The Boys Takes Aim At The MCU’s Multi-Phase Plans With Decades Spanning Supe Franchise Slate

The Boys pokes fun at the Marvel Cinematic Universe by revealing a slate of fictional films and television series that will last for decades.

The Boys parodies the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Vought unveils an overpacked slate of movies and television series planned for the Vought Cinematic Universe’s phases seven through nineteen. These projects are unveiled by the Deep and Cameron Coleman at a Vought convention called the V52 Expo, where many of the cheering attendees cosplay as Homelander, Maeve, A-Train, and other supes who have worked for Vought. The convention also features footage of the upcoming content that Vought will be releasing.

On X, creator and showrunner Eric Kripke provided a closer look at the announced slate of fictional films and television series, including the unsubtle titles of A-Train: Into the Multiverse and G-Men: Days Past from the Future. Check out the image of phases seven through ten below:

Kripke highlighted the careful attention to detail that was put into this one shot and that he wanted to be able to describe the plot of each fictional project. The plot of Training A-Train was shown in episode 2 with an offensively tone-deaf story and a hilarious Will Ferrell cameo that is expanded on with additional footage in episode 5.

Despite Marvel’s Best Efforts, The Boys Parody Still Works

The MCU Still Has Numerous Phases Planned As The Boys Enters Its Endgame.

In response to diminishing box office returns on certain films, poor reception for some of the Disney+ series, and the criticism of an overabundance of projects, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Marvel was scaling back the amount of content it releases each year. This is evident in Marvel’s 2024 slate of movies, with Deadpool & Wolverine being the only theatrical release. Meanwhile, there has been criticism that The Boys is becoming what it parodies with its spinoffs of Gen V, the animated anthology The Boys Presents: Diabolical, and the upcoming The Boys: Mexico series.

Despite this criticism, The Boys‘ MCU parody still works. The MCU continues to have an overabundance of future projects lined up. In terms of just movies, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four, and Blade are all scheduled for 2025 theatrical releases, although Blade’s ongoing production issues will likely lead it to be rescheduled to a later year. There are still plans to further expand the Multiverse Saga, building to Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

One of the most critical differences between the MCU and The Boys is that the Prime Video series has committed to a definitive ending. Season 5 has been announced as the final season of The Boys, culminating the story as Kripke intended, and with the conflict between Homelander and Billy Butcher coming to a head. As the MCU tries to stretch out its central story, The Boys is focused on bringing its main narrative to a satisfying conclusion, enabling it to end on a high note so it will never become indistinguishable from what it parodies.