With superheroes as prevalent as they in society, it’s no wonder a show like The Boys not only exists but continues to flourish. Amazon Studios’ original series is a brutal, violent, and raunchy satirical story all about superheroes and how they’re seen by society as a large. Turns out they aren’t really great people either.
The main bad guy in the piece is an evil take on Superman named Homelander. The Boy’s third season even has a different riff on Captain America to look forward to.
A new set of episodes has just started being released, and half of them are currently available for fans to watch. Despite countless shocking moments, there was one in the first episode that featured an unexpected cameo—Charlize Theron, who may look familiar to those who have seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
So which came first?
Charlize Theron & Her Superhero Cameos
In an interview with Variety, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness actress Charlize Theron commented on what Marvel thought of her also having made a cameo as a superhero in Amazon Studios' The Boys.
Theron revealed how The Boys executive producer Seth Rogen asked her a while back and that she'd "lay [her] broken glass for that guy and all of his partners:"
“Seth [Rogen, ‘The Boys’ executive producer] asked me a while back, and I will lay my body over broken glass for that guy and all of his partners at Point Gray, I absolutely love them, and we look after each other... I love the show. I think it’s really smart.”
It turns out that Theron had shot The Boys cameo first before making her way over to the Doctor Strange sequel with star Benedict Cumberbatch.
She continued, mentioning how she "was very transparent" with Marvel Studios and president Kevin Feige about her alternate cameo and that they thought it was "great":
“I was very transparent, and they were just like, ‘ This is great'... I mean, [‘The Boys’ is] a satire. I think there’s room for everything, and it doesn’t mean anything other than people are interested in these kind of worlds right now.”
Marvel Studios' Smart Reaction
Many fans thought it quite a funny coincidence that Charlize Theron ended up having a superhero cameo in two different projects within weeks from each other. Out of the two, it’s the Marvel one which looks like it’ll have an actual future.
It’s also no surprise that Marvel had no problems with her having done The Boys cameo first. The creatives there do seem far more flexible than the usual studio executive—which is probably how something like the MCU has been able to continue to exist.
Had she played a role like Homelander or Stormfront (an undercover Nazi Supe), the situation may have been different. However, maybe even then, Marvel Studios would have no problem treating the two roles as completely separate performances.
The MCU could certainly use the talent behind the world of The Boys. Anthony Starr, Karl Urban, Karen Fukuhara—after all, there will be plenty of spaces to fill when the mutants finally arrive.
The Boys is currently streaming, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is playing in theaters worldwide.
