The Boys Season 2: One character is going to be very different
The superhero series brings an up-to-the-minute twist to its source material.
Amazon's series The Boys has always been the antidote to the all-ages thrills and gentle snark of the superhero genre. It's uncensored, unrelenting, and unnecessarily violent. It wasn't clear if the show would maintain its rebellious tone within the genre in its sophomore season, but the final trailer for The Boys Season 2 suggests the showrunners are turning up the volume on every aspect of this already unhinged show.
The promotional material for The Boys Season 2 so far has introduced Aya Cash as Stormfront, the newest member of the much-beloved and corrupt superhero conglomerate known as The Seven. In this trailer, she seems to be the catalyst for all the conflict. From striking down Kimiko with lightning to describing the conflict between The Boys and The Seven as an all-out war, she's clearly got no problem stirring the pot.
This doesn't just affect the supes, either. She's shown to have fascist inclinations, inspiring fear and hostility toward the "super terrorists." Her violent, unconventional demeanor heightens the tension between the two groups to its breaking point.
The "Comrade Neuman" sign in the trailer
In the shots of the protest, one of the signs reads "Comrade Neuman" next to a hammer and sickle. Evocative imagery like that is strangely prescient, in a time where protests are a near-daily occurrence. So who is this mysterious Neuman?
In September 2019, Amazon announced Claudia Doumit would join Season 2 of The Boys as a character named Victoria Neuman, described as a "young wunderkind congresswoman." The socialist imagery associated with her name in the latest trailer suggests Victoria Neuman could be a tongue-in-cheek riff on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
'Vic the Veep' in the original comic
For fans of the comics, this name has an entirely different connotation: Victor Neuman, aka "Vic the Veep" is an ultra-Conservative former CEO of Vought International and the eventual Vice President of the United States.
His character was the opposite of what we know about Victoria. He's dimwitted, uninterested in politics, and just a pawn to the party. According to comic creator Garth Ennis, Vic was meant to be a parody of George W. Bush. It's common for adaptations to gender-swap, but to completely invert everything about the character would be an intriguing move.
Between Stormfront and Victoria Neuman, it can be safely assured The Boys is taking a far more topical approach this season, but that doesn't mean the heart of the show is gone: the trailer also shows more grittiness and gore than ever, including from some new sources, from Homelander lasering what appears to be a lowly SWAT officer to nothingness to a poor whale getting impaled by a boat. Don't believe it? Watch the trailer below.
The Boys Season 2 premieres September 4 on Amazon Prime.
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