The Boys Season 4 Finale Challenges Warner Bros. Regarding Those Unreleased Films
The fourth season finale of The Boys gently parodied Warner Bros. and their habit of stashing finished movies, so extending the show's sardonic critique on Marvel and DC superheroes. Exposed as Vought's mole, A-Train was driven to flee and Vought abandoned plans to feature him in their media, including "Training A-Train," the in-universe origin movie including Will Ferrell's The Boys cameo. Vought, however, made money by deciding to claim a tax write-off and store the completed movie.
Why Warner Bros. dropped so many nearly finished films?
Often without much notice to directors, Warner Bros. has famously deleted several almost finished movies. NPR explains that the Hollywood studio business is confronting difficult economic issues including declining stock prices and changing advertising markets. Studios have turned to tax write-offs instead of distribution in order to save money by shelving finished movies. Although financially advantageous in the near run and legally allowed, this practice has infuriated directors. Among these are the Looney Tunes live-action/animation hybrid "Coyote v Acme," the superhero adaptation "Batgirl," and the animated "Scoob! Holiday Haunt."
The Boys Season 4 has been the most merciless yet for Marvel and DC.
For years, The Boys has been parying fun at Marvel and DC clichés; but, season 4 advanced the parodies with critical analysis of their respective franchises. Harsh parodies of Spider-Man and Batman, characters like Web Weaver and Tek-Knight presented as compromised members of Vought's superhero army. Their Vought convention was a direct attack on events like Comic-Con, stressing how businesses control big movie releases to please dubious viewers.
Though subtle, this most recent attack at Warner Bros. is successful. It underlines how common it is for big companies to cancel the efforts of hundreds in order to save money, so directly comparing Warner Bros. and Vought's business strategies. Driven by Homelander's rise, The Boys' forthcoming fifth and last season seems more apocalyptic, thus there might be less room for such corporate digs. If so, then The Boys has given one last, well-aimed shot at the sector it has regularly parodied.
Boys Background
Based on the same- titled comic series, Eric Kripke developed the superhero/dark comedy satire series The Boys. It is set in a "what-if" universe whereby superheroes are revered as gods and celebrities with little responsibility for their deeds. Driven by a need for retribution, a group of vigilantes under Billy Butcher battles back against these super-powered "heroes" to reveal their actual nature.
