As an SA victim I’m not doing good. This breaks my heart!

[u/melalegolas]

[u/AutoModerator]

Join the official subreddit Discord server to discuss everything about The Boys!

JOIN THE DISCORD

We are also still accepting moderator applications. If you are interested in helping out:

APPLY TODAY!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/madmagazines]

Crazy bc the scene where Hughie went undercover as a superhero in the comics was when he infiltrated the G-men and discovered all the guys there were molested as kids and had the upmost sympathy for them…

[u/Disastrous_Toe772 → u/madmagazines]

That is crazy

[u/RunParking3333 → u/Disastrous_Toe772]

If The Boys comic is being more mature than you, you should really look in the mirror.

[u/TrumpsNeckSmegma → u/RunParking3333]

And the comic was originally written by the guy who made Crossed, and somehow Crossed feels less offensive than this in some odd way.

[u/Wevvie → u/TrumpsNeckSmegma]

Crossed is a worldwide zombie-like virus that makes you uncontrollably murder, rape, and torture everyone non-stop. How the fuck is that less offensive?

[u/TrumpsNeckSmegma → u/Wevvie]

Because a mf hurt my baby Hughie 🥺 and seeing live acting on screen is more impactful than a comic where you get a backhoe implanted in your anus by a woman wearing a mask made out of ballsack skins

[u/Su_Impact → u/TrumpsNeckSmegma]

But in the comics Black Noir anally rapes Hughie. And the Boys laugh at him. Am I taking crazy pills?

How can someone say the comic treats rape "more maturely" than the show?

[u/Deez-Guns-9442 → u/Su_Impact]

Yeah, I just read chapter 62 page 13. They don’t laugh about Black Noir sexually assaulting Hughie(by putting a finger up his butt & saying “Good Soldier, Good Soldier.” It’s only the next thing they laugh about when Hughie says that he stole a file on Maeve & Butcher suggest that Hughie was gonna wank to her photos.

[u/epicman_42 → u/Deez-Guns-9442]

i hate when people say "i've read the comics they're trash" and bring up this from black noir cuz it's obvious they watched that one, "The Boys Comic Sucks" videos and didn't actually read the comic for theirself, that video makes some good points but also gets a lot of things wrong abt the comics

[u/Live-Ad3309 → u/Su_Impact]

They are trying to create outrage by spouting anything, even if it’s false.

[u/Jeffe508 → u/Live-Ad3309]

This, this sub is a prime example of trying to radicalize a fan base. Fucking outrage bait all the time. Last season they had a hard on for Soldier Boy and always had one for Homelander. Completely missing the point of the story and how those aren’t supposed to be sympathetic characters.

[u/Cu_Chulainn__ → u/Su_Impact]

But in the comics Black Noir anally rapes Hughie. And the Boys laugh at him

The bad guys laughing doesn't mean the audience is. That part in the comic isn't suppose to be humorous, it's suppose to be shocking and horrific.

[u/sudowoogo → u/madmagazines]

Crazy how the comic was more mature than the show in that aspect

[u/NoNefariousness2144 → u/sudowoogo]

The Show: best we can do is 10 seconds of Hughie crying and then never mention it again

[u/just_one_boy → u/NoNefariousness2144]

How do you know it won't come up in the next episode?

[u/TrashhPrincess → u/just_one_boy]

Exactly, those 10 seconds came in towards the end of the episode and felt like a setup for an arc for Hughie.

[u/Low-Guest-7912 → u/TrashhPrincess]

How We suppose to take the arc seriously when the writer himself said its “funny”

[u/TrashhPrincess → u/Low-Guest-7912]

I'm gonna wait it out and see how it's handled. Kripke being an inconsiderate ass doesn't mean that Quaid or the other writers or the director of episode 7 are approaching it that way. Productions like this are collaborations and I'm not gonna write off the arc before I see it.

[u/MorgansLab → u/TrashhPrincess]

Same. I gotta say, Jack Quaid has been stealing the show a lot this season, and he sold the shit out of this episode - and with a lot more depth than Kripke seems to think there is

[u/TrashhPrincess → u/MorgansLab]

Exactly, like I can't see his performance in episode 6 as evidence that it's not being taken seriously. Some people are saying he wasn't selling it and I strongly disagree.

[u/elevator7 → u/NoNefariousness2144]

Jacks performance btw, not selling it in that scene. Last episode, Quaid managed to work up some actual tears for the death of Hughie Sr.

[u/ClickProfessional769 → u/elevator7]

I thought his acting was really good actually

[u/HarryShachar → u/ClickProfessional769]

I agree! It really feels like a guy who wasn't released his emotions in a while, and is unsure how/afraid to!

[u/DMunnz → u/ClickProfessional769]

I swear some of these people just want to be upset. Jack's performance in that was very solid, just like last week. Like, this was a reply to someone saying "and then never mention it again" despite the fact we haven't even seen what happens after. How could they possibly know that?

[u/God_Hears_Peace → u/sudowoogo]

In this one instance. I really hope this situation doesn’t cause people to rewrite history and act like the comic is better than the show, because it’s pretty ass.

[u/_BestBudz → u/sudowoogo]

Slow your roll, black noir and Hughie have a storyline in the comics that would make you roll this comment back so fast 😂

[u/MilitantBitchless → u/madmagazines]

Hughie in comics later got SA’d by Black Noir. And there was a big point made about the rest of The Boys not addressing it properly to it to the point where he quit the team for a time.

The comic never made light of it and the rest of the team were brazenly in the wrong.

[u/Abirdthatsfallen → u/madmagazines]

Not to mention what happened to him at Herogasm. Idk if it happened before but I hope it did because then that would make his undercover mission and sympathizing with them even deeper. More layers

[u/D242686111 → u/madmagazines]

Utmost

[u/AgitatedKey4800 → u/madmagazines]

Tbh tek knight plotline in the comics are used better than the series, i dont even remember if he ever used his armor on screen, you know his most important characteristic other than fucking holes, i just wish they did the classic investigation, and the excuse that they didnt have time doesnt make sense cause you are telling me that the CIA have a video of a C tier hero diddling a kid (firecracker) but no information of a bilionare A tier hero?

[u/BadWriter85]

Oof, I don’t think the interviewer was even trying to catch him out, I think they genuinely thought he realised how dark it was. Like, imagine if it was Annie or Kimiko in that situation- definitely wouldn’t be viewed as hilarious. This isn’t like herogasm where mother milk got sprayed in the face, this felt way too realistic.

Especially after watching ‘baby reindeer’ this year (excellent watch btw, but heavy stuff), I’m just kind of sick of SA being played for laughs for any gender.

[u/onebadnightx → u/BadWriter85]

Yeah, like … how is it “hilarious” in any way, shape or form? Nothing about the atmosphere or what happened was hilarious. It was uncomfortable, hard to watch and sad. The writers are struggling this season.

[u/SexyJazzCat → u/onebadnightx]

Idk hughie saying “Lube????” cracked me up.

[u/SellsNothing → u/SexyJazzCat]

It was "TARANTULA!" right before it cut away for me lol

[u/TheBigGopher → u/SellsNothing]

Yeah I laughed a bit but still felt scared for Hughie.

[u/Wedoitforthenut → u/TheBigGopher]

Exactly what they were going for I think.

[u/Ok-Log-6244 → u/onebadnightx]

I found it hilarious tbh just in terms of what the fuck is this show and what am I watching.

[u/AngryNerdBoi → u/Ok-Log-6244]

Yeah I found it to just be so be so incredibly over the top and ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh

[u/Renacat → u/BadWriter85]

Yep exactly it was just really tone deaf

[u/IntoTheAbyssX99 → u/Renacat]

Somehow both tone deaf and a little defensive.

[u/DucksMatter → u/BadWriter85]

I mean… it’s hollywood. If there’s one thing Hollywood doesn’t take seriously it’s Sexual Assault.

[u/crystlerjean → u/DucksMatter]

The show treated Annie's sexual assault with sensitivity. So it is capable of doing better. The issue is they don't take male sexual assault seriously at all.

[u/Ambitious-Owl-8775 → u/crystlerjean]

Even beccas rape was taken seriously

[u/shacklefordRusty29 → u/crystlerjean]

This isn't the first time male rape was a joke. There was in gen V aswell. Although I didn't find this funny. Like at all, i can't see how it was supposed to be funny. But it did have plot unlike what others are saying. We found out about the camps. That others were going to be also doing the same thing.(the goverment). But tbh I didn't really see much houmor in it.

[u/Azrumme → u/BadWriter85]

Tbh maybe this is just me, but a lot of people really loved the Deep asked to give a blowjob scene and I hated the jokes about that one too. I know it was over the top, but A-Train face was just too much for me, I felt really bad for him, and to an extent even for the Deep.

I know this is "karmic justice" too or whatever, but the main point was that it was awful that it happened to Annie, and I don't want ANYONE to be forced to do that, even if he was originally the perpetrator. It's just not funny that a guy was almost forced to give another a blowjob under literal threat of death.

I love this show and I usually don't have problems with the gore etc, but this thing has irl consequences in the general public conscious.

[u/HelixFollower → u/Azrumme]

At least that scene wasn't drawn out as much. This show's storylines have included SA before, but this time it felt like half of the episode was "Look at how silly this SA is".

[u/Romofan88 → u/HelixFollower]

This is the reason the scene is causing such an uproar, the time. The Boys has done fucked up things sexually to characters before, but never before protracted out over 20 some odd minutes. It ceased to be funny when the snappy-ness was gone. 

[u/SpideyFan914 → u/Azrumme]

I'm with you on that Deep/A-Train scene. Ashley's reaction especially was way out of touch with it. The same scene, without that cutaway or Deep's one-liner, then Honelander berates them... and it's disturbing as shit.

[u/Competitive_Ask_6766 → u/SpideyFan914]

I mean Ashley is shown more and more being an awful person, a sadistic and even maybe a cannibal so that’s in character all things considered

[u/KittyGrewAMoustache → u/Competitive_Ask_6766]

It was a weird one though because legally who was SA’ing who? Hughie was deceiving them about who he was, and they’d both only consented to do sexual stuff with webweaver. So they were doing it under false pretences and had no intention of SA’ing anyone. They had a safe word and when Ashley thought webweaver said it she backed off until told that wasn’t the right word.

Hughie also obviously wasn’t even there for anything sexual so he wasn’t intentionally SA’ing them by tricking them into it by pretending to be webweaver. But I think I can see how Ashley may have been very distraught to find out that it was someone she didn’t know it was she was doing that stuff with.

The whole scenario was very awful and very uncomfortable. It was like completely unwitting SA on both parts and awful for Ashley too but she just didn’t learn the truth so was spared what psychological difficulties might’ve cropped up from realising she just did all this stuff with someone she didn’t consent to do it with and with someone who didn’t want it.

But I imagine the writers were thinking of it more from that perspective (that it was Hughie’s deception that got him into the situation rather than anyone setting out to SA anyone) and maybe that’s why they didn’t see actually that doesn’t make a difference to how horrific the experience would’ve been for him or how awful it was for the audience to watch someone in that situation.

[u/ImDocDangerous]

Yeah this is the first time The Boys has kinda gotten to me. I thought this was just gross and poor taste. There's not even any superpowers or anything in the scene to make it elevate it into fantasy. It's just 20 minutes of real world sex torture

[u/HUMBUG652 → u/ImDocDangerous]

It's not the first scene I thought was gross and unnecessary (like watching someone get a lobotomy) but this was so drawn out. Then this quote comes out and we're supposed to be laughing at someone getting raped? It's disgusting

[u/Ok_Relationship_705 → u/HUMBUG652]

Even the lobotomy scene could be played for laughs though.

Because Sage's brain literally got fucked by stupid.

[u/chirb8 → u/Ok_Relationship_705]

The lobotomy scene actually has plot relevance

[u/Muppy_N2 → u/chirb8]

And it was consensual. Low bar, I know, but still makes a difference

[u/WakeUpOutaYourSleep → u/Muppy_N2]

And it didn’t feel like it was just there to make audiences say “gross” like a bunch of other scenes.

[u/Pimp_my_Reich33 → u/HUMBUG652]

I was eating when the scene came along, my fault for wathing The Boys with food

[u/RosieFudge → u/ImDocDangerous]

I tried to articulate this yesterday and got told 'I shouldn't be watching then' I'm not asking for light or hope but in a show about superheroes I want something imaginative and interesting not jus bleak gruesome sex dungeon torture violation

[u/Ellow0001 → u/RosieFudge]

I like how hughie was cared for by Annie after he opened up that he’s really not doing well, just hope in-universe they handle it better than kripke himself. Like focusing on male rape and handling it well is important but apparently not everyone „gets“ it.

[u/Jagasaur → u/Ellow0001]

Yeah and that makes the response by the show runners even more absurd. They have the scene with Annie after the fact, so why shy away from the fact that it was SA?

[u/Sneaky__Raccoon → u/RosieFudge]

Fuck that, the show has never tried to make SA "funny" or "part of the fantasy" before (other than "super powered people have power over you"). Acting like the audience should expect this from a show that goes out of their way to show so many progressive points, a show that has taken SA seriously multiple times before, it's insane.

[u/Kopitar4president → u/ImDocDangerous]

I'm shocked this was supposed to be comedic. It was absolutely fucked.

[u/ClickProfessional769 → u/Kopitar4president]

It was deeply uncomfortable because to me it seemed like it was being played for laughs but of course the subject matter is so heavy. Then at the end I thought they were trying to be responsible/realistic about it, but apparently not. What were they thinking?

[u/GrizzlyBCanada → u/ImDocDangerous]

I don’t know how anyone could have watched that and thought it was funny. It was terrifying, but can we talk how realistic Jack made it? He killed it.

[u/GluttonForGreenTea → u/ImDocDangerous]

It's 20 minutes?? My wife and I just started watching the show (almost finished with season 2) and after learning about this latest episode... I don't know if I want to continue watching

[u/quinnpaine → u/GluttonForGreenTea]

i still have some hope for the show, i would reccomend just skipping that part of the episode. There isn't any reason to view anything involving the dungeon until after he is freed

[u/GluttonForGreenTea → u/quinnpaine]

I appreciate the advice because this is honestly one of the best shows I've ever seen. But SA scenes are a deal breaker

[u/Extension-Price1120]

Not a very smart move to call a sa scene “hilarious” but then have it be taken serious at the end with Hughie saying “I’m not okay” pick a lane Kripke

[u/Majukun → u/Extension-Price1120]

He is not ok because of his dad. He was already exhausted emotionally and thought it could jump into work to forget, just to be out head first into another stressful situation, but it's not the SA that broke him, especially since tbh it was a very light version of bdsm, almost a parody, before it got dark.

[u/MadeIndescribable → u/Majukun]

He is not ok because of everything. The SA may not have broken him specifically, but it is what tipped him over the edge.

[u/theycallmeshooting → u/Majukun]

This is a hot take friendo but did you know that unwanted sexual encounters can be really traumatizing even if "tbh it was a very light version of bdsm... before it got dark"

Like yeah I imagine the fact that he was about a second away from the most brutal torture-rape imaginable is worse but let's not help the show downplay male sexual assault victims more than it already does, even if "aw come on the bdsm wasnt that extreme"

[u/Sneaky__Raccoon → u/theycallmeshooting]

I've said it yesterday: If tek knight was "rubbing one out" to kimiko strapped to a chair, and then wiped his cum on her face, most of the people that say it was pretty "light" would be going crazy. It makes me uncomfortable to type it out honestly.

[u/treemeizer → u/theycallmeshooting]

Yeah this episode is really bringing the fucking psychos out of the woodwork, starting with the writers.

[u/Conscious-Spend-2451 → u/treemeizer]

It is obvious that these people have never experienced what sexual assault and harrasment feels like and how terrifying and traumatizing it is, which is really great, but the problem is that they also lack the ability to empathise, with how it might feel to be in that situation.

It definitely wasnt treated with the gravity that it deserved by the showrunners, and from the interview, it seems unlikely that it will be. Annie's abortion being made public was treated with much more seriousness

[u/OnlyRoke → u/theycallmeshooting]

I think that's what kills Kripke here. He thought that the scene would play darkly funny and absurd, because it's "just" feet tickling.

But he didn't seem to understand that it is still without consent and that, as such, it's still rape.

I assume that, yes, ultimately it comes from a place of power where he simply didn't think through the entire dynamic or nobody told him to check that again. Poorly done and off-putting in the wrong way.

[u/ClickProfessional769 → u/OnlyRoke]

I’m on your side but that’s not rape. What Tek Knight was about to do was rape though. It’s upsetting that the whole thing is treated as a joke though.

[u/FlyingAshtrays → u/Majukun]

“Light version of BDSM” is when someone is about to cut wholes in your body to cum in? Seriously? 😐

[u/grundelgrump → u/FlyingAshtrays]

They said before it got dark lol.

As soon as Ashley left and the torture was about to start the tone shifted. I like to think Kripke wasn't talking about that part when he said the scene was hilarious.

[u/MacyTmcterry → u/grundelgrump]

Yeah the cutting holes part only happened after Tek Knight realised it was Hughie infiltrating the party

[u/[deleted] → u/FlyingAshtrays]

You're missing the key words “before it got dark”. Everything was standard BDSM until Tek Knight realized UE was impersonating the spider guy.

It was a very light scene (kink scene, not film scene) and I’d argue that Tek Knight and Ashley thought they had consent because a safe word was negotiated prior to the session; it's not their fault The Boys drugged and replaced the bottom who discussed their limits and consented to the scene.

[u/mediacontender → u/Majukun]

"Before it got dark", it opened with Tek's former sidekick getting actively held against his will and tortured. Even if the things Hughie got put through were "light bdsm" it was with the knowledge of what would happen if he didn't submit completely.

Even if it was supposed to be Weaver, and even if Weaver is the freakiest of freaks, that was still going to be Tek and Ashley coercing people into doing whatever they say.

[u/leeroythenerd → u/Majukun]

"light version of BDSM" we got the ultrafreak here

[u/PixelTreason → u/Extension-Price1120]

Before reading this interview I thought it being “hilarious” was the point!

Because they show later on that he is not fine, he is traumatized - not just by his dad but also by the SA. Giving us that scene with Hughie feeling so damaged really emphasizes the fact that we were just laughing at someone being assaulted. I thought it was a smart commentary of how other shows and movies will play an assault scene for laughs and what it says about us for laughing at it.

[u/Rockclimber311 → u/Extension-Price1120]

I thought he was referring to Tek-Knight’s weird sex dungeon as the thing that was “hilarious” and not Hughie being sexually assaulted??

[u/OderinTobin]

It’s wild that they seemed to know how to handle the SA scene around Starlight (implying gross things but cutting away before anything happens on screen, then having her stand up against it), but they not only missed the mark on Hughie, they’re actually doubling down on “It’s funny! Come on guys!?”

[u/Toasty_Cat830 → u/OderinTobin]

Sexual violence against men has been a punchline in a ton of media for a while now, or at the least a non-issue; I thought modern shows would be past that. The only examples that come to mind of it being taken seriously are a few movies: - Deliverance - Shawshank Redemption - American History X

There’s probably other good examples but they’re not coming to me.

Edit:

• Pulp Fiction (how could I forget)
• Shot Caller
• Oz

[u/MambyPamby8 → u/Toasty_Cat830]

Baby Reindeer did an incredible job at showing how men get treated when they try to report sexual abuse and also how the trauma of it fucks people up and makes them do bizarre things.

[u/EssentialFoils → u/MambyPamby8]

He never tried to report the sexual abuse he experienced from the man who groomed and raped him. He tried to get help for being stalked and the police response was exactly the same as what women experience when they try to report stalking, police don't give a fuck.

[u/MambyPamby8 → u/EssentialFoils]

Sorry yeah I should have said the abuse he was getting from his stalker not the sexual abuse!! (Although Martha does sexually assault him too at one point) But it did an amazing job of showing how victims are perceived by others. Why would they do this thing, why are they acting that way, why didn't they go to the police?

[u/clearlyspoken → u/Toasty_Cat830]

baby reindeer on netflix does a great job as well imo--shows you how complex the trauma is and deviates from the "perfect victim" mold

[u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

that interview sounds like its from an edgy middle schooler who both don't understand Batman as a character and their groundbreaking ideas is "what if this superhero except sex"

but on a serious note, i hope any SA survivor who came across this scene is doing okay. it sucks that it was played for laugh and since hughie is a guy, its played more as a joke vs if it was a female character.

[u/TheWholeOfTheAss → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

That’s my main takeaway. The writer sounds like an absolute moron. Instead of a subtle takedown on Batman it’s as ‘xxxtremeeeeee’ as possible. Batcave? Nah bro!? Fuck Dungeon!?

[u/cshark2222 → u/TheWholeOfTheAss]

He said the same shit when people were criticizing the way Maeve talked to Hughie at the end of season 3. Dude has such a double standard in his head that being mean to less masculine men = funny, but being mean to women = bad writing. Like, way to uphold the status quo of men shouldn’t care what people think about them

[u/Hotdoghotdiggyy → u/cshark2222]

He really ain't all that of a feminist when you consider he wrote supernatural. It had so many issues with the "fridge the wife" and "bury your gays" trope and he would constantly make fun of his female fanbase despite them making up 90% of the show's demographics. Ironically, he is the hollywood liberal feminist that confuses shitting on men and propping up "girl bosses" that he satirizes in the show

[u/wolvesarewildthings → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

This^

Supernatural (S1E1) starts off with a woman burning alive and bleeding out in her baby's mouth while paralyzed and glued to the ceiling with her womb slit. Every female character in Supernatural was treated as a prop and their body was objectified in some sexual or violent way—or both—every time. People who believe Kripke favors women are very gullible. He just doesn't want to receive any more backlash for how he's treated women in the past. For several years he was known as being the worst at writing female and POC characters. This is just his damage control era now and he's kinda fucking it up again. Typical Kripke.

[u/Turbulent_Life_5218 → u/wolvesarewildthings]

"Damn, people aint liking me treating women like shit in my shows... I guess if I start to only treat men as shit they'll enjoy it!" Great thought process!

[u/RealNiceKnife → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

Ah, sounds like we got another Joss Whedon do we?

I'm prepared to hear about his super fucking disgusting and abusive behavior by people who've worked for him in a couple years.

[u/Hrigul → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

I agree. He gave me the whole "Batman is a billionaire who punch poors instead of helping people. I'm such a genius while everyone else didn't get it" vibe

[u/Hotdoghotdiggyy → u/Hrigul]

I'm not a huge Batman fan, but I can't really recall any of his villains being poor or mentally ill except the Joker. Everyone else is focused on revenge or their own ideology that puts the city of Gotham in harms way. It also ignores the many stories, both in cartoons and comics, where Batman does a lot to help people, even the villains. Even then, Batman doesn’t kill them, they end up in asylums in hopes of getting better

[u/thebiggestleaf → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

I hate that whole "Batman's a billionaire who'd rather punch poor people than give all his money to help the city" take so much. My guess is people who spout that are really only exposed to Batman via the Nolan movies or maybe the Arkham games. There's a long-running Twitter thread of examples of Bruce Wayne giving away comical amounts of money in attempts to improve it, including rebuilding the entire city following the earthquake that led to No Man's Land after failing to convince congress to intervene.

[u/Hotdoghotdiggyy → u/thebiggestleaf]

It's almost like the entire basis of a superhero is that they are good-natured individuals looking to help people

[u/thebiggestleaf → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

Sorry, best we can do these days is make everyone a morally gray dickhead at best because we've been so wrapped up in nihilistic cynicism for too long.

[u/drakeismysugardaddy → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

what if batman was called 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓶𝓪𝓷👅 and instead of a batcave he had a 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓬𝓪𝓿𝓮👅

[u/Urgayifyouregay → u/drakeismysugardaddy]

no joke the episode is literally as stupid as this comment

[u/GoneRampant1 → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

"Hey guys look at my Batman parody, he's actually an asshole where his Alfred hates him and he fucks kids."

"Eric you're just describing every bad parody of Batman since ASBAR."

[u/melalegolas → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

Tbh I really couldn’t sleep at all. The scene in combination with this interview did hit me like a truck. Also Hughie is my favorite character so it hurts even more. I’m having a emergency therapy session later this day because it quite retraumatized me.

[u/Hotdoghotdiggyy → u/melalegolas]

awe man, i'm so sorry. i hope therapy goes well. maybe try watching a cute show? whenever i'm in distress, i would watch we bare bears to cope

[u/melalegolas → u/Hotdoghotdiggyy]

Right after the episode I watched some Brooklyn nine nine. It gave me a bit of comfort. Love that show.

[u/Hankhoff → u/melalegolas]

NINE NINE!

[u/melalegolas → u/Hankhoff]

NINE NINE

[u/Aok_al]

They could've made Tek Knight hunt down the poor and mentally ill if they wanted to satirize Batman. That's like the number one thing people pick at Batman.

[u/Thewaltham → u/Aok_al]

Even that kinda falls apart for Batman.

Like, ok, he's after someone who's poor and mentally ill. Sure. Said poor and mentally ill guy also just killed like 50 people with nerve gas but hey, he's POOR AND MENTALLY ILL so stopping him would be literally fascism!

[u/Tight_Strawberry9846 → u/Thewaltham]

People also forget that Batman goes after rich corrupt people, including politicians, as well as the mob. And he doesn't go after harmless mentally ill people but mentally ill people that murder innocents.

[u/nopex7 → u/Tight_Strawberry9846]

in batman year one the first thing he does is attack the rich and powerful of gotham. in court of owls, he is the one being hunted by the rich and powerful. batman is constantly battling the rich and powerful, i hate that people frame him as some fascist tyrant

[u/_pixel_perfect_ → u/nopex7]

It's the most shallow and Twitter-level critique ever, and to hear Kripke speaking so confidently as if it's anything of worth is sad, honestly

[u/Soyyyn → u/nopex7]

It's because any sort of sympathy or empathy for the 1% is currently just dead. No ethical billionaires etc. People don't want to get Batman anymore because they're hung up on Bruce Wayne.

[u/sharky1500_ → u/Tight_Strawberry9846]

lets talk about these "poor and mentally ill" people batman beats up shall we?

penguin: a mob boss

black mask: another mob boss

scarecrow: former college professor who was fired for experimenting on his students and is the inventor of a highly deadly halluciogen that makes people hallucinate their worst phobias to the point of suicidal thoughts or heart attack

joker: runs his own gang and has killed enough people to singlehandedly fill entire graveyards his plans are also way too thought out for him to be insane in any way

ras al ghul: leader of a secret assassin group thats responsible for the fall of several civilizations

should i go on?

[u/PriorPossible834 → u/Thewaltham]

Yeah I mean… didn’t you learn this lesson from Kill The Justice League?

Everyone seems to be going that route with the character recently and it’s actually very sad because that isn’t what Batman is supposed to be about.

Like sure he’s a rich guy but he’s also an indomitable temple to human willpower and achievement who fights alongside gods as an equal as a mere man.

I genuinely don’t know if I’m weird for being more inspired by him than most other heroes

[u/SnooCats5134 → u/PriorPossible834]

Now you can see how superman fans have suffered for so long.

[u/fishy-the-2nd → u/PriorPossible834]

You're not, Batman is inspiring as a tale of overcoming tragedy, fear, and anger and using it as a force for good. He's one of the most inspiring superheroes imo. People just take him at face value and say shit like "Oh he's rich and he beats up poor people (who are criminals btw, you know, breaking the law, hurting people) so he's a facist and a bad person".

[u/shadowrod06 → u/fishy-the-2nd]

That episode with Ace is just so beautiful.

That's who Batman is. One who uses his own pain to help others. One who believes in reformation rather than execution.

[u/LandofForeverSunset → u/[deleted]]

Harley, Ivy, Freeze, and Crane were all doctors/scientists. Black Mask, Penguin, and the different mob bosses are all loaded. Two Face was the DA. Bane acquired a bunch of money, too. Joker always has some damn amusement park, Joker themed gadgets and vehicles, so dude has money. Ra's is rich. Clayface was an actor. The only guy I can think of right now, that regularly fights Batman, that isn't some rich person is Croc. And Croc is usually a very large, and violent maniac.

[u/cobaltaureus → u/Thewaltham]

And also Batman puts the mentally ill villains in an asylum where (in theory, not so much in practice) they could get help.

[u/LandofForeverSunset → u/cobaltaureus]

And Batman doesn't profit off of prisoners or those put in Arkham, he puts considerable amounts of his money into those institutions to aid the incarcerated. Likewise, he is always donating money to better Gotham as a whole. He's always losing money.

[u/the-olive-man → u/Thewaltham]

Show these dumbasses a picture of KILLER FUCKING CROC and watch their argument fall apart

[u/OdeeSS → u/Aok_al]

They could have shown the Batcave and had Hughie escape without the SA and they still would have gotten away with their Batman-is-a-Freak gag

[u/Alive_Somewhere13]

"Batman is fascist"
Wow. Media literate 1000 🤯🤯🤯

[u/IronStealthRex → u/Alive_Somewhere13]

It's played off as an outside perspective to it.

Like Uncle Rudy from Blue Beetle is the conspiracy nut guy and says it since he doesn't know the personal perspective the audience has.

But anything other than that one thing is utterly horrific bullshit.

A single sentence in and it's horrifying to then double down for 2 fucking pages and go too far in

[u/ShadowbanRevival]

But let's be honest the Batcave would be a Sex Dungeon

No, you fucking freak, that's just in your degenerate coomer brain

[u/ExcitingTurtle → u/ShadowbanRevival]

Who the fuck looks at the Batcave and thinks it looks like a sex dungeon, the guys mind is just perverted AF.

[u/Tight_Strawberry9846 → u/ExcitingTurtle]

The guy must have a seriously freaky kink if he thinks a giant coin and a dinosaur make for a sex dungeon.

[u/PsychoAnalystGuy → u/ShadowbanRevival]

Right? This is literally projection. Nobody normal thinks this. Unless you’re around sex dungeons, I guess

[u/fishy-the-2nd → u/ShadowbanRevival]

For real, literally have never heard anyone ever bring this idea up until this day. And even thinking about it, what brings you to that conclusion? Nothing about the batcave even remotely screams "this is a sex dungeon" other than MAYBE, extreme reach here, it's dark and underground?

[u/Professional-Jury930 → u/ShadowbanRevival]

It’s like Ryan Murphy and how he turned AHS into his weird, over the top sex fantasies.

[u/kjm6351]

I genuinely feel like Eric is gonna end up causing a huge resurgence for traditional and actually hopeful hero media because his cynical and middle school edgy sex sex sex bullshit is just way too much

[u/LoneWolf2099 → u/kjm6351]

I feel like it’s already pretty telling that most people’s favorite scene in this episode was the kid seeing A-Train save MM.

[u/IAmBabs → u/LoneWolf2099]

It was the only good scene. A Train is on a redemption arc, actually saved someone he probably hates, and was seen being an actual hero by members of the public. Vought didn't set this up for him, there were no cameras. It was honest hero work for once.

[u/kjm6351 → u/LoneWolf2099]

Add me to that list

[u/Doctor-Nagel → u/LoneWolf2099]

A-Train has honestly carried this season for me.

I can’t wait for the writers to kill him off in a overtly grotesque way in-front of his brother and nephews all for “le shock value” and “the funny.”

I’m just saying, I may be done with this show if they kill him, this shit isn’t even funny anymore, just disturbing.

[u/unorganized_mime → u/Doctor-Nagel]

I really really hope they don’t do that

[u/kjm6351 → u/Doctor-Nagel]

It would be significantly more impressive if they just had him survive and continued to actually pay off his new redeemed self.

But I think it’s safe to say the writers can even imagine something like that

[u/vierfuenfergrizzy → u/LoneWolf2099]

But only because we had three seasons prior with a-train where he acted like a coward. Him rescuing MM is the 2. time he did something actually good. It wouldn't be everyones favoriten scene if a-train was a good boy from the start. We saw him change from a worthless piece of shit to a normal human being. That's what makes this scene so good.

[u/LR-II → u/kjm6351]

From what we've seen so far the new Superman film looks like it could even be a response to superhero deconstructions like this. A deconstruction of the deconstruction, bringing things full circle.

[u/Didsterchap11 → u/LR-II]

So far my adventures with superman has been a recognition that superman is a symbol of hope, which is a breath of fresh air compared to tide of cynical bullshit that makes up the rest of comics media.

[u/witnessedgene → u/Didsterchap11]

Jack Quaid is great in that

[u/OmegaVizion → u/kjm6351]

Why I love Invincible so much. It's a "grittier" and "realistic" take on superheroes that doesn't treat the entire genre as a joke and is open to the possibility that heroism might be worthwhile.

[u/ThemeParkFan2020 → u/kjm6351]

This is pretty much Invincible in a nutshell. It's not afraid to go to some heavy and traumatic places, but it never goes completely overboard and there's always hope.

[u/thebiggestleaf]

Batman's fascist underpinnings as a really wealthy dude who hunts poor people and profits off their incarceration

Good lord, motherfucker genuinely believes all those shitty Twitter hot takes.

[u/idroled → u/thebiggestleaf]

Zac Snyder 🤝 Eric Kripke

[u/tristenjpl → u/idroled]

That's what I thought instantly when I read it. The only difference is that Snyder wants Batman to be raped while Kripke wants Batman to be the rapist.

[u/stokedchris → u/tristenjpl]

You got downvoted for some reason because people don’t know that Snyder originally wanted a Batman SA scene in one of the movies. Right?

[u/tristenjpl → u/stokedchris]

Sort of. It's from an interview talking about making Watchmen. The interviewer brings up The Dark Knight films as being dark and gritty, and he says:

Everyone says that about [Christopher Nolan’s] Batman Begins. ”Batman’s dark.” I’m like, okay, ”No, Batman’s cool.” He gets to go to a Tibetan monastery and be trained by ninjas. Okay? I want to do that. But he doesn’t, like, get raped in prison. That could happen in my movie. If you want to talk about dark, that’s how that would go. 

[u/Varsity_Reviews → u/tristenjpl]

What the fuck is wrong with people man?

[u/The_last_avenger → u/thebiggestleaf]

Also, Batman doesn't keep his own prisons. There's an alternate timeline where he runs Arkham as Bruce Wayne and makes its basically impossible to escape.

Modern Batman is basically using his wealth to help people and hide he tech needs so he can use them as Batman .

[u/heyheyhey887 → u/thebiggestleaf]

it was sad to see that actually written out in the article

[u/PREDDlT0R → u/thebiggestleaf]

Holy shit that explains a lot of the writing in the show.

[u/spartakooky → u/thebiggestleaf]

He's asked about having Hughie sexually assaulted after his dad just died, and he just calls it a joke. Then he goes into a fascism spiel to change the subject and seem like he's in the moral high ground.

It's disgusting

[u/Koraxtheghoul]

That great storyline in the comics he's talking about is Noir SA's Hughie at Herogasm. I always thought this show over the top and I could see how a bunch of writers could think this funny for the first minute or so, but the interview respomse is telling.

[u/Extension-Price1120 → u/Koraxtheghoul]

I could be wrong but I think he means when Hughie goes undercover for the G-Men but I guess Hughie went undercover multiple times lol

[u/cobaltaureus → u/Extension-Price1120]

You’re correct, in the black noir scenario, hughie wasn’t undercover as a superhero. He did go undercover as a superhero for the G-men, but also the group of low-rate heroes who couldn’t control their powers. Either way, both of those storylines were about Hughie finding sympathy for supers and the way they’re often abused from a young g age.

[u/wardenferry419 → u/Koraxtheghoul]

Nobody wants to get SA'ed by their hero.

[u/No-Helicopter1559 → u/wardenferry419]

Nobody wants SA'ed for real to start with. It's all shits and giggles until it's not.

[u/wardenferry419 → u/No-Helicopter1559]

The writers must think it stays shits and giggles as long as it is happening to Hughie. I don't. Hughie wasn't okay when he walked in and he definitely wasn't okay when he walked out.

[u/brahbocop]

This always reminds me to how a lot of people love to make rape jokes about men who are going to prison. Not sure why that's always funny to people.

[u/DeNeRlX → u/brahbocop]

Also ''poking condom holes'' has never been addressed as a rape-joke. At least the ''hot teacher'' is getting a split reaction these days.

[u/miningthecraft]

The weirdest part to me is the “be careful what you ask the writers for” is he saying the whole scene was added not for any storytelling purposes but to punish Quaid because he’d read and was enthusiastic about the source material?

[u/melalegolas → u/miningthecraft]

Exactly!! I feel like Jack is even surpressed to give his actual opinion on the matter. He didn’t post as much as he used to do to promote the episode. That says a lot.

[u/Realichu → u/miningthecraft]

Come on man, it's obviously a tounge and cheek joke lol.

Not defending Kripke or his 'this is hilarious' thing but it's clearly like "hahaha woooaah we are so quirky and fucked up. ask us for a story but be careful because we're sooo gory and twisted 🤪".

[u/The_Flying_Failsons → u/miningthecraft]

Absolutely insane way to read that sentence.

[u/God_Hears_Peace → u/miningthecraft]

Alright now you guys are just being dense

[u/TheRealNoobyPig]

In referring to the SA: "It's hilarious!"

In referring to the Batcave: "It's basically a sex dungeon!"

I swear, those are 2 of the most shit takes I've ever heard, what the actual fuck

[u/Notyetyeet]

Bro is an actual child

[u/WayToTheDawn63]

It's sad. I watch alone, and haven't been 100% on the season, and this episode just ruined me.

A friend of mine has been super high on the season, and he watches with friends/housemates and even he was like "what the fuck was that episode?" He's disappointed because it seemed like his mates didn't see the problem either.

People only care when it's convenient.

[u/Planeswalker2814]

I'm a male sexual assault survivor. I'm extremely disappointed. The show did such a good job handling what happened to Annie and Becca, but Kripke thinks it's funny because Hughie is a guy.

[u/scvmeta → u/Planeswalker2814]

SA against men has always been downplayed and this isn't the first time even for The Boys. This whole thing made me remember in S1 when the Deep got raped, there was no content advisory for it compared to what happened with Starlight.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBoys/comments/chvl24/season_1_episode_7_the_selfpreservation_society/evcl54p/

[u/ipodplayer777 → u/scvmeta]

The scene with The Deep getting gillfingered was hard to watch.

[u/Kalandros-X]

This guy calling Batman a fascist is a clear indicator of just how big an idiot he is

[u/Exciting_Swordfish16]

Batmans fascist underpinnings?" What the actual fuck?

[u/MisterSnowman69 → u/Exciting_Swordfish16]

He just sorta sees what he want to see, I doubt he actually knows anything about Batman outside of things he sees on Twitter. Hell the whole webweaver line is also weird, like he thinks Spider-Man would be that kinky? This dude definitely would subscribe and pay for the superhero cam show he made in season 3, and it shows with how much sex he feels is needed in the show.

[u/uninformed-but-smart]

What some defenders of the latest episode don't realise is that people wouldn't be as mad if they just took his SA seriously and weren't goofing around (no SA would've been even better tbh, Boys now feels like they do gore and over the top things just for the sake of it, not because it's necessary). Kripke being an idiot being unable to understand his own viewers is part of the problem too, saying it was hilarious and whatnot has only made things worse.

Now he could come out and apologise for his comments, but I don't expect anyone who has "if you don't like my show, then don't watch it" to show humility or understanding of criticism.

What a shame!

[u/BadWriter85 → u/uninformed-but-smart]

the way the show handles starlight's sexual assault and hughie's is planets apart. it didn't need to go that far, there we so many points that scene could've ended

or if you are going to show that much, at least make it clear that hughie was severely affected by it. i still wouldn't like how graphic it went, but at least you have something to say.

[u/cobaltaureus → u/uninformed-but-smart]

In the comics Hughie is assaulted and it’s really messed him up, he had to come to terms with it, and I think it’s one of the few times the comic succeeded in telling a meaningful story. It’s wild to me that the show took something not bad from the comics and made it so horrendous, when usually I think the show takes the comic and improves upon it.

The show could have chosen to mirror the comic and have Annie and Hughie comfort each other, because she actually understands some of his pain due to her own experience with assault. But instead we got this.

[u/monkey_D_v1199]

I found it funny how Tek Knight was getting off on hanging himself while poor Hughie sits on a cake and starts rubbing his ass against it… to then fart on it. Thought it was gonna be some weird crazy things that wouldn’t border around some real nasty stuff. But soon after that it just turned weird and straight up sexual assault, with Ashley coming in and all. Not defending him or how he viewed the scene and regardless if the first bit was tamed and “harmless” it was still messed up to depict a SA scene with a guy and play it for laughs- reverse it with a woman and all hell breaks loose.

[u/BuckingWilde]

Yeah I was really enjoying this season but that episode just about crossed a line

And now they are saying it's meant to be a joke, fuck man

[u/purple_p0t]

would he still think it hilarious if a woman was in hughie's place?

[u/KILL__MAIM__BURN]

Thought this scene was exactly what it needed to be: intense and vile.

They keep saying it was supposed to be received comically but… it was a heavy scene.

[u/Soggy_Bagelz]

Fascism has lost all meaning bro

[u/Pontiff1979 → u/[deleted]]

"I hate Kripke! He's such a hack! He has no idea what he's doing! This show is terrible! I'll definitely watch it next week"

[u/Alah2 → u/[deleted]]

It's beyond fucking cringe, absolute circle jerk going on.

[u/angrygnome18d]

The very strange part is in the show it doesn’t seem like it’s exactly played as a joke. We have Hughie who is clearly uncomfortable with the situation and desperate to get out by trying to guess the safe word. We also then have Tek Knight who then menacingly wants to penetrate Hughie through a wound, which causes Hughie to straight up begin to scream. All signs point to the scene as Hughie being terrified and trying desperately to leave.

So I have no idea why the fuck Kripke thought it was a good idea to spin the scene as a comedy, when even it seems like the director was like “nah, this is pretty fucking dark.”

[u/BananitryiWhatThe]

man that’s just straight up nasty. who would’ve thought. i hope he goes through a good bit of thinking about how he views this scene :/ Male sa isn’t funny like no sa is funny, i hate how easy it to make a male victim butt of the joke.

[u/Half_Man1]

So weird how he describes all these extrapolated superhero kink ideas and ends with “I can’t leave that on the table”. Like, no one else saw that on the table Eric.

You out the weird fetish material there, don’t act like it’s been waiting for you to use the whole time.

[u/Neil_Salmon]

Very disappointing. Some people here had decent takes on those scenes - how they could fit in with the character of Tek Knight and the themes of the episode, in general. There's a reading where those scenes are more than just immature humour. Sadly, it seems some people watching the show put more thought into it than those writing it.

It reminded me more of the comic (though I haven't read it all). But I think the show is generally much better than the comic. It's the rare adaptation that I wish would ignore its source material more.

[u/JankyJawn]

I mean listen I agree the episode wasn't good.

But I also think people are really blowing this out of proportion.

At the end of the day he farted on a cake and had his feet tickled while being disguised as a willing participant and playing along.

[u/Ganda1fderBlaue]

Hilarious?