The Boys Season 4 And My Hero Academia Are The Unlikely Superhero Double Feature You Need Right Now

"The Boys" is back for season 4 and things are as bleak as ever. Homelander is not just in charge of Vought, but his murdering of an innocent man in broad daylight has earned him even more supporters than ever. (We're well past the point of Homelander being a Trump allegory in subtext only.) There's also the problem of Butcher being terminally ill, while head-exploder Newman is even closer to the White House than before.

The most important subplot of season 4 seems to be the duel of fates that is the fight for the soul of young Ryan Butcher. Last season, Butcher got scared of getting close to the kid and ended up pushing Ryan right into the arms of his dad, Homelander. He could have been a normal kid, or even the greatest weapon against Homelander, but now he's his apprentice instead.

Just as showrunner Eric Kripke teased last year, this storyline has become crucial to "The Boys." Homelander is starting to realize he is not, in fact, immortal and is not only aging, but will never be able to fill the hole in his heart, no matter how many fans he gains by committing more atrocities. Even though Ryan now lives with him and at least pretends to like him, it's not enough for Homelander. He is obsessed with ensuring his legacy. Not through an heir, mind you, but through an exact replica of himself by extending his personality and his will through his own son.

Watching this feels eerily similar to another hugely popular superhero TV show wherein the protagonist is trying to save the soul of a young man from being slowly taken over by a megalomaniac supervillain — the anime "My Hero Academia."

"My Hero Academia" is sort of anime's answer to "Sky High," a show set in a world where 80% of the population has a superpower. The biggest villain Japan has seen is called All For One, whose power allows him to take and redistribute other people's powers at will. After a huge fight with the country's number one hero, All Might, All For One's body was essentially decimated. It was through a young protegé named Tomura Shigaraki that All For One gained a chance at beating death, so he decided to groom Shigaraki to become his successor and heir, with the villain returning to the foreground of the anime and turning it into a must-watch once again. Except, rather than just raise him to be exactly like him, All For One is more nefarious, and instead transferred his power alongside his will into the body of Shigaraki. He then begins to slowly take over the body of his apprentice, with both of them wrestling for control.

Though All For One hasn't fully taken control of Shigaraki, the young villain is still struggling with his mentor's mind and ideas co-existing with his own dreams and personality. Our protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, aims to be the next number one hero, the symbol of peace. But now, in the face of the biggest enemy, in the face of unspeakable evil and horror, all he thinks about is trying to save the soul of Shigaraki (despite him being a more than willing participant in all of this) and get him away from All For One.

This season, the big fight isn't Butcher against Homelander, and what's important isn't whether The Boys can defeat the leader of The Seven. Instead, the fight is between Butcher and Homelander over the future, and the soul, of a young kid who is torn between who he wants to be and who he is being turned into.

Homelander may be trying to do a coup on the U.S. government and install himself as a dictator, he may start a civil war if he wants, or he could just obliterate half the population in the blink of an eye if he so desires. At least this season is making it clear that he will die, eventually. Except, what if he does manage to turn Ryan into another Homelander? Then we're back to square one and the horrors don't stop.

Though The Boys understandably want nothing to do with Butcher, and Mother's Milk doesn't want to do him a favor and take care of Ryan — a stranger, this is their most important mission. This is what will determine the future of the country and possibly the world. Finally, after many crimes and atrocities, Billy Butcher may finally be realizing that true heroism is not about killing; it's not about defeating the villain, it's about saving the innocent. Midoriya's greatest strength as a hero is his ability to — much like All Might before him — fight and save people with a smile on his face that makes them feel safe. If he manages to free Shigaraki, he'd have done more than just defeat All For One, and hopefully The Boys can do the same with Ryan.

New episodes of "The Boys" season 4 drop Thursdays on Prime Video.