Since the mid-2000s, The Boys has been one of the most consistently entertaining and outrageous comic book series you'll find anywhere. The story focuses on a world where superheroes are celebrities and most are corrupted by their power and fame. A small squad known as "The Boys" monitor and confront them throughout the series.
Most members of "The Boys" don't have superpowers but the famous "heroes" in the city do. A lot of these characters aren't as well known as those from Marvel and DC Comics but they do share similar abilities. These are ten characters from DC and Marvel who have the same powers as characters from The Boys.
Updated on September 24th, 2020, by Richard Keller: The Boys is the ultimate deconstruction of superheroes. On the outside, members of The Seven are public darlings. Inside, they're big jerks with similar powers to DC and Marvel superheroes. Some of them have powers that are identical to the point they could be our favorite Prime Earth and Earth-616 heroes in disguise.
14 Daredevil & Blindspot
He might not have a collapsable cane or gone through the tragedies Matt Murdock has dealt with, but Blindspot certainly has the same abilities. Though blind, The Boys hero can fight as well as the other Seven thanks to the use of his other senses.
The main difference between the two heroes is their primary enhancements. It's a finely tuned sense of hearing for Blindspot. Meanwhile, Daredevil has an overall radar sense that gives him an advantage over other heroes and villains.
13 Shazam/Storm & Stormfront
The hero Stormfront mostly connects to depends on their depiction. In the comics, the Seven hero can control the weather and make lightning. In the live-action show, the character has powers more related to Shazam — enhanced strength, speed, and electricity manipulation.
There's another difference with Stormfront between the comic book and the show. The character is a woman in the latter and a guy in the former. In general and for lack of better terminology, Stormfront is a jerk in both media forms, so that much hasn't changed.
12 Green Arrow/Hawkeye & Eagle the Archer
Eagle the Archer didn't appear too much in The Boys series. Nevertheless, he's an active figure in the comics. Especially when someone requires a hero who knows his archery.
Though he's not as heroic as either the emerald or purple archers of the DC and Marvel universes. Those guys don't do it for money or prestige. Hawkeye and Green Arrow are heroes because they want to change the world. Eagle the Archer just wants to make some extra change.
11 Lamplighter & Alan Scott (Green Lantern)
Lamplighter has the power of pyrokinesis. He can't create fire, but he can control it. It's led to some creative and diabolical uses from someone who is called a hero.
In the end, he has the same powers as Green Lantern. Not Hal Jordan, mind you. Rather, it's the original hero — Alan Scott. Where Lamplighter controls regular flames, the Golden Age GL controls emerald-colored ones.
10 Mystique & Doppelganger
You could be forgiven if you think that both of these characters are from Marvel. Doppelganger exists in the Marvel world but the character we're talking about is from The Boys. Not a ton is known about Doppelganger, but they're often used for nefarious means.
Their power is the ability to transform into any other person in the world. That is exactly what Mystique of the X-Men can do. Her character is much more developed, so we know a lot more about her. However, the powers are the same. Doppelganger can also be compared to another X-Men, Morph.
9 Doctor Light & Starlight
This is an interesting one. On the one hand, Starlight is one of the most important characters in The Boys. She's a superhero but not a corrupt one, allowing her to be a help to Billy Butcher and his team. She can emit light from her hands as a weapon and manipulate it around her.
That could line her up with a few Marvel and DC characters. One is Marvel's Dazzler but we're thinking she's more like DC's Doctor Light, who has the same ability. The male Doctor Light is a notorious villain while Starlight is inherently good but she can be compared to Kimiyo Hoshi, who also took on the name.
8 Professor X & Mesmerizer
Mind-reading capabilities are nothing new in the world of comic book lore. There are plenty of heroes and bad guys who can do it. Martian Manhunter stands out as one from DC, as does Marvel's Emma Frost. However, we're thinking her X-Men counterpart, Charles Xavier, makes more sense.
Professor X can certainly read minds but his powers go beyond that. He has telekinetic skills, telepathy, ESP, and more. In The Boys, that lines up with the Mesmerizer. Though his beginnings as a child star are different, his ability to read thoughts and see into someone's mind is close enough.
7 Wonder Woman & Queen Maeve
Some of the supes from the Seven aren't subtle when it comes to the more famous characters they were designed after. That's the case with Queen Maeve. The powerful female is almost a spitting image of the Amazonian member of DC's "Holy Trinity," Wonder Woman.
Of course, their similarities go beyond the looks. Queen Maeve and Wonder Woman seem to share powers as well. They both have superhuman strength, durability, reflexes, and more. The main difference in the characters is the disappointing path Maeve has taken in her personal life choices.
6 Wolverine & Kimiko
Okay, so we'll get the obvious out of the way. Wolverine's most noticeable physical aspect is his adamantium claws. Kimiko, also known as the Female, doesn't have anything even remotely like that. However, almost everything else about Kimiko resembles Wolverine.
Both characters have impressive strength, reflexes, and agility. The most notable ability that they share has to be their regenerative healing factor. Both can heal from near-fatal wounds in a relatively quick manner. Even when they momentarily die, they're able to regenerate back to life.
5 Aquaman & The Deep
Here's another case of a member of the Seven who was designed after a more famous superhero. The Deep is the team's underwater member and he might as well be a clone of DC's famous Justice League hero Aquaman. Like the Queen Maeve/Wonder Woman comparison, this goes past the aesthetic.
Aquaman and the Deep both can breathe underwater, have advanced swimming, and are stronger than a typical human. Most notably, they're both able to communicate aquatically with all manner of sea life. That's not a common power in comics.
4 The Invisible Woman & Translucent
The Invisible Woman is one of those characters who completely gives away her power with her name. Also known as Sue Richards, she's a member of Marvel's Fantastic Four. She teams up with her husband, brother, and close friend to form the quartet and is one of the most iconic superheroes in history.
Sue's ability of invisibility isn't all that she can do but it is her most famous power. That's the same thing that the Seven's Translucent brings to the table. He also possesses strong stealth capabilities and carbon skin, so there are several differences.
3 The Flash & A-Train
Like so many other powers listed here, super speed has been a staple of comic book superheroes for as long as most of us can remember. It's an extremely common superpower that has been most famously held by Speed Demon and Quicksilver in Marvel Comics.
On the DC side of things, there's the Flash. We're going with him as the comparison for A-Train because there are just so many iterations of Flash and all possess this ability. A-Train is more troubled than the likes of Barry Allen due to a drug addiction and insecurities about his place on his team.
2 Mr. Fantastic & Ezekiel
We're back to the Fantastic Four with our final Marvel entry. Mr. Fantastic, also known as Reed Richards, is the leader of the famous superhero team. His hero name isn't quite as obvious as his wife's. Reed possesses the power of elasticity, which is way more useful than it sounds on paper.
Like so many other heroes listed here, Reed Richards is one of the ultimate good guys around. Ezekiel of The Boys fame isn't. Instead of trying to make the world a better place, he pushes his religious agenda and is a self-hating homophobe. Other characters with similar skills are the Elongated Man and Plastic Man.
1 Superman & Homelander
In terms of his looks and costume, Homelander is a cross between Superman and Captain America. While his American flag cape, leadership skills, and the morals he stands for scream Captain America, his powers are almost identical to that of Superman.
Like Superman, Homelander has enhanced strength, super speed, can fly, and is invulnerable to physical pain. He also can use both x-ray and heat vision. However, unlike Superman, he's terrifying because he's willing to use them for evil reasons and is unstoppable.