An Animated Short Where Pissed Off Supes Kill Their Parents
Episode 2 of The Boys Presents: Diabolical starts at a home for gifted superheroes. Only, gifted is probably overstating it. What hap[ens when there are heroes that go wrong? Those who have powers that no one wants. Powers like checks notes boobie face and Human Tongue. Okie dokie. Anyway, these runaways all gather together and learn that Vought are the ones making superheroes, thanks to their serums. So off they go, with Ghost leading the charge and heading to see Denis, the guy in charge of Vought Parental Protection. They demand the files on their parents, determined to gain their revenge. Among those heroes is Papers, who manages to control – yep you guessed it – paper. However, it’s Ghost who manages to find the addresses. So the group head on the road, determined to gain revenge and killing their parents one at a time. A pretty surreal and bloody montage ensues, with Mo-Slo killing his father reaaaally slowly in a pretty humorous moment. This bit of levity paves way for the final stop – Ghost’s house. She approaches her father and tells him she doesn’t even want to be alive but has no choice, she’s stuck in this ghost form. In slow motion, she plunges a knife into her father’s face. Unfortunately their whole rampage comes to a shocking end when Homelander appears, killing everyone in cold blood. So as the episode comes to a close, The Narrator finally has the last laugh, killing his father and narrating that he’s put his own father’s face on, looking in the mirror and saying “I love you.”
The Episode Review
This episode works really well to show the horrors of superhero powers and how everything can go wrong if you’re given bad powers to work with by default. This manages to add a rather poignant tone to proceedings, with these kids abandoned by their parents but ultimately just wanting to be loved by them. There’s definitely an undercurrent of poignancy and pity toward these kids, while simultaneously adding enough nods and references to the actual Boys series to make this feel like it’s part of the same universe. As a minor gripe, Justin Roiland’s character, Papers, is essentially the exact same voice of Morty from Rick & Morty and it is a little distracting. Still, it’s not a complete deal breaker, as this episode bows out what’s otherwise a really solid chapter.
