While Amazon’s adaptation ofThe Boyshas reached iconic status thanks to its unflinching satire of superhero fandom, fans almost got a live-action adaptation a decade earlier and on the big screen. In a recent interview,The Boysco-creator Garth Ennis discusses the original intention to adapt the gory, irreverent story into a movie trilogy, including a major location change for its blood-soaked final battle.
Speaking to fellow comic writer Mark Millar onMillar Time, Ennis discusses past opportunities to havePreacherandThe Boysadapted as movies. Ennis confirms that a script for aThe Boysmovie waswritten by Adam McKay, the writer/director behind movies includingAnchorman,The Big ShortandDon’t Look Up.This version of the story seemingly changed the location of the comic’s climactic battle from the White House to the Farallon Islands.
Sadly, the 2008 project wasn’t taken further than scripting and demo animatics (according toRolling Stone), despite McKay’s intentions to turnThe Boysinto a film trilogy. Thankfully, film fans' loss was Amazon’s gain, with the franchise eventually making it to the small screen a decade later.
Garth Ennis wantedThe Boys' movie script to include great white sharks in its final battle.
The Boys' Homelander Death Is Perfect Because It Refuses to Respect Him
Homelander sees himself as the greatest power in the world, but The Boys disagrees, and uses his death to humiliate and denigrate him.
The Boys' Movie Script Changed Its Climactic Battle
A Planned Trilogy Sadly Didn’t Make It to the Screen
While today’s TV adaptation makes its ownchanges to Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comics, the movie made a particularly significant alteration. Ennis reveals that the movie’s final battle would have been set in San Francisco’s Farallon Islands, aka ‘the Devil’s Teeth.‘Ennis notes that due to his own trip shark-watching on the Farallon Islands, he’s familiar with the location, and was disappointed that the movie’s fight scene didn’t make use of the vicious predators.Ennis states:
That effort to do The Boys got as far as a script being written. And it was extraordinary, because the final battle was in the Farallon Islands. Most people don’t know where the Farallon Islands are, but I do because I’ve been there. They’re about four hours off the Californian coast. … It’s mostly known for its population of great white sharks. I knew this because I was there hoping to see said sharks. They did not show up. But in the script, the final battle is in the Farallon Islands, and there’s not a single shark. And you think, ‘Well, you’ve missed a trick there, pal.’
It’s unclear which of the comic story’s battles (if any) would have taken place at the location. The comic’s last conflict that could be called a ‘battle’ sees Homelander’s army of Supes carry out a coup on the United States, with the villain taking up residence in the White House. Butcher confronts him there, only forfellow ‘hero’ Black Noir to make his entrance, leading to a blood-soaked showdown that only one character survives.
This battle is near the end of the comic story, making it less likely that it’s how the first movie in an intended trilogy would end, however comic adaptations have always taken huge liberties with the source material, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility thatthe definitive Homelander vs Butcher vs Black Noir battle would move from the White House lawn to the Farallon Islands(especially because the location would undoubtedly be cheaper than creating a believable replica of the White House.)
The World Wasn’t Ready for a Boys Movie in 2008
At Least According to Co-Creator Darick Robertson
Coming out around 2008 would have made anyThe Boystrilogy a contemporary of the MCU’sIncredible Hulkand Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight, as well as the similarly dark comic adaptationWanted.This puts the project in the very early days of Marvel’s shared cinematic universe, before superhero movies truly dominated pop culture in the way they do today.This likely hurt the movie trilogy’s chances, since the targets of its satire weren’t as well known. That’s the view of co-creator Darick Robertson, who toldRolling Stone:
I wouldn’t change how it worked out, because the show is amazing. But [McKay] was doing really cool stuff. It just came down to it being 2008, not 2018. I just don’t think they were ready for it yet.
WhileThe Boys’ Darick Robertson doubts the world was ready for its irreverent superhero satire, 2008 was the same year that Leslie Nielsen, Pamela Anderson and Kevin Hart starred in the parodySuperhero Movie, while Will Smith’sHancockput an adult spin on the genre.
It’s unlikely any movie would have been quite as provocative as the comics, thoughEnnis does recall that it was still cut from the same cloth, and that,“I think it had some dirty stuff in it.“However, just because theBoysmovie wasn’t made doesn’t mean that it didn’t benefit its creators. Reflecting onPreacher’s long journey to the screen, Ennis states that his project existing in cinematic limbo led to"Steve and I splitting a nice check and thinking, ‘Well, if this goes on, no complaints.’ There’s a lot to be said for it.”
While it would be fascinating to see 2008’s take onThe Boysas a movie trilogy, fans are unlikely to be too disappointed, given how popular and long-lived Amazon’s TV show has become, with multiple spin-offs already in existence and more to come, including aprequel series set in the 1950s. Beginning publication in 2006,The Boyswas always destined to make a splash, but the extra decade allowed it to truly grab mainstream culture by debuting in the era of superhero obsession and big-budget TV shows.
The Boys
The Boysfranchise is a satirical and dark superhero series based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. It explores a world where superheroes, or “Supes,” are corrupt, violent, and morally bankrupt, all controlled by the powerful corporation Vought International. The story centers around two opposing groups:The Boys, a vigilante team aiming to expose and defeat the corrupt heroes, andThe Seven, Vought’s elite team of Supes led by the ruthless Homelander.
