''The Boys Presents: Diabolical'' is an American

adult animated An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

that premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on March 4, 2022. It serves as a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

television series '' The Boys'', and is similarly based on the comic book series of the same name by

Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born 16 January 1970) is a Northern Irish-American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' ''Punisher'' franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dar ...

and

Darick Robertson Darick W. Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator on series he co-created, notably ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002) and ''The Boys (comics), The Boys'' (2006–2012; 2020). Robertson has illustrated ...

. The series is created by

Eric Kripke Eric Kripke (born 1974) is an American screenwriting, writer and television producer. Kripke came to prominence in the late 2000s for creating The WB/The CW, CW fantasy drama series ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' (2005–2020) ...

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...

and

Evan Goldberg Evan D. Goldberg (born September 15, 1982) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer and director. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on a variety of films, including '' Superbad'', '' Pineapple Express'', '' This Is the En ...

, all executive producers of ''The Boys'' television series, alongside Simon Racioppa. Each episode serves as a standalone story. The tone of the stories vary from comedic to dramatic, and each episode has its own animation style. Writers include Ennis, Racioppa, Rogen, Goldberg,

Justin Roiland Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, and producer. He co-created the Adult Swim animated sitcom ''Rick and Morty'', for which he voiced the protagonists Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith from 2013 ...

Ilana Glazer Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, and activist. They have received various accolades including a Daytime Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for four Primetime ...

Awkwafina Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known professionally as Awkwafina (), is an American actress, comedian and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, ''Yellow Ra ...

, and

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. ...

; featured voice actors include

Antony Starr Antony Starr (born 25 October 1975) is a New Zealand actor. He is best known for his television roles, such as the dual roles of Jethro and Van West in the series '' Outrageous Fortune'' (2005–10), Lucas Hood in the Cinemax series ''Banshee'' ...

, Dominique McElligott,

Colby Minifie Colby Minifie (born January 31, 1992) is an American actress. She began acting at the age of eleven and was a YoungArts scholar; she graduated from the William E. Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2014. She performed for four years ...

Chace Crawford Christopher Chace Crawford (born July 18, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his television portrayals of Nate Archibald on the series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012), and of Kevin Moskowitz / The Deep in the television series '' The Boys ...

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' Back to the Future P ...

, and

Giancarlo Esposito Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence by portraying Gus Fring in the AMC (TV channel), AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2009–2011), a role he reprised in ...

, reprising their roles from the live-action series. ''Diabolical'' received positive reviews from critics, with praise going to the animation, voice acting, writing, humor and themes.

Premise

A series of animated shorts telling side stories in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

of '' The Boys'' using various animation styles.

Production

At the 2021 CCXP Worlds panel for Prime Video in Brazil, ''The Boys Presents: Diabolical'' was first announced. It was revealed to be an animated anthology series set in ''The Boys'' universe, with executive producers

and

likening it to ''

The Animatrix is a 2003 adult animated science fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The anime compiles nine animated short films, detailing the backstory of ''The Matrix'' film series, in addition to providing side stories that expand the uni ...

''. ''Diabolical'' is made up of eight brand new stories created by

, Eliot Glazer and

, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Simon Racioppa,

and Ben Bayouth,

, and

Aisha Tyler Aisha Tyler (born September 18, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. She is known for playing Andrea Marino in the first season of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Dr. Tara Lewis in ''Criminal Minds'' since 2015, Mother Nature in the final two ...

. The series premiered on March 4, 2022.

stated that the idea to create ''Diabolical'' arose during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, when the producers wanted to release something during the wait for season three of ''The Boys''. Due to the restrictions on most live-action productions, they decided to try and make an animated anthology utilizing different forms and styles. Several key cast members were revealed with the first

teaser trailer A teaser trailer, also shortened to teaser, is a short trailer (promotion), trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release film or television show advertisement. Sh ...

in February 2022, which included several of the creators. Later that month, a full trailer with the rest of the large cast was revealed. This included the revelation that Pegg would provide the voice of Hughie Campbell, a character who was long associated with Pegg; however, Pegg could not portray him in live action, having aged too much by the time the series was produced. Eric Kripke later clarified that the show's production crew only considered three episodes to be canon despite the entire show being advertised as such. These are "Nubian vs Nubian", "John and Sun-Hee", and "One Plus One Equals Two". "I'm Your Pusher" is further set in the universe of the comics while a follow-up comment states that the other episodes are in their own multiverse continuity.

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the series holds a 97% approval rating based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Diabolical''s animated shorts pack the same supersized punch as ''The Boys'', transposing the original series' scabrous social commentary into a cartoonish medium that's just as much devilish fun–and definitely not for kids."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boys Presents: Diabolical, The Diabolical 2020s American adult animated television series 2020s American anthology television series 2022 American animated television series debuts 2022 American television series endings 2020s American superhero television series 2020s American animated television miniseries Adult animated television shows based on DC Comics Animated television series by Amazon MGM Studios American adult animation anthology series American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated drama television series American adult animated superhero television series American adult animated television spinoffs American anime-influenced animated television series Dynamite Entertainment adaptations Amazon Prime Video original programming American English-language television shows Television shows based on British comics Television series by Amazon MGM Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Original Film