The Boys season 3 episode 6 spoilers follow.
It's safe to say that 'Herogasm' has been a long time coming. So to speak. In fact, The Boys has been teasing this legendary comic-book moment for almost as long as the show itself has been on the air. And now, in the run up to season three, anticipation for that sweet, sweet Herogasm climax has built to almost unbearable levels.
Back in January, Jack Quaid told The Wrap that this new season is "more messed up" than ever, and Jensen Ackles has since shared horror stories about a "troubled" camera operator who saw some unsettling stuff that day on the Herogasm set.
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But now that Herogasm has finally squirted into our lives, is it as troubling and controversial as fans expected? Well, if floating dildos, flaming dicks and lightning nipples aren't enough to unsettle or arouse, how about octopus fucking, explosive cum and the burnt-up remains of that "love sausage"?
It's a lot to take, that's for sure. But if The Boys had been more faithful to the source material, then we might have ended up with something even more shocking than all of that combined.
Herogasm is still a super-powered orgy in the comics, but there, the heroes get down and dirty at a secret tropical resort sponsored by Vought. The essential gist of it all is the same though. And in both versions, sex workers are still paid a fortune to engage in horrific, even fatal orgies that give a bit more bang for their buck thanks to the involvement of super powers.
A lot of unsettling moments did make it to screen, but two particularly unsettling incidents have been lost — the first being when Black Noir sexually assaults Hughie with his thumb. And if you read between the lines, it's strongly implied that more happened between them too.
This wouldn't have worked at all on the show though as Hughie's story in this episode is tied up with Starlight right now, and he also needed to be involved with the fight against Homelander. On top of that, a similar arc has also played out already between The Deep and Starlight, so The Boys would have needed an extremely good reason to repeat those story beats.
But what about that moment in the comics when Soldier Boy has sex with Homelander? Yep, had the show's take on Herogasm been more true to the comics, we could have seen Antony Starr and Jensen Ackles take a trip on down to pound town. It truly is the stuff that dreams are made of, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.
In the comics, Homelander asks Soldier Boy to make the beast with two backs because he knows how badly Soldier Boy wants to join The Seven. Taking advantage of his innocent do-gooder nature, Homelander makes out like it's an audition of sorts, but the only one taking anything good out of this is [redacted] taking [redacted] up the [redacted].
Except, there's nothing good about this, because this is all pretty horrifying stuff. Homelander has no intention of letting Soldier Boy join The Seven, so he's just being used for sex in a very cruel, dismissive way.
Ahead of Herogasm's explosive debut, showrunner Eric Kripke revealed to EW that there were talks around including a version of this scene, but "It conflicted with a lot of the other things we were trying to build with Soldier Boy."
It's easy to see why The Boys team quickly came to that conclusion. Because on the show, Soldier Boy represents a real threat to Homelander. He's not someone who can be bullied or coerced into doing anything for someone else's approval. That just wouldn't track.
It's worth pointing out also that this reimagined version of Soldier Boy is extremely conservative, so even if he did have feelings for other men, he would bury them even deeper than Termite went into that guy's penis. And that's real deep.
Homelander has also made out that he's averse to anything queer, as demonstrated by his vile attitude towards Queen Maeve's bisexuality. And if you were to ask him about all those filthy shenanigans with Doppelganger in season two, Homelander would probably liken it to masturbation, as he's essentially doing it with himself.
So, for all those reasons and more, Soldier Boy and Homelander don't end up pouncing on each other's poles in Herogasm on screen. Instead, physical contact between the pair remains just homoerotic in nature, rather than homosexual. Yes, even when Butcher and Hughie pile on too.
And in some ways, that might be for the best, because it turns out that the makeup department actually ran out of sperm filming episode six, at least, that's what Karl Urban told us.
You'd think they would have stocked up more knowing… how long Herogasm was coming.
The Boys seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch in full on Amazon Prime Video. Season 3 airs weekly every Friday.
![The Boys season 1 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816412-514ttJQYciL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 1 [DVD]")
![The Boys season 02 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816977-51OM9Coe2LS._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 02 [DVD]")
Dynamite Entertainment The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Funko Pop! The Boys - Homelander levitating Funko Pop! figurine
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
