The Boys debuted on Prime Video in 2019 and the universe has grown widely since, with four impressive seasons dropping alongside two seasons of its spinoff show, Gen V. Focusing on a realistic depiction of superheroes, The Boys highlights some of the more sinister realities of having people with superpowers being relied upon to protect the world.
Their resilient nature makes the possibility of them going rogue much darker, with the central antagonist, Homelander, perfectly highlighting what a narcissistic and uncontrollable supe would look like. The series also explores how these superheroes are branded, with Vought International using them less as crime fighters and more as merchandise sellers.
Gen V season 2’s ending added even more excitement to the story, as it perfectly set up the main show’s conclusion while cementing its young supes as the franchise’s future. With The Boys now officially confirmed for season 5 in 2026, it is one of Prime Video’s biggest IPs, and while every season is of a high standard, some rank slightly higher than others.
6
Gen V Season 2
2025, 8 Episodes
After Gen V season 1 set a pretty high bar, season 2 failed to quite capitalize on this momentum the way the franchise would’ve hoped. There were still obvious moments of quality, such as Hamish Linklater’s performance as Cipher alongside how Gen V honored Chance Perdomo’s death, but the story failed to live up to The Boys‘ usual quality.
Thomas Godolkin’s reveal felt rushed, while many of the main heroes made decisions that were frustrating to the audience and at times out of character. Whereas the first iteration used cameos from the main show extremely well without hurting this fresh new project, season 2 struggled to bring in familiar faces without them feeling out of place.
That said, Starlight had a short yet sweet role that worked, while Stan Edgar really stole the show during episode 6. Gen V season 2 did continue introducing fun new supes and abilities into the show while having genuinely high stakes, proving it was still a worthy entry, despite falling just short of the mark.
Harshly, it goes down as the weakest outing yet in The Boys universe, but there is still plenty to admire about the spinoff’s second installment, and while it may not have gotten the best out of all its main cast, Cipher proved to be a standout addition, while the project perfectly set up The Boys season 5.
5
The Boys Season 4
2024, 8 Episodes
The Boys season 4 was easily the most anticipated outing so far, but its political satire and slow-paced storytelling ultimately divided audiences, leading to mixed reviews. While the season still performed well critically, The Boys season 4 received a rotten audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, becoming the first installment in the franchise to do so.
Although some of that criticism is valid, a lot of the negativity resulted from The Boys‘ social commentary and political themes, proving the audience score is not an accurate reflection of the season’s overall quality, as there were still plenty of high points. New additions like Sister Sage and Firecracker elevated the show and continued to make The Seven fascinating despite losing Queen Maeve.
Likewise, A-Train’s redemption was a great storyline and The Boys season 4’s ending was one of the show’s most exhilarating episodes yet, setting up a thrilling final outing.
Season 5’s confirmation unfortunately meant that season 4 lacked the same feeling of jeopardy, and even some of the stronger plots had a filler element as The Boys played for time ahead of its grand finale. Having said that, season 4 proved that, even at its weakest, The Boys is still a great series that can keep its audience entertained.
4
The Boys Season 3
2022, 8 Episodes
Despite being one of the weaker installments in The Boys franchise so far, season 3 was still a fantastic season of television. Its sixth episode, “Herogasm,” is arguably the best episode in the entire series, highlighting that season 3 is still full of quality.
It introduced Soldier Boy, a memorable character portrayed by Jensen Ackles who proved so popular that he was brought back for a cameo in Gen V, and after seasons of build-up, Homelander and Billy Butcher finally had a physical confrontation when Butcher decided to take Temp V.
Much of the story revolved around this substance, giving The Boys a chance to fight back on a level playing field against supes. Season 3 also showed the division between the main characters, with Hughie and Starlight becoming split on how to approach fighting Vought.
The lack of unity between the main cast made for a great narrative but also dragged the season down a little. Having separate The Boys characters take their own approach somewhat slowed the flow of the season, and as great as Soldier Boy’s addition was, he failed to really help progress the overarching story.
Still, even if season 3 wasn’t the series’ best season, it continued adding drama to The Boys‘ Homelander and Butcher feud heading into season 4 while also providing audiences with laughs and shocking moments.
3
Gen V
2023, 8 Episodes
Gen V was a surprise inclusion to The Boys universe. The franchise has often parodied other superhero brands for their extended universes, making a spinoff that tied in with the main series unexpected. While this could have easily gone wrong, Gen V proved to be fantastic and helped offer fans a new setting for the crazy world of The Boys.
The spinoff followed a group of students at Godolkin University who discovered some of the institution’s dark secrets, and the show did a great job of giving each of their main characters proper development and interesting powers, while also tying neatly into the franchise’s main story.
|
The Boys Projects Currently In The Works |
Production Status |
|---|---|
|
The Boys Season 5 |
Filming complete – releases in 2026 |
|
Vought Rising |
Filming began August 2025 – no release date |
|
The Boys: Mexico |
In production but filming yet to start |
Characters such as Victoria Neuman, Ashley Barrett, and even members of The Seven all had significant appearances throughout the show that served the plot well. Additionally, the conclusion featured Homelander showing up and seemingly supporting a supe takeover, which meant Gen V’s ending set up The Boys season 4 perfectly.
Alongside hyping up future installments, Gen V also did a great job of introducing its own plotlines and characters that will become a big part of the franchise. Therefore, the spinoff experiment was successful and Gen V‘s impact will be felt in The Boys universe for years to come after introducing some of the series’ strongest supes.
2
The Boys Season 1
2019, 8 Episodes
The very first season of The Boys is easily one of the show’s best, and it instantly put the franchise on the map. Introducing a more realistic depiction of superheroes and what it would be like if many of them were selfish was something that hadn’t found this level of mainstream appeal.
The superhero medium has become so popular that there has been a bit of fatigue around it, yet The Boys proved to be a breath of fresh air. With such a fast start, the show highlighted it wasn’t going to pull its punches, and A-Train killing Robin in the opening sequence proved exactly that.
Establishing all its different characters and their motivations was done extremely well in season 1, and it managed to build a truly memorable world. The Boys indicated its strongest supes were to be feared, and that while the protagonists of the show didn’t lack motivation or intelligence, they couldn’t go toe-to-toe with these powerful beings.
The Boys is full of outrageous moments that are only possible due to season 1’s bold introduction, and this compelling idea of regular people trying to take down superheroes is what made season 1 work so well, allowing Gen V to come in with an even riskier opening season.
1
The Boys Season 2
2020, 8 Episodes
Out of every season The Boys has produced, season 2 is the best of them all. It mimics many of the same qualities as season 1 but builds off its success to become crazier and more chaotic. Despite already having Homelander, the show introduced another villain named Stormfront who was just as bad, if not worse.
She projected her white supremacist beliefs onto Homelander’s son, Ryan, which even stunned the show’s biggest villain. By already having most of the key characters introduced in the season prior, this eight-episode run allowed them to be further developed and have stronger character arcs.
Much like Gen V, The Boys season 2 benefited from season 1’s bravery and allowed the show to become even more outrageous. It really pushed the limits in terms of what they could get away with and made it clear that The Boys was like no other show on TV.
Starlight, Kimiko, and Queen Maeve uniting together and defeating Stormfront also proved to be a satisfying conclusion to the season that amplified each character. Overall, The Boys season 2 is the show at its best and while every project since has maintained a similar quality, the franchise is yet to clear the high bar it set in 2020, despite coming close.
