Billy (Karl Urban), Hughie (Jack Quaid), MM (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), Annie, and Maeve were involved in The Boy's Herogasm. The humans who run the show, make the policies, and exploit the supes to drive chaos are still in charge. The humans of The Boys make a mess of a world on their own, just like in reality, despite the fact that the supes are a menace to society. The wealthier, the more privileged, the more influential, and the more likely they are to be selfish, shallow, and greedy.
The non-super celebrities of The Boys universe still sing inane songs to show solidarity with regular folks in times of crisis. Vought, a fictional company founded by a Nazi who defected to the Allied powers later, created superbeings, essentially living weapons, that the multi-billion dollar company can eventually control. The creators of The Boys wondered if superbeings were just evil and not protectors of humanity.
In The Boys, the bad guys are established and our group of regular Joes will have to save humanity. The parody of Gal Gadot's "Imagine" sing-a-long viral video, which came out during the first wave of Covid, is simply hilarious to watch. In a similar way to the real world, Vought's PR machinery manipulates the media to spread political propaganda to the world at large.
The Boys is a comic book series that was written by Eric Kripke and is based on a comic book series by Darick Robertson. Even though he can raze entire cities to the ground with his laser eyes, he is still controlled by people like Stan Edgar and Madelyn Stillwell most of his life. The cost to civilian life is never talked about in terms of how much it costs. Billy and Hughie care about the lives of their friends, even though Billy has also shot up the drug.
Victoria Neuman is his adopted daughter and she has exercised considerable power over the government of the United States. He is engulfed by his hatred for Homelander so much that he betrays his friend MM to team up with the supe that killed MM's family and has given him nightmares all his life. Batman and Iron Man lived and died with the idea that the mega-rich will come to save us.
Billy can justify any means that will give him revenge against Homelander, hot and sizzling on a platter. They follow the one rule most Disney heroes have had for a long time, that the good guys don't kill. He forgets about everything else when he takes the temporary drug that gives him powers.
The Boys does not shy away from being a critique of late-stage capitalism as humanity's biggest downfall.
When superheroes leave behind a path of destruction as they try to save the world, the MCU tried to address what happens.
Human beings can be the worst.
Hughie's vulnerability about being perceived weak and his desire to protect his girlfriend can be seen as a projection of his fragile masculinity. We get our supes who are constantly blowing up brains spilling out guts, all the while as someone else covers their image.