The Boys
The Boys is a wave of memes tied to Amazon Prime Video's satirical superhero series and the 2006 Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic it was adapted from. The show premiered in June 2019 and quickly picked up steam on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, with fans producing screencap edits, character quips, and jokes about the Amazon promotional calendar that showed a visible bulge on The Deep.
Overview
The Boys is a superhero series where the supposed 'heroes' are actually corporate-backed sociopaths, and a small crew of vigilantes tries to hit back against them1. Writer Garth Ennis built the concept out of his open frustration with standard cape comics, which he found shallow and dishonest about power1.
Memes tied to The Boys pull from the show's most shocking scenes, foul-mouthed one-liners, and jabs at the fake corporate PR that surrounds its 'supes1.' The output leans into dark comedy and absurd violence, with meme communities picking up steam right after the TV premiere in mid-2019.
How It Spread
How to Use This Meme
The format typically pulls a still or one-liner from the show, often featuring Billy Butcher's blunt commentary or the Seven's corporate PR posturing, then pairs it with a caption skewering a real-world situation that mirrors the show's satire. A recurring visual gag references The Deep's bulge from the March 2020 page of Amazon's promotional calendar.