Season 3 of The Boys continues to expand its lore, especially with the introduction of new characters. While he isn’t necessarily a new character because the previous seasons had already talked about him in brief, Soldier Boy was talked about extensively in season 3 as we also saw the character in a flashback scene. Of course, that was when we saw how similar he is to another superhero in a different universe. So, is Soldier Boy a copy of Marvel’s Captain America?
Soldier Boy was indeed created as a parody character of Captain America. That means that he was based on the popular Marvel superhero. In the comics, Soldier Boy even has all of the abilities of Captain America and even has a background story that’s similar, although his personality is quite different.
It is worth mentioning that almost all of the supes that you can find in The Boys are based simply on characters from DC, Marvel, and other comic books. Soldier Boy isn’t too different because he was simply based on Captain America, just like how Homelander is based on Superman. With that said, let’s look at how similar Soldier Boy is to Captain America from Marvel Comics.
Who Is Soldier Boy From The Boys?
Just like a lot of different superhero movies and TV shows, The Boys has a deep lore when it comes to the different superpowered people that can be seen in both the show and the comics. Of course, some of the heroes have a long history that goes way back, especially when season 2 allowed us to meet Stormfront, who has been around since the Nazi rule over Germany.
Of course, there are other superheroes that have a long history as well. This includes a supe named Soldier Boy, who was believed to be the first true superhero in American history. But who is Soldier Boy in The Boys?
Soldier Boy is a supe with superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, and stamina. In both the comics and the show, he has been around since World War II and actually enlisted in the war to fight the Germans and the other enemies of America during WWII. He eventually became the leader of a superhero group called Payback as he went on to lead them as Vought’s main supe group before the rise of The Seven.
While in his Soldier Boy persona, he is equipped with body armor and a helmet. He also uses a shield as his primary weapon. Soldier Boy is also a close combat specialist. But, in the comics, he is said to be a cowardly person who doesn’t have the personality of a true hero. Nevertheless, he is a true patriot that was dedicated to his job, even though he may have been a very gullible hero.
In the live-action series version of The Boys, Grace Mallory described Soldier Boy to be the most idiotic out of all of the members of Payback. He was presumably killed during an operation in Nicaragua where the Sandinistas and the Russians were said to have a weapon powerful enough to kill Soldier Boy, who was said to be almost as strong as Homelander.
Is Soldier Boy A Copy Of Marvel’s Captain America?
One of the things that Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, the creators of The Boys, were never shy about is the fact that their creations are actually parodies of the characters that already exist in the different comic books that we have today. The thing about The Boys is that the different supes in the story were modeled after the other heroes that you can find in Marvel, DC, and other comic book publications and were made to be parody versions.
So, in that regard, The Boys comics took versions of these beloved Marvel and DC characters and made them more realistic in the sense that they ended up becoming corrupt because of all of the powers that they possessed. For example, Homelander was always a parody of Superman and was portrayed to be someone who ended up becoming too full of himself and too corrupt because of the power that he holds. But what about Soldier Boy?
It was never a secret that Soldier Boy himself was always a copy of Marvel’s Captain America. He was made the leader of Payback, which is basically the parody version of the Avengers, just like how The Seven is the parody version of the Justice League.
Even the live-action version of Soldier Boy isn’t shy about making it appear that Soldier Boy is a parody of Captain America. In the scene wherein Frenchie and Kimiko visited Vought Land to try to get information about Soldier Boy from the Crimson Countess, they attended a show that was there to commemorate the fallen leader of Payback. As the show told the history of Soldier Boy, the same background music that was used in the museum for Captain America in The Winter Soldier film was used.
So, with that said, anyone can see the Soldier Boy is just Captain America in the universe of The Boys but was made to be different in the sense that he is a somewhat idiotic and unideal hero compared to Marvel’s Steve Rogers.
How Is Soldier Boy A Copy Of Captain America?
Of course, there are plenty of reasons why Soldier Boy is just basically Captain America in The Boys. They basically have the same shtick in the sense that Soldier Boy is dressed in combat armor, wears a helmet, and uses a shield as his weapon. On top of that, they are both portrayed to be World War II veterans.
Then there’s the fact that the comic version of Soldier Boy is almost a 1:1 copy of Captain America in terms of his powers. He has superhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability. However, the live-action version is supposedly stronger than the comics version and is almost just as strong as Homelander. On top of that, the trailer shows that Soldier Boy has the ability to blast energy beams from his body.
So, while Soldier Boy may be a copy of Captain America, there are some differences. The comic book version of Soldier Boy is naïve and cowardly, while the live-action version is quite idiotic in the sense that he acts like the usual alpha male that wants to focus more on his display of machismo. These qualities make him different from the humble, brave, and self-sacrificing Captain America that we know from the comics.
