Amazon Prime Video’s original series The Boys parodies our collective obsession with superheroes. By taking a look at each of the show’s characters and which famous superhero they’re satirizing, we can see the deeper meaning in each of those parallels—from Homelander’s twist on Superman and Captain America to Maeve’s spin on Wonder Woman to The Deep’s parody of Aquaman—and the specific commentary they make about our culture. Here’s our Take on the underlying messages of The Boys Seasons 1 and 2, the series’ cynical view of the American identity, and the warning it offers about superhero fantasies that focus too much on the “super” and not enough on the “hero.”