This article contains spoilers for The Boys season 3.
As we’re fond of pointing out around here, no other show on television understands superhero culture and the effect of its prevalence on our world than The Boys.
In The Boys season 3, the show’s satirical take on the Western entertainment landscape remains incisive and insightful. This season finds Homelander making good on Antony Starr’s promise to become a “homicidal maniac” and in the process the world that Vought created begins to resemble our own more closely than ever before.
Still, one can’t help but wonder just how closely the world of The Boys hews towards reality. Does The Boys‘ canon have the same succession of American presidents that we do? Does the presence of fictional mega corporation Vought preclude the existence of real life monoliths like Google, Meta, and even The Boys‘ parent network Amazon? The show makes very clear that Billy Joel exists but what about Britney Spears? WHAT ABOUT BRITNEY SPEARS?!?!?
Thankfully, The Boys season 3 answers many of those pressing questions. It’s now clear that The Boys’ universe mirrors our own more than one might even have expected. Here are all the references to the “real world” that we spotted in The Boys season 3. Follow along with us throughout the season and be sure to point out any references that we may have missed.
Episode 1 – Payback
Dawn of the 7
The Boys season 3 opens up with one hell of a homage. As teased last season, Vought Corporation has produced their own blockbuster superhero film called Dawn of the 7 a la The Avengers or Justice League, Zack Snyder’s or otherwise. Naturally the events surrounding the film contain many real world references like…
- Playing Nazi supe Stormfront is none other than Charlize Theron! This marks the second major Charlize Theron cameo in a superhero property in as any months. Does this mean that Charlize Theron is also a part of the MCU in The Boys‘ universe? Does Marvel even exist in The Boys‘ universe? That’s unclear.
- Fictional director Adam Bourke (P.J. Byrne) had to reshoot the whole film after Stormfront’s true nature came to light. Thankfully they really paid off and fans are excited to see “The Bourke Cut” just as they were excited to see the Snyder Cut in our world. Snyder himself even had some fun with the concept on Twitter when The Boys‘ marketing campaign revealed this little detail.
- Speaking of Bourke, at the Dawn of the 7 red carpet premiere he is wearing a “Tyrell Corp” t-shirt under his jacket. Good to know that Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner exists in The Boys.
- All of the TV stations that interview Homelander are fictional, including the Spanish-language station “Voughtemundo!” This may be The Boys‘ version of Telemundo!
- “Shitty fucking director. Tony Gilroy had to reshoot all your shit!” Ashley tells Bourke as they uh…aggressively copulate in the bathroom. It looks like Gilroy, who reshot much of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is every bit as real as Ridley Scott.
Amazon
Finally! Confirmation that Amazon exists in the Boys‘ universe. Butcher (Karl Urban) uses his Amazon app to purchase Connect Four to play with his adopted son Ryan. Amazing that a fictional Amazon exists in The Boys and somehow did not get the rights to The Boys like it did in our own world.
The Termite Scene
Look, we don’t want to relive this traumatizing scene any more than you do. But the explosive penile moment and its aftermath do contain some real life references.
- For starters, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke confirmed to Den of Geek that this scene was partially inspired by the Avengers fan meme that mused as to why Ant-Man didn’t just shrink, enter into Thanos’s butt, and then expand. The Boys had already done a butt explosion in season 1 though. “Once you take the butt off the table there’s really truly only so many more orifices you can go with,” Kripke notes.
- After the spectacularly traumatizing event, Hughie (Jack Quaid) is told that they can’t prosecute Termite because he just got a lucrative endorsement deal with Terminix, a real pest control company that is surely thrilled to now be associated with violent phalic death.
- Vicki (Claudia Doumit) notes that Butcher fed Termite a “metric-Belushi of coke”, referring to the tragic overdose of John Belushi.
Starlight and Hughie
- Starlight (Erin Moriarty) wears a Billy Joel shirt to bed, undoubtedly one of Hughie’s as he adores the Long Island pianist.
- Joel’s “Uptown Girl” then scores the duo’s morning routine.
- Hughie and Starlight debate the merits of brushing with real life toothpaste Aquafresh or real life vaginal health cream Monistat.
The Church of The Collective
With its founder missing (and in reality dead), the cultish Church of The Collective doesn’t make an appearance in season 3 yet. There are still many references to the church and its veiled comparisons to Scientology though.
- The Deep (Chace Crawford) and his new wife Cassandra say they’re pleased to have escaped “that fucking cult.”
- The Deep notes that Malcolm Gladwell (very much a real guy) dubbed him the next Leah Remini, the actress who in our world became notable for leaving Scientology and investigating its alleged misdeeds.
- The Deep is an author now, though Shia LaBeouf’s ghostwriter wrote his whole book.
- Vanity Fair calls The Deep “the thinking man’s superhero.”
Butcher and Company
- Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) gets his daughter what appears to be an oversized Flavor Flav-style clock necklace for her birthday.
- Mother’s Milk is also now taking Lexapro as prescribed. In our world, Lexapro is a generic SSRI used to treat depression and anxiety.
- “Oi! Stevie Fucking Wonder! Will you knock it off?” Butcher (Karl Urban) says to Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) as she plays the piano.
Politics
- Presidential candidate Robert Singer a.k.a. Dakota Bob (Jim Beaver) notes that Vought CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) made a generous contribution to his Super PAC. PACs (Political Action Committees) are real life campaign donation structures that allow candidates to receive money from donors. Super PACs in particular allow for candidates to receive an unlimited amount of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals to campaign with. The “catch” is that the political candidates themselves cannot coordinate with these PACs but as Dakota Bob reveals here, they obviously find a way to do so anyway.
- Dakota Bob also reveals that Black Noir did something to a Hard Rock Cafe in Lagos that should have him brought up on war crimes.
Food
- The Boys’ new headquarters is in the historic Flatiron Building and is well stocked with Doritos and Cheez-Its for snacking purposes.
- A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is drinking a shake from Shake Shack, something that Homelander immediately fat shames him for.
Episode 2 – The Only Man in the Sky
The Church of The Collective (Again)
This episode opens with more references to the fictional Church of the Collective that compare it to the very real Scientology.
- Not Without My Dolphin, The Deep’s show on VTV, has real life actor Billy Zane playing missing church leader Alistair Adana.
- “You have become a toxic personality” Zane’s Adana tells The Deep. This is likely a not-so-veiled reference to Scientology’s concept of SP’s or Suppressive Persons.
Homelander’s Birthday
- Homelander’s birthday celebration has quite the impressive list of guests including: Emeril Lagasse, Rascal Flatts, Dame Judy Dench, and the cast of Riverdale.
- Homelander drops the “C” word (as in “cancel”) during his rant to the audience at episode’s end. He also adds in some Trumpian rhetoric: “I don’t make mistakes. I’m not just like the rest of you. I’m better! If they can control me, you can bet your ass they can control you.”
U.S. Presidents
- Hanging above Stormfront’s hospital bed is a portrait of George Washington. This suggests that the Boys‘ universe’s American presidential history remains the same as our own through at least Ronald Reagan (who shows up later in this episode via stock footage).
- “We’re gonna need a bit more ‘JFK just got rimmed out by Marilyn Monroe’ version,” Homelander revoltingly tells Starlight of his requested happy birthday song.
Voughtland
Vought’s very own theme park is filled with many real life references that reveal the company is trying its hardest to appeal to progressive consumers, including:
- Brave Maeve’s Inclusive Kingdom
- Brave Maeve’s Veggie Tacos
- BLM BLTs
- Woke Wok
- LGBTurkey Legs
Soldier Boy Throughout History
The little film that plays in the theater at Voughtland reveals that Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) was a prominent figure throughout The Boys‘ history…and our own.
- Soldier Boy supposedly participated in the Allies’ activities in World War II.
- During the Joseph McCarthy-led Red Scare of the 1950s, Soldier Boy happily provided Congress with a list of “avowed communists.”
- Soldier Boy had his photo taken with luminaries like Ronald Reagan, Hugh Hefner, and Princess Diana.
Media
- “I want to get back in touch with my roots…like in Roots,” A-Train says of his new look, referring to the classic 1976 novel and 1977 miniseries about the trans Atlantic slave trade.
- Stan Edgar reads the children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day to Victoria Neuman’s daughter.
- “Don’t be afraid of the zoom, you’re not Roger Deakins,” Ashley says to her cameraman, referring to the legendary cinematographer of films like 1917, Skyfall, and No Country for Old Men.
- Ashley appears to be quite the film buff actually. Upon learning that Stormfront committed suicide via biting her tongue she remarks that she “Million Dollar Baby‘ed herself”
- Ryan makes an incredible stop-motion animation short for Butcher using LEGO.
The Gun Show
References to America’s gun culture and political landscape abound during Butcher’s visit to the Vought Rifle Association (VRA) gun show to blackmail Gunpowder (Sean Patrick Flannery)
- Gunpowder tells his audience that Robert Singer is going to follow the “George Soros globalist playbook” if elected president. George Soros is billionaire businessman and philanthropist in our world whose political donations are the subject of many right wing conspiracy theories.
- Someone shouts “fake news” as Gunpowder mentions the media.
- Gunpowder acknowledges that he and his kind at the VRA are “The Silent Majority” a term popularized by Richard Nixon in the U.S. and used again during Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns.
- Gunpowder’s book is titled “Triggered.”
- Vought manufactures a gun called the VR-15, which sounds similar to the controversial semi-automatic rifle AR-15 in our world.
Episode 3 – Barbary Coast
Little Miss Hero Pageant
The flashback to Starlight’s time on the Vought International pageant circuit provides a couple of real life references.
- The whole ordeal is sponsored by State Farm Insurance which really makes me wonder if State Farm actually lent their name to The Boys for this purpose.
- The song that little Annie January dances to is “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears.
Music
Speaking of Britney Spears, this episode features several other prominent songs and musical artists that apparently exist in both our world and The Boys.
- Mother’s Milk wears an NWA shirt.
- “They chauffeuring you around, huh? Like you Rihanna,” A-Train’s brother asks him.
- Payback’s arrival song back in the ’80s is Scorpion’s “Rock You Like a Hurricane.”
Nicaragua
While a lot of Grace Mallory’s (Laila Robins) Nicaragua recollections are fictional (like the part with, you know, the superheroes) a surprisingly chunk of it is based on real events and rumors.
- For starters, Butcher notes that Mallory has a picture of George H.W. Bush in her office. So we can safely extend The Boys‘ continuity of presidents through #41.
- Operation Charly, or the reason Grace was in Nicaragua in the first place, is basically completely real. In the 1970s and ’80s both the Argentinian and American governments funded and supported right wing movements in Central America to prevent socialist parties from taking power amid the height of the Cold War. The operation purportedly began during the Nicaraguan Revolution between 1977 and 1979.
- Grace makes note of “Oliver North’s epic fuck up.” This is referring to the Iran-Contra affair – a political scandal in which the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the money to fund Contras (right wing rebels) in Nicaragua.
- Mother’s Milk calls out Grace for another unsavory part of her role in Nicaragua – the purchase of the Contra’s plentiful cocaine. Mother’s Milk alleges and Grace confirms that the CIA sold all of that excess cocaine into minority neighborhoods in the U.S. to disrupt and destabilize them. This is based on several similar, reputable allegations in our world.
- “They don’t belong in a war zone. They belong on That’s Incredible!” Grace says of her unwanted Payback soldiers. She is referring to an American reality TV show about unusual individuals and paranormal phenomena akin to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not from the 1980s.
Media
- Soldier Boy tells Grace Mallory that his charms worked on Loni Anderson, an actress best known for her role as Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati.
- “I’m Michael Jordan. I’m not Malcolm X,” A-Train says of his public image.
- It is revealed that Frenchie’s (Tomer Capon) safe word is “Vincent Cassel”, the name of a prominent French actor.
Bigotry
Yeah it’s awkward to have “Bigotry” as an H3 on an article about real world cultural references but regrettably the concept is a major part of The Boys‘ world and our own.
- Homelander balks at selecting a Muslim hero on The Seven referring to Silver Kincaid as “Captain Al Qaeda”. Not only is this cruel but it also likely acknowledges the existence of the September 11 terrorist attacks in The Boys. In fact, The Boys comic actually depicts Homelander and the Seven failing to prevent 9/11.
- New supe Blue Hawk is notable to overpricing minority neighborhoods as are many police departments in our world.
- Homelander firmly establishes himself as an ultra douche by comparing himself to Martin Luther King Jr. He is adamant that they know each other’s struggles because it feels good to be “free at last.”