. Though the Wonder Woman and Mr. Terrific of this alternate universe decide to support Kal-El in his iron fisted regime initially, for the most part he is isolated in his quest to demand world peace on his terms. The rest of the Justice League either remain neutral or actively attempt to persuade him toward his better angels before attempting to stop him through a doomed physical confrontation. The Boys dynamic as presented in the show is the inverse of this dynamic.
Homelander takes on the role of Superman in this twisted satire and there is no conflict within him, at least not as it pertains to morality. His peers among the Seven respect and fear him as they each engage in their own dodgy behavior, with one exception. The newest member, Starlight, attempts to undermine the group form within since she is aware that their collective power and influence would make any unsupported accusations meaningless, as well as potentially life threatening to herself and those she cares for. The tone is grim yet it still allows for moments of levity because it never takes itself too seriously. One member of the Seven is killed by placing an explosive device in his invisible rectum and Homelander craves the breast milk of his superior as a messy nurture/sexual conduit for his stunted emotional maturity.
The Guardians of Justice took an entirely different approach. Using more than half a dozen different filming techniques including cell animation, claymation, live action and 8 bit video game rendering, the series embraces the campiness of its design while unflinchingly remarking on deep issues of human connectivity. Marvelous Man was an alien with godlike powers whose only weakness were irradiated shards of his broken planet, Caltron. After securing a bullet made of caltronite, he killed himself live on television because he could not deal with the weight of his global and personal responsibilities in addition to the suppression of his homosexual desires.
Knight Hawk, a caricature of Frank Miller's Dark Knight, is tasked with finding out if Marvelous Man did indeed commit suicide or if one of his teammates was actually behind his death. The masked vigilante however is also busy founding a terrorist organization to serve as a chaotic distraction to the formation of his personal army. He uses this army to usurp control of the Citadel of Justice, the space station headquarters of the Guardians and prepare to commandeer Earth's global defense network. During his uprising he eliminates potential threats, including Speed, the virtuous Flash facsimile who unknowingly entered into a romantic relationship with his ward, Little Wing. A composite of Robin and Shazam, Kight Hawk's disciple kills Speed when commanded to despite his earnest feelings for her.
Little Wing's alter ego, Awesome Man, was also possessed of deific might and it was kept a secret that the two crime fighters were one in the same. The series is rife with the failures of aborted relationships and goes out of its way to punish them for seemingly being naive enough to yearn for intimate connections. Marvelous Man lived a life of misery because he could not be with the man he loved while his wife, Laura Louis, maintained a secret relationship with this universe's version of Aquaman. The Dark Knight's relationship with his adoptive children has always been a failure or responsible parenting, but Knight Hawk's mental dominance over Little Wing/Awesome Man is heartlessly cruel.
Awesome Man prioritized the need for his father's love over the love he shared with Speed, though it was based on the lie that he was an adult capable of making that commitment. Speed was falling in love with a child while the world around her was burning with no one she could trust to turn to in her hours of need. The one person she did seek succor in was unworthy of that responsibility and she paid for it with her life. Knight Hawk is victorious as the first season comes to a close with no word that there will be a second. If so, then the series has offered a book end of tragedies devoid of any hope or mirth, in stark contrast to the heroic pretenders of Vought International. There at least, the Boys are still fighting the good fight and finding a moment to smile in the company of friends and paramours, something that doesn't exist in Shankar's multi-media dystopia.
To see the darkest version of the Justice League, watch The Guardians of Justice, streaming now on Netflix in its entirety.