Between Doctor Strange 2 And The Boys Season 3, It's Clearly [Redacted]'s Year For Superhero Cameos

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "The Boys" season 3 and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Superhero cameos are huge this year, especially after the cameo-laden spectacle of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," which culminated in THAT scene in which the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) butchers a bunch of powerful heroes. The most surprising cameo came in the form of Charlize Theron popping up in the mid-credits scene as Clea, would-be ruler of the Dark Dimension and Strange's future partner.

However, this is not the only superhero cameo Theron has been seen in. The movie star also appears as a version of Stormfront (Aya Cash) in season 3 of "The Boys." 

While the Prime Video show has taught me to expect anything — from hilarious celebrity cameos to bonkers sequences (see: Butcher using a supe newborn to laser through some men) — nothing had prepared me for Theron as Stormfront.

Season 3 of "The Boys" opens with a shot from the Vought-funded movie, "Dawn of The Seven," which has a bit of a complicated history. Originally intended to be an origin story for all the members of The Seven, who band together to fight a common threat, the production process of the film was halted after Stormfront was exposed as a Nazi and remained incapacitated after Ryan Butcher (Cameron Crovetti) used his powers to burn her to a crisp.

While the movie was about to be shelved, fans of director Adam Bourke rallied on Twitter with demands to release the Bourke Cut, which led to Stormfront being recast and being presented as the villain instead. Theron as Stormfront asks Homelander (Antony Starr) to join her in her mission to "create a perfect race" together and reign for a thousand years. Homelander refuses and attacks her with the aid of the rest of The Seven.

Satire lies at the heart of "The Boys," and the parallels between the demands for the release of the Bourke Cut and the Snyder Cut are pretty clear, although the whole thing is supposed to be extremely tongue-in-cheek. These sequences work perfectly as satirical riff-offs, making fun of the often-ridiculous trends associated with superhero films, including hamfisted A-lister cameos.

Back to Theron, 2022 is clearly the year she has chosen to (pleasantly) surprise viewers with her sudden appearance when you least expect it. While her appearance is sudden in "Multiverse of Madness," Clea's character will definitely be an integral part of Doctor Strange's narrative moving forward, making Theron a key addition to the franchise. We can expect to see a lot more of Clea, as the comic book version of the character has embarked on a great number of adventures with Strange.

While Theron's fake-Stormfront cameo in "Dawn of The Seven" is a one-time thing, it adds greatly to the already hilarious tone set by the promotional material that Vought churns out daily. The gulf between appearance and reality when it comes to Vought and The Seven is massive, as the former only means to acquire more power while producing soulless cash grabs on the side. As for The Seven, everyone barring Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) couldn't care less about saving lives, so there's that.

Here's hoping that Theron appears in more sudden cameos, superhero or not, as it is great to see her pop up in anything. I still remember her guest-starring as the time-traveling thief Pria Lavesque in "The Orville" for one episode. Needlessly to say, I was over the moon. 

Season 3 of "The Boys" is currently streaming on Prime Video.