Movies News Talk
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse featured many major actor cameos, and The Boys season 4, episode 6 puts a very dark spin on one of them.
The Boys season 4 takes one cameo from Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse and makes it infinitely darker thanks to some chocolate cake, a safe word, and holes where holes shouldn't be. The Boys has parodied many Marvel and DC superheroes, and Spider-Man finally gets his turn in season 4, episode 6. After setting up the supe's debut with an Easter egg on the character select screen of Ryan's Vought video game, The Boys season 4 introduces Webweaver properly in "Dirty Business."
Dan Mousseau joins The Boys season 4's cast as the official Webweaver, but the spider-themed suit is mostly worn by Jack Quaid's Hughie throughout episode 6. As a means of infiltrating Tek Knight's manor, Hughie dons Webweaver's outfit and is subjected to a string of unwanted acts at the hands of both Tek Knight himself and Vought's Ashley Barrett before Kimiko and Starlight ride to his rescue. Hughie's day impersonating Webweaver is traumatic and unnerving, but made all the darker by a hidden connection to the 2023 animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
The Boys season 4 is actually not Jack Quaid's first time playing a sort-of-not-quite variation of Spider-Man. Sony's hugely successful Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse featured a glut of voice cameos bringing different Spidey variants to life, and Quaid was among them as Earth-65's Peter Parker, who turns into Lizard instead of Spider-Man. The fact that Quaid portrays both an official version of Peter Parker in a legitimate Marvel movie and The Boys' twisted parody of that character makes Hughie's time as Webweaver all the more shocking.
Putting Jack Quaid in the Webweaver outfit is like The Boys casting an ex-Batman actor as Tek Knight, or hiring Paul Rudd to walk around another man's urethra. It creates a stronger connection between the parody and the franchise being parodied, and whatever happens to The Boys' warped version feels like it's happening to the genuine Marvel or DC character. In Quaid's case, his status as a proper Peter Parker actor makes it feel like the actual Peter Parker - not just a comedic ripoff - is the one being asked to do unspeakable acts in Tek Knight's cave.
From the mask smelling of "ass sweat and broken dreams" to squelching a chocolate cake with his buttocks, very little of the real Spider-Man's daily schedule crosses over with Hughie's experience in The Boys season 4, episode 6. Nevertheless, there is something about seeing Jack Quaid in a spider-suit that undeniably confirms him as a perfect live-action Spider-Man. Stan Lee created Spider-Man to be the every-man hero the vast majority of other comic superheroes were not, and Jack Quaid's Hughie occupies that same role for The Boys.
After seeing The Boys season 4's scene of Hughie removing Webweaver's mask to reveal his disconcerted, boyish expression, it's no huge leap to imagine him doing the same with a red and blue costume. Just as Spider-Man isn't a vengeful night-stalker like Batman or a godlike savior of Superman's ilk, Hughie remains directly opposed to the reckless violence of Butcher and the glory-seeking ego of Homelander. Additionally, after seeing The Boys season 4's scene of Hughie removing Webweaver's mask to reveal his disconcerted, boyish expression, it's no huge leap to imagine him doing the same with a red and blue costume as live-action Peter Parker in a Marvel movie.
It's a role Quaid has perfected across four seasons of The Boys, and seeing the actor in Webweaver's suit only underlines the comparison. After starting his career as a sneering villain in The Hunger Games, Quaid's affinity for humble, human heroes earnestly trying to help others has made him well-suited for The Boys' Hughie, ideal for Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and perfect for a future live-action Spider-Man.