Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4.
The BoysSeason 4 has beenupping its ante with gross lobotomies, super-powered livestock, and an unexpected superhuman centipede, but last week’s release might just bethe show’s most uncomfortable outing yet.Complete with a questionably long torture scene involving Hughie (Jack Quaid) in Tek Knight’s (Derek Wilson) sex dungeon and Homelander’s (Antony Starr) long-awaited reunion with his love of breast-feeding, the latest installment ofEric Kripke’ssatire more than lives up to the series' reputation for keeping its viewers on edge. Yet, one of Episode 6’s most depressing inclusions is easily overshadowed by its mature content, asThe Boysalso introduces its own version of Spider-Man that is disturbingly realistic.
Played byDan Mousseauand known bythe alias Webweaver inThe Boysuniverse,the variant of Marvel’s popular webslingeris featured earlyin Season 4, Episode 6, “Dirty Business.” A past confidential informant who is implied to have done favors for Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) in exchange for drugs, the character is briefly visited by MM (Laz Alonso), who sedates him in order to steal his suit. The plan is then for Hughie to infiltrate an elite gathering at Tek Knight’s mansion in disguise, a plan which quickly goes wrong when Hughie gets carried away by the eccentric billionaire’s sexual fantasies, butThe BoysEpisode 6moves on before it can fully explore all that makes Webweaver such a dark opposite to the classic comic book character.
The Boys is a drama series that explores the darker aspects of superhero culture, portraying a world where superheroes abuse their powers rather than use them for good. Centered around a vigilante group aiming to control these corrupt heroes, the series delves into themes of power, corruption, and accountability. The show features a complex narrative with multifaceted characters, offering an unfiltered look at the consequences of unchecked power.
‘The Boys’ Version of Spider-Man Is Based on Spiders' Real Anatomy
In terms of classic superhero origin stories, Spider-Man’s modest beginnings rank among the most iconic. Possessing all the golden-age simplicity and sci-fi whimsy involved in a clumsy nerd being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker’s accident ultimately changes his life, and his subsequent powers are romanticized in order to fit Marvel’s upbeat tone. In most ofSpider-Man’s movies and mainstream incarnations, Peter doesn’t get the pincers or beady eyes of a poisonous tarantula–he gets agility, speed, extra senses, and sometimes even the ability to produce webs organically. Each of these powers gives Spider-Man the opportunity to strike his iconic web-slinging poses and stand out in a metropolitan setting, whileThe Boys’Webweaver appears depressing becausehis powers are modeled after an actual spider’s body.
Instead of firing webs organically from his wrists likeTobey Maguire’sversion of Peter Parker inSam Raimi’s2000s Spider-Man movies, Webweaver’s web hole is located on the back side of his lower abdomen, mimicking how actual spiders' produce webs from organs called spinnerets also located in the lower abdomens of their anatomy. Similarly to how Webweaver’s webs come out in a more liquid state before solidifying on Mother Milk’s face, real spiders dry the threads of their own webs by twisting them with their eight legs. This close comparison between the skin-crawling arachnids andThe Boys’dazed informant introduces a level of body horror to the franchise, asking the viewer to imagine how horrifying it would be to see Webweaver crawling on walls while inhuman sinew sprays from his backside, butWebweaver’s depiction in this episode is less terrifying than it is downright dishearteningforThe Boys’newest character.
‘The Boys’ Webweaver Doubles Down on This Depressing In-Universe Trend
One of the most frequently talked-about aspects ofThe Boysfranchise is the show’s unique approach to depicting superpowers. Infamously, the show’s mature tone and gruesome aesthetic allow Kripke’s adaptation ofGarth EnnisandDarick Robertson’scomic series to portraythe realistic downsides of developing powers in the modern world. Characters who lose control, likeGen V’sMarie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), can find themselves accidentally murdering their parents or worse. Yet, whileThe Boysuniverse often underscores the dark implications of inhuman strength or speed, last week’s introduction of Webweaver showcases the equally miserable possibility of developing powers that sound better in theory than in practice.
While Spider-Man’s heroics make it sound almost appealing to be bitten by the nearest radioactive spider, Webweaver’s place in the world ofThe Boysimagines the problems with possessing an arachnid’s honest ability.In contrast to Spider-Man’s popular place in Marvel’s continuity,The Boys' Webweaver is barely fit to be Tek Knight’s sidekick, with Tek Knight not even being fit to stand on equal footing with the lesser members of Homelander’s Seven. What’s more, the inconvenient placement of Webweaver’s web shooter would make it impossible for him to pull off any of the agile, visually-stunning maneuvers associated with Spider-Man, demonstrating how his place inThe Boys' superhero hierarchyis more disillusioning than inspiring.
Furthermore, the practical problems associated with Webweaver’s popular powersserve as the latest example of how Kripke manages to keepThe Boysuniverse grounded, with past characters likeGen V’s Emma (Lizze Broadway)demonstratingthe unforeseen impracticality of widespread comic abilitieslike shrinking.The Boys' most recent — and devastating — exampleof how common powers exact unexpected tolls on human bodies is on full display in Season 4, Episode 5, when Hughie’s dose of Compound V gives his comatose father (Simon Pegg) phasing abilities that wreak havoc on his memories. And while Webweaver’s brief Episode 6 appearance certainly isn’t as darkas Hughie’s traumatic farewell to his father, the variant’s brief inclusion doesn’t bode well for the rest of Season 4’s most crucial characters.
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Webweaver Demonstrates the Plight of ‘The Boys’ Season 4 Informants
Apart from how both characters manifest their powers,The Boys’version of Spider-Manisnoticeably worse off in his personal lifeas well. Not only does Webweaver’s apartment appear dark, musty, and disheveled under sheets of cobwebs, but the character himself is clearly reliant on the drugs Butcher has provided on a consistent basis. Webweaver’s mannerisms are slow and clumsy, he sounds disoriented, and nothing he says seems to suggest he possesses either the extreme intelligence or responsibility of Marvel’s Peter Parker. Taken together, the state of disrepair that surrounds Webweaver andButcher’s past relationship with himdemonstrates the lack of care that Billy takes with his super-powered agents, spelling trouble for Season 4 characters like A-Train (Jessie T. Usher).
WithButcher currently battling his inner demonsand Mother’s Milk leading the team,The Boys’current informants are in better hands, butEpisode 6 proves that better does not mean safer.Hughie’s capture by Tek Knight and subsequent torture shows that Mother’s Milk can barely protect his own operatives, and the need to utilize A-Train in order to save Mother’s Milk after his panic attack only underscores the team’s one-sided reliance on its primary supe informant. Since Webweaver’s state of personal disarray represents the results ofThe Boys’last superhero allyoperating from outside the main team, Kripke’s wall-crawler stands not only for the inconvenient practicality of spider-based powers, but the realistic outcome of ending up as one of Vought’s turncoats as well.
WithA-Train working against Vought’s interestseven more directly than Webweaver in Episode 6,The Boys' sympathetic speedster is undoubtedly in even more danger, demonstrating how the knock-off’s humorous inclusion at the start of Episode 6 carries lessons for the future of the season. As a variant derived from Marvel’s classic Spider-Man,Webweaver pokes fun at the classic webslingerwith powers painfully accurate to those of a real spider, demonstratingThe Boys’continued focuson the unintended consequences of mainstream powers. His brief stint in the episode also depicts the dismal implications of a prolonged relationship with Butcher’s team, and since MM also neglects Webweaver after taking his suit, it’s likely that Webweaver won’t be the last side character to suffer from the government’s dismissive attitude towards its most vulnerable supes.
The Boysis currently streaming on Prime Video. New episodes drop every Thursday.
