Karl Urban Joins Amazon's Comic Adaptation 'The Boys'

Karl Urban is going to crack open some cold ones with The Boys. The Thor: Ragnarok actor is the latest addition to Amazon's new series adapted from the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson comic book. The series is set in a world where superheroes exist, and have grown corrupted by their fame. As a result, the CIA employs a secret team to monitor them. Urban will play the leader of the superhero monitoring team. Read on for more info on The Boys cast.

Amazon is busy thinking about Boys as they assemble the cast of their anti-superhero series. Star Trek and Thor: Ragnarok actor Karl Urban is the latest actor to join a line-up that already consists of Antony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Jessie T. Usher, Jack Quaid, Nathan Mitchel, Erin Moriarty, and Karen Fukuhara.

Urban will play Billy Butcher, the leader of a team of agents who monitor fame-hungry superheroes. THR says the show's take on the character is being described as someone "mysterious and brutal with a personal but secret agenda" who "approaches Hughie (Jack Quaid), claiming to be a shadowy government operative. Butcher capitalizes on Hughie's rage over his girlfriend Robin's (uncast) accidental death at the hands of Superhero A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) and enlists Hughie as part of his plan to bring down the superhero system."

Supernatural creator Eric Kripke will serve as showrunner on the series, which will be directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The series is an adaptation of the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson comic with the following description:

In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone's got to make sure the "supes" don't get out of line. And someone will! Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother's Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female are The Boys: A CIA-backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth – superpower! Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them – sometimes – need to be taken out of the picture. That's when you call in The Boys!

I've seen some people suggest Artist Darick Robertson drew Billy Butcher to resemble actor Vinnie Jones – an actor you might remember from various Guy Ritchie movies, and also X-Men: The Last Stand, where he had the opportunity to make audiences groan by shouting, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" Robertson, however, based the character's look off of Robert Shaw, of Jaws and The Sting fame. The only actor Robertson directly referenced for his art is Simon Pegg, with Pegg's blessing.

The Boys is set to debut on Amazon some time in 2019.