It goes without saying that the superhero genre is all hype these days. Both Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe are expanding each of their worlds in a head-to-head battle to become the top player in the genre. Since time immemorial, sides have been picked as fans choose MCU over the DCU or vice versa. However, another player in the game trumped them all – The Boys.
Amazon Prime’s The Boys created by Eric Kripke quickly became a fan-favorite as it showed the “real” side of the dear superheroes. Its subtle digs at the superhero genre giants are extremely hilarious to watch, even for a fan. It looks like The Boys have asserted their dominance as they beat out all MCU shows to reach the top fifteen list of most-watched programs on streaming sites.
Also Read: The Boys Star Confirms Black Noir’s Return From the Dead in Season 4
The Boys Emerges Victorious over MCU
While the MCU put out a lot of shows in 2022, they failed to hold the interest of the viewers. From She-Hulk: Attorney at Law to Ms. Marvel, the Disney+ shows were simply termed forgettable by the fans as MCU seemed to have lost its touch in Phase 4. As if Marvel needed any more proof about the slump, Nielsen’s “Streaming Unwrapped 2022” was like salt in the wounds.
According to Nielsen stats, not only did The Boys make it to the top 15 list of most streamed shows, it became the number one streamed superhero program. Coming in at the eleventh position, The Boys beat Great British Baking Show, The Umbrella Academy, The Last Kingdom, and The Rings of Power. The series was also one of the only two shows from Prime Video with the second being The Rings of Power and Netflix dominating the list with Stranger Things on top.
The most viewed original TV shows of 2022 on streaming, according to Nielsen. pic.twitter.com/XoPMm7l0JA
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 26, 2023
The audience watched The Boys for a total of 10.6 billion minutes which led to it being at the number eleven spot on the list. Stranger Things raked in a whopping 52.0 billion minutes in comparison. However, it is worth noting that the MCU shows were nowhere to be seen on the list despite Ms. Marvel being 2022’s best-reviewed superhero show on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% score.
Back in 2021, WandaVision did manage to make the list reaching the fourteenth place with 7.3 billion minutes to its name. It’s safe to say that the hype for MCU’s miniseries was far lesser in 2022 than in 2021. 2022 wasn’t a great year for the superhero giant, was it?
Also Read: ‘The Boys’ is the Perfect Satirical Take On The Superhero Genre
The Boys Season 4 is Gorier Than Ever!
The superhero satire show is widely popular for not holding back on gory content. With whale guts flying everywhere, The Boys lets its creativity go haywire in the best way possible. Therefore, fans are super excited whenever there is an official announcement for upcoming seasons. Since the fourth season has been confirmed, fans must hold onto their seats as the gore gets better (or worse?), if that’s possible!
The VFX Supervisor of the show, Stephen Fleet, took to Twitter on January 13 to state that The Boys season four has the “most disgusting” thing he has worked on in all his years in the business. The best part is that Eric Kripke himself wasn’t sure about which scene Fleet was mentioning in his tweet. This just goes on to say that there is definitely more than one “most disgusting” scene in season four.
You know the best part of this? I’m genuinely asking myself “which one?” #TheBoys #TheBoystv @TheBoysTV https://t.co/PoKXJyMTVb
— Eric Kripke (@therealKripke) January 13, 2023
However, we are all here for it! After all, the gorier the better, right? When talking about hard-to-watch scenes, we certainly cannot forget the two connoisseurs of gory – Karl Urban’s Butcher and Antony Starr’s Homelander. Whenever these two are on the screen, there’s no guessing what happens next.
The three seasons of The Boys are available to stream on Disney+. No release date for season four has been revealed yet.
Source: Nielsen
